[Review 1017] Cosy or Alfresco lunch under the trees, ur choice! @ 穌棧 Cafe y Taberna

16/03/2011
穌棧  Cafe y Taberna
灣仔廈門街25號地下
G/F, 25 Amoy Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cosy-or-alfresco-lunch-under-the-trees-ur-choice-e2155626

Café Y Taberna was first opened in Tai Hang, a cosy place for coffee, cakes and burgers.

The menu is illustrated on a chalkboard with drawings.

Now another branch of CafeY Taberna has emerged on Amoy Street of Wan Chai, the exterior, name and fonts remain the same as the Tai Hang branch, however the food is slightly different.
The food served at Wan Chai for lunch is purely Thai, there are various lunch sets that range from noodles and rice inclusive of drinks and dessert for about $40.

During the early hours of lunch, it was already filled with people and queues outside, yet I saw the waitress bringing food from the restaurant across the road.
I initially thought there was another building nearby where people could go out to eat, however it turns out the waitress in the silver waistcoat was bringing food to the sit out area across the street.
The other noodle that was ordered tasted nice too, it was egg noodles with chicken in satay sauce, it had rich satay sauce with lots of crushed peanuts.

For drinks had the longan iced water, which was quite healthy since a lot of drinks in hK are too sweet, but this one was just right.

The dessert that day was coconut pudding, not the orange agar jelly I was expecting.

For takeaways you do not get dessert, but you are paying the same price as dine in!!!

While I sat there, I saw someone who ordered takeaway asked where the dessert was and the waitress snapped and said “EAT IN – HAVE, TAKE OUT, DON HAVE”

But anyway expect a very busy crowd there during lunchtimes!!

[Review 1016] Japanese Curry Shop by Flipino's @ Curry Bee

16/03/2011
Curry Bee
銅鑼灣謝斐道524號地下
G/F, 524 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/japanese-curry-shop-by-flipinos-e2155624

Bee Japanese Curry Shop has been a long-standing Japanese curry in Causeway Bay.
As the curries looked quite Japanese I assumed the Japanese opened it, but it is actually opened by the Filipino’s.
Initially I didn’t realise until the waitresses spoke in English, then the name occurred to me it could be Filipino ie Joli bee and Bee Japanese?
Anyway ordered the soba in curry soup, as not many places have soba noodles in curry soup.
The curry sauce was not watered down and relatively thick, the spiciness of it was slightly too spicy for me, but it was nice having soba in curry soup.
The noodles were topped with various Japanese mushrooms as garnishing and the soba noodles were slightly different to the regular ones, they were not uniformly extruded, some where wider in width than others.
The spinach in the noodles were surprisingly nice, they were sweet with a sugary stem which soothed the spiciness of the curry.
The milk pudding that came with it was meagre, but tasted very nice and milky.

[Review 1015] Getting “Dressed” with an Avocado Smoothie @ Dressed

14/03/2011
Dressed
灣仔皇后大道東202號 QRE Plaza 地下1號舖
Shop 1, G/F, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/getting-dressed-with-an-avocado-smoothie-e2155207

Saw some interesting smoothies, so got the Minted Avocado smoothie.

The other interesting one I wanted to get too was the Raspberry cheesecake.

There are nine smoothies to choose from and they mostly contain vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup.

On the poster, the nine smoothies were:
Mango tango (Mango juice, Apple juice, apple, mango and syrup),
Minted avocado (Avocado, mint leaves, milk, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
Peanut butter and jelly (banana, strawberry, peanut butter, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
Gingered pear (pear, ginger, milk, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
Pretty peaches (peach, mango, milk, vanilla yoghurt and peach syrup),
Banana and berry (Banana, mixed berry, apple juice, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
Raspberry cheesecake (raspberry, cream cheese, milk, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
Fruits of the forest (blueberry, strawberry, milk, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup),
The classic (banana, strawberry, apple juice, vanilla yoghurt and simple syrup)

I don’t usually like mint, because it is fake mint syrup or artificial flavouring, but here it is fresh mint that tastes Ok, same as the minted pea soup at the Limehouse.
The smoothie had a cooling lime mint colour, and it was thick with fine icy particles in it.

Although it was quite a heavy smoothie, it was very healthy in the sense that it was at the right sweetness level, it was not syrupy sweet, and you could taste each of the elements, ie the avocado, the vanilla yoghurt and the sweetness lingering.
The mint couldn’t be tasted at all, which was fine because I didn’t like mint anyway, and overall, you could also taste the slight savouryness of the avocado.

I was really surprised by it, and went back for the Raspberry cream cheese.

Getting “Dressed” with a Raspbry cheze cake Smu Fi
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2156979

[Review 1014] Lemon cheesecake @ Pret A Manger

14/03/2011
Pret A Manger
灣仔皇后大道東1號太古廣場三座B3樓1-2號舖
Shop 1-2, B3/F, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lemon-cheesecake-pret-e2155195

Got the lemon cheesecake here because the texture of the cheese was as light as mousse.
I would have preferred it, if it was more tangy.
As a cheesecake, it tastes as good as the Lemon cheesecake from UK's Marks and spencer, but the taste isnt so strong.
If it could taste more tangy, I would be back for more.
Overall it was very mousse like and the cheese taste wasnt strong. I would have liked a ginger biscuit base too.
Whilst taking the cheesecake out, there was a label stuck on the cheesecake box, which I usually rip of with brut force, but somehow I peeled it off gently and found a "cute" note about their "nasty" packaging.

[Review 1013] Taiwanese version of the obanyaki (Imagawayaki) @ 醬爆果子燒

11/03/2011
醬爆果子燒 (已結業)
尖沙咀加連威老道34-36號GI商場地下G27號舖
Shop G27, G/F, GI Shopping Mall, 34-36 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/taiwanese-version-of-the-obanyaki-imagawayaki-e2154628

This shop looked interesting, tiny but with all the intricate details of a Taiwanese stall.

The snacks look exactly like the Japanese obanyaki's which are filled with savoury or sweet fillings.
It is made of batter and heated in the waffle iron and the filled with fillings. The common fillings are custard, fruits, red beans, and other savoury items.

As well as round ones, they also have triangular ones!!
http://www.wretch.cc/album/show.php?i=cash104&b=2&f=1139305211&p=17
http://www.wretch.cc/album/show.php?i=cash104&b=2&f=1139649261&p=87

However these are more artistic because the shell has a different coloured batter that creates a pattern as shown on their poster.
The slight difference is that the two halves are not completely sealed, so the fillings ooze out, so perhaps this is why they are called "jeung bau" but it makes it very messy to eat.

There were ten flavours to choose from, printed on their paper bags:
Cheese and onion with chicken
Black peppar, sweetcorn and tuna
Rich taro
Strawberry and cream
Peach and custard
Original custard
Green tea and red bean puree
Original red beans
Belgian chocolate and custard

They cost $10 each, or $27 for three, so I got three and tried the following flavours, 2 savoury and 1 sweet.

Black pepper, sweetcorn and tuna

Cheese, onion and chicken

Peach and custard

After paying, I was given a ticket, so I took a walk around the area, I managed to buy other snacks slowly and returned they were still not ready, but I could see that they were making one flavour at each time.


When they were done, they were presented in box, the halves were not really sealed, which is very messy to eat, so decided to eat them in halves.

The peach one was nice, the filling for the savoury alone were good, especially the pepper, because it was freshly grounded black pepper.
However for the savoury one, the batter was sweet, which didnt really go well together.
The batter could have been cooked more thoroughly because the outside was crispy, but the inside was still floury.

Not sure if they are meant to be like that, because for the Japanese version, the filling is totally encased inside the shell.

[Review 1012] Interesting beef patty cakes @ 潮苑正宗潮州粉麵 Chiu Yuen Chiu Chow Noodle

11/03/2011
潮苑正宗潮州粉麵 Chiu Yuen Chiu Chow Noodle
灣仔春園街37號地下
G/F 37 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/interesting-beef-patty-cakes-e2154621

Tried their signature beef patty cakes, flat disc shapes of beef patty.

I thought the texture was going to be soft like the usual minced patties, but it was hard like minced chicken and gristle.
The beef taste wasn’t that strong, as for the noodles, they all taste the same, unless the broth is extra strong or tasteless, or the vermicelli is thinner or thicker.

As for the squid it was so soft!!

Apart from that, they had an English menu which was Brilliant especially for a noodle shop.

[Review 1011] Steamed egg white with Hasmar Jelly @

09/03/2011
許留山 Hui Lau Shan
銅鑼灣怡和街2-6號地下3號舖
Shop 3, G/F, 2-6 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/steamed-egg-white-with-hasmar-jelly-e2154349

There are various versions of steamed egg white, hasmar jelly, bird's nest and the plain one.

The taste of the egg white was bland, but you could taste a hint of ginger, but no milkyness or eggyness.

Anyway, the hasmar jelly and the bird's nest are just added on top if you choose those ones.