[Review 1728] Hope they keep their standards @ 京川滬風味小食坊 (太子)

25/08/2012
京川滬風味小食坊
太子砵蘭街379號地下
G/F, 379 Portland Street, Prince Edward
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hope-they-keep-their-standards-e2253699

Came here again because the food was good the first time, however the food was slightly bland this time and the hygiene needs to be improved because you can see things crawling.

Anyway, the chili sauce was really nice and it had large beans in it.
The chicken was slightly fatty and the sauce was not strong enough.

[Review 1727] Slow cooked steak selection @ 大快活 Fairwood

24/08/2012
大快活 Fairwood
灣仔駱克道138號中國海外大廈1字樓D1舖
Shop D1, 1/F China Overseas Bldg., No 138 Lockhart Road,, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/slow-cooked-steak-selection-fairwood-e2253686''

After trying the slow cooked beef with pasta, I was looking forward to the slow cooked steak for more meat because the lunch version only had a few slices of beef.
Sadly the steak was quantity and not quality, whereas the lunch was quality and not quantity!
Although there was more meat in the steak, it had lots of tendons so there was alot of wastage when I ate it.
The vegetables tasted slightly dehydrated.
The plate was annoying because it was not a flat plate, it was concaved in the centre making it hard to eat!

[Review 1726] Qing bu liang drink @ 鴻福堂 Hung Fook Tong

24/08/2012

鴻福堂 Hung Fook Tong
將軍澳坑口培成路15號連理街144號舖
Shop 144, the Lane, 15 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/qing-bu-liang-drink-hung-fook-tong-e2253642

I was attracted by the size of the bottle so got this drink.

It costs $3.5 if you buy other products in the store but as there was nothing else I wanted, I just got the drink which costs $4.5 so you are only saving $1 if you buy other items.

Anyway, I just tried it for fun not for its herbal properties but the taste was light and pleasant and not too sweet.
The drink contains longgan and jobs tear seeds.

[Review 1725] Red velvet cake @ Ginger bakery

24/08/2012
Ginger Bakery (已結業)
灣仔莊士敦道55號地下
G/F, 55 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/red-velvet-cake-ginger-bakery-e2253610

The red velvet cake was new so tried that, as well as that there was the rocky mountain pie which I would like to try as well but that looked solid and hard.

The cake tasted nice and the buttercream complemented it well, however the cake itself was too hard.
I would prefer it softer.

[Review 1724] C'est la Vie @ C'est la B

24/08/2012

C'est la B
大坑銅鑼灣道110-114號地下3號舖
Shop 3, G/F, 110-114 Tung Lo Wan Road, Tai Hang
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cest-la-vie-cest-la-b-e2253608

I have always wanted to go to the branch in Central but I never managed to find it, but luckily there is a branch in Tai Hang which was great. But now there is another branch in Admiralty.

I nearly walked past this place because it was black and dark.

As expected, it was visually stunning inside, lots of black with colourful butterflies, cushions and chairs to contrast it.
The layout of the Admiralty branch is almost the same as this one too.

Even the cutlery they had matched the cake house. Their cutlery was dark shiny black chrome which gives it an expensive touch to it compared to normal silverware and it really fits in with the black theme.

On the wall were a display of colourful acrylic cake servers.

On the left they had lovely hanging tea ware lights and pretty butterflies on the ceiling.

Anyway finally went to choose my cakes, there were so many colourful artisan cakes on display.
However they were not labelled so it was a bit intimidating to ask about every cake and luckily it was not busy that time.
I wish they were labelled because it would make my life easier making the right choice because they were expensive too.
I checked the photos for the Admiralty branch and the cakes are not labelled there as well.
I thought it was a waste of great ideas as well because according to the reviews and their website, each cake has a special and beautiful name which was not labelled.

I only found out the cake names from the previous reviews.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Madame Butterfly:

This was visually stunning and since it was not busy that day, the lady was able to tell me what each layer was.
The red was beet root, the pastel green was pistachio and the last layer was chocolate.
Overall I loved this cake, the sweetness was light and the cake was super soft.
The dried apricots at the top were nice too and a better ingredient to use than mango.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
SunShine


I liked this one too it was lemon and poppy seed which was so refreshing.
The poppy seed was a good complement to the light lemon cake and gave it some slight crisp texture.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Next time I will get a takeout from the Admiralty branch as well because the cake box is so beautiful, for special occasions the cake comes with a funky cake server knife and candles, for pictures of the box and candles see the other reviews.

[Review 1723] Appalling food and customer service at the pond @ 金凱鮮庭 Golden Pond

24/08/2012

金凱鮮庭 Golden Pond
北角麥連街寶榮大廈地下I舖
Shop I, G/F, Po Wing Building, Merlin Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/appauling-food-and-customer-service-at-the-pond-e2253607

I have always wanted to try this place because they specialize in seafood and lobster with E-Fu noodles.

I was intending to try their E-fu noodles with lobster and the crabs.

Anyway when I got there the service was not particularly welcoming and when I asked about how their noodles were cooked they were really rude and just regurgitated the menu.
I did not know the difference between 燴伊麵 and 湯伊麵.
The answer I got was "燴就係燴羅, 湯就係湯伊麵羅," so as I did not know if the 燴伊麵 had sauce, so I asked if it had sauce and she answered in a sarcastic way, "of course it has sauce".
In English I was roughly trying to ask the two different methods they used to cook the noodles and the answer I got back was roughly "stir-fried means stir-fried and boiled means boiled" so if you don't know what boiled means they do not really help by repeating the the word boiled, it would be more helpful if they explained the process.

Apart from their attitude, I loved it the way the menu had attitude too, it states clearly there are no free drinks or soups included after lunch time!
In the end I just ordered two noodles and skipped the crab because I might as well spend the money elsewhere.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lobster with E-Fu noodles 燴伊麵 [wui style]:

When it came the E-Fu noodles were covered with clear gravy topped with slices of lobster.
I was expecting the lobster to come in its shell! Perhaps only the baked version comes in its shell.
There was not much lobster meat, luckily the noodles were not rancid, but the gravy was quite salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Scallops in black bean garlic sauce with E-fu noodles

This was really nice because the steamed garlic sauce went on the noodles but the scallops were extremely tiny and I was expecting them to be bigger according to previous reviews.
The ovaries/roe part was almost invisible, after they were removed you could see how tiny the scallops were.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
For both noodles, the amount of vegetables were amazingly stingy if you look at the previous reviews.
I chose this place because the picture showed lots of vegetables which led me to think you could get a balanced meal here.

[Review 1722] The golden x confusion at 金X庭京川滬菜館 @ 金滿庭京川滬菜館 Modern China Restaurant

24/085/2012
金滿庭京川滬菜館 Modern China Restaurant
馬鞍山鞍祿街18號新港城中心4期2105舖
Shop 2105, Sunshine City Plaza 4,18 On Luk Street, Ma On Shan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-golden-x-confusion-at-%E9%87%91x%E5%BA%AD%E4%BA%AC%E5%B7%9D%E6%BB%AC%E8%8F%9C%E9%A4%A8-e2253602

I have always dined at the Modern China Restaurant in Diamond Hill and the food has always been great, but then a branch called Golden Shanghai opened in Hang Hau (which is now closed).
As I did not look at the English name I did not know they were different restaurants because the food was almost 99% the same except for the teapot.

I did not know they were different restaurants until I tried to search Modern China on OpenRice because there were less branches and the Hang Hau branch was missing.

Then on OpenRice I found out the second Chinese character was different:
金滬庭京川滬菜館 Golden shanghai cuisine
金滿庭京川滬菜館 Modern China Restaurant

Anyway, this branch of Modern China is also good and the manager Pexxx Kxx is really friendly and gave expert advice for choosing the dishes.
Apart from the food, the Chinese teas were also interesting it had ginseng in it which had a sweet aftertaste.

Had the starters which were presented in a nice array of china.
The jellied meat was interesting and the drunken chicken was my favourite.

For the vegetables had the purple potatoes with some Chinese greens.

The fish was the best, it was not too sweet or sour and the fish meat was tender

Lastly the prawns were really good and the taste was delicate and the prawns had a nice gel like coating on them.

I also tried the souffle ball which I did not take a picture of but it was interesting, the filling was red beans and banana.