[Review 393] Smiths Scampi and Lemon!!! @ il Bel Paese (灣仔)

30/08/2009 il Bel Paese (灣仔)

灣仔軒尼詩道51-53號地下至2樓

G/F-2/F, 51-53 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/scampi-and-lemon-e2025220

So happy to see a massive Il Bel Paese in wanchai, a store on the ground floor and then a restaurant on the first floor.

I entered the shop expecting the usual bakery, cheeses, and Italians salad, then OMG I saw an array of crisps!! Walkers Salt n Vinegar, and Smiths Scampi and lemon and even Quavers, so I got them immediately, I haven't had them for ages!!

If they had the Smiths Cheese moments/ pockets, it would be great, but good enough already, and they have my favourite cous cous too!!!

The price is quite reasonable too!

[Review 392] Chef's selection @ Pizzahut 必勝客 (灣仔)

Pizzahut 必勝客 29/08/2009
灣仔太源街8號海源中心1樓 1/F, Yanville, 8 Tai Yuen Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chefs-selection-e2024742

I never go to Pizza Hut, firstly because its noisy, and it is slightly different to the European Pizza huts.

Anyway, I came to try their Chef's selection.

However when we ordered they told us the Roast chicken was sold out, so we had the remaining two choices, pan fried fish with pasta and 12" Meat Lovers Pizza.

The pizza tastes how it should, and the pasta was ok, the sauce was slightly too sweet and the fish was juicy with a golden coating.

The lobster and prawn soup was better than I imagined, not too strong, and had sufficient prawns in it.

The drinks was refillable.

[Review 391] Good buffet @ Mr. Steak Buffet à la minute (銅鑼灣)

29/08/2009
Mr. Steak Buffet à la minute:
銅鑼灣百德新街2-20號恒隆中心3樓T03號舖
Shop T03, 3/F, Hang Lung Centre, 2-20 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/good-buffet-e2024731

One of my regular places for buffet, there are regular items such as hainan chicken with rice, different cuts of beef, salad, sushi, desserts.

But best of all, I come here for the foie gras, oysters, scallop sashimi, and alaskan crab legs.

The foie gras is served on a toasted piece of bread and drizzled with berry sauce. The oysters are freshly opened there, which still has a slight sea saltiness to it, they vary in size, sometimes small and sometimes big.

[Review 390] Finally found a good light brekkie in Wan Chai @ 榕樹頭咖啡館 Banyan Cafe

榕樹頭咖啡館 Banyan Cafe 29/08/2009
灣仔軒尼斯道1號熙信大廈地下D舖
Shop D, G/F Asian House,1 Hennessy Rd.,, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/finally-found-a-gd-light-brekkie-in-wanchai-e2024723

For a good breakfast, Flying Pan is the best no doubt, but if your in a rush, this is my ultimate choice. Although it is slightly more expensive than other breakfasts, I would rather pay more for prestige quality.

For taste, I would give it 4.5/5, because the drinks are Hong Kong style otherwise I would give it 5/5.

I ordered the "Pick your own 3 choices" with tea/coffee included.
I chose scrambled eggs, cheese, mushrooms.
The breakfast also came with buttered wheat bread (not toasted).

In addition to that I also ordered the Banana and Walnut cake.

The breakfast was perfect, the eggs were not too greasy, the mushrooms were excellent, they resembled the earthy dense European mushrooms.
The cheese was amazing too, it was real cheese off the block, not the burger cheese slices.

Finally I had my banana cake, and that was fantastic, moist and warm. Not too sweet, yet there was a strong natural banana taste.

The Best!!! If the Pumpkin cake was available I would have ordered that too.

[Review 389] Tried it at last @ 三河屋 MIKAWAYA

三河屋 MIKAWAYA

28/09/2009

紅磡明安街14號寶石戲院大廈地下D舖

Shop D, G/F, Lux Theatre Building, 14 Ming On Street, Hung Hom

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/tried-it-at-last-e2024487

I have been planning to visit this place for 2 years, but Hung Hom is not a place I usually go to.

I managed to order the items I planned to eat, but the item I couldn’t find was the taros with the appearance of straw mushrooms.
I had the expectation they wouldn’t have as lately there haven’t been comments on it on OR.

Little squids: salted squids in miso sauce, rather chewy, took me ages to reduce it to a tiny swallowable mass! Tasted good, the last time I had it was at Wara Wara japanese casual restaurant. However the portion here is much bigger.

Fish Liver: Looked 100% like the European pate’s packaged in sausage form, I could still see the marks from the ends where they opened it. Tasted smooth and soft, and the sauce was tangy.

Pillows: Actually it was grounded sharks meat and filled with cheese. It tasted a bit like foam and looks rather like marshmallow. The last time I had it was from Issei, and you can order as much as you can. I am sure they are all from one supplier.

Curry Udon: The best udon I have had, usually I do not eat udon, because it does not tastes authentic, however the udon here is slippery and elastic. If the curry sauce was less spicy and salty, it would have been perfect. Originally ordered the udon in cream, but the smell of it was sickly.

Mountain Yam: Compared with other places that serve it, the colour is less translucent, and has a strong white radish taste. The consistency is VERY thick, similar to that of super thick porridge.

Oyster: These were grilled. I was surprised how tasty they were, after taking one bite, the whole table could smell it. They were fresh and juicy, and not mushy. The oyster was clean too.

[Review 388] Hunghom Dessert Visit @ 甜心甜品屋 Honey Well Confectionery

甜心甜品屋 Honey Well Confectionery
28/08/2009
紅磡黃埔新邨德民街34E - 4I地舖
Shop 4I,G/F,34E Tak Man Street , Hung Hom
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hunghom-dessert-visit-e2024480

After my delicious meal at Mikawaya, I came here for dessert, the choices of dessert here were not overly exciting, basically the same desserts which could be found at other places. The coconut cake was sold out, but interesting, as the chinese was coconut pie.

I ordered the Sweet durian roll, and fried ice-cream, if I had seen the fried banana on the menu, I would have ordered that.

Sweet durian roll:
Tasted better than expected, creamy ripe durian inside the sweet white wrap. The wrap was jelly like. There were clear bits of jelly on top mimicking birds nests, but it wasn’t agar, the texture was more like konjac.

Fried ice-cream: tasted ok, nothing surprising about it, at the least the oil was fresh.

[Review 387] The four treasures @ 好滋味 (灣仔)

好滋味 Yummy Fast Food

灣仔分域街12號

12 Fenwick Street
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-four-treasures-e2024246

As well as coming here for breakfast, if I feel abit peckish in the afternoon, the four treasures do me just fine. In todays case, I am still hungry from lunch at Trafalgars.

This store is neatly tucked away from fumes and air pollution, the decor and setting is reasonable clean, hence it is hygienic enough for me to eat street snacks here.

I had the four treasures: fishballs, green pepper, aubergine and tofu, all stuffed with fish pasted and fried.
The food was not pre-fried, but freshly fried, hence had to wait a few minutes for it.

They tasted OK.