[Review 1124] Free buffet thanks to Open Rice @ Harbour Grand Café

10/05/2011


Harbour Grand Café
北角油街23號港島海逸君綽酒店3樓
3/F, Harbour Grand Hong Kong, 23 Oil Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/free-buffet-thanks-to-open-rice-e2168462

Thanks to the coupons given by OpenRice I was able to have a free lunch there.
The hotel was very easy to get there, it is just a few roads across from Fortress Hill MTR facing the sea.
I really liked the dessert section especially the soufflés and the ice-cream, they also had yogurt ice-cream which tasted refreshing. The other flavours I liked were pistachio and chocolate.
They had free flow of juices, and it was fun mixing them, the melon one was nice, but slightly too sweet, but was nice after mixing it with grapefruit juice.
The chocolate earl grey cake is also a must try item, the chocolate taste is nicely infused with earl grey taste.
In the salad section, the mozzarella slices and tomato was nice with pesto dressing and pinenuts.

[Review 1123] Maxim's Laksa @ 美心MX Maxim's

10/05/2011
美心MX  Maxim's MX
將軍澳重華路8號東港城1樓108舖
Shop 108, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/maxims-laksa-e2168461

Found out there was Laksa, so ordered one.

There was a choice of chicken or beef, so I picked the beef and also ordered the dessert because it looked colourful on the menu.

Laksa:
The Laksa was quite good for Maxim's standard, especially the soup.
The soup is thinner than the authentic ones, but it was slightly spicy and has a strong prawn base flavouring.
The only thing that let it down was the vermicelli, it does not soak up the soup.
It was a case of vermicelli tasting like vermicelli, unless you put the soup in your mouth as well.
The Laksa had the combination of basic ingredients that i felt were Vietnamese, such as Vietnamese sausage, shredded chicken, and tofu puffs.

Dessert:
This came with the noodles for an $8, it consisted of three pieces of sweet puddings: sweetcorn pudding, taro and sago pudding and red bean pudding.
The taro was quite bland, and the sago pearls kept falling out.
The sweetcorn one was a bit sweet but was the best.
The redbean one is not my cup of tea, but the jelly that bound it together was crystal clear and pretty.
The spoon that came with the dessert was really really nice!

Overall MX's food seems to be improving, especially the packaging and cutlery.
Previously I had caramel milk tea because I liked the cup they used not because of the drink!
Caramel tea:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2105652

[Review 1122] Finally got the sweet potato steamed bun @ 唐記包點 Tong Kee Bao Dim

10/05/2011
唐記包點 Tong Kee Bao Dim
將軍澳尚德邨尚德商場地下5號舖
Shop 5, G/F, Sheung Tak Shopping Centre, Sheung Tak Estate, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/finally-got-the-sweet-potato-steamed-bun-e2168460

Previously tried the taro bun which was nice, but this was even nicer, no wonder it is ALWAYS sold out.
Anyway, this branch is quite good, because it has been here for along time, so most people have tried it the sweet potato.
The sweet potato steamed bun costs $3.5 and the shape is oval and also lilac in colour, the top of the bun has some lines on it to distinguish it from the taro, even though the shape already does.

[Review 1121] Stir Fried Glass noodles @ Ra Cha Moo Yang 超級食得開心

10/05/2011
Ra Cha Moo Yang 超級食得開心 (灣仔)
灣仔軒尼詩道87號AB舖
Shop AB, 87 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/fried-glass-noodles-e2168268

Previously tried stir-fried Korean noodles, which are glass noodles but are thicker in diameter.
This time I tried the Thai version, it reminded me of the bean thread noodles that the Filipino’s serve.
The Thai version was slightly sweeter, and it had cabbages and egg.

[Review 1120] Bamboo Cake @ 百伏棧台灣小吃 Greenland Taiwanese Cuisine

09/05/2011

百伏棧台灣小吃 Greenland Taiwanese Cuisine
灣仔莊士敦道181號大有廣場2樓201號舖
Shop 201, 2/F, Tai Yau Plaza, 181 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/bamboo-cake-e2168267

Tried the Taiwanese version of glutinous rice, it was similar to the Chinese glutinous rice with waxed meat (laap mei faan).
The Taiwanese version contains dried shrimps and peanuts and topped with pork floss and spring onions. There was sweet soy sauce surrounding it.
I found the glutinous rice slightly too hard, and the sauce too sweet.
However I preferred it to the Chinese version because it contains less meat and doesn’t have that preserved waxy odour.

[Review 1119] Huge improvement @ 波記車仔撈麵

波記車仔撈麵 (已結業)
灣仔廈門街7-17號百旺都中心地下B舖
Shop B, G/F, Hundred City Centre, 7-17 Amoy Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/%E6%B3%A2%E8%A8%98%E8%BB%8A%E4%BB%94%E6%92%88%E9%BA%B5-e2168266

Since my last visit, there has been tremendous improvements, they offer more variety and have a dinner set in the evening which is really good.
Apart from noodles, they also do grilled items such as seafood, mushrooms and other things.
The range of noodles has improved and now they have spinach noodles.
I had spinach noodles in sauce, this time there was more sauce.
I got the fried pork intestines too, a snack that I normally wouldn’t eat.
I was surprised how clean they were.
They were slightly chewy yet crispy on the outside.
It had spices sprinkled on it.

Overall, the shop is very clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful.

[Review 1118] Japanese style Western Restaurant @ Pokka Cafe

09/05/2011

Pokka Cafe
將軍澳常寧路2號TKO Gateway東翼1樓140-141號舖
Shop 140-141, 1/F, East Wing, TKO Gateway, 2 Sheung Ning Street, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/japanese-style-western-restaurant-e2168265

POKKA café is just one of those restaurants that has always been around.

It didn’t really appeal to me before, because the food is just similar to a combination of other western style Japanese restaurants.

Browsed the menu, it was just curries, ramens and steaks.

In the end just ordered a salmon and avocado toast and a Japanese style Korean bento containing grilled beef, soup and Korean sides.
The toast tasted how it should, however the cuts of the salmon were not that good because it contained grey bits in it.
The Korean bento was quite good, but it felt slightly Japanese with the miso soup, and the cucumber and octopus in wasabi soy sauce.
The Wasabi sauce was actually rather hot.

In general, the food was acceptable, but I felt the pricing was overpriced.