[Review 962] Wagashi Wagashi Wagashi Wagashi @ 瀰月屋 Mitsukiya

07/01/2011
瀰月屋 Mitsukiya
天后清風街15號
15 Tsing Fung Street Street, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/wagashi-wagashi-wagashi-wagashi-e2141493

Satsumaimo Chakin shibori (sweet potato twisted in a cloth).
 
burdock in hokkaido milk and kuzumochi







Almond Tofu





Saw pictures of this place, and was very fascinated by it, especially a place just for Japanese desserts.

The usual dessert places offer Chinese dessert, Taiwanese snowflake ice and now Froyo, but solely Japanese Dessert is just the beginning.

The interior of the place is decorated with various Japanese pictures, ornaments and an old styled TV.

When you sit down, you are provided with some plum drink.

The menu is printed on thin sheets of paper, the ones used for those traditional daily tear off chinese calendars.
On the menu there are six sections, four with different Japanese dessert categories, and the lower two boxes for set meals.

For locals, even though the menu is in chinese, it is quite hard to read, because the fonts are rather weird and the terminology is authentic Japanese, so unless you know your Japanese desserts, you will need an introduction from the staff, and for non-Chinese like me, I have to reply on the reviews and Openrice pictures.
So I shall attempt in explaining as much as possible although some of the information about the Japanese desserts could be wrong because I got the information from the web.

On the menu there are basically 4 different categories:

sweet soup:a choice of hot or cold except for the burdock.
Purple sweet potato soup
Red beans sweet soup
Green beans sweet soup
Burdock in hokkaido milk
Pumpkin sweet soup paste
Black sesame sweet soup paste
Chestnut sweet soup paste
Lotus seeds sweet soup

Japanese sweets (Japanese sweets)
Daifuku
Dango
Wagashi
Tofu
Kuzumochi
Grilled chestnuts/sweet potato
Cloth twisted sweet potato

Drinks:
Fruit drinks
Kids beer
Green tea with milk
Green tea with milk and wheat
Plum drink
Grapefruit tea
Teas: various including floral and earl grey

Western Japanese desserts:
Mousse
Jelly cup
Milk pudding
Egg pudding
Apple pie
Popcorn

You can order the above items a la carte or order the sets for one, I prefer the sets because they cost around $4x dollars where as the single items cost around $3x and you can sample different items.
As well as the one-person sets, they also do sets for 2-4 people.

For the one-person set, there are three sets, I liked the sets 912 and 913 (the sets have a chinese name, but to make things simple, I have just mentioned the set number).

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Set 911

A choice of Kuzumochi or Daifuki
Sweet soup
Wagashi, cloth wrapped sweet potato or grilled purple potato
tea cloth twistd sweet potato and kuzumochi

Anyway the 911 is a bit Chinesey, because it contains a sweet soup, the reason I tried it was because of the Satsumaimo Chakin shibori (sweet potato twisted in a cloth).
The other two items that I ordered were the burdock in hokkaido milk and kuzumochi.
The burdock in hokkaido milk just tasted like warmed milk with burdock, and the kuzumochi tasted like sweet tough kanten jelly with soy bean powder, they gave a mix of brown sugar flavoured kuzumochi and original kuzumochi to let me compare the taste.
I felt that the brown sugar one tasted better and went well with the soy bean powder.

Kuzumochi are chewy cakes made of kuzuko. Kuzuko is the starch powder made from kuzu or kudzu plant root. It's used for thickening sauce or making cool desserts in Japanese cooking. Kuzumochi are semi transparent and often served with kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup/powder) and kinako (soy bean flour).

Satsumaimo Chakin shibori - Chakin shibori is a cooking method for forming mashed ingredients in chakin (tea cloth). As shibori means wringing in Japanese, a small amount of mashed satsumaimo (sweet potato) is wrapped in thin cloth or plastic wrap and is formed by twisting the cloth or plastic wrap, leaving a patterned surface.
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Set 912
Dango (a choice sesame, almond or pumpkin sauce)
Tofu (a choice sesame, almond or pumpkin sauce)
Daifuku ( choice of strawberry or chestnut)

This set was fuss free, because the first two items were fixed, all you had to do was choose a sauce, all these three items were my favourites.
For the dango and tofu, the choice of sauces were sesame, almond and pumpkin.
Since the tofu flavour is not that strong I chose almond, and for the dango, I chose pumpkin, and then for the daifuku I chose strawberry.

Dango is a Japanese dumpling made from mochiko (rice flour). It is sticky and filling either served on skewers glazed with a sweet coating and grilled or served in sweet soups.
The dango here was so nice, the sugar coating on it was caramelised and crunchy, best of all it wasnt too sweet. The caramelised sugar formed a shell around it. The dango was nice and chewy, the pumpkin sauce was good too, not sweet and it had the pumpkins natural savory taste.

The tofu here was smooth and firm, however its texture was slightly like pudding, I felt that it may have contained gelatin.
Anyway the almond sauce wasnt that strong, so both the tofu and almond could be tasted.

Daifuku is a Japanese confectionery consisting of a small round mochi (glutinous rice cake) stuffed with sweet filling, most commonly anko, sweetened red bean paste made from azuki beans. Daifuku comes in many varieties. The most common is white-, pale green-, or pale pink-colored mochi filled with anko. These come in two sizes, one approximately the diameter of a half-dollar coin, the other palm-sized. Some versions contain whole pieces of fruit, mixtures of fruit and anko, or crushed melon paste. Nearly all daifuku are covered in a fine layer of corn or taro starch to keep them from sticking to each other, or to the fingers. Some are covered with confectioner's sugar or cocoa powder.

However the filling in this one was green bean, and the centre was a fresh strawberry.
I was expecting myself to hate it, but I loved it, the reason purely because the sweetness was just right, and the strawberry was fresh.
I have had really disgusting ones at Ichiban and Sogo which were as sweet as syrup and the texture is not as fresh as the ones here.
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Set 913
Pudding (choice of egg or milk)
Fruit cup
Drinks (choice of drinks from the drinks selection)

I did not get to try this one, but I will definitely come back for it next time!!

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I also ordered the tokoroten noodles, because I wanted to have fun extruding them using a tokoroten-tsuki (extruder for tokoroten).
The extruder for tokoroten consists of a oblong box shape with openings at both ends. One end has a wire grid, a large block of tokoroten is placed in the other opening and a piston is used to push it through the grid. The tokoroten-tsuki is also known as the ten-tsuki.

The tokoroten texture was like the chinese agar, but slightly firmer. It was slightly sour in taste, but the sweetness of the green tea evened it out, and the coldness of the green tea made the noodles even more icier. The green tea was kept cold with ice-cubes in the bowl.

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I have been there twice, the first visit I got free popcorn, the second visit a magazine was doing a feature there.
I will be back for the apple pie, and steamed milk pudding, and the kid's beer which is apple juice in a cute beer bottle.

Mystery mag shoot, which u will c wen published

[Review 961] Chinese noodle canteen @ 南記粉麵 Nam Kee Spring Roll Noodle Co. Ltd

06/01/2011

南記粉麵  Nam Kee Spring Roll Noodle Co. Ltd
灣仔春園街1-11號地下
G/F, 1-11 Sping Garden Lane, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chinese-noodle-canteen-e2141322





There are two Nam Kee joints in Wan Chai, however the one I went to was less efficient, the menu was very confusing, and it was like a Canteen, you need to order and pay first, and then leave your ticket with the food counter and collect it when it’s done.

The seating there is very cramped.

As for the food, you can’t expect much for Chinese noodles, tried the vermicelli and the ho-fun, the ho-fun was slightly better, the vermicelli was low-grade vermicelli with impurities, it was not pure white, but had grey particles in it.

Anyway, I came here for their signature spring rolls rather than the noodles, it is fish meat wrapped in beancurd skin.
They were rather good, because they didn’t contain grounded bone pieces but I believe there could be some pork it it.

The octopus balls were tasteless, but the texture of the octopus was not chewy, but springy.

For the sauces, there was Chili oil, preserved vegetables, and Chili sauce.
The preserved vegetables were good to give the soup some flavour and the Chili sauce had some spices in it.

[Review 960] Caramel apple spice winter drink @ 星巴克咖啡 Starbucks Coffee

06/01/2011
星巴克咖啡  Starbucks Coffee
銅鑼灣記利佐治街11-19號名店坊1樓F3及F5號舖
Shop F3 & F5, 1/F, 11-19 Great George Street, Fashion Walk, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/caramel-apple-spice-winter-drink-e2141251\


The new drink at Starbucks sounds interesting, it is hot apple juice rather than coffee, tea or milk as a base.

I wasnt quite sure what to expect, but the taste of cooked apples turn very sour.

From the product shot, I really liked the golden clear liquid topped with cream, however when I got mine, it was in a paper cup, and its best features couldn't be seen by others, it just looked like I was holding a normal coffee or some hot drink from Starbucks.

According to the US website for Starbucks, this drink is classified as a kids drink.
http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/kids-drinks-and-other/caramel-apple-spice?foodZone=9999

The Caramel apple spice winter drink is basically steamed, freshly pressed apple juice and cinnamon syrup, topped with sweetened whipped cream and caramel drizzle.
In the US, they also do a plain version (steamed apple juice without the cream).

I took my first sip, and it was better than expected, it wasn't the type of apple juice that you would get from a carton, it was like McDonalds apple pie filling in liquid form, it was slightly sour, but the sourness was not that eye squinting sourness of carton apple juice.

The spices in the drink made it pleasant, the whipped cream made the drink even more dreamy.
I would have loved more cream and caramel, it was like drinking apple pie.
If the cream was ice-cream, it would be like drinking apple pie and ice-cream.
But the whipped cream and caramel tasted perfect with the steamed apple juice.

[Review 959] Maz Maz Maz @ 匠 Mazter

04/10/2011
匠 Mazter
將軍澳坑口培成路15號連理街商場126號舖
Shop 126, 1/F, The Lane, 15 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/maz-maz-maz-e2140916











This is a newly opened Japanese restaurant that has replaced Fairwood, the front of the restaurant doesn’t reveal much.
The restaurant name which I actually thought was a picture was actually a Chinese character, hence it took me a while to find it on OpenRice, but the one listed was its main branch in Heng Fa Chuen, and the English was almost camouflaged within the logo.
There was only one large poster displaying the signature dishes and on the left was a corner selling Hokkaido ice cream with toppings for $23.
It was always packed with people since it opened a few weeks ago, so went there earlier to try it out.
The red wine sushi featured in the poster reminds me of the sushi at the closed down 1212+ at Langham place.
When we were taken to the seating, the restaurant was bigger than it looked, there was more seating behind the Chef’s bar round the corner.
The seating was fairly acceptable with round tables in the front of the restaurant.
The restaurant design was quite nice, wavy tiled mirrors and ceilings.
The choice of food was rather limited, ranging from curries, fried cutlets and noodles, the only items that I thought was interesting was the red wine sushi and hokkaido ice-cream.
The chopstick holder was quite cute, it held the chopsticks together, and when you take the chopsticks out of it, it can be used to rest the chopsticks on them.
The price of the food was slightly overpriced, around $55-$70 a la carte, and costs more if you order the meal.
Ordered salmon red wine sushi, beef in wine sauce with rice, and soba with prawn tempura.
Salmon red wine sushi:
Not as good as the one at 1212+ but it tasted ok, the red wine taste was rather faint.
Beef in wine sauce:
The wine was rather bland, and the rice was a little too hard
Steamed egg and soup:
Both these came with the set, the steamed egg was ok, and the soup had a strong taste of clams, in which there were about 4 clams in it.
Soba with tempura:
The noodles were slightly too cold, but the tempura was light, not too greasy.
The seaweed shreds were amazingly thin in width, about 3mm, thinner than the noodles.
Overall, the food was ok, but slightly overpriced, I think the ice-cream may be better.
For kids, the kids meal is quite cool, they serve the kids meal in a car.
see the stack of blue cars below!

[Review 958] As good as cheong fat noodles opposite @ 泰國路邊街美食

02/01/2011
泰國路邊街美食
九龍城城南道26號地舖
G/F, 26 South Wall Road, Kowloon City
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/as-good-as-cheong-fat-noodles-opposite-e2140547




The noodles here are as good as Cheong Fat, I ordered the boat noodles which is basically vermicelli in pork blood soup.
I was impressed it came with two pieces of crunchy fish stomach.
I ate them quickly before they become soft from soaking the broth.

The soup was not as rich as Cheong Fat, and they use long shaped bowls instead of round ones.
cheong fat review:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2052215

As well as that, I ordered rice with pork knuckle, the picked vegetables that came with it were nice, and not sweet.
pork knucle review at shau kei wan.
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2074675

This place is opposite the famous Cheong Fat which serves boat noodles too, so it is natrual that this is a second choice when it is full.

I ordered the thick soup with fish bladder, it was delux yet made cheap because it contained chicken feet and bamboo shoots and blood cubes.
It was nice but the taste was over powered by bamboo shoots and coriander.

[Review 957] Too sweet @ 檀島 Honolulu Cafe

02/01/2011

檀島 Honolulu Cafe'
將軍澳坑口培成路15號連理街商場134-135號https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/too-sweet-e2140421

Chose a savory bun and a sweet cake.

The savory bun I got was the herb bun, which was extremely chewy, embedded with lots of herbs.
It was also rather salty for bread.

The cake I got was a slice of white cake, it had a nice texture.
However it was too sweet.

There are other locations of honolulu, but the choice and taste is the traditional chinese bakery.

[Review 956] Chinese flying saucers @ 木子咖啡 Muzi Cafe

02/01/2011
木子咖啡 Muzi Cafe
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心2期UG樓百佳超級市場內
UG/F, Parknshop, MCP Central, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chinese-flying-saucers-e2140420







Usually toasted sandwiches are made in sandwich toaster, the finished product is basically a right angled triangle.
In the culture of HK, they have been known to be called "flying saucers" although I do not know why, the usual shape is not round and nothing in resembelance of a flying saucer.
Finally, I have found one that is round!

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Steps making the flying saucer
Fillings placed on normal square slices of bread
Sandwich in the toaster device
Edges cut off with scissors

It is the same as the normal toasted sandwiches except the toaster has a round imprint on it, after it is toasted, the edges are trimmed off, which is quite a waste, about 23% of the square bread is thrown away.
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There are four flavours, all are made with cucumber and tomato.

The flavours available are:
Tuna
Chicken breast
Duck breast
Salmon

Ordered the salmon and tuna.

Tuna toasted Sandwich:
The tuna was in creamy sauce, and was very messy to eat, as the filling kept overflowing when you bit into it.
The typical Chinese taste, not my cup of tea.
I would have liked it if it plain tuna and cheese.

Salmon toasted sandwich:
I was also expecting this to be nice, but there was too much mayonnaise in the middle making it sickly, and the cuts of salmon were not that nice either, it still had brown/grey bits on the salmon.

[Review 7821] Kaya toast @ 一粥麵 Super Super Congee & Noodle

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