[Review 587] Ranchero breakfast @ The Flying Pan

23/12/2009 The Flying Pan
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
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/ranchero-breakfast-e2051479

I don't think I can find an item on their menu I do not like.

My usual item is the eggs benedict.

However this time, I felt like trying the Ranchero eggs mexican style with refried beans, cheese, sour cream, tomato salsa.

The whole thing was good, the cheese that was on it was cheddar cheese, and there was lots of potato slices on it too, each taste was sensational packed with sour cream, salsa, cheese, refried beans etc.

I also ordered extra black pudding too, and luckily the oil today was fresh, so the black pudding was just right, not to over cooked, and it didnt have an oil odour taste either.

[Review 586] Spaghetti House style Christmas dinner @ The Spaghetti House

意粉屋 The Spaghetti House 23/12/2009
灣仔軒尼詩道68-76號新禧大樓1樓
1/F, Sun Hey Mansion, 68-76 Hennessy Road,, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/sh-style-christmas-dinner-e2051476

Wanted to eat at Pizza Hut, but there were many people, so went to Spaghetti house.

Frankly I prefer Spaghetti House, they are good for their risotto’s.

I was surprised they had special dishes for Christmas, so I ordered items from their seasonal menu.
Most of the items on the list were truffle related.

Ordered the Risotto in squid ink sauce with lamb and the turkey lasagne with truffle sauce.

The risotto is always consistent, however the lasagne was slightly different to how I imagined it to be, I was expecting the turkey to be finely chopped or at least shredded, and the lasagne served in a dish rather than a plate.
However it was slices of pasta sheets, and huge turkey slices (a bit like roast dinners with meat slices) and topped with cranberry diced jelly.
The truffle sauce wasn’t that strong, and there wasn’t much cheese either.

[Review 585] 2nd buffet in the day @ 再臨閣 The Salisbury

再臨閣 The Salisbury 20/12/2009
尖沙咀梳士巴利道41號香港基督教青年會南座4樓
4/F, South Tower YMCA, 41 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/2nd-round-of-buffet-in-a-day-e2050890

Already had buffet for lunch, but didnt know what to eat at TST for dinner, being a Saturday, all the good places would be packed.

Anyway chose YMCA on the basis that everyone would be having fun and eating out on a saturday, rather than coming here.
I liked it here because it was relatively quiet in the sense that there was not many people, but for noise levels, it was quite noisy.
There was need to snatch food either, as the people here were quite orderly.

On a first visit, the food was impressive, but if I came here next time I would know what to expect.
With other places, the reviews will be applicable at the time it was written, however with this place, I felt the old reviews were still reasonable because after looking at the photos from 2008, the food selection remains the same,
However its day time food and evening food may be different.

For the seafood selection there was various sashimi's, the salmon was a bit oily, the tuna tasted better. The artic surf clam was nice and juicy with a hint of sweetness.
I never had artic clams before because the ones I tried were not fresh and tough.

In general the food here is nicely catered for westerners, especially the terrines, there was ham terrine, beans terrine, liver terrine. The liver terrine was the best, nice and smooth, however I didnt like the bits of meat in it. The tea was not Hong Kong milk tea either which was good.

There was a good selection of cheeses too, monterey and stilton.
The stilton was rather strong, reminded me of chinese fermented beancurd paste (fu yu) and the monterey was firm and crumbly, but had a slightly bitter taste.

The sharks fin soup was clear with lots of bamboo piths, few strands of sharksfin and shreds of chicken. It tasted fresh without the smelly meat smell in it.

The choices of dessert was ok too, one of the desserts had brandied cherries.

[Review 584] New items on the menu @ 利寶閣 Star of Canton Restaurant

利寶閣 Star of Canton Restaurant 20/12/2009
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/new-items-on-the-menu-e2050882

After weeks and weeks of the same menu, I got really bored of the selection.

There was nothing I wanted to eat, but then some new items caught my eye, so I was relieved they finally put more new items in.

Ordered the fried oysters, and braised lotus roots with baby ducks.
Both the Chinese names were misleading.

FRIED OYSTER:
totally not fried at all, i was expecting it to be covered in batter, but there was none, it was an oyster wrapped in beancurd sheet dipped in Teriyaki sauce and grilled.
It was nice and crispy, the oyster was too firm to be fresh, it tasted like those half dried oysters.
As well as the oysters there was crispy fish as garnishing too, very crispy and well flavoured.

Lotus roots with baby duck:
It was definitely not a baby duck at all, the name "lin au mun ap jai" is a bit misleading, it sounds more like a baby duck, so I was expecting a baby duck, like pigeon meat.
Anyway I asked the waitress, and she didn't confirm it was baby duck or not, she just said chopped up duck pieces.
When it arrived, there was generous sauce, same with all their braised dishes.
The first bite of the duck tasted like the over boiled pork from Chinese soups, then it started tasting like duck.
This dish was quite impressive as there was real chunks of duck meat attached to the bones unlike other places where they give you mainly bones with not much meat at all.
Overall, it tasted really good, rich sauce.

[Review 583] Playful waiter @ ROCKSCHOOL

ROCKSCHOOL20/12/2009
灣仔盧押道23號2樓
2/F, 23 Luard Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/playful-waitor-e2050869

Came for lunch, there was not many people as expected, the price was suspiciously cheaper than other pub foods.
The restaurant was half empty when we arrived, so sat down on a four people table, but we were told to sit on a two persons table.
Anyway, ordered two sets: pork chop with apple and mash, and fish with wasabi sauce.
First came the bread with olive oil and vinegar, an Italian starter which is quite a bonus because not many pubs serve it or occasionally serve it.
After finishing the bread, there were some crumbs in front of me, and the waiter cleaned it for me using my napkin, I was impressed he remembered I didn't have a napkin and gave me an extra one.

Then came the salad and soup, and the waiter kept insisting ladies first, so placed my soup down first,
Same with the mains, he always laid my plate down first, as well as trying to mesmerize me with his eyes!
Back to the food, the carrot and coriander soup had lots of chopped coriander in it, and quite watery, but strong in coriander taste, as for the salad it contained yummy feta cheese.

As for the mains the wasabi sauce did not taste of wasabi at all, it tasted of mint, and the pork chop was over cooked, but the mash was nice and buttery.

Finally the dessert was the best, tasted as good as the banana muffin at banyan tree, but firmer and dense.

The drinks were refillable too, however service can be slow sometimes, and the portions were a bit small too, even with soup, bread, mains, dessert and drink, I was JUST full.

[Review 582] yoghurtcool@misocool

misocool 20/12/2009
尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館B231-B233舖
Shop B231-B233, K11, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/yoghurtcool-misocool-e2050802

Previously tried their Quarry bay branch, went all the way there to dine, and then a few days later they opened a branch in Central! Ahh I didnt need to go all the way there to quarry bay, and that branch is no where near the mtr.

Recently was at K11 to check out how artistic it was, but not that artistic.

Saw the separate yoghurt section at misocool, so tried it.

As expected it tasted like the soft yoghurt at Berrygood and Yo mama, however the choice of topping were less, from my memory there were 10 choices, but I can only remember the following, toasted coconut, diced strawberries, mango, chocolate crunch balls, and crispy star crunchies.

The yoghurt is slightly sour, so chose toasted coconut to sweeten it. However it is not the proper frozen yoghurt like the Apollo fruit yoghurts.
The portion of yoghurt could have been more, the center was a hollow hole (as shown on picture).

[Review 581] Firefly delights @ 螢火蟲小食

18/12/2009 Firefly delights 螢火蟲小食 (將軍澳)
將軍澳慧安商場A134舖
Shop A134, Well On Shopping Arcade, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/firefly-delights-e2050439

Just felt like having some instant noodles, so got a large portion of Indonesian noodles in sauce.

I was told it was 2 packets of noodles for the large portion but the portion quantity was more like one bag of instant noodles.

The noodles were not that soft, and the garlic mixed well in it.

Was given two thin satay skewers as chopsticks to eat the noodles with!!