Ganpachi Ramen

> Location : Shop 103G, Basement level, Times Square,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Japanese Ramen
> Tel. # : (852) 2917-7232
> Website : N/A

Now this is exactly the same time i had curry in a hurry for your information, haha. ramen huh? i guess i kind of miss shinsengumi from westminster, california too much i had to eat some ramen on the side, haha. hakata ramen, yeah! =) so again, for people who didn't read my other review, ganpachi is located in the basement level of times square. there's a big food court there with various cuisines to choose from. this whole food court is ran/hosted by city super. everytime you order something, you have to pay through the city super people. ganpachi has two other locations at silvercord and APM according to their business card. hibiki ramen and hachiban ramen express is also part of the same group which are located at harbour city (tsim sha tsui) and city plaza (tai koo) respectively.

anyhow, how's ganpachi's food? i had one of their pig tail bone soup base ramen. the ingredients are as follows: bean sprouts, corn, green onions, crispy seaweed, bamboo shoots, pork strips, sesame and of course your ramen noodle. the soup is light and not too salty. the soup taste is well defined for the most part. the ramen texture was about between soft and medium. on a side note, some of the pork slices reminded me of bacon the way it's cut, haha. i think after contemplating everything, the one thing that i would ask for is to make the soup base stronger. it was definitely light and refreshing but i think it could be just a little bit stronger in taste. my sister who comes along with me while i review food sometimes agrees with me on that part.

ultimately, it was good for the most part. the portion definitely doesn't lack. the bowl was big and the ingredients is all in there. corn is different for me in japanese ramen. i usually don't see it used much. in a lot of ramen i order. i can't disagree it is presented nicely as seen in the photo. it was on the right track to becoming a great bowl of ramen. just with my personal take, the taste needed to be a bit more define/stronger. but hey! for fast food base operation ramen, it's pretty good already!

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Curry in a Hurry

> Location : Basement 1, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Indian style fast food
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

Curry in a hurry! now there's a rhyme you wouldn't think of for a indian fast food chain right? haha. i think it's quite clever. so what's up with this place? located on the basement floor of times square in causeway bay, there's a food court filled with all sorts of cuisines. this place is actually hosted by city super. everything is paid through city super after you order. anyways, one place in particular that pops out to simon is definitely curry in a hurry, haha. again, deprived of indian food, i went straight to this place. curry in a hurry is managed by the restaurant curry pot. this particular curry in a hurry does not have everything on the original menu. so how do we order? well, simply everything you can see in the front is what you can order. it is about 1/3 out of the menu you get to choose from. still, there are a good variety of stuff to choose from.

they have these sandwiches made out of naan and these burrito lookin' things i really want to try out. but i had to go the traditional way and order some curry with some roti chenal. basically it's a soft type of bread kinda of like naan but usually made into a bigger surface area and much softer. buttery and very good! so the set i got was called, "double happiness." basically it comes with 2 big pieces of roti chenals, a vegetable curry, a chicken or lamb curry and indian style coffee or a drink of your choice. the vegetable curry had peas, carrots, corn, green beans and potato in it. it's a nice yellow texture. taste wise, it wasn't particularly special but not horrible either. i say, it's better than "alright." how about the other curry? i went with lamb for the other curry and this one i enjoyed a lot more. the taste reminded me of some of the indian restaurants i've been to when i had lamb style curry. there's quite a few pieces of lamb inside so don't be afraid the portion is lacking. the curry was good and does well for a fast food standard! going back to the roti chenals, the two pieces they gave you were incredibly big. that was a big plus to me and plus it tasted pretty good.

price wise, the set was $40 hkd. most of the items are between $20-40 hkd so it isn't bad at all considering the portion they give you. in the end, there are so many different types of things you can choose from this place. i will definitely come back and revisit this review. as for now, base on fast food standards, i believe this place deserves a...

< 4 out of 5 >

Lanna Thai

> Location : Shop # 1101, 11/F, Times Square, 1 Mantheson St.,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Thai
> Tel. # : (852) 2506-3303
> Website : N/A

Wow simon, thai cuisine again? haha. well, i wanted to try this neat place where they serve malaysian food and you eat it on a banana leaf. however, my brother brought up this new thai restaurant inside times square so i decided on that! wow simon, still, it's thai! see, the thing is, this place only opened for like about 2 months and hell, i haven't found any english friendly reviews online of it, so i have to be the first one to put one up!

lanna thai is located within times square on the 11th floor. yes, one above modern china restaurant! speaking of "modern," when you first enter lanna thai, the decoration is especially modern yet you get this very high class feeling as you walk to your seat. the atmosphere is slightly dimmed with different colored lighting on certain walls giving it a very layback mood. high class indeed, the menu tells you that this place isn't particularly cheap. here's a good comparison. their appetizer costs just as much as a regular dish at most standard chinese restaurant. about ranging around $60 to $80 hkd. their entrees are around $100 (some are a bit less) all the way up to $200 hkd so. usually cost justifies the quality and at this place, it definitely does that! yes, the cliche, "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. food wise, the following on the different sections of the menu: grill, sharkfin and soup, meat and poultry, seafood, curry, vegetable, noodle, rice, salad and dessert.

first up, hey what's new? haha, it's tom yum kong with chicken (this place spells it with the "k" and some places use "g"). the last three thai places, the menu only indicated with prawn and this place, you had the choice of both! tired of prawns, i went back to the old fashion chicken tom yum kong. one thing i must say is, the waitress' will warn you with specific orders, that the item is originally spicy unless request to lighten the spiciness. this place's "normal" spiciness is hotter than the last three places i went to (thai simple kitchen, chili n spice, cafe siam). it's not too bad if you eat spicy stuff once in awhile. for people who don't too often, it will be somewhat difficult. so request them to lighten it if you can't take the heat! besides the replacement of prawns with chicken, the ingredients within the tom yum kong are pretty much the same. the one thing that was different from what i usually experience is the addition of bean sprouts. it makes the soup more crowded but i don't think it does much to the taste. essentially, an additional vegetable for you to eat. soup wise, spicy as i've hinted. it doesn't seem to be very sour. perhaps the extra spiciness neutralizes your senses to make you think it isn't too sour. still, you can definitely pick up the sourness from the lemon juice and lemon grass. the chicken was nice and soft, easy to eat. this tom yum kong definitely has its own unique position from the other reviews i've done. these exceptions are rather hard to explain until you really try it yourself! $48 hkd for chicken per person and $52 hkd for prawn per person.

next up, we have the green papaya & beef strip salad with chilli & fresh coriander ($75 hkd). this thai papaya salad is like a fusion between thai beef salad and thai papaya salad. one thing that catches your attention is the rawness of the slides of beef. seemingly not cooked long enough, the beef is about medium rare or about a tiny bit less and just cooked just right. it has the roasted flavor to it which is really good. fried wanton strips (the like) is added giving this salad a chinese chicken salad look to it. with lettuce as the base, the green papaya is set on top of. the papaya is very crisp and fresh. the sour, slight sweetness from the lime juice and fish sauce (fish sauce is added in a lot of these sour tasting thai dishes) within the green papaya along with the roasted sensation of the beef with the crispy fried strips give every bite a mouthful of sensation. forgetting to mention, crushed peanuts are also spread slightly into the salad giving another thing for your mouth to register. an extremely well put combination. it is not your usual thai papaya salad with carrot strips and cherry tomatoes (the traditional version can be ordered), but it is still a very well done dish!

satay chicken! no, i lied. haha. but it's a fusion dish up next. hai nan chicken in bangkok style ($128 hkd). so basically, hai nan chicken is a malaysian highlight. it is steamed chicken served with chili or grinded ginger and onion oil sauce along with rice that is cooked with garlic, oil (or chicken fat) and some chicken broth. definitely a simple yet really good experience. so what's different with bangkok style? according to the waitress, the chicken is spiced with thai style ingredients and on the side, served with this sour and spicy sauce. usually, hai nan chicken steamed is a pale yellowish texture on the skin. lanna thai's bangkok style holds a golden brown texture on the skin most likely due to its marinade and spices. the taste difference is that, i think the bangkok style has more define taste to it and not extremely dependent on the chili or ginger sauce in malaysian style. along with the spicy and sour sauce provided, lanna thai's hai nan chicken was definitely very unique. i think this dish is a good twist but not superb. the chicken itself was done very well, holding a tender texture. cucumber and red pepper base/decoration was used along with some side lettuce garnishes. overall, the tenderness of the chicken, the more define taste due to the spcies along with a hot and sour sauce makes this dish a definite order choice.

you can't leave a thai place until you have some sauteed thai vegetables! i got a good kick out of thai baby cabbage from chili n spice last time so i had to go with more cabbages this time! at lanna's, they didn't have any baby cabbage. however, their cabbage still isn't huge and not too far from baby size. one of the cabbage dish they have is the sauteed bamboo fungus, mixed mushrooms & cabbage sprout ($85 hkd). like always, you get the usual thai sauteed vegetable flavor like with morning glory. however, this particular dish is designed to be more light and refreshing so the sauteed flavor isn't as strong but still noticeable. usual sauteed flavors come with shrimp paste or bean curb paste so it's more salty. in the end, this is a standout dish from all the spicy, sour and sweet flavors.

last but not least, is my favorite dish next to the papaya salad dish. cod fish with red curry ($118 hkd). of course not just curry and fish, there's also red and green bell pepper, onions, thai green eggplants and squash along with some spices that look like vegetables, but are just there for the taste and looks. just a little additional information, when you think eggplants, it isn't just the long purple looking vege. egg plants also come in small round shapes like a golf ball! thai green eggplants is a green and golf ball size vege. sorta reminds you of a cherry tomato but green. anyways! there's about three good size cod's in this dish so don't worry about the lack of meat in this dish, heh. the red curry is nice and rich holding a very pleasant sweet taste. the dish isn't as spicy as the other ones i mentioned, just having a mild spiciness to it. if you've eaten cod fish before, you know it's really hard to cook it wrong. cod fish has a very easy to bite into texture in short or longer cooking time and usually holds a very distinct taste even with little marinade before cooking. due to the eating friendly nature of this fish along with the rich and tasty red curry, these two things end up going hand in hand making this a very wonderful and visual friendly dish (colorful, contrast). definitely three thumbs up if i had a third thumb. haha.

so finally, the end of this review! let me take a breather now, haha. before i give a score, i also want to mention about service. the waitress' and waiters were overall very helpful. the manager that night was also very helpful with various random questions i asked him about the restaurant. price wise, i must say it's not cheap. the taste, decoration, presentation of the dishes does justify the price for the most part. i just believe if you pick the right places, you can probably find matching quality dishes for a cheaper price. chances of doing so are probably slim and even if you do, not every dish you order can be as consistent as a place like lanna thai. one thing i want to bring to light is that, a lot of thai restaurants i go to around hong kong don't use the official thai name for some of the dishes. i mean, i understand it is hard to know what exactly it is if you've never ordered it before or don't read the language. however, you can always put the description right below it to clarify things. it is more friendly to experienced and native people to the cuisine and also adds an informative/intriguing look to the menu for first timers and such. on the side, i also got one of their desserts. it's a coconut jelly dessert which comes in six pieces. not much i can say beisdes that, it's a nice addition to the lineup! anyhow, so what's my final take?

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >

Modern China Restaurant

> Location : Shop # 1002, 10/F, Times Square, 1 Mantheson St.,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Northern Chinese
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : HERE

So this is the third installment of northern chinese food review. thanks for reading, much appreciate it and somehow i hope you find it useful =) but like i say to all, come visit, i'll take u! hey, i didn't say you need to pay ^^

so once again, i've tasted xiao long bao (siu long bao if pronouced in cantonese) from a different restaurant. this time, in causeway bay again, i visited modern china restaurant. not a very original english name huh? haha. that's what i thought the first time i noticed. but don't let the name fool you, let the food do the talking! modern china restaurant is right next to a few major restaurant chains on the 10th floor of time square plaza. the place gets pretty packed once it gets around 6:30 pm on weekdays and on the weekends, go as early as you can, 'cause the wait will take awhile!

there are a few notable dishes to mention about and a few i will briefly explain just for reference sake. we'll save the 'best for last' and go with the alright dishes first. like the last two northern chinese cusines i've reviewed, i ordered the sauteed bean curd sheet with salted snow cabbage and pea. it's a classic northern chinese dish. well, to be accurate, the restaurant at world trade centre wasn't exactly this dish, but similar (the one at ifc is the same though). as the title of the dish says, it has sheets of bean curd, snow cabbage and peas. the dish is very light, meaning not heavy on salt or taste. it's a healthy vegetarian dish but this time compared to ifc, it's served hot not cold. there is a noticable difference between the two though IF the ingredients are the same in the cooking process. the hot version tends to be more watery and cooked right off the bat therefore some of the taste is dropped into the liquid. the cold version is obviously been sitting around a little bit to cool it down and chefs tend to dump the liquid. however, in the process, some liquid is still absorbed therefore the saltiness is preserved to some extent which gives the cold version a bit more taste. it's a matter of preference which version you like, in the end, it's a healthy traditional dish one should try at least once!

the second dish is spicy sesame chicken ordered as a whole or half a chicken. it's not exactly very spicy. i would categorize it has being minor. when you first taste it, you'll notice the sauce is of like a sweet soy sauce with a blend of spiciness. sesame is sprinkled ontop all over the chicken. the chicken meat is nice and fresh and easy to bite into. the skin like most chinese chicken dishes is left on. it's one of those northern delicacy one should definitely try. sometimes the sweetness along with the spiciness does remind you of thai food sometimes. the sensation's combination that is. anyhow, lets move on.

next we have the tianjin cabbage in cream sauce. made using tianjin cabbage, the sauce ontop is salty yet sweet and also sprinkled ontop is some smoked ham bits. the cabbage isn't cut into small pieces but pretty much a whole cabbage cut in half horizontally. this dish kind of reminds me of the creamy bracolli in white sauce spagahetti. not a lot of typical occasion in chinese cusine where you get to eat vegetable this way. yet, the creaminess isn't incredibly thick but just enough where you can feel that creamy sensation. of course again, the cream is mildly sweeten, salted. in the end, it's a very unique dish in terms of chinese culture.

okay, things are getting better and better. now we have fried bun or in cantonese, we call it man tao. usually, man tao is either steamed or fried to golden brown with a glazed texture. sometimes when man tao is steamed, chinese people like to mix it with taro in the bread when steamed or during chinese year new or even a person's birthday, the chinese tends to steam man tao with some pink coloring on it. they are simply food coloring added on for the purpose of symbolizing good luck just like the color red in chinese culture. in the case of what i'm eating, it's just a fried man tao with some sweet condensed milk sauce. it is always eaten like this when man tao is fried and it tastes incredibly good! the outside has a nice slight crispiness and the inside is still white and semi-soft, filling the aroma of bread. in the end, it's the combination of the condensed milk and the golden brown texture that gives this simple delicacy its infamousy. a lot of chinese restaurants have this, so don't forget to ask when u're at one even when u're in the states!

so second to last is the lanzhou style tan-tan noodle in spicy sauce. lanzhou noodle are streched noodles that could be made wide or slim. it's most famously cooked as a beef noodle soup way back in the 1600's during the qing dynasty all the way up till now. the lanzhou noodle here is used in a spicy sesame (peanuty) soup base with some green onion. according to the restaurant's website, it is one of the chef's recommendation. the spiciness of the dish grows on you but overall it's not very spicy. the soup is not extremely thick but you can still definitely get the full taste of sesame, peanuty flavor. the noodle is round and slim, very easy to bite into but it's not the sensation of lets say, ramen noodle or even flat noodles. has a very flexible feeling to it. besides the soup base, the green onion, there are also ground pork bits within. kind of reminds you of chinese ja ja mien but with a soup base or even taiwanese style ground beef rice. the aroma of the sesame and the chewiness of the lanzhou noodles gives the eater a wonderful feeling. it's hard to describe you just simply have to try it for yourself!

last but not least, xiao long bao! every order contains 8 xiao long bao. there are a few different types which uses different meat filling such as crab meat but of course to do a comparison with the other places, i had to order the regular pork one. i ordered two orders (don't worry, i didn't eat all 16, there were others with me, haha). the first order came and the first thing i noticed when i bite a small hole on top, is that, the xiao long bao skin is very soft and thin. but obviously not enough where it'll break even when you gently pick it up with you chopstick. this is a good thing. this is probably the most thin out of all the places i've been so lately. the soup within was great, sweet and blending in with the taste of vinegar at the very end. the meat within was slightly stiff. which isn't a big problem. that's why there was a second order. so i tried it again. the skin, same. the soup, same. the meat, nice and cooked perfectly this time! seriously, it has to be the best place so far in hong kong for xiao long bao. the soup amount within the skin is perfect too. with the skin being so thin and looking the soup seemingly about to break through, but still don't is just good steam timing and the quality of the skin that's used. actually, this isn't the first time i've been here. haha. after trying a few places, i had to come back and reconfirm this is still the best and yes it is!

so that's it for this review. thanks much for reading. note in the pictures, there are two dishes i did not talk about. one of which is a free starter dish which is chicken with a salsa like substance ontop. the other is something my sister in law ordered which i didn't even get to taste so i left it out in my discussion. it's cooked like how bird's nest noodles are cooked with strips of meat and vegetable and thick sauce. from what i know, it's minor in taste and not anything too special.

anyways, i'm out and with my cliche i shall say, take care and good luck ~

< 4 out of 5 >