[Review 1024] Seaside rock (NOT A REVIEW 不是食評) @ Sticky

20/03/2011
Sticky
尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館B201舖
Shop B201, K11 Art Mall, 18 Hanoi Road,, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/seaside-rock-not-a-review-%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E9%A3%9F%E8%A9%95-e2156389
FIRSTLY THIS IS NOT A FOOD REVIEW, BUT I WILL BE HERE AND AT PAPABUBBLE SOON TO GET SOME CANDY

Anyway I was so happy to see them opening in HK, I found out about Papabubble first then when this one opened another choice for me to go, although the style is slightly different than home, they are displayed in lovely jars and presented attractively in a bright store.

These candies are actually known as SEASIDE ROCK in the UK, they are a traditional British seaside tubular boiled sweets sold as souvenir of that town. The rock is wrapped in clear plastic with pictures of the town inserted in between the rock and the wrapper.
It is a hard stick-shaped boiled sugar confectionery that is usually flavoured with peppermint or spearmint.
It is commonly sold at tourist (usually seaside) resorts in the UK (like Brighton or Blackpool); in Ireland in seaside towns such as Bray and Strandhill; in Denmark in towns such as Løkken and Ebeltoft; and in Sydney and Tasmania, Australia.

The rock usually takes the form of a cylindrical stick ("a stick of rock"), normally 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) to 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) to 10 inches (25 cm) long. Blackpool rock is usually at least an inch in diameter, and can be as thick as six inches across and up to six feet long when made for special retail displays. These cylinders usually have a pattern embedded throughout the length, which is often the name of the resort where the rock is sold, so that the name can be read on both ends of the stick (reversed at one end) and remains legible even after pieces are bitten off. Rock is also manufactured as a promotional item, for example with a company name running through it.

They even have rocks with personalised names too.

Personalised rock
It is sometimes found in the form of individual sweets, with writing or a pattern in the centre; these are, in effect, 'slices' of rock.

In Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock, the character Ida says, "It's like those sticks of rock: bite it all the way down, you'll still read Brighton." This novel has now released on film, but not sure if it will make it into HK cinemas although it was mainly filmed in Victorian Eastbourne.


Personalised rock
They can be eaten like a stick by biting it, a bit like the Chinese eating Sugar cane!

Interestingly, Cheung Chau is a nice seaside town with cute stalls and hand-made crafts, it would be good if they had Cheung Chau rock, now thats a thought!

Anyway I am looking forward to coming here and Papabubble, because they have many flavours and are exquisitely done, and the jars are so pretty.

[Review 1023] Taro roll with egg pudding in the middle @ 新台場 New Odaiba

19/03/2011
新台場 New Odaiba
旺角弼街51號B舖
Shop B, 51 Bute Street, , Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/taro-roll-with-egg-pudding-in-the-middle-e2156250
I got this because taro and egg pudding were interesting, it was a swiss roll made of taro flavouring, filled with taro paste and in the centre there was egg pudding in the middle.

It looked quite interesting, yellow and purple, both colours that complement each other in the colourwheel.
These are frozen cakes, so need de-thawing.

Anyway, it had a nice sweet taro aroma, the texture of the pudding in the middle seemed tougher than I imagined.
The overall sweetness wasn’t that sweet which was good, I would have liked the texture of pudding to be like cream because it was like tough jelly which is a big contrast to soft cake.
It was so tough that you can push a fork into it, and there would be an imprint of the fork!!

[Review 1022] Pretty patisserie @ Pantry bread and pastries

18/03/2011

Pantry Bread & Pastries (已結業)
銅鑼灣百德新街50-56號唐寧大廈地下D舖
Shop D, G/F, Towning Mansion, 50-56 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/pretty-patisserie-pantry-bread-and-pastries-e2156066

There are a lot of high end patisseries around, and there was one cake that really drew me here, the apple bavarois.
Previously I had a hazelnut bavarois at Chez Patrick Deli.
It seems to be spelt bava"r"ois but at Chez Patrick it is spelt bava"v"ois, but then Chez Patrick shouldnt be wrong as they have native French chefs there.

The display had a nice selection of cakes; I couldn’t decide between the carrot and yoghurt and the chocolate and raspberry, but in the end I picked the chocolate and raspberry.
The cakes that I got were the apple bavarois, strawberry macaroon and the chocolate and raspberry cake.

During transportation, the strawberry macaroon did a roly poly somersault and the top broke off and went backside down, while the apple bavarois skidded to the side and the chocolate and raspberry just fainted sideways on the apple bavarois toppling all the berry decorations all over the place!

Despite the disaster, all turned out well, all of them were delicious.

Strawberry macaroon:
In the patisserie, this was the prettiest of them all, it looked like a pink éclair, a macaroon extruded instead of the shape of a circle. There were five layers. I was expecting the macaroon layer to be extremely sweet but it wasn’t, the texture was slightly soft.
In between the macaroon layers were strawberry cream and strawberry jelly, fresh raspberries, which was very refreshing for a macaroon without that cloyingly sweet taste. Best of all the raspberries in the cake were kept very fresh.
The strawberry cream was intense in colour and it was interesting they had fresh raspberries as a layer when it was a strawberry macaroon.
Apple bavarois:
The taste reminded me of the apple yoghurt I had at Starbucks, very refreshing, with light whipped apple mousse and pieces of apple with a crisp texture.
There was a light green shell covering the cake, it was a bit like white chocolate but flavoured gently with apple. In the centre there was apple jelly and pieces of apple. I also found pieces of orange bits which were peach or mango, but not strong enough to be tasted.
Apple yoghurt at starbucks: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2094952

Chocolate and raspberry:
A layer of thin chocolate sauce covered this cake and in-between were layers of chocolate cream and a layer of raspberry jelly.
The raspberry could have been strong, but the jelly layer tasted similar to the macaroon one.
The cake base was slightly hard though.
All the fruit cakes had a fruit flavoured jelly layer in them, next time I am going to try the carrot one because of the yoghurt layer on top. The cakes were all at the right sweetness, which was really good because you can try several cakes at one time without feeling sickly.

[Review 1021] Lumpy but nice egg tarts @ 快樂餅店 Happy Cake Shop

18/03/2011
快樂餅店  Happy Cake Shop
灣仔皇后大道東106號地下
G/F, No. 106 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lumpy-but-nice-egg-tarts-e2155993

This is one of those small well-established bakeries with its own regular customers; I have walked past it many times, but never really been attracted to it.
The shop has those signature old green tilings on the floor, blackened trays containing bakery.
They sell the traditional items that the local Chinese bakeries do such as donuts, chicken pies, paper wrapped cakes, cream filled hornets, chinese style cookies, pineapple buns and more.
Being an old bakery, I decided to get some paper wrapped cakes and egg tarts.
The egg tarts had a lumpy surface.
The paper-wrapped cakes looked how it was supposed to be.
All their cakes come wrapped in their own personalised wrapping.
I don’t usually get paper wrapped cakes, because you can get them in the UK, but the ones here were interesting and I can understand why they are called paper wrapped cakes, because they are literally wrapped in four separate  square pieces of paper.
The only negative comment was that the ink came off the wrapping and on to the cake.

Egg Tart:
Although lumpy, the filling was quite firm and tasted palatable.

Paper wrapped cake:
Just tasted how it should, the usual chinese cake taste.

[Review 1020] An honest owner that deserves an "icy praise 冰讚" @ 冰讚

17/03/2011

冰讚
灣仔譚臣道5號地下
G/F, 5 Thomson Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/an-honest-owner-that-deserves-an-icy-praise-%E5%86%B0%E8%AE%9A-e2155831

Amongst all the Chinese cafes on Thompson Road, this dessert shop stood out being bright orange.

However during lunchtimes there are crowds of people at the restaurants beside it, so if you are at the entrance of Thompson road, it is probably blocked out of view.

During lunch hours, I doubt people would stop by for dessert unless they serve lunch sets.
Anyway I liked the decoration and the chain of brightly coloured balls on the ceiling.
Not sure how authentic it claims to be, but it did have interesting items such as Honey Aiyu Jelly and Dessert with eight treasures.
The menu was good because it had English.

I got the Honey Aiyu jelly dessert because usually you just find it as a side on snowflake ice and in drinks.


It was a big bowl of Honey Aiyu Jelly in sweet liquid, about 60% jelly and 40% liquid, without the liquid it would be tasteless, same as how grass jelly is served.
The liquid tasted like prune juice, it was slightly sour and refreshing, then it tasted like lemon, although it was meant to be honey. Overall, the aiyu jelly was refreshing and the honey wasn’t too sweet.

As for the grass jelly with sweet dumplings, the liquid for the grass jelly was too sweet, and the dumplings were a bit too floury. The grass jelly was in big chunks.

When I ordered the grass jelly, the owner said there are no strawberries as featured in the product picture.
I really appreciated the honestly rather than complaining there were no strawberries.
Hence that explains my title [An honest owner that deserves an "icy praise 冰讚" IN A GOOD WAY!!!!]
Next time I should try their savoury snacks, especially the fried tofu skin and octopus strips.

[Review 1019] The stars at STAR STREET @ Chez Patrick Deli

15/03/2011
Chez Patrick Deli
灣仔星街3號地下
G/F, 3 Star Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-stars-at-star-street-e2155809

Nearby Star Street used to be Chez Patrick with sturdy black wooden frame windows, however it is now the new French Deli in Wan Chai.

Across the road there is Classified, the area is just perfect for European diners.
I prefer the new Chez Patrick Deli, you can just walk in and grab some cakes or delicatessens.
They have wooden shelves with Jam, honey and teabags for sale.

There are native French Chefs there too.

Anyway I got the Vanilla éclair and Hazelnut Bavavois.

Vanilla éclair:
The choux part of the éclair was slightly hard, so was the icy, but inside there was custard cream
Hazelnut Bavavois:
This was quite heavy, but there many pieces of hazelnut in it.
For improvements: They should provide forks for takeaway.

[Review 1018] Expensive fried egg and luncheon meat with rice @ 昌記茶餐廳 Cheong Kee Restaurant

15/03/2011

昌記茶餐廳 Cheong Kee Restaurant
灣仔譚臣道8號地下 8 Thompson Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/expensive-fried-egg-and-luncheon-meat-with-rice-e2155808

This place is famous for fried egg with soy sauce, with a combination of either vegetable curry, luncheon meat, or roasted pork.
The set cost $30 which includes the usual chinese drink.
Basically it is bed of rice with two pieces of fried luncheon meat and a fried egg.
This simple dish should taste nice, but somehow I found the egg overfried and rubbery, and the luncheon meat was very dry.
The other people around me had a nice runny egg, but mine was overdone.
The soy sauce was tasteless.
I think if it tasted nice, then $30 is very well spent, but since it was a bit dry, I felt that I was paying too much since it was only a plain fried egg and luncheon meat.
But then maybe I just happened to get one that was over done, because the people queuing for this place is huge, so it cant be that bad.