[Review 2588] A nice cafe on Swatow alley @ Mansons Lot

15/06/2013
Mansons Lot
灣仔汕頭街15號地下
G/F, 15 Swatow Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/a-nice-cafe-on-swatow-alley-e2301532

A nice place for coffee and relaxing lunches, but perhaps a bit too cosy.
Tried the lunch set which includes a soup, main and an espresso.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Menu:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Gazpacho soup:

This was quite impressive because most places serve hot soups and here they serve Gazpacho which is cold.
The top is nicely frothed and has a refreshing taste of tomato.
I could also taste carrot too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Quiche:


I loved this chunky quiche loaded with spinach but it would be great if the quiche base was savoury and not sweet.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
expresso :

I don't drink coffee.....
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2587] C.H.E.A.P @ 大丸迴轉壽司 Daimaru Sushi

15/06/2013
大丸迴轉壽司 Daimaru Sushi
深水埗元州街18G號富匯居1樓
1/F, Court Regence, 18G Un Chau Street, Sham Shui Po
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/c-h-e-a-p-e2301531

Before I tried this place, I used to think it was expensive because the presentation of the sushi was quite classy.

They had a glass platter of sushi which is unusual according to a review dated sept 2010.
http://static2.orstatic.com/UserPhoto/photo/2/1O1/00BUXV94BA9A7317BBC385l.jpg

The fish skin was also interesting featured on the review by Garycwm dated oct 2010.
http://static1.orstatic.com/UserPhoto/photo/2/1QT/00CEPX57C67C3CED527FBBl.jpg

I only came here because Wai Kee was full of people and I suddenly remembered this place.

I have not read the recent reviews so did not know the style had changed.

After sitting down, I realized the menu was totally different and they didnt have the platter sushi that was offered years ago!

Shockingly the items were CHEAP ranging from $3-$12 for a piece of sushi!
The ramen was the cheapest I have seen so far for $18!!!!!

Heres what I had....
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Signature ramen:

Tasteless but good for the eldery and people on a low sodium, low oil diet.
Eating suggestion: mix the soy sauce and wasabi and use it as a sauce for dipping the noodles if you feel its tasteless.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Abalone gunkan, clams gunkan, flower of love sushi:
Both the abalone and clams gunkan were quite nice because the sauce was slightly spicy.
There was not enough sauce and the sauce was a bit too watery.
The flower of love was edible but the orange roe on top was not that fresh and shrivelled up.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared salmon:

The sushi was ok but I think the rice was burnt!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared flower of love with scallop:

Tasted ok, but the fish roe was not that fresh and slightly shrivelled up.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The bill was only $50 and there was no 10% service charge.
Amazingly I did not food poisoning the next day either!!
I definitely recommend the $3 sushis, or the seared sushis that cost $4.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2586] Chill out with new summer drinks @ Häagen-Dazs

13/06/2013
Häagen-Dazs
銅鑼灣軒尼詩道500號希慎廣場6樓626-627號舖
Shop 626-627, 6/F, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chill-out-with-new-summer-drinks-e2301416

Thanks to Häagen-Dazs and the communications teams for organizing a tasting to try their new summer desserts and drinks.

There are four new icecream flavours:
Banana Chocolate Brownie
Passion fruit cheesecake
Mango and raspberry
Salted caramel

Each new dessert features the new ice cream flavour.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Moon shadow:

This was basically three scoops of icecream sandwiched in between two halves of a banana.
The three scoops of icecream include: green tea, chocolate and banana brownies.
The banana brownies icecream had a nice natrual banana taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cheese temptation:

This was a triple cheesy temptation because both icecreams had cheesecake in it, there was passionfruit cheesecake icecream and strawberry cheesecake icecream as well as a cheesecake.
The taste of the passionfruit cheesecake icecream was lively and tropical.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Summer fiesta:

The presentation and colour of this dessert was vibrant and colourful paired with mango and raspberry icecream and summer berries icecream.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fantasy Eiffel:

This was my favourite because it had the salted caramel icecream with lovely marshmallows and crunchies at the bottom.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Summer mango paradise:

This drink was a nice icy cooler and the taste tasted like sorbet even though it was made with icecream.
Most people said the taste was bland, but I liked it bland because it wasnt too sweet and I do not really like mangoes anyway so the faint mango taste was just right for me.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Very berries:
Compared to the drink above, this drink was much stronger with delicious berry taste.
The berries on top were frozen too making it extra cool.
It would taste great if there was yoghurt in the drink too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mat Cha Wandering:

This drink was little too milky but I liked the raspberry syrup that was mixed in because it made the drink livelier.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The tuxedo:

The chocolate drink was nice but I wished there was some coffee or tiramisu blended in to give it some dimension.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
NEW flavours:

On the left is the salted caramel and the banana brownies on the right.
The Salted caramel is really nice while the banana has a natrual taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2585] Coke floats with Haagen Daz @ 一鍋 - 台日式精緻小火鍋專門店 iPot - The Shabu Shabu Expert

11/06/2013
一鍋 - 台日式精緻小火鍋專門店 iPot - The Shabu Shabu Expert
天后琉璃街11號地下
G/F, 11 Lau Li Street, Tin Hau
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/coke-floats-with-haagen-daz-e2300924

Since the tasting I was addicted to their Hokkaido broth so came back for it.
The seating arrangement can be a bit cramped, so book before you go.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Hokkaido soup hotpot:


Overall the food was as good as before but the broth messed up.
For the hokkaido one, the stove should not be turned on higher than a three on the knob because it separates the milk from the broth leaving frothy white foam on top which is the milk.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
After the hotpot, there is Haagan Daz icecream included so I decided to mix it with coke and Cream soda.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Coke with Vanilla Haagen Daz:


The coke and vanilla Haagen Daz tasted really nice and I preferred mixing vanilla icecream with coke instead of chocolate because chocolate does not taste so good.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cream soda with vanilla Haagen Daz:


The pairing of cream soda and vanilla HD was a bit too sweet~
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2584] Green apple cheesecake & Blueberry yogurt breakfast @ Lab Made 分子雪糕專門店

11/06/2013
Lab Made 分子雪糕專門店 (已結業)
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/green-apple-cheesecake-blueberry-yogurt-breakfst-e2300898

Came here again to try the new flavours.
This time there were two flavours I wanted to try:
Green apple cheesecake & Blueberry yogurt breakfast.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Blueberry yogurt breakfast:

The blueberry yogurt was really nice because there were crunchy pieces of muesli in it and it was like having granola bars with icecream.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Green apple cheesecake:

The apple cheesecake was just average compared to the blueberry because it tasted similar to the apple crumble they made before and the cheesecake taste was a bit too heavy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Previous flavours I have tried:

Mint chocolate chip with baileys
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2297130&tc=review
Green Tea & Easter Chocolate Garden
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2290943
Hong Kong custard bun and Black Forest
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2282646
Earl Grey
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2274438
HK Crispy Toast & Mooncake flavour:
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2260639
Sticky toffee:
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2267203
Lemon Meringue, apple crumble, strawberry yoghurt, purple rice:
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2254991

[Review 2583] Festive crystal Zongzi at Sushi Take Out @ 爭鮮外帶壽司 Sushi Take-Out

11/06/2013
爭鮮外帶壽司  Sushi Take-Out
將軍澳坑口培成路15號連理街102號舖
Shop 102, the Lane, 15 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
港鐵坑口站 A1 出口, 港鐵坑口站 B1
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/festive-crystal-zongzi-at-sushi-take-out-e2300895

Went to get some sushi and was surprised to see they had Zongzis in a Sushi shop!

There were two flavours for the Zongzis, grapefruit and red bean, distinguished by the coloured band.
Grapefruit was orange and sesame was purple.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grapefruit crystal zongzi:

The Zongzi's here were only $6 each which is the cheapest I have seen so far.
But the taste was too sweet.
Although it was too sweet, the zongzi did not stick to the leaf and you could see the filling inside the translucent zongzi.

The grapefruit tasted really artificial and sweet, and the filling was very starchy with pureed mung beans in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Salmon sushi:

The sushi looked good because I thought it was mayonnaise drizzled on top but it was sweet salad cream which ruined it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Octopus sushi:

I do not often see a plain octopus tentacles for sushi at this place so tried it and it was quite nice and I also got the octopus wasabi salad which is also good because the wasabi and octopus taste good together.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2582] Kagoshima sweet purple potato crystal Zongzi @ 東海堂 Arome Bakery

11/06/2013
東海堂  Arome Bakery
將軍澳坑口培成路15號連理街143號
Shop 143, the Lane, 15 Pui Shing Road, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/kagoshima-sweet-purple-potato-crystal-zongzi-e2300884

Just like the mooncakes, where the traditions have been broken with snowy mooncakes.

There is now a sweet version of Zongzi that is ready to eat.
It was introduced last year but I did not get a chance to try it because they came in a pack of three with only one flavour I liked.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Kagoshima sweet purple potato crystal Zongzi:
At Arome Bakery, they come in single flavours in packs of twos so I was able to get the flavour I liked.

After removing it from the vacumn sealed pack, it is wrapped in dried leaves just like the usual Zongzi's.
The size of these Zongzi's are slightly smaller.
When I removed the leaf wrapping, the appearance was slightly different from their product shot.
On the product shot there is purple filling incased within the crystal clear exterior.
It was just a purple mass when I unwrapped it, the Zongzi stuck to the leaf wrapping and got deformed hence it did not come out as a perfect tetrahedral shape.

The taste was not bad, and the filling was slightly starchy with a hint of sweet purple potato taste.
The sweetness was just right and not as cloyingly sweet as this other brand I tried but the leaf wrapping was a bit oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★