[Review 1068] Modernised Chinese tea joint @ Leaf Tea Boutique

18/04/2011
Leaf Tea Boutique
中環威靈頓街83號地下
G/F, 83 Wellington Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/modernised-chinese-tea-joint-e2163008

I am not a coffee person, but I do love tea, especially English Tea, Chinese tea is also nice as well.

My favourite is Jasmine, but I needed something to tone down my thirst from the noodles at Butao.

I chose "Phoenix tea" with a slight bitter taste, because with Jasmine, it just makes you drink more.

The shop was quite modernised with those Chinese drawers you find in Herbal medicine shops but with a lighter shade of wood.
There were jars of tea, so you could smell before you choose your drink.
They even sold macaroons.
The teas cost around $30 per cup, which is similar to the prices of cofffee at Starbucks and Pacific Coffee, there were magazines as well.
Although, there was quite a choice for tea, it was still not as comprehensive as the choice at J Marriot (Canton Tea Shop), although it costs more at JW at $65 per pot.
The tea selection was divided into Green, Black and Red.
For takeaway tea's, the cups look like the coffee ones at SB and PC which are very modern.
I drank my tea there, but was slightly disappointed by the teaware they used, it was so modern, but then I suppose they were used to match the environment.
I was looking forward to those mini teapots and tiny cups.
Overall, I really liked this shop as it gives me an alternative to drink tea instead of drinking tea at coffee shops and they have an English menu too.

[Review 1067] Baked seafood @ 肥妹燒烤小食

18/04/2011
肥妹燒烤小食

大澳街市街21號地下
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/baked-seafood-e2163006

Basically, they only serve seafood here, baked oyster with cheese, baked scallop, baked prawns with cheese, grilled abalone, and whelks in chili sauce.

Tried the baked oyster and whelks in chili sauce.

The portion of whelks in chili sauce for $45 was rather small, it was quite spicy but tasted ok.

The baked oyster was a bit disappointing for $20, because the size of the oyster shell was big, but it had two tiny oysters beneath it.
I wonder where the original went.
The oyster was covered in cheese wth bacon bits.
I suppose if people want to try the oyster, then two people can just get one.

[Review 1066] Jellied worms if you dare to try @ 閩南小食館 Mun Nam Restaurant

18/04/2011
閩南小食館 Mun Nam Restaurant
北角錦屏街25號地下
G/F, 25 Kam Ping Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/jellied-worms-if-you-dare-to-try-e2163004

This joint specialising in Mun Nam cuisine is located in the back streets of uphill North Point, opposite Saizeriya.
It has a grey feel to it and a distinctive smell, the people look different, and a weird language is spoken.

I have always wanted to try these jellied worms, but the minimum order is two, so I reckon I would be freaked out twice if I had them!!
I wanted to try, but I just couldn’t, so in the end I ordered the chicken rolls and the noodles in sauce.

Chicken roll:
This is similar to the rolls in Chiu Chow cuisine, fried beancurd rolls with meat inside, the taste was nice, especially the dipping sauce, but there was lots of white fat in it.

Noodles in Sauce:
To me, this was exactly like canned spaghetti, lots of sauce and overly soft noodles.
However the sauce was much better than the tomato sauce you get in canned spaghetti, it contained oysters, vegetables and fatty meat.
The sauce was slightly peppery and creamy.

[Review 1065] Pray for Japan fundraising event @ 豚王 Butao Ramen

18/04/2011
豚王 Butao Ramen
中環蘭桂坊和安里8-13號和安樓地下
G/F, Wo On Building, 8-13 On Lane Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/pray-for-japan-fundraising-event-butao-e2162998

Found out from Open Rice that Butao is usually closed on Sundays, but for a special cause they were open on 17th of April, and all profits that day would be donated to Japan.
Instead of serving 200 bowls per day, it was increased to 280 bowls, so more funds could be raised.

Upon queuing up, there was a guy from that Charity helping out with giving out the menu's and the Pray for Japan badge.

Sat down and ordered the GREEN KING.

I chose the noodles to be super hard because they get softer towards the end.
The Japanese char siu really astonished me, it tasted like the roast pork that is thinly sliced in school dinners.
I have always refused to eat Japanese char siu because it dosnt taste that fresh, but here it was so soft and fresh.

Every element in the noodles was good, from spring onions, black fungus, pork to the noodles.

I shall be back for the Black King!

This is not a detailed review, a more detailed review will be posted later.

[Review 1064] Blue iced donuts @ ROCCA Bakery

17/04/2011
ROCCA Bakery (已結業)
灣仔機利臣街6-14 號基利大廈地舖C1
Shop C1, G/F, Kelly House, No. 6-14 Gresson Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/blue-iced-donuts-e2162897

Last time I wanted to get the mini ring donuts, but they didn't have them.

This time they had iced ring donuts in pretty colours, blue, pink, brown and white with rainbow sprinkles.

Pity I didn’t take a picture, because the price label said $3, which is about right for a tiny donut of that size.

However when I was at the till, the total came to $10 for two donuts, which is slightly expensive considering I got mini muffins at that size for $3.5 at Rocca last time.

It seems they have handwriting issue because last time the 3.5 was written to look like 3.0, this time the $3 they claimed to be $5.

Anyway I should have taken a picture then, but I asked them if the donuts were $3 or $5 when I paid,
they removed the label and replaced it with a bold written $5, so it must have been misleading if they had to take that course of action.

Perhaps printed price labels next time would help?

The blue donut was interesting, I asked what flavour it was, and the baker told me it was CHOCOLATE, very interesting, blue coloured chocolate, however I couldn’t really taste any chocolate, it just tasted like crunchy icing sugar to me.

[Review 1063] Chic and hip branch in central @ 五代同糖 Five Generations Dessert

17/04/2011
五代同糖 Five Generations Dessert
中環蘭桂坊6號地下
G/F, 6 Lan Kwai Fong, Centralhttps://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chic-and-hip-branch-in-central-e2162896

Previous tried the brulee, apple crumble and snowflake ice.
This time made a mistake and ordered the fried durian.
It's not that I don't like durian but the way it was executed.
In the description, it is described as a hot and cold snack, the outer being hot from frying and the inside being cold durian.
The roll is wrapped using Vietnamese rice paper which was not the melt in your mouth rice paper that you find in sweets.
 When it came, it had an old oil smell. The Vietnamese rice paper was not the rice paper I was thinking of, it was the netted one which has a crisper and harder texture.
The rolls were very oily, I thought the glistening liquid beneath the rolls were syrup, but it was oil.
I even used a tissue to soak up the oil on the roll before eating.
On the picture you can see the bottom side of the roll, which is soaked with yellow oil

Anyway, the durian taste was overpowered by the greasiness of the oil and the netted rice paper.
I felt like I was eating fried Dim Sum.

[Review 1062] Delicious marine delights @ 文輝墨魚丸大王 Man Fai

17/04/2011

文輝墨魚丸大王 Man Fai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/delicious-marine-delights-e2162895

This place is quite famous for a few things, cuttlefish balls, baby squids, and octopus heads.
The noodles served here are basically flat rice noodles but luckily they had spinach noodles as well.
I ordered the spinach noodles in Satay sauce with octopus, the noodles were slightly chewy.
The fish rolls were yummy, it had carrots and spring onions inside.
When they were served, they were inflated, and after cooling, they shriveled up!