[Review 892] Superb meal @ 樂意扒房 Louis' Steak House

26/10/2010

樂意扒房 Louis' Steak House
灣仔告士打道50號馬來西亞大廈1樓
1/F, Malaysia Building, 50 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/superb-meal-e2126326

 I have always wanted to dine at Louis Steak house because of the yummy pictures of Fish Maw.
This restaurant is rather interesting because the Chinese run it and they serve proper western dishes apart from the Fish Maw. The restaurant is rather historic to me, especially inside the restaurant, it feels like the Beefeater restaurant in UK.
The staff looked like they’ve work there all their life too, and most of them are all middle aged.
I was very impressed by their diverse menu too, ranging from Asparagus with hollandaise sauce to Crepes Suzette.
For my first visit, I decided to sample their food, so chose the set meal for two, which includes oysters and boiled prawns, basket of bread, mushroom and crab soup with cheese, fish maw, steak, apple pie and a drink.

The table was laid with red and white chequered tablecloth and formal cutlery, vase of carnations, and a small candlelight.

French Gillardeau Oysters and Prawns:
The prawns were fresh, and the oyster was fairly big compared to the restaurants.
The oyster was Ok, and the sauce complimented it well.

Louis Steak home made fish maw with special Chinese sauce:
After reading Jason’s review, I used the bread on the sticky fish maw sauce, and it was wonderful.
The fish maw itself was quite thick. When I used the knife on it, the fish maw texture felt dense.
I would have preferred the fish maw to be slightly softer.

Fresh crabmeat mushroom soup au Gratin:
This was baked, so it was very hot, there was thinly sliced mushrooms on the top with melted cheese.
The crabmeat was nice and fresh, but as for the taste, I only remember the cheese and burning my mouth!!

U.S prime rib eye steak:
Had this cooked to medium, it was served with a jacket potato with a choice of sour cream, bacon bits and chives.
I had my potato served with plain butter.
The steak was good, the only complaint was the fatty rind on the edges.

Apple pie:It looked like an ordinary apple pie, but the pastry was so light, buttery and crumbly.
I think it’s the best pie pastry I have had in Hong Kong so far.
The apple pie was nice and warm too.

Drinks:
Ordered tea, and I was surprised they knew the tea I wanted and brought the appropriate items such as milk and sugar.





I will definitely come again and their food is healthy, and everything served is edible rather than useless garnishing.

[Review 891] Saizeriya success in Hong Kong @ 薩莉亞意式餐廳 Saizeriya Italian Restaurant

26/10/2010
薩莉亞意式餐廳 Saizeriya Italian Restaurant
將軍澳坑口培成路8號南豐廣場1樓R1B號舖
Shop R1B, 1/F, Nan Fung Plaza, 8 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/saizeriya-success-in-hong-kong-e2126319

Saizeriya is a success in HK since it opened, but it never drew my attention before.
Being located in Nan Fung plaza in TKO, I just assumed it was a local chinese-italian restaurant.

After seeing all those positive reviews on Saizeriya, I decided to try it someday, but the strange thing was, HK Epicurius hasnt reviewed it yet. After consulting HKE, it turns out he had a better deal trying it in China, it is nearly 40% cheaper than the already cheap prices in HK.

HKE’s review in China:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2051443

When I sat down and looked at the menu I realised it was a Japanese branch. It was established in Japan in 1968 and then opened their first overseas branch in China in 2007.
Other branches in HK are located in Tsz Wan San and Tsuen Wan.
The restaurant has been in the news in Japan for serving pizza with melamine-tainted dough from China in October 2008.
Saizeriya is not limited to Italian food; gratin and Hamburg steaks were also added to the menu

From the pictures posted by others, it didn’t really stand out against the other Italian places such as Pizza express or Amaroni’s so I was totally sceptical about the food there.
I also heard the food was ridiculously cheap too so I didn’t have the expectation it would taste good, the total bill for ordering starters and mains etc was under $100.

Ordered squid ink risotto, Chicken demi-glace, Prawn cocktail.

Squid ink risotto:The rice was nice and soft, although slightly bland.

Prawn cocktail:This salad tasted the best, especially the sauce, it wasn’t too sweet and the sauce may be slightly savoury for others.

Chicken with Demi-glace sauce:This was the highlight of the meal, tender and juicy chicken thigh with crisp chicken skin.
The sauce was interesting, it tasted like yellow bean sauce, however demi-glace is meant to be a rich brown sauce in French cuisine traditionally made by combining equal parts of veal stock and sauce espagnole.

Apart from the food served to your table, the rest is self-service, which enables the staff to primarily take orders and bring food faster to people.
The drinks are available at the drinks bar, which is self service, same with the condiments.
To pay for the bill, you need to bring the bill outside to pay.

[Review 890] Appalling food!! @ 香格格酸辣米線

26/10/2010
香格格酸辣米線
將軍澳常寧路2號TKO Gateway東翼1樓E169-E170號舖
Shop 169-170, 1/F, East Wing, TKO Gateway, 2 Sheung Ning Street, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/appalling-food-e2126285

The food here was appalling, ordered vermicelli in soup and vinegar ribs with rice.

Vermicelli:
The taste of the soup was weird, it was not spicy, but there was a weird sensation on my tongue and lips.
It was almost like eating bowl of stinging nettles.
The whole dish just tasted W+E+I+R+D!!!!


Vinegar ribs and rice:
This was so amateur, it was basically fried pork chops with vinegar sauce put on the top!
The rice was ok, it had bits of chopped up vegetables.

Barley lemon drink:
Just tasted like syrup, as you can see the drink was crystal clear, the barley was not even boiled in the drink, it was just water added with syrup and barley pearls added to the drink separately.

[Review 889] Dining at Typhoon in hope of a super Typhoon~!~ @ Typhoon

24/10/2010
Typhoon
灣仔駱克道37-39號地下
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/dining-typhoon-in-hope-of-a-super-typhoon-e2125684

Since my last visit, this restaurant has improved tremendously.
Big Ernies next door has been replaced by The Blue Goose, and they both serve the same food as Typhoon so you can choose to sit at the Typhoon or at The Blue Goose.
Anyway the lunch sets range from $58-$62, no service charge included but a $1 compulsory charity donation per person.
They have the set lunches on display, so you can see before you order, rice seems to be their speciality.
Last week when I walked past, they had some purple risotto that I found interesting.
I went the Typhoon in the mood hoping the super typhoon would be a ferocious but unfortunately it turned out to be a crappy typhoon!
There were 4 lunch sets: spaghetti puttanesca, fish, pork chop with risotto and mozzarella mushroom bun and chips.
All the set lunches come with soup/salad and a drink.
Ordered the pork chop with risotto and the mozzarella mushroom bun and chips.
I was attracted to both those sets, especially the risotto with peas and herbs, and the pure white mozzarella in the bun with grilled mushrooms.
The soup and salad arrived, the tomato and potato soup came first, the soup tasted a bit sweet but ok.
 0 讚好


The risotto was as good as imagined and nicely flavoured with the herbs in the rice and peas, although it could have been slightly softer.
 0 讚好


As for the bun, the mushrooms were grilled keeping the earthy taste of the mushrooms, and the mozzarella was placed in the bun and not grilled.
The bun was slightly old and dry, especially since it was a dusted bun.
The chips were the flat cut types, so I got some vinegar to go with it.
The mozzarella was how it should be, pure white, not melted to tasteless stringy cheese.
 0 讚好


 0 讚好



To end the perfect lunch, there was a perfect cuppa in a pretty dark clear blue mug.

[Review 888] Froyo @ agnès b. Café LPG

24/10/2010
agnès b. Café LPG
銅鑼灣京士頓街2-4號名店坊1樓1及2A號舖
Shop 1&2A, 1/F, Fashion Walk, 2-4 Kingston Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/froyo-at-agnes-b-cafe-lpg-e2125681

I came here especially for Froyo, not because of the recent popularity in Froyo, but the cute Mini profiteroles toppings.
I wonder if the size of these are smaller or the ones at Clover are smaller?

They were so cute, each profiterole has a chocolate base, and the mini profiteroles in the display jar had a white base.

It costs $30 per cup, and there is a choice of mango or original froyo, with a free topping and a choice of sauce.
The choice of toppings include: fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, rainbow meringues, mini proferiteroles, cocoa powder, hazelbut cookie curmble, palmier crumble, oatmeal cookie crumble, millefeuile, almond, hazelnut, liquid filled boba, mochi.
As for the sauces they had: chocolate, caramel, creme brulee, peach and pineapple, but unfortunately they didnt have creme brulee on the day I went.


The funny thing was, I ordered the mini profiteroles as stated on the choice list, but they didnt know what they were until I pointed to it on the choice list, and after some mumbling between the staff, they said "ar mini puffs ar".
Anyway the mini profiteroles were really cute, it would be so cool, if those tiny things were pre-filled with froyo, just like cream filled profiteroles.
Apart from the Froyo, the Jasmine mini cake was also quite pretty, it has glittery gel on the top, which I am intrigued to know what those glistening particles are.

[Review 887] Roast @ 大家樂 Café de Coral

22/10/2010

大家樂  Café de Coral
北角英皇道250號北角城中心地下
G/F, Fortress Tower, 250 King's Road, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/roast-cdc-e2125399

Its always a headache going to Café coral for food, the menu is very confusing and hard to order, and the stuff is a bit too local for me.

You just don’t know what to expect with local food, in the end I picked the simplest dish I could find, chicken leg with rice.
When I ordered, there was a confusion that it may be a piece of fried chicken, in the end it was chicken marinated in soy sauce and roasted.

It was presented a like a western roast served with gravy.

There were French beans on the side for decoration, the rice was too soft and the grains of rice not that distinct.
The chicken was a bit tough, hard and dry for a chicken leg, and the best thing of the dish was the gravy.

[Review 886] French toast with corned beef and syrup!!! @ 金裝燉奶佬餐廳 Daniel's Restaurant

22/10/2010
金裝燉奶佬餐廳 Daniel's Restaurant
灣仔太和街10-20號地下B舖
Shop B, G/F, 10-20 Tai Wo Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/french-toast-with-corned-beef-and-syrup-e2125397

I wasn’t very hungry so I decided to order a Toast with corned beef, assuming it would be bread with corned beef and toasted.
There were two choices with corned beef, one was toasted bun with corned beef and cheese, and the other was toast.

After placing my order, a small jug of syrup was placed on my table.
Then I realised it was that weird Chinese toast where they dip the bread in egg and fry it.
I have always thought it was a weird snack, because egg is meant to be savoury, and the syrup is sweet.

Anyway, this one strikes me as totally weird, especially since it had salty corned beef in the middle, but luckily the syrup was served separately.

When it came, it just looked like those ordinary chinese toasts fried to golden yellow.
Without the syrup, it tasted ok, slightly savoury with corned beef filling inside.
I requested for some ketchup and dipped it in that, and it tasted quite nice, at least it matched.
If it was proper Heinz ketchup, it would taste nicer, the Chinese ketchup is slightly too sweet for me, I might as well of used syrup.

Interesting french toasts that could be made:

French toast filled with chicken served with satay sauce, French toast filled with British sausages served with baked beans, French toast filled with red beans served with green tea ice-cream.