[Review 1613] Super soba super soba mania @ 黑瀧板蕎麥專門店 Kurotaki

21/06/2012

黑瀧板蕎麥專門店  Kurotaki
銅鑼灣告士打道280號世貿中心4樓P413-415號舖
Shop P413-415, P4/F, World Trade Center, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/super-soba-super-soba-mania-kurotaki-e2241213

When I first saw pictures of their soba noodles I added it to my to eat list immediately.
Kurotaki specialises in Soba noodles and they serve four different types.

On the menu they have an introductory for each type of noodle which is quite informative for those who do not know.
Just to cut it short the four types of noodles are:
Inaka soba noodle – countryside soba that is springy with soft tender texture
Etanbetsu soba - thin and sticky, made from centermost part fo buckwheat.
Sarashina sesame soba - made with premium buckwheat flour.
Shiretoko Zarusoba thin soba noodle served cold on bamboo basket made with centermost of part of buckwheat seeds together with kelps and seaweed.

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Ordered Chilled Shiretoko Zarusoba with sesame and black garlic oil sauce, Chilled sarashina sesame soba with natto and Assorted skewers.
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Chilled Shiretoko Zarusoba with sesame and black garlic oil sauce
I had to try this because I wanted to try the soba made with seaweed and kelp.
The sauce was interesting and tasted of sesame and black pepper. The menu does not say it has pepper on the English but the Chinese has.
The combination of sesame and ground black pepper was quite good because the spicyness of the pepper balances out the creaminess of the sesame sauce.
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Chilled sarashina sesame soba with natto
I just had to get these noodles as well because all my favourite elements were there: natto beans, egg, okra, kelp, mountain yam and grated white radish.
These noodles came with a separate vinaigrette sauce and it tasted really refreshing that I poured all of it.
The noodles also had these delicious tiny crisp seeds that looked like ultra tiny dried chick peas which I did not know what is was but everything matched so well together.

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Assorted skewers: chicken pork, beef and ox tongue with green pepper turnip sauce, turnip, plum and spices.
I ordered this because the green puree looked interesting, the green puree was basically green peppers and white radish pureed together.
On the menu it saids turnip but I think they mean white radish.
Overall the skewers were nice because of the white radish puree.
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
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To try on my next visit:
Fresh tomato, sea urchin and salmon roe chilled etanbetsu soba and DIY Japanese tofu curd.

[Review 1612] A super bowling burger at a high price @ Bowl Burger

21/06/2012
Bowl Burger (已結業)
上環孖沙街25號地下
G/F, 25 Merser Street, Sheung Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/a-super-bowlin-burger-at-a-high-price-e2241212

I am surprised that there are not many reviews on this place despite a burger craze a few years ago.

I wanted to try this place years ago but it just seemed too far and I didnt know this place was within walking distance to Central.

It is located right at the end of Mercer so you have to resist other temptations in that area.

There are three tables, on the walls are food posters and menu, there are also some self service sauces which you can use.

Initially when I settled down, there was a strong deep frying oil smell so I was worried the food would have strong oil taste but it turned out OK, however comparing my prawn patty to an earlier review, my patty looked darker and same with the chips!

http://static1.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/1/15B/0085R8A6266D5DB97C66ACm.jpg

After trying it I really regretted not going a few years ago when the most expensive burger set was around $60-70.

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[Photo I took in 2009]

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I finally tried it at a cost! The prawn burger set now costs a whopping $56 which puts itself in the range of the other high end burgers such as Triple O's GBU etc. It used to be $48!!

It also costs more than MOS and Freshness burger.

I really wanted to try the Indian veggie burger but eating vegetarian food also comes at a price too, sometimes vegetarian food cost more than meat just like BRATS vegetarian sausages!!

In the end picked the beef burger and the prawn burger.

I came especially for the prawn burger because not many places do prawn burgers and they are seasonal products in McDs.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Prawn burger

Both the burger buns were topped with sesame which I am not a fan of, but in this case it worked out really nicely.

The bun was toasted to the point that it was quite crispy and the thickness of the burger decreased when you held it.

Anyway the thickness of the prawn patty was about 1 inch thick.

I requested for Tartar sauce as the previous review said the Thai sauce wasnt that good and personally I do not like Thai sauce.

The tartar sauce was really sour but I could not find pieces of guerkins or dill in the sauce. As well as tartar sauce there was also salad cream, tomato slices and lettuce. I should have requested for curry sauce instead.

I finished the tomato and lettuce that were in the burger and then started eating the burger.

The prawn patty was really different to the ones at McDs and MOS, the prawn patty was much meatier and chewier.

The prawn patty coating looked like it had been over fried compared to the earlier reviews on Openrice.

Anyway the taste was exactly the same as the prawn patty found in Sesame prawns toasts this is why the sesame bun worked out because the bun was toasted until is was really crispy with a slight soft bread texture and since the sesames were also heavily toasted, it tasted like a mega version of sesame prawn toasts found in China Town!!!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Beef burger

Not a fan of beef but it did bring me memories of the burgers at school.

Although I am not a fan of beef it can be made really delicious, but in this case I don't think it was delicious .

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Fries

Although the fries looked over done they were nice, crispy on the outside and soft inside.

The fries are cut with some potato skin attached to it.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Potato salad

Not the usual western potato and egg salad because it had apples in it.

Luckily there was no sweet salad sauce in it, the potato and egg salad tasted nice despite there were pieces of apples in it.

The apples used in the salad were Gala types which have light green and rose skin.

The potato salad was made with mayonnaise.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Anyway I hope to try the curry pork chop burger, Indian Veggie burger and the Lamb burger on my next visit!

[Review 1611] Caesar Parmesan Chicken Tendergrill @ Burger King

21/06/2012
漢堡王 Burger King
尖沙咀金馬倫道5號太興廣場1樓
1/F, Tem Plaza, 5 Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

I like Caesar salad so tried the Caesar Parmesan chicken tendergrill burger which is part of the King's Collection.
Caesar salad is usually romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper. Others may contain bacon bits such as the caesar salads served at Fat Angelos.
The burger could have been more Caesarized! It was just a panini herb bun, grilled chicken, tomato slices, shaved parmesan, rocket lettuce, caesar sauce and crispy bacon strips.
The whole combination was more like a BLT burger!
I felt that it should have romaine lettuce since it is mimicking Caesar and instead of crispy bacon strips they should have sprinkled bacons bits in the burger.
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Caesar Parmesan chicken tendergrill
The Caesar dressing was too light and tasteless. The most I could taste from it was some sweetness.
As for the parmesan cheese, there were about three pieces which was also barely tasteable!
Overall in the picture it shows the tomato and being the most dominant.
If I have it again I hope there will be more

[Review 1610] Curry hamburger steak vs Product shot @ 自家烏冬 Jika Udon

20/06/2012

自家烏冬 Jika Udon
將軍澳調景嶺彩明街1號彩明商場2樓253號舖
Shop 253, 2/F, Choi Ming Shopping Centre, 1 Choi Ming Street, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/curry-hamburger-steak-vs-product-shot-jika-e2241026

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Curry Hamburger steak with rice and curry sauce:
Although the product shot was only for reference, it was interesting that the hamburger was much smaller and there were no carrots in the sauce.
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Udon with sesame sauce with shredded chicken:
This is basically the same as the chinese noodles in sesame sauce with chicken and julienne cucumbers.
The sesame sauce is stronger than the Chinese one to give the udon full flavour, however the sesame taste was not as sickly as the Chinese one because it was slightly sweet and sour.
There were also tempura pieces as a side on the noodles which made it Japanese. The tempura pieces were quite nice because the frying oil was fresh and they were fried just right that they were light and crispy.
As well as chicken there was also a Japanese style hot spring egg Onsen Tamago which is similar to a poached egg however the surface of the egg is smooth!
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[Review 1609] Black sesame & Hokkaido milk panna cotta @ 東海堂 Arome Bakery

19/06/2012
東海堂 Arome Bakery
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心2期UG樓004號舖
Shop 004, UG/F, MCP Central, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/black-sesame-hokkaido-milk-panna-cotta-e2240851

Tried the Black sesame & Hokkaido milk panna cotta because it looked interesting.

However when you get a close look at it, the dark grey cream looks fake and inedible like toy plasticine and clay!

One thing that I learn was never to trust the English on the menu even though this one looked perfectly normal.
Here it is labelled as Black sesame & Hokkaido milk panna cotta which looks perfecly correct judging by the appearance of the dessert.
The black layer and grey cream must be black sesame and the white layer should be panna cotta, but if you ask someone who can read Chinese it turns out it contains bamboo charcoal as well.

I found out when I showed the fridge picture to someone.

Bamboo charcoal may be not every ones cup of tea whilst black sesame is commonly known.
When I first tried food with bamboo charcoal I was quite hesitant about it as well.
Anyway now that I know it had bamboo charcoal, the weird texture that I thought was the black sesame must have been the bamboo charcoal.
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Charcoal cream:
Initially I thought it was cream made with sesame because of the colour. However the texture was like cream mixed with super fine sand and makes a noise in your mouth.
It was not sesame because grounded sesame is similar to finely ground wheat shells so it was the charcoal.
I did not finish all the cream because it was the typical fake hydrogenated cream.
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Panna cotta:
This was lovely and milky, the sweetness was just right. The texture was like a light jelly.
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Sesame pudding:
The pudding had an extremely strong black sesame taste, similar to the black sesame filling found in sweet dumplings but much thicker and sweeter.
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[Review 1608] Fish shao mai @ 吉番串小食

18/06/2012
吉番串 
將軍澳寶寧路富寧花園商場3號舖
Shop 3, Fu Ning Garden Commercial Complex, Po Ning Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/fish-shao-mai-%E5%90%89%E7%95%AA%E4%B8%B2%E5%B0%8F%E9%A3%9F-e2240632

Saw this neat looking joint owned by a couple and their son so decided to go in for some snacks.
I chose the fish shao mai and they came in a cute plastic dish.
The soy sauce matched the shao mai.
Although it is a small joint there are lots of snacks inside.

[Review 1607] Instant noodles with bay leaves @ 香格格酸辣米線

15/06/2012

香格格酸辣米線
將軍澳常寧路2號TKO Gateway東翼1樓E169-E170號舖
Shop 169-170, 1/F, East Wing, TKO Gateway, 2 Sheung Ning Street, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/instant-noodles-with-bay-leaves-%E9%A6%99%E6%A0%BC%E6%A0%BC%E9%85%B8%E8%BE%A3%E7%B1%B3%E7%B7%9A-e2240187

Went here again for instant noodles and pork knuckles.
The noodles tasted better this time and there were no beanshoots.
The soup also had bay leaves and aniseed so it tasted strong of that.
The pork knuckles still had some hair on them and some of the bones were good because there was some marrow inside.