[Review 7433] Thai food with a twist using Binchotan charcoal @ 爐炭燒 Ginger Grill

1/05/2019
爐炭燒  Ginger Grill
黃竹坑海洋公園海濱樂園夢幻水都
Aqua City, Waterfront, Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/thai-food-with-a-twist-using-binchotan-charcoal-e3410062

There are so many food options at Ocean Park with the new hotels nearby.
Ocean Park has now revved up with the new Ginger Grill Restaurant that offers modern Thai food grilled with Binchotan charcoal which takes grilled food to the next level.With the use of Binchotan charcoal, excess oils are forced out leaving the meat moist and crispy.
They use eco friendly oil brushes made from lemongrass sticks to add spices which is natural and also adds a herbal aroma to it.
Started with the Tropical passion which was refreshing with is good fizz.

We started with the Thai appetizer platter which was presented in a stylish stand.
My favourite was the crispy chicken nuggets.


They had so many sauces on the table  which made everything tasty.
As a fish lover, the deep fried Jade Perch with green mango salad was appetizing as the green mango was tangy and the fish had been filleted into pieces which made it easy to eat.

The Massaman curry braised lamb shank is a must if you like lamb because it was simply soft and comes off the bone in this flavourful curry.

As they use Binchotan charcoal, how could we not try their grilled items like Beef and Satay Skewers.
They were all to my liking and you can see that they were perfectly grilled.
I am not sure why this is called the Sunflower chicken but it is stuffed with pandan  leaves, green pepper and lemongrass which are set alight and releases a lovely aroma that smokes the chicken.



The skin was lovely and crispy and the chicken had a fragrant smokey flavour.

Dessert was a wonderful surprise for non dessert fans because the creme brulee has chunky crisp sweet pieces of ginger in it which made it addictive.
The size is slightly bigger than your average creme brulee so it is definitely a satisfying end to dinner.
Fans of crystalline ginger (Candied ginger) will love this as the ginger pieces are soft with a crisp sweetness without the heat.


Will definitely be back soon.
I am secretly hoping that they will offer brunch or a semi brunch during the weekends so you can try a bit of everything.

[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.