味軒 (Wei Xuan)

> Location : G/F, No. 60 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese/Taiwanese
> Tel. # : (852) 2854-2899
> Website : N/A

Right next to the bridge, fairly close to I.F.C. is a neat little restaurant called Wei Xuan (味軒). Wei Xuan is a small restaurant (seats about 20 or so). There are a few highlights to the place but to me, the best thing is their hot and sour noodle soup! Hot and sour soup is an old doctor's medicine. It uses the healing properties of black fungus, vinegar, white pepper, and chicken broth. Besides these ingredients, bamboo shoots, tofu and shredded pork are commonly used by chefs. At Wei Xuan, they take this soup to the next level and make it into a soup base for noodles!

You can choose from thick or thin noodle (thick noodle is somewhat like Japanese udon), ho fun (flat noodle), and rice noodle to pair with your hot and sour soup. Their are various meat balls and other things you can pair with your noodle soup but to me, the best is the meat ball (pork) with satay stuffing! The meat ball is so good and so juicy that almost every time I bite into it, the juice squirts out! As for the noodle choice, I enjoy the thick noodle a lot. Seemingly, it's like Japanese udon but it's not. But it's slightly chewy and to me, it's great with the thick hot and sour soup base.

Besides this, Shanghai vegetable rice pairing with sweet and sour spare ribs is another excellent selection. I tried this once before and it's definitely something simple yet great. For appetizer, their taro strips spring roll is also a nice selection coming with a nice sweet dipping sauce!

Yet, the highlight is still the hot and sour soup noodle. It is definitely a nice treat once in awhile at Wei Xuan. To me so far and from what I've heard from food lovers, this is definitely their best specialty. I really can critique Wei Xuan entirely (everything it serves) or just focus on what I really had before/liked. But to be fair, I really only had the stuff I talked about above and I can surely give them all above average scores! (From what I heard, everything I had IS the only choices that are truly worthwhile) The Shanghai vegetable rice pairing with sweet and sour spare ribs is good but if it were me, I would go for the hot and sour soup noodle first before anything else! It's more unique for first timers.

So in the end, Wei Xuan is a nice place to go if you're in for something hot, sour and with noodles! Solely giving a score for that, I would give it a 4 out of 5 but with everything else accounted for, I would say about a 3 1/2 out of 5. Please don't let my indecisive nature not make you want to go try it out! Please do try if you enjoy Taiwanese/Shanghainese style cuisine and especially if you're a fan of hot and sour soup! So what's your final verdict Simon?! You're being so wishy washy!! Well, I guess I'll go with my gut feeling...

< 3.5 out of 5 >

Saint's Alp Teahouse

> Location : Shop 221, 2/F, The Westwood, 8 Belcher's St,
Sai Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Taiwanese and various types of drinks
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : http://www.saints-alp.com.hk/index.html

As the title tells you, this place is all about tea. from milk tea, green tea, frothy tea, black tea, oolong tea to much more, saint's alp teahouse provides plenty of different types of tea, juices, coffee and desserts. oatmeal cereal flakes, nata de coco, pearl tapioca, chocolate chips, yogurt, ice cream, agar of various coffee flavors are all compliments to all of their great drinks. the environment is more base on refreshment primarily with food on the side. yet, the food has caught a great deal of attention therefore making it more like a normal restaurant. location wise, saint's alp is located throughout hong kong island, kowloon and the new territories.

drinks isn't the only thing that drives saint's alp teahouse. their line of food also does a lot of damage. mostly base on taiwanese cuisine, they offer various siu sik, noodle soup, rice dishes, pizza, and toast. i would say, the two biggest things that drives this place is their marinated minced pork with steamed rice and their five different selection of toasts.

so what did i order? well, obviously the two things i just mentioned! besides what i ordered, taiwanese style rice wise, they also have shredded chicken in chia yi sauce and succulent piece of chicken. okay, back to what i ordered. taiwanese cuisine isn't famous for anything that seems to "colorful" (taiwanese style porkchop with rice, fried oyaster, etc) however, don't let those things and marinated minched pork, seemingly such a simple dish fool you. it is cooked and marinated in a flavorful (kinda salty) sauce. unlike a lot of minced meat dishes with rice in a lot of hong kong style diners which are starchy, taiwanese style stays away from that and is very dependent on the actual sauce. to some extent, the minced pork taste is similar to chinese style ja ja mien if that helps you think what it taste like. so saint's alp was good? i would concur for the most part! besides the minced pork, it also comes with some peanuts, and half an egg. marinated eggs is a very common compliments in taiwanese rice dishes. the only thing that i complain about is the amount of the minced pork. judging from the ratio between the amount of rice and minced pork, it was somewhat unbalanced. by the time i finished the minced pork, there was about 1/3 of the rice left. by then, you're craving for more of that minced pork which isn't there anymore =*( if they just give about another spoon full, it would be great. don't worry, it is not an inconsistency problem, i know that for a fact. but please don't let the portion problem fool you, if you want more, just order more! haha, 'cause it is still good.

secondly, taiwanese style toast. coming in five different flavors: pork patty toast with cheese, honeyed ham toast with cheese, coconut butter & toasted almond, garlic butler and blueberry filings. with all non meat versions, you can request condensed milk as a dipping sauce. so, just toast eh? no, not at all. these are thick (like two and a half to three slices of regular bread size) and starchy white toast. the outside texture especially the crust is firm and starchy making it very unique in taste and texture. the inside is soft and slightly cripsy kinda like toasted garlic bread that comes with pasta. when it comes, the toast is cut into four pieces. with my experience, i tried the garlic butler. the taste is very much like any restaurant base garlic bread but what made it a neat experience is the texture as i've mentioned multiple times. something kind of hard to explain you just have to experience yourself! next time, i'm definitely going with coconut butler since my sister in law told me it's good.

drink wise, i went with the dragon honey tea which is made out of an iced roasted oolong tea. a very simple drink. the combination of roasted oolong and mild taste of honey gave it a nice and refreshing taste. the slight foam ontop of the drink is a nice final touch for looks and the first taste's feel. overall, a good simple drink.

in the end, saint's alp teahouse is a nice place if you want to sit down and have a drink or even have a snack or light meal. i really wish they gave a little bit more of the minced pork. the pork was definitely good just not the portion, haha. environment wise, don't treat this place like a full time restaurant. if you're really hungry, make sure you order some sides to keep you filled. don't let this discourage you from visiting this place. the nature of this place is built base on drinks. food afterall is still a side thing but definitely not a non-highlight. anyhow, so i give this place combining both food and drinks...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >