[Review 1795] The world of Xiamen, mini wontons and treasures @ 廈門風味阿珠小吃店 Taste of Xiamen

25/09/2012
廈門風味阿珠小吃店
土瓜灣美景街44號安福大廈
G/F, No. 44 Mei King Street, To Kwa Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-world-of-xiamen-mini-wontons-and-treasures-e2259859


I have always wanted to try this place because I like food made with Taro and there were lots of other weird and wonderful snacks as well.
However this place is not located near an MTR so you have to take the bus, but since I am not a bus person I took the ferry route to Kowloon pier from North Point.

When I sat down there were lots of magazine clippings on the wall which was expected but there was an English one which must of meant that it is quite good if you have an English publication featuring their Xiamen cuisine.
However there is no English menu!

Since this place serves jellied sand worms it reminded me of the other Mun Nan Style cuisine in North Point but the choice here is more extensive.

The prices here are relatively cheap but the portion sizes relate to its price, but since the portions are small you can try other items as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taro and Chinese chives croquette:

The appearance was like a ball and the exterior of the croquette was rather hard.
Inside the croquette it was slightly hollow filled with chinese chives, on the interior or the croquette it had mashed pure taro which was dense and delicious.
It tastes better than the taro croquettes found in dim sum restaurants because it was less oily and there was less meat and the chives gave it a nice taste.
The only thing I did not like was that it tasted slightly sweet.
I was going to order the plain taro croquettes too which are sweet but since the savoury one was sweet as well it was the same thing without the meat and chives.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Octopus:

I ordered it because of the reviews and it tasted really nice.
I was expecting the octopus to be chewy and rubbery but it was so tender.
I could taste mustard in the sauce which went well with it.
There was chili sauce to go with it as well.
According to the reviews the octopus is not raw so it was cooked just right so that it is not chewy.
There was also pickled julienne carrots and chinese radishes but they tasted sweet as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Duck soup:

I really liked this soup and was surprised that they served this type of soup because it was made from lots of herbs such a dong gwai.
The soup was lovely and strong and tasted similar to Pork bone tea but better.
However it was slightly oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir-fried pork offal:

On the menu it said it was blanched but when it was served it had been stir-fried.
It was really nice because it was jazzed up with dried shrimps when it was cooked.
I did not eat the intestines or gizzards but the pork liver was good.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sacha noodles with mini wontons:

I wanted to try the sacha noodles and the mini wontons and these noodles had both which was great.
There were lots of wontons. The wontons were basically pieces of pork inside them. In Chinese they are called Wontons but in Xiamen they are called "been siks"!! (interesting name!)
The sacha broth was nice and spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Noodles with spring onions:

I was slightly disappointed with this because photos from the preview reviews show lots of spring onions on the top, however they were at the bottom of the bowl.
There were dried shrimps too which gave the noodles some flavour however the noodles were too soft for my liking.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Review @ Mun Nam Restaurant
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2163004

[Review 1794] McDonalds Horlicks ice cream sundae HKD10 @ 麥當勞 McDonald's

24/09/2012

麥當勞 McDonald's
深水埗大埔道132-134 號東盧大廈地下及地庫
G/F-B/F, 132-134 Tai Po Road,, Sham Shui Po
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mcdonalds-horlicks-ice-cream-sundae-e2259581

I don't often order McDonald's ice-cream because I don't like it but when they have new sauces or toppings I generally give it a try.
This time the topping was Horlicks which is a beverage that I do not drink so I was not expecting it to taste nice, but it turned out extremely nice!!!

For the Horlicks series they have: Horlicks Double sundae, Horlicks sundae and Horlicks McFlurry.

I tried the Horlicks sundae which is the most basic one.
When I tried it, the taste was really nice and I managed to finish the whole cup as well.
The Horlicks powder was slightly savoury which took away the sweetness of the ice-cream, it also reminded me of extra fine digestive biscuit crumbs on the ice-cream.

[Review 1793] The story of the green garlic, but mine was white @ 巧興麵食店 Hau Hing Noodle

24/09/2012
巧興麵食店  Hau Hing Noodle
土瓜灣安徽街7號嘉信大廈地下
G/F, Kar Shun Building, 7 Anhui Street, To Kwa Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-story-of-the-green-garlic-but-mine-was-white-e2259580

Came here for the famous green garlic but unfortunately mine was white that day.
As well as green garlic, you can get can black garlic these days (black gold).
The garlic that I had was not pickled long enough, the taste of the garlic was not that spicy and it was just slightly sour.
Hopefully the next time I come here the garlic will be green.
The dumplings that I ordered were pork and vegetable and the ratio of pork and chopped vegetables were 1:1.

I felt that there was too much dumpling skin.
On top of the dumplings were two pieces of seaweed, the seaweed was different to the seaweed I have seen at other places, it was a thick sheet of seaweed.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Interesting socket on the wall!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Anyway the story of the green garlic goes like this.......
When it is the 8th of December on the lunar calendar, garlic are put into a jar of vinegar and pickled.
This tradition originates from northern China and the pickled garlic are to be eaten in Spring with dumplings.
Another story is that the pronunciation of garlic in Mandarin is "suen" which is similar to another mandarin word "suen" with the meaning "never mind".
So the people in China gave these pickled garlic to people who came to collect their debts hoping they didn't need to pay them.

And another version is to do with Buddhism which I can't quite understand the Chinese, and I may be wrong with the above stories because I am guessing what it says from the translation from google!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1792] Cold noodles with a free drink @ 姬 Hime Kitchen

24/09/2012
姬 Hime Kitchen
天后電氣道109號榮興樓地下
G/F, Wing Hing House, 109 Electric Road, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cold-noodles-with-a-free-drink-hime-kitchen-e2259565

I rarely eat Korean food because everything tastes sweet and spicy.
I came here to try the cold noodles and the rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Korean buckwheat noodle with cold soup:
 When it came the noodles looked different. From the previous reviews there was crushed ice.
Anyway, when the noodles came, the waitress used a pair of scissors and cut the noodles into smaller strands.
When I dug my chopsticks into the noodles I realised they were very elastic and hard to pick up if they were in long pieces.
The texture of the noodles were exactly like konjac noodles but the strands were thinner.
The cold soup tasted sweet as expected and it tasted of Chinese radish.
On top of the noodles were cucumber, pickled Chinese radish and Chinese snow pear.
There was strong mustard paste to go with the noodles.
 ★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed rice with mixed vegetables and beef in hot stone pot:
Not my cup of tea because it just tasted sweet and spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soup and side dishes:

The side dishes were quite nice especially the spinach.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
It was nice to get an extra free drink as well because the cold noodles did not come with a drink.

[Review 1791]Stingy on the meat (almost meatless ) fried rice @ 美食吧 (已結業)

24/09/2012
美食吧 (已結業)
灣仔駱克道146-148號裕安大樓地下C2號舖
Shop C2, G/F, Yue On Building, 146-148 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/stingy-on-the-meat-almost-meatless-fried-rice-e2259548

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef and mushroom fried rice:
Again, the fried rice was tasteless and from the pictures you can hardly see any beef or mushroom in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tuna and tomato fried rice:
There was not much tuna in the fried rice, and basically it tasted like Mashed up canned tomato sardines with fried rice, and the rice was really hard.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The bill: HKD26

[Review 1790] The white and the blues @ Greyhound Café

22/09/2012
Greyhound Café
中環港景街1號國際金融中心1樓1082舖
Shop 1082, 1/F, IFC, 1 Harbour View Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-white-and-the-blues-of-greyhound-cafe-e2259130

Ever since seeing pictures of the desserts and drinks here I have always wanted to try this place.

Just by the Grey background with the greyhound logo I would have never have thought it was a restaurant.
It looks like brand of clothing and after taking a look at their Thai website, they really are a clothes brand as well.
Similar to how Initial Cafe started from a brand of clothing.

There are two branches in Hong Kong, one at Harbour City and the another branch at IFC.

I tried going to both branches but the service at the Harbour City branch was not that welcoming so I went to the IFC branch which was much nicer, however the restaurant looks over the sea, so it can get quite sunny.

When I got there, I knew exactly what I wanted because there were a few specific things I wanted to try.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Greyhouse style lemon tea:

In Hong Kong I rarely order lemon tea because it is too sweet and the tea that they use is not my cup of tea and it ends up tasting bitter because of the lemon skin.
The lemon tea here is so different and refreshing.
When it is served, there is a glass containing some freshly squeezed lemon juice and tea cubes (frozen tea in ice-cube form) so that the tea does not get diluted.
Pity I didnt get a chance to take a photo of that.
Then they poured the rest of the tea in the glass with the tea cubes and lemon juice.
Since the lemon juice is at the bottom you need to stir it well.
After stirring the lemon tea tastes really nice with natural lemon taste without the bitterness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Coconut sherbet:
Usually sherbets have a tart taste but this one was not.
It was really good because since I ordered the crepe as well the sherbet only costs $20 more.
The taste was sweet and soothing, it was like coconut melting in your mouth.
The best thing about this coconut sherbet was that it was made of young coconut and the coconut water inside which tastes so much better than coconut milk.
The icy frozen coconut sorbet melting sensation was so refreshing especially when it was made from coconut water.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Butterfly pea stevia tea:
I ordered the tea because of the interesting blue colour.
The tea did not need to be sweetened because STEVIA is naturally sweet, but you can ask for honey.
I was expecting it to have a strong smell of sweet pea flower but it did not and the taste was slightly similar to Grosvenor mordica.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Coconut crepe:
The price of this crepe was expensive at $78 per slice but it was delicious.
The crepe was covered in cream which was lovely and light and it was slightly sweetened but not too sweet.
In between the crepe layers there was delicious pieces of young coconut.
It reminds me of the buko pie but this one is nicer because it is not so sweet.
BUKO PIE (coconut pie):
http://static2.orstatic.com/UserPhoto/photo/2/24H/00F3Y986391E84B0435FFCm.jpg

On top the crepe there was a piece of water chestnut which was a bonus because I wanted to try the Tub Tim Krob Greyhound Style as well which has that in it.
Basically the water chestnut had some gel covering it on the outside and it was colored red which definitely tasted better than a cherry on top!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
To try on my next visit:

Tub Tim Krob Greyhound Style
Water chestnut with coconut sherbet and coconut meat topped with coconut cream
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1789]Fresh apple and sea coconut drink HKD13 @ 恭和堂 Kung Wo Tong

21/09/2012

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/fresh-apple-and-sea-coconut-drink-kung-wo-tong-e2259065

Saw the poster and the drink looked refreshing so I tried it.
I thought it was a hot drink but it was chilled.
Anyway the drink was apple and sea coconut.
There was apple juice in it but it was not sour and the sea coconut tasted nice as well because it was not sweet at all.
However it was slightly strange because it tasted milky.