[Review 356] Carrot dumpling @ 利寶閣 Star of Canton Restaurant

利寶閣 Star of Canton Restaurant 22/02/2009
將軍澳重華路8號東港城2樓235號舖
East Point City
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/carrot-dumpling-e2019816

As usual I come here regularly for my dim sum feasts, but lately their dumplings are not as good as they used to be.

The dimsum skin is a bit hard and thick, or sometimes over steamed.

This time I tried the fried prawn wrapped in beancurd skin, it was rather nice, the beancurd skin was light and crispy, fried with clean oil, so no complaint about it.

However the new carrot dumpling looked a bit different from advertised, it didnt have the flakey skin, but had the dumpling skin, also the fillings inside had some sand in it.

[Review 355] Consistently good breakfasts all time round @ The Flying Pan

The Flying Pan 12/08/2009
灣仔駱克道81-85號霸田商業中心3 樓
3/F Empireland Commercial Centre Lockhart Road, Wan Chai

This must be my 12th time here, since I have already filled up all the stamps for the loyalty scheme.
As usual I had my eggs Benedict with muffins, the hollandaise sauce is light and mousse like as usual. The poached eggs are perfectly done with a runny centre, and the muffins are warm and buttered.
The sides are how they should be, I chose baked beans and salad, and cranberry as my drink.

[Review 354] The next best vegetarian place since TaiVeg @ 愛家 Loving hut (灣仔)

愛家 (灣仔) 05/08/2009 Loving Hut
灣仔軒尼詩道256號地下
256 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-next-best-vegetarian-place-since-taiveg-e2017939


The last time I had a good vegetarian feast was at this western vegetarian restaurant at Causeway bay, a branch from London. The food is not the regular flavoured dough, or gluten pieces, but real food such as fried rices, real vegetables that I feel are healthier than the greasy fried items with the intention of filling the stomach.

This new place, the Loving hut, is a modern setting, bright and vibrant, a bit similar to Buddha Hut at Kowloon Bay, however the name and design is much better at the Loving Hut.
It’s style is rather different to the usual vegetarians places, it is set out like the ordinary Café de Coral where you look at the menu board, order, pay and collect at the counter.

Ordered the rice with vegetarian meat, and the vegetarian rice, both included drinks, so ordered a tea, and a hot wintermelon tea.
The wintermelon tea tasted very good, when it was warm, it wasn’t too sweet.

The vegetarian meat came with a green sauce, the chef said it was Middle Eastern sauce, the taste is not the usual taste, but it was strong, and managed to baffle me as I couldn’t make out the taste.

As for the rice with vegetarian meat sauce, I really enjoyed that too, I could see bits of black bean in it, so I was assuming the pieces of vegetables could be bittermelon, however when I tried it, it was the stems of pickled cabbage and snow cabbage.

As for the rice, it wasn’t that strong in flavour, but good enough.

After the meal, I decided to tried the blueberry cake to, the cream topping looks like egg white, but its more of a dry brittle curd like cream.
The different layers were interesting, the texture was not like cake at all, some layers were like hard jelly.
The chef said the cake was from Taiwan.

We were also given other desserts to try, and the strawberry and kiwi jelly was very delectable, very light, and there were real bits of fruit in it, the colour was a light pretty pink too.

Next dessert we were given, was the green cake, this was one of the desserts that was a real cake, also good too, not too sweet, the cake texture was firm and not too dry.

[Review 353] Misleading prices and menus on display @ 喜喜小食廚房 (將軍澳)

喜喜小食廚房 (將軍澳) 05/08/20009
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心3期地下G03號舖
Shop G03, G/F, MCP Discovery, 8 May Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/misleading-prices-and-menus-on-display-e2017922

Quick catch up with my friend at Polam, a good place if you just want to sit and talk, their main business is deliveries to the local area.

Sat there for four minutes undisturbed, the staffs were too busy preparing for deliveries than to take our orders or even give us tea.

After placing our order, I took this opportunity to get a glass of water, as they did not even provide that.

Ordered the chicken and pork liver stew, it came served in a clay bowl.
The chicken was rather tasteless and rough, and the pork liver was over cooked.

The variety was misleading, there was plenty of choices displayed on their windows, after sitting down, there were many items crossed off on the menu.
The menu was misleading even for my friend who could read chinese, as a single set for $35 was written as a set for $45.

The soup was very greasy, a thick layer of oil on top.

[Review 352] Pineapple or apricot ? @ Jenny Bakery (銅鑼灣)

05/08/2009 Jenny Bakery (銅鑼灣)
銅鑼灣糖街1-5號購物站1樓1057號舖
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/pineapple-or-apricot-e2017899
There have been many reviews for Jenny’s Bakery, but I still haven’t distinguished whether they are real western cookies or Chinese version of cookies so it hasn’t been on my priority list to try.

I only tried them recently when my friend got some, apparently they are the Taiwanese pineapple cakes/rolls. However the ones at Jenny bakery have a more crunchy buttery shortcrust.
The normal Taiwanese pineapple rolls are rectangle shaped, exactly like the fig rolls (see picture).

The ones at Jenny Bakery appear like cookies, the filling wrapped in the crust.
It smells very buttery and rich, and the filling is generous too, although everyone said it was Pineapple, to me the colour and taste is more like Apricot.
The texture of the whole roll is chewy, and the crust crumbles and gets mixed in with the filling.

[Review 351] Refreshing cranberry and pomegranate juice @ Little Mermaid Bakery (銅鑼灣)

Little Mermaid Bakery (銅鑼灣) 04/08/2009
銅鑼灣勿地臣街1號時代廣場B1樓 cookedDeli by city'super
cookedDeli by city'super, B1/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/refreshing-cranberry-and-pomegranite-juice-e2017639

The drinks cabinet at the bakery were very attractive and a colourful display of fruit juices, the bottle itself was very attractive and looked like a clear cocktail shaker.

I chose the Cranberry with pomegranate and blueberry juice.
Very clear and ruby red in colour, no residue or fruit pulp in it.
It was not too sour or too sweet, but very appetizing, the cranberry gives it the sour notes, and the blueberry and pomegranate gives it the sweetness.

The best thing about it, is that it doesn't taste artificial, all the sweetness and sourness is natural, and there is no after taste.

[Review 350] Garlickylicious chicken @ Your Restaurant 金源小館 (灣仔)

Garlickylicious chicken 金源小館 (灣仔)'
灣仔大王東街3號大旺樓地舖
G/F, Tai Wong Building, 3 Tai Wong Street East, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/garlickylicious-chicken-e2016629

This restaurant reminds me of the Turkish restaurant in MK, but it’s called “Our restaurant” instead of “Your restaurant”.
I ordered the Garlic chicken and Vinegar pork chops, as the pictures for these looked good from users posted on OR.

The Garlic chicken came first, we had not even waited 5 minutes and it arrived, a generous bowl of chopped half-cooked garlic in soy sauce, and a plate with half a chicken.

The chicken was tender and juicy, not dry at all. The chicken was worth it’s price, only a few pieces of chicken skin on top of the chicken for presentation, and the rest was chicken. In other roast restaurants, when you order half a chicken, they serve you chopped up bones, chicken skin, and parts with no meat at all.

Anyway, poured the whole bowl of garlic sauce on the chicken, to let the tofu soak up the sauce and the chicken. The tofu tasted really good, full of garlic, soy and chicken. The chicken was cooked just right too, and went so well with the sauce, giving it sweetness, without overpowering the taste of chicken and yet you could taste the garlic.

Then came the pork chops in vinegar sauce, it came at the right moment, just as the chicken was nearly finished, moving on from a garlicky taste to a stronger taste sensation.
The portion looked quite big, and smell of vinegar was so strong you could almost taste it.

Taking a bite at the pork, there was generous sauce around it, and crunchy on the outside from the fried garlic and light flour. The pork was tender and not dry at all. The sauce was not that sour too, with the right amount of sweetness to balance it out. The pork was cooked chinese style with the pork deep fried first, and then stir frying it in the vinegar sauce.

I was very impressed with this dish, 95% on the plate was edible, there was no extra decorative stuff and the pork only contained small pieces of bones.

In other places I have tried, the whole plate of pork is inconsistent, only a few pieces are good, and then there is more bone and fat than the actual pork.
What is more irritating is being served a big plate of food among a large group and only 30% is edible.

Moving from a strong dish to dessert, given to us free, we got the tofu in sugar sauce.
From a strong sweet and sour dish, to tofu, the sweetness of the sauce gently neutralised the previous aftertaste left in the palate.
I don’t usually eat this dessert, but I had to admit it tasted nice, the sugar sauce was not syrupy at all, but light and watery, yet having lots of sauce with the tofu, does not go overly sweet. The tofu and sauce ratio was like 60:40