[Review 3544] Expat and tourist friendly place for hotpot @ 奇樂香辣雞煲 K Lok Spicy Chicken Hot Pot

27/07/2014
奇樂香辣雞煲 K Lok Spicy Chicken Hot Pot
尖沙咀山林道29-31號廣利樓地下4號舖
Shop 4, G/F, Quality Tower, 29-31 Hillwood Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/expat-and-tourist-friendly-place-for-hotpot-e2379863

Came here with my cousin from the UK because this place has English speaking staff.
At every table there are USB chargers so you won't run out of batteries.

K Lok Spicy Chicken Hot Pot offers so many different types of hotpots.

The spicy hotpot is chicken in spicy sauce where you eat the chicken first and soup is added to the remaining sauce which becomes a broth for hotpot.
I saw someone have it and regretted not ordering it, but the one we had was special as well!

Our broth came in a wintermelon!!!

The broth was congee!
At first I thought it was thick congee but it was the broth you get from boiling rice so it did taste like congee.
After a while, they put rice in the hotpot, so that it becomes proper congee otherwise it would be hard to cook the items in thick congee from start.

Here was what we had with our hotpot.

Fried dough sticks with prawn patty:

You can eat them like that or dunk them in the hotpot.
We ate them without dunking them in the pot because it was really tasty with the grounded prawns on the top and the chewy crispy dough sticks.

Then we had crispy beancurd rolls which soaked up the tasty broth nicely.

We also had liver which was springy after it had been cooked.

The mixed meatballs were good and springy especially the squid.

The bone marrow was interesting, because I have never seen it like that, but after it was cooked the texture was lovely and gelatinous.

Then we had chive dumplings and K pots special dumplings.



Then we tried the chicken which you can see is evidently fresh and each chicken comes with an identity tag so that you can trace where it came from.


We finished off with smores which were dreamy and delicious.

By that time, there was proper congee in the wintermelon which was creamy and tasty, and the wintermelon was soft and good to eat.

Look out for the English menu, coming soon!

[Review 3543] The American dream by a Brit @ The Diner

27/07/2014
The Diner
中環亞畢諾道4-8號兆景閣地舖
G/F, Shiu King Court, 4-8 Arbuthnot Road, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-american-dream-by-a-brit-e2379548

Although I am British, I love my pub grub, fish and chips, roast etc but I also crave for American, Southwestern and Louisana Creole food!
When I found out about The Diner serving American food with cool American decor, it was the place to go.
There is another similar diner nearby called Al's diner where I tried fish and chips.
Anyway, the decor and setting reminded me of this really nice American Diner called Ed's Easy Diner in the UK which had dukeboxes, black and white floor tiles and red stools.

At The Diner, it was amazing, there was a real 1958 Cadillac sofa with working tail lights surrounded by authentic 1970's license plates, working traffic lights, pedestrian lights and a vintage Coke sign.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Traffic lights:
+Red+
+amber+
+green+

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
1958 Cadillac sofa:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pedestrian lights, licence plates:

 3 讚好

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I was so lucky to sit at the bar table because I could see all the food being made and it was nice facing Arbuthnot Road.
The chefs were really hygienic because they had gloves on when handling food.
While I sat there, I caught a glimpse of the Hippie Burger which I shall order on my next visit.
The Hippie burger is a vegetarian beetroot and bean patty burger.
Kids get special treatment because their food is served in cute little Cadillac paper cutout models.
Burgers start at $125 and they have toasted sandwiches and all day breakfasts as well.
I settled for the Mac and Cheese balls and the grilled cheese sandwich.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mac n Cheese Balls:
America's favorite comfort food in a crispy crumb with a touch of jalapeno and a side of fresh tomato & basil sauce

This was nice and loaded with cheese and macaroni but I wish the cheese was stronger and less of the jalapeno because the jalapeno taste was too prominent and spicy for me.
I would have also preferred normal macaroni and not the ribbed one.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled Cheese:
Cheddar and bourbon bacon jam melted in griddled sourdough

This was delicious because the bacon jam was sweet but again I would liked more cheese.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

A few days later, it was reported on the paper that this place is actually opened by a Brit!
Way to go Marcus Thomson and that really nice Chef Seb!!!!

[Review 3542] Simple lunch @ 'Odelice!

26/07/2014
'Odelice!
灣仔蘭杜街2號地下9號舖
Shop 9, G/F, 2 Landale Street, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/simple-lunch-e2379530

The burger place next door was packed so came here instead.
Had Beef Bourguignon with pasta.
The sauce was rich with chunks of beef and carrots and the pasta was al-dente and tasty with lots of sauce hung to it.
It would be great if the beef was softer.
Next time I will try their crepes because I have been here twice and still not tried them.

[Review 3541] Get a stack of that! @ Stack

25/07/2014
Stack
西環西營盤第三街1號地下
G/F, 1 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun, Western District
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/get-a-stack-of-that-e2379159

Discovered this new joint serving American pancakes with a good range of sweet and savoury pancakes which are served stacked hence the name of the restaurant STACK.
STACK is located on the corner of third street of Sai Ying Pun opened by the handsome twins of Common Ground.

Sai Yung Pun used to be far when I didn't know my way around but now it only takes a mere 5 minutes walk from Caine Road.

Inside the joint, there was red neon lights contrasted by the metal frames.
The menu had drinks as well as pancakes.
I ordered the hash and savoury pancakes which were made of soba flour.
The chives on the pancakes were carefully arranged with a tweezer before they were served.

The twins!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mexican sunshine:

The size of the pancakes were smaller than I expected with the biggest pancake stacked on the bottom, followed by the smaller ones.

Pancakes unstacked.

On the top layer, there was a cute onsen quail egg.
The Mexican sunshine had guacamole mixed with yuzu dressing which I found to be extremely delicious because the Yuzu was very refreshing with tones of lime in it as well.
However, the pieces of avocado were not ripe and rather hard but the pancakes were nice as expected.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The Hash:

The hash consisted of delicious julienne potatoes with pieces of duck in the middle paired with thick sour cream.
I was so glad I ordered this because it was just divine.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
Price: $14X
Service: good
Service charge: 10%
Yummy factor: good
Napkins provided: yes
Noise levels: acceptable
Glass of water provided: yes
English Men

[Review 3540] Nutty bites @ 龍島 Lucullus

24/07/2014
龍島 Lucullus
上環德輔道中199號無限極廣場1樓Koisk 1
Koisk 1, 1/F, Infinitus Plaza, 199 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/nutty-bites-e2379120

Got some nutty bites from Lucullus Gourmet Shop because it came in a lovely slender brown tin.
There are two flavours, Cranberry and Rice crispy.
The chocolate coated cranberry had a sweeter taste with nutty bits in it.
Personally I preferred the nutty one because it was not so sweet with lovely pieces of rice crispies.