[Review 3122] Musubi's for lunch @ 華御結 Hana-Musubi

27/01/2014
華御結 Hana-Musubi
金鐘夏慤道18號海富中心商場1樓46號舖
Shop 46, 1/F, Admiralty Centre, 18 Harcourt Road, Admiralty
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/musubis-for-lunch-e2343856

Had a coupon to redeem a musubi set which includes two musubis and a side dish.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef musubi:
The beef musubi was very satisfying because the beef was nice and meaty giving the rice plenty of flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sakura shrimp musubi:
The taste of this was lighter than the beef but it was nice because there were lots of delicate dried shrimps in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef:
This had to be heated up and the potatoes beneath it absorbed the beef sauce so it had a rich beef taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 3121] Back for more Apple fritters @ 龍鳳餃子館 Dumpling Pro

27/01/2014
龍鳳餃子館 Dumpling Pro
灣仔謝斐道243號富裕樓地下
G/F, 243 Jaffe Road, Fu Yue Building, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/back-for-more-apple-fritters-e2343853

On my last visit, I only tried the apple fritters (but see ping gwoh) because I had a tasting afterwards.
The menu had quite a lot of nice items so went back for it.
It seems that their food is quite authentic because there are a lot of mainlanders with a strong Northern accent.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tomato and egg noodles:

The tomato and egg noodles were rather disappointing because the noodles were too soft and tasteless and the tomatoes did not have any taste at all.
They were not even sweet or sour and all you could taste was the fried egg with a panfried taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir fried chicken with leek and cumin:

This was delicious, sweet leeks and tender chicken pieces spiced with fragrant cumin.
It was quite salty so I had to have it with rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple fritters:
When you order them, the waitress goes out to buy the apples, so if you prefer green or red apples you can tell them when you order before they go out to buy them.
I felt sorry for the waitresses who were just doing their jobs chasing up the desserts because they got shouted at by the chefs.
The whole restaurant was waiting for dessert, so the Chefs did the apples and bananas together.

That night, the Chefs were too busy cooking, so after the apples and bananas were fried, the waitresses had to do the final part and dunk the pieces of apple in syrup and then into iced water.


Although it was not solely done by the chef, the apples were really nice because they were piping hot and tart complemented by the caramelized sweet batter coating.
I was quite lucky and found a piece of banana in it too so I got the best of both worlds.
Most of the diners who were waiting quite a while for the desserts were given soy milk because it took so long.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 3120] All you can eat! @ Bubbles Sushi

27/01/2014
Bubbles Sushi
灣仔軒尼詩道256號The Hennessy3樓
3/F, The Hennessy, 256 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/all-you-can-eat-e2343829

Bubbles sushi offers all you can eat and there is no time limit which is why the price per person is slightly higher.
The staff in general are quite nice and patient except for one depending on her mood.
Quite a lot of people celebrate their birthdays here because they will play the Happy birthday song and serve a sushi birthday cake and take a photo for you which is ready to take home that night after the meal.
That night I went, there were at least four tables having birthdays there.


The range of sushi is impressive and they even have sushi with truffle and grilled flounder fish edges with salt.
For dessert, the range was a bit weird especially the fried mozarella sticks and sweetcorn puffs.
For the fried items, the deep fried octopus mouths were my favourite.
In the meat section they have grilled lamb, stir fried bittermelon with pork.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled items:

This was grilled chicken liver and sweet potatoes.
The chicken liver was a bit raw and tasted a bit bitter and the sweet potatoes were cute but too sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sashimi:

A nice variety of sashimi.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Truffle sushi:

This was my favourite because the scallop sushi was topped with truffle and each one is shaped into a tiny ball of rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Baked crab shell:

Beneath the grilled cheese, it was creamy crab and vegetables.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Baked oysters:

I did not like it because I don't like Japanese mayonnaise.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir fried beef with bittermelon:

A Okinawan dish but the pork was too fatty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried items:

My favourite fried octopus mouths.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Japanese congee:

The congee was quite interesting because the texture was different as it was cooked with Japanese rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ice cream mochi:

Individually wrapped.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cream puffs and strawberry swiss rolls:

I preferred the rolls without the sauce because they were sweet enough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried mozzarella sticks:

These were weird!! They were savoury Mozzarella sticks drizzled with that strawberry sauce again and dusted with powdered sugar!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 3119] A place worth eating @ 鳳城酒家 Fung Shing Restaurant

27/10/2014
鳳城酒家 Fung Shing Restaurant
太子彌敦道749號歐亞銀行大廈1-2樓
1/F-2/F, European Asian Bank Building, 749 Nathan Road, Prince Edward
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/a-place-worth-eating-e2343820

Here I was thinking it was another boring Chinese meal again with the same usual items, eg an appetizer, some sort of chicken, steamed fish, fried rice and noodles but it was not and turned out to be the best meal I have tried.
Unfortunately my camera didn’t have any batteries which was a waste!
Arrived at the restaurant and it was brightly lit with crystal chandeliers and glistening décor, although it was brightly lit there were tell tale signs that this restaurant has been here for years with décor to disguise it.
After settling down, it was the usual annoyance because I go into restaurants expecting their bowls and cups to be clean and not have to clean it myself.
The items on the set meal seemed interesting, it was not the usual fare because I did not know that it was Shunde style food that time.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Menu:
Crispy roast piglet
Panfried prawn potstickers
Minced pigeon with lettuce
Silkie chicken with sharks fin
Shunde fish rolls
Stir fried vegetables
Stir fried milk
Fried chicken
Fung Shing fried rice
Fried flour dumplings
Baked sago with lotus paste
Fresh fruits
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Crispy roast piglet:
Normally I take a bite and thats it but the piglet here was divine, it was fatless~
I ended up having about four pieces.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Panfried prawn potstickers:
In Chinese they were called Woh teep but when they came, it was a whole prawn on toast.
The great thing was that the fried bread had no oily taste and I added some chili sauce to it which enhanced it even more.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Silkie chicken with sharks fin:
The soup was good too!
The chicken was so soft and full of flavour from the soup that it did not need soy sauce and the black chicken skin tasted sticky and elastic which was not at all fat.
The chicken joints were deliciously soft like collagen jelly because the soup had been boiled for so long that they became so soft.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Shunde fish rolls:
Nothing exciting about the fish, it was just fish rolled up with mushrooms in the middle.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir fried vegetables:
Nothing exciting, it was just stir fried vegetables with mushrooms.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir fried milk:
I was expecting a sweet taste but it was NORMAL for once and delicious.
The appearance was like stir fried egg white and it tasted like savoury smooth milk curds.
The stir fried milk was surrounded by these crispy looking rolls called "chicken rolls", after I took a bite, I imediately spat it out because it was fried fat and lard with oil oozing out.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried chicken:
This was a chicken fried with its skin attached.
The chicken was coming off with hot smoke, yet the chicken was tender with a nice smoky salt taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fung Shing fried rice:
The fried rice which I never eat was delicious, each grain of rice was distinct and it did not have that nasty wok taste, it also had diced tomatoes in it as well.
I also tried their plain boiled rice and that was good too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried flour dumplings:
In chinese it was Jah fun gwoh.
I was expecting it to be those weird sticky chiuchow style ones filled with peanuts and celery but it was crunchy and soft filled with prawns.
It came with soup to dip but I did not bother with the soup.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Baked sago with lotus paste:
I was glad it was a dessert that I could eat because the usual ones such as sweet soups and puddings are two sweet and I hate sweet soups.
The sago was a lovely custard egg yolk colour that was piping hot and not too sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fresh fruits:
These were sliced oranges.
It was good that they made an effort to slice them unlike some other places where they give you a plate of WHOLE ORANGES!!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

To summarize, the banquet set was FUSS FREE, drinks were included and there is no extra 10% on top because the price already includes all that.

[Review 3118] Hooray! The GREAT Tea Sale! @ Shortbread Teas

24/01/2014
Shortbread Teas
中環威靈頓街55號
55 Wellington Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hooray-the-great-tea-sale-e2343787

Basically I get my dose of home food here~

I am glad there is a tea sale going on because I have been so busy I havent been here for ages.
I got my favourite Christmas Pudding tea which comes in a FOOD GRADE resealable packet!

(See the meaning of FOOD GRADE at the end of this review)

Anyway, it was fun making tea at home because I could pick out the pieces of orange peel that I don't like.

I just wish that my cups were as pretty as their cups.

On my previous visits, I have been having sandwiches and salads.

Here is what I had

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ham Salad:

I love this salad because it was light and it had a bit of everything from potato salad, cheese, pickles, cucumber, lettuce and olives dressed in BASIL OLIVE oil.
I absolutely adore the ham because it is not too salty and tender, and the potato salad in mayonnaise is just perfect.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple and ham sandwich:


This is another one of my favourites, but its called something else on the menu which I can't remember.
I loved the soft ham paired with cheese and thinly sliced green apples which is the perfect combination sandwiched in between a crusty soft baguette.
The thinly sliced apple works wonders because it is subtle and does not overpower the cheese and ham giving it a nice crisp crunch.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
All day breakfast:

When I am hungry, this is my one of the choices.
Ultimately because of the black pudding and the gorgeous bacon.
As you can see, the eggs are done so perfectly.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Scrambled egg, black pudding and bacon sandwich:


My favourite sandwich combination tasted perfect this time because I asked for the back bacon instead of the rasher bacon.
The scrambled egg was perfect, just like pieces of co-joined droplets of fluffly egg jpined together.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Egg and bacon sandwich:


Another simple sandwich with fried egg and bacon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

FOOD GRADE metal or plastic means that it can be readily used to prepare or store food safely without releasing any chemicals from the plastic.
This is why it is important that in hospitals, some items should be MEDICAL GRADE because of biocompatibility issues.
Although it is not that serious for food, you just end up with food poisoning.
I BET THE HONG KONGERS are not even AWARE of this issue and buy any bags or containers and niavely plonk food into it.
A few months ago I bought a dessert in a nice glass jar because I wanted to keep the jar, however after I finished the dessert I wiped the inside of the lid with tissue and was mortified to see that it was BLACK!.

[Review 3117] Flipino congee @ 金蒂小店 Cinta J Express

26/01/2014
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/flipino-congee-e2343765

I like getting takeaways from here because there isnt a queue.
At lunch, there is a MAKE YOUR OWN MEAL where you can choose the sauce and the meat you want to go with rice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
MAKE YOUR OWN MEAL:

For sauces there were:
Tomato curry
carbonara
mushroom
bolognaise

For meat you can choose:
fish
chicken
cervelat sausage
pork chop
or mixed vegetables

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fish with tomato curry sauce:
The rice was a bit too soft and mushy but the fish was good because it was succulent and not dry.
The sauce was really good because the tomato is really strong and tangy with a hint of curry that is not spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Flipino congee:

I was surprised they had congee in the Flipino cuisine but there are a lot Chinese items that they serve such as char siu baos and other dishes.
The only difference is that the congee is served with a wedge of lemon.
I tried it without the lemon and found the congee slightly oily with a really strong chicken taste.
It turns out that there are pieces of chicken in the congee which look like they have been fried/pan fried, hence this is why they give you lemon to balance out the oilyness and it makes the congee much more appetizing.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 3116] Une grande marché dans une petit boutique @ Flavour

26/01/2014
Flavour
上環水坑口街18號地下
G/F, 18 Possession Street, Sheung Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/une-grande-marche-dans-une-petit-boutique-e2343452

I have always wanted to come here but couldn't find it.
Fate brought me here again after spate of French meals recently.

On New's year eve I did not want to dine at restaurants where they had obviously pumped up the prices because it was NYE.
I had a place in mind where you would not expect their prices to go up but as I was wandering I noticed this yellow shop which I did not notice before.
I have walked past it so many times and missed it.

Anyway went in and discovered it was a mini French grocery shop selling cheeses, baguettes and you can even order food and dine there.
The chewing gum that you can buy in France can be bought here!!
Huge selection of quiches, cheeses, hams, drinks and desserts~

Quiches galore!!

For food, the meals not including drinks or soups were about $55-65 which is an amazingly deal compared to other French dos.

While I sat there, there were so many French expats coming and going for French groceries.
The hot seller were the baguettes and cheeses which is their staple food!

NOW YOU SEE IT

NOW YOU DON'T!! Gone within 10 minutes!~

The owner is really NICE and GOOD LOOKING just as the review says~~

Here was what I had!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fish in creamy white sauce:

The fish was succulent and flakey covered in creamy sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Spinach and feta quiche:

The quiche selection was annoying because there were too many to choose from and the size of each quiche was HUGE!! About the size of a brick!!
It was loaded with spinach and flavoured by the cheesy crumbly feta.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fries:

The fries were a bit disappointing because they were not French. The ones I had in France are much thinner and freshly cut to be fried.
These were just the usual chips!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Moule frites:

The mussels were meant to be paired with fries but I had them with a baguette.
It was a huge portion and the sauce was generous too.
Although the mussels tasted like they were frozen ones, the way it was cooked made it taste like it was half fresh and the sauce was really nice because there was white wine, finely diced onions and herbs.
After finishing the mussels, the sauce was just amazing with the baguette.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
chicken leg in red wine sauce:

The chicken in red wine sauce was also good, it was well marinated that the chicken skin and chicken beneath it was full of flavour.
The sauce was lovely and rich, perfect with the rice they served.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Nougat glace:

The nougat icecream tasted like frozen whipped cream with nuts in it.
It was really affordable too compared to other French restaurants.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★