[Review 1270] C'est une restaurant Francais ou Japonais @ 本法食府 Mayotte

08/09/2011
本法食府 Mayotte
灣仔分域街16號東城大廈地下 1-3 號舖
Shop 1-3, Upper ground Floor, East town Building, 16 Fenwick Street, Wan Chai

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cest-une-restaurant-francais-ou-japonais-e2193844

Before this place opened, it used to be a Japanese restaurant serving paper grilled food and Japanese

I am quite glad this new restaurant has replaced it, the area no longer smells of thick oily fumes.

The pink veils on the windows looked quite girly and attractive from the outside.
The stairs leading up to the restaurant had silver covering on the vertical part of the steps.

Arriving at the reception there was a friendly person who led me in.
After I entered, I was greeted by another staff.
I told that staff a table was reserved for so and so [the name my acquaintance used when booking], however either that staff didn't hear or just blanked out.
I repeated myself again, but nothing seemed to happen, so I walked over to the table which had a reservation card on it.

Sat down and was given the menu.
I assumed it was a FRENCH restaurant because of the name Mayotte, however the décor could have been more French with more lace on the veils.
The décor was slightly Japanese with some decorations from the previous restaurant.
Mayotte is actually a French island in the Indian Ocean off East Africa between Madagascar and Mozambique.

When I browsed the menu, the food was quite Japanese which led me to notice their Chinese name 本法食府.
Since Chinese isn’t my first language, I thought 本法 sounded like “GAY本法" which is heard on the news all the time.
I thought it meant something about law or basic something.

Then after looking at the Chinese words separately, I got a different perspective.
A French Japanese cuisine!
本 Japanese 法 French 食府 Eatery

Anyway, for lunch, the range was mostly Japanese, a few western dishes that I wouldn’t say were French, and finally the French style pork chop which is a must try.
The Grilled Sirloin steak with marsala demi gravy reminded me of Saizeriya because at Saizeriya they had chicken demi glace.

For the dinner menu, it fared much better, there was smoked quail legs!!
The last time I had them was from an online ordering food store, but they were pre-marinated under the brand Feyel, however the ones here are served with honey and truffle!!!
To be honest I prefer the a la carte, the Lunch menu is slightly overpriced and not as deluxe.
As well as quail legs, they had really swank items such as Iberico ham with cheese for $388 and Grilled Iberico pork chop and blue mussels.
The appetizer menu is also quite good too! It offers Foie gras and fig sauce and Jumbo scallop with 10 year old vinegar!
The soups on the a la carte seemed better too with a choice lobster bisque or black truffle cream soup.
The pasta was fettuccine and saffron cream sauce for $108 which is definately a brilliant choice for dinner.
I WISHED I HAD ORDERED A LA CARTE!

For the lunch sets, I chose the more expensive items because the other sets you can order them elsewhere, especially their soup ramen which costs $88 and with service charge on top, it is more expensive than Butao and Hide.
In the end I ordered the French style pork chop and Pan-fried snapper with cherry tomato and white wine sauce.
Both the above dishes had white wine sauce.

The set came with soup and salad, which was tomato soup that day and octopus salad.
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Tomato soup
It was dark red orange with a few pieces of chopped chives to garnish it.
Tasted Ok, slightly creamy and found some surumi crabmeat.


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Salad
This was quite nice, the lettuce was mixed with the Japanese vinaigrette and the octopus has strong wasabi taste.
After finishing the salad, I felt this place was Japanese style because of the salad, plates and bowls.

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French style pork chop
Same as the soup it had chives to garnish it.
This was quite nice, it had a thin layer of coating which was crunchy.

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Pan fried snapper
Same as the pork chop it had chives on top, and the skin was crisp.
The sauce was the same as the one used for the porkchop.
However beneath the fish were some potatoes which were delicious, it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

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Worth $38 on the regular menu
Chocolate pudding
To finish off, there was chocolate pudding which was quite nice.
According to the menu it is $38 a la carte.

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Anyway, I would definitely recommend dining here in the evening or ordering A la carte.
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Price: Bit expensive
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
English menu: YES
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[Review 1269] Invisible Menu Items @ 超級食得開心 RA CHA MOO YANG

08/09/2011
超級食得開心  RA CHA MOO YANG
灣仔軒尼詩道87號AB舖
Shop AB, 87 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/invisible-menu-items-e2193834

Havent been here for a while so decided to come here because the food at Thai Farmer reminded me of this place.

Before I went I checked the reviews on OpenRice to see if there was anything interesting and saw some items I wanted to order, but when I got there, I couldn't find them on the menu.
Since it was super busy as usual, I just ordered the fried rice.
Next time I will try the vermicelli in tom yum kung and sliced duck and vermicelli in soup.

The fried rice was as good as usual, topped with pork floss, fried egg and lime.

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Price: $31 the $1 is charged for the packaging
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
English menu: YES
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[Review 1267] Yummy waffles now available at Kramp House @ Kramp House (灣仔)

07/09/2011
Kramp House (灣仔)
灣仔莊士敦道60號嘉薈軒地下6號舖
Shop 6, G/F, J Sense, 60 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/yummy-waffles-now-available-at-kramp-house-e2193673



I was back for the waffles, which were previously on the menu but weren’t available yet.

Anyway, the menu has changed, there were more options and choices with weekend brunches and afternoon tea sets.
The front of the restaurant is semi al-fresco with some breeze flowing in.

The owner was really nice and let me order the waffles even though it wasnt tea time.

The waffles arrived pretty quickly and I loved it, it was lovely and soft, slightly chewy in the middle.
They taste similar to American pancakes but better and more texture due to the grid structure.
They are different from the local ones, which are crispy and empty in the middle.

It is slightly different to the waffles at Waffle yo, primarily because of the shape, but both were deliciously soft, however the one at Kramp is chewier.
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Price: 38+ per tea set
Service: Tres Bon
Yummy factor: Delicieux
English menu: Oui
Air Con:Ok
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[Review 1267] Macarons and cookies sold in a traditional store @ 華麗園

06/09/2011

華麗園
銅鑼灣富明街2-6號寶明大廈地下
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/macarons-and-cookies-sold-in-a-traditional-store-e2193640

This place sells traditional Chinese festival food such as New Year cakes and Mooncakes, however that was not what I came for!!!!
I wouldn’t usually notice these traditional Chinese shops if it wasn’t for the MACARONS!!!!
They were brightly coloured macarons besides the mooncakes, how could I not stop by?!!
Some of them had two colours, the blueberry was made up of a pink half and a lilac half.
Not items you would expect to see in a traditional Chinese shop!

As well as macarons they also sell cookies to keep in the trend, not sure if both of these products are made by WahLaYuen.

Apart from shopping there, a lot of supermarkets such as Citysuper and Taste sell their stuff too.
Found out they have coconut flavoured New Year’s cake 椰汁年糕 even though it is a bit early now to be thinking about it.

Back to the MACARONS, I was drawn to the green one, which was apple instead of the commonly found pistachio. I wasn’t going to get the raspberry one but it looked nice made of two halves of different colour same as the raspberry.
It costs $13 for one and $65 for a box of five.
I ended up getting the apple and it was quite nice. Nice with a sugary crunch on the outside and chewy inside.
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Price: $13 per macaron
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
English menu: YES
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[Review 1266] Thai Farmer vs Nana Banana @ Thai Farmer Restaurant (灣仔)

06/09/2011

Thai Farmer Restaurant (灣仔)
灣仔駱克道98B
No. 98B, Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/thai-farmer-vs-nana-banana-e2193638

After trying Nana Banana randomly, decided to try the Thai Farmer, which is near the Chili Club entrance.
It is smaller than Nana and the tables are close together.
This restaurant has never made me go in because it seems dark and old.
The theme and decorations of this place reminded me of RA CHA MOO YANG round the corner.

Sat down and there was a set lunch menu all priced at $50 which includes a drink, main and dessert.

Chose yellow chicken curry and hainan style chicken.

The soup was then placed at the table, which contained pieces of minced pork, carrots and wintermelon.
The soup tasted ok but slightly too salty.
The food arrived fairly quickly
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Yellow chicken curry:
This contained potatoes, onions and chicken, it was very sweet with some coconut milk on top.
After a while, the curry went watery.
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Hainan style chicken:
The rice and sauce tastes exactly the same as RA CHA MOO YANG.
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Drinks:
Ordered iced lime and longan juice which are the same drinks offered at RA CHA MOO YANG.
Both tasted the same as RA CHA MOO YANG.
The longan juice was super sweet, whilst the lime juice was super sour.
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Desserts:
This was super sweet, it was sago with red beans and sweetcorn.
The dessert bowl was cute, it is a miniature size and shape of the normal chinese rice bowl made of plastic.
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Difference between Nana Banana and Thai Farmer:
Thai Farmer is cheaper and smaller.
However Thai Farmer is super noisy.
The air con is freezing as well! but colder at thai farmer.
Nana offers the green curry, whilst Thai Farmer offers the yellow curry!
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Price: $50 per set, no SVC
Service: OK
Yummy factor: Tastes the same as Ra Cha Moo Yang
English menu: YES
Air Con:Friggin freezing!~
Noise levels:Friggin will go deaf! filled with hong kongers!
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[Review 1265] Yo! waffles on a stick, the new kid on the block @ Waffle Yo (銅鑼灣)

04/09/2011
Waffle Yo
銅鑼灣禮頓道112號地下
G/F, 112 Leighton Road, Causeway
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/yo-waffles-on-a-stick-the-new-kid-on-the-block-e2193292












If you have read my previous reviews, I have not written much on waffles.
The last one I wrote was on the Pandan waffle at Green Waffle Diner.

I was going to try the belgian waffles at Kramp, but they were not available when I went, so maybe I will try later.

Currently on Open Rice there are not many waffle places, the ones listed are Green waffle diner, Ocio waffle and the new Waffle yo.

There used to be Belgian Waffle Boys and Belgian Waffle which went out of fashion gradually, so maybe the new Waffles on a stick will be the new trend.
It wins because it is served on a stick and very convenient to eat. In other countries they have much more shapes according to the Waffle grill they use.

Although I havent tried Ocio, but Ocio cuts their waffles into smaller pieces which makes it less messy to eat as well.
I still havent tried Ocio yet because it seems slightly localized, but I could be wrong.
The Chinese version of waffles are either eggettes or grid waffles which are too crispy for my preference.

Leighton Road used to be so boring, there were not any eateries around apart from Danish Bakery, which served hot dogs and chinese snacks until Yogo, Slices, and Stand Up Eating came to the area.

Waffle yo serves hotdogs too, so Danish Bakery could be a in competition!
Same for YOGO because Waffle yo serves froyo as well!
Although I didnt try their froyo, it looked pale yellow in colour when others ordered it.

Waffle yo is famous for their waffles and they serve froyo too, hence the name WAFFLE YO.

This joint is pretty easy to locate if you've had singing lessons with Starplus.
But anyway, you should find it before you reach yogo next to 7-11.
When you enter the joint, it is really cute, it has a pink ceiling.

On each side of the wall, there are jars of sweets at the top part of wall.

On the left there are dispensers filled with toppings for the froyo, and on the right it is slightly less decorated, but there is a cute cow with mini plates, teapots and cups stuck on it, and it has GOT PAINT written on it if you look at it closely instead of GOT MILK!
The plates and ceramics on the cow are so cute; they are so small and painted with fine details.

Apart from waffles, I came here for the fries as well because I love mayonnaise and chips which I found out from on their website.
I ordered the fries first because I prefer eating savory items before sweet things.
The fries cost $18 with a choice of mayo, wasabi mayo or sour cream and chives.
I had my fries with mayo.
After having the fries I ordered the Waffle on a stick with maple syrup, I couldn't quite find the caramel as stated on their website.
The waffle on a stick cost $16 with a choice of condensed of condensed syrup, maple syrup, strawberry jam and hot chocolate fudge.
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Fries with mayo
The amount of mayo given was less than the amount featured on their site, but it was the localized sweet and sour version which I didnt like anyway.
I should have picked the other two instead.
The fries were good though, crispy on the outside and soft inside, if matched with real mayo then it would be divine.
The fries had some flavoured coating on the outside which gave it some flavour and colour.

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Waffle on a stick
I loved this!!! The tray was die-cut with a tiny semi circle at the end, so the waffle stick could be rested there.
The waffle stick was made of paper just like the lollipop sticks in UK.
The tray was thin which was slightly flimsy for someone who is clumsy like me!
It smelt so nice and the waffle inside was soft and wholesome, not filled with air yet crispy on the outside.
The aerosol cream was nice too, but turned into liquid fast!
The waffle was really nice on its own and even nicer with cream that it didnt really need the sauces.
I felt the sauce made it slightly too sweet.
Hopefully the waffles will remain like that with a yummy soft centre and crispy outside because the locals in HK seem to like everything crispy and crunchy. NYF had to localize their fries because people dont like soft fries.
Although they have waffle cones and waffle bowls for froyo [the crispy version], I would have loved to have a splodge of froyo with the waffle on a stick, similar to having american pancakes with yogurt.

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While I was there, there were hoards of people coming in, mostly girls and students.
I found the self-service toppings on the wall were a good idea, something I would have liked to have seen at the Fru:yo factory branch in TKO.

I noticed that instead of the topping being put directly on the yogurt, the people were given an empty cup to collect the toppings and then it was passed to the staff to put on their yogurt and weighed which lengthened the serving time slightly.
There was not a collection tray or something at the bottom of the dispensers, hence the topping kept rolling to the floor when it was used.
The area of the shop was quite small hence some people left because they thought there was a queue.
The dispensers on the left were two tiered, the top tier was slightly out of reach for children and the not so tall.

Overall I love this joint and would recommend it to any expats or XBC's not sure about the locals because they probably like things crispier than it should.
Hopefully next time I can try another waffle with a splodge of froyo.
It was good they had examples of the items being served and they had onion rings as well.
Although the buns for the hotdogs were a bit localized with sesame on top.

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Price: $16+ Fairly cheap
English menu: yes, and they have real waffles on display!
Service: brilliant
Yummy factor: Brilliant
Sweetness levels: could have been less sweet
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[Review 1264] No magic in the Vietnamese moon @ 越亮 Pho'1988

02/09/2011
越亮 Pho'1988
灣仔巴路士街1-3號地下
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/no-magic-in-the-vietnamese-moon-e2193108

This restaurant previously used to be Fukui Tea Room, a restaurant that served Japanese scrambled eggs with toast similar to Hokkaido dairy milk farm.
It has now been replaced by a Vietnamese restaurant.

When I went in, the decoration was much the same as before, the air-conditioning was freezing with water droplets dripping down.
There was odours from the outside sewer nearby seeping in.

The food on the menu was slightly more expensive than other Vietnamese joints.
I was attracted here by the previous pictures of the beef filet which turned out to be around $1xx per order.
The pricing was erratic, it was either very expensive for high end items such as huge prawns and beef filet or average priced for the usual items.
It was hard establishing whether they were serving high end items or just the usual fare.

In the end, I ordered the French beef in tomato sauce with red rice.
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French beef in tomato sauce with red rice
When it came, it just visually looked like beef cooked in tomato sauce with sliced onions.
The taste was exactly the same as the ones served in Chinese cafes and the fried rice tasted merely like "western fried rice" also from chinese cafes.
The beef was really disappointing it had so much fat and chewy bits in it and the rice was oily.
I suspect the beef pieces may have been odds and ends cut from the beef filet.

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The spoon was rather dirty too! So I grabbed another spoon from the other table and it did'nt fare any better.

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Price: Slightly more expensive than the average priced Vietnamese.
English menu: yes, and they have pictures of highlighted items!
Service: OK
Yummy factor: Not that great!
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[Review 7821] Kaya toast @ 一粥麵 Super Super Congee & Noodle

19/12/2020 一粥麵  Super Super Congee & Noodle 樂富聯合道198號樂富廣場1樓1113-1114號舖 Shop 1113-1114, 1/F, Lok Fu Shopping Centre, 198 Junction Road, L...