[Review 1673] Vegetarian dim sum @ 恭和堂 Kung Wo Tong

20/07/2012
恭和堂 Kung Wo Tong
灣仔軒尼詩道111號地下
G/F, 111 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/vegetarian-dim-sum-kung-wo-tong-e2246735

This tiny shop is well camouflaged on Hennessey Road but really stands out when you find it because of the white interior and the bright lights.

I didnt expect to get anything from there because I couldnt be bothered to study the drink choices but then I noticed a cabinet with steamed food inside.

On a closer look, the shao mai looked different and the dumplings were smaller in size too so I asked what was in the dumplings and they said all the steamed items in the cabinet were Vegetarian dim sums which was great!
No smelly pork and fat in the Shaomai! Great!

I ordered the shaomai and dumplings which were neatly boxed to take away and they were really cheap too.
The total came to $24.

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Dumplings
The dumpling skin was really thick and dry, inside the dumplings were glass noodles, black fungas and it tasted quite grassy and gingery hence chili sauce or soy sauce is desperately needed.
From the photos you can see they have tried to make the dumplings healthy by using grounded wheat in the dumpling skin.
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ShaoMai
The ShaoMai tasted the best, it tastes like processed soy pieces used in Vegetarian dishes.
If there was sauce for it then it would have tasted perfect.
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Overall the vegetarian dimsums were nice but I felt that I should have been given some chili sauce or soy sauce because the ShaoMai was dry and the Dumplings were bland.
They also had steamed buns and leaf wrapped Zhongzhi.

[Review 1672] Chili pomodoro sauce x Pineapple punch @ 麥當勞 McDonald's

麥當勞 McDonald's
將軍澳尚德商場2樓216號舖
Shop 216, 2/F, Sheung Tak Shopping Centre, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chili-pomodoro-sauce-x-pineapple-punch-mcds-e2246375

The new chili pomodoro sauce for the nuggets was launched so went there to try it.

This year the sauces are better, at least there are two that are not repeats: Chili pomodoro and BBQ chipotle.

Tried the pomodoro sauce and the new pineapple punch drink.
This is a negative review because of the chicken nuggets which I shall explain later.
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Chili pomodoro sauce


I really loved this sauce and it was slightly spicy, there was herbs and onions in it as well although it is not listed on the ingredients list.
I can't wait until the chipotle one comes out!
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Chicken nuggets

First I thought they were over done because they looked so dark, but after pressing them on tissue I realised it was old oil that made the nuggets dark.
You can see the oil is not fresh (ie the oil has deteriorated) by the colour of the oil against the white tissue!
If it was fresh oil it should have been a lighter colour.

The taste was not that pleasant so I had to dip more sauce.
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Pineapple punch


The pineapple taste was rather artificial.
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Hot soy green tea

I have never tried the hot version of this drink so tried it.
I was really impressed because when you drink it, the foam and the soy tea gets mixed together and it makes the drink silky with fine bubbly foam.
Because it was hot the taste of soy milk was faint but the green tea was stronger.
However it was slightly too sweet!
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[Review 1671] The crouching Kitteness of TinHa Village @ 三姐海鮮飯店 Kitty's Kitchen

19/07/2012
三姐海鮮飯店 Kitty's Kitchen
將軍澳田下灣村34號地下
G/F, 34 Ha Wan Village, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-crouching-kitteness-of-tinha-village-e2246368

This restaurant is easy to locate if you know where the hospital is!
However if you approach the village from the hospital/roundabout end it is locked and it looks scary.

But anyway, walk along that road and you will see an MTR sign pointing to the footbridge and that is where it is located.
When I entered the village, there was a dog which was scary because the village ones are usually fierce.
I walked slowly and cautiously but luckily this one just laid there!

Oh dear! A dog!
hope it dosnt bite!
It even looked to the camera for a picture!

Close up!!
After passing the dog, and stepping in this restaurant, I was greeted by this woman with such a warm smile!
Initially I thought it was Kitty, but it was not her.
Although she had that sales smile it was not that irritating, but later her actions proved to be salesy.

I came here especially for the noodles in sesame sauce which is not always available, so I asked her if it was available today and she said it was available, so I said I would like to order that, she immediately passed the order to the kitchen. She felt that I was going to leave if I couldn't find anything else on the menu that I wanted, but there were two other dishes I was going to order as well.
There was also steamed flower crab in HuaDiao which I wanted to try but could not find on the menu.
Finally found the other two items on the menu and ordered it.

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Noodles in sesame sauce (crystal noodles)

This is not always available and I could not find it on the menu.
Although it looks really heavy, the taste and texture was so light.
This dish was bliss, I do not like sweet food but I liked it because of the sweetness.
The noodles were made from the meat of young coconut that is scraped out carefully so that it is in noodle form and mixed with delicious sesame sauce with the refreshing balance of tomato pieces.
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Squid patty with vegetables

The Chinese name for this was interesting because you wouldn't know it is a patty unless you have read the reviews.
The patty texture was so soft and light and the coating was fried just right but it didn't seem to have any vegetables like the other photos.
The sauce was a bit too strong but still nice.
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Vegetables in soup with dried prawns
This dish was lovely and healthy with lots of vegetables and generous soup that had no MSG!!
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Rice
I didnt know the cost per bowl but the rice was slightly yellow.
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After the food was finished, this was the first time I felt she was salesy as she told me the egg white dessert was really good and asked me to try, but when I asked if it was complimentary, she didn't answer which was quite funny, but overall the food and service was ok.

The air conditioning was annoying, it was too cold so the food went cold fast.
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[Review 1670] Curry and dumplings @ Ginza Nichome Curry 銀座二丁目咖喱

19/07/2012
銀座二丁目咖喱 Ginza Nichome Curry
將軍澳坑口重華路8號東港城1樓162號舖
Shop 162, 1/F, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/curry-and-dumplings-ginza-nichome-curry-e2246365


Ordered the curry with dumplings, the rice and curry always taste the same because it is pre-made, however the dumplings were not crispy today and soggy.
The pork inside had bits of soft bones and fat.

[Review 1669] Delicious SOUS-VIDE beef with egg and truffle HKD40 @ 大快活 Fairwood

19/072012

大快活  Fairwood
將軍澳調景嶺景嶺路8號都會駅2樓R02號舖
Shop R02, 2/F, Metro Town, 8 King Ling Road, Tiu Keng Leng, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/delicious-sous-vide-beef-with-egg-and-truffle-e2246364

I am not a regular Fairwood customer but went especially for the Slow-cooked beef with egg and truffle.
The Slow-cooked beef with egg and truffle is only available for lunch, which is annoying.
In the evening they have slow-cooked steak which is not appealing to me as you have to cut the steak.

Slow-cooked is the Layman’s term for SOUS-VIDE a method used in many top-notch places.
The word SOUS-VIDE seems too hard to comprehend for Fairwood’s target market because they usually are students, housewives and office workers.

But anyway, the slow cooked beef was really good and they should have an upper end of Fairwood like how there is an upper end of Arome bakery called Arome bakery room, which sells cakes at a higher price.
The dish was priced at $40 and does not include a drink so I had to add $9 for the pineapple punch with nata de coco.
I just think it sucks because Fairwood is self-service where you pay, collect the food and find a seat especially when you come in for their deluxe selection which cost more.
With fine foods like that I wish they had an upper scale restaurant for it.
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Slow-cooked beef with egg and truffle
As expected the beef was lovely and soft and extremely juicy, however it lacked the taste of beef if you are a beef lover.
The pasta was slightly too salty and oily with tonnes of garlic, but despite that, the pasta was really nice.

It was nice that it came with broccoli.
The egg seemed to have some egg white missing, the portion of truffle was reasonably generous.
Overall I liked everything and ate it all!
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Pineapple punch with nata de coco
I was really surprised it was a nice drink, it was not syrupy or too sweet.
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Apart from the food, the air con was so strong that it blew the tissues from the table to the floor!!
So you can imagine how cold it was!
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Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time - 72 hours in some cases—at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 60 °C (140 °F). The intention is to cook the item evenly, and to not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same 'doneness', keeping the food juicier. The Bill $49

[Review 1668] Cheese salad sandwich with almonds! HKD20 @ Grove Sandwiches

19/07/2012

Grove Sandwiches
鰂魚涌海灣街4-6號嘉榮大廈地下9號舖
Shop 9, G/F, Ka Wing Building, Nos. 4-6 Hoi Wan Street, Quarry Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cheese-salad-sandwich-with-almonds-grove-e2246362

I dislike the Wan Chai branch so went to this branch.
Here I bought the cheese salad sandwich because the cheese looked interesting, it was more orange in colour than the usual cheese.
I wanted to get the prawn and peaches sandwich but the peach is probably canned ones so the salad one seemed more healthier.
Anyway, the cheese and salad sandwich tasted ok.
The cheese was processed cheese so it wasnt cheesy but it had an extremely creamy buttery taste, intially I thought they did not butter it evenly but it turned out to be the cheese.
As well as cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes I found SLIVERED ALMONDS!!!!!!!
Overall the sandwiches here are quite westernised, but it still doesnt feel as authentic as Pret A Manger or La Rose bakery.

[Review 1667] Expensive noodles from Happy Valley @ 麥兆記(祖傳)廣州雲吞麵 (已結業) Mak Siu Kee Traditional Wonton Noodle

18/07/2012

麥兆記(祖傳)廣州雲吞麵 (已結業) Mak Siu Kee Traditional Wonton Noodle

灣仔軒尼詩道61號地下

G/F, 61 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/expensive-noodles-from-happy-valley-e2246168

This restaurant was previously Hess 61 where they served affordable abalone and I thought they were doing quite well until this shop replaced it.

This restaurant basically serves noodles and it originates from GuangDong which was surprising.
I used to think noodles and wontons originated from Hong Kong.

They have other branches in Happy Valley hence their expensive price range.




Nearly every item is chargeable on the menu like sauce, ginger which makes it really batty!




Sat down and tea was placed on the table! Now if you want to leave the tea will cost you $15!!




Anyway, I ordered the noodles with prawn roe and the noodles with wonton.

When I ordered the noodles with prawn roe they asked if I would like oyster sauce and I was quite impressed because not everyone likes oyster sauce.
On a second thought although it was complimentary with noodles not served in soup, for other noodles it costs $5 extra for oyster sauce so it was a good way of them saving resources if people didn’t like oyster sauce (in other words "han fan la!!" - in Chinese!!).

For plain noodles it costs around $2X and for the noodles with prawn roe it costs $4x, so the prawn roe is worth $12!!

Overall the noodles were rather expensive which is ok if you dine in Happy Valley, but in Wan Chai it is slightly over priced, the interior could have been better but it was just the same as how Hess 61 left it, even the tables and chairs were the same.












I am not sure if they have a different menu during breakfast because they open at 7.30am!!!!
So just imagine eating expensive noodles for breakfast!!

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Noodles with prawn roe




Although it was quite expensive the noodles tasted nice because there was no alkaline taste and they were soft enough so I can see some slight competition for Wing Wah noodle shop (http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=4024) down the road. It was quite nice because I dislike pork lard in noodles and there was none.
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Wonton Noodles:




Same as the noodles above except that there was no prawn roe so the noodles really needed oyster sauce.
The wontons were nice but extremely tiny! They were as tiny as the wontons at Winton World, which specialises in mini wontons!!
Winton world: http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2218595
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soup;




The soup was quite nice but on the first sip it was strong pepper and sesame oil and then tones of yellow chives.
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chili sauce
Nice and spicy but not impressed with black eyelash or whatever it was!