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!

Yang Jiaz Huang

> Location : Shunde, Guangdong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Shunde style lamb
> Tel. # : (86) 0757-22661191
> Website : N/A

Specialty restaurants are always quite interesting. They are designed to use a certain type of ingredients throughout every dish. A good example would be The Stinking Rose located in Beverly Hills, California. Pretty much every dish in this restaurant is emphasized with garlic even in its ice cream! So what is Yang Jiaz Huang's specialty? Lamb! In Shun De, there are a few of these seasonal restaurants that only serves lamb dishes. Seasonal as of in they open starting around mid September to early October because this is when lamb is fresh into the market. Yang Jiaz Huang is the first to open this season so I had to give it a try!

Yang Jiaz Huang is a big place with many private seating rooms. In each room, the center of the table has a portable stove to place a pot for hot potting your lamb and other dishes. For each individual, two small dipping sauces are given. The first comes with fermented bean curd, chili sauce and about a few teaspoons of oil. You need to mix it together in order to use it. The second sauce is vinegar base with green onions, sesame oil and cilantro. Both sauces are used according to your own preferences but usually the vinegar base one is for dishes that lack sauces like an eastern mountain lamb dish I will be talking about later.

The first thing to start off with is lamb hotpot style. Decent quality of lamb. Using the fermented bean curd sauce is best with this dish. The taste is define but is best if you rely on the bean curd sauce. Since it is hotpot after all, a lot of adding and subtracting from the hot is occurring, so dip accordingly. Quality wise, according to my father who is experienced with eating these lamb specialty restaurants here in Shun De, it is decent but not the best. There are various types of vegetables you get to choose from to hotpot, ranging from lettuce to chinese squash to many others. All were very fresh and nothing to complain about. It is always nice to order some vegetables to balance the meal since there is so much meat!

The next dish is a lettuce base, marinaded lamb with green onions and crushed peanuts on top. Texture wise, it was slightly sticky. It held a slightly define taste and not too salty. It was decent overall and goes well with the bean curd sauce again. What do Simon mean by define? Again let me explain what I mean by define if you haven't read my other reviews before. When I say define, that means throughout the first bite up to swallowing, you can savor a unique taste or combination of tastes. So, basically not something that you eat and cannot hold a memory in your head. Also, depending on the cuisine, this word can vary.

Last by not least, I want to share with you my favorite dish. In literal translation, this dish is called eastern mountain lamb. From the name, you can easily guess that it is lamb from the eastern mountains in China. The dish is served pretty much steamed (but left out to cool a bit first) but alone without sauce, it held a definite define taste of lamb which indicates its freshness. This dish in particular goes well with the vinegar base sauce because of the lack of sauce when it is cooked. The concept here is very much like "lo shui" dishes using a vinegar base sauce for dipping. Traditionally, a lot of little sauce or no sauce cold Chinese dishes that requires dipping goes well with vinegar base sauces because vinegar heightens the taste of the core ingredients of the dish. In our case, the lamb. Therefore, this is a delicate lamb experience where the prime activity is not to savor a dish's sauce + core ingredient + extra ingredients but to taste one core ingredient only, heighten through vinegar, and lamb meat sensation in all its glory!

A dish like the above is a true example of how eaters these days are swayed away from the quality, freshness and taste of a dishes core ingredient. Through fancy sauces and decorations, it covers up the quality of the meat (for example) and make us forget what is important. A true Chinese food fanatic would consider freshness of the core ingredients of the dish according to the ingredient's respective seasonal growth and regional freshness. Say for example, taro and lamb is a seasonal product and does very well starting around September and chicken in Hong Kong aren't as tasty and fresh compared to Mainland China.

Anyways, getting back on track, Yang Jiaz Huang is a overall decent place. Being the earliest to open out of all the lamb specialty restaurants in Shun De, the quality of the lamb would certainly be questionable. But after experiencing it, I can truly say it is acceptable although there is better according to what people tell me. That shouldn't discount this place as time rolls through. The quality of lamb could definitely get better as this fall/winter season rolls through. So give it a try for yourself!

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Jin Yan Zhou

> Location : Shunde, Guangdong, Mainland China
> Cuisine : Shunde (Chinese)
> Tel. # : (86) 0757-2226-1111
> Website : N/A

In Shunde, Guangdong, the people there are all about food and they aren't kidding at all! To me, about 85% of the places I've been to have served at least a few great dishes if not all. Basically, a taste that will imprint a strong positive memory into your head just about everytime. Of course, nothing is perfect like today I went to a Chinese restaurant within Century Hotel of Shun De that served the worst dim sum and noodles I have ever ate. Not only Shun De, I'll admit, out of everything I've review so far, this is the worst ever so obviously there isn't a review of this place, haha. On the upside, the hotel and garden is really beautiful indeed.

Going back to the main topic, so this review must be one of the restaurants contributing to the 85% of the good places I've been to right?? Of course! This place is call Jin Yan Zhou. The restaurant is fairly big with private rooms also like most Mainland Chinese restaurants. From various Shun De cuisine to some dim sum selections (afternoon to dinner hours but more in the morning) such as pan fried turnip cake, Jin Yan Zhou has a wide range of selections. For my outing, I went with some unique choices...

Starting off with some dim sum, there's the pan fried taro strips wrapped in rice flour with sesame. American is to potato and Chinese is to taro, taro is an important aspect to chinese cuisine. It is quite popular these days to get pan fried taro in strips. The difference to me is that with strips, the taro is more fried because of the holes therefore the eating sensation is like strip by strip instead of a whole chunk of taro. Also, I think you get a better flavor out of the taro from a whole chunk pan fried instead of in strips. Nevertheless, it is still quite good along with the sweetness of the sesame rice flour wrapped around the edges served with hot sauce. The sesame rice flour is a good creative idea for this dim sum when usually it's just plain taro strips pan fried.

The next dish is braised lamb pot. Besides lamb, the visable ingredients are green onions, ginger, garlic and lettuce base. Since lamb/goat season is about here, ordering lamb is a good idea because most likely it'll be fresh instead of frozen for sometime. The lamb is fairly tender and holds a good lamb flavor to it. It has that distinct flavor from beef. So if you know this well, next time you eat lamb and you taste little or not at all, you know your lamb has been frozen for quite sometime. Overall, a passing dish.

Next up, pan fried fish mouth. This is one of my favorite dish in this review. Basically, most of the portions around the head of the fish is pan fried along with ginger, green onion, red pepper, green pepper and garlic. The bone is still attached to the meat but it's not hard to eat compared to the body because the head bones are big and wide. The fried texture is a nice touch to the dish both looks and taste. Not a lot of meat due to the area of the dish, but tasty and well presented. Order two if you need more! Must order if you go to this place!

Another one of my favorite dishes from this place is the dried silver dish string beans with green onions, dried shrimps, garlic, and dried marinaded pork strips. One of the highlights of this restaurant, this dish's main taste is from the dried silver fish. The taste of the sauce base is right from it also. Although they are merely complements to the string beans, they are important complements helping heighten the experience of the string beans. Kind of like, different types of pickles and congee. The green beans were very fresh and the taste of the sauce from the dried silver fish is this unique fishy, kind of sweet flavor. One of those flavors that burns a mark into your brain! A must order like the above dish!

Second to last we have steam tofu with ground pork ontop. Other ingredients are green onions, red pepper strips and cilantro mostly for garnish. With a soy sauce base, the tofu is merely steamed depending on the soy sauce and the ground pork as flavoring. A very simple dish yet tastes very well. The ground pork (visibly, starch is added for looks and tenderness) and soy sauce is a good complement to the tofu. A lighter dish yet well done!

Lastly, we have a bird dish. Bird? No, we're not talking about ducks or goose or chickens but we're talking about those little birds kind of like the ones chinese people put in those little cages. The dish contains quite a few of them inside. I say about 10 to 15 birds. What type of bird I am not sure but other ingredients are green onion, regular onion, ginger, green and red pepper. This is one of those dishes that require some delicate eating manners. Since the bird is so small, There's more bones than meat. So detaching the meat will be a chore for most. The dish is pretty tasty base on the sauce its cooked in but there isn't much meat to go around and the meat itself isn't too flavorful. There isn't a strong meat taste. What do I mean by that? Kind of like, chicken meat has a unique flavor, beef has a unique flavor, fish has that fishy flavor and so on. Even if you don't know what a certain type of animal taste like, there will always be some distinct flavor to it with every bite and usually never a non-indentifiable taste. If you can't indentify anything, then like always, you can safely conclude it's not fresh/frozen. Overall, nice garnishes with contrast, nice sauce that was cooked in just the bird meat lacks its own distinct flavor to it. When it comes to food in Shun De, even sauce is not going to help you get away from people thinking negatively about the dish. Overall, a passing dish.

In the end, Jin Yan Zhou is a great Shunde restaurant. Even their dim sum (during morning and noon time) are great with various selections, from oily sticks to steamed beef balls. I enjoy their congee especially. They have a lot of different types of congee to choose from including the infamous lean meat with duck egg congee which is really good! Anyways...

< 4 out of 5 >

Itamae-Sushi

> Location : Shop 1-3, G/F., Excelsior Plaza, Yee On Bldg.,
24-26 East Point Rd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Japanese Sushi
> Tel. # : (852) 2110-8504
> Website : N/A

Have you ever been to a restaurant where it's so hard to get table even for 1 or 2 people? Well, I'm not talkin' about like booking a table that is available a few months later like in the movie "lake house." Gosh, if there's a place like that, tell me where! haha. So what exactly am i talkin' about? Itamae-Sushi. There's is no reservations for this place and it's first come first serve base on available seating. For dinner time, it opens around 5:30 PM and there is already a hand full of people waiting to get in. In about another 30 min., expect a whole bunch of people outside getting tickets to wait to get a seat! Base on my multiple experiences, if you want an easier time getting in, go early!

Itamae-Sushi has three locations. The first One is the one I'm reviewing at Causeway Bay and the other two are at Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok, Kowloon. The environment of this place isn't very big but used efficiently. The sushi bar is 360 degrees with multiple sushi chefs at your service. Along with the chefs, there's rotory sushi going around 360 degrees also. Besides the bar, there's also some regular seating on the side. The lighting is somewhat dim and again the space is well used.

What truly makes Itamae-Sushi special isn't just the location (it's right by Sogo and some of the most crowded streets of Causeway Bay), but it is the variety. Besides your usual salmon, tuna, eel, mackerel, yellowtail and so on, you have even more special choices such as striped jack, Japanese jack mackerel, fatty yellowtail, fatty salmon, fatty tuna of two types, rudder fish, salty saury, Japanese flounder and so much more. In addition to fishes, there's also different types of semi-raw japanese beef, horse flesh (yes, horse meat, haha), different types of shell seafood, roasted items, sashimi, handrolls, cut rolls, desserts and so much other stuff I can't list them all! Each table contains four different types of paper menu for you to mark on and some are both sides. They even list the items that are shipped fresh daily from japan! Of course, each table has a regular colored booklet menu to see the pictures and choose some additional items not listed in the paper menus. That truly tells you how much choices you have!

For my outing, i ordered some rudder fish, tuna, Japanese flounder, the fatty tuna with more fat and tendons, fatty yellowtail, Japanese jack mackerel, itamae roll, roasted eel and the 5A Japanese beef. Let me describe as much specific details as I can from each item. The Japanese jack mackerel is somewhat thin, nice and soft like regular mackerel or spanish mackerel. The fatty tuna was nice and fat! I can feel the oily sensation. Fatty yellowtail is a first for me. It was nice and thick with some minor tendons. The rudder fish has some tendons too. None of the fishes simply melted in my mouth which proves its freshness except for the tuna which slightly did but certainly a lot better than a lot of places I had in Southern California! 5A Japanese beef? I believe 5A stands for the quality level of the beef (I didn't get a chance to ask). The beef wasn't completely raw, a nice size not too thin, semi-roasted and had a very juicy, beefy taste to it. It certainly was great! The roasted eel tasted just like what eel should taste like in most Japanese restaurants. As for the Itamae roll, it contained scallop, salmon, salmon roe, and sea urchin (uni). It was one of those thiner, round and bigger type of rolls. Well decorated and tasted good. As for dessert, the pumpkin ice cream! The ice cream literally comes in a pumpkin. The ice cream was nice, cold and not too soft. It holds a milky pumpkin flavor to it. Quality wise, it was an alright amount yet definitely worth it because it isn't expensive and its taste. Most of the fishes served contain at least some nice minor garnish on the side if not some taste complements/garnish ontop of the fish such as wasabi, fried rice flour bits, green onions, specific types of sauces, turnip strips, onion trips, and other things.

Price wise, it is reasonable and for people from the states, you will find it cheap! As low as $9 HKD to $45 HKD for each order for sushi (it's more like $20-30 per order to start out with in the states), handrolls, cut rolls, drinks, desserts, and noodles. For sashimi and other special items, it can go as high as a hundred to a few hundred HKD per order. Some are simply 2 pieces and some are more. Overall, the quantity and extra quality (because it is sashimi) justifies the cost.

Price, variety, quality and location. What more can you ask for? I am certain if you pay a bit to a grip more, you can find even better quality but not too much better (where a typical eater can't tell the difference) in Hong Kong. Yet, the price and quality ratio is very good along with the variety and location. The only negative thing is the waiting if you go late but that is normal because of its popularity. I've been to some well-decorated high class looking Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong and base on its freshness, price, choices, it's just horrible. I don't need to go any further because I am sure you get my point about this place! Itamae-Sushi is a great place if you consider all these factors I just listed. A must visit for anybody in Hong Kong!

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >

Augustin's Waffles

> Location : Times Square, Basement 1, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Belgium Waffles
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : http://www.citysuper.com.hk/

Usually when it comes with waffles or even pancakes, almost anybody would think of it as breakfast food only. But waffles as a snack? In Europe, it is a totally different situation! Augustin Peiffer, the man behind Augustin's Waffles, teamed up with City Super to bring these pleasant aroma, tasty Liege (Belgium) waffles to Hong Kong! This decision was based on the "Best of Belgium" event at City Super back in 2005. Since the unveiling of Augustin's Waffles at that event, City Super now host these delicious waffles at the Times Square (Casueway Bay) and New Town Plaza (Shatin) City Super outlets.

To bring you the best traditional Belgian waffles, fresh yeast and smelted caramelized pearl sugar are used to make the waffles on the spot! Everytime you walk by the Augustin's Waffles booth, you can't help but notice the pleasant aroma of the waffles. For $15 HKD a piece about the size of adult male's hand, it really isn't bad! I suggest you to wait for the freshly cooked waffles instead of the ones that are already cooked and put on the side. Even though they reheat the waffle on the waffle maker for the ones placed on the side, I think the ones right off the waffle makers tastes much better because it's toasty, the texture and slight heighten sweetness. The ones reheated gets a bit dry which makes the eating experience dull. So make sure you wait for the ones that are still cooking!

< 4 out of 5 >

Delifrance

> Location : 1/F, Shui on Centre, 6-8 Harbour Rd., Wanchai
(check website for other locations)
> Cuisine : French deli, coffee and Bakery
> Tel. # : (check website)
> Website : http://www.delifrance.com.hk/

Many locations throughout Hong Kong, Delifrance is a massive chain serving various types of coffee (espresso, cappuccino, latte, etc), bakery items (cakes, cookies, tarts, bread, viennoiseries, etc) and food (sandwiches, soup, salad, pasta, pizza, etc). From Hong Kong Island to Kowloon to New Territories, Delifrance is hard to miss with so many locations. Sometimes Delifrance to me is almost like another Star Bucks. Why? Due to the fact that it isn't hard to find one when you want it! In fact, Delifrance can be found in other parts of the world too! Since this place is so easy to run into, I'm going to make this review short and sweet. I'm going to be specific and talk about one particular sandwich I had a good experience with.

The Delifrance club sandwich is a great sandwich with a lot of ingredients. The ingredients are as follows: 3 slices of whole grain wheat bread, turkey, ham, tomatoes, lettuce, smashed boil eggs, and mustard. This sandwich is not small at all. With 3 large pieces of whole grain wheat bread, you can imagine it to be a decent size. Excluding bacon like most American style club sandwiches, the Delifrance club sandwich is like a health sandwich. You have whole grain wheat bread which is your source of grains and is very healthy. You have your vegetables in lettuce (fiber) and tomatoes (vitamin c). You also have your protein from the eggs. The lack of mayo and bacon helps the sandwich to stay away from all the fat and cholesterol and the sweetness of the whole grain wheat bread along with some mustard is a comparable replacement for the mayo. Taste wise, the highlight to the tongue would be the mustard, ham and turkey. Second in line would be the bread. The bread carries a define grain wheat taste especially in its crust. The crust of the bread is chewy which at first seems kind of annoying. On a personal level, I think it was good that it didn't break easily base on its texture and some entertainment factor if that makes sense at all, haha. It feels like sour dough bread's crust but harder to break. It takes away your usual soft crust sensation giving you that fun to eat experience along with the taste which had a nice, strong grain wheat taste. Yes, it does take a little effort, but in some weird way, I enjoyed it! Here's a good comparison: Beef Jerky.

From my point of view, some people like to stay away from chains because the more there are, the quality gets worst. Yet, base on this one sandwich we discussed here, I think it is safe to deny that comment! This is a great, tasty and light sandwich by Delifrance that anybody should order. Definitely there will be a revisit to this review to help some non-experienced understand better. Heck, even me, haha. Anyhow, hope this helps and my verdict base on this sandwich is...

< 4 out of 5 >

Honeymoon Dessert

> Location : Basement 1, Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese style desserts
> Tel. # : (852) 2917-7233
> Website : http://www.honeymoon-dessert.com/

One of the most famous chinese style dessert here in hong kong uses mango. So mango with what simon? At honeymoon dessert, they provide a mango, pomelo (grapefruit), coconut milk with sago dessert that is very wonderful! So what the heck is sago anyways? Sago is very much like snow bubble at your local refreshment shops that serves boba (tapioca). It is often used in a lot of chinese liquid desserts.

Honeymoon Dessert started in Sai Kung, Hong Kong which is a very beautiful tourist attraction area. Honeymoon Dessert now has multiple locations all over hong kong so it is hard to not experience this place if you live here or come visiting Hong Kong! The one i attended is in Times Sqaure (city super food court) where Curry in a Hurry and Ganpachi ramen are.

Going back to the mango dessert, it holds a refreshing not too sweet yet not too water down flavor. one of those 'just right' taste. The mango is very fresh along with the pomelo. The coconut milk adds that extra kick in the liquid when you eat the dessert and the sago gives your mouth that unique chewy sensation.

So give it a try next time you see Honeymoon Dessert! From sago, to grass jelly to traditional chinese style desserts, don't hesitate because you'll regret it! As a lot would say, there's always room for desserts!

< 4 out of 5 >

Florinda Cafe

> Location : Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Rd.,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Chinese diner dishes, Portuguese custard tarts
> Tel. # : N/A
> Website : N/A

new review :

Rushing out of the house, i didn't get a chance to eat my bowl of "smart start" cereal. as most know, when you skip a meal, your metabolism begins to slow down and by the time your next meal comes, your body will absorb whatever is within your food faster and convert more of it into fat. so takin' the bus that day, to get to the office from the bus stop, you need to walk through shun tak centre. so yeah, Florinda Cafe is right there so i had to get the "po tat" meal, haha. yeah, that's the cantonese's way of sayin portuguese custard tart.

for about 20 dollars, you get two egg white or mixed (egg yolk and white) po tat and a pretty decent size drink. so since im such a health freak usually when it comes to breakfast, i went with two egg whites. so, any different from last time simon?? still crispy, flaky, that shiny semi-burnt texture ontop, the oh-so-sweet-and-tasty egg white filling... just wonderful! so most must be asking me what's different between this and lord stow's and if i'm going to up the score for this place. well, first of all, the score isn't going down. just that, there's this extra charisma, this sensation that is indescribable in lord stow's that macau's is lacking. is this "sensation" a whole 1/2 point or 1 point? i'll say 1/2 which allows me to give this place a new score. for its consistency in pleasuring me with their egg tarts! another thing i want to mention about is, another macau highlight is the porkchop sandwich with crispy bun. this is one thing i want to try one of these days that people emphasize a lot about macau cuisine. so next time you're eating macau cuisine, go try it out!

< 4 1/2 out of 5 >


old review :

So what exactly is a portuguese custard tart? well, if you go to chinese dim sum often enough, you'll order the egg tarts in them rolling carts or people carrying them around on plates. yes, very similar to the one pictured in this entry. besides puff pastry, egg yolk (egg white or both) and sugar usually being the similar ingredients compared to egg tards from dim sum, there are other aspects that make a portuguese custard tart different. here's a list of the usualy ingedients used in most recipes:

1) milk or heavy cream
2) vanilla extract
3) egg yolk or egg white or both
4) slices of puff pastry
5) fine white sugar or sugar syrup
6) cornstarch or plain flour

besides these, there are other unique ingredients people use such as butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, zest of a lemon or orange, honey replacing white sugar or sugar syrup. all these parts give the custard an extra kick to the taste. but in the end, in an aesthetic and taste sense, portuguese custard tart is cooked till it has a little brownness (right before it's burnt) on top of the filling and golden brown texture on the pastry.

so at shun tak centre, which is around sheung wan and central, there's a chain opened by the wife of the centre's owner (btw, this guy has 7 wives. haha). the chain is called Florinda Cafe. it's just a casual restaurant with your usual hong kong diner style food. but for breakfast, the highlight has to be (you guessed it) the portuguese custard tart! so first of all, what is the relationship between the portuguese and macau? well, at one point back in the days, macau was a portuguese settlement. due to the influences of the portuguese settlers, macau's cuisine contain some portuguese influences. one of which is what we've been discussing about! anyhow at Florinda Cafe, the custard is made using typical dim sum egg tard pastry, however, the cooking method and ingredients are the same. crispy, flaky, sweet, the brown texture ontop of the filling is felt and yes, it's wonderful! i need to mention that at macau's, you can get both just the egg yolk version or just plain egg white custards. i'll need to find out where you can get these with the fat puff pastry crust. but for now, go get 'em at macau's restaurant at shun tak centre or check for other locations around hong kong! or if you wish to make them yourself, check out allrecipes.com on how to make their version of portuguese custard tart!

< 4 out of 5 >