[Review 2290] Hazelnut and chocolate froyo @ Yo Mama

04/03/2013
Yo Mama - Frozen Yogurt
灣仔永豐街16號地舖
G/F, 16 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hazelnut-and-chocolate-froyo-yo-mama-e2286002

Since my last visit, there are now six branches of Yo Mama in Hong Kong with Wan Chai being their first branch.
I have not had a froyo for a long time because I have been bored of the flavours especially at Yo Mama because they only had original and green tea.
This time they had hazelnut and chocolate froyo which was the reason I why I came.
The toppings were unchanged and the variety was the roughly the same as before with fruit, cereal, sweets etc.
The decor of this froyo joint was the same as my first visit and the sitting area lighting was really dark.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Froyo:
I chose the green tea mochi and realised there was a jar of meringues as well so I got the meringues.
The hazelnut chocolate froyo was really nice because it was really thick and viscous and the taste of chocolate was not powdery.
The meringues were cute and colourful and not too sweet, whilst the green tea mochi was deliciously soft and chewy.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2289] The sweet music of the piccolo @ Piccolo Pizzeria & Bar

04/03/2013
Piccolo Pizzeria & Bar
灣仔大王東街22號地下4-5號舖
Shop4-5, G/F, 22 Tai Wong East Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-sweet-music-of-the-piccolo-e2285961

Piccolo Pizzeria has many branches in Hong Kong, with its first in Tai Hang, then later they opened one in Kennedy Town.

When I saw reviews on this place, the pasta, chicken wings and fries looked really good.

I have always wanted to go to the branch in Tai Hang, but it was always fully booked and the seating there is cramped and when you are at Tai Hang, there are so many other irresistible restaurants.

I was so glad when I saw their new shop getting ready to open in Wan Chai, near the MTR, the restaurant here is more spacious too!

After Jamel told me it was opened I decided to go there!

The inside of the restaurant was spacious and it had a cowboy western appearance.


There is a glass window so you can see the chefs busy preparing the food.

Water is complimentary, but the menu for it is cute

Ordered the chicken wings, calamari fritti and aglio oili.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken Wings:

Before I ordered them, I thought they were buffalo wings but they said they were just deep fried, but the pictures in the reviews looked good so I got them anyway.
When they came, they looked like buffalo wings served with sauce.
The chicken wings were big compared to the local shriveled up chicken wings, but normal size if you've had chicken wings outside of Hong Kong.
The coating was light but had spices just like the buffalo wings and the lemon mayonnaise that came with it was really delicious. The chicken wings were also soft and juicy and the soft bones near the joints came off easily too.
The piping hot wings tasted delicious with the cooling mayonnaise which was refreshing because it had lemon in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Calamari Fritti - squid rings served with lemon mayo and arrabbiata sauce:

The squid rings had a lovely coating too which was light and crispy and the texture of the squid was still tender and soft.
The coating thickness was just right and was really nice because it had lots of herbs.
I am not sure what herb it was but it was either sage or rosemary.
There were two sauces for dipping, the tomato with garlic and the lemon mayonnaise, both were great compliments.
The tomato sauce was nice because it made the herbs on the coating come out more, while the lemon mayonnaise gave it a creamier taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Aglio olio with buccatini:

This was roasted garlic and chili in olive oil.
For the pasta I chose buccatini because it is rarely served and unavailable in other branches of Piccolo.
Buccatini is a pasta that looks like spaghetti but hollow inside like a straw.


The texture of the buccatini was lovely and al-dente cooked with generous slices of garlic tossed in olive oil with a slight hint of spiciness from the chili.
The buccatini was evenly tossed, each strand was covered in dark olive oil and herbs which was delicious.
The garlic they used were garlic slices which were dried ones because they had a slight crispy texture to it.

The amount of garlic slices were generous too, I still had a pile left after eating most of it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

On my next visit I really want to try the pasta with clams in white sauce too.
As a first visit to Piccolo I was impressed and I loved the atmosphere at this restaurant and the male waiter spoke good English.

[Review 2288] Sassy and classy with Seiro steaming @ 吟彩 Gin Sai Japanese Restaurant

02/03/2013
吟彩 Gin Sai Japanese Restaurant
灣仔交加里32-38號
32-38 Cross Lane, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/sassy-and-classy-with-seiro-steaming-e2285634

I would just like to Thank the communications team at Gin Sai for inviting me and arranging another day because their date clashed with one of my other tastings.

It is located on the quiet end of Wan Chai at The Oakhill which are new luxury apartments under the Lai Sun Group.
At the entrance, there is a huge black door which is mysterious and slightly daunting.
Initially I wondered if I could open that door myself because it was like opening the door to a tall castle.
The door was not as heavy as I imagined and upon entering, the grand restaurant appeared in front of my eyes with people ready to greet you.
There was classy lighting that lit the room.

There are no windows just like Kanizen which is a great hideout for celebrities and a nice place for them to hold private functions because it is conveniently located on the corner of the road for them to be dropped off.

At their restaurant opening it was attended by Janice Man and Vidal.
While I was there, I managed to see Raymond Yuk Man Wong and Priscilla Ku!
There was a grand private room at the far end for those who want privacy.

GIN SAI is headed by Chef Ando, formerly of award-winning Kitcho restaurant in Kyoto offering premium cooked Japanese food.
They specialize in Robatayaki and Seiro steamer dishes (stacked wooden steamers) which is rare in Hong Kong to use these tiered Seiro steamers.

They also do French-Japanese fusion desserts.
There is a long bar that runs from the middle of the restaurant to the end which are split into different sections, a section for Robatayaki, Oden, Tempura and so on....

At this tasting I tried the tasting menu which was a sample of their best items.
Each course was paired with Sake which all tasted nice.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Appetizer:

It was three items presented exquisitely, the Octopus with roe on the spoon, the kelp in vinegar and sea urchin in a pretty glass bowl.
The octopus was delicious especially the roe.

The kelp in vinegar was really refreshing and the vinegar was very appetizing.
Lastly I tried the sea urchin served on silky tofu skin.
The sea urchin and tofu skin was submerged in delicious savoury sauce that did not over power the sea urchin whilst giving it maximum umami taste.
I loved the way, the tofu was really soft because it did not distract you from the urchin which literally melted in my mouth.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sashimi:
On the plate was seabream, a huge boton ebi with head included and toro fish.
The toro fish was as fat as it could have been which was creamy and delectable.
The sashimi used at this restaurant is high quality.
(See smpk's review below as there is a photo of the Sashimi)
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Oden:
This was probably the best Oden I have ever tried because the soup tasted natrually sweet with the white radishes in the broth and the beef was tender and soft.
(See smpk's review below as there is a photo of the Oden)
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried dish:
Each of the tempura was served one after the other, the prawn tempura was served first, followed by the octopus and urchin in seaweed.
First I had the prawn tempura which was suggested to go with plain salt, it was delicious and crispy with an extremely thin coating of tempura.
Next was the squid wrapped in Perilla leaves with spicy roe in the middle which was visually colourful.

The cod roe in the middle and squid tasted perfect together because the spicy roe added flavour to it.

Last but not least was the best of the fried items!
It looked cute and black, but it was delicate sea urchin wrapped in seaweed which was dipped into tempura and fried.
The seaweed and tempura were crisp and light bursting with delicious urchin in the middle.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled dish:
I had grilled chicken skewers which were my favourite and grilled padron peppers which was a nice and light.

The darker colour one was grounded chicken leg which had a meatier taste and texture, while the paler one was chicken neck which I am baffled how they made it because there is not much meat on the neck of a chicken.
The taste of this skewer was nice and delicate and the chicken meat was really tender.
The padron peppers tasted similar to green peppers but without the sweetness and it was slightly bitter.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed dish:
This was the highlight of the evening, it was a pot of water beneath the wooden box which was heated, thus steaming it.
Depending on the number of the people the size of the Seiro varies and there are two tiers for the beef and the portion size is bigger for more people.
For the steamed beef there are always 2 stacks, the upper box is for the sliced vegetables to absorb the beef juices.
Their dining tables were spacious so after the Seiro was placed on the table, there was plenty of room for other dishes and drinks.

The vegetables were steamed first and the wagyu beef slices were added later.

The steaming was really quick and the food was ready in a flash, the vegetables were tender and sweet and there were lots of sauces to go with it.
When it is served, the vegetables are placed on the slice of beef and rolled up and eaten together.
The wagyu beef was so soft and melts in your mouth and the vegetables are really tasty because it has absorbed the beef juices.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seasonal rice dish:

I was really lucky to try this because it was a seasonal dish and may need advanced ordering to reserve it.
It was fried rice topped with generous freshly fried sakura shrimps.
The rice initially looked like the Chinese fried glutinous rice/Ceramic pot rice but the taste was really different and the sakura shrimps in it gave it a lovely crustean taste with crispy mouthful.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green tea mousse cake:

To finish off, I had the green tea mousse which was light and dreamy with the sweetness just right.
Their desserts are guaranteed to be good because their dessert chef is from Central's Robochon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green tea:
This was provided and the green tea taste was strong with some bitterness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2287] Guten Tag - Gute German food for sharing @ Beerliner German Bar & Restaurant

28/02/2013
Beerliner German Bar & Restaurant
灣仔軒尼詩道314-324號 W Square 4樓
4/F, W Square, 314-324 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/guten-tag-gute-german-food-for-sharing-e2285437

I would just like to Thank the Cafe Deco Group for inviting me to try Berliner.
As well as Berliner, they have other great eateries which are listed on their website and each restaurant has a menu online with the latest promotions.

I have always wanted to try this place for the Berliner donuts and the pork knuckles.

While I was trying the food I found some similarities between German and English food, and some of it tasted as good as the school meals I had.
Usually people hate school meals in the UK, but the food at our school was quite good and I always had seconds.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chefs Salad (assorted vegetables, lettuce and herb dressing):

To start off we had salad as an appetizer.
The salad was really colourful and had a bit of everything, from lettuce, asparagus, egg, julienne carrots, cheese, rocket lettuce to radishes.
It was nice starting of with the salad because it was refreshing and the sauces were not heavy, so the salad tasted nice and light.
They also had other salads which I want to try next time such as the salad with buttermilk sauce because it reminds me of the lovely green salads in Switzerland.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roasted Pork Knuckle:
Next we had the pork knuckles which is deliberately slightly smaller than the usual pork knuckles.
The pork knuckles here have been steamed first to tenderize the meat and then roasted to get the skin crispy.
When I tried it, the pork was nice and tender with a lovely salted flavour and the skin was lovely and crisp.
The meat was so tender that it felt like I was eating duck meat (leg part).
As well as the pork knuckle, there was sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.
The sauerkraut was pickled cabbage which helps to balance out the heaviness of the pork knuckles, and the sauerkraut was delicious and not too sour.
The mashed potato was delicious and potatoey just like the ones I had at school.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Traditional Flammkuchen:Tarte Flambee with onions and bacon


Basically this was similar to pizza which they call Tarte Flambee in French meaning cake baked in flames, and Flammkuchen in German meaning Flame cake.
It was simple and delicious with bacon, onions and cheese. The diced onions and bacon tasted nice together.
Next time I am going to try the Fiery Flammkuchen which has camembert, chili and beef for extra flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sausage platter:
(Regensburger, Nurnberger, Cheese Krainer, Thuringer served with sauerkraut and roasted potatoes)

This is a signature dish at Berliner and it was good to sample all the sausages.
My favourite was the Cheese Krainer.
They also had Currywurst as well which are sausages in tomato curry sauce.
Currywurst is the first thing you are taught in German classes for food vocabulary as well as the bockwurst!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Jägerschnitzel - Hunter Style with Mushroom sauce and spätzle:

I really liked it because it was pork escaloupe.
An escaloupe is a breaded cutlet made with boneless pork thinned with a hammer coated in bread crumbs and fried.
The size of this was quite big and reminds me of the A4 sized pork cutlet at some Japanese place in HK.
It was served with cream mushroom sauce and came with spätzle. Although I liked the green peppercorn sauce as well but that option only came with chips.
The pork was lovely and tender and I liked it because it was really thin, the mushroom sauce was not sickly at all and tasted similar to the mushroom sauce in the UK.
Lastly the Spatzle was the best, it was pieces of small irregular shaped dough and tasted exactly like pasta.
It might be bland for some but I found it delicious as there were hints of green peppercorn in the taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Berliner Dessert Combo:
Berliner donut
Again these donuts were delicious and similar to the British jam filled donuts.
It seems that they were cut from frozen because there is a clean cut and the jam does not ooze out.
german cheesecake (middle on the photo)
The colour of this cheesecake was slightly brighter than the usual ones, and the taste was amazing, because it was much softer than the American cheesecake and it was silky as well.
There were tones of lemon in the taste and the cheesecake had raisins in it as well tasting exactly the same as the cheesecake sold at UK's Marks and Spencers.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vanilla pancakes with warm cherry sauce

The pancakes had the lightest taste out of the three desserts but the sauce that came with it was strong enough because it was delicious tart cherries.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
apple strudel

This was basically apple wrapped in puff pastry served with vanilla icecream.
The vanilla icecream was delicious and the vanilla taste was strong with vanilla seeds in it.
The apple strudel was deliciously hot so it tasted nice with the icecream, while the pastry was nice and crispy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
For drinks, I was so lucky to try two
Apfel Strudel Drink:
(apple puree, ginger beer, cream and cinnamon)

This drink is a MUST for apple pie lovers and I loved the way the apple puree gave it more dimension and sharpness.
After drinking half of it and mixing it together, it tasted like apple pie with cream and together with the fizzyness, it tasted like heaven.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Erdinger Alkoholfrei:
It was really good that they offer NON-ALCOHOLIC beer on the menu.

Since this was alcohol free, I did not hesitate to try it, when it was poured out, it had the same characteristics as beer with the fine foam on top.

It was fun drinking this because it was bitter which went well with the desserts and the best part was I was able to drink more than one sip to get a real taste of beer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Anyway, I cant wait to come back and try their other items with friends.

[Review 2286] Dutch baby: An exclusive at Hong Kong's Wired Cafe @ WIRED CAFE

27/02/2013
WIRED CAFE
尖沙咀彌敦道 118 -130號美麗華廣場二期低層地下B169 號舖
Shop B169, B1, Mira Place Two, 118-130 Nathan Road,, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/dutch-baby-an-exclusive-at-hong-kongs-wired-cafe-e2285375

I would just like to thank the communications team for inviting me to try their Dutch oven pancakes.

Prior to this visit, I have already tried it twice especially for their Dutch oven pancakes, once at Hysan place for their sweet Dutch pancake and the other time at this branch for their savoury pancake.

At the TST branch, it is more casual and serves more desserts for people to sit down and have a break.

It is right next to some Japanese gift shops which sells quite a lot of nifty gadgets and household objects.

At this tasting, we tried two rices, two sweet and savoury pancakes.
Their pancakes have tempura mixture added to it to give it a better texture and taste.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mushroom and tomato pancake:

This was nice and the mushroom was quite substantial however the tomatoes could be more tangy and for more flavour there could have been olives.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Prosciutto and cheese pancake:

This was my favourite because the prosciutto was wafer thin and soft, its saltyness and the pancake tasted nice together.
The pancake was crispy on the sides and soft at the base.
It would have been nice if they had guerkins in this as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Gapao rice :

When this came, I was instantly reminded of Nasi Goreng because of the presentation of the rice, minced meat, and prawn crackers.
Basically, it was minced chicken cooked with basil and chili and it was amazingly delicious because the spicyness of the chilis were just right complemented by rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
King taco rice:

When I first saw the poster for this, I didn't quite know what it was because the name was so Mexican but it looked like a salad.
This dish is surprisingly an Okinawan dish!!
Anyway it was rice topped with chili con carne surrounded by salad with lovely cheddar cheese sprinkled on top.
The cheese and spices smell really nice when it is just done and the chili con carne beneath it is piping hot.
After mixing it together it was so delicious because the salad balances out the chili con carne and they have also put a sauce on it which tastes similar to sour cream but better.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chocolate banana whipped cream pancake:

For banana and chocolate lovers this is a perfect dessert.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mixed berry custard pancake:

This pancake was really delicious, it was topped with delicate berries which were lovely and tart.
The generous cream on the pancake was nice with the tart berries, however I could not taste the custard.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Perrier with raspberry:

This was basically perrier with raspberry syrup.
I liked it because you mix it yourself and the raspberry taste was refreshing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lime and kiwi lassi:

Usually you get mango lassi, but here they have lime with kiwi which is not that sour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Improvements and suggestions:
Overall I liked the Dutch oven pancakes but I felt that if the pancake base for the savoury ones were not sweetened then it would be perfect.
The tomatoes in the tomato and mushroom pancake could have been more tangy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★