Food Blog It # 2

For this quick edition of Food Blog It # 2, I'm going to list a few restaurants I've come across and list some general information and a quick judgment base on my recent and past experience! Hopefully I can get some thorough reviews up and new ratings of these restaurants soon!

> Name : Sportful Garden Restaurant
> Cuisine : Cantonese
> Location(s) : Central, Hung Hom, Wanchai, etc.
> Rating : 3 out of 5

> Name : Super Star Seafood Restaurant
> Cuisine : Cantonese
> Location(s) : Causeway Bay, Wanchai, Tsim Sha Tsui, etc.
> Rating : 4 out of 5

> Name : Kamboat Chinese Cuisine
> Cuisine : Cantonese
> Location(s) : Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, Sai Wan, etc.
> Rating : 3 1/2 out of 5

> Name : The Viceroy
> Cuisine : Indian / Middle Eastern
> Location(s) : Wanchai
> Rating : 4 out of 5

> Name : Heaven On Earth Bar & Restaurant
> Cuisine : Shanghainese
> Location(s) : Central
> Rating : 3 out of 5

Law Fu Kee

> Location : G/F, Blissful Bldg., No. 247, Des Voeus Rd.,
Central, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese Congee & Noodle
> Website : N/A

Duck egg and lean beef rice congee. This is the speciality of Law Fu Kee! Law Fu Kee is what you would call a traditional Cantonese diner. With just a few hundred square feet of dining space, a Cantonese diner would serve dishes like egg noodle in wanton soup or egg noodle soup with braised beef or even various types of rice congee. Obviously, Law Fu Kee serves all of these products but with so many of these traditional Cantonese diners out there in Hong Kong, you have to become different somehow if you want customers coming often! So Law Fu Kee buckled down and created what I would say, the best duck egg and lean beef rice congee ever!

So how does it differ from other places? Most places such as regular Chinese restaurants simply use chopped up lean beef boiled along with the congee. As for Law Fu Kee, the lean beef is not simply boiled. It is first marinated with their own special sauce. It is cooked till the lean beef is extremely soft and tender. Then, it is mixed into the rice congee with the sliced duck eggs. In the end, it makes the normal duck egg and lean beef rice congee look bad! The flavorful lean beef gives the congee a special kick to your taste bud. Get an order of Chinese donut (oily stick) or if you would prefer calling it "yau cha kwai" and dip/eat it along with the rice congee. This combination is simply heavenly! The flavor of the lean beef is not too salty but done just right. It has a nice distinct salty/sweet taste to it.

In conclusion, Law Fu Kee is a great place for rice congee especially the duck egg and lean beef rice congee. Their other dishes are good too. If you're in the mood for egg noodles from these diners, there's one place on Wing Kut Street that serves better but not by too much. There are two other Law Fu Kee locations in Central: one at Lyndhurst Terrace and one at Queen's Road. Anyhow, stop by Des Voeux and order some rice congee now!

< 4 out of 5 >

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant

> Location : 1-3/F, Man Wah Bldg., No. 35 Bonham Strand East,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Cantonese
> Tel. # : (852) 2854-9388
> Website : N/A

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant is actually part of the same restaurant group as North Garden. Located very close to Malaymama, Treasure Lake features different types of cantonese cuisine. Every season, their menu usually change. Some of the items are new and some are from the previous season. I have a lot of experience with this place since it is so close to my office, I tend to eat at this place a lot when I don't have time to go far. Before I go into describing the flavors and ingredients of some of the dishes I tried recently, I'm going to recommend some of the dishes I think are pretty good straight from the menu. Note, as always with any restaurant and to 'some extent' with Treasure Lake, the cook's consistency with any restaurant is important, but don't expect dishes to look, taste, and feel the same with each additional experience.

The Recommended dishes are: Sauteed Bitter Squash with salty fish and egg white, Baked mixed wild mushrooms, Assorted meat combination (Roasted Pork, BBQ pork, Tofu, etc), Braised Bean curd with ham.

This season, the back of the menu features a variety of hotpots to choose from. They are boiled to the side and put in front of you when it is ready. In fact, one of which I tried and will mention later in the review. Treasure Lake features three floors of dining. The first floor is for ordering from the menu, the second floor is for dim sum and the third is for karaoke, majong and such.

So to start things off, I went to a hotpot dish right from the menu. I got the Braised assorted meat (old style). The pot came with items such as shrimp, squid, chicken, mushrooms, duck, cabbage, pig skin, and meat balls. It was quite a crowded hotpot with many items to pick from. As a single order dish, I think it's a bit complicated and wasn't to the point. Taste wise, really nothing too spectacular. I suggest going with the hotpots that includes taro in it as I've had better experiences with them. If you're hungry, the variety is nice but the presentation is lacking and there's no central flavors at all.

Onto the better item is steam fish. The thing with Hong Kong is that, eating fish that are straight from the ocean is rare and usually are bred in farms. Also, the steam time has to be precise depending on the type of fish and also the size of the fish are it'll be oversteamed and the meat will be stiff. Usually, when a dish of steam fish is stiff, the first most likely reason is that the quality/freshness is an issue and the second reason is it is over steamed. As for my particular experience that day, it was done perfectly! Just right with just a little bit of blood near the spine area. Some people consider that undercook but if you were to let it sit a little bit when the dish comes with the top layer of the fish covering it, it will be okay. In such a case, this is better than risking a re-steam and coming back out with stiffer meat. Anyhow, the meat was nice and soft overall in our case. Steam fish usually in most Chinese cuisine uses fish soy sauce as a base with ginger and/or shredded green onions on top.

Pei pa tofu is next. Basically it's fried tofu with some mushrooms mixed inside covered in a thick sauce along with some dried scallops. This is one of those mildly salty/sweet type dish. The tofu is still slightly crispy still even with the sauce on top. This is one of those pretty consistent dishes served at Treasure Lake so I would recommend it if you're in the mood for fried tofu instead of steamed or marinaded tofu.

The next dish is braised beef stomach area/brisket with green onion, carrot, tomato. This is a popular cantonese dish cooked in a variety of ways. Usually it the braised beef is cooked with turnips but versions like this are with carrots and tomatos. The dish has a pleasant sweetness originated from the carrots and the tomatos. The meat is nice and tender and the sauce goes nicely with it. This is a very nice dish along with steamed rice! Highly recommended.

Another dish pictured but not discussed is a crushed garlic vegetable dish. Overall, Treasure Lake is a decent cantonese restaurant overall. Sometimes my experiences are great and sometimes it can be slightly disturbing because of the inconsistency. Using this last recent experience as a measuring stick, it was definitely one of my better days. So with that, my verdict is...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

McDonalds (Banana Pie)

> Location : Unit 426-432, Level 4, Chi Fu Landmark,
Pokfulam, Hong Kong (other locations listed on website)
> Cuisine : American style fast food
> Tel. # : (check the website)
> Website : http://www.mcdonalds.com.hk/

McDolands is still the king of fast food no matter what the other competition tries to do. In America, the menu stays the same every year except for a few brand new items that don't tend to stick. Perhaps Americans taste preference tends to be a little picky. Yet, when it comes to McDonalds in Asia, the menu tends to add new items or change items depending on the season. This happens often enough you know people accept these changes positively. So as you probably know, I'm here to write about a brand new item here in Hong Kong that McDonlad introduce! From apple pie to taro pie and now it's the banana pie!

Using super hero like commercials for advertisements, the banana pie is making quite a stir. Knowing the apple pies here are better than the ones in America, I had to go try one right away (see if it held the same consistency)! So wait, Simon you're telling me the apples pies in Hong Kong are better? Why? Well, simply the cooking process is different. In the states, the apple pies are only baked. In Hong Kong, the pies are first baked than fried! I'm not too sure but there might be a layer of glazed sugary substance brushed on top before it is fried. Anyhow, the difference in the end lies in the crispiness of the crust! The cripsy sensation seriously gives eating these McDonald pies a merrier experience! There's a hint of sweetness on the crust too. The pies are usually never placed around until somebody wants them. They are freshly baked and fried which makes the eating experience nice and hot. So the banana pie is the same? Correct! Of course, the filling is banana instead of apple but the aroma and taste of banana is definitely strong and comes in little melted chunks. Comparing to an apple pie, there's no hint of slight sour/sweet taste just all out sweetness with the banana pies. I bought myself two and left one sitting for awhile. When I ate the second one that has been sitting around for about an hour, surprisingly, it is still quite crispy! The thing with the baked only pies is that, the crust gets soften as it sits around. So that observation I had to share.

Just out for a few weeks, this could be one of those seasonal products. So don't wait too long and go try one yourself! There are other new products that recently surface so I suggest checking out the website. Although it is only fast food, sometimes, cheaper items like this can be quite a treat! =)

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >

Dong Shan

> Location : Shunde, Gaungdong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Specializing in Lamb
> Tel. # : (86) 0757-28869594
> Website : N/A

Simon, did you quit on Hong Kong reviews? haha. Don't worry! Been visiting Shunde and Guangzhou a lot lately so that's why I have so many reviews from there! This time, I'm writing a review I would say by far one of my favorite restaurant in Shunde! The place is called Dong Shan. The name is actually an island on the southeastern portion of Mainland China. The main purpose of this place is to eat lamb! Yes, another lamb specialty restaurant! This is the place my father was speaking of that is very good if you read my other review. I'll tell you before I even get into this, go to this place! It is a must. Just that good!

Like a lot of the lamb speciality restaurants in Shunde, the primary sauce is a mixture of fermented bean curd, sesame oil and chili. There's a stove in the middle of each table for any lamb dishes that is good by hotpotting. Dong Shan is fairly big with about 15-20 private rooms you can reserve anytime. The environment is bright, clean and the service is good overall. Food wise, there are certain lamb parts that needs to be reserved early if you want to have a chance to eat it! lamb, tail and tongue are amount are some of the few things that needs to be reserved ahead of time.

So what did I had? First up, braised lamb meat with taro. This dish is absolutely amazing. In a semi-thick sauce that has a sweet and somewhat salty taste and topping it off with cilantro garnish, green onions and crushed peanuts. The lamb is so tasty with the sauce and is so tender. The taro is firm which is good for this dish because it is not a pot style dish. What I mean by this is, the taro won't break easily which convolutes the lamb meat which is the highlight of the experience. So hard to say anything else but it's just that good! One of those things that is great with rice definitely.

Dong Shan goat is the next dish. Or the literal translation would mean, eastern mountain goat. As we discussed in the beginning, Dong Shan is an island/place in the southeastern portion of China. As you can guess, the goat meat is directly from Dong Shan. The dish is basically steamed/boiled. There really isn't anything added to it. The main purpose of this dish is to savor the flavor of Dong Shan goat meat. On the side, a soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, cilantro, green onion base sauce is provided for this. The skin texture is a little sticky, the skin is light brown. The meat is a a little chewy yet tender and the dish is served slightly warm. Definitely a good delicacy to try! Recommended.

lamb stomach area meat is next. This course is hotpotted. After letting it boil a little bit, I took a piece, put it in my mouth and guess what? Like the last two dishes, good again! The meat was tender and goes well with the fermented bean curd sauce. The sauce that is cooked in is mildly salty so it is best with the bean curd sauce. Overall, another good dish.

Last but not least, roasted lamb on a wooden skewer. The meat is slightly crispy and tender. The meat is marinaded with "lam yui" fermented bean curd. Due to the nature of this bean curd, the flavor of the meat has a unique hint of sweetness. It is not too salty which is good. Overall, a very simple dish yet done nicely!

For just $10 to $80 R.M.B. for each dish on the menu, with most of the main dishes ranging around $15-30 each, you can tell how cheap it is. That is the greatness of a lot of restaurants in Shunde! Cheap and good. Dong Shan is a great restaurant to visit if you're ever in Shunde. I've been to this place twice and I can tell you, consistently excellent. Sometimes people run into restaurants where a dish can be good one day and bad on the other. With Dong Shan, this is not the case and even if the 'touch' is a little off, I bet it is still considered great to a lot of eaters!

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >

North Garden

> Location : 1-2 F Tung Ning Blg., 249 Des Voeux Rd.,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chiu Chow & Canton (Chinese)
> Tel. # : (852) 2739-2338
> Website : N/A

Update (Sep 30) :

I go to North Garden occasionally with family members for lunch. I still have to recommend their lo shui and cold fish. They are consistent everytime and very good! Chicken dishes wise, I tried a few and never came to enjoy any of it. However, I did come to find two new dishes I enjoy very much. The first being spare ribs cooked in fermented bean curd. Note, this isn't the usual fermented bean curd used. Usually, in cantonese, "fu yui" is how we translate fermented bean curd. However, there are actually different ways of making fermented bean curd therefore giving it a different taste. The type i'm talking about is "lam yui." Instead of using it in vegetable or as a dipping sauce like fu yui, lam yui is used usually in meat dishes to give it a unique sweet sensation. The other dish is "lap mei fuan." Lap mei fuan is rice cooked in a pot topped with oil chicken, Chinese sausage (grounded meat), Chinese sausage (grounded intestines), and oil duck thigh, all glazed in oil. It isn't the most healthy dish but it is extremely tasty! Anyhow to end this, a recent photo of a lo shui dish and a new rating...

< 4 out of 5 >


Original Review (Aug 16) :

North garden is located in the heart of sheung wan (close to central) very close to the wing on department store. the restaurant has a few floors. the first floor is to wait for seating, second floor is for ordering food by menu and third floor is for dim sum during lunch time. north garden serves both chiu chow and canton style cooking. the main purpose to me is really trying the chiu chow food here =) before i dive into terms and definitions and history, i want to comment on the service quickly. the people working there are all very responsive and polite. like i said many times, doing chinese restaurant style business here in hong kong are all about customer service to getting to know your "clients." if you make them feel like "home," they will surely come back and spend more money!

chiu chow cuisine or chao zhou if you want to pronounce it in mandarin is famous for many delicate dishes. from bird's nest to shark fin to goose to pigeon to cold fish to lo shui dishes. yes, chiu chow cuisine has a lot to offer! it isn't as popular as canton or shanghainese cuisines here in hong kong but it's definitely very unique among the others and deserves a lot of attention. so out of all those things i listed, i bet most of you are scratchin' your head with the chinese term "lo shui." it is somewhat similar to the term braised yet different by far. when you translate the two chinese words, it literally means "old water." so what is this all about? lo shui is a sauce soy based marinade used to cook various types of food . in chiu chow cuisine, it is used to cook tofu, eggs, goose meat, goose liver, goose intestine, and other things. wait, i'm not done yet! of course it is not just soy sauce, but soy sauce based marinade that is boiled daily (using the same source everyday). by boiling the same pot everyday, it helps the marinade built a more define taste to it. so therefore the more you boil, the better it taste! don't worry, i know what you're thinkin' about, but reboiling it everyday keeps it from spoiling. it is a weird concept to hear about but tasting it is a different story =) most household lo shui cooking are more short term base (a few days of reboiling) so it isn't as good as long term lo shui which are used in specialized restaurants. so in the end, a good chiu chow lo shui depends on the soy sauce base plus other special ingredients the chef added plus most importantly how old it is.

now you know what lo shui is all about, i would like to share what kind of lo shui food i had in this restaurant. ranging about high 40's to 70 so hkd per lo shui dish (every dish comes with tofu base), these dishes usually comes with a pair of different type of food. from tofu, eggs, goose meat (with bone) or slices of goose meat, goose liver, and goose intestine. you can even tell them to give you a combination of everything to make your life easier if you wanna try everything out! lo shui dishes in chiu chow style usually comes with a garlic and vinegar sauce. you'll taste vinegar for the most part. it balances out the salty/sweet flavor of the lo shui giving it a very distinctive taste. i would recommend gettin' goose meat instead of the slices because it tastes just as good and overall you get more for your money! plus, there isn't a lot of bones anyways. due to the long hours of cooking, the lo shui really sinks into the food giving it a strong lo shui taste plus making the meats nice and tender. lo shui is definitely a delicacy worth trying!

so what's next? chiu chow cold fish! most might think this is kind of odd. when we think of chinese and fish, we are reminded of steamed fish served with fish sauce and how well it goes with white rice, haha. however, a famous way of serving fish in chiu chow is by serving it cold! how is it done? well, it is quite simple. you marinade the fish only with simple ingredients such as salt and pepper if you would like. make sure the fish is as dry as possible at least from the outside and steam the fish using something that will have ventillation such as a bamboo steam basket. when it is fully cooked, let the fish sit and cool down (don't refridgirated) until it is dry and cold. since there's no sauce used to cook this dish, certainly there's something to dip with. a bean paste sauce is traditionally used to dip the cold fish. bean paste usually refers to fermented yellow beans. it tends to be very salty which compliments the lack of taste from the cold fish. various fishes are used for this type of cooking. most of the time mullets are used for cooking cold fish. the lack of sauces cooked with the fish and how it is cool down allows the eater to really taste the flavor of the respective fish. in the end, this is another one of those delicacy that is certainly weird but very good!

lastly, pigeon meat with bamboo shoots and mushrooms. the dish is decorated with the pigeon head fried and its wings fried. pigeon meat is usually famous among chinese people for roasting them. usually, baby pigeons are used because they tend to be tastier. in this specific case, the pigeon meat was stir fried with bamboo shoots and mushrooms. i found this dish lacking in taste and i do not believe it is intended to be this way. the fried decorations were not eatable for your information. there isn't anything special to talk about in this dish. it is an average dish and deserves a try if you love pigeon meat. overall, i would rather go to a place for some roasted baby pigeons!

anyhow, that last dish really killed my excitement with north garden. but take nothing away from the first two because they were a pair of unique delicacy. there are other chiu chow restaurants i have to try in order to have a better understanding of the other famous dishes and the taste difference of different lo shui. the first two dishes alone i would give between 4 to 4.5 points. however, the pigeon dish tanked the score for north garden. before i give out the score, i must point out about the rice they serve in this place. each bowl of rice is individually and freshly steamed in a bowl making every order very very hot! anyhow...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Bodega

> Location : Guangzhou, Guangdong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Xinjiang (Sinkiang)
> Website : N/A

When speaking of Chinese cuisine, we generally think of Guangdong, Shanghai, Szechwan and Beijing cuisines. Mostly being eastern China provinces. Yet, there are provinces to the west that features some fine dining as well. I am unfamiliar with this province (which I will unfold) and its cuisine until writing this review. Excited because it is something new to me, I did some research and would like to share with you the food and some facts about Xinjiang (Sinkiang) Province!

Xinjiang is located in the northwestern portion of Mainland China. It is the biggest province of China taking up 1/6 of the nation's land mass. The province is surrounded by countries such as Mongolia, Russia, and India. The highest populated nationality of Xinjiang are the Uyghur, originated from a Turkic-speaking tribe that use to reside in the original Mongolia. The Uyghur also reside in other countries also such as Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and others. Mostly, they reside in the Xinjiang province of China. Due to the high density of the Uyghur's along with the surrounding countries, their presence has a great influence on Xinjiang cuisine.

So without a restaurant that features Xinjiang cuisine, I won't be able to write this! In the heart of Guangzhou, I found a multi-floor building which hosts a few Xinjiang related restaurants. On the second floor is our review site: Bodega! Bodega in Mongolian means "god." It is actually a peak located in Xinjiang, where throughout the year, ice and snow covers it. The place is fairly big with some private rooms to the sides of the restaurant. During certain parts of the day, there are performances by ethnic Xinjiangnese, with dancing and music. I was part of one of the performances and it definitely adds a spirited mood to your eating experience. What's up with the food? According to the waitress', a lot of the core ingredients of their dishes are shipped directly from Xinjiang. Xinjiang cuisine is dedicated to its mutton dishes and also famous for its kebabs which are skewered mutton, roasted and seasoned over charcoal.

Anyhow, the first course is Mutton soup with glacier water. Using glacier water (technically from Xinjiang) for the soup and also mutton from Xinjiang, a sheep heavy tasting soup is made. The soup contained, onions, carrots, cilantro, turnips, flower pepper, and some minor chinese cuisine ingredients. A heavy pepper sensation fills every spoon full, containing a slightly salty taste but mostly detecting the sweet mutton flavor. The soup is boiled for a long time as evident by the ingredients melting in my mouth such as the turnips and carrots. Overall, a simple and great delicacy.
Their Kebabs, naming it as mutton roasted branches on the menu, is served on metal skewers. Each skewer is flavorful with various spices. The taste reminded me somewhat of the lamb served in Greek Gyros. The saltiness was just right and the meat was tender. The mutton had a little fat in some of the skewer but the taste was just amazing! It is one of those dishes hard to describe. The spices used to roast this was unique indeed because of its untypical flavor. This is a great order and I think it'll take a few of these to be satisfied! Thumbs up indeed.

A side dish is the Sinkiang flavor pancake. Note: Sinkiang basically is the cantonese pronouciation of Xinjiang. Anyhow, Xinjiang pancake (nang) is like steamed buns to the northern Chinese and rice to the southern Chinese. In some sense, it is similar to India's naan, made with desired flour along with sesame seeds, onions, eggs, oil, butter, milk, salt and sugar. The pancake here at Bogeda was cooked in a pizza like shape, along with sesame. I didn't see any onions but the taste was slightly salty. It's a nice touch eating it along with other dishes.

Next we have slices of mutton in what seemingly like lo shui sauce. On top, shredded red, green bell pepper along with shredded turnip. with garnish on the side, the mutton is tender for the most part just a slight sensation of being overcooked from perfection. It's not bad overall but i definitely enjoy the other dishes more.

In the end, it isn't just lamb, it is mutton. Goat, sheep, lamb, black sheep, and so on all carry different distinct taste and texture. As the word mutton defines, even matured or non-matured sheep has its distinct differences. I won't further discuss but that is for you to explore if you get a chance =) I enjoy the soup, the kebabs very much. All the mutton that is used carry a extremely strong sheep taste. Not just in taste, also in its aroma. To conclude this, it is a very new experience to me and until further experiences, I can't make any strong comments. Overall, Bodega was enjoyable for the most part! Note: The last photo is a crispy mixed ingredient bun which I decided not to discuss.

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Food Blog It # 1

Welcome to the first installment of "Food Blog It!" This part of my Hong Kong food reviews blog is to share some interesting food related things in a fun and concise format unlike the full reviews I do normally. Basically, anything applicable to eating, i'm going to "Food Blog it!" Anyhow, hope this will be fun and informative. Here we go!

There's always some interesting history behind every famous dish in every cuisine in the world. One particular item famous in Hong Kong that has a neat story behind its name is yau cha kwai (油炸鬼). In western culture, yai cha kwai is known as Chinese doughnut. In literal translation, yau cha kwai means oil fried ghost. It's basically two sticks of deep fried dough stuck together (pictured in this entry in a shorten piece) that is usually eaten with rice congee for breakfast. It is a very good Chinese delicacy and sometimes people even eat it with fresh cold or hot soy milk! You can usually find this when you go to dim sum! The one word that probably bewilders you is the last word, "ghost." There are a few "myths" that explains this but I'm going to share with everyone the one my father told me of...

Prime Minister Cheun Kwai from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 to 1279) asked Ngok Fei, an infamous war general, not to go to war aganist the Jürched (they are the ancestors of the Manchurians which Ngok Fei defeated many times) because they are trying to form a peace agreement. After failing to convince him to stay many times, Cheun Kwai asks the emperor to demand Ngok Fei to obey at once or he will receive the death penalty. Having no choice, Ngok Fei was back in Hang Zhou (the capital at the time) and was thrown in jail and murdered. Furious at what Cheun Kwai has done to Ngok Fei, Fei's soilders and the people of Hang Zhou wanted to boil Cheun Kwai and his wife in oil. This notion has inspired a local chef at the time to make a snack with two long pieces of dough stuck together and oil fried. The two pieces of dough represents Cheun Kwai and his wife boiling in oil. Hence, we have the name yau cha kwai, where "kwai" is Cheun Kwai's name!