[Review 1645] mellow & smooth Port Salut French cheese @ Marks & Spencer 食品專門店 Marks & Spencer Food Store

08/07/2012
Marks & Spencer 食品專門店  Marks & Spencer Food Store
灣仔告士打道88號其昌大廈地下B舖
Shop B, G/F, China Underwriters Centre, 88 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mellow-smooth-port-salut-french-cheese-e2244414

When I have a craving for cheese, I always get my cheese here because the cheese comes in small pieces which are individually packed and there is quite a variety at $10 per piece.

The cheese I chose this time was Port Salut, a soft cheese which has the texture similar to processed cheese but the taste was much nicer.
It tasted like a cross between brie and cheddar.

[Review 1644] Soy Green tea + Himalayan tea frappe @ McCafe

08/07/2012
McCafe (已搬遷)
中環港景街1號國際金融中心商場1樓1026-1028號舖
Shop 1026-1028, IFC Mall,No.1 Harbour View Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/soy-green-tea-himalayan-tea-frappe-mccafe-e2244313

After the successful launch of the asiaroma teas series, there are two new additions to the series.
The Soy green tea and himalayan tea are now available as frappes.
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Soy Green Tea Frappe
This tasted quite nice however the taste was not as strong as the tea version because of the blended ice and the soy milk was faint.
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Himalayan Tea Frappe
Basically it tastes icier than the tea version because of the blended ice and the taste was much milkier and powdery.
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In conclusion I prefer the tea version hot or cold because it is more concentrated but during the summer the frappe (blended ice) version cools you down more.
Although the normal version is tea but it actually tastes like a flavoured milkshake with ice cubes added.

[Review 1643] Peking twister again! @ 肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken

08/07/2012
肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken
灣仔港灣道30號新鴻基中心1樓101-103A舖及111舖及140舖
Shop 101-103A, 111 & 14, 1/F, 30 Sun Hung Kai Centre, Harbour Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/peking-twister-again-kfc-e2244291

Got my favourite twister again, although it is small but the taste is good.

It doesn't really fill you up so you need about two or three.
The twister I had this time had more BBQ sauce which was good.

But since they had the chicken zinger filet with curry sauce I got that as well.
The zinger filet was really spicy and together with the sweetness of the curry sauce balanced it out.

The Bill: HKD40

[Review 1642] Mini cakes @ 伯伯加奴 PPG (Pappagallo . Pastries . Gelato)

07/07/2012
伯伯加奴 PPG (Pappagallo . Pastries . Gelato)
將軍澳重華路8號東港城1樓Food Point K7-8號舖
Shop K7-8, 1/F, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mini-cakes-pappagallo-pastries-gelato-e2244251

Not really a fan of their items because the ice-cream was too sweet and the cake I had last time was weird.

This time I was attracted by their mini cakes because one of them had an interesting topping.
The mini cakes are $20 for three.

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Raspberry Jelly soft cheesecake
Got this because of the crushed jelly on top, however the raspberry taste was faint.
The cheesecake was soft as stated and overall it was quite nice having the cheesecake with raspberry jelly.
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Double chocolate truffle cake
Overall, this was quite nice and the cake was soft, the chocolate was not too sweet.
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Ice cream spoons for my cakes LOL!!

PPG evidently is an ice cream specialist!!

[Review 1641] Exclusive at this branch: Prawn Tempura + No Photos allowed WTF @ 吉野家 Yoshinoya

07/07/2012
吉野家 Yoshinoya
旺角彌敦道721-725號華比銀行大廈1樓
1/F, Belgian Bank Building, 721-725 Nathan Road, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/xclusif-dis-branch-prawn-tempura-no-fotos-wtf-e2244241

xclusif @ dis branch: Prawn tempura + No fotos WTF

Walked past this branch and saw this advert for the PRAWN TEMPURA BOWL WITH RICE so had that in mind to try.

However when I went to the Wan Chai branch and this other branch in Tseung Kwan O it was not offered.

Since I had to collect something in Mong Kong I went past again to see if it was still on promotion and it was so I went in for the PRAWN TEMPURA.

Went to the counter and ordered the Prawn tempura with rice.

After paying as I normally would do, I started taking photos of the menu, however the waitress said no photos were allowed, so I spoke to the manager and said I was a food blogger writing food reviews and asked if I could take a photo of the menu and I pointed specifically to which menu I would like to take a photo of but she said I should contact customer services.
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First picture I took before I was told no more photographs!

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An example of what I was going to photograph (from IVYCWKs review) but the food items were different.
http://static3.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/3/2YF/00L0U7079F513DA9B8FB55l.jpg
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Anyway, the reason I wanted to take a photo of that particular menu was because it had some exclusive items that are not in other branches of Yoshinoya.
I also asked about the Prawn tempura and she said it is only available in four branches in Hong Kong, this branch, Tung Chung and the other two I cannot remember.

I was quite surprised that photos of the menu could not be taken and I could not see any NO Photograph signs around.
If this is the case, they should sue every reviewer on Openrice that takes pictures and posts a review!!
I am posting pictures because I would like to share with people which is the point of writing a review and especially because some of their food items are exclusive items not many people have seen before.

Surely they would want people talking about their latest food items and getting more people to know, but it doesnt seem so in this branch!
I really do not understand what liability they are afraid of or what they are protecting themselves from.
I had already disclosed myself as a food blogger and my clear intentions I was going to write a review and specified the particular menu I would like to take a picture of....

Anyway, now about the food.

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PRAWN TEMPURA BOWL WITH RICE
The bowl of rice was really big and on top were the usual sides of vegetables: beans, cauliflower and broccoli which were the frozen types defrosted, boiled and served.
There were four pieces of prawn tempura and a side of sauce.

It was good they separated the sauce because you can control how much sauce you want and the tempura remains crispy.
The prawns were quite nice but the tempura batter was too thick and it was not the real Japanese tempura batter.
But anyway, it is a good alternative to salmon and salmon roe with rice if you do not eat beef.
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[Review 1640] 0 Yeah - 檸 Yeah - Lovely Lemon @ 老地坊 (已結業)

06/07/2012
老地坊 (已結業)
灣仔蘭杜街2號9號舖
Landale Street
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/0-yeah-%E6%AA%B8-yeah-lovely-lemon-e2244173

Usually people avoid restaurants with negative reviews but I went here because of the negative reviews.

I do not eat Sichuan hot and sour noodles because of the spicyness and the sichuan peppercorns but the noodles here have lemon which is not the usual ingredient for Sichuan hot and sour noodles, hence the negative reviews.

Anyway, I love lemon that is why I came here for it, same as the Tom Yum noodles at Happy Noodles in Happy Valley because the broth also has lemon in it.
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Apart from the noodles, there were two other dishes of interest: duck in beer but for some reason, the Chinese name is called doggie duck!

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The other interesting one was the rich soy sauce that came with the steak and the pork knuckles marinated in tea leaves {茶皇豬手}.
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Sichuan hot and sour noodles
Please note if you like the authentic ones, these are not!
The only reason I liked it was because it was lemony and there was strong aniseed.
I felt that the sourness of the broth could have been stronger.
Also same as the reviews mentioned, the chili was added last when it was served which was great for me because I could spoon it out.
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Pork knuckles marinated in tea leaves
These came with the noodles or you can order these separately on its own or with rice.
Again it was strong in spices and it was the first time to try pork knuckles marinated in tea leaves.
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Duck in beer aka doggie duck
Not sure if this is Sichuan cuisine but the duck marinated in beer was interesting, but coincidentally I went to Hutong Grill which seems to serve Sichuan items had this too.
However the beer taste was faint because there was too much sauce overpowering the duck.
The sauce was oyster sauce mixed with soy sauce.
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Fried egg and pork shop with signature soy sauce
Got this because of the signature soy sauce, but when it arrived it just tasted like oyster sauce.
If you treat it as a gravy then its ok.
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[Review 1639] Girls night out at The Live House Bar @ The Live House

06/07/2012
The Live House
旺角彌敦道731號地庫
Basement, 731 Nathan Road, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/girls-night-out-at-the-live-house-bar-e2243988

Although I do not drink, there are some times when your friends drink and you need to share the bill.
Luckily the alcoholic drinks are on promotion here after 9.30 which is a good time for unlucky buggers who have to OT until eight or nineish.

Fortunately time is timeless for me.

Anyway, met up with some babes and the place had a nice atmosphere.
On the day I went there was a band playing there which plays on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

[Posted this picture because the girls said they were handsome!]

Since some of them just finished work, food was ordered.
To start off with there were chicken wings and fried mushrooms.
The last time I had fried mushrooms was at this other pub selling burgers in CWB also on the basement floor.

The chicken wings were nice and had blue cheese dressing, there were three flavours Yuzu, honey and buffalo.

The deep fried mushrooms were the best, the mushroom inside remained juicy, and they were so nice it tasted nice with or without the sauce.

As a potato lover I loved the fish with mashed potato, the mashed potato was dense but silky which went well with the creamy sauce.

Next on was the pasta and I loved the seafood especially the clams and squid, the squid was cooked just right and it was tender and not rubbery.

Also tried the breaded lambchops however I was quite full from the pasta and mash.
The lamb was not gamey but I felt that the coating could have been lighter.

Even though I was full, I still tried the dessert.

The apple pie was apple and raisins enclosed in puff pastry but I felt that there were too many raisins in it.
However the other dessert was really nice, it was piping hot chocolate brownie and cold ice-cream on the outside. The cream that was heated up from the hot chocolate cake had this really nice heated milk aroma.


While the girls were drinking, I played digital darts. The tips of the darts are made of hard plastic, which has less chance of injuring people if it flew elsewhere!

Just realised I had forgotten to write about my drink which was non-alcoholic LATIN, a mix of pineapple juice, grapefruit and lemonade which was visually stunnng!

I don’t know when I’ll come again, but this place is well-equipped for budding young bands.
It would be cool if Fred Cheng 鄭俊弘's HOME band played here and I’ll be back definitely!