[Review 1208] Peanut mocha frappuccino @ 星巴克咖啡 Starbucks Coffee

08/07/2011
星巴克咖啡 Starbucks Coffee
灣仔軒尼詩道314-324號 W Square 地下A舖
Shop A, G/F, W Square, 314-324 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/peanut-mocha-frappuccino-starbucks-e2180365

Originally went in to try the ice shaken lemon tea, but end up getting the new Peanut mocha.

There were two drinks in the Peanut series, the Peanut mocha and Peanut chocolate chip cream.
If I had saw the other chocolate chip cream poster, I would have ordered that because I am not fond of coffee, but I got the Peanut mocha for the fun of it.

The Peanut mocha contains: Mocha sauce, peanut syrup, Starbucks coffee, topped with whipped cream and caramel peanut drizzle and the Peanut chocolate chip cream contains Mocha sauce, peanut syrup, chocolate chip, topped with whipped cream and caramel peanut drizzle.

When I got my Peanut mocha, I felt I had made the right choice, the coffee wasn’t as that strong, but the bitterness of it balanced out the sweetness of the peanut syrup.
In this case, the Monin’s peanut syrup worked, some of their syrups taste nice and some don’t.

[Review 1207] Green Tea Beverages at Tai Koo Shing Foodcourt @ MOS Burger

06/07/2011
MOS Burger
太古太古城道18號太古城中心二期地庫1樓L號舖
Shop L, Basement 1/F., Cityplaza 2, 18 Taikoo Shing Road, Quarry Bay, Tai Koo
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/green-tea-beverages-mos-tks-food-court-e2179930

Couldn’t decide whether to get the hot or the iced green tea so ended up getting both.


It was more expensive getting the drinks a la carte than paying extra money when ordering set meals.
But anyway, I wasn’t hungry so I just got the drinks.

Both the cold and hot version cost $20 per cup.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hot green tea
The smell and taste was bitter, it reminded me of DRIED FISH FOOD, the stuff you feed fish with!!!
The smell and taste was really strong. The milk in the green tea was not creamy.
The foamy hot chocolate at MOS tastes better than the green tea.

Foamy hot chocolate @ MOS
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2159429
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Iced green tea
This was sweeter than the hot version and powdery.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Overall, the iced version was better.

[Review 1206] Ebeneezer's has slightly changed @ Ebeneezer's Kebabs & Pizzeria

06/07/2011
Ebeneezer's Kebabs & Pizzeria
灣仔駱克道89號灣仔中匯大廈地下4號舖
Shop 4, G/F, Wanchai Central Bldg, 89 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/ebeneezers-has-slightly-changed-e2179902

Havent been here for a while, but the people and management have changed quite alot.

The staff are different and the menu prices have gone up, it used to be around $40 per meal including drinks, now it costs $45.

They now have one Chinese staff there, probably to deal with local orders.

Anyway, it makes no difference to me as long as they can speak English.

Got a chicken curry, it still tastes as good as before.

[Review 1205] King of the purple minded pasta, worth da wait @ Purplemind Cafe

06/07/2011
Purplemind Cafe
旺角煙廠街31號地下
G/F, 31 Yin Chong Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/king-of-the-purple-minded-pasta-worth-da-wait-e2179873


Most of the reviews here are on coffee, but as I do not drink coffee, I tried their pastas.

It costs around $48-$60 per dish, and caters for vegetarians too with vegetarian version of meat.
I wanted to order the vegetarian pastas but it cost more than the meat ones.
Anyway their non-vegetarian pastas range was brilliant as well.

ALL of their pasta dishes were al-dente and the chef carefully laid the pasta on the dish neatly and garnished it with herbs.
For all of the pasta dishes you can choose the type pasta you prefer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Stir fried bolognaise fettuccini:
The fettuccine was al-dente, the width of the fettuccine was nearing parpardelle pasta.
The fettuccine was stir-fried in the bolognaise sauce which contained finely diced onions and green peppers. The diced onions and green peppers was cooked just right, it was still crisp.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Spicy prawn and basil pasta:
The prawns in this were really fresh and not the frozen ones.
The spicyness level was just right, not too spicy, but enough to agree that it was spicy.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Linguine with stir fried clams and black pepper:
This was also good, it was virtually non oily.
The clams were fresh, but perhaps the black pepper was slightly too strong and dominated the taste.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Linguine with stir fried clams and garlic:
This tasted even better than the one with the black pepper.
The clams were fresh.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Cheese and tomato toast:
This was really nice, it reminded me of using grated cheese on bread and grilling it. The tomato went well with the cheese because the cheese was not the processed type.
However I would of preferred the toast not so burnt just like the ones served in the previous food reviews.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Beetroot juice:
This was a mix of beetroot, apple, pineapple and honey.
The proportions of apple and pineapple were well balanced that the sourness of the apple and pineapple did not over power the beetroot.
When it was served, there was lovely frothy foam on the top.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
This cafe is good for dog lover, there are so many pet pictures plastered on the walls and cute dogs at the cafe too.
I have been there a few times and only seen one cat, it would be good if there were more cats too, because the logo of the restaurant features a cat.

[Review 1204] So ho way to the land of magic happiness @ SohoWay

05/07/2011
SohoWay
中環擺花街8號地下2號舖
Shop 2, G/F, 8 Lyndhurst Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/so-ho-way-to-the-land-of-magic-happiness-e2179803

Found out that this place has interesting drinks such as coffee with wasabi, chili or lava salt, so went there to try out their drinks.

This cafe is situated on Lyndhurst Street, near the real Soho.

I was expecting it to be Western style but it was Taiwanese/Hong Kong style.

They had a tea set featuring the local Chinese milk tea and cakes made from Chinese milk tea.

I ordered a peach coffee and Jasmine milk tea with jobs tears.

I would have ordered the coffees with wasabi/chili/lava salt, but it was not mixed in with the coffee, the powder was just on the rims of the glass like margarita.

The product shot for the Jasmine tea was interesting because it had two layers, the Jasmine tea at the bottom with Jobs tears and on top it was foamy milk.
I am not a person for Jasmine milk tea, because it tastes weird, but here the milk and tea has cleverly been separated.
The addition of jobs tears was really innovative and healthy instead of Taiwanese bubble tea pearls.

Peach Coffee:
If I had read about the sodas earlier, I would have ordered a soda instead of coffee.
The coffee had peach syrup added instead of ordinary sugar/syrup, however it was too sweet even though I had requested it to be less sweet.

Jasmine milk tea:
It looked exactly like the product shot, which was good, and the milk had been made foamy so that it does not weigh down the delicate Jasmine Tea.
If you’ve had Jasmine milk teas from those bubble tea places you will know what I mean.
The sweetness was just right, but when I ordered it I made a request for it to be less sweet.
Th jobs tears were just right, not soft and mushy like other places where it seems to have been boiled for years.
The colour of the jobs tears were slightly stained rather than pure white.


The most outstanding drink would have been their sodas if I had read articles on it.

Their sodas are made with Nitrous oxide instead of the usual carbonated water.
Nitrous oxide is known as sweet air or laughing gas that gives people euphoric effects (a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being sometimes exaggerated in pathological states as mania).
I think if it was stated on the menu, more people would have ordered it.
But according to one of the previous reviews, the nitrous oxide seems to work because someone got happy from drinking it.

Apart from Nitrous oxide, Heston Blumenthal has been known to use sulphur hexafluoride, which temporarily deepens the voice, wouldn’t that be fun? and helium gas which is commonly known to temporarily make the voice squeaky.
It would be fun if they had drinks with those gases someday!

[Review 1203] Excessively Sweet @ 上海婆婆336 Shanghai Po Po 336

04/07/2011
上海婆婆336 Shanghai Po Po 336
龍灣牛頭角道77號淘大商場地下G143-162號舖
G143-162, Amoy Plaza, 77 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kowloon Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/excessively-sweet-e21794674

Usually the food here is good, but I made the wrong choice this time.

Dan Dan noodles:
I felt that the quality for this one dropped because the soup base was so watery if you compare it to previous reviews that are much stronger and richer in colour.
Anyway it was tasteless and bland.

Sea cucumber with spring onions:
I should have trusted my initial instinct and ordered the sea cucumber with dried prawn roe.
The oyster sauce in this dish was too sweet and the sea cucumber managed to have a fishy taste.
In general I have never had sea cucumber with a fishy taste unless its so was not fresh.
Despite the disappointing taste it was braised quite soft.

Deep fried eel:
This reminded me of the deep fried shredded beef and carrots served in Chinatown.
It was so sweet it could have been dessert, but after eating this dish, the sea cucumber was more bearable and not so sweet.

Drunken pigs feet
Without the dark vinegar, it is not really appetizing, especially its colour, it reminds me of preserved body parts in formaldehyde jars.

[Review 1202] Taiwanese Froyo @ 續杯 Share Cup

03/07/2011
續杯 Share Cup
彩虹清水灣道8號匯八坊1樓
1/F, Infinity Eight, 8 Clear Water Bay Road, Choi Hung
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/taiwanese-froyo-share-cup-e2179310

This is my first Taiwanese style froyo.
If you dont think of it as Froyo it actually tastes really nice.
There are two branches of Share Cup this branch and one at Shatin.

The froyo at Shatin is not self service, the one here is self service so you can choose how much froyo you want.
It costs $10/gram which is cheap. Most places cost at least $13 or more per gram.

Anyway, when I extruded the froyo from the machine, its texture was so soft that it slumped on the cup, but it was not watery.
The colour of the froyo was pure WHITE!
For toppings, there were so many taiwanese style toppings such as black sugar kanten.
So I chose strawberry, aloe vera, black sugar kanten, and pineapple jelly stars.

The taste of froyo was really sweet and strong in vanilla taste.
The taste of yogurt was faint, but tasted more of the yakult type of yogurt.
The texture of the froyo was really light, there were no ice crystals in it and it was like supersupersoft soft-serve.
It was sweet but it was not that throat stinging sweetness.

Anyway it tasted like a cheaper version of 菓匠茶屋 Kasho Chaya but not as dense and thick.
It visually looks like the ice-cream from Kasho too, its white and slighty shiny.

My cup of froyo felt really light.
Usually for that amount of froyo at other places it feels much heavier (weight without toppings of course).

The cost of my froyo came to exactly $10.
I will be back for more.

Next time I will probably try their fried snacks such as fried chicken and chips, the chips are similar to Ireland's potato with a range of sauces, and the chicken has a range of spices to choose from such as mexican, cumin, indian spice etc.