[Review 2148] Rickshaw noodles with plentiful choices @ 大面子香港車仔麵專門店 Daimenko

20/12/2012
大面子香港車仔麵專門店 Daimenko
灣仔謝斐道222號
222 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/rickshaw-noodles-with-plentiful-choices-e2274998

Found out about this shop through OpenRice but I could not call them for a takeaway because there was no telephone number.

I wonder how it was possible to be listed here because if there is no telephone number it does not get listed.

I googled this place and was surprised that they had a website which was in English as well as in Chinese.
Their shop interior and logo was designed with thought.

When I got there, I was surprised it was a neat joint for noodles, it was decorated like those food stall places with those red eggshell lamps and foldable tables.

The first two visits, the noodles were great but on the third visit, the broth was tasteless.

Hopefully they will be consistent next time.

At the front of the counter, you can see the ingredients displayed neatly in metal trays, vegetables and meat have been kept separate and likewise the meat.
The menu is displayed on the wall on a digital menu with pictures.


The basic noodle costs $33 and there is a simple noodle that costs $40 but it does not state what ingredients are in it.

I was really impressed with their range of noodles because they had Inaniwa udon.
For soups they also had sichuan broth and tom yum broth.
They claim that their noodles are MSG free.

The only drawback at the moment is that they only accept payments by octopus, if you insist paying by cash they will use their own octopus and get change from elsewhere which holds up the queue.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vermicelli:

The vermicelli here is different, it was slightly transparent like glass noodles and the texture was softer and absorbs the broth.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Inaniwa udon:

The Inaniwa udon was delicious because the noodles were soft and silky.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Curry ox tripe:
The ox tripe was quite nice, but the pieces were not cut properly.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vegetarian noodles:
I couldnt understand why this was more expensive than the ordinary noodles because it was just plain abalone mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, beanshoots and vegetables.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
In conclusion, all their noodles taste nice subject to the how strong the broth is.

[Review 2147] Simple food @ Pho 24

20/12/2012
Pho 24
尖沙咀彌敦道63號iSQUARE 國際廣場3樓303號舖
Shop 303, 3/F, iSquare, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/simple-food-at-pho-24-e2274995

Tried the desserts here and they were great.
I do not normally eat Vietnamese food because all the items taste sweet.
Anyway this time I tried the food there and it just fared average.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rice with fried egg, vietnamese sausage and egg pie:

The set was rather dry, there was no sauce for the items except the chili sauce on the table.
The egg pie looked really nice with pieces of vermicelli in it, however it was too salty.
The vietnamese sausage tasted ok but the whole combination was dry even though it was coconut rice.
I felt that it was slightly over priced at 6X+ because the items on the plate were really simple ready made items apart from the fried egg.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2146] A stop for tempura paradise at Marugame Seimen @ 丸亀製麵 Marugame Seimen

20/12/2012
丸亀製麵  Marugame Seimen
尖沙咀彌敦道63號iSQUARE國際廣場6樓609號舖
Shop 609, 6/F, iSQUARE, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/a-stop-for-tempura-paradise-at-marugame-seimen-e2274986

As well as Hong Kong you can also find Marugame Seimen in China and Thailand.

Although Hong Kong is a place for food paradise, HK is sometimes slow to follow the food trend because they like to see real facts and figures of successful items before investing on something new.


When I saw Marshy's picture of the tempura egg with runny egg yolk I just had to come here.
The main items they serve are udon and tempura.

I came here twice.
On my first visit I just had the tempura and omusubi, but they did not have the squid and seaweed tempura that day, so I came back another day for it.

Honestly I am not fond of the udon here because I only like the Inaniwa type which is slightly flatter and thinner, and the udon served here is the Sanuki type.

On my first visit, I did not know the tempura was self service and basically you pick from the trays what you want.

On the second visit, they did not have the tempura sauce because they said the customer feedback on the sauce was that it was too strong.
I believe they mean bloggers, anyway on my first visit when they had that sauce, they did not have any small dishes to put the sauce, so you had to put the sauce on the plate.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
FIRST VISIT:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Prawn tempura:

The prawn batter was nice and light and the prawn had prawn taste.
The tempura sauce tasted a bit like teriyaki sauce.
Since there was no dish to put the sauce, I put it on a spoon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Egg tempura:

This was amazing, the egg white was still tender after being deep fried and the egg yolk was really runny!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Salmon omusubi:


This was delicious but disappointing because it did not hold together!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
SECOND VISIT:
On the second visit, there was no tempura sauce, and the fried items were evidently darker and the oil smell was stronger.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Squid coated in seaweed and tempura batter:

I wanted to try this on my first visit which was not available.
The squid was delicious, the batter was light and it was infused with seaweed powder.
The squid was nice and chunky too but not tough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon:


I do not like this type of udon but tried it anyway. It was quite soft and al-dente and the grated radish was really fine and silky.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chikuwa-ten:

The taste of this was ok, but the oil was not that fresh and you can see how dark it is compared to the egg tempura and squid which was fried in a different batch.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2145] Dripping oil...............@ 墾丁茶房 Kenting Tea House

19/12/2012
墾丁茶房 Kenting Tea House
油塘高超道38號大本型2樓235號舖
Shop 235, 2/F, Domain, 38 Ko Chiu Road, Yau Tong
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/dripping-oil-e2274983

Came here because most of the other restaurants were not opened yet.
There are other branches in Tuen Mun and Megabox which are too far.

The theme of the decor is trying to imitate the coastal town of Kenting in Taiwan which has a lighthouse hence the lighthouse on the walls.
I have not been to Taiwan so I cannot comment on the decor of this restaurant.

As for the food I felt that it was just local Chinese food with Taiwanese dish names.

The noodle I ordered sounded interesting, according to the Chinese name, I thought it would have oysters in it but there were none.
The noodles were exactly the same style as the ones in Chinese restaurants.
They were crispy noodles.
Not only were the noodles crispy, there was so much oil in it.
The aubergine dish was even worse, there was oil dripping from the pieces of aubergine.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Jasmine tea with liquid filled balls:


The drink was the only nice item in this restaurant, the sweetness was just right and the Jasmine flavour was really strong.
The liquid filled balls were filled with lychee syrup.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2144] Gang up for delicious tomato style shabu shabu @ 遙 Haruka Japanese Restaurant

19/12/2012
遙 Haruka Japanese Restaurant
佐敦德興街1號地下C舖
Shop C, 1 Tak Hing Street, Jordan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/gang-up-for-delicious-tomato-style-shabu-shabu-e2274977

It was lovely and cold so settled here for a shabu shabu.

As well as the shabu shabu we had other delicious starters.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled bean curd:

This was a good chilled bean curd dish because the sauce was really nice and the taste was balanced.
I have tried this at other places before where the sauce was just syrupy, but here the sauce was a perfect balance of grounded sesame, vinegar and sweetness.
Usually in other restaurants I scrape away the sauce because it was too sweet but I cannot get enough of it here as the taste was delicious.
I felt that if there was more sauce then it would have been perfect.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stuffed crab shells:


These stuffed crab shells were delicious. They looked really nice as well with generous thyme and rosemary herbs on top and crispy breadcrumbs.


I did not take a photo of the shells but on the back they were very clean.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Hiroshima oyster cutlet:

Hiroshima oysters are always nice and after they have been fried it brings out the fuller taste of the oyster.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seaweed shrimp rolls:

I loved these rolls, especially the seaweed on the outside which tasted grassy and balanced out the heavyness of the cutlet coating.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tempura:



All the tempura was really nice because the tempura batter was light and crispy and most importantly the oil was fresh.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled lambchops:

The lambchops were so soft and juicy, it was not gamey at all.

The mustard sauce that came with it was a perfect match as the sauce had the mustard seeds in it with a tangy taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled dried boneless fish:

The grilled fish tasted quite sweet and complimented the sake as a nice snack.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled ox tongue:
The was also really nice, it was seasoned with salt and there was also mustard to compliment it as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Shabu Shabu:

I do not often have Japanese shabu shabu but the last one I had was most probably the one at Yoshinoya which is just miso base broth.
However the broth here is tomato.
The taste of the items in tomato broth was really nice that you do not really need any other sauces to dip it in.

For the hotpot set, it came with chicken gizzards, pork neck slices, beef slices, lamb slices and vegetables.
Usually the fumes from the hotpot burner will start me coughing but the ones they used here have been tested by them and do not emit any noxious fumes.
The tomato broth really made a difference and the meat became more appetizing. With clear broths it brings out the fat and heavyness of the meats.
For fun, we put the julienne radish that was used for garnishing in the hotpot and it tasted delicious as well!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Japanese sake:

I am not a professional on alcohol so I can only comment on how it tastes.
There were two sakes: plum and green tea.
I was really surprised that you could get green tea as a Sake but then I do not have much expertise in this so it was new to me.
The plum one tasted really nice and sweet, and the taste was so much more pleasant than the alcopops which still have a slight alcoholic taste.
As for the green tea sake, it was much stronger and tasted like liquor.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Thanks to Dustbineater for treating us to a lovely shabu shabu!