[Review 2105] Takeaway lunches @ 金蒂餐廳 Cinta-J Restaurant & Lounge

26/11/2012
金蒂餐廳 Cinta-J Restaurant & Lounge
灣仔謝斐道69號馬來西亞大廈地下
Shop G-4, Malaysia Bldg, 69 Jaffe Rd., Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/takeaway-lunches-cinta-j-restaurant-lounge-e2271829

I do not really like dining at Cinta-J's because it is extremely noisy and there is a 10% service charge.
Anyway, decided to try takeaway lunches because there was no queue today.

It was hard to see what dishes they had because there was a reflection at the front of the windows so you could only peer from the the ordering counter, but most of the trays were on top of each other, so you could only see the dishes closest to you.

I asked what the other dishes were and she was reluctant to tell me and tried to force me to order what she had scooped up.

In the end I ordered the scrambled eggs and chicken curry.

For improvements, it would be great if the stuff was labelled so people do not need to waste time asking especially when they are reluctant to answer.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Scrambled egg:

The scrambled egg had lots of ham and onions but it was tasteless, but since there was curry sauce from the chicken it did not taste that bad.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken curry:

The chicken was tough and dry because it was all white meat, but the curry sauce was quite nice and it had a strong coconut taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soup:

At first I could not tell it was peanut and chicken feet soup because it was really salty.
But after I had half the bowl I saw the peanuts.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2104] All you can eat @ 江山笑 Jiang Shan Xiao

26/11/2012
江山笑 Jiang Shan Xiao
金鐘金鐘道89號力寶中心1樓商場2B舖
SHOP 2B, 1/F, Retail Podium, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Admiralty
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/all-you-can-eat-jiang-shan-xiao-e2271827

I found out about this place because of this review of a Lobster claw lunch set for takeaways but since then they have not done the lobster again for lunch!
Hopefully it will be back on the menu one day so I can try it.
They did have sea cucumber for lunch but it didn’t look as good as the lobster.

It used to be difficult locating this restaurant but now LabConcept is here and it located at the other end of LabConcept near The Frank.

Basically they have an all you can eat offer for lunch and dinner, but for lunch they prefer you to arrive earlier as they stop taking orders at a certain time.

The all you can eat menu is available online and in English too so you can check it out and they also have their weekly lunch sets as well online.

There is a wide selection of soups, starters, mains and desserts.

Items I tried as copied exactly from the menu:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stewed chicken feet in abalone sauce:

The sauce was nice and strong, however the texture of the chicken feet were not soft enough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Braised chicken in wine sauce & shallot roll served with home made mustard sauce:
This was my favourite because the chicken had been soaked heavily in the wine and mustard sauce.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled cucumber with garlic sauce:
This was quite nice because the cucumbers were fresh and there was lots of garlic.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed pork soup dumpling:
These tasted how it should but the skin was slightly thick.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed glutinous rice dumpling in lotus leaf wrapping:

The rice was too soft
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Noodles with minced meat in spicy soup:

This was too spicy
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Almond tea with egg-white:

I do not like almond puddings but this was surprisingly delicious.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled marinated black fungus with wasabi sauce:

this was my favourite, the black fungas was really delicious with wasabi sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweet & sour pork with pineapple:

this tasted as good as the sweet and sour pork in UK.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2103] Roast chicken at the French end of Manhattan Ave @ La Rotisserie

26/11/2012
La Rotisserie
上環皇后大道中255號Manhattan Avenue地下
G/F, Manhattan Avenue, 255 Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/roast-chicken-at-the-french-end-of-manhattan-ave-e2271825

Found out about this place through a friend who was invited to their tasting session on the social media site.
As much as I would have wished, I was not invited but anyway I love roast chicken so went there to try their food.

However when I got there, I did not realise they didnt have any dining tables so I just got the dessert because I like to eat freshly roasted chicken immediately when it tastes the best.

It would be good though if they had wooden bench tables outside for al-fresco dining because that road is a dead end anyway so there will be no vehicles but people.

Next to La Rotisserie is another French joint which sells baguettes called Chez Meli Melo, I hope that this place will have a positive impact on it and will become a French street, and perhaps La Creperie should move here too!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The Chocolate cake topped with guerande salt:

The chocolate cake is not as heavy and sickly as it looks.
It is similar to a brownie and the cocoa taste is extremely strong and not cloyingly sweet.
There was not much guerande salt on my cake, but it still tasted nice.
The texture was interesting, it was really soft and crumbles in your mouth into smooth velvety paste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roast chicken

As well as the chicken here I have still got to try Chicken on the run too!
It would be interesting to see how these two compare and I wonder when Nando's will open a branch in Hong Kong too.
Anyway the chicken here is fabulous, it was full of flavour and herbs.
The chicken texture was natrual too.The chickens are rubbed with herbs and their secret spices before they are put on the rotisserie!

Be sure to reserve your chicken as they are sold chicking fast!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roast potatoes

The roast potatoes are baked beneath the chickens in the Rotisseries so when the juice from the chicken drops, it falls directly on the potatoes. The potatoes tasted FANTASTIQUE!!!
However they were slightly too salty.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I will be back for the quiches and the above.

[Review 2102] Confusing menu and rude service @ Aunt Stella's

26/11/2012
Aunt Stella's
銅鑼灣勿地臣街1號時代廣場B1樓 city'super
city'super, B1/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/confusing-menu-and-rude-service-aunt-stellas-e2271824

Went in because the set they displayed outside seemed quite nice and reasonable for the price but when I sat down the price was different and she kept explaining it was for the cake set only.
The display outside was wrong and misleading because they displayed the pie in the cake set which was cheaper.

Anyway ordered the orange yoghurt pie set with coffee and the waitress stomped back to the kitchen because I was confused about the pricing and sets.
If see the set on the right, it would seem that a coffee and the orange yogurt pie would cost $31

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
coffee:

I do not like coffee but the coffee here was quite nice, it was a pity the cream that was given was cold because it lowered the temperature of the coffee, however the cream that was given was nice and made the coffee taste nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
orange yoghurt pie:

There was not much yoghurt which was disappointing and it seemed more like a tart than a pie. On top of the pie it was topped with baked orange slices with the peel as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★


Hopefully their attitude is not so rude next time because I want to try the toast with cheese and seaweed.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Photos of the cafe:


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2101] Potato baked in salt @ 別府駅前料理 Beppu Ekimae

26/11/2012
別府駅前料理 Beppu Ekimae
鑽石山龍蟠街3號荷里活廣場2樓214號舖
Shio 214, 2/F, Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Street, Diamond Hill
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/potato-baked-in-salt-beppu-ekimae-e2271822

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Restaurant photos:


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Scallop and urchin with rice:


The scallop tasted bitter and the urchin was not that fresh.
It was really different to the product shot too, there were far more herbs sprinkled on the rice and on my bowl there was not much as shown on the photo.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Surf clam:

The surf clam was quite fresh and had a strong metallic taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Baked potato covered in salt:

To be honest, I didn't get the point of baking potato in salt but it was fun breaking the hard salt casing!
There was so much salt in the hard casing that it can probably last you for the year if you only add a pinch of salt when you cook!
The potato was rather dry but it came with butter so it tasted really nice.
There was also mentaiko mayonnaise but I felt that it did not taste nice together.
It would have been perfect if they used a proper baking potato then the texture of the potato would be soft and silky inside.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★