[Review 2392] Easter Chocolate Garden @ Lab Made

05/04/2013
Lab Made 分子雪糕專門店 (Lab Made Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Laboratory
大坑布朗街6號地下
G/F, 6 Brown Street, Tai Hang
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/easter-chocolate-garden-lab-made-e2290943

These days I go to Lab Made because of the funky flavours and not because of the Nitrogen gimmick.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Easter Chocolate Garden:
I was looking forward to this flavour because it was packed with goodies, it was chocolate icecream with hazelnuts topped with mint cake crumbs topped with colourful candies.
The icecream mixture was already pre-mixed so all they had to do was freeze it into icecream.
 0 讚好

After the icecream was made it was topped with delicious mint cake crumbs and candies.

The final product.


Usually they come in scoops but to put the toppings on, they had to flatten it.
The icecream was delicious, it had chunks of hazelnuts in it and the candies were giving it an extra crunch too.
The mint cake crumbs were delicious as well but the mint taste was not that strong which was good because not everyone likes mint.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green tea:
The green tea was slightly boring for me and the taste was slightly bitter too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
On another occasion i came for the bakewell tart flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bakewell tart:

I have never liked the bakewell tart because of the icing sugar and almond flavouring but I decided to try the icecream because whatever I dislike is made to taste nice at Lab Made.
Instead of the cherry on top they put cranberry sauce on top which was really refreshing and they let me have extra sauce too.
The icecream had grounded almonds in it which tastes better than almond flavouring.
The taste was just amazing and it was a bit like eating wholemeal biscuit icecream that is not cloyingly sweet like a real bakewell tart.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Look out for my upcoming reviews on the Green Apple cheesecake and the Blueberry breakfast yoghurt at Lab Made.

[Review 2391] Grilled chicken satays @ 金發車仔麵

05/04/2013
金發車仔麵
彩虹牛池灣富池徑3號
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/grilled-chicken-satays-%E9%87%91%E7%99%BC%E8%BB%8A%E4%BB%94%E9%BA%B5-e2290941

This joint has been here for at least ten years, I used to dine here for noodles which were delicious but I never wrote about them.

I once forgot to pay because you pay when you leave so when I remembered on the bus I got off the bus and ran back to pay and they were quite surprised and said I could have come back another day to pay.

This joint is run by a few ladies who have been there for years.

At the front of the joint hey have a grill that grills all sorts of snacks so I ordered two chicken skewers.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled chicken satay:
When the chicken satays came, they were huge! Skewered with big pieces of chicken on it.
The picture below shows that without the sauce, it is well marinated, the one at the front is turned over.

The chicken was really tender and had hints of curry spices on it and the peanut sauce was sweet with crushed peanuts giving it more flavour.

They were very filling but I felt slighty thirsty afterwards.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2390] Let your tastesbuds sense molecular gastronomy @ Sense Dessert Cafe

04/04/2013
Sense Dessert Cafe
元朗鳳攸南街9號好順利大廈地下2號
Shop 2, G/F, Ho Shun Lee Building, 9 Fung Yau Street South, Yuen Long
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/let-your-tastesbuds-sense-molecular-gastronomy-e2290878

I have not tried food made by the gastronomic process so I really wanted to try this place.
This place is located in Yuen Long which was really pushing my boundaries as I do not usually travel further than Hong Kong or Kowloon for good food.
Since the introduction of the Giant Green Tea lava cake at the Steakhouse and the one persons portion at Sin Mei they also have it here.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tiramisu:
Basically when it came, it looked like a plant in a flowerpot.

It was tiramisu covered with crushed biscuit crumbs to mimic the soil with a sprig on mint in the middle.

It just tasted like ordinary tiramisu jazzed up although the coffee and alcoholic taste was strong.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rose leaf drift on the mousse:
I do not like the taste of rose but I tried it anyway.
The rose pudding at the base was extremely milky and the taste of rose was strong.
The foam on the top was just frothed up milk made into extremely fine foam.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Floating Island in the smog/illusion:

This was frozen ice cream with fruits. The white part tasted of coconut and the orange part tasted like pineapple sorbet.
The pairing of these two flavours reminded me of pina colada.
One of the blueberries was really big.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sinking chocolate in the red sea:
The frozen icecream was made in the same way as above, there were two flavours, the white one was vanilla, and the burgandy colour tasted like berries.
The frozen icecream just tasted like Mini Melts icecream which is also made by using Nitrogen to flash freeze it so that there is no air whipped into it.
The chocolate lava cake in the middle just tasted like the usual fare!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chocolate caviar and milk pudding:

The milk pudding was really creamy and silky, and there was a spoon of chocolate caviar served separately.
The caviar was made by using a pipette dropping the chocolate droplets to made it solidify.
The chocolate taste could have been stronger.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2389] All your Japanese wishes in one restaurant @ 宏 Hiroshi

04/04/2013
宏  Hiroshi
佐敦白加士街15號藍馬商業中心地下
G/F, The Lamma Commercial Centre, 15 Parkes Street, Jordan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/all-your-japanese-wishes-in-one-restaurant-e2290873

When I saw reviews on this place I got it confused with another restaurant nearby because the name sounds similar.

However on HKE's review, I found out that they are under the same group.

This restaurant is located near the MTR station so it is really convenient and there is so much variety.

They basically serve udon, cakes, macarons which were all the items I wanted to try.

At the entrance of the shop, it looks like a cake shop because there are glass cabinets with cakes and macarons.

Inside the shop, there were various of posters of strawberries and hokkaido milk which are famous from Furano.

The cream in the cakes are made with hokkaido milk and the strawberries they use are from Furano, hence for the small strawberry swiss roll you only get a quarter of the strawberry because they are quite expensive.

Luckily they have an all day set which includes an udon with either a cake or two macarons and afternoon tea sets which I tried too.

Ordered two udon sets so I could choose the cake and macarons as well and tried the tea set on a different day.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon with egg:


I only got the udon because it was not the usual sanuki udon but a thinner type with wheat in it.
The texture of the udon was chewy but got softer as it absorbed the broth.
Overall it was nice and plain without any meat.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon with Japanese roast pork:


On the menu it saids ramen, but when it came it was the same type of udon as above.
I was expecting the roast pork to be dry and tough like the ones served in usual Japanese joints in Hong Kong, but the roast pork was amazing that I ate it all, it was soft and thinly sliced.
It did not have an overnight taste to it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple tea:


The apple flavouring was strong but it tasted really artificial.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Passionfruit tea:

The passion fruit taste was faint but was not as artificial as the Apple.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Small strawberry swiss roll:


The sponge tasted really eggy and the cream in the middle tasted really milky.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green tea chiffon cake:


This was my favourite cake because the cake was really soft and there was a good proportion of cake and cream.
The sweetness was just right.
The structure of this cake was really airy just like a coral sponge.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green tea swiss roll:

The green tea taste was quite grassy and it was sweeter than the chiffon version.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bailey's macaron:

I thought the darker one was caramel but it was the Baileys flavour.
The macaron was delicious because you could actually taste the baileys in it.
The shell was chewy and crispy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Salted caramel macaron:

The filling in the middle was absolutely delicious because it tasted like buttercream and because it was refridgerated the filling was like butter.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
In general my comments were good but as I have visited this place a few times they could not keep the consistency the same because some items would taste sweeter/stronger/bland on a different visit.

[Review 2388] More Filipino food @ 金蒂小店 Cinta J Express

04/04/2013
金蒂小店 Cinta J Express
灣仔柯布連道2A號C2號舖
Shop C2,2A O'Brien Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/more-filipino-food-e2290872

Previously this tiny joint used to be Quezon which served DELICIOUS Filipino food.
But now it is Cinta Express.

I love Flipino food, but at this joint the Filipino food is rather expensive, I wonder how the the local Filipinos can afford it.

Anyway, they have a restaurant on Jaffe Road called Cinta J Restaurant which I really hate because it is not Filipino food at all.
They just serve Chinese food there.

On the first day of opening, the lunch choices were half Chinese and half Filipino.

I chose the a la carte Palabok which was the most expensive Palabok in Hong Kong, but saying that there is a new Filipino restaurant in Wan Chai called Kawali Filipino Kamayan Cuisine which also serves Filipino food at expensive prices.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Palabok:
Compared to the Palabok at Jolibees, the portion was much bigger and there was lots of sauce.
The sauce had rich prawn taste and the pieces of pork were nice and lean.
The rice vermicelli was cooked just right, not too soft or hard.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I was quite disappointed the next day because they were back selling Chinese food because Chinese people do not eat Flipino food, and a few days later Cinta J restaurant was short of manpower so this place was temporarily closed.

[Review 2387] Improved Shiretoko Zarusoba wiv more sauce than b4 @ 黑瀧板蕎麥專門店 Kurotaki

04/04/2013
黑瀧板蕎麥專門店 Kurotaki
銅鑼灣告士打道280號世貿中心4樓P413-415號舖
Shop P413-415, P4/F, World Trade Center, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/improved-shiretoko-zarusoba-wiv-more-sauce-than-b4-e2290869

I was with Mjqueen7e who was just recovering from food poisoning and had not eaten for two days so it was a delicate choice to choose what to eat.

Usually the locals will eat congee, but congee is not as healthy as it seems because it contains a lot more oils than you think.
It certainly does not work for me because it makes me more sick, so usually I go for breads or noodles!
Again, Chinese noodles contains a film of oil on top of the broth.

Finally, came here for soba noodles.

I chose the Chilled Shiretoko Zarusoba with sesame and black garlic oil sauce for the THIRD TIME because this was my third time dining here.
As for my foodie friend, I recommended the plain soba which is just soba in soup. No meat, No oil and it was hot too!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled Shiretoko Zarusoba with sesame and black garlic oil sauce:
Compared to my previous visit, there was a perfect balance of black garlic and sesame sauce.
On my second visit, there was too much sesame sauce and not enough black garlic sauce.
See photos on second visit:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2282808
If you see the photos on my first visit, there was practically no sauce at all!
photos on first visit:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2241213
Anyway, with the appropriate amount of sauce, the noodles were really refreshing balanced by the lovely black garlic aroma.

I loved the crunch from the buckwheat seeds and I wish there were more of them.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Plain soba:

Luckily the soup was quite salty, because after having had food poisoning everything tastes tasteless and there is a craving for salty foods to replace the lost salts and fluids.
As I experienced food poisoning recently I was downing MSG laden soups when I was sick which is something I do not usually do.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I would just like to Thank my Mjqueen7e who had food poisoning for treating me to soba and still dining out with me while she was sick.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I do not normally go back to restaurants twice unless there are new dishes or the items are really good.
So I suppose the soba here is good!

[Review 2386] Organic heaven for Vegetarians at Moon Street @ Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle (已搬遷) 新店位置

04/04/2013
Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle (已搬遷) 新店位置
灣仔月街5號地下
G/F, 5 Moon Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/organic-heaven-for-vegetarians-at-moon-street-e2290868

Maya Cafe is lovely place for Vegetarian food that is organic.

As well as being Vegetarian, I love their variety especially their juices and Mediterranean fare.

I found out about this cafe through a friend who saw it on a local newspaper, so we went to check it out before actually dining there.

They sell organic goods and breads.

There is home grown wheat grass too for their drinks.

I was quite hungry that day so I ordered the Mezze platter which had all my favourites.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mezze platter:

It had hummus, baba ganoush, feta cheese and olives.
The hummus was delicious and the baba ganoush too, some might find it bland but I thought it was nice, they give you lemon as well to make it more appetizing.
The bread that came with it was flat and perfect for dipping with the hummus and baba ganoush and the olives give it extra saltiness.
I had the feta cheese last which was the best I have ever tried because it was so moreish.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

As well as the Mezze platter, I ordered a drink as well.

There were three drinks that caught my eye and it was hard deciding which one to get:
eye opener: carrot, celery and fennel.
raw energry: tomato, cabbage and parsley
hangover express: broccoli, apple and spinach.

In the end I got the hangover express because not many places have broccoli in juices.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
hangover express:

The taste was really nice and a good detox for the body, whilst there is a lot of calcium and iron in the spinach.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I tried Dal of the day, which was rich lentils with spices, the typical Indian food but it delicious and not too spicy.

Then I tried my favourite falafel and vegetarian croquettes.

The falafel contained lots of pulses and was really substantial with lots of protein, whilst the vegetable croquette was softer with sweetcorn, peas, carrots and potatoes.

To go with these snacks, they had tahini which was grounded sesame with lemon which makes it more appetizing and not so dry.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vegetarian sushi:



The paste was crunchy and filling but there are actually no nuts in the ingredients, I could taste celery, carrots, chinese radish.
It was visually stunning and looked like tuna in the middle but it was actually a paste.
The sushi was so good I got another one for takeaway.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
gluten free almond meat orange muffin:

It had extremely strong orange zest taste and it was lovely and moist.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Brown rice pudding:

It was basically brown rice pudding with coconut milk and almond.
This was my favourite because it tasted like the rice pudding I had as a kid.
It was so creamy and the orange blossom water in it made it so dreamy.
This rice pudding is Mediterranean and served at celebrations for a new baby.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

After having all that I was really full, but I cannot wait to go back for more Mezze, falafel, sushi and rice pudding.

I can't wait for their future new dishes because they are going to make vegetarian pizzas with a vegetable and nutty base and wraps that are savoury or sweet.

I would just like to Thank Mina and Tina for the wonderful food and hospitality and I love their teddy bear gift as well.

I will be back again for the brunch and lunch deal again too because it is really good and it has all my favourites included such as juices, pudding and the Mezze.
I love the decor of this place.