[Review 2285] Fried snacks at Kennedy town @ 真滋味美食

25/02/2013
真滋味美食
西環堅尼地城卑路乍街163號地下
163 Belcher's Street, Kennedy Town, Western District
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/fried-snacks-at-kennedy-town-e2285185

Went to Kennedy Town again now that I know the bus route Thanks to Mjqueen7e.
After dining at Boulangerie I was still hungry so I decided to get some more food as well as going to see that dog.
The shop on the corner looked interesting because they did fried snacks.
There were so many different snacks including wontons with a cute tie around it.
The fried snacks looked nice and golden yellow but unfortunately they were fried again so they were dark brown when served.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Breaded Cuttlefish patty:
The breaded coating was thick and the cuttlefish was tasteless.
It was so soft that it was falling apart and not holding together after taking the first bite.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Octopus patty:
The patty was really soft and tasteless and it was mainly made of flour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cute dog:
I discovered this cute dog on my first visit to Kennedy Town and it was great that it was there again this time.
I prefer cats but the colour and fur of this dog is unique.
The colour and scruffy fur is really nice and surprisingly soft and silky to touch!
It was really friendly on my first visit, but it was asleep this time!~
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2284] Hola to Tapaella at Kennedy Town @ Tapaella Grill

25/02/2013
Tapaella Grill
西環堅尼地城厚和街28號順昌大廈地下F舖
Shop F, G/F, Shun Cheong Building, 28 Hau Wo Street, Kennedy Town, Western District
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hola-to-tapaella-at-kennedy-town-e2285158

Located in Kennedy town is the Tapaella grill on Hau Wo Road where there are lots of eateries.
I have not had Tapaella in ages since Uno mas closed down so I was craving for Tapaella again.

When you enter this restaurant, there is a cocktail bar facing you, with tables either side, there are sofa seats as well.
The style of this restaurant is really nice which is Western style.

Tapaella grill is a really nice place to hang out with a group of friends because their portions are quite big compared to other Tapas places.
While we were waiting for the food, they will give you bread as a starter and there is a bottle of vinegar and olive oil for dipping the bread.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Traditional Spanish Vegetable cold soup:

This was the first time I tried the cold soup and it was lovely and refreshing, the soup was strong.
The taste was cooling and refreshing with a lovely mix of pureed red bell peppers and cucumbers in the soup and the julienne cucumbers and red bell peppers gave it more depth.
It is an ideal soup for the summer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ham & Chicken Croquettes

Compared to other spanish croquettes I have tried, I found these bigger and contained more meat in it.
Despite that there was lots of meat in it, it still remained silky and there was some potato in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried Potato with Spicy Tomato Sauce:

These pieces of potato were heavenly because they were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside sprinkled with paprika.
They tasted nice with or without the tomato sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Deep-fried Squid Ring with Aioli Sauce:

The squid rings were tender but I found them slightly bland but they were compromised by the mayonnaise.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sauteed Artichoke Heart in Olive oil and Garlic:

The artichoke heart was nice and tender with strong olive oil taste.
It was nice having a sauteed version because they are usually pickled and sour, however this one was mushy and had strong garlic taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mixed green with orange, roasted green apple, Buffalo Mozzarella with Chef Dressing:

The salad was big and wholesome with refreshing apples and oranges to cleanse the palate, and the buffalo cheese was soft and delicate which paired nicely with the strong fruits and dressing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Saffron flavored Spanish rice with variety of Seafood:

When this came, the smell was amazing, it was rich and the peas in it contrasted the redness of the rice.
The rice was in rich thick sauce with strong seafood taste and it was slightly bitter because there was strong white wine in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pan-seared Sea Bass Fillet in white wine tomato broth with Fennel, Potato and Asparagus:

I loved the fish, it was tender and soft accompanied with tantalizing tomato sauce.
The potatoes which looked like mushrooms were delicious as well because the texture was lovely and the potato skin was gorgeous without being too dry.
The asparagus was nice and tender too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ginger Ale:
Compared to other ginger ales, the ginger taste was faint.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★.
Refreshing Spanish Drink Sangria:
Although I did not order this I tried some and it was really nice and pleasant to drink for a drinker because the fruit juice taste in it is strong.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I will definitely be back with a group of friends to try the Spanish omelette and other items.

[Review 2283] Blue secret: Come to Blue's of Shau Kei Wan @ Blue's

24/02/2013
Blue's
筲箕灣廟東街5-11號百寧大廈地下C號舖
Shop C, G/F, Pak Ling Mansions, 5-11 Miu Tung Street, Shau Kei Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/blue-secret-come-to-blues-of-shau-kei-wan-e2285046

I was walking along Shau Kei Wan Main street when I saw this stand with the name Blue's.
When I went closer I discovered it was Western food which was great because there are not many restaurants in Shau Kei Wan for Western food.
They were serving the brunch menu at that time and they had Croque Monsieur which is rarely served in Hong Kong.

The location of this restaurant was interesting, it was on the corner of some Chinese temple at the far end of the Cul de Sac.
I quite liked the location because it felt like a private secluded corner where you can relax.


As expected, the restaurant had a nice blue theme to it with matching blacks.

They had al-fresco dining too as well as tables inside.

Inside, they had a lovely huge blue light bulb and the corridor was blue and classy.


Sat down and ordered the Croque monsieur and the spaghetti with clams.
Both came with a drink.
Found out that this place was recently opened and the Chef has gained culinary experience in France.

The knife that they supplied was interesting because there was a ridge near the handle.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Croque monsieur:

The taste of this was delicious, much better than Delifrance which is disgusting because it was sweet.
The croque monsieur was nicely layered with two different cheeses especially the cheddar, however the cheese has been modified so it does not have that offending cheesy taste that the locals do not like without loosing its cheesiness.
Visually it was really nice with the orange and pale yellow tones of the cheese against the slices of ham.
I loved the way the cheese was oozing out when I sliced it.

As a personal preference I would have liked it if it had a sharper cheese in it.
The cheese in this croque monsieur was rather creamy, it was like cheese sauce with Bechamel.
It also came with cubes of sauteed crisp potato cubes which were a perfect pairing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Spaghetti with clams:

The pasta was lovely and al-dente with generous herbs sprinkled on it.
It was really good there were plenty of herbs because it gave the pasta and clams more flavour.
The basil was really fragrant and they had a sprig of fresh basil to garnish the pasta.
Overall it was a very nice dish but it was slightly too salty and I wish the wine taste was stronger.
The clams were nice and clean and did not have any sand in them.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tea with milk:

The tea was a perfect way of ending the brunch, but I was still hungry because the pasta and the croque monsieur was really delicious.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Improvements:
For improvements, I felt that they should give you an extra plate for the clam shells, because there was a point where the shells were getting in my way on the plate when I was eating the pasta.
As for the menu, there are a few English typo's and for one of the dishes the English and Chinese do not seem to match.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I definitely will come back again if I am in the area because I want to try the Yorkshire pudding as well.

[Review 2282] Great noodles and selection that is worth 碰'ing @ 碰碰麵撈麵專門店

22/02/2013
碰碰麵撈麵專門店
旺角洗衣街143號地下
G/F, 143 Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/great-noodles-and-selection-that-is-worth-%E7%A2%B0ing-e2284792

This new noodle restaurant in Mong Kok is finally the place to settle for good food in the hustle and bustle of Mong Kok.
The decor is nice and relaxing as well.
They specialise in noodles in sauce and they offer deluxe noodles with abalone or sea cucumber as well.
Initially they reminded me of this noodle bar in Central called More than noodles, but this place turned out to be better and worth paying for.
The noodles that they offer are: prawn roe noodles, thin vermicelli and inaniwa udon.
Each noodle comes with a soup which is a choice of pigs stomach with pepper or seafood soup made with crab and prawns.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Crab and prawn soup:
I really liked this soup because the crab taste was really strong, you could taste and smell it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
White pepper and pork stomach soup:
The white pepper taste was extremely strong and it was very fiery.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Deep fried tofu skin coated with prawn patty:
The fried tofu skin was really crispy and delicate. It was basically a thin sheet of tofu skin with a thin layer of prawn patty spread on top and deep fried.
As the layer of prawn patty was thin, you could still taste the fried tofu skin as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Deep fried sweet and sour tofu puffs:

These were my favourite because the sweet and sour sauce was just right for me and not cloyingly sweet.
These tofu puffs were crispy as claimed, with a slightly chewy centre.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Trio side-dishes:

Chose the spicy lotus roots, egg with wine and black fungas.
The spicy lotus roots were nice and had plenty of sichuan spices.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Egg with prawn roe and sweet Chinese wine:

Initially I did not want to order this but after trying it, I did not regret because on top of the egg, they put sweet rice wine on it and there were also pieces of rice from the wine.
The taste of the wine was really nice.
The egg did not really absorb the wine but it was still nice because the rice from the wine gave it a nice sweet flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Northeast black fungas:

The black fungas was the cutest I have ever seen because I did not know that these were a different variant to the normal ones.
They were smaller and the texture is nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sea cucumber with prawn roe noodles:

As well as dried prawn roe sprinkled on top, the noodles also had prawn roe embedded in the noodle strands which gave it a nice taste.
The sea cucumber was lovely and soft covered with lots of dried prawn roe.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Prawn rolls with thin vermicelli:

The vermicelli was delicious because they were thin and the sauce adhered to every strand.
The vermicelli was tossed thoroughly before they were served.
Basically these noodles were not the abalone or sea cucumber set so you can choose other options which was quite good for $3X as you get soup and the noodles taste great.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lime soda:

Lastly the soda was nice and refreshing because it was not sweetened and the bottled soda water was nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Overall I really liked this noodle place and I will come back again.


More than Noodles . BAR
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=73808

[Review 2281] Salmon specialist as well as chicken @ 一流一海南雞外賣專門店

21/02/2013
一流一海南雞外賣專門店 (已搬遷) 新店位置
此店已搬遷及改名為 珍寶海南雞專門店
角書局街12-18號樂嘉中心地下1A號舖
Shop 1A, G/F, Roca Centre, 12-18 Shu Kuk Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/salmon-specialist-as-well-as-chicken-e2284522

This shop was opened late last year.

From the outside, it looks like a small snack shop selling fish shaomai and chiuchow dumplings but when you go in, there are a few tables.

On there walls, there are so many dishes that they do.
Although this place specializes in Chicken, I felt that their Salmon dishes were much better.


This restaurant is small and looks like one of those hole in a wall restaurants, and strangely they serve Salmon dishes in a Chinese style shop.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Salmon fried rice:

As well as pieces of salmon, there was salmon skin in it which gave the fried rice a nice fishy taste.
The fried rice was well done because some of the rice were crispy.
I think the secret to this is the fish skin because it is sticky and chewy which gives the rice more depth.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Panfried salmon with spring onions and ginger puree on rice:

This tasted even better than the fried rice because the salmon came with the skin which was nice and crispy.


However I found it slightly too oily, but the ginger and spring onions complemented it nicely.
The steak was thinner than normal because they probably sliced some of the salmon off to cook other stuff, but they give you three slices to compensate that.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pork dumplings in tomato and fish soup:

The broth for this was delicious and made of salmon, it was spicy as well.
When I asked them if it was salmon broth, she was very secretive and did not want to admit they used Salmon because she said its too expensive to use Salmon, but I got the impressive she thought I was stealing her recipe!
I felt the salmon taste was stronger than the tomato.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Set with scrambled egg and salmon, macaroni and toast:

This set only costs $28 which is a bargain because you get salmon scrambled egg, although the salmon is not top quality but it was delicious, especially the egg which tasted really nice.

The presentation is not that good, but it tastes better than it looks.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Hainan style chicken with rice:

Although this was their signature dish I felt that the salmon dishes fared better.
The chicken and rice were just average.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The beach:

The name sounds strange but in Chinese it is called "sa taan something", as well as this, they had "chung leng" chicken, bathing chicken.
Anyway, this was plain pork chop, ham and egg with curry sauce and rice and it was simple but nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★