[Review 724] The face blushes with the rush of blood! @ Zoe

Zoe  20/04/2010
灣仔莊士敦道60號J Senses地舖
G/F, J Senses, 60 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-face-blushes-with-the-rush-of-blood-e2077972

Zoe has been around for a while, but hasn’t really caught my attention much, the cakes are just the usual like chocolate mousse, mille feuille etc.
The price is rather expensive, but then if they tasted good then fair enough.

Anyway, when I got there, the shop assistant was a bit annoying, instead of standing behind the counter, she came out and stood by my side!
Chinese people, especially sales people have no social distancing at all but Thanks to Sars & Covid you can now have some social distance.
She tried to recommend me the typical flavours such as Rose, Mango, but unfortunately, these are my least favourites and what Chinese people like to eat!
I can't stand Rose and Mango.

In the end, I got the Blood Orange, and Blush.

Blood Orange:
It had a layer of jelly on top to look nice, and layered with mousse, and a crunchy layer at the bottom.
It had a yoghurt tone to it rather than a citrus flavour.

Blush:
I was disappointed with this cake, the chocolate mousse was very faint, and the cherries were the bright red glacier type. I was expecting strong black cherries, or at least cherries that had been soaked in brandy.

[Review 723] Not berry good @ H-Tea-O Tea Garden

H-Tea-O Tea Garden (已結業)
20/04/2010
銅鑼灣百德新街27-47號1樓9及9A舖
Shop9A&9, 1/F, 27-47 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/not-berry-good-e2077878

The chocolate berry latte I had just tasted like red tea with frothed milk, so I asked if it was meant to have a chocolate taste, so the waiter took it back and made another one. As well as chocolate, there was no berry taste either.

I was expecting them to just add chocolate berry syrup, since on the menu it said the latte was made with chocolate berry syrup.

I was given the another one, which they freshly made, and this one had chocolate taste in it, but not the chocolate I was expecting. It tasted like hot chocolate mixed with tea, strong in cocoa.

I know chocolate is made from cocoa, but I was expecting creamy chocolate. Also, it was creamier than expected.
The berry taste was very faint too, so I think I should have got a take-out instead as it didn’t taste that nice and there was 10% charged on top.

[Review 722] 798 sunday brunch @ 798 Unit & Co

798 Unit & Co 16/04/2010
尖沙咀厚福街9號1樓
1/F, 9 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/798-sunday-brunch-e2077009

Savory items:
Cup of daily soup (Pea): Tasted a bit bland, but good enough.
Cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella skewer: Would have preferred cheddar
Parma ham and melon:Nicely matched, the saltiness of the ham and the sweetness of melon.
Farmhouse pate and toast: the pate was slightly too coarse
Roasted beets & Watermelon: There could have been more beetroots, however I felt watermelon and beets don’t go so well together
Wild mushroom filo triangle: The mushroom flavour wasn’t strong enough
Baby octopus ceviche: Very refreshing, although slightly sweet, it tasted of lime cordial more than juice.
Crab salad tartlet: Creamy and surprisingly light
Cumin Lamb chops: The lamb was overpowered by the cumin
Roasted pork chop with potato: tasted similar to chinese roast pork
Croque monsieur: OK
Egg benedict: OK
Zucchini, spinach and cheese frittata: Looked like a quiche, but felt it was slightly over heavy
Spicy pepperoni pizza:Bit too much crust
mini hamburger:very juicy
macaroni cheese: tasteless
beef with pasta: the texture of the pasta was nice and al-dente
risotto cheese balls:tasteless
farmhouse sausage:ok

Sweet bites:

banana pancake:very cute mini sized pancakes big enough to fit a few slices of banana on top
lychee panna cotta:nicely layered
blueberry & cream cake roll:literally a roll with cream and fresh blueberries
banoffi pie: disappointed with the pie, as it was nearly 90% cream
apple and cinamin crumble:overly sweet
profiteroles:just like the any other profiteroles you would get
fresh fruit salad: too much dragonfruit.

Overall, I felt the savoury selection tasted better than the sweet selection.

[Review 721] Kaneda finally on the Island @ 金田日本料理 Kaneda Japanese Restaurant

金田日本料理 Kaneda Japanese Restaurant
16/04/2010
灣仔莊士敦道74-80號1樓
1/F, Fraser Suites, 74-80 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/kaneda-on-the-island-finally-e2077003

Compared with the TST branch, the TST one is old and grotty, and situated in the back streets of TST.

The Wanchai branch was pleasantly located outside the tram stop opposite Southorn sports ground, near the bakery.

There is a flight of stairs that take you up to the restaurant. Before you enter, there is a small counter for you to check in. I arrived on time, and so did some other people who booked, however the restaurant was not ready yet for the customers to come upstairs, hence everyone waited another 5 minutes.

I was surprised that my booking details were printed on their list rather than hand-written one like other places.

At the bottom of the stairs, one side was mirrors, and so was some part of the restaurant, walled mirrors, which was quite cool.
The restaurant was split into two sections, the buffet section and the dine in section, and a bright hallway leading to the dining area. In the hallway, there was a desserts cabinet with high-end looking desserts and dressed up chefs standing there looking professional.

Anyway sat down, and started ticking away at the food selection and submitted them to the waitress, however she recommended that we were only to submit some as the food would come very fast and the table wouldn’t be big enough.
This was true, the food did come fast, however when it got busier, the items came a lot slower.

As one of the waiters brought out the skewers, it was actually touching his shirt, so I mentioned it to him, and he disposed of it, instead of serving us that one.
Overall the food was OK, the fried food was slightly disappointing, as the oil wasn’t fresh.
Their items with cream sauce were not that good either such as the pasta and dried shrimps, baked oyster and bacon, and mussel. Their cream sauce was a bit heavy, also the baked oyster had a massive piece of shell in it.

One of the side dishes was good, the tiny pot of vinegar jelly with seaweed.

Although it was Japanese food, I felt that it wasn’t that Japanese, such as the lamb chops, soft pork bones. Basically the food is similar to Aoba.

[Review 720] Etienne's award winning cakes @ Epoch Coffee Bar

Epoch Coffee Bar 10/04/2010
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/etiennes-award-winning-cakes-e2075434
灣仔永豐街12-14號
12-14 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai

Marike: Apple and coriander jelly with passion fruit, in a dome of white coconut mousse
Piemontios: Hazelnut mousse cake with almond, white chocolate cream and caramelised apples

Came here especially for the Marike, before trying it, I wasn’t aware of its ingredients, however I couldn’t taste the coriander in it, but it didn’t taste as nice as I imagined it to be.

Marike:
The outer coconut mousse was creamier than I would have liked it, its texture was more like whipped cream.
The filling was slightly sour.

Piemontois:
This was actually the best, it was coconuttier than the Marike, but not in a creamy way, the outside of the cake was dusted with coconut.
Inside were layers of cake and cream, and pieces of stewed cinnamon apple that were not stewed too soft.
Although the cake description says caramel apples, it tasted more like cinnamon apples.
As well as the apples there were pieces of almonds giving it a slight crunch.

[Review 719] Cute puddings @ 和櫻屋 Wasakuraya

和櫻屋 Wasakuraya
08/04/2010
跑馬地鳳輝臺1號地下A舖 (養和醫院側）
Shop A , 1 Fung Fai Terrace, Happy Valley
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cute-puddings-e2074965

Nearly missed this shop while I was walking down the street, anyway there was so much choice it was hard choosing which desserts to have.
The only dislikes were that it was take out only.

Luckily half the selection was Green tea, sesame, red beans etc, so that cut down my choice by half, in the end I picked the grapefruit jelly with pineapple stars, Premium custard pudding with vanilla seeds and the plain custard pudding with maple syrup.

Grapefruit jelly:
This was the best and most refreshing, not too sweet, and contained a lot of grapefruit pulp in it as well as real pressed out pineapple star shapes.
The jelly was sloppier than the usual firm jelly

Premium custard pudding:
Reminded me of Easter, probably because of the coloured pieces on the top.
Very smooth and creamy pudding with generous vanilla seeds in it.

Plain custard pudding with maple syrup:
Tasted similar to the premium pudding, however the syrup helped enhanced it by taking out the eggyness in taste.

As well as the taste, the packaging, box and bag were nice too.
Next time I will try the strawberry chocolate pudding.

[Review 718] HITEC branch is better @ Hot Dog Formula

Hot Dog Formula 08/04/2010
九龍灣牛頭角道77號淘大商場一期地下G128號舖
Shop G128, Phase 1, Amoy Plaza, 77 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kowloon Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hitec-branch-is-better-e2074964

The HITEC branch of Hot Dog formula is much better, they offer more variety, more sausages to choose from such as chicken franks, vegetarian franks, etc, as well as franks they had more options to add to the hotdog ie onion, saukeraut, and more sauces and types of buns too.

The only thing I like about Hot dog formula is that their sausages are not grilled.

Anyway, the day I dined there, the waitress at the counter was constantly texting, I had to wait for her to finish her business before I could order. After I ordered she continued to text, and still continued when another customer came.

The food at this branch is merely ok, the chips were over cooked compared to the pale chips the other people had. The hot dog combination was a bit weird, the one I had was mushroom, I was expecting the sauce to be cheese, however it was sour, a bit like thousand island dressing.