[Review 881] Nice restaurant but average food @ 紅果樹 Red Fruit Tree

10/08/2010
紅果樹 Red Fruit Tree
天后琉璃街7號柏景中心地舖
G/F Parkview Centre, 7 Lau Li Street, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/nice-restaurant-but-average-food-e2122236

If there are no pictures of this place except food, it would be judged as one of those ordinary chinese cafes that serve noodles and rice.

The food could be better, especially with a classy interior and prices.

The vietnamese beef noodles tasted like any other vietnamese noodles.

The concept of the udon however was slightly better, it was stir fried udon with aubergines, anchovies, onions and beanshoots.
I felt that it was lacking the taste from the anchovies, and it was too sweet and oily.

You can actually see the oil left in the pot, and a picture of oil being poured out from the bowl which sufficient to cook something else with it.

[Review 880] Japanese curry pocket @ 肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken

07/10/2010

肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken
尖沙咀廣東道3-27號海港城海運大廈地下OTG19號舖
Shop OTG19, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/japanese-curry-pocket-e2121978

With McDonald's promoting the Japanese Sakana burger, KFC have fought back with the Japanese curry pocket which is basically a wrap strangely named as a pocket.

However I do hope that one day, McD's in HK would come up with a curry burger.

I got the set that comprised of rice with mushrooms, one chicken drumstick, one soft drink and the curry pocket for $34.8.
It was quite a big portion for one.

The curry pocket was served in a cute box that you peel off the top to eat, with the bottom area to hold the pocket.
The piece of fried chicken in the curry pocket is a piece fried chicken thigh that is very juicy and not hard at all.
The texture of the coating on the chicken is same as the coating they use for the signature flaky Hot and Spicy chicken, except that it is not hot.
The coating was slightly flaky and chewy, due to the juice from the chicken.

On one side of the pocket it was layered with shredded salad, mayonnaise and sweetcorn, and on the top side it was curry sauce and onion rings.

The mayonnaise side was like eating Japanese salads with lettuce and sweetcorn, and the curry side wasn’t prominent, there wasn’t much curry sauce.
The curry sauce was not the sort of curry I was expecting, it tasted sweet with a strong taste of raisins just like those English curries, I was looking forward to the usual Japanese curry taste.

Anyway, as a whole, the mayonnaise salad and curry was a weird combination, only the chicken was good, at least it was not tough and dry.
But the curry pocket was very messy to eat.

The rest of the items tasted how it should, the drumstick was slightly dry, but it was good that the set contains a drumstick, it rules out the fuss in HK, since most people here will request for the drumstick or thigh.

[Review 879] Dim Sum all day long @ 點好食 Dim Sum The Best

03/10/2010

點好食 Dim Sum The Best
將軍澳南豐廣場地下A56號舖
Shop A56, G/F, Nan Fung Plaza, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/dim-sum-all-day-long-e2120974

Before this unattractive mall was revamped, the area on the ground floor was a food court, it wasn’t thriving, but not as quiet as now.

There were a few places to eat, but I chose this dimsum place for dinner, the decoration was shabby outside, yet quite nice inside, it had nice fixtures put in a shabby place, the walls and seats were rather old.
There were nice compartment seats and crystal lighting.

This restaurant has only two branches, one here and one in Sai Wan Ho.

After looking at the food list, there was not much choice, it provides the basic dim sum that can be ordered anywhere, eg prawn dumplings, buns, the usual, all listed on one piece of paper.

Ordered the dim sum set, which includes 2 soups, 1 rice roll, assorted dim sum and a pot of rice.
The soup was tasteless, but appreciated that it seemed luxurious, there were two soups, one was chicken with tea tree mushrooms and wolfberries, and the other was snow fungus and ribs.
The snow fungus one was tasteless and the chicken was sour.

I ordered the dim sum platter without knowing what was in it, the contents surprised me, I assumed it would be the cheaper assortment of items such as siu mai, chicken feet and stuff like that but it actually came with two prawn items, one prawn dumpling, one prawn and vegetable dumpling, a runny egg yolk custard bun, a roast pork bun and a layered custard cake.

All of the items in the platter tasted better than I thought, I liked the layered custard cake the best, it was soft and full of custard flavour.

For the beef rice roll, it tasted how it should but I felt the rice pastry was slightly too soft and soggy.

The last item of the set was the bowl of rice with meat patty on top, it was piping hot.
The rice was extremely delicious after they added the extra soy sauce, which needs to be requested, this was the first time I have had soy sauce that is kept warm whilst not in use.

In addition I also ordered the silk dragon roll, which is prawn wrapped in salty egg yolk and covered in crunchy shreds.
Although it was slightly greasy, but it was delicious.

The good thing about this place is that they serve dim sum all day long and nothing else.

[Review 878] Unusual octopus soda!! @ 樂家蒸籠料理 Tanoshiya

01/10/2010

樂家蒸籠料理 Tanoshiya
觀塘觀塘道418號創紀之城五期(apm)3樓13號舖
Shop 13, 3/F, apm Millennium City 5, 418 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/unusal-octopus-soda-e2120647

Shame this drink doesnt have a website, but the Japanese have come up with these weird fizzy drinks that have a marble at the bottleneck, and you need to push the marble down into the bottle in order to drink it, the bottle neck is obviously smaller than the marble so the marble stays safely in the bottle when you drink it.

Anyway the cool thing about the drink is its unusual flavour, "grilled octopus"
There are nine flavours in total:
1)Original
2)Strawberry
3)Grapefruit
4)Apple
5)Melon
6)Kimchi
7)Chestnut
8)Grilled Octopus
9)Peach

I wish I got the Chestnut one too, maybe next time!!

After trying the grilled octopus flavour, I felt it tasted weird, there was a slight sweetness to it, and it somehow tasted like beer.

The aftertaste was horrible, it was a mix of wine and old oil.
I am open to unusual items, but if they are unusual, I don't think they should add the normal ingredients to normalise it.
Grilled octopus is meant to be savory, so why bother adding sugar to it.

Anyway I am looking forward to that savory ice-cream at the Ice cream gallery.

[Review 877] Communication breakdown!!! @ 喜客比薩 Shakey's Pizza Restaurant

01/10/2010
喜客比薩 Shakey's Pizza Restaurant
觀塘觀塘道418號創紀之城五期(apm)1樓1號舖
Shop 1, 1/F, apm Millennium City 5, 418 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/communication-breakdown-e2120435

I was a bit shocked the waitresses here don't speak English, as this place is supposed to be an American do, there were two other Caucasians there when I dined, I wonder if they communicated OK.

Firstly I walked to the counter and asked for " A table for one" and the waitress had to ask the manager to serve me, as she didnt know English!!

Anyway ordered their signature fried chicken and Shakey's famous mojo's which is basically fried potato slices covered in flavoured coating.

They probably could'nt understand what I was ordering, but guessed what I wanted from where I was pointing at on the menu.

The food arrived quicker than I expected, the potato came first.

The potato slices were not greasy at all, it had a crunchy coating, however the coating was not even and it was bland.
The potato was not cooked properly, it was still hard inside. The herbs on the coating were nice though, it reminded me of KFC.
I was rather disappointed because I was expecting a fluffy layer of potato encased in hard crunchy coating, but the potato was hard with a slight viscous texture.

The chicken had a similar coating to the potato, but the chicken was as dry as a tree bark, also oil free, the coating was slightly stronger than the potato slices.

It tasted 85% similar to the fried chicken at the Green Waffle, as both were slightly bland, but the chicken at Green Waffle screamingly tastes much better and juicier too!!
Both GW and Shakeys have the same type of crispy coating, however the one at GW falls off, and the one here dosnt!

Both items did not leave me quenching for water after finishing them.

Requested for the bill, so I said " The bill please", then the girl asked if I wanted a bag,
so I guessed they probably only use American English, so I said "The check please"
and she still didnt get it, so what the hell am I supposed to say.
In the end I opted for sign language!!@!

[Review 876] Mind the bridge!! @ 大喬日本料理 Daikyo Japanese Cuisine

30/09/2010
大喬日本料理 Daikyo Japanese Cuisine
灣仔軒尼詩道318號 W Square3樓
3/F, W Square, 318 Hennessy Road, , Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mind-the-bridge-e2120330

This restaurant seems to be called "big bridge" in Chinese, and upon entering the restaurant there is a mini bridge before you go in.

Anyway, went there for the all you can eat buffet at $198 per person, the range dosnt offer much but at least ALL of the items are AVAILABLE, even foie gras unlike that Urawa restaurant in Wan Chai.

SASHImI/SUSHI section:
Handrolls: minced fatty tuna, salmon, crab roe salad, squid and crab roe, eel.
Sashimi: tuna, salmon, snapper.
Sushi: yellow tail, squid, squid tentacles, sweet shrimp, salmon, sush.
Maki: Tuna, Salmon and California rolls.

SALAdS/VEG: green salad, crab roe salad, stir fried vegetables, edame beans.

FrIED items: prawn, oysters, fish fin, wasabi dumplings, vegetable tempura,

GRILLeD items: scallops, foie gras, squid, wasabi dumplings, beef, snapper fillet, salmon, sole fish, beef rolls, beef rolls with enoki, beef rolls with kimchi, beef roll dumpling, fish cake, octopus balls. smoked duck breast, japanese burger steak.

SKEwERS: chicken skin, pork neck, and chicken.

RICE/NOoDLES: fried rice, udon in soup.

DESsERT: ice cream (green tea, sesame, adzuki beans), cake of the day.

CuSTOMER SERvICE:
Overall, the customer service was good, the tea was constantly refilled, probably because they charge more but comparing it to other all you can eat Japanese places, they cost around $198 per person.
The tea provided was slightly strange, because it wasnt green tea, but tasted like Pu Erh, the earthy type.

FoOD:
The grilled beef was the best, but then they are famous for their thinly grilled beef with fillings inside them.
Grilled chicken skin was interesting, however I would have preferred them fried and crispy.
Dumplings had that extra touch to it, as they put wasabi in them.
The foie gras was slightly too oily, but ok.
The fish fish tempura was my favourite, it wasnt greasy at all, slightly too sweet, but it was crunchy and chewy at the same time.
The cake of the day tasted a bit weird, it tasted of some flower, possibly rose.

There was a complimentary salad too with conch meat, it was a scoop of mashed potatoes with lots of shredded vegetables mixed together.

[Review 875] oyaku burger @ MOS Burger

26/09/2010
MOS Burger
將軍澳坑口重華路8號東港城1樓161-162號舖
Shop 161-162, 1/F, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/oyaku-burger-e2119373

Missed the chicken curry cheese burger, so this time decided to try the Oyaku rice burger, which is basically chicken and egg in the middle.
Tasted ok, but a bit sweet for my liking.
The milk tea which I ordered contained lemon slices, which would make the milk curd when I poured the milk in.
Its weird! who puts lemon slices in milk tea!!
Anyway told them about the lemon slices, and got a fresh cup without.
The fried chicken was over done.