[Review 6820] Above average Vietnamese Fare @ 品越越式料理 La'taste Vietnamese Cuisine

04/09/2018
品越越式料理  La'taste Vietnamese Cuisine
旺角彌敦道639號雅蘭中心二期1樓116號舖
Shop 116, 1/F, Grand Tower Two, 639 Nathan Road, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/above-average-vietnamese-fare-e3148779

There are so many new Vietnamese restaurants that opened this year.
La taste has been around for years with a branch in Central.
Ordered the Pho which was quite good as it did not have that sweetness to it.
The broth was quite strong so I really liked it.
The vermicelli was topped with delicious prawn cakes and Vietnamese sausage.
I don't know why but young lotus roots are on most Vietnamese menus so ordered that too.
It was tangy and sweet.
Finished with a refreshing pineapple soda.
As well as good food, the Vietnamese Coffee was a brilliant end to the meal as there was a nice roasted flavour to it.
After adding the condensed milk and finding the right balance in taste, the coffee was damn good.

[Review 6819] Delish Turkish joint @ 伊斯坦堡特色轉燒肉餐廳 Istanbul Turkish Kebabs and Grills

03/09/2018
伊斯坦堡特色轉燒肉餐廳  Istanbul Turkish Kebabs and Grills
灣仔灣仔道177-179號保和大廈地下3號舖
Shop 3, G/F, Pao Woo Mansion, 177-179 Wanchai Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/delish-tuir-e3147059

Istanbul is a friendly joint serving Turkish foods.
As my friend wasn't very adventurous we had the feta cheese pizza which was ok but not exciting as I would normally order the Lahmacun.
Also had the crispy rolls filled with cheese.
The cheese was mild so my friend was ok with it.
I love doner so I had it to myself and beneath it was delicious salad.

For dessert, I had rice pudding which was surprisingly good as it wasn't too sweet with a good creaminess.
While I was there, I enjoyed watching the Turkish Music Videos that was on their TV.
The drinks were good especially the yoghurt drink.

Next time coming back for the Lachmachun.

[Review 6818] Lovely Tea shop in POHO @ 上林茶舍 Green Ginkgo Tea

02/09/2018
上林茶舍 Green Ginkgo Tea
上環太平山街1號地下1A號舖
Shop 1A, G/F, 1 Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lovely-tea-shop-in-poho-e3146922


Lovely Tea shop in POHO
2018-09-02  473 瀏覽
I love this tea shop as I practically love drinking any loose leaf teas.
At Green Gingko tea, there are so many choices that it is really difficult to make up your mind on the first visit.

Funnily enough, there is a Chinese Tea shop opposite but Green Gingko is modern and serves Japanese teas.

I was deciding between the Yame hoshino Gyokuro and the White Gyokuro Princess and ended up choosing the princess because Yame was described as sweet on the Chi description but Unami on the Eng description.
[White Gyokuro Princess]
I was told that you could get about 2-3 rounds of tea from it and the temperature for these teas are not as hot as other teas.
Well it was definitely the right tea for me because I could try it straight away whereas other teas I would have to wait for it to cool down so I can't try it as quick as I want.

First Round:
On the first round, I loved it because of the savoury unami taste.
The colour at this stage was clear.
Second Round
On the second round, the taste was slightly grassy.
The colour was murky green.

Third Round
On the third round, the taste was slightly grassy with a mild bitterness.
The colour was light grassy green and slighly clear.


Overall, I loved the tea especially on the first round so I am quite gutted I didn't choose the Yame hoshino Gyokuro for a stronger savoury taste.

I am not sure if the tea leaves are edible here but at this other tea shop, they give you some sort of yuzu soy sauce at the end to eat the tea leaves.

[Review 6817] Value for not freshness @ 肥仔海南雞專門店

02/09/2018
肥仔海南雞專門店 (已結業)
灣仔灣仔道177號地下
G/F, 177 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/value-for-not-freshness-e3146908

Value for not freshness
2018-09-02  1177 瀏覽
I was still starving after dinner so decided to come here to fix the rest of my hunger.
It was late around 8pm so I guess I should have known I was asking for trouble coming here at the end of the day.
Anyway, ordered the Hainan chicken with a drink for $35 which was very affordable.
Unfortunately, the chicken was cold like it came out of the fridge and the rice was very hard.
The chicken wasn't very fresh with a weird rancid odour so I guess that explains that big dollop of ginger puree they gave me.

[Review 6816] Soup Curries @ Asiri

01/09/2018
Asiri 
鰂魚涌海光街11號地舖
G/F, 11 Hoi Kwong Street, Quarry Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/soup-curries-e3146682

Asiri is famous for soup curries.
My first soup curry was at SAMA and since there is another restaurant doing soup curries, I had to check it out.
At Asiri, there is a choice of chicken, fish or veg.

You get potato salad with the curry.
Japanese potato salad can not go wrong as it always has a strong potato taste with a nice touch of mayo.
Chicken Leg curry:
The curry was quite similar to the one at SAMA but the aniseed spice is stronger.
It is not spicy so they give you a separate chili powder to add in.
The taste was ok without so I didn't use the chili powder.
Also had the grilled fish with rice but it was a bit too sweet.

[Review 6815] Floral Teas!!! @ 花茶渡 (Fc Tea

01/09/2018
花茶渡 (Fc Tea
中環永吉街20號地舖
G/F, 20 Wing Kut Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/floral-teas-e3146581

Floral Teas!!!
2018-09-01  406 瀏覽
Didn't try the teas because they were all made with flowers.
Tried the cane sugar bootjaigo which I hadn't seen before.
It had lots of red beans in it with a strong cane sugar aroma.
The sweetness was quite sweet.
There were other flavours too but I am not sure if they make it themselves or get them from the shop opposite which also has some of these flavours.

[Review 6814] New hotel buffet on the block @ The Farmhouse 咖啡廳

30/08/2018
The Farmhouse 咖啡廳
北角北角邨里1號香港維港凱悅尚萃酒店西座2樓
2/F, West Tower, Hyatt Centric Victoria Harbour Hong Kong, 1 North Point Estate Lane, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/new-hotel-buffet-on-the-block-e3144964

The Farmhouse is the latest new hotel buffet on the East side of Hong Kong located inside the new hotel near North Point MTR station.
The Farmhouse is quite spacious with two sides to the buffet.
Near the entrance, you will find the desserts, seafood, sashimi and drinks counter and the best thing is that they offer fresh juices where you get to choose fruit/veg from the counter.

There is a rotating freezer with lots of icecreams to choose from.

On the other side, you will find the cooked section with curries, foie gras, Hong Kong style snacks such as fish balls and dimsum etc, so the buffet is pretty comprehensive.

Not many buffets have yoghurts, but the do here.

To summarize, it is a nice place to get together with a good mix of options from HK local street snacks to international fare.


Hong Kong streets snacks:

Seafood:

Dimsum:

My favourite had to be the freshly made pancakes filled with quality tart cherries.

I was really glad they had babybel cheese too!