August 2012

In Dessert

Miss Lee Cafe: Featured on ‘We Got Married’

August 15, 2012

Miss Lee Cafe has several locations around Korea. Kirby and I were in Myeong-Dong and stumbled upon this location. I was a very rainy day, so we decided to chill out here before finding more food. Miss Lee Cafe specializes in boxed lunches, drinks and desserts.

Miss Lee Cafe was made famous by Korean reality show – We Got Married featuring Yonghwa from CN Blue and Seohyun from SNSD.

What makes this cafe very unique are the hundred and hundreds of love messages scattered throughout the restaurant. It’s a very popular place for couples to dine at during dates. Also, for all the fan-girls that come here because “we got married” featured this cafe.

You can grab a pen, a paper, and a twist tie to create your note. It can be about your friends, loved ones, or whoever.

Here is a shot of a few of them. I have no idea what they say, but I think it must be about love.

This location has a few floors and it’s also self-serve. You order at the counter, grab an electronic device and wait for it to buzz. Once it buzzes, you can walk back to the counter to pick up your order.

Five Taste Sherbert has canned pineapple, cherry tomatoes, kiwis, banana, almonds, peanuts, raisins, and canned peaches over ice. Looks pretty, tastes horrible! Do Koreans not have a variety of fruit? or does this cafe just suck that badly?

The combinations of nuts and fruit did not blend well together, nor were they very fresh. Kirby and I had a very hard time trying to finish this item.

Once the fruits were devoured, this is what was underneath. Gross ice and tomato tasting water.

It also came with some snacks on the side. They tasted very stale. I usually don’t notice stale snacks, but this was VERY stale.

The overall quality in their items are very poor and I would never ever return. The concept is very cool, but with all the cafes in Korea, you can skip this place.

Words of Wisdom:

Just don’t eat here…go inside and take a few pictures and leave
Food is very very terrible

We Rate Miss Lee Cafe:

Address:
Jung-gu, Seoul 199-1 Euljiro 2

Website:

http://www.missleecafe.com/

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In Four Beakers

Minimani: Eating Raw Octopus (Sannakji) in Seoul, Korea

August 14, 2012

Minimani is a restaurant in Myeong-Dong that specializes in grilled meats. Kirby and I met up to venture out to find some raw octopus to eat. We were passing by and saw they had a tank of live octopus, so we were sure they would sell sannakji!

Since it is a BBQ restaurant, all tables do have gas stoves on top. Depending on what you order here, you may or may not need it.

Since we were here only for the raw octopus, we had our side dishes (banchan) on the grill instead.

We were given diced up cabbage with a mayo sauce and kimchi.

Sannakji was on the menu! Yeah! It looks much better in video format since you can see it squirm. The texture was slimy and yes, the octopus does attach to your tongue, inside of your mouth, and teeth. You just need to chew the octopus several times until you are certain the suction cups aren’t working anymore.

If you have had takowasa before at a Japanese restaurant, it’s like that but not spicy and more alive.

Here is the video above! The octopus is alive! In a sense it is dead, but the nerves are still twitching and squirming.

We were given a mixture of sesame oil, salt and pepper to drip the octopus into. It complimented to raw taste quite nicely.

Here is video proof that I ate it. Its really was fun and tasted good! If you are ever in Korea, give it a try! Have you had Sannakji before?

We Rate Minimani:

Address:
199-44, Euljiro2-ga, Jung-gu,, Seoul, South Korea

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In Japanese

Kibo Restaurant and Lounge: New Restaurant in Yaletown

August 13, 2012

Foodology Disclaimer: We were approached by the owner of Kibo Restaurant & Lounge to preview a few dishes. Although the meal was complimentary, the views and opinions expressed are entirely our own.

On July 26th, Foodology.ca was invited out to Yaletown along with Raymond, Sherman, Rick, Kevin, Janice, Romina and Grace to have dinner at Kibo Restaurant and Lounge. As a new addition to the Yaletown area, we were eager to see how Kibo intended to approach Japanese fusion cuisine and at what level of quality.

To start the meal off, we were served negitoro on thinly toasted pieces of bread. The fatty tuna with chopped green onion was fresh and went well with the toasted bread. A nice start to the meal.

The first main dish of the evening was the Kibo Sashimi Platter. Served on a bed of crushed ice with distinct sauces for each fish type, I found the cuts of sashimi quite fresh and inherently flavorful. As a bit of a sashimi purist however, I would have liked to see the actual sauces served separately but overall a pretty good offering.

The next two dishes that came together were the Kibo Salad and Beef Carpaccio. The salad was very fresh and quite sweet with a generous allotment of mango. Salad lovers will love the fresh greens which are complimented well by fresh cuts of tuna, salmon and creamy avocado. I felt the sauce was applied a little too liberally but wasn’t that bad in small portions.

The beef carpaccio was served with a cheese based, wasabi dressing that received mixed feelings from me. I enjoyed the subtle hit of the wasabi with each bite but the cheese component kind of threw me. The beef itself was sliced nicely and tasted wonderful but the sauce may have been better if it had been kept slightly more simple.

The chikuwa cheese dish looked amazing but ended up just tasting alright. The fish cake was quite tender but the actual batter was not as crispy as I would have liked. Again, the addition of cheese to this dish was slightly puzzling to me as it did not really strengthen the overall dish.

One of the most visually stunning dishes of the evening had to be the plate of Assorted Nigiri Sushi. Unfortunately, due to the large group I was in, I only got to taste 1/2 of one piece of nigiri so I cannot competently review this dish in its entirety. The 1/2 piece of tuna sushi I tried was nice but I will have to return to Kibo in the future to properly review this entire dish.

The next two hot kitchen items that followed the sushi plate were both very good. To be quite honest, you can rarely go wrong with short ribs and bacon wrapped ebi. The ribs were tender and very tasty and same for the shrimp skewers. The bacon itself was not that crispy but quite fatty which really infused the ebi with that smoky, bacon flavor. Overall, two very good kitchen items to order along with sushi.

To follow the above two meat dishes came 4 or 5 different specialty sushi rolls. These were intentionally ordered to showcase Kibo’s creativity with the traditional sushi format. First up was the Hamilton Roll which is basically a standard dynamite roll with slices of sashimi on top. I really like dynamite rolls and prawn tempura/sashimi in general so this roll was an easy favorite for me.

The next roll was the Volcano Roll which was probably the most visually/texturally unique roll of the evening. The fairly traditional roll was deep-fried and then sliced which cased the entire outer surface in a crispy, tempura type shell. The actual layer was not as crispy as I thought it would be but still a very interesting take on a sushi roll.

The third roll we tried was the Caterpillar Roll which again was basically a dynamite roll but with avocado and unagi on top. This roll definitely felt very luxurious with the creamy avocado and super tender unagi. I actually really liked this roll regardless of its bizarre name.

The fourth roll we tried was the Philadelphia Roll. As you may have guessed, this roll is named as such because it has cream cheese inside. For the sushi purists out there, this is definitely one of the more progressive fusion rolls out there. Similar to the salmon cream cheese roll at Kamei Royale, you will either love or hate this roll. I thought it was ok but generally I am not a fan of cheese in sushi.

The fifth and final roll of the night was the aptly named Mango Roll. Essentially a dynamite roll with mango, this roll was pleasantly sweet but the mango unfortunately made the rice a little bit soggy. An interesting roll but one I would not order again. Many of Kibo’s specialty rolls seem to simply be standard rolls with something on top which was a little disappointing to me. For a professed Japanese Fusion restaurant, I would have liked to see significantly more innovation in the menu.

At this point in the meal, there was a small lull in service so I actually thought the dinner was over. Amazingly enough, not only was the meal not over but there were 4 more dishes to be had! I was quite full at this point in the evening so this may have impacted my desire to eat further. That said, I really enjoyed the Grilled Sablefish and Kibo Beef dishes. The Sablefish was very tender and flaky and prepared very simply on a bed of vegetables. The beef was very moist and flavorful, infused with a great sauce. Unfortunately I found the Australian Rack of Lamb to be dry and generally unappetizing. We were all a little baffled why this was being served at Kibo as it didn’t seem very good or Asian in any way.

The last dish of the evening turned out to be one of the best dishes of the evening! Served in a traditional Japanese tea pot, the Kibo Seafood Dobin was a beautiful pure, clean broth infused with a variety of fish, mussels, clams etc. Somebody remarked that the broth would make for an amazing hot pot and I have to agree. Although I was only able to sample a small cup, the broth was simply amazing and refreshing. A fantastic end to a very long and generously endowed meal.

To wrap up with a few final thoughts, I was quite tough on Kibo in the above review but I genuinely did enjoy the experience. As the establishment is so new, I felt obligated to be brutally honest so that they can continue to refine their menu and get better as they find their identity in the Yaletown area. So close to the much heralded Aburi giant Minami, Kibo definitely has their work cut out for them even though their prices are markedly more affordable. I enjoyed many of the dishes I tried and can definitely see potential and room to improve in many others.

Words of Wisdom:

For hot dishes, you can not go wrong with the short ribs and bacon wrapped ebi
A large assortment of sushi rolls but many are hit and miss
Seafood dobin is amazing and a must try!

We Rate Kibo Restaurant & Lounge:

Address:
1261 Hamilton St.
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6B 5P6

Website:
http://kibolounge.com/

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In Insadong

Insadong: Finding Sikhye in Ssamziegil and the Famous Starbucks

August 13, 2012

In Vancouver, Insadong is just a Korean restaurant, but in Korea, it’s an awesome shopping/eating area. During my time in Korea, I knew I had to wander down this street. People have said it’s a good place to buy old antiques and folk items. Walking around this area, I found it to be a little bit pricey compared to other areas.

Walking down the street, I stumbled upon Ssamziegil, an outdoor shopping area that has a spiral walkway all the way up to the top of the building. There are a lot of unique shops, galleries, and restaurants!

It was a very hot day so I needed a drink to cool down. I spotted a shot on the bottom floor selling Sikhye. Sikhye is a sweet traditional Korean drink.

Sikhye is made from rice and sugar water. It very delicious and refreshing! Very healthy for you too. Apparently good for digestion.

In the drink, you can see the little grains of rice on the bottom. If you are ever in Korea, you should try out this drink! It kinda reminded me of sugar cane. I got it for 2,000 won, but you can find it all around town for as little as 1,000 won.

As you walk down the stairs of Ssamziegil, you will see tons of graffiti lining the walls. Some are love messages and some are awesome drawings! Do you see the Michael Jackson image?

The Starbucks in Insadong is quite famous because they are required to write their name in Korean to keep the traditional-feel on this street.

All the other shops in the area are written in Korean too. There are lots to restaurants to eat at too! It’s definitely an awesome area to check out!

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In Dongdaemun

Lotteria: Hot and Spicy Chicken Burger in South Korea

August 12, 2012

Through all the pouring rain, I made my way to Dongdaemun to see the Great East Gate. It was very large, but there really wasn’t much to do except take a picture of it. I then got hungry, so I do what I do best…eat!

KoreanGirl told me I had to check out Lotteria. Lotteria is one of South Korea’s largest fast food chains.

Walking into the restaurant, it kinda reminded me of McDonalds since the color scheme is very similar. There’s all sorts of people here from Ajuma’s to young couples.

Once you order, you get this electronic device that vibrates once your order is ready. My meal took a bit longer than usual and the server said it would be about 5 minutes. I didn’t really mind since they offer free wifi.

I ordered the Hot Crispy Chicken Burger combo with fries and a coke. The fries were ok, but I still prefer McDonalds fries much more.

The best part of this meal is of course the burger that comes with the meal. Since they were promoting this new burger, I thought I should give it a try! Plus, I do love spicy food.

The lettuce and tomato were fresh, plus the chicken was very very juicy on the inside and packed with a lot of heat! It lives up to the name – hot crispy chicken burger. I was sweating and crying from the spiciness. Nonetheless, it was very yummy!! Really good fastfood here!

Website: http://www.lotteria.com/Eng/

After going to eat, I wandered off towards the park in the middle on Dongdaemun and saw there was The Little Prince Exhibit. I received the book from M several years ago and I fell in love with the story an illustrations.

If you are a big fan, you’ll love the original drawing, keep sakes, and the history behind the book. It costs 12,000 Won and it wasn’t a very large exhibit. I expected a bit more since it was a bit expensive.

Website: http://www.seouldesign.or.kr/en/bbs/view.jsp?seq=561&code=001011

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In Causeway Bay

Hakata Ippudo: Limited Summer Edition Noodles in Hong Kong

August 11, 2012

Hong Kong has 3 Ippudo locations and today I visited Hakata Ippudo across from Times Square. It is very popular and sometimes there can be long line ups during peak hours. Of all the ramen places in the world, this chain is definitely my favorite.

After going to Ippudo HK, I knew it was a great place to take Naomi out for some lunch!

Since it was about 11:30am, the restaurant was pretty empty, but it usually gets busy around 1pm when people go out for lunch. To our surprise, they were offering a limited time only summer dishes. It looked cool, so we ordered the 2 featured items.

Hakata Cold Ramen ($78 HKD) was really good! You mix this all up and it’s very easy to share. I would highly recommend this dish to anyone! This fish roe on top definitely adds a lot of flavour and character into the dish.

Hakata Tsukemen ($78 HKD – Small) comes with the sauce in one bowl and then the cold noodles, egg and seaweed in another bowl. You simply grab some noodles and dip it into the broth. Very delicious. They even had instructions on how to eat this dish.

Hakata Style Rice Dish is topped with cold Hakata roe, BBQ pork, seaweed, and egg. It was ok, but not very good compared to the ramen.

Overall, the ramen dishes were pretty good! You can’t really go wrong with either the Summer menu items or the original items. I’ll definitely be back for more!

Words of Wisdom:

Come around 11:30am when they open for no lines
Any ramen is delicious
Located across from Times Square
Causeway Bay MTR Exit A

We Rate Hakata Ippudo:

Address:
2/F, 8 Russell Street,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.ippudo.com.hk/en/hakata.html

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In Food for Thought

32cm Twist Ice Cream Cone in Myeong-Dong, Seoul

August 10, 2012

Wandering around Myeong-Dong in the middle of a monsoon was not a smart idea, you get really soaked from the rain even if you have an umbrella. It’s a great area to find face masks, dirt cheap jewelry and awesome food. In the middle of Myeong-Dong, there is an area with a small ice cream stand under the Matching Mole pub. They have a tall 32 cm ice cream for 2,000 won ($2 CDN).

I passed by it with Kirsty and I had to go back later in the evening to have a snack.

Chocolate and Strawberry Twist Cone was definitely cool! It wasn’t too sweet and the flavours blended well together. What sucked about it was that the cone was kinda stale. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it because I’ve never had anything like it!

Overall, if I was to get a 32cm ice cream cone, I would still do it even if the cone is stale. I get excited by new things too easily. There are various locations in Seoul where you can find this. The price can also differ too.

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In Jung-Gu

Changing of Royal Guards at Deoksugung Palace and BiBimBap in Seoul

August 9, 2012

I made it a goal to try to explore a lot of the cultural sites in Seoul. I went to Deoksugung Palace to have a tour at 10:30am, but there was no tour, so I assumed their schedule changed.. or I had an incorrect time. Fortunately, at 11am, 2pm and 3:30pm, they have the changing of guards ceremony in front of Daehanmun Gate at the Palace.

The ceremony lasts for about 30 minutes and is the same. The ceremony is a tradition similar to the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace in London and gives you the opportunity to experience the past.

Around the corner from the palace was a restaurant called Sanookeeya. It serves traditional Korean food and I was drawn to eat lunch here because of their display of bibimbap (stone rice). It wasn’t empty and I did see police officers eating inside, so I thought it can’t be too bad if local police officers were eating here.

I ordered the bibimbap and it came in a hot stone bowl with rice, pickled vegetables, kimchi, seaweed, and fish roe. I was disappointed because they bowl wasn’t hot enough to make the rice crispy, plus they didn’t give me hot sauce to make it spicier.

In addition to the bibimbap, they also provided a few side dishes.

Soup or some kind of broth came with the meal. It has a bit of green onions on top.

Cabbage with mayo is something I kept encountering but I can never seem to like it. I strongly believe mayo shouldn’t belong in a salad, but maybe that’s because I dislike mayo.

Kimchi and pickled daikon came as well. I love anything pickled, so this was delicious.

Overall, the food at Sanookeeya was ok, but not as yummy as I expected. I definitely enjoyed the changing of the guards way more than the food nearby. I took it as a lesson to never eat near super touristy locations

We Rate Sanookeeya:

Location: To the left of the Deoksugung Palace

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In Korean

Two Two Fried Chicken: Beer and Chicken in Seoul, South Korea

August 8, 2012

Two Two Fried Chicken is a chain restaurant in Seoul. Their first location was in Myeong-dong in 1978 under the name Gela Chicken, but changed their name in 1990. They now have several locations around Seoul and is still expanding into other countries.

After you put down your order with your server, you get complementary side dishes depending on what you order.

Popcorn (Left) accompanies beer that you order. It’s not like the traditional popcorn in North America, but it’s so good!

Pickled Radishes (Right) accompanies the fried chicken that you order. I love this stuff! So good and addictive!

Cass Beer is a Korean manufactured beer. It’s light and very good to eat with chicken.

I ordered the fried chicken with a bit of spice. It was good, but the chicken was a tad dry. The spices rubbed on the chicken was very good and the amount of spiciness tasted great. I didn’t like the cabbage with the ketchup and mayo on the side.

Overall, the chicken was good, but could be more juicy. When you visit Korea, you must have fried chicken and beer!

Words of Wisdom:

They have an english menu
Smoking is allowed (they give you an ashtray at your table)
You pay the cashier at the front of the restaurant

We Rate Two Two Fried Chicken:

Locations: All around Seoul in popular areas
Website:
www.22chicken.co.kr/en/default.asp

In Jongno-gu

Joe’s Sandwich: Lunch Near Changdeokgung Palace, South Korea

August 7, 2012

After getting off the plane at 6am, I dropped off my luggage at the hotel and headed straight to Changdeokgung Palace for an English tour. The english tour happens a few times a day, so you need to check when it is because it’s not as fun walking around on your own. It’s free with the entrance ticket. You just wait at the entrance of the gate till it starts.

Usually the english tours start at 10:30am and 2:30pm. The tour covers the general palace area and lasts about an hour.

I opted for the additional Secret Garden tour as well with a few dollars extra. The additional tour is about 1.5 hrs long. I thought it was well worth it and most other tourists did both tours. It’s a very beautiful place and my 2nd favorite palace in Seoul! If you are in Seoul, do check it out!

As me and another tourist got very hungry, we decided to walk around the area for a quick bite before heading off to another tour nearby. We wandered into Joe’s Sandwich. Joe’s Sandwich is a chain cafe in Korea and serves up sandwiches and juices.

Fresh Kiwi juice was made of real kiwis! It was really good and refreshing! Not too sour and they use a large amount of Kiwis!

Pastrami Croissant Sandwich was stacked full of lettuce, tomatoes, pastrami and cheese. The sandwich was ok, but not the best. I like my croissants crunchy on the outside, but it was very soft here.

My friend is a vegetarian, so it was very hard for her to find food in the area. After talking to the server, he suggested this for her. It didn’t look very appetizing since it was just processed cheese on bread and then as salad on the side.

After having lunch, we headed to Jongmyo Royal Shrine for another english tour. It’s pretty small, but it was cool learning about how Confucius teachings were integrated into their culture and architecture. The tours occur at 10am, 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm. You need a tour to enter the shrine, so you need to make sure you arrive on time, or join another tour in another language.

Words of Wisdom:

Great fresh Juices
Passable sandwiches, but not great
Lots of seats inside
Many other options at nearby restaurants

We Rate Joe’s Sandwich:

Location: Various locations around Seoul

Joe’s Sandwich Website: http://www.joessandwich.com/

In Airplane Meals

Cathay Pacific: Meals and Beverages from Hong Kong to Korea

August 6, 2012

I decided to take a side trip to South Korea. I’ve always wanted to go and this was my chance to do so. Lots of things to see and lots of things to eat! The only seat available was on a late night flight from Hong Kong to Korea with Cathay Pacific. The flight wasn’t very long and we were even offered dinner.

I don’t think anyone on the flight wanted to eat since everyone was already taking a nap when they woke us all up. I love food, so I did manage to wake up and have a few bites.

We had bread, watermelon, choice of drink, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream and choice of entree.

I chose the penne pasta with cream sauce. I always choose to order a pasta dish as those are generally more delicious and better executed than rice dishes. Even though there was no meat in this dish, it was actually a pretty decent meal!

Cookies and Cream Haagen0-Dazs Ice cream too! Yum! It was definitely a treat at the end of the meal! After consuming all of this food, I went back to sleep. hahaha

Overall, the food on Cathay Pacific wasn’t bad. Since it was only a 3 hour flight, I didn’t expect there to be food, but there was!

In Fast Food

McDonalds Hong Kong: Soy Green Tea + Himalayan Tea + Cheesecake + Lamingtons

August 5, 2012

I finally visited McDonalds in Hong Kong since I get very hot one afternoon. To my surprise, their McCafe’s sell completely different items than in Canada! This is the best part about travelling- discovering new fast food items. Seriously, I love fast food and differing menu items across the world.

They have introduced 2 new drinks for this Summer – Soy Green Tea Frappe and Himalayan Tea Frappe. You can alternatively get them hot instead of cold.

The prices are in Hong Kong Dollars, so, just divide it by 7.8 and you should get the approximated Canadian price. It’s not exactly cheap, but I just had to try it.

Medium Iced Soy Green tea Frapp is my little sisters addiction! She enjoyed the whipped cream on top.

Hot Soy Green Tea was pretty good! It wasn’t too sweet, but it was yummy and creamy. Definitely one of my favorites but after I saw how they made it, it wasn’t very magical. I’ll get to it at the end of this review. Nonetheless, I would still order it again.

Medium Himalayan Tea had a very unique taste. I couldn’t figure out what it tasted like

They even have super cool cheesecakes and Lamingtons. Lamingtons is an Australian sponge cake. I’m still waiting for CommunityChannel to post up the video about how to make lamingtons. I should stop having hopes that one day she will make the video 🙁

Anyways, the drinks at McDonalds were great, but it seemed so simple to make! The staff just poured soy milk into a blender and put in a few scoops of powder and blended it up. Thus, that was how the drink was created. If you are in Hong Kong and in an area that has these items available, give it a try!

In Chinese

Moon Ting Fong Seafood & Hotpot Restaurant: Horrible Service in Hong Kong

August 4, 2012

Moon Ting Fong Seafood and Hotpot restaurant has a location in Tin Shui Wai. We want to cook dinner during this day, so we decided to just eat out for dinner. My grandpa said they have very good dim sum during lunch and at reasonable prices. He’s never tried dinner here, so we gave it a shot.

For dinner, the room was half full and some people were indulging on hot pots. We decided to go for a set dinner instead.

Pickled onions arrived at the table. We thought it was complementary, but at the end of the meal the did charge us for this. It tasted alright and I think we could have lived without it if we knew we would be charged for this. Also, they charge for tea too!

Daily Soup came with our set meal. It came in a huge pot to our table and what usually happens is the server will bring your bowls and pour it out for you. The server just left the pot there on the table and had no intention of serving us. This was the first thing that ticked us off.

The other ingredients in the soup get put into a separate dish for you to eat with your meal. It’s like two dishes in one! Eventually, we got the server to pour our soup.

Boiled Shrimp was good, but it did get quite messy after a while. The prawns were cooked well and were sweet.

We also got hand wipes to cleanse our hands after peeling all those shrimp shells.

Braised vegetables in fish broth tasted good as the choy absorbed the flavour from the fish sauce.

Steamed Fish in Fish Sauce was ok. The meat was soft and had good flavour. It had a few bones, but it wasn’t too bad.

Roasted BBQ Chicken was very dry and the only delicious part of this was the skin.

Overall, the food was ok, but the service was very horrible. Plus, there were a lot of extra charges that racked up to $100HK more than the price of the set meal. I wouldn’t return, not even for dim sum. A few weeks later, my grandpa wanted to go for some good cheap dim sum after 2pm and I just refused to go. Perhaps other people have had other better experiences, but I won’t return to a restaurant that treats their customers badly.

We rate Moon Ting Fong Seafood & Hotpot restaurant:

Address:
1/F, Block 1, Habour Plaza Resort City, 12 Tin Yan Road
Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

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In Chinese

Maxim’s Chinese Restaurant: Dim Sum Stalking in Hong Kong

August 3, 2012

Maxim’s Chinese Restaurant has several locations all over Hong Kong. It is way cheaper than Maxim Palace, so it is affordable for random eats without breaking the wallet. The interior at the Tin Shui Wai location was very large and was quick to get a table on the weekend. There are some waits, but it shouldn’t be too long.

You can wash your utensils here too. It’s a normal thing, but if you are lazy, you don’t need to wash it again. Just double-check if there is grime on your dishes.

Thousand year old egg and pork congee was decent. It wasn’t the best congee, but definitely better than some other places I’ve been to. It could have been boiled for longer to let the flavours seep into the rice a little bit more.

Curried Octopus was a tad spicy, but bearable for those who hate spice. The octopus was slightly chewy, but nothing much to say.

Stir fried noodles had to be hunted down. It’s located way in the front of the restaurant, so you need to grab your slip of ordering paper and grab it.

Fried rice roll was a little bit different that other places, I’ve never seen the outside with this texture. It also comes with sauce on the side for dipping.

Braised Tripe with Fish Maw was ok, I was never a fan of the large honeycomb-like tripe.The part I liked was the fish maw because of it’s porous texture is great for soaking up lots of favour from the sauce.

Steamed Prawns and Fish Maw was very good and always one of my favorites.

Stewed Pork hawk had the meat falling off the bones and was very tender. Delicious sauce too.

Spicy tripe was very good. Ever since this Hong Kong trip, I’ve been into eating spicy food for some reason. This dish had a good amount of spiciness but I did find it a bit oily.

Sesame Seed Balls was crispy on the outside and the inside was very chewy.

Steamed pork buns comes with 2 in each order, so you may want more if you table loves the buns.

The bun had a good amount of meat and enough sweetness. My sister and I enjoyed it.

Overall, good decent dim sum in Hong Kong. Since the restaurant is so large and not all the cart can get to you quickly, you need to walk around the restaurant hunting the carts for what you want. It’s like getting exercise before and during your meal. It’s normal and it’s the part of dim sum that makes it kinda fun.

We Rate Maxim Chinese Restaurant:

Address:
Tin Yiu Shopping Centre, Tin Shui Estate,
Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong

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In Chinese

Choi Fook Restaurant: Dinner After HK 15 Fireworks

August 2, 2012

On July 1st in Hong Kong, they were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the handover of British rule to the Chinese. Every year they celebrate by having fireworks at Victoria Harbour. I find it amazing how July 1st is also Canada Day on the other side of the world. No matter where my little sister is on her birthday, she can always see fireworks!

After the fireworks, we headed to Choi Fook Restaurant. They were having a busy nights with large celebrations, so at 9pm, we still had to wait for a table of 5. This restaurant is owned by the U-Banquet group and has various restaurant all across Hong Kong.

The interior space was reduced since they had to close off sections of the restaurant for a few events happening at the same place.

They have a huge tank with all the different seafood.

You have an option of washing your utensil here. Some people do it, some people don’t. Sometimes their dishwashers don’t clean everything off the utensils and dishes, so do look carefully.

Sauteed shrimp in green onion and peppers was a good dish, but nothing too special.

Steamed Chicken was good. It’s a classic dish to order and you can’t go wrong with it.

Braised Duck Feet and mushrooms in a pot was delicious and is recommended to have rice to accompany it. Don’t let those juices go to waste. To some people, eating duck feet is weird, but it’s not disgusting. It tastes very savory and kinda like noodles.

Steamed Fish in Fish Sauce took forever to come out of the kitchen. There was a banquet next door, so I assume they just prepared all the fish at one time.

Longevity Bun is a Chinese steamed bun in the shape of a peach. It was my sister’s Birthday and this was the only option they had off the menu. The reason why it’s shaped like a peach is because it’s a symbol of long life. There is an old story of a lady who has a magical peach tree that bears special peaches that grant immortality to all those who eat them.

The inside egg yolk is very oily and it’s a good things that the yolks flavour in the oil seeps into the bun. Very delicious, but yet again, probably high in calories.

Overall, the food was ok and not anything amazing. The service wasn’t that great because some servers seemed a bit rude.

Words of Wisdom:

Fortress Hill MTR Exit B
Busy at peak hours
Decent food

We Rate Choi Fook Restaurant:

Address:
3/F, Olympia Plaza, 255 King’s Road,
North Point, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.choifook.com/

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In BBQ

Yun Fat Tea House: BBQ Meats in Hong Kong

August 1, 2012

Yun Fat Tea House (潤發茶餐廳) in Mong Kok is known to locals for their delicious BBQ meats. If you were just walking by, you would probably not notice this restaurant. It’s not aesthetically pleasing on the outside and has no english at all.

The inside looks like any other Hong Kong style cafe.

Chicken and bone soup was very good. The flavour from the meat and bones really made this soup fragrant and enjoyable.

Look at that meat!!!

BBQ Duck and BBQ Pork on Rice was what everyone else at the table ordered. You gotta eat their signature items here. The meat was very beautiful, tender and very flavourful.

Deep-Fried Fish in Creamed Corn Sauce on Rice comes in a large portion! I couldn’t even finish it! The creamed corn sauce was yummy, but I wasn’t a fan of the fried fish.

Minced meat and vegetable sauce with egg yolk on rice was very good! There was enough sauce for all the rice and my little sister really enjoyed it. I tried some of it too and the meat just melts in your mouth! Yum!

Overall, it was a good decent meal. The down side is that there is no English here. I had to get my mom to order something for me since I can’t read Chinese.

Words of Wisdom: