{Tea diaries}

I always look forward to my foodie friend's birthday in mid-July~ he always try to organise a themed celebration dinner, and this year, the star of the show is yellow-oil crab. Yellow-oil crab is only in season in the summer, between the lunar months of May to August. These are deformed crabs, which had been exposed to the sun and heat so much in the summer that their fat (roe) turns into a liquid form, which rolls throughout their whole body.



There are three grades of yellow-oil crab, so classified depending on the amount of fat within their body. In general I prefer hairy crab over yellow-oil crab, as the chef's skills very much determine how tasty your yellow-oil crab is. Last time I tried one in Lei Yu Mun, it was first chilled in ice water and then steamed, which is one of the most popular method, but resulted in all the yellow-oil turned into a boring hard solid form, that's not different from your normal mud crab. This time, my friend hosted his dinner at Fu Sing in Wan Chai, which has fast emerged as one of the top tier restaurants in HK. I walked in with low expectations in spite of its good name, as I said, yellow-oil crab is normally not my cup of tea.

C’est bon! is located in Tsing Yi, one of the satellite developments in the New Territories of HK. Before your mind goes completely blank and dismiss this area, recall your Airport Express journey from the airport, and you'd remember that first station it stops at is called Tsing Yi, yup, that's where we went..

Must admit that I rarely venture out to the dark side, let along the New Territories… so imagine my surprise when my friend told me that you have to book at least three weeks in advance for a weekday booking for C’est bon!, a newly opened fine dining French restaurant in Tsing Yi. Knowing little about the place, except that it is a branch of the extremely popular original C'est bon! in Bangkok, we held our Octopus cards in hand and made an outing all the way to NT.

We were very impressed with the light, French bistro style decor of the place, with full-length glass windows on the far side of the restaurant overlooking a calm sea. We felt transformed to one of those sidewalk bistros in Europe, and were only brought back to earth by the tacky saying plastered on the plates in front of us... =)

Somehow I always assumed that Tapas Bar would be situated on the top floor of Kowloon Shangri-la, as people keep mentioning its gorgeous night view. Imagine my surprise when I realised it was located close to the lobby on the ground floor. The place had a chic, modern feel to it, with wine bottles filing up one side of the wall, the open-style kitchen at one end, and the bar at the other end. For those in search of a view you would not be disappointed by the full-length glass windows which give you an unobstructed panaromic view of the georgeous Victoria Harbour. 



Tapas Bar specialises in New World wines and what else, tapas - we had a special treat the night of our visit, as it was doing a promotion on Aussie oysters and wine for the month of June. We took on the waitress' expert advice and ordered a few different oysters to try out with our refreshing white wine.

Craving for some pho the other night, we decided to have Vietnamese for dinner last Friday. Since we were catching a late night movie at IFC, our restaurant choice was restricted to the Central area. The options as we realised were extremely limited- with Song being too far away and Na Trang not suited for a long relaxing dinner, we settled on an old fave- Indochine in California Tower.



It's been a while since my last visit, my first impression when walking in was that while it looked broadly the same as before, the place was a bit worn down. It was also unnecessarily ill lit up (reason for the horrible and few pics here) ... Sorry but the rattan chairs really did not evoke a romantic feeling, if that'hs what was intended. Another discomforting sign was that the place was swamped with Westerners... Makes one wonder whether the cuisine was authenic or not.

While waiting for my friends, I nibbled on the prawn crackers, which were crispy and fresh, alleviating some of my concern.

My friend has been raving about this little gem in SoHo for a while, but only managed a visit recently when looking for a quick bite before movie the other night. Tuk-Tuk Thai is located close to the Central wet market, and is a stone’s throw from Mizu, with little signage, it is easy to miss.



We warmed to the place immediately when we entered, with simple and rustic furniture and sparsely decorated, the place was welcoming and cosy like a friend’s apartment. The waitresses were all Thai-looking, which is always a positive, although the clientele was predominantly foreigners, which was a tiny warning signal to us. We were skeptical to the notice that said "No MSG!" on the front window, but settled in quickly.

Here's an entry from the previous food blog that HKFoodie and I started... glimpsed through it and seems most of the suggestions remain appropriate for this summer. Take advantage of the fantabulous weather that has re-emerged recently!

@ the beach... in HK August 23, 2004

With summer flying by and gloom weather abound... here's a selection of restaurant/ food suggestions for when your stomach starts grumbling while lazing around various beaches in HK...

Enjoying a budget dinner in Central sounds like an oxymoron - especially around the IFC/ LKF area. Am determined to seek out all the resonably priced restaurants that serve good food within the Central region for our late night dining purposes. Am happy to say HKUAA proves to be one of the rare few that's left standing. HKUAA stands for Hong Kong University Alumni Association, and is meant to serve as a meeting place and gathering point for the alumni of HKU. This place has been in existence for the longest time, but never gathered momentum until last year, when it managed to poach the second-in-command of Luk Yu Tea House over as its head chef. Since, it has been serving the latter's signature dish at a discount, and was an instant success overnight. Even the real alumni couldn't manage a reservation. Rumour has it that earlier this year, that chef left and the standard plummeted, so it is much easier to get a place now. Given I am a fan of Luk Yu, I decided to try it out for a recent friends' gathering to compare the two.



And the answer to your most obvious question is no, you do not need to be an alumni or to have a membership card to dine here. In fact, no one ever asked me for any details when I made the reservation.

One late Friday evening with no particular destination in mind, we drove aimlessly past the cross harbour tunnel in search of dinner. Being a bit more adventurous, we headed all the way to Sha Tin for Lung Wah and its famous pigeons. (see my friend with her flying pigeon below!)

Those that are from HK will most likely have been to Lung Hwa at least once in their lives, likely when they were young as kids ( if you were my age). Back then, as the traffic system wasn't as well developed as now, we always got very excited with this big outing all the way into nowhere. Catering to crowds like ourselves, Lung Wah, perched on the side of a hill, built a small playground out front, raising peacocks and pigeons (what else!) in cages and also incorporating an outdoor mah jong area for the adults. Our revisit this time round sees these facilities sadly either have been boarded up or poorly maintained. After going past the long and empty corridor, we were greeted by a bustling dining hall, our appetite kept growing as we saw the endless plates of pigeon being brought in while we waited for a table.

In addtion to the normal roasted pigeons and pigeons braised in soy sauce, it was amusing to see that Lung Hwa had been creative and now includes variations such as Korean-style spicy pigeons. We played safe and ordered the trustworthy roasted pigeons. While there is only a HK$5 difference between the regular and large size pigeons, we opted for the regular, as the younger version normally is more tasty with a more tender texture. (I know this sounds cruel and heartless but the same applies for many other meat that you eat right?)

Wonder if it were Sha Tin pricing but the beer was outrageously cheap at HK$18 a large bottle we couldn't resist not ordering it. The dishes are priced affordably at HK$50-80, which is hard on HK Island. Cheers & the obligatory victory sign!

Dreading the crowds at Stanley for dragon boat racing, we decided to stay in town for a leisurely lunch on Dragon's Boat Festival. The Folks comes highly recommended by my friend, who just went there the past weekend and was raving non-stop about it.



The Folks occupies the top floor of Coda Plaza, which has now become a quasi shopping mall for the nearby expats with a number of restaurants, facial salons, and food deli moving in (il Bel Paese, Hitakacho, Lulu, Cotton House etc to name a few). Tastefully decorated with Chinese dark wood furniture, The Folks has a panaromic view overlooking the nearby Hong Kong Park and Victoria Harbour. Even though we arrived at two, the place was still bustling with both local and expat patrons.

A couple of people have been recommending Café O to me as an alternative to The Flying Pan, but I have been hesitant to visit every time I walked past its Arbuthnot Road outlet. Somehow, I just couldn’t associate a relaxed brunch with the high, uncomfortable stools I see inside the shop. Finally decided to try it out one lazy Saturday afternoon when my friend mentioned Café O has opened a new branch in Sheung Wan.



This Café O occupies the ground and first floor of a hip service apartment block close to the Sheung Wan MTR station – settling in comfortably amongst the surrounding mom and pop stores 

After our recent Sai Kung outing (see the Chuen Kee entry by HKFoodie) in the pouring rain, a few of us had been craving for good seafood ever since. So I did some rummaging online, and unearthed this gem in Causeway Bay – Yuet Wah Hui Seafood Restaurant. And I'm happy to say, we all came out of the restaurant satisfied and eager for the next visit.




On the outside, the restaurant looked plain and annoymous, the same could be said for the inside - there were only around ten tables and decoration was simple and bare. Arriving on a rainy Wednesday night, we were surpirsed the place was already filled up and glad that I decided to make a booking in the end. Was slightly worried, by the looks of the place and the clientele, that the food may turn out to be so-so, but doubts were quickly put off when my friends raved about the small complimentary dish of honeyed walnuts with seasame seeds, which they quickly cleaned out saying it's very fresh and crunchy tasting. (I don't like walnuts so didn't try it). While they were pigging out, I did the ordering, rattling off a list of signature food items I collected from reading other people's food reviews.

  

Plusses:
- Comfy and huge rooms (and slippers)
- Spectacular view from the bathroom
- Service impeccable, and concierge knowledgeable and more importantly helpful. My friend once, in his rushed travelling, got them to get two bottles of kaya spread, one each from Killiney's and Ah Yun, on very short notice! (PS Thanks, that was very kind of you~)

My colleague passed me this brightly colored leaflet the other day introducing a new soup delivery service in Central called Soup Sense. This came at just the right time as I was on the verge of collapsing from an overdose on Canteen (try 3 meals a day at least 5 times a week). Checked out their website (http://www.soupsense.com/eng/index.aspx), and was tempted by the selection of colorful and wholesome looking soup choices on offer. The emphasis was on hearty, home-cooking style and nutritional lunch with no MSG (yah!). 

    Choice of soup         +       Steamed rice    OR       Italian bread      +    Fruit cup            = HK$68
   +      OR      +    

Ever since Eating Plus was forced out of IFC from the high rent, we have been eagerly awaiting for its replacement - Union Bar and Grille of the Dan Ryan's Group - to begin operations. Was disappointed on my recent visits (both lunch & dinner) - and to summarise as my friend appropriately put it - a total replica of Dan Ryan's, coupled with a lack of character and much reduced menu. Because there wasn't much to try out, this is just a brief quickie review...

While Dan Ryan's takes its inspiration from a 1940's Chicago bar and Grille, with lots of memorabilia reminiscent of the "vintage Chicago night life (whatever that is), we couldn't really decipher what Union is meant to depict - The Union Square? Apparently - it's trying to recreate the MPD of New York - yup, the Meat Packing District! I could never have guessed in a million years~ although I do adore the candle lamps hanging low from the ceiling and the comfy leather chairs.

It is notoriously difficult to get a booking for Lei Garden's IFC branch- weekdays weekend lunch or dinner. I know someone who actually block-booked a table for lunch for a whole week two months in advance in order to secure seats. In spite of the complaints that one hear about the place - saying the service was rude, the quality fluctuates tremendously day by day, and that it always run out of food listed on the menu (Once I went for dinner and of the 10 boiled soup, only 1 was available) - the masses just keep revisiting. Went there recently for lunch (two days in a row actually~ see how thorough we are!!!) to check it out to see if it is worth all the fuss.




As there were 8 of us, we ordered a wide variety of dishes from the dim sum sheet, in addition to a rice and a noodle dish to share. In general, we were impressed with the quality, as the food tasted as if it was freshly prepared rather than re-heated. I particularly enjoyed the pan-fried turnip cakes, which not only was fried to perfection, but was full of bits and pieces of fillings, which is becoming a rarity these days.

When we first heard Illy opened a restaurant outlet in Lan Kwai Fong Tower, the latest foodie building in Central, we thought this was going to be a styled like a cafe, serving mainly cakes & snacks with coffee, like the ones we have tried abroad.



We quickly realised how wrong the assumption was when stepping into the restaurant for the first time - the place was set out in three distinct zones, a loung area with comfy sofas next to the windows, the sleek bar section with racks of alcohol placed behind it, and an enclaved proper sit-down area. Weather permitting, we were seated in the small balconey that overlooks the busy streets of LKF. Must say that while appreciating the rare outdoor experience in LKF, I'd very much prefer the terrace at FINDS, the Scandinavian restaurant a floor above, which was much more open and comfy. Here, it felt a bit awkward being right on top of the staircase leading down from Wyndham Street.

Londoners would remember Vingt-Quartre on Fulham Road, a fave late night haunt esp for those of us who live around the area, as it was opened 24/7 and more importantly, was one of the very few places in London that served Banoffee Pie (and really good one as well)... close to the K bar, many minor celebrities & royalties also frequented the cafe, including Prince Charming Harry. Here in Hong Kong, unless one is up for some Tsui Wah, kebabs and the hot dog stand close to the escalator have always been the only alternatives. Good news is, recently, two 24/7 cafes have opened near LKF, Cafe O close to Backroom, and also The Flying Pan on Old Bailey. I dropped by for a visit this past sunny Sunday to try out their all day breakfast.



Got a bit worried when I saw groups of people gathering round outside the busy diner waiting for tables. Luckily, the hostess quickly seated us at the bar, while the bigger groups had to wait for another ten to twenty minutes, as the whole place could only seat around 50 at most. As one would expect, various combinations of breakfast food items like ham, bacon, eggs, and sausages dominated the menu, in addition to omelettes and steak varieties.

To celebrate the visit of our friends from London (albeit with no souvenirs), we decided to try out a private kitchen in Wan Chai – Gitone Fine Arts – which, by day, is a ceramics gallery that also offers pottery classes. In the evenings, the gallery transforms into a cosy private kitchen, where it can serve four tables of 10-12 guests. Thoughtfully, all the dishes were served using Gitone’s own homemade pottery.

We opted for the Shanghainese menu, which included eight small appetizer dishes and eight main courses. The selection of small appetizers was extremely well received, with a good variety including crunchy jellyfish shreds, flavorsome smoked fish, silky smooth tofu cubes, aromatic drunken chicken, delicate vegetarian duck, crispy cucumber slices, and tasty eggplants in sauce.

Lack of restaurant choices was one of our top complaints when we first moved into IFC2... but slowly and gradually, building mgmt has outfitted the shopping mall with quite a selection of high-end restaurants, geared primarily to the corporate customers. Harlan's is definitely one of them. With its magnificent view of the harbour in the long rectangular shaped restaurant and modern, sleek decor, it sure deserves its popularity amongst those to see and be seen.

One would definitely feel Harlan's presence in the restaurant, of Aberdeen Marina Club fame, he is not a head chef that just hides in the kitchen, but likes to mingle with the guests, sharing his recommendations and daily highlights.

On our recent lunch visit, every single one of us opted for the set lunch, with the focus on the appetizer buffet on display right at the entrance area. Similar to Isola, Harlan's offers relatively large selection of fresh produce like parma ham with melon, salads, salmon appetizer in a spoon, and even sushi and maki rolls... this received the thumbs up from us~ with the only complaint being we filled ourselves up with too much too quickly.

With only 45min to spare before the movie, we opted for a quick bite at Sabah in Wan Chai... been reading quite a few good reviews about the place's authenticity so was quite looking forward to it. It's difficult to miss right next to one of the more established nightspots (Neptune II) in the more hustle bustle area in Wan Chai. My review is quite mixed- a couple dishes exceeded expectations, while the rest were only soso...

We ordered quite a large selection - nonya squid, chicken masala, roti chanai, egg chanai, and nasi lemak. Nonya squid, the first dish to arrive (see picture), was very tasty and flavoursome, setting expectations high. The nasi lemak was also relatelively well received. However, the roti chanai and egg chanai failed to impress and were left largely untouched. Dry and not crispy enough, somehow it felt like the food had been prepared the night before. The chicken masala was a bit too oily and lacking in spices.

Teh tarik has always been one of my favourite drinks (along with a kaya toast), and at Sabah, it came with the usual made on the spot gimmick. The taste was quite disappointing~ a bit too sweet and not very silky and smooth in texture. Neither of us managed to finish our drink.