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 >

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 >

Saint's Alp Teahouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >

Chili N Spice

> Location : Shop 117, Podium Level 1, The Westwood,
8 Belcher's St., Sai Wan, Hong Kong
> Cuisine : Thai fused with Singaporian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese
> Tel. # : (852) 2542-7777
> Website : http://kingparrot.com/eng/theme_chilli1_hk.php

Sorry it has been awhile, haha. but i gotta apologize again! since these two restaurants were unexpected visits, i didn't bring my camera with me =( however, i managed to take pictures with my camera phone with one place but the other i had to use my brother's which is low res. anyhow, i'll be visiting this place more times in the near future anyways so i'll surely replace them with better quality ones!

chili n spice is part of the king parrot group, which comprises of all sorts of cuisines from russian to shanghainese. chili n spice alone has four other branches: causeway bay, stanley, shatin, and tseung kwan o. when i first stepped into this place, there were a lot of nice decorations all around. the place is fairly big with a lower level and a higher level of seating. when i say higher level, it doesn't mean second story, but just a few steps higher up. the waitress' i had contact with all seem to be of thai or indonesian decent and their attitudes and service were overall very positive.

i ordered three things. firstly, i went with the tom yum gong as a soup starter. like thai simple kitchen which i reviewed the other week, they added some prawns in the soup. ingredient wise, it was pretty much the same (the usual coconut milk, basil leafs, mushrooms, etc). taste wise, there certainly is a difference. while simple thai had a more sour taste, chili n spice was a bit less sour yet you can sense a sweeter sensation. seriously, i wish to know what exactly is the standard for this thai soup. but judging it in a more artistic sense, chili n spice's tom yum gong is certainly in its own position because of the sweeter taste. note, the sweetness is not so much where it overwhelms the sourness. after all, the sour taste is the highlight of this and many thai soups. in the end, i definitely give this soup a go for ordering.

the second thing i ordered is the sauteed thai baby cabbage with black mushrooms. baby cabbage is a less common vegetable so check with your waiter before ordering! according to my brother, they don't always have this dish because of the baby cabbage. the reason for this (i believe) is because cabbages are a seasonal vegetable. they tend to do better in cooler weather and since it's still consider summer time right now, the heat won't help most of the cabbage crops. the base sauce of this dish is very much like a lot of thai sauteed style vegetable (e.g. morning glory). a bit salty but the baby cabbage's sweetness blends in well. the slices of carrots added into the dish also helped balance the taste. the black mushrooms were also very good. they were nice and juicy and easily bite into. i must say, besides morning glory, if you ever get a chance to order thai style baby cabbage, do it! yes, i know it's just vege, but this is vege that will make your mouth water!

on the side i want to discuss about presentation. this place doesn't give up on anything when it comes to presentation from what i see. the menu is very colorful and i could tell from it the plates and platters they use to hold their food are all very creative and unique. looking around the other tables definitely tell me so.

to connect this thought, our final dish is the chicken green curry with pumpkin and coconut milk. they also have a similar dish next to this one called duck green curry with lychee and coconut milk. both sounded very tempting but i had to go with the pumpkin since i have a lot of experience with thai curry and fruits before. first of all, presentation wise, they used this clay pot made into a shape of a chicken. obviously very unique. yes, chicken holding chicken, haha. this dish definitely is not mild at all. it is not super spicy but still enough where you need to drink some of the ice water here and there. besides the title of the dish, other known used ingredients are eggplants, basil leafs and this one round/green vegetable is used (i really want to figure out what this round green thing is! it's like the size of a cherry tomato but it's green and not as sour as a tomato). the chicken was cooked just right. not a minute more in fact. it seemingly had a raw texture to it but it is cooked of course. so it had a chewy texture when bite into. the green curry was spicy and sweet due to the coconut milk and probably some from the pumpkin. the eggplant, pumpkin and other vegetable were very soft and hold most of its taste from the cooking process. i think the overall combination of these ingredients are done very well. however, i personally would like to see this dish having a stronger taste to it. perhaps a little bit more sweeter in the green curry would do the job right. the green curry i had at central is the perfect example of what i think is green curry done right. however, take nothing away from chili n spice's green curry. the presentation and combination of ingredients is certainly a boost. taste is good but like i said sweeter would make it more memorable in my opinion.

in the end, chili n spice gave me a overall good first impression. there are still a lot i need to try from this place! the green curry just didn't quite get me going. so i couldn't give this place that extra half a point. the dish is still good! but not in the excellent status. for now, i give this place...

< 3 1/2 out of 5 >