[Review 7432] Hong Kong style golden cuppa @ 茶王冰室 Tea Master

20/05/2019
茶王冰室  Tea Master
旺角洗衣街113號號地下
G/F, 113 Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/hong-kong-style-golden-cuppa-e3409670

Hong Kong style golden cuppa
2019-05-20  245 瀏覽
A while ago I met Tea Master at the Eggette event in CWB so found out about this cafe in MK that serves a golden cuppa for HKD88.
As an expat, you either hate or love it as it is very different to English tea.
Anyway, Hong Kongers are serious tea drinkers just like us!

The menu offers Hong Kong style food as well as tea.
Since I was here, the golden cuppa was a must, and the grapefruit tea which was to my liking as I love grapefruit.
The recommended tea was served exactly like the picture.
The glass shot contains the stocking tea which lets you compare the taste difference between that and the golden cuppa.
After trying the shot, it is best to drink some water to cleanse your palette before you move on to the golden cuppa.
The golden cuppa definitely had a lot going on in terms of smoothness when you drink it.
Hong Kong milk tea has never been my expertise so lets move on to the grapefruit tea which was more refreshing.
The tea is sweet which balances the acidity of the grapefruit and the grapefruit skin.
By far grapefruit tea is much nicer than boring lemon tea as grapefruit has a lovely fragrance.
Moving on to the food, I had the Sichuan wings which definitely had a fiery punch.
They taste like the marinated loshui ones infused with Sichuan spices.
Also had the charsiu sandwich which was covered with scrambled egg as I found the concept quite intriguing.
Basically, it is your usual charsiu scrambled egg sandwich with the egg outside!

[Review 7431] Let's spill the beans at Doctor Beans @ 哈豆 Doctor Beans

20/05/2019
哈豆 Doctor Beans
觀塘駿業里6號富利工業大廈3樓A室
Room A, 3/F, Fully Industrial Building, 6 Tsun Yip Lane, Kwun Tong
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lets-spill-the-beans-at-doctor-beans-e3409652

Let's spill the beans at Doctor Beans
2019-05-20  45 瀏覽
Doctor Bean's is famous in Kwun Tong and now they have a second branch.
The factory converted restaurant is spacious and the decor is inspired by Taiwan.
In terms of food, I would say it is Taiwanese inspired as well as the noodles were pretty sweet.
The Taiwanese Sun Chuk Rice Vermicelli wasn't as thin as the ones I have come across before.
The Sichuan noodles fared slightly better and you could see it was clearly a plain broth made Sichuan by adding Sichuan paste to it which tasted like essence oil.

For appetizers, tried the pork trotters, gluten and cucumbers that were great for sharing.
The soup was nice and peppery.

For drinks, the soy bean green tea was interesting so ordered that and a normal green tea.
Might return to try the other branch.

[Review 7430] The best chicken soba @ 座銀 Zagin Soba

17/05/2019
座銀  Zagin Soba
中環歌賦街7號地舖
G/F, 7 Gough Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-best-chicken-soba-e3408682

The best chicken soba
2019-05-17  333 瀏覽
I have been wanting to visit Zagin Soba for ages because everyone is raving about it and how no other chicken broth ramen in Hong Kong is as good as this.
Finally went over during the Bank Holiday as there were less people.

Zagin Soba on Gough Street is the second branch in Hong Kong and while I was there, I overheard that they will expand to UK by the end of this year.
Their signature chicken based broth comes from Osaka which is rich and creamy so I had that with extra smoked egg.

To summarize I was really impressed with the chicken ramen because every element was good, ie the broth, ramen, meat, egg and the crispy burdock.

Although, seemingly a simple bowl of ramen, there were lots of things going on so decided to try every element separately.
To begin, the burdock looked like a complicated spaghetti junction of crispy strands.
It was deliciously crispy but also delicious dipped in the chicken broth as you get some unami to it.

Moving on to the meat, there was a piece of chicken and chashu.
Both were slow cooked hence the tenderness.
The chashu tasted like delicate slices of ham.

The smoked egg which costs HKD15 was silky with an evenly smoked flavour that combined well with the rich thick creamy yolk.

The star of the show was the broth, thick and creamy just like English chicken soup.
It gets its taste from finely pureed chicken, where the broth is then frothed up like cappuccino.
The purple onions and greens help balance out the heaviness of the broth.
Simply a comforting broth that everyone will love and drink to the last drop.

As well as ramen. the fried chicken is also worth ordering.
I was expecting the usual fried chicken with mayonnaise but here they give you yuzu salt which is a million times better as the yuzu salt is refreshing like squeezing lemon juice on to it with a touch of saltiness.

My friend had the Salmon Tsukemen which looked captivating so next time I am going to have tsukemen as they have limited edition ones like Kinmedi.
Overall, it was an impressive visit from the environment to service.
All their crockery and fixtures come from Japan so that you get that all round Japanese experience.
Will be back soon.

[Review 7429]The Shanghai pearl of Lamtin @ 小明珠

19/05/2019
小明珠
藍田啟田道49號地下1號舖
Shop 1, G/F, 49 Kai Tin Road, Lam Tin
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-shanghai-pearl-of-lamtin-e3408359
The Shanghai pearl of Lamtin
Competition is fierce for food at Lamtin, there are so many good eateries on this stretch.
Obviously, Little Pearl has to compete with the Thai joint next door as they do some captivating noodles and Hainan chicken.
Little Pearl has two joints, this one is smaller and does not serve the full menu like Kwuntong.
The seating is extremely cramped, you are literally sitting back to back to someone.
In terms of food, I was quite surprised because the dandan noodles were really tasty, the broth was how it should and not sugary sweet or ruined by rancid peanuts.
It also comes with fried chicken which was strangely covered with Thai Sweet chili sauce that ruined it.
The beef noodles were not spicy and the ribs were succulent and meaty.

The star of the show had to be the Xiaolongbao because the skin held together well when it was served to the moment it was cool enough to be eaten.
There was so much soup in the XLB and the skin did not break until you ate it.

The soup inside the dumpling was clear with a strong unami element which went well with the vinegar provided as it balanced the heaviness of the filling.


Perhaps the vinegar was too good because it made me even more hungry.
Drinks are the usual soy bean milk and wintermelon tea.

Will definitely be back for the XLB which is now one of my favourites.

[Review 7428] McCafe's 20th Anniversary in Hong Kong @ McCafe

17/05/2019
McCafe
北角英皇道238號康澤花園地下B2及B3號舖
Shop B2 & B3 of the Large Shop on the Ground Floor of Fortress Metro Tower, 238 King's Road, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mccafes-20th-anniversary-in-hong-kong-e3408022

McCafe's 20th Anniversary in Hong Kong
2019-05-17  37 瀏覽
If it wasn't for this new tea series and rainbow cake I wouldn't have known that McCafe has been in Hong Kong for 20 years.
I remember going to a McCafe near North Point MTR station but not sure if that was the first branch.
Anyway,  I happened to be in Fortress Hill so went in for the new Tea!
Out of the drinks choice, I wasn't keen on the Four Seasons Tea because it was tasteless from the shops I have tried before, but still ordered it as it was the only tea choice available.
Spotted the rainbow cake so got that as well.
The bill came to HKD35.
Visually the cup was nice with rainbows on it and there was a decent amount of cheese froth on top.
The cake was topped with colourful candy pearls.
As each layer was a different colour,  I tried each layer to see if the colour made any different but it just tastes the same.
The cake was soft, fluffy and not too sweet.
Finished off with the Four Seasons tea which gave me a surprise because it had  a strong taste compared to the ones I have tried before.
On top of the cheese foam, there was some dried tea leaves which enhances the tea flavour when they get in your mouth and you end up chewing them.
The cheese foam texture was thick like double cream but I find it strange they call it cheese because it wasn't cheesy but sweetened.
Anyhow the thick creamy cap and the tea were a match made in heaven.
I felt quite content after having the cake and drink because I didn't feel thirsty or have any strange aftertaste in my mouth.
Definitely will be back to try the berries drink as strawberries and thick cream go so well together.

[Review 7427] Lemon Chicken Musubi @ 華御結 Hana-Musubi

13/05/2019
華御結  Hana-Musubi
金鐘港鐵金鐘站ADM28號舖
Shop ADM28, Admiralty MTR Station, Admiralty
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/lemon-chicken-musubi-e3407352

Lemon Chicken Musubi
2019-05-13  146 瀏覽
I can never keep up with the new musubis at HM.
Unfortunately, all the new items for May were things I liked including oyster cutlet, fried noodles and the Chicken in Lemon sauce musubi.
I will try the noodles and oyster later as they need to be reheated but the lemon chicken musubi is ready to eat which is why I keep falling for their products.
I wasn't sure what to expect for the lemon chicken as it could be Chinese style which is sweet or Western style which would be more tangy.

The taste was really pleasing because it wasn't sweet but pieces of chicken with a hint of lemon where you can also taste the slight bitterness of the lemon peel as well.

[Review 7426] Durian balls! @ Just Bobba

16/05/2019
Just Bobba (已結業)
銅鑼灣景隆街3號地下B舖
Shop B, G/F, 3 Cannon Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/durian-balls-e3406195

Durian balls!
2019-05-16  65 瀏覽
To be honest, a drink is just a drink, I prefer it without stuff to chew as you can possibly choke on it.
Normally if the drink contains boba pearls, I will finish the drink first and then eat the pearls.
I only tried [Just Bobba] because of the durian pearls.

I got the Jasmine Tea with durian pearls.

Tried the tea on its own and the Jasmine was strong and thirst quenching.
Slowly there was some durian flavour coming through when I was halfway through the drink.
When I tried the pearls, I did not like it as the durian flavour was very artificial.