[Review 1822] Häagen-Dazs indulgence at Hysan's new Secret garden @ Häagen-Dazs (已結業)

29/09/2012
Häagen-Dazs (已結業)
銅鑼灣軒尼詩道500號希慎廣場6樓626-627號舖
Shop 626-627, 6/F, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/haagen-dazs-indulgence-hysans-new-secret-garden-e2260540

Thanks to MjQueenie7e and IVYCWK for bringing me along to the Haagan Dazs tasting event to try the new ice-cream series.

Further more thanks to the organizers for organizing a spectacular session for bloggers and the media to try their new products and the lovely heart shaped spoons and ice-cream coupons given to us which I forgot to submit earlier.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Heart shaped spoons:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Before the tasting session began, there was a magician to warm everyone up and magically make the desserts appear before our eyes!!

In the new dreamy series there are three desserts that will be available from October and the Blooming heart a few days later.
The three desserts are: Belgian Blossum, Blossoming surprise and Blooming heart.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Belgian blossom 火焰奇遇 $328:
The Belgian blossom is dine in only, it is a mystical chocolate ball which has burning alcohol poured on top of it.
After the top of the chocolate ball has melted, the surprise is inside the ball.
Inside the chocolate ball are nine scoops of HD icecream with crunchy chocolate and pieces of chocolate cake.

It was really fun eating it, the chocolate is made of 72% pure Belgian chocolate which has a lovely bitter taste enhanced and infused by the burning alcohol when the chocolate melted and solidified on the cold icecream.
The ice-cream which is also a star of the desssert was delicious especially the green tea flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Blossoming surprise 彩動心弦 $97:
This is available for take out which only costs $72 with four scoops of icecream whereas the dine in version has six scoops.

It was really colourful especially with the fruit.
The top part of the ball is hand crafted and very intricate.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Blooming heart 魔幻奇程 $489:


Similar to the Blossoming surprise this was also visually stunning, I love the marshmallows and redcurrants!
Underneath the pretty berries and marshmallows is an icecream cake.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Aftering trying the new desserts the HD experts also talked about pairing different icecream flavours together and the interesting tastes that you can get such as green tea and lemon sorbet giving a similar flavour to Lemon Tea.

That day I tried the peach because I havent tried it before, there were pieces of peach in it but the flavour was not that strong and I would have liked it to be more refreshing.

[Review 1821] Novelty mini donuts @ Fresh Fresh 簡品堂

簡品堂 Fresh Fresh
葵芳葵富路7號葵涌廣場三樓97號舖
Shop 97, 3/F, Kwai Chung Plaza, 7 Kwai Foo Road, Kwai Fong
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/novelty-mini-donuts-fresh-fresh-e2260539

After trying their pandan cake at a recent promotional stall at Hollywood plaza, I really wanted to try their donuts, but the nearest branch was MK or the Kwai Fong side of town.
Since my friend lives in the KF area I was able to get her to get me some.
She got me a pack of three for $15.

These donuts were non fried which is healthier compared to the fried ones, however the icing was a bit too much.
The chocolate one tastes the best and the donut was soft and grease free.
The lilac one tasted a bit artificial.

[Review 1820] Smoked salmon and egg salad sandwich @ 太平洋咖啡 Pacific Coffee

29/09/2012

太平洋咖啡  Pacific Coffee
中環畢打街1-3號中建大廈2樓203號舖
Shop 203, 2/F, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/smoked-salmon-and-egg-salad-sandwich-pacific-cfe-e2260538

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Smoked salmon and egg salad sandwich HKD20:

Got this sandwich because salmon and egg were an interesting combination which I have not tried before.
There was quite a lot of salad in the sandwich which made it quite healthy such as cucumber and lettuce.
However the taste of the egg was really faint because the salmon was strong but you could feel the starchy texture of the egg.
I am not sure if there was any MSG but I felt really thirsty after the sandwich!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1819] Foilicious chicken is back and better than ever @ 肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken

29/09/2012
肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心2期2樓2057-2059號舖
Shop 2057-59, 2/F, MCP Central, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/foilicious-chicken-is-back-and-better-than-ever-e2260537

Its been a while since KFC did Foilicious chicken, this year the combination for the set seemed quite good so I got it.

The set I got had Foilicious baked chicken with radish, imitation shark fins soup and drink for $39.5.
I was quite surprised by this set, most of the elements were quite Cantonese, especially the imitation sharks fin soup and the Chinese radish being served in a Western fast food chain!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Foilicious chicken:

The chicken from the batch I had was quite dry that day, but if it was a fresh batch it would have tasted perfect.
The sauce they used was the soy sauce that they use to marinade chicken and the chicken skin was thin and it was slightly sticky and gelatinous that I ate it.
However it was quite salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chinese radish:

The radish looked different to the product shot, in the product shot they looked like chunks but the actual items were thin slices. There were four pieces in total.
The radishes were beneath the chicken and it absorbed the sauce. I thought they were going to be served separately because they looked big in the product shot.
Although the radishes tasted nice, they were too salty and not soft enough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sharks fin soup:

The sharks fin soup looks similar to the Cantonese one but tastes slightly different as if it has some KFC chicken gravy in it.
In the soup there are pieces of shiitake mushroom imitation sharks fin.
Same comments as above, I found the soup too salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1818] French crepes now @ Ms Penguin (已結業)

28/09/2012
Ms Penguin (已結業)
將軍澳貿業路8號新都城中心2期1樓百佳超級廣場
Parknshop, UG/F, MCP Central, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/french-crepes-now-at-ms-penguin-e2260528

Since my last visit, there is now a French guy serving crepes!!!
Apart from crepes they had various French things on display.
I didnt need to speak to him in Chinese but apparently he can speak Chinese!

His English was quite good for a French guy, he did not have the French accent in his English and he looks Italian in my opinion.

Anyway I tried the Chestnut crepe, usually I do not try chestnut items for desserts because the Chinese ones are really sweet and starchy.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweet crepe with chestnut cream:
The crepe was made on the iron galette which was pre buttered to make it non stick.
The crepe was piping hot!
The chestnut filling was slightly sweeter than I imagined and it was also as starchy as the Chinese ones.
But the crepe was quite nice.
The texture of the crepe was quite soft and it was similar to the pancakes made for Pancakes day (British version).
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1817] McDs Ebi burger with sesame/thousand island sauce @ 麥當勞 McDonald's

28/09/2012
麥當勞 McDonald's
灣仔軒尼詩道1號熙信樓1樓C舖
Shop C, 1/F, Asian House, 1 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mcds-ebi-burger-with-sesame-thousand-island-sauce-e2260519

My favourite Ebi Burger is back and so is my favourite seasoning for the fries.

This year they have the Ebi burger with Thousand island sauce or Sesame sauce.
As a preference I prefer the thousand island sauce because it is similar to prawn cocktail sauce.
For the fries they have Seaweed seasoning or Wasabi powder seasoning.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ebi burger with sesame sauce:

The bun for the sesame sauce is slightly different because it has black and white sesame seeds on the top.
I tried this one first because the taste is not as strong as thousand island sauce.

I was surprised it was really nice because the taste of the sesame sauce is similar to sesame oil and not the grounded sesame sauce even though it was creamy, however there could have been more sauce.
The sauce was slightly sweet but matched the prawn patty and the colour of the sauce was beige.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ebi burger with thousand island:


In contrast to the sesame sauce, the thousand island sauce was much more refreshing but for both burgers the amount of sauce was so stingy!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seaweed powder:

As usual the seaweed powder tastes really nice however they could reduce the salt in the seasoning because McDonald's fries already have salt sprinkled on them before they are scooped into the fries box.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Wasabi powder:

This was really nice but the seasoning needs to be shaken well or some fries will have strong wasabi taste and some fries would just be sweet.
But when it is shaken properly the wasabi and the sweetness really enhances the fries.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Breadcrumb coating:

The last time McDonalds had this burger it was not breadcrumb coating, but with the breadcrumb coating it seems to overpower the taste of the prawn patty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cross section of the prawn patty:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 1816] Doraemon Ding Dong pasta sets @ 博洛尼亞 BO-LO’GNE Café & Bar

28/09/2012
博洛尼亞 BO-LO’GNE Café & Bar
尖沙咀廣東道3-27號海港城海運大廈 LCX 3樓33號舖
Shop 33, 3/F, LCX, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/doraemon-ding-dong-pasta-sets-bo-logne-e2260517

Came with some friends to try their pasta sets with the Doraemon theme.
To be honest I am not a fan of Doraemon and the first time I encountered Doraemon and Hello Kitty
characters were at China Town!

Basically there are four different type of pastas that you can choose from, after you have selected the pasta you then have to choose the Doraemon or Doraemi character that is put on the thinly sliced egg.

For the Doraemon and Doraemi characters you can choose bell pepper or seaweed powder because the character is sprinkled on the egg. Bell pepper is red in colour and seaweed is green.

Since all the pasta sets have a piece of toast, a portion of pasta, half a kiwi, some butter and a cherry tomato they have used a white dish to distinguish whether the character is Doraemon or Doraemi.
The Doraemon character has the white dish on the plate which holds the butter and cherry tomato and Doraemi does not.

The four different pastas were: Carbonara, Napolitana Japanese style, Mushroom spaghetti and Mentaiko spaghetti.

We ordered all four flavours.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Carbonara:
The pasta sauce was rather milky
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Napolitana Japanese style:
It tasted very strong of smoked bacon so if you like bacon you would like this.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mushroom spaghetti:
I felt that the sauce was extremely bland and they used canned mushrooms.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mentaiko spaghetti:
I felt that this tasted the best but the spaghetti was not hot enough.
The mentaiko was slightly spicy and the mentaiko was slightly salty which gave the pasta flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Toast that comes with the pasta:
The toast could have been better because the texture was just like normal toast when there should have been more layers in the bread.
The toasts were inconsistent because some you could see the characters clearly and some you could not.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Egg white:
Initially I thought it was cheese but it turned out to be egg. It was intriguing how they cooked the egg white. The egg white was bland but the powder was flavoured so it was easier to taste the seaweed powder.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Honey icecream with toast:
On the menu it said Honey icecream however when it was brought over it was not honey icecream.


The toast tasted better for the dessert and the quality of the toast was better, it had more layers like a croissant.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Doraemon plates:

I wonder how they will dispose of them when the Doraemon theme is over?
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
After finishing the pasta and the extra dessert we ordered, we paid and left, however on the way out we noticed the Tiramisu being brought out to other tables and realised we should have got one as well, so we asked if our sets included it and he said yes, so we sat down again for the final dessert.
Doraemon tiramisu:

It did not taste like authentic Tiramisu but it was nice, the cookie was very buttery.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★