[Review 2277] Hot-Star Chicken coating harder than bone

20/02/2013
豪大大雞排 HOT-STAR Large Fried Chicken
天后電氣道78號地下1E號舖
Shop 1E, G/F, 78 Electric Road, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hot-star-chicken-coating-harder-than-bone-e2284458

I have always wanted to try this place but the branch in MK is really busy and there is not really a place where you can stop and eat in MK as well as consuming it with lovely second hand smoke as well.
Anyway, walked past this branch and the fried chicken "looked" quite nice behind the counter, the coating was golden as if it was just done.

Anyway, I just ordered a piece of fried chicken drumstick to see if their chicken was good.

I assumed they were already done as there were lots by the counter.But they were fried again when you ordered, so the coating was mega hard!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried chicken leg:

I was not pleased that it was fried again because it means that there is more oil and it smells, hence the spices they put on it.

The coating itself was salty enough and did not need those spices.
Anyway, the coating was really hard so I whacked some stuff with the chicken leg and to my surprise it still did not crack.

I started eating it and found that the bone was broken before it was cooked, which explains why the coating was so hard to hold the broken bone together and act like a plaster cast!!!


Anyway, the advantage of that super hard coating was that it can be fried many times and the chicken inside would still be juicy and soft because the oil cannot get through it.
As for the taste, I found it too salty and the coating was crunchy, hard and thick, and it was about 2mm thick too.
On a positive note, the chicken was still juicy thanks to the coating!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2276] Delicious Okinawan style in East Soho @ 那霸沖繩料理 Naha

20/02/2013
那霸沖繩料理 Naha
太古太古城第10期耀星閣地下G1015號舖
Shop G1015, G/F, Yiu Sing Mansion, Stage 10, Taikoo Shing, Tai Koo
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/delicious-okinawan-style-in-east-soho-e2284275

This Okinawan restaurant has been around before people started to discover that Okinawa was a good place to travel to and the trend for Okinawan foods.

Long before the time when Japanese dramas were broadcasted on TV.

It is located near Tai Koo Plaza by the residential flats and its first review dates back to 2007.

The decor was quite nice, it was mainly wood and black.
There was a sashimi bar where people can sit and chat to the chef while waiting for their food.

After trying an Okinawan restaurant recently, I was slightly more familiar with Okinawan food and the main items in that cuisine are Bitter gourd and seagrapes.

I would have ordered the jewel leaf but they did not have it.

They had pork knuckles as well but I tried other stuff.

After you have ordered, they give you some jellyfish pickles.

They provide tea as well.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Musabi with roe:

The musabis were quite big and it came with pickles to give it more flavour.

The roe in the middle was quite salty and hard.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Miso soup:

The miso soup was quite nice and there were generous vegetables and tofu pieces in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Congee with sea kelp and fish roe:

The taste of this extremely light so it is advised to try this first.
There is orange cod roe in the congee which gives it some slight flavour if you really concentrate your tastebuds.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bitter gourd panfried dumplings:

These dumplings were delicious, the dumpling skin was also green, inside the dumplings were thinly sliced pieces of bitter gourd which were crisp and still had the bitterness to it.
After dipping it in the vinaigrette, it was even more delicious as the bitterness was reduced.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Squid ink soup:

The squid ink taste was not prominent. You could only tell that it was squid ink because of the colour.
I was expecting the soup to be slighty thicker and not transparent.
Basically it tasted the same as the miso soup I had earlier.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon stir fried in squid ink sauce:

The udon was fried in squid ink sauce and there were generous pieces of baby sweetcorn, carrots and sliced pork.
However the slices of pork were not lean, and the squid ink taste was not prominent.
It tasted like udon stir fried in oyster sauce because it was quite sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Overall the portions here were reasonably big.

[Review 2275] Relatively good dim sum from a hot pot specialist @ 滾得棧 Hot in A Pot

20/03/2013
滾得棧 Hot in A Pot
天后電氣道80-86號成功樓地下C舖連閣樓
Shop C, Sing Kung Lau, 80-86 Electric Road, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/relatively-good-dimsim-from-a-hot-pot-specialist-e2284268

This hotpot specialists served hotpot by night and during the day they serve dim sum as well.
The decor is black and the restaurant is located upstairs which is why I never tried it because I was too lazy to go upstairs.
There were pictures outside showing the types of dim sum that they serve, I wanted to try the deep fried dumplings filled with green tea, but they did not have it.
The dim sums that they offer and the presentation of the dim sums remind me of the dim sum restaurant in Kowloon City.
The rice rolls were presented nicely and they were cut into smaller pieces to make sharing easier and the mini burgers were presented in dinky dishes as shown on the menu.
Inside the restaurant it was quite big with two sides to the restaurant, however the chairs and tables were slightly cramped and hard to get to your seat.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed rice roll with beef and preserved egg:
This was slightly disappointing because the preserved egg was tasteless.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed rice roll with beancurd skin crackers and prawn:
The concept of this was good and it tasted good because the prawn gave the beancurd skin crackers some taste.
The beancurd skin crackers were still crispy and it was good that the oil they used was fresh and did not ruin their nice dish.
The rice roll on the outside held it together nicely and it tasted much nicer with beancurd skin which is a change from dough sticks in the middle.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed pork knuckle in red beancurd sauce:
The pork knuckles were too salty but I loved the strong red beancurd taste.
After I finished the knuckles I used the remaining sauce on the rice rolls and they tasted even nicer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beancurd roll in soup:
This was not as exciting as the rice roll because the soup was boring and I found it quite oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed pandan flavoured Malaysian cake:
Pandan cake has always been my favourite cake and as it was baked Malaysian style which tasted even better because the texture was better and it smelt really nice.
The sweetness was not too sweet so I ended up ordering other one.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2274] New dessert shop that has pickles as well @ 車仔糖水 Trolley Dessert

20/02/2013
車仔糖水 Trolley Dessert
北角和富道84-94號銀輝大廈地下2A號舖
Shop 2A, G/F, Ngan Fai Building, 84-94 Wharf Road, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/new-dessert-shop-that-has-pickles-as-well-e2284135

To be honest, I only noticed this dessert shop because I was curious to see what the new shop would be after Yat Woon Min closed down.

I was even more intrigued when I saw two jars of pickles on the counter because I have never seen a dessert shop do pickles as well.


Anyway, decided to go in and try some desserts, in the kitchen area, there was lots of containers.
The tables were really nice with flower patterns which reminded me of Fruyo factory.
While I was waiting for the desserts, the staff was really nice to let me try their pickles.
They were really hygienic too because they wore gloves.


It was pickled Chinese radish and papaya.
I liked the Chinese radish because it was sour but the papaya was not pickled long enough so it did not taste that sour, and they used lots of sugar in it so it tasted quite sweet as well.

There was lots of desserts to choose from, however the font was quite small and there was no English.


They even had hokkaido ice-cream.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ginger soup with flour balls:
When this came, I was surprised to see they put those black pearls that are found in Taiwanese teas because I thought they were going to be mini dumplings.

I asked what the difference was the between dumplings and black pearls on the menu and they said the black pearls are actually Thai basil seeds. (item 1100 and 1098).

Anyway, the dessert was interesting, it was like having ginger flavoured pearl tea!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ginger soup with sesame filled dumpling:

The ginger soup tasted the same as the previous one and the ginger was very spicy.
As for the dumplings, the menu claims the filling is liquid but it is not and on the receipt it does not say it is liquid.
(see menu above : item 1069)
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
In conclusion both desserts were nice but slightly too sweet, and I will be back for more pickled Chinese radish.

[Review 2273] Get your Taiwanese fare from Tin Hau @ 小倆口台式漢堡蛋餅專賣店

17/02/2013
小倆口台式漢堡蛋餅專賣店
天后電氣道96號地下清風街橋底
G/F, 96 Electric Road,, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/get-your-taiwanese-fare-from-tin-hau-e2283793

I was thrilled when I saw this new shop in Tin Hau because I have always wanted to go to their Tsuen Wan branch.
Luckily I was too lazy to make the trip to Tsuen Wan because at that time they had closed down to relocate to Tin Hau.

After looking at the menu, it appears the choices food range has been compacted to the most popular items which reduced my headache for choosing what to eat, but it was still a headache because most of the items were the ones I wanted to try.

However they do not serve the lemon chicken burger or the purple potato sandwich which used to be served at the TW branch.

On the first week that they opened, it seems that the new shop was manned by a group of young guys which look different to the people shown on the reviews for the TW branch.

They seemed to be Chinese expats possibly from the US.

The decor is similar to the Tsuen wan Branch with bright logos and decor.
Basically, there is a bar table and there are six stalls available.
All the food ordered is freshly prepared and made to serve.
As well as the food I was looking forward to their cute and unique packaging, which was how I noticed their Tsuen Wan Branch.


In the end, after struggling to decide what to order, I ordered the veggie egg wrap, sweet potato pancake and a burger.
They also had vegetarian options too which was thoughtful of them!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Veggie egg wrap:

The wrap pastry for this was interesting, it was slightly elastic and similar the Vietnamese white pancakes (Bánh cuốn), however the taste was amazing.
It had a strong pepper taste and the egg inside it was well cooked without any oily taste and the sauce that they gave complemented the wrap well.
The sauce was garlic and soy sauce which actually looked like a clear sweet syrup but it was not.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taiwanese ham burger (Sage's ham):

I am quite puzzled why this is called Sage's ham as I could not taste any sage in it.
Anyway the appearance of the ham was interesting, it was similar to a slice of luncheon ham, but the taste was far better.
The best thing about the burgers here is the bun, it is a wheat bun, and the whole bun was delicious because it was toasted well that it was crispy on the outside and the soft on the inside.

The sesame which I usually hate was delicious as well because it was toasted golden and you can actually taste the sesame aroma.
In the burger there was a delicious concoction so sauces that was really delicious.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweet potato pancake:

I thought this was going to be similar to an Indian Roti, but it was not, however it had so many layers like a roti.
The pancake had lots of sweet potato in it and it was nice and chewy too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Since this shop was opened since 2009 and made their way from Tsuen Wan to the city, I was expecting their food to be good, otherwise they would not have made it this far, but the food tasted far better than I expected and I hope to try their other burgers ASAP~

Usually I avoid Taiwanese food because the HongKongised version is alway sweet but the food here was not really sweet and it was savoury as you would expect it to be.

It fun was dining here because it was directly under a bridge/highway, usually I don't notice it because I walk directly into the restaurant on this road!

Hopefully once their operations are smooth, they will add back the choices they previously had.
At the moment, there is a slight wait for the food, so don't all flock here at once, but the food is irresistible so I don't think anyone can resist!