[Review 1592] Scallop porcini ravioli at Hang Hau Village @ La Piazza

12/06/2012
La Piazza
將軍澳坑口村24號地下
G/F, 24 Hang Hau Village, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/scallop-porcini-ravioli-at-hang-hau-village-e2239606

After my favourite La Piazzetta closed down in Wan Chai I ventured to the outskirts of TKO to La Piazza for their Ravioli.
La Piazza is renowned for economical pastas as well as fine pastas.

It used to be a good location especially when ATV's Clear water bay studio used to be located there but the crew and actors usually go for Chinese food and there is a really good canteen there (which should be listed on openrice) that does delicious chicken steak with garlic and spring onions and crispy pork patty with salted fish.
It was mild that day so I sat outside. I was surprised there was not many mosquitoes about which was good.
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Scallop and porcini mushroom ravioli
Ordered this first and it was served so fast.
I was expecting it to take longer and it didn't even take five minutes but it turns out they were not hot enough.
The sauce was creamy but it wasn't too heavy.
Inside the ravioli were whole pieces of scallops and pieces of porcini mushroom.
If there was truffle oil or fresh truffle used in the sauce it would have been perfect.
However the scallops in the ravioli were rather chewy and I could not distinguish whether the scallops were raw or overdone, but from the pictures it seems raw because if they were cooked it should be white and not so translucent.
Overall the pasta tasted nice and the porcini mushrooms were nice and strong.
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Squid ink pasta with asparagus and prawn
I mentioned that the ravioli was not hot enough so the chef ensured the squid ink pasta was piping hot.
The pasta was stir-fried with garlic and some fine celery stalks in it. The pasta was extremely al-dente and slightly too oily with some odour from the pan but since I went late the pan had probably cooked many more pastas before so it accumulated some odours from the other dishes.

The asparagus was big and it was surprising that they were not woody.
The only thing that let it down was some sand in the pasta and I wasnt sure if it came from the prawns or the asparagus.
On the menu this pasta is called shrimp and asparagus tonnarelin but when I googled tonnarelin I was referred to Tonnarelli.
Tonnarelli  is a thicker, more squared, version of spaghetti. I think the pasta was made in house because it had a different texture to the normal pasta and it was not so mushy.
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[Review 1591] Chicken mo mo is the star @ 2star's Fast Food Center

12/06/2012

2star's Fast Food Center
灣仔交加街9號嘉威閣地下2G號舖
Shop 2G, G/F, 9 Cross Road, Galway Court, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chicken-mo-mo-is-the-star-2stars-fast-food-e2239590

Food was great on my first visit so decided to go again.
Went two times after my first visit, one was takeaway and the other was dine in.
For takeaway it takes ages so I dined there the third time because it was quicker.

Ordered my favourite chicken thukpa noodles, chicken mo mo and chicken tandoori leg set
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chicken thukpa
The noodles were different from my first visit and there was less mustard greens in the soup so it was not so bitter.
I am not sure which noodles are more authentic but I preferred the noodles and soup on my first visit.
The noodles this time was foamy and had an alkaline taste.
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chicken mo mo
On my first visit I tried the pork mo mo but this time I tried the chicken mo mo.
I preferred the chicken because all the Chinese dumplings are made with pork.
There was lots of purple onions inside and their chili sauce made it delicious.
I do not know what is in that chili sauce but it tastes like the chili sauce in UK's Perfect fried Chicken shop owned by Asians there.
I tried to draw a star in the middle of the plate using the sauce but as it was too watery it failed and I only managed to get a blob with a slight star resemblance.
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chicken tandoori leg set
The set comes with soup, rice, spiced courgettes and a side of Shanghai greens.
The chicken was tender and full of spices, it tasted as good as the one at Pakora
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Lentil soup
The soup is always good there and full of spices.
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Next time I will just order the chicken mo mo and the tandoori leg set again.

[Review 1590] Great Gotu Kola Mallum @ AJ's 斯里蘭卡餐廳 AJ's Sri Lankan Cuisine

11/06/2012

AJ's 斯里蘭卡餐廳 AJ's Sri Lankan Cuisine
西貢海傍街14號地下
G/F, 14 Sai Kung Hoi Pong Street, Sai Kung
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/great-gotu-kola-mallum-ajs-sri-lankan-cuisine-e2239488


The food on my first visit was great so decided to come again.

There was more variety since my first visit and the staff were as good as before, they actually had knowledge on the food that was served and were able to answer about the food not like other restaurants especially Cantonese ones where they regurgitate the name of the dish back when you ask!
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Lamprais 斯里蘭卡蕉葉飯
A Dutch influenced special occasion dish of flavored rice. Served with fish cutlet, eggplant, seeni sambol, egg & your choice of meat, wrapped in a banana leaf.
As I do not know much on the Sri Lankan dishes, the rice was great because it had various things in it so you could sample everything such as the Fish cutlet, Eggplant Moju.

The rice was really soft and moist with coconut, and there was cashew nuts too which had a wonderful beany texture and not the crunchy texture. Actually the cashews were soft and creamy and I loved it.
There was also curried potatoes as well and eggplant moju, but I felt the eggplant tasted better as a sidedish because it was sour.

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Gotu Kola Mallum
Menu description: A unique style dish mixed with Gotu Kola, Bell Pepper, Red Onion, Lime, fresh grated coconut and light traditional spices.
This was the dish I wanted to try most because of the Gotu Kola Mallum which is some Sri Lankan leafy green said to have some medicinal properties.
I wanted to try it because it was mixed with lime juice and red onions.
This dish did not let me down!!
The gotu kola was finely chopped and there was no grassy taste. The coconut was dessicated but not dry.

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Eggplant Moju 芥茉醋煮矮瓜
Menu description: Fried eggplant, onions and green chilies mixed in authentic mustard vinaigrette.
I loved this dish as well, the taste was really strong especially the vinaigrette dressing.

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Fish cutlet
The shape of this was interesting like a ball but it was delicious and the chef could not have selected a better fish for this.
The fish inside was silky and boneless unlike other Chinese places where they grind fish bones in with the patty.
The fish was not grounded but mashed up so the texture and fibres were still present.
The fish that they used was mackerel.

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Fish Roti
Tried this before but decided to order it again. It comes with mint sauce but the fish roti itself tastes brilliant with or without sauce.
However this time the colour was not as purple as before but the taste was still as good.
The spices were strong and there was plenty of onions, ginger and spring onions.
Again it is made with mackerel so it tastes really nice and strong spices dose not overthrow the taste of the mackerel.

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Mint Sauce
The mint sauce here is different from the Indian ones which are sweet. I liked this one because it tastes savoury and there is so much desiccated fresh coconut in it that you can just eat the mint sauce on its own.

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Poppaddoms and chutney
They tasted as nice as the first time I tried them there, and also they are different to the Indian poppaddoms because they are thinner and starchy and tastes like crisps. There was no foul oil taste or smell in the poppadoms.
The chutney that came with it was also nice, it was made with pineapples and tomatoes.

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[Review 1589] Hainan chicken & Beef rendang @ 亞來街 Old Street Kobiteh

11/06/2012
亞來街 Old Street Kobiteh
將軍澳唐賢街9號PopCorn商場1樓F54號舖
Shop F54, 1/F, PopCorn, 9 Tong Yin Street, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hainan-chicken-beef-rendang-old-street-kobiteh-e2239271

I did not have any expectations for this place because the previous reviews were negative and the food on the photos did not look that good.
When it initially opened it was packed but now there is no need to queue.

I expected it to be a been there tried that visit.

The items on the menu were standard items that you would find in a Singaporean restaurant ie Laksa, Hainan chicken, Rendang beef etc.
However the pricing for these dishes were slightly too expensive.

Ordered the Hainan style chicken and the rendang beef.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Hainan chicken:
When it arrived the portion of the chicken looked stingy and the rice just looked awful.
I have never seen the rice accompanying Hainan chicken as dark and as oily as that.
The rice bowl had grains of rice all over it and the dish of chicken had chicken oil surrounding the chicken.
The chicken was disappointing because the pieces of chicken were all stuck together despite that fact that it has been cut already.
It just seemed like the portion of chicken was cut and left there for a while before serving.
The texture of the chicken was chewy and tasteless even though there was sauce to go with it and the rice was just oily and soft.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rendang beef
The sauce was dark and thick and the beef had been marinated for so long that there was a strong beef taste in the sauce as well as the taste of the rendang sauce.
Apart from the coconut taste being too strong I thought it was the best Beef rendang I have tried.
However if it were not on the daily special it would seem a bit over priced.
The presentation of the beef could have been better without sauce on the side of the bowl too!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1588] Chung Kee Dessert now in Po Lam and addictive @ 松記糖水店 Chung Kee Dessert

10/06/2012
松記糖水店 Chung Kee Dessert
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心3期地下G11號舖
Shop G11, G/F, MCP Discovery, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chung-kee-dessert-now-in-po-lam-and-addictive-e2238903

I rarely go for Chinese desserts but tried this place because it is famous and found it addictive after trying it.
The other famous chinese desserterie in Sai Kung failed to impress me.
Chung's dessert in Po Lam is also good but inconsistent so hopefully they will cope with the new competition.
The lighting in this branch felt slightly unnatural and surreal.
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Chinese HALO!
I hardly eat Chinese desserts so I do not know much about them but this reminded me of the Philipino dessert called Halo-Halo which is also a mixture of things. (see below for more information on Halo Halo)
Anyway the locals said that this dessert was a Chinese dessert called Ja Ja with mango added to it.
It was interesting because there was sweetcorn, black eyed beans in it.
This is not really my cup of tea but wrote about it because it reminded me of HALO HALO.

Halo-halo is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl. Ingredients include boiled kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar, jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). In terms of arrangement, most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving.
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White Jelly with aloe
It looked interesting on the menu so ordered it, when it arrived it looked really angelic but does not show up on the photo.
The lychee noodles looked really nice because they were transparent and glistened in the light.
Basically it is cubes of almond pudding, white pearls, aloe and lychee noodles on top.
I liked most of elements in this dessert apart from the lychee noodles because I found it slightly too sweet.
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Purple rice with sea coconut dessert
The purple rice was nice and cooling and the sea coconut was sweet.
Also not my cup of tea but if it was not so sweet it would be a good source of fibre.
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Purple rice custard dumplings
I rarely like Chinese sweet dumplings but I loved them.
There was also other flavours as well from traditional to green tea with custard.
The dumplings were served in sweet ginger soup which was had a nice strong fiery ginger tone which balances out the sweetness of the dumplings.
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There was am interesting fly on the bill. When I took a picture of the bill it turned itself to the camera and did not fly away! What a poser!
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[Review 1587] Grilled squid and batter grilled shrimp @ 薩莉亞意式餐廳 Saizeriya Italian Restaurant

10/06/2012

薩莉亞意式餐廳 Saizeriya Italian Restaurant
將軍澳坑口培成路8號南豐廣場1樓R1B號舖
Shop R1B, 1/F, Nan Fung Plaza, 8 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/grilled-squid-and-batter-grilled-shrimp-saizeriya-e2238887

Felt like going to Saizeriya and was glad I went because there was new items on the menu.

Tried the grilled squid and batter grilled shrimps which was not previously on the menu.
Also ordered the black pepper sauce and chicken combo.
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Grilled squid HKD25:
It looked nearly the same as the product shot, however I was worried it might not have been cooked thoroughly as the squid was huge and thick,
Anyway, the middle was not cooked long enough but edible.
The sauce for the squid was really nice, it was similar to satay sauce but with more savory tones in it.
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Batter grilled shrimps HKD19:
The shrimps were huge, they were the same length as the table spoon.
The coating for the shrimp was quite thick too, the sauce that came with it was the prawn cocktail sauce that is served with the prawn cocktail and fried chicken pieces.
The coating was slightly burnt and dark if you compare it to the product shot.
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Black pepper sauce and chicken combo HKD38:
This was a platter of fried chicken pieces, chicken wings and grilled chicken thigh with black pepper sauce which is quite good because you can sample all those items.
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The air conditioning was freezing, all six were set around 20 degrees Celsius.

[Review 1586] Marinated pork knuckle and spicy chicken @ 金雞去骨海南雞專門店 Golden Chicken

04/06/2012

金雞去骨海南雞專門店 Golden Chicken
西貢福民路(食街)34號地舖
Shop 34, Ko Fu Building, Fuk Man Road, Sai Kung

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Marinated pork knuckle:
I wanted to order this on my last visit, but it did not look appetizing when I saw the freshly marinated pork knuckles in the metal pan.
I did not know that the pork knuckle would be conveniently sliced and topped with delicious gravy.
Anyway, the pork was soft and the pork skin was lovely and gelatinous and matched perfectly with the gravy.
The sauce was nice and savoury and not sweet which was good.
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Spicy chicken:
I really loved this chicken as well because the spicy sauce was amazing, the whole dish tastes exactly like szechuan chicken (hau sui gaai)but it is not as spicy as that.
As well as boned chicken I found out you could request for skinned chicken so next time I will request for skinned chicken!
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