Dan Tana's

> Location : 9071 Santa, Monica Blvd, West Hollywood,
California, 90069, U.S.A.
> Cuisine : Italian
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website: http://www.dantanasrestaurant.com/

Cute little Italian joint ... or so I thought! : A friend and I had a concert at the Troubadour next door and were hungry. The doorman recommended Dan Tana's for a drink. We had never heard of this place but stuck our heads in anyway. We asked for a table of two. The host told us we were lucky because it was 5 min before it would get really busy! He did mention the table was not so good and we quickly discovered why - it was in the way of several booths and we were cramped. But that's okay, the people watching and food made up for it.

The portions were pretty large. We actually shared an appetizer - the MOZZARELLA MARINARA - and an entree - Chicken Parmigiana, with sides of sphaghetti with meat sauce. The mozzarella was fantastic; we felt like we were eating a cube of fat (in a good way!) and could feel a heart attack coming any minute. The bread, btw, was standard toasted french bread - nothing extraordinary. The entree was very large and split between us, we still got a healthy portion (probably 8 oz) of chicken. The spaghetti side was not that great - a bit bland for me - I've had better spaghetti with meat sauce at other restaurants. But perhaps an entree of spaghetti would taste better? The chicken was great though. We were definitely too full for dessert, though the waiter made a good attempt to persuade us.

The service was excellent. The host was very nice to us as well as our waiter (who at first, we thought were the same person b/c they looked similar). Our water glasses were constantly filled. The waiter was friendly and funny. We left a healthy tip. We both said to each other that we'd definitely return again, though, now that I hear it's difficult to get reservations, I'm not so sure.

BTW, the other patrons are not very diverse if that matters to you. We were the only minorities in the place and we felt a little out of place. Granted, we were going to a concert so not as dressy as the others. But we did see a lot of folk, who looked like they had just come off of their yachts/golf courses.

> Pros : cute decor, friendly waitstaff
> Cons : crowded
> Overall rating : Highly Recommended

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 >

Reflexion Natural Dining

> Location : East Point Centre New Wing, 555 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : European-Asian Fusion
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : http://www.reflexion.com.hk/

Located on the 12th floor of sogo department store, Reflexion is a very comfortable, well-decorated restaurant. serving european style asian cuisine, reflexion is definitely intriguing especially when it's located within a department store. the area isn't very big but the decoration as just mentioned negates this notion. if you're waiting for a seat, there's are four very comfortable seats with reading material nearby. water flowing bamboo decorations and many other eye-catching designs. before i continue, here's a little introduction straight from the reflexion website: "Our family has been involved with innovative and high quality cuisine for over 100 years in Switzerland. Our philosophy througout the decades has been to use only the finest ingredients, the most natural vegetables and fruits, and to source only grain-fed meats and the freshest seasonal food.

Today, we are inviting you to our first restaurant in Asia right here in Hong Kong. We have secured a long-term partnership with SOGO and our vision is to combine our European and Japanese know-how to develop service standards, food and ambiance dedicated to your special needs and desires, in other words, a reflection of your sense."

alright, alright enough with all this extra stuff! so how was the food? lets just say i was being very observant or this place would score below a 3. why simon why? i applaud the many years of experience, but besides environment, eye-catching, soothing decorations, and designs, the other important fact is taste. now, don't stop reading let me finish here! okay, so reflexion has a lunch set menu, dinner set menu and also a section of daily specials. since it's lunch time, i took a peak at the lunch sets. deprived of indian food lately, with the closest thing resembling indian food, my eye went straight to the "mild chicken marsala curry served with jasmine rice" ($48 hkd). each set comes with a drink, a salad or soup and also your main course. as the menu indicated, the restaurant uses no msg, 100% olive oil. so the salad comes, a small good looking salad. it has cherry tomatoes, lettuce, red lettuce, cucumber, beats and using black currant dressing (it seems like pomegranate). the salad was very raw, very fresh and definitely as the website advertised, they use the freshest stuff. the dressing was very neat with a sweet slightly fruity sour sensation. not your typical heavy on dressing salad. fresh, healthy, good stuff.

so, you begin this review like there suppose to be a drop somewhere right? so here comes the marsala curry. consistency is the key to every place you eat at right? fresh, i can't deny. organic bean sprouts, not too hard, not too soft potatoes (just right), jasmine rice, all good stuff. chicken? well done! soft, tender, i really loved the texture and just the way its done. a "life saver" i would call it in this review. so what's left? the marsala curry. one word, salty. i'm not particularly sensitive with any types of taste. i can stand the extremes of a lot of flavors. however, the curry is just so salty, there was a frown on simon's face =*( was it a consistency issue? like i said in the beginning, i was being observant. so i saw the table next to mine ordered the same dish. watched his expressions and trying to read the words coming out of his mouth. he didn't seem to twitch or acted negatively. so what's my take? inconsistency. i'll give this place the benefit of the doubt 'cause simon is a nice guy! by some lucky chance, the bad chicken marsala curry dish comes to a food critic. well, my sister in law and mother was around too. my mother had similar reaction as me (salty) with her dish and my sister in law seem to have a decent reaction. so yes, the chicken and fresh ingredients was the plus and i thank the people of this restaurant for being persistent with their words. so the verdict, yes the points. a struggle between two scores and the good chicken and ingredients allowed me to choose the higher score...

< 3 out of 5 >

Katong

> Location : G/F, 8 Mercer Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Singaporean
> Tel. # : (852) 2543-4008
> Website : N/A

Right across from malaymama is a restaurant that serves laksa and prawn mee in singaporean style! the restaurant, katong, offers similar types of food as malaysian food. there are slight differences in ingredients and types of dishes offered. first of all, katong's prawn mee has more extra toppings to choose from such as meat ball, squid ball or fish ball. for $5 hkd more for selective prawn mee dishes, you can get prawn mee in dry style. the other difference between these two places is that, katon offers mee siam. mee siam is a sweet and sour wet rice vermicelli dish which comes with the usual prawn or shrimp, egg and tofu. pricing wise, these two places are about the same plus or minus a few hkd for comparable dishes. substitutions are also available if you want different types of noodles such as flat egg noodle, vermicelli, rice noodle, or rice vermicelli. so besides mee siam and prawn mee, and prawn mee dry, katong also has laksa, singapore dessert and also singapore snack to choose from.

okay, onto the food! having enough of prawn recently from malaymama, and the other thai restaurants, i went with shrimp instead. shrimp what? i got the mee siam with shrimp, egg and tofu pot. costing $36 hkd (compared to $48 if you choose prawns), this dish as i mentioned above is a wet sweet and sour rice vermicelli noodle dish. the sweet and sour flavor isn't extreme. the sensation is mild which is just right. other ingredients also spotted are green onions, onion bits and pork bits. the egg is boiled and already cut into a few slices. this dish is extremely unique because there aren't many wet noodle dishes in asian food. wet rice dishes are more common such as ying yang fried rice or fujian fried rice. the flavor isn't something you can grasp and love quickly. coming in only three varieties, mee siam isn't katong's top priorty. overall, this mee siam dish is a good dish. it definitely has its resemblence with singaporean stir fried rice vermicelli flavors if you ever had it before. it is one of those delicacy type of dishes. not the usual eat it and love it type. i highly recommend it if you enjoy something unusual and good!

on the side, i wanted to try katong's highlight "snack." this snack is called rojak ($28 hkd). rojak is a singaporean salad which contains small chucks of oily stick, cucumber, guava (the hard white kind), pineapple, crushed peanuts on top, a type of eatable chinese root and dressing made out of thai black shrimp paste. the dressing pretty much covers every part of the salad. each and every ingredient of the salad is nice, fresh and crispy. the dressing is a very unique sweet flavor and a tiny bit of saltiness. the type of sweet flavor reminds me of those small chinese red round slices of cracker/candy. i forgot what its called, haha. but the flavor is similar. but obviously as the cook told me, it's made out of a thai black shrimp paste. again, this is one of those delicacy flavors. the sweetness from the dressing is not a fruity sweet or like a orange chicken sweet, it's like a sweetness with a touch of spice to it like rosemary. very unique indeed.

drink wise, katong offers a wide selection of drinks from coke to barley water. a total of about 23 drinks. one drink i enjoy drinking when going to malaysian or singaporean restaurants is barley water. pretty much it's a mildly sweet drink, slightly thick and has that touch of barley (rice) flavor. kind of like mexican horchata but mixing the cinnamon and other specific ingredients. anyhow, katong is a good place for prawn mee, prawn mee dry because of their wide selections. their laksa are pretty good with my prior knowledge. of course, if you want mee siam, malaysian cuisine can't offer that. so anyhow...

< 4 out of 5 >

Rice Paper

> Location : Shop 3319, 3/F Gateway Arcade, Harbour City,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
> Cuisine : Vietnamese
> Tel. # : (852) 3151-7801
> Website : N/A

Howdy people! i'm back to make you'll tummies hungry! haha. a nice change for today's review with some vietnamese style cooking. a total of three known locations (sheung wan, tsim sha tsui, causeway bay), rice paper is a chain opened by the mei sum company. mei sum is a company which opened many chinese restaurants and bakeries all over hong kong (ever since i was little) and also is the same company who holds the rights to star bucks hong kong. the rice paper i visited is the one at tsim sha tsui. if you ever go there next time and haven't been there before, on the top floor of the parking structure to that shopping mall, there's a fantastic view of all the skyscapers of hong kong island! really beautiful indeed.

so onto the food! so i don't talk about the physical nature of menus much by at rice paper, their menu is done incredibly nice! as pictured in this review, the front is a cut out of a wood fence like pattern. what's neat about this is, if you look around the restaurant, you can find the same patterns actually use like a fence. the inside has a lot of pictures. the design give you the feeling of a modern decoration / furniture books you can find in bookstores. a nice taste definitely to the business.

okay, i didn't get to the food there, but lets start here! so if you eat vietnamese food a lot, you know there's more to vietnamese food than pho, broken rice and vietnamese spring rolls. have you heard of 7 course beef before? back in garden grove, california, there are great places for stuff like that. here at rice paper, they title it, "7 great ways to enjoy beef." each order serves 2-3 people and cost $195 hkd. how it works is, 5 items come first and the last two comes later. so the following are the 5 items: roast beef on prawn crackers, beef cake, beef roll, deep fried beef ball, and beef with basil. so lets start talking about each of these. roast beef on prawn crackers reminds you of carne asada nachos in a sense, haha. prawn crackers is the same as shrimp chips for your information. the beef is minced and grounded and tastes roasted for the most part. it isn't strong in taste and is depedent i say 50% from the shrimp chip flavor. beef cake looks very much like japanese style beef cakes. the taste fairly mild and for the most part just the taste of beef. i must comment first that these 5 items comes with your infamous vietnamese fish sauce therefore using it makes these items taste much better! next up is beef roll. yes, i swear that everything on this plate reminds me of something, haha. what this time? this item reminds me of los angeles style hot dogs! the beef wrapped around the cucumber, carrot and bean sprouts looks like bacon wrapped around the hotdog. therefore if that's the case, you can tell that the beef used in this item has a lot of fat. i say it's about 25-35% fat and tendons. this item is good overall but i just wished it had less fat and tendons for a better tasting/biting experience. next is the deep fried beef ball. this item is not simply fried but they also add some tempura flakes around the beef ball before frying it. it's a neat touch and goes nicely with the fish sauce. so that was 5 items and what's the next two? first up, minced beef congee. this has to be one of my favorites out of all 7 items. the congee has a light yet define beef taste to it. ginger strips are added inside and broken rice is used for this congee. every bite somewhat reminds me of steamed turnips for some odd yet positive reason. a very simply item yet i must say, it's very good! last but not least, is the raw beef hotpot. a small size pot with fire below is used for the hotpot. inside contains carrots, turnips, onions, and squash. cooking the beef and using the fish sauce to eat it is quite wonderful for the most part. yet again, the beef isn't too lean and contains quite a bit of fat. the beef before its cooked also comes with onions, mint and some noodles on the bottom. this whole experience had its ups and downs. i'll say almost to above average but not quite. but hey, try it out for yourself!

so out of the 7 course loop we go into the deep fried vietnamese spring rolls ($48 hkd). judging by its texture, these spring rolls are fried using rice paper and not normal egg roll skin. the usual vietnamese places i go to use rice pepper for non fried spring rolls and regular egg roll skin for fried spring rolls. the spring rolls contain ground meat, cucumber and other ingredients. fairly simple yet very good. the rice paper gives you a softer crunchy experience compared to regular egg roll skin. dipping this in your usual fish sauce (i should mention this fish sauce has a slight taste of spiciness to it) makes this dish good. the dish also comes with some lettuce and lime. it's good to wrap it with the spring roll and use a little lime and dip it into the dish sauce for a full positive experience!

up next is rice paper with sugar cane prawns ($72 hkd). the rice paper comes in a nice tall glass. this dish contains butter lettuce, crispy noodles, star fruit, pineapple, banana and herbs. the prawn meat is wrapped around the sugar cane. so this dish is all about imagination! depending on how you want to order the wrapping, you will need to wrap a piece of rice pepper, lettuce and also add the prawn with sugar cane, banana strips, herbs and whatever else you can fit in there! lastly, like always, dip that sucker into some fish sauce and savor the many flavors! you get the saltiness of the fish sauce, the sour, sweet senesation from the pineapple, the sugary sweetness from the sugar cane, and the meat sweetness from the prawn meat. everything was fairly easy to bite through. i would suggest you if you run out of lettuce, ask for more if you have rice paper left so you have something wet to soften the rice paper. for the inexperience, rice paper is suppose to be soften before eating it. literally, it's like a piece of paper. usually you dip it into some water to let it soften before wrapping your ingredients into it. in our case, water isn't provided in such a fashion therefore lettuce is your best bet.

::taking a deep breath & exhaling:: alright! onto the last item. now we have the confit of duck with turmeric rice ($68 hkd). turmeric rice? turmeric is an indian perennial herb. it is from the same family as ginger. usually besides turmeric, turmeric rice is cooked using butter, onions, garlic, onions and other ingredients depending on the desired specific style. the end result is a yellow looking rice kind of like rice cooked in curry powder. this dish is truly not simple. besides the rice, there's duck, lamb, eggplant pickle and vietnamese mint. both the duck and lamb meat were nice and soft. one of the pieces of duck meat was a little fat but overall it was good. the rice was great mixing with the eggplant pickle. the pickle had a sweet and a bit sour taste to it. the rice had a slight taste to it by itself without the pickle and essentially getting the aroma of the turmeric. yet, adding the lime along with the eggplant pickle with the rice completes the purpose of this dish! this is one of those dishes where you have to do some work to get the purpose out of it. eating simply the rice without the other two things will leave you disappointed. so if you go, make sure you follow the rules! at least that's how the dish became good to me =)

rice paper in the end comes with a nice dim environment. sometimes i think maybe it's a little too dim. but of course not so much you can't see anything. selective dishes i tried were great and some i simply hope it had better quality ingredients. i really enjoy their rice paper section of their menu so make sure you check it out! the rice dish i just discuss was good overall and the 7 courses of meat had its positive notes and negative notes. service was good for the most part but could be better in my opinion with little effort. cost wise as indicated above, it isn't too bad. it's pretty much normal in hong kong. in the end, this mei sum restaurant does a good job with the decorations, environment food and non-food wise. very unique and creative dishes you can order too. ultimately, the so so quality of some of the ingredients and the lack of taste with some of the items (too dependent on fish sauce) hurt the final score. it's still a neat experience and everyone should give it a try! a type of vietnamese cuisine away from the ordinary pho and broken rice.

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Malaymama

> Location : Shop 11A, Mercer Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Malaysian noodles
> Tel. # : (852) 2542-4111
> Website : http://www.malaymama.com/

Malaymama is hidden in the alleys of sheung wan , very near the grand millennium plaza where fitness first is. voted as the best laksa and prawn mee by "eat and travel weekly," malaymama provides not just those two malaysian highlight, but also kon loh mee, ipoh ho fun, klang bak hut teh, different types of vegetables, side dishes, drinks and even toast. pricing wise, this place is no joke. ranging from $23 hkd to $55 hkd for the main dishes, it really isn't a lot for something that is rated the best laksa and prawn in hong kong by a magazine!

so here's the question for some people who are asking: what is laksa? well, laksa is an infamous spicy noodle soup from the peranakan culture. check out wikipedia for a definition of what peranakan is. so malaysian laksa is actually malaysian and chinese cooking style mixed together. laksa is not only famous in malaysia but also in singapore. the word laksa itself actually means "many," referring to the dishes usage of various ingredients. laksa comes in two forms. the first is the more popular type which is curry soup base and the second is a sour fish soup base.

okay, so what did simon had at malaymama? i had #6 the "traditional laksa" ($35 hkd). this laksa dish contains chicken slices, prawns and tau pok which is essentially fried bean curd tofu. you have the choice of egg noodles or rice vermicelli. the most popular way of eating this laksa is requesting them to use both at the same time! other ingredients that are in the dish not mentioned in the menu are eggplants and bean sprouts. the soup is just superb! it is slightly spicy therefore it won't make you think about how hot it is and not be able to concentrate on the flavors. the soup is the curry base laksa so every bite of noodle and soup is full of sweet curry aroma and taste! the soup reminds me of thai panang curry and i believe it might be something similar to it. you must remember, although we're talking about curry here, the soup is still liquid and not slightly thick or anything. it's really neat eating both noodles at once. you bite into a thiner noodle in vermicelli and a thicker noodle in egg noddles. it's a unique sensation in your mouth along with the delicious curry soup. simply excellent! i concur with the magazine until further experiences with other malaysian laksa!

the next dish is the bak kut teh in ho fun. ho fun is a flat and soft type of white noodles. it has a slick texture to it. the main highlight of this dish is the pork spare ribs. the dish also contains tau pok. the soup of the dish has a light yet define taste to it. the soup tastes like the pork spare ribs, a light sweet flavor. this dish definitely is the reverse of the laksa soup. the taste isn't as strong but still very good in its own way. on the side, a small plate of thick sweet soy sauce with red pepper is given for the dipping of the spare ribs. this helps heighten the flavor of this whole experience. good dish if you want a lighter and more refreshing meal.

lastly, i ordered the day's special appetizer! it is the curry beef brisket. the dish comes with bean sprouts, potatoes and of course your beef brisket in curry. the curry is a heavy type of curry (i know it is some type of chinese curry usually use for beef). the curry is slightly spicy and strong in curry flavor. the beef brisket is nice and soft and not too much fat. this is a very heavy, kinda oily dish but the combination of the two is just undeniable. extremely tasty if they had rice!

before i end this, lets talk about structure of the place. malaymama a smaller type of restaurant. holding about 20-30 people max. the kitchen is wide open and you can clearly see it. the service is helpful and friendly overall. i definitely fell in love with the laksa! if you're in hong kong, you must try this place! anyhow, what's my verdict? well, lets see, with what i had so far...

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >

Jack's Terrazza Ristorante

> Location : Shop 8, 1/F, Causeway Centre, 28 Harbour Rd.,
Sanlitun, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Italian
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

Located within the sanlitun (name of a a place with all sorts of restaurants circling causeway centre), jack's terrazza ristorante serves a full line of italian cuisine. before i go on, i would like to add also that jack's will have another location opening at soho east soon! so this meal i'm having is right after going to yat tung heen which is really close by, haha. so i won't be commenting on anything too big this time =( what i'll be reviewing today from jack's is their spinach salad and the lumache alla terrazza.

so jack's spinach salad contains pears, walnuts, onions and honey mustard vinaigrette as the dressing served in a stylist round and clear plate. the dressing is slightly sour since it's vinaigrette, however, the touch of honey mustard flavor along with the pears makes this whole salad a great blend! the walnuts on the side gives your mouth something crunchy to bite into which also helps neutralize any heighten sweet and sour flavors from the salad. the same goes with the onions. a good salad overall. other salads i recall are insalata caprese which is a tomato and mozzarella cheese salad and also the greek salad.

next, i ordered the lumache alla terrazza as a snack. lumache alla terrazza in italian, literally means "snails to the terrace." knowing this, i bet you can pretty much guess the restaurant name's translation! yes, it means jack's terrace restaurant, haha. this is supposedly one of their highlight appetizer. the dish comes with a half dozen of snails sauteed with white wine, artichokes, tomatoes and black olives. finished with fine herbs and garlic butter on top. the sauce reminds you of pasta with red sauce. however, all the extra ingredients such as the white wine and artichokes gives the sauce an extra "kick." mixing this with the snails or as most americans would call it, escargot, makes it taste pretty interesting. the escargot reminds you of swiss brown mushrooms that's cooked for a long time. they're pretty big in size unlike the small type and already out of the shell. the escargots are easy to bite into and slightly rubbery like. this is one of those delicacy dishes that most will need to get use to. yet with the delicious red sauce, it doesn't take long!

still a lot i need to try like i say with every place, haha. let me point out a few other things besides food. the decoration and style of the place is pretty neat. a lot of paintings are hung on the wall. there are even some that are sticking out with moveable parts to it. the most eye catching thing has to be the seats right next to the window. the seat (fits like 2 to 3) are held up high with ropes. so basically, it's like a swing from a playground! there are two sets of these things at the restaurant. there's also outside seating area very much like most of the sanlitun restaurants. lastly i want to mention, jack's terrazza ristorante's menu is what i'm talking about in the lanna thai review. using the cuisine's native language and official name/terms instead of simply words describing the dish, it gives that extra appeal and sense of adventure to the reader. maybe it's just me, but how about you? ^^; anyhow, to conclude this, for now with what i've tasted so far, i give this place...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Yat Tung Heen

> Location : 2/F, Great Eagle Centre, 23 Harbour Rd.,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Canton, Shun Tak (Chinese)
> Tel. # : (852) 2878-1212
> Website : N/A

Yat tung heen is located very near hong kong convention center. it has a second location in kowloon at eaton hotel. yat tung heen at wan chai is a fairly big chinese restaurant with great service. next time you go to the wan chai chain, look for "peter." he's a great guy if you get to know him and he provides excellent service. my primary purpose of this review is to talk about the "purple clay" dishes served here. before i rant on and on, here's yat tung heen's description of what "purple clay" is:

"Purple Clay, pronounced as "Zi Sha" in Mandarin, has been using in China for thousands of years. Cooking in Purple Clay cookware can help to minimize the fat in food, reduce cholesterol content, and has wonderful effects on health. It also enchances the delicate flavor and original taste of food and soup. To satisfy the discerning taste of food connoisseurs, Yat Tung Heen is pleased to deliver tempting and healthy "Zi Sha" dishes."

ultimately, zi sha is a type of clay made into various things here in china from tea pots to cooking pots. here at yat tung heen, they have a full menu of zi sha items for you to choose from! they have purple clay casserole dish, double-boiled soup, casserole rice, and casserole seasonal vegetables all in purple clay pots. each section of the menu provide about 3 to 5 items for you to choose from. i'm a fan of potted rice so i went with the "chicken and black mushrooms with rice in purple clay casserole." besides the obvious from the title, the top of the dish has several green onion ends. on the side like most potted rice dishes, sweet soy sauce is provided to mix in with the white rice.

taste wise, the chicken is nice and tender (the skin is attached). the black mushroom is nice and juicy. these two things were strong in taste and were nice and lean. not very oily overall. i guess the purple clay really works eh? the rice inside is nice and hot with the rice sticking to the pot harden (which is normal). this is very much like korean tofu. the rice on the bottom of the stone pot is harden due to the extreme heat. in literal cantonese translation, this is called "rice fried" or "rice burnt." or just say "rice" and "banana" in cantonese and it's exactly the same, haha. this part of the rice is very good because it's slightly crispy and you can dip it into the sweet soy sauce or even come chili sauce. usually, it isn't the most healthy thing to eat anything too fried or burnt, however, it's good once in awhile!

if you actually go, i would like to recommend lettuce with preserved shrimp sauce in the purple clay menu. served in a burning hot pot, the lettuce and the sauce is still sizzling when it came. the aroma fills the area and just captures you. shrimp sauce has a salty flavor to it but a very unique one like bean curd paste. the lettuce with the sauce is very tasty with every bite. this is best with more rice! to me, it tastes better when it's hot and still sizzling because the sauce's flavor is heighten. this is the same type of shrimp sauce used in stir fried morning glory in chinese or even thai cuisine. besides preserved shrimp sauce, you can choose from belachan sauce or xo sauce to go with the lettuce. other available vegetables from that menu includes white cabbage shoots and kale.

yat tung heen is a good chinese restaurant with a lot of specialities to choose from. they also have a seperate menu for their shun tak, maindland china dishes. is shun tak the same as shun de? that's correct! shun tak is basically the cantonese pronouciation and shun de is mandarin. anyhow, i've had a good amount of experiences here in yat tung heen from their dim sum to their speciality items to their regular dishes. they're all overall done consistently good. so if you're ever in the area wan chai area and want chinese cuisine, go check them out!

< 4 out of 5 >

Ho Ho Congee & Noodle

> Location : G/F, Two Chinachem Plaza, Central, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese style congee, nice, noodle
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

Throughout hong kong, there are a lot of these "hole in the wall" restaurants which serves simple rice, congee and noodle dishes. when we say "hole in the wall," it means the place isn't very big or fancy and sometimes it doesn't look very comfortable to sit at because it seems unclean. yet, if you visit the right places, these "hole in the wall" places can be extremely good! if you think about it, not everybody wants to cramp into a small place to eat or some just simply don't feel comfortable with these places. so this is where ho ho congee & noodle comes in. having multiple locations in hong kong, ho ho serves the same rice, congee and noodle dishes as a lot of the "hole in the wall" places without the unpleasant atmosphere. built to run like the fairwood restaurant chain, ho ho is designed to serve simple, good, fast yet cheap meals. ranging around $20 hkd to $40 hkd for set meals, it really is a good deal if you don't mind about having the best quality and quantity. seriously speaking, first timers wouldn't even get the fast food chain feeling when you enter this place (the central store). the style and decoration of the restaurant is done nicely for a place that sells cheap food. so okay, enough with all the random stuff, so what's the food like?

so it was lunch time on a weekday in busy central district. most 9 to 5 empolyees are rushing to eat there lunch on their very limited lunch break. so much work and so hungry, you want to get the most yet get the most out of your money. so you would go with the set meal that comes with a drink, a plate of vegetable of your choice with regular fish balls and pre-fried fish balls and of course choice of you congee, noodle or rice dish for about $45 hkd. here's the kick, anytime starting 12 pm (my apologies, i'm not 100% certain if it's before or after 12 pm, so please check if you actually go!) if you can sit down, eat your meal and get the heck out within 15 minutes, they will reduce the cost down to the amount of the main dish you ordered (congee, rice, noodle which ranges around the 20's). so you save like $20 bucks! that's like $2 dollar something in the states. not much, but hey! you can get like 4 apple pies at micky dees with that! =)

okay okay! onto tasting. i went with one of their popular rice dish which is the salty fish and meat pie with rice. you get about two small pices of salty fish and yes, they are salty, haha. usually, salty fish (it's not a type of fish if you are clueless but basically it's fish prepared in such a way it becomes dry and salty) is a compliment to congee and even used in fried rice and pot dishes. in our case, it compliments with the white rice because it is a contrast to it (saltiness helps the bland flavor of rice). as for the meat pie, they used pork to make literally a pie that fits the whole bowl. within it i also tasted some squid. this meat pie is strong in flavor holding a somewhat sharp saltiness to it. of course it is not as salty as the salty fish, but for good amounts of asia people, this can be very salty already. however, to balance things out, they also give you some sweet soy sauce which helps balance out the saltiness a little bit. the sauce is mainly for you to pour and mix in with the white rice. this is common with potted rice dishes here in hong kong. ultimately, the sweet soy sauce and the salty fish does the job with hightlighting their respective flavors. i don't think the meat pie needs to be marinaded too much. just make it slightly milder for a more balanced taste. lastly, out of three types of vegetables, i picked morning glory. it's pretty much bland in taste. i'm sure it's boiled in some type of light broth and that's about it. on the side, fish balls are served to give the simple dish some flavoring.

lastly, i ordered a deep fried fish ball. it is different from the ones i mentiond above because it has a lot more ingredients in each ball. the dish comes with an oyster dipping sauce. yes, sodium high isn't over yet, haha. the sauce is pretty salty but that's normal for a sauce like this. the fried fish balls had a pretty nice flavor to it and with this sauce, i think it is just a tad bit overboard.

anyways, places like this isn't design for top notch quality. like i said before, it's basically like most fast food in america, where it's cheap, fast and good enough for you to swallow. like i mention plenty of times, every remark i make can differ each and everyday. restaurants like probably don't have that consistency with every minor detail. so if one day it's negative, the next could be positive. plus, so much more on the menu i need to try! but for now, with what i've tried so far, i give it a...

< 3 out of 5 >