[Review 1260] Blooming floral French crepes at Causeway Bay @ Fleur de Sel

30/08/2011

Fleur de Sel
銅鑼灣富明街1號寶富大樓2樓J室
Shop 2J, Po Foo Building, Foo Ming Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/blooming-floral-french-crepes-at-causeway-bay-e2192334

This place is currently one of the three authentic places in Hong Kong that serve French Crepes.

It is cute compared to La Creperie and Kramp House, however I felt that Kramp House and Fleur de Sel should exchange chefs!!
Fleur de Sel is more feminstic whilst Kramp is more masculine, however Kramp’s chef is female whilst the chef at Fleur de sel is male.

The tables were so closely packed together that you could listen in to conversations around you unintentionally and to make things worse, the local Hongkies were so noisy.

The poor guy at Fleur de Sel was irritated by the noise and he could not answer the phone due to the background noise.

Although the environment was too noisy, the food surely made up for it.
The decoration of the place was really good, European interior in Hong Kong.
The corridor/passage at the entrance was amazing, it’s similar to those underground passages/tunnels which will sure win everyone’s admiration.
The grey bricks and decor of the corridor reminded me of the medievel times and old castles

After browsing the menu, most of the crepes and fillings were the same as La Creperie and Kramp House, so I chose the duck which is not offered in the other two, I wanted to try the duck liver as well, maybe next time.
As well as the duck, I chose the beef one to compare it with LC.

Ordered La Parisienne (beef) and La Salardaise (duck)

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La Parisienne [minced beef, cheese, onion, tomato egg]
This was different to La Crepe, the minced beef was served like a beef patty, whilst at LC the minced was spread evenly inside the crepe.
I preferred the LC one because it tasted strong, however the cheese at LC was different.

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La Salardaise [duck confit, mushrooms, potato, parsley, and garlic sauce]
This was my favour, tender pieces of shredded duck leg meat on the crepe, and juicy mushrooms.
The roasted potatoes on the crepe were brilliant too, slightly crisp and sautéed on the outside, and soft inside without oily taste.
The amount of duck on the crepe was generous too.

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SSG's to try list: foie gras crepe
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Previous crepe reviews
La creperie [beef crepe, black pudding crepe]
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2180674
La creperie [seafood crepe, lemon meringue crepe]
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2088354
Kramp House [Le complete, Le Poulet, Le Tatin and Le Tartine]
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2178353
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Price: compared to La Creperie and Kramp house, its about the same as La Creperie but it depends which crepe you choose.
English menu: yes, and they speak English too!
Service: very friendly
Yummy factor: very
MSG levels: none
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[Review 1259] Lucullus cakes sticks @ 龍島 Lucullus Gourmet Shop

29/08/2011
龍島 Lucullus Gourmet Shop
尖沙咀彌敦道63號iSQUARE國際廣場LG層4B號舖
Shop 4B, LG/F, iSQUARE, 63 Nathon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lucullus-cakes-sticks-e2192137

After trying the cake slices, I wanted to try the other cakes, the ones I got this time were called STICKS!
They reminded me of the thin slices of cake sold at Stick Stick's

Photos of cake sticks @ Stick Stick'S
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2095395

The ones sold here looked more like rectangle slices.
Anyway, the stick's tasted better than the slices.
The whole thing was much lighter, and there was no heavy dense chocolate mousse base at the bottom.
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[Review 1258] Another good curry joint @ 清真 Pakora & Spice Fast Food

27/08/2011
清真 Pakora & Spice Fast Food
灣仔堅拿道西24-25A地下C舖
Shop C, G/F, 24-25A Canal Road West, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/another-good-curry-joint-e2191455

Decided to revisit this place for the main dishes, so got a chicken curry and a lamb skewer with rice.
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chicken curry:
This was really spicy and had a layer of curry oil on top.
As it was too spicy, I couldnt really taste anything but the spicyness.
The indian rice was nice and fluffy as usual.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
lamb skewer with rice:
I liked this dish better, it was rice drizzled with yogurt and pieces of lamb kebab, this was not spicy and I loved the way the lettuce and tomato was sliced thinly that it blends in with the sauce and rice.

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Price: $40 per dish
Service: OK
English: YES
Yummy factor: OK
MSG levels: Quite a bit
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[Review 1257] Kings N Cream kingdom fit for the King @ Kings N Cream

27/08/2011
Kings N Cream
旺角廣華街1號G23號舖
Shop G23,1 Kwong Wah Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/kings-n-cream-kingdom-fit-for-the-king-e2191454

Came here during the month they first opened, and since then there has been some improvement and changes.
They now have designed ice-creams and yogurts which remind me of Smile.
I was given a loyalty card this time which is really cute, especially the stamps on the card, I liked the chocolate chips and the orange stamp featured on their sample chop card.

Although there is more choice, I still chose the plain yogurt with one topping because I felt that their yogurt was really nice on its own it didn't need lots of sauce and other topping to compliment it!
I always believe that a good dish/dessert shouldn't need to have things added because it is not tasteless.
The yogurt was still as refreshing as my first visit, and it did not have that artificial milk powder taste like in other places.
The guy was really nice because he offered samples their ice-cream without me asking.
For the samples I tried chocolate and green tea, the green tea and chocolate ice-cream was very strong, but nice.
At other places even if you asked, they don't offer samples.
My Froyo was lovely and cold, but NOT ICY.

First visit:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2179300

So far, this is my favourite NATURAL FROYO place, but for sweet localised froyo, my favourite place would be ROLL because I like their thick version. But according to healthy Froyo I would pick this place because it dosnt contain much sugar and I loved the tartness of it.

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Price: $25 per cup
English menu: yes!
Service: great
Yummy factor: brilliant
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[Review 1256] Maxim's pandan and coconut cake slice @ 美心西餅 Maxim's Cake Shop

26/08/2011
美心西餅 Maxim's Cake Shop
灣仔軒尼詩道145號安康商業大廈地下2號舖
Shop 2, G/F, 145 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/maxims-pandan-and-coconut-cake-slice-e2191401

Had a craving for shortcrust pastry egg tarts, so got some from Maxim's.

Saw this cake which had a layer of green on top so got that as well.

The egg tarts tasted a bit too sweet and buttery, so I chilled them in the fridge which made it taste better, there was no buttery taste and you could taste hints of coconut in it instead.
Overall the egg tarts were good, but there was pieces of black stuff on it, perhaps from the burnt base.

The cake was pandan and coconut, it tasted nice apart from the chinese cream.
The green layer tastes the same as the larger version sold at Maxim's.

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Price: around $3-6
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
sweetness levels: OK
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[Review 1255] Maxims California Series Part 2: Berry Mousse Dessert @ 美心西餅 Maxim's Cake Shop

25/08/2011
美心西餅 Maxim's Cake Shop
中環港鐵香港站HOK 29號舖
Shop HOK 29, Hong Kong MTR Station, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/maxims-california-berries-series-part-2-e2191239

Maxim's has introduced a summer berries series which uses berries as a theme for their products.
The berries used in this series are: blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry which sourced from Driscoll.

I was attracted by their California berries series which has four items:

- 8" berries tart with Frangipane
- Summer angel [angel chiffon cake topped with berries]
- Berry mousse dessert
- mini berries tart

After trying the mini berries tart, I wanted to try the bigger version but it was sold out, so I got the berry mousse dessert for $16.
The berry mousse dessert consists of layers of chocolate sponge cake in between blueberry mousse and blueberry sauce topped with blackcurrant jelly cubes and fresh strawberries and blueberries.
The mousse, sponge and fruit was nice, but I didn't like the blackcurrant jelly as it tasted artificial.

Mini berries tart:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2191018

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Price: $16
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
sweetness levels: the blueberry sauce and blackcurrant jelly was too sweet for.
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[Review 1254] Worth paying a visit for a four course meal @ Nana Banana

25/08/2011
Nana Banana
灣仔駱克道117號地下
G/F, 117 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/worth-paying-a-visit-for-a-four-course-meal-e2191176

Came here randomly because there were not many people dining there that day.
Usually it is packed with people.
As it wasnt planned I forgot to bring my camera.

The service here is extremely efficient, when I entered, there was'nt a table but I was allowed to sit on a big table and browse the lunch menu whilst the smaller table was being cleared.
Then I was allocated the smaller table, and within minutes there was a bowl of soup placed on my table.
The soup was wintermelon soup, there were generous pieces of wintermelon and lots of spring onions, it was quite peppery and slightly too salty.

For $65 there are about ten choices of dishes, the ones that I could remember were:
sliced chicken hainan style with rice
sweet and sour pork
stir fried beef in black pepper and rice
satay chicken with fried rice
thai fried noodles in sauce
thai fried cambodian noodles with chicken
green curry with rice

I chose the green curry and thai fried cambodian noodles with chicken.
The food came very fast, but because some of the dishes came really quickly it made the other dishes appear slower, but in any rate the slow ones were still faster than the usual places.

The green curry was served on a big piece of lettuce draped on the plate with a side of rice, in the curry was green aubergines.
The green curry was lightly drizzled with some coconut sauce.
As for the noodles, it was thoughtfully served because the crushed peanuts and chili were put on the side of the plate which saves the trouble for people who request it without peanuts or chili.
The noodles were slightly too greasy for me, but it tasted Ok, a mixture of sweet, sour and spicyness, but I found it too sweet.

There was a drink included so I chose tea, and lemon tea.
The tea was not the HK type served with condensed milk, but both the tea and lemon tea tasted interesting, it was not the normal tea.
The colour of the lemon tea was reddish brown, but it tasted like black tea, it tasted like strong Assam tea and Darjeeling.
The tea with milk was also the same but with fresh milk added.
Both were very appropriate after having really spicy food because they had a natrual sweetness to it.

When the food was nearly been finished, the desserts were placed on the table.
The dessert looked like birds nest , but it was congee, except that the grains of rice were glutinous rice which were translucent.
It had longan berries in it too (dragon eye/lung ngan) which were quite nice because they were not that sweet.
Overall the dessert was brilliant because it wasnt that sweet and it was very light in taste. I could also taste some pandan essense in it as well.

For $65, it was quite a good deal because it came with soup, drink and a dessert.
The menu states that only a drink comes with a meal, so maybe it was a bonus for a limited time.
There were also two menus outside, one excluding 10% charge with sets priced around $62, and the other is $65 per lunch set without service charge, both prices work out to be roughly the same.

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Price: $65 per lunch set, No 10% included
Service: Brilliant
Yummy factor: OK
English menu: Yes and they speak English
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