[Review 2497] Lovely Japanese alfresco cocktail bar @ Sowelu Dining Bar

13/05/2013
Sowelu Dining Bar
銅鑼灣駱克道447-449號中威商業大廈5樓
5/F, Chung Wai Commercial Building, 447-449 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lovely-japanese-alfresco-cocktail-bar-e2296567

Thanks to Mjqueen7e and the restaurant's PR for inviting us to try their food in such a lovely environment.
Sowelu is located on Lockhart Road near Causeway Bay MTR,
The restaurant has two floors, the upper floor has a cocktail bar and the lower floor has two canopies with alfresco dining.
(For more photos see Mjqueen7e's review).

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Appetizer platter:

There was Parma ham, Menma, Camembert and diced tomatoes.
Menma is basically Japanese bamboo shoots in sesame oil, they were slightly spicy too.
The Camembert was lovely and creamy, and the parma ham and diced tomatoes paired together nicely.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Four cheese Pizza:

When it arrived, it looked like an Indian Naan.
The pizza is topped with four cheeses: blue cheese, Cheddar, Mozzarella and Parmesan.
I really liked it because the pizza was not entirely covered with cheese and the pizza base was light and chewy just like a naan.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mentaiko pasta:

It was lovely and pink and the pasta was al-dente.
The taste was really nice because it was not very creamy packed with mentaiko and the delicious spring onions and seaweed gave it some freshness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Caesar salad:

The greens in this salad was really nice, it was a nice mixture of different greens.
The duck was flavoured nicely by the appetizing caesar sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lastly we were served drinks and they asked us our preferences so they could come up with some drinks.
I was expecting them to be fruit juice cocktails, but they came up with some really cool cocktails that had vegetables in it which were celery and apple, virgin bloody mary and kiwi and apple.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Virgin bloody mary:
I tried the Virgin bloody mary and it was surprising because the ones I have had before were made with tomato juice straight from the carton, but here they used freshly blended tomatoes.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ice cubes:
For alcoholic cocktails, they have ice balls and square ice blocks.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2496] Spicier curries than before @ 新景園咖喱小廚 Sun King Yuen Curry Restaurant

11/05/2013
新景園咖喱小廚 Sun King Yuen Curry Restaurant
灣仔春園街20號地舖
G/F, 20 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/spicier-curries-than-before-e2296408

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken curry:
Got the chicken curry again because I haven't had it in ages.
When I tried the curry sauce it was so much hotter than before.
It turns out that they put chili in it because I found a chili seed.
Luckily I got a calamansi from the spice shop next door to make the curry more appetizing.
Overall the curry was ok, but too spicy, and the fried chicken had strong peanut oil taste.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2495] XO Sauce chicken @ 肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken

11/05/2013
肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken
灣仔港灣道30號新鴻基中心1樓101-103A舖及111舖及140舖
Shop 101-103A, 111 & 14, 1/F, 30 Sun Hung Kai Centre, Harbour Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/xo-sauce-chicken-kfc-e2296397

Went to KFC to try their new XO Sauce chicken.
I got the set with the soft roll because I wanted a light meal.
The set comes with two pieces of chicken, one soft roll, a drink and a borscht soup for $34.8.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
XO Sauce chicken:
To be honest it tasted like their usual grilled chicken covered in chili oil.
There was no XO sauce taste at all and the chili oil they used was very hot.
Part of the chicken was quite burnt too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soft Roll:
These are the soft rolls served in Chinese style Western meals, and it was quite nice because it was buttery and sweet.
The texture of the bread was quite soft and springy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Borscht soup:
The borscht soup was surprisingly nice because it was quite savoury and not as sweet as the ones served in Chinese restaurants, the tomato taste was strong but the main let down was that it was too salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soft Drink:
There was a choice of soft drinks but I never drink it anyway.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I wish I could try their breakfast too, because there is toast, macaroni and juice for $19
If you don't like macaroni, there is vermicelli too.

But as a general rule of thumb you need patience at KFC because it tastes ages for them to get your order ready.
The best solution is get it delivered and it is payable by card too!

[Review 2494] Wishy Washy raspberry bathing duck @ black n white

10/05/2013
black n white
大角咀埃華街88-102號B&D舖
Unit B&D, 88-102 Ivy Street, Tai Kok Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/wishy-washy-raspberry-bathing-duck-e2296234

I have always wanted to try Black n White but the desserts there were not irresistible enough.
However when I saw the recent reviews on the yellow duck on foam, it changed my mind.
When I got there, the place was really busy so waited quite a while before I got served.
The dessert took a while to come too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Raspberry bathing duck HKD68:

The presentation was exactly as shown on the product shot but the colour of the foam was lighter than photos from previous reviews.
The froth was light pink but lacked raspberry taste.
The duck on top was edible and made of chocolate, and the tiramisu was made of mascarpone cheese, raspberry jelly and raspberry foam and Italian ladyfingers.
As I do not like coffee, a raspberry alternative to tiramisu was a great idea but the taste of raspberry was faint and I didn't like the Italian ladyfingers because it was hard and not soaked.

I would have preferred the raspberry jelly to have a fruitier taste and the sharpness of the raspberries to be stronger.
There was not enough wishy washy raspberry liquid because the duck could not float and the liquid was just surrounding the tiramisu and not really covering the tiramisu.

Overall I felt that the dessert was a little too sickly and the taste was let down by the raspberry artificial flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2493] Chinese food @ 聯邦皇宮 Federal Restaurant

10/05/2013
聯邦皇宮 Federal Restaurant
鑽石山龍蟠街3號荷里活廣場353號舖
Shop 353, Plaza Hollywood, 3 Lung Poon Street, Diamond Hill
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chinese-food-federal-restaurant-e2296207

Went to a Chinese dinner at Federal Restaurant.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Marinated goose wings:

I loved these marinated goose wings, they were gelatinous and soft.
It would be great if they were not so salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roast pork belly:

A good even distribution of meat, fat and crispy skin.
The taste of the roast pork was good and not too salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2492] Top notch Filipino Kamayan Cuisine @ 夠鑊氣 Kawali Filipino Kamayan Cuisine

09/05/2013
夠鑊氣 Kawali Filipino Kamayan Cuisine
灣仔廈門街百旺都中心7-17號2樓
2/F, 7-17 Amoy Street Hundred City Centre, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/top-notch-filipino-kamayan-cuisine-e2296155

When I saw this place listed on Openrice, I really wanted to go, it is interesting that this place has a Chinese name too!
Compared to my usual Flipino fare, the prices at this place are quite expensive.

In Wan Chai, there are now three places where you can get Flipino food.
Cinta J which is quite Chinese during lunch, while the new Cinta J Express was more authentic but only open during the evenings and Quezon which provides really cheap authentic Flipino food.

The decor of this place is green and vibrant.
After browsing the menu, they had steak sets and chicken but I wanted some real native dishes.
The a la carte menu seemed a better choice.
The good thing about this place is that the rice is unlimited and the food was so delicious that I had two plates of rice!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken adobo:
Adobo is basically a vinegary sauce.
On first sight, it looked quite Chinese, it had lots of cracked black pepper.
The vinegar was quite strong but it made the chicken extremely appetizing.
Beneath the pieces of chicken, there were four chicken wings.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Dinuguan:

This is basically pork and offal cooked in spicy dark gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili, and vinegar.
There were pieces of beef stomach as well.
I really liked it and expected it to taste good, the porks blood was fresh and the sauce did not have a rancid smell or taste.
The pork in this dish was lean so there was not much oil compared to other Dinuguan dishes from other restaurants.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Luckily the rice is refillable so you can have as much as rice as you want!

[Review 2491] Heart shaped Pandan cake @ 豪華餅店 Hoover Cake Shop

07/05/2013
豪華餅店 Hoover Cake Shop
九龍城衙前圍道136號
136 Nga Tsin Wai Road, Kowloon City
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/heart-shaped-pandan-cake-e2295764

After a dinner gathering, someone brought out a Heart shaped Pandan cake for dessert.
The Heart shaped Pandan cake was from Kowloon City's Hoover cake shop.
I have tried their pandan cakes before so I expected this to taste good.
The cake has two layers, there is no filling in between so the top and bottom layer can be eaten separately.
The taste of this cake was delicious, it was soft and eggy just like the Chinese paper wrapped cakes with a strong hint of pandan.