Type Archives - Page 97 of 125

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 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

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 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:

Get off at Mong Kok MTR Exit B3
BBQ Meats is a must
No English Menu
Floor Toilets and kinda dirty

We Rate Yun Fat Tea House:

Address:
56 Mong Kok Street,
Mong Kok, Hong Kong

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In Cafe

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day: Wontons, Sandwiches and Pineapple Buns

July 30, 2012

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day is a quick-service restaurant. We were in Olympic City shopping mall, so we decided to get a quick bite to eat. They sell the usual Hong Kong Style cafe food.

There are a lot of seats inside and nice interior.

You are able to see through into the kitchen to see the food and drinks being prepared.

Hot Chocolate was made with powder and it wasn’t stirred very well. After mixing it up more on our own, it tasted ok according to my sister.

Hot coffee and tea mix was good and it’s a perfect drink for people who love tea and coffee.

Wonton Noodle in Soup was alright but nothing impressive.

Maxim’s Hong Kong Day BBQ Pork Club Sandwiches were pretty awesome. It comes with layers of egg, pork, tomatoes and lettuce. The gooey egg definitely adds character to this sandwich.

Pineapple Crispy Bun with Butter

The slice of butter was quite large and too much for this bun. I took half of the butter out and it was still enough to cover a lot of the surface area on the inside. The bun was good, but there could have had more topping and be more crispy.

Overall the food was alright, but nothing to rave about. The service was ok as well, but we did notice another table had an issue with a fly in their drink and got the managers and security involved.

We Rate Maxim’s Hong Kong Day:

Address:
Shop UG65, Olympian City Phase 3, 1 Hoi Wang Road,
Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.maxims.com.hk/en/main.asp

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In Chek Lap Kok

Ocean Empire: Congee at Hong Kong Airport

July 29, 2012

Heading to the airport for a red-eye flight to Korea makes a person skip dinner. We headed off to Ocean Empire at the airport for a quick dinner before our flight. We didn’t know what to choose since there were a good amount of options available. We eventually chose Ocean Empire because they were serving congee. We’ve been eating so much dim sum that we thought this would be a healthier option.

We ordered a variety of different congees and some side dishes.

Chinese donut wrapped in rice roll with soy sauce was disgusting. It wasn’t very fresh and the donut was a bit stale.

Fried Noodles was cold and was lacking in flavour.

Radish Cake was hot, but wasn’t very impressive tasting. It didn’t have a lot of ingredients embedded inside either.

All the differing congees that we ordered basically sucked. It had minimal flavour and is essentially fast food congee. They just dump in the ingredients you want in a generic congee soup.

Overall, I was not impressed by the quality at all. It was barely passable and the attitude of the staff was horrible. The cashier seemed like he was always yelling at the cooks to be quiet.

Words of Wisdom:

Just don’t eat here unless you’re desperate

We Rate Ocean Empire:

Address:
Arrivals, Level 5, Terminal 1, Hong Kong International Airport,
Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong

Website:

http://www.oceanempire.com.hk/eng/p1_3.asp

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In Chinese

Chi Lin Vegetarian: Great Eats at Nan Lian Garden Hong Kong

July 28, 2012

We took the day to visit Nan Lian Garden, Chi Lin Nunnery and Hollywood Plaza. Its easily accessible though the Diamond Hill MTR station. The Garden and Nunnery are quite breathtaking and makes for very epic photos. This was my favorite site for far in my trip! You can’t forget the golden temple in the middle of the garden surrounded by modern apartment buildings that go up to 80 floors high (or more).

Sometimes looking for Vegetarian cuisine is quite hard if you are on vacation. Good thing I like to eat anything and everything. It was a good change from not scarfing down tons of pork and beef. I actually really like vegetarian cuisine.

At the eat end of the Garden, there is a restaurant called Chi Lin Vegetarian. It’s very popular for locals and tourists who visit this garden. It is located behind a waterfall and server very good vegetarian food with lots of vegetables, tofu and mushrooms.

Patrons can sit and admire the waterfall at the windows as they dine. This place can get quite busy.

Tea! You also have 2 chopstick of differing colors. One is your communal chopstick where you grab your food without sharing your germs with others. The other one is for eating. It’s a good way to not spread germs, but it’s easily to forget which one is which.

A little side dish arrived at the table. We all couldn’t figure out what this was and was torn between a mushroom or tofu. Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Small Five Fortune Appetizer Platter comes with green beans, beet salad, tofu, mushrooms and cucumber salad. It was really well done and you can see and taste the variety of vegetarian cuisine. My favorite was the mushrooms and the tofu. Just simply delicious!

Small Braised Supreme Assorted Vegetables is also another delicious dish. It has a large amount of mushrooms! I love mushrooms, so it was a delight for me to dig into it. This was probably my favorite dish.

Mixed vegetables with mushroom and Beans has a beautiful presentation with the vegetables on the outside and the mushroom and beans on the inside. It was a good dish, but I think I liked the previous dish better.

Fried Rice with Pinenuts was my sisters favorite dish. She usually doesn’t eat much, but she ate almost all of it and it’s not a small dish either. It was a very good fried rice with good amount of ingredients inside.

Sweet and Sour Bean Curd with Pineapples had a very interesting texture. It was a bit crispy and soaked up a lot of the pineapple sauce since it’s quite porous. I am not a fan of sweet and sour things, so I did not particularly enjoy it.

Overall, the food was pretty well executed and great for everyone. The menu is also in English, so it won’t be challenging for tourists to order. I would definitely go again.

After your lunch, don’t forget to check out Chi Lin Nunnery! It’s very beautiful and not very far away. It’s connected to Nan Lian Garden, so it won’t take too much effort to get there.

Words of Wisdom:

Large variety of vegetarian dishes
Diamond Hill MTR Exit C2

We Rate Chi Lin Vegetarian:

Address:
Long Men Lou, Nan Lian Garden, 60 Fung Tak Road,
Diamond Hill, Hong Kong

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In Cafe

Honeymoon Desserts: Drinks and Desserts in Hong Kong

July 27, 2012

Honeymoon Desserts established its first location in Sai Kung district in 1995. It was soon developed into the current chain-stores you see today. Its popular among the locals especially the youth in Hong Kong. I was recommended by Joyce of VanFoodies to try out this dessert place too! Since I saw it at Langham Mall, I decided to grab a drink here with my sister and mom.

Mango Pomelo & Sago Sweet Drink was ordered by my little sister. She really enjoyed it! It might be because she has a secret addiction to mangoes.

Watermelon Juice was ordered by my mom and she didn’t want anything too sweet. She thought it was good too.

Mango Pomelo & Sago Sweet Soup with Green Tea Ice Cream was very good and refreshing on a hot summers day in Hong Kong. The green tea pairs nicely with the mango and its great for people who have a sweet tooth.

Overall, pretty good option for cold drinks and desserts. It’s similar to Hui Lau Shan, but the items are very very similar.

Words of Wisdom:

At Langham Mall Exit C3 of Monk Kok Station
Very busy, but turnover of tables is fast
You can reserve tables

We Rate Honeymoon Desserts:

Address:
Shop 409, Level 4, Langham Place, 8 Argyle Street,
Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.honeymoon-dessert.com/en_us/

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In Cafe

Big Thumb Restaurant: Two Thumbs Down For Pasta

July 26, 2012

One day we headed to Tuen Muen to go shopping at The Trend Plaza and got pretty hungry, so we went to the Big Thumb Restaurant. We didn’t know what to eat, but we were sure we didn’t want dim sum. This restaurant is located on the ground floor near a bunch of other restaurants.

Cold Milk and Coffee Mix (Yuen Yeung) is my favorite drink in Hong Kong besides milk tea. It gives you more of a coffee taste with an addition of more caffeine.

This was one of their special Summer drinks that they are offering. It’s too bad no one remember what it’s called, but my sister said it was very yummy.

Iced Lemon Tea was what my dad ordered with his meal.

Iced Red Bean and Coconut Drink seemed ok, but I am sure they could have given us more red beans.

Beef Brisket Curry comes was a good size portion and rice for one. It has a little bit of spice but not too much.

Pork Laksa comes with noodles, egg, sliced up pork steak and vegetables.

Seafood Laksa has tofu, egg, fish, shrimp, and vegetables. The seafood isn’t too impressive, but decent.

Ramen comes with imitation crab stick, corn, egg, seaweed, slices up pork cutlet and noodles in a pork broth.

Braised mushroom and clams in pasta was a horrible dish. It lacked flavour and had little to no flavour. I was expecting a little bit of sauce at least. Avoid this dish.

Overall, the food was ok, but nothing to rave about. The service was fine, but I was kinda annoyed how you aren’t supposed to take pictures, but I did anyways. hehehe. There are also lots of options besides this restaurant. Then entire mall has tons and tons of options.

We Rate the Big Thumb Restaurant:

Address:

Shop 8, G/F, The Trend Plaza, 2 Tuen Lung Street,
Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

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In Buffet

Mija’s Spanish Restaurant: Buffet At Stanley in Hong Kong

July 25, 2012

Stanley is a beautiful little town on Hong Kong Island. It’s a very popular place amongst locals and tourists. A beautiful historic landmark is Murray House, a Victorian-era building originally built in Central during 1846 as the officers’ quarters of the Murray Barracks. Since then, the building was relocated to Stanley sometime in 2000’s.

Inside Murray House is Mija’s Spanish Restaurant. They have buffet for $288 HK Dollars during lunch. There were other restaurants offering buffets, but this menu looked the best. Mija’s Spanish Restaurant is owned by the King Parrot Group, they own various types of restaurants all over Hong Kong.

You can sit indoors or outdoors. We decided to sit at the patio since it was a lovely day outside. Plus, it over looks the water.

You get a good look at the pier and surrounding areas. Not a bad lunch if you get a great view like this.

The buffet items are inside and you get a good amount of different dishes.

Besides just the buffet item, you can order additional items as well that is included in the buffet price. Plus, each person can choose between oysters or Goose liver.

Oysters were the popular choice at the table. Some others got the Goose Liver and it was pretty good.

Various starters.

Various salads and starters.

Tortilla Espanola with Chorizo and Paella.

Smoked Salmon

There are fresh pineapples, watermelon, honey dew, and strawberries.

There are 3 tiers of desserts in miniature cups. Ranging from Mango mousse to layer mousse with graham crackers.

Various cakes, tarts and profiteroles.

For my first plate, I had to get everything with meat! I was surprised by the variety of seafood and meat.

Round two was a bit of traditional spanish dishes, plus lots of fruit!

For my third plate, it was dessert time! I didn’t indulge in too many desserts since not a lot of them interested me. I got the ones with the mousse textures. Then I got more fruit and prosciutto.

Satay Chicken Skewers can be ordered to your table instead of going up to the tables. This ensures the food is fresh and not lying around of the tables. It tasted pretty good, but a tad dry.

Homemade Meatballs in Tomato Sauce is another item that can be ordered to your table. It tasted ok.

Crispy Fried Calamari was ordered too. The batter was light and delicate. It went well with the lemon and sauce.

Earl Grey Tea with Milk was my drink at the end of the meal. You have your choice of coffee or tea.

During your meal, you can be serenaded by lovely singers and guitar players. I’ve never had this treatment before and it definitely makes your dining experience so much more grand. They knew a lot of old classic songs, plus some newer hits. Randomly we asked if they knew Lady Gaga. They sang ‘Bad Romance’ and it was surprisingly good!

A few hours later, the pier got pretty busy as ships came in to load and unload passengers. It’s a great little area to stroll around after lunch.

You can watch people go fishing and see what they catch. It’s quite fun to watch! Close by, there is also the Stanley Market. You can do a bit of shopping. Don’t forget to visit Jenny Bakery as well because it’s very famous for their cookies. Locals and tourist go crazy after their cookies.

Overall, Mija’s Spanish Restaurant was alight. I love it more for the atmosphere and view rather than the food. The food was decent, but it wasn’t the most amazing buffet I’ve had.

Words of Wisdom:

Good variety of buffet items
Great patio view
Best to make reservations to ensure a good seat

We Rate Mija’s Spanish Restaurant:

Address:
Shop 102, 1/F, Murray House,
Stanley, Hong Kong

Website:
http://w4.kingparrot.com/

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In Bakery

Maxim’s Cakes: Angry Bird Cakes at the MTR Stations

July 24, 2012

Maxim’s Cakes can be found everywhere in Hong Kong. Most MTR stations with have one inside. Even if you look along the streets of popular areas, you are bound to run into this bakery. It was founded in the 1960’s and has grown into the largest cake store in Hong Kong.

We came here after a long day of shopping and decided to get a few cakes for my sister. We always see her eyeing the cakes and I think it was time to get her some. Plus, there was a sale. We love sales.

There are lots of bread and little pastries.

In the glass case are all the cakes!

People in Hong Kong really love Angry Birds for some reason. They even have Angry Birds jello cups available.

Angry Bird cakes can be seen too! They also have then in Vancouver T&T too. They look too good to eat, plus who knows how good or bad they taste.

We grabbed a bunch of smaller cakes to bring back home. There was a buy 3 get 1 free deal, so we bought 6 cakes to get 2 free. We really didn’t need so many slices of cakes, but discounts make asian people buy more. It’s in our genes to find good deals.

Blueberry Cake had a nice strong blueberry flavour, but it wasn’t too sweet. It has layers of blueberry mousse and cake. Then, it’s topped with blueberries and a jelly. If you are a blueberry fan, you must get this.

Cheesecake was not too sweet as well, it had a very smooth texture that went eaten.

Chestnut tart was my favorite! It is topped with a mound of chestnut paste, whipped cream, chocolate on top of a crispy tart. Very delicious!

Chocolate Mousse Cake has layers upon layers of chocolate with a douse of coco powder on top. Remember not to inhale when eating this since you don’t want to start coughing due to the coco powder up your nose.

Mango tart has huge chunks of mango on top of whipped cream, chocolate and the tart. It’s very good and the mangos don’t fall off as easily as you think. Highly recommended for those mango lovers.

We definitely enjoyed all our cakes. Pretty decent for a chain store. I would return if I really have a craving for a quick slice of cake. There are numerous other cake shops in Hong Kong, so don’t think this is your only option.

Words of Wisdom:

Ask if there are discounts
All cakes are pretty good

We Rate Maxim’s Cakes:

Address:
Shop 10-12 at Paid Concourse,
MTR Tin Shui Wai Station, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.maxims.com.hk/en/main.asp

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In Four Beakers

Ippudo HK: Killer Ramen Across the World

July 23, 2012

Ippudo is a world famous chain ramen store. It was started by Shigemi Kawahara over 20 years ago in a small restaurant with only 10 seats in Fukuoka. Since 1985, it has expanded to New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Korea. What makes their ramen so delicious is their slow-cooked pork bone soup with the combination of toppings.

As my parents had something to do at Tsim Sha Tsui, so I suggested we try this place for lunch. It wasn’t too long of a line up, but they do have a digital ticketing machine for people to put down their name, telephone and # in their party. If there is a long line up, you can just stroll around the 2 malls as you wait.

The kitchen has an open concept, so you can see the chefs at work creating your noodles. The interior isn’t too large, but the turnover should be quite fast.

You get chopsticks, a spoon and a spoon holder. Pretty cool stuff.

Ippudo Gyoza Dumplings comes in five pieces and is very popular item in Ippudo Japan. the dumplings were quite small, but it has a good amount of flavour! It wasn’t the best dimpling I’ve had, but it was decent.

Ippudo BBQ Pork Bun just comes with one bun. It is cut in half and contains slices of BBQ Pork and lettuce. The bun is very popular at Ippudo NY and thus they offer it at Ippudo HK.

I did not particularly love this bun. It was ok, but nothing special.

Akamaru Shinaji has a rich tonkotsu flavour with slices of pork, egg, green onions with fragrant oil and miso. A majority of the family at the table ordered this item. They enjoyed it but felt it was a tad salty.

Ippudo Karaka has a tonkotsu soup, miso, minced pork and spicy oil. I loved it, it wasn’t too spicy but it was enough to tickle your taste buds. I would recommend this if you like spicy.

Shiomaru Motoaji has lean slices of pork with thin Hakata-style noodles. It looks very simple, but the broth really speaks for itself. It’s very delicious and my little sister gobbled this all up!

I’ve been to the Ippudo NY in a few months ago, but I feel like this location was much more delicious. No matter where you are in the world, if there is an Ippudo in your city, go check it out. You might be pleasantly pleased by their taste.

Words of Wisdom:

Ramen is a must!
Tsim Tsa Tsui Subway exit L5

We Rate Ippudo HK:

Address:
Shop 210, Silvercord Tower, 30 Canton Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Website:
http://www.ippudo.com.hk/

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In Causeway Bay

Hui Lau Shan Healthy Dessert: Mango Desserts in Hong Kong

July 21, 2012

Hui Lau Shan is Hong Kong’s most popular and famous mango dessert restaurant. It has various locations all over Hong Kong. You are bound to see one near an MTR station or a large mall. Joyce of VanFoodies highly suggested I visite here. During my first few days in Hong Kong, I noticed so many locations everywhere. Their branding does change slightly depending on which location you go to, you keep your eyes open since not all shops are written in english. The exterior of this shop was written in Chinese, but the interior has english.

The location I went to was across from Sogo in Causeway Bay. It was a super hot day waiting for the bus, so the family and I decided to go on a hunt for a cold drink. To my surprise, it was only steps away from our bus stop!

They have a large amount of items to choose from. If a friend isn’t into mangoes, you can find some other alternative on the menu. I had a very hard time choosing since I wanted everything.

Mango Drink with Aloe Jelly was what my sister ordered. When it arrived, we were so surprised the aloe jelly was so green! I’ve never seen it this color. They are very generous with the jelly and makes up a large amount of the drink. The drink was really good, but she was a ad disturbed by it’s unnatural green color.

Mango Drink with Coconut milk and tapioca was what my mother ordered. It was very refreshing especially for the hot day humid weather in Hong Kong. The mango was very fresh tasting and not diluted at all.

Mango Sampler Platter comes with three different dishes. Its great for indecisive people who just don’t know what to order. It comes with Mango chunks with Mango Puree and Glutinous Rice Balls (Bottom left), Crystal Jelly with Mango chunks and Mango Ice Cream (Bottom Right), and lastly Mango Mochi with Fresh Mango (Top).

My favorite item was the Mango chunks with Mango Puree and Glutinous Rice Balls. Its a very popular item to order even if you are not getting the platter! Anyone that goes here must order this item…or get their friends to order it! Its refreshing, has a great fresh mango taste and is a must to have! The mango ice cream was really good. It was very icy, but for some reason I couldn’t get enough of it! So good!

Overall, it’s a great place to sit down to have a drink or get take out. Don’t be too discouraged by the large crowd or the occupied tables. The turn over is quite quick, so if you and a few friends want to sit down, your wait shouldn’t be too long.

Words of Wisdom:

Anything mango is a must!
Good prices

We Rate Hui Lau Shan:

Address:
Shop 3, G/F, 2-6 Yee Wo St
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Website:

http://www.hkhls.com/

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In Chinese

Hanami Japanese Restaurant: Dining on Dim Sum at YVR Airport

July 20, 2012

Hanami Japanese Restaurant is located right before you enter the security check for flights. They serve dim sum and Japanese food. Right before my flight to Hong Kong, my parents and I decided to have some dim sum since we went to the airport way too early.

We waited for a server to seat us at our table, but there was only one waitress on staff. There were two cooks at the sushi bar area, but they did not acknowledge our presence to help us get a seat. After an awkward long while, we just sat ourselves down. Off the bat, we were not impressed at all.

Tea! I’ll say this every time!

Deep Fried Mixed Meat Puff ($5) is not my favorite dim sum item. I always eat it, but I’m not a fan of the combination of the meat and the slightly sweet dough.

The inside has a decent amount of filling. It wasn’t anything too amazing.

Steamed Beef Rice Flour Rolls ($6) has the minced beef in the center surrounded by the rice flour. There are slits cut on top to allow flavour from the soy sauce to seep into the center, plus it’s makes for a good guide to divide this up when eating dim sum.

Bean Curd Rolls with Fish Paste and Greens ($5) was ok, but my parents both felt it was salty.

Pan Fried Eggplants Stuffed with Shrimp ($5) was very weird! It has the shrimp paste sandwiched between two slices of eggplant. It is also very oily, when you bite into it, a lot of oil comes out of it.

Steamed Scallops and Shrimp Dumpling ($5) was ok as well, nothing very special.

Deep Fried Shrimp Toast ($5) was very crunchy and had the slice of toast underneath and the shrimp mixture on top.

Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce ($5) was ok too, nothing very special.

Steamed Pork Dumpling with Shrimp ($5) didn’t look very appealing and the taste was ok.

Chilled Mango Pudding ($3.75) is always my little sisters favorite item. It is shaped like a heart and topped with evaporated milk.

Overall, the food was quite poor and way over priced. It’s what you get when you eat at the airport. I had some hope for this place, but our experience from beginning to end was very poor. We will probably not return.

We Rate Hanami Japanese Restaurant:

Address:
3211 Grant McConachie Way (Before Security, Int’l Level 3)

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In Chinese

Maxim Palace: Afternoon Dimsum in Hong Kong

July 19, 2012

In Vancouver, we all know Maxim as “that asian bakery near T&T”. In Hong Kong, Maxim owns a variety of different restaurants from bakeries, to cafes, and to some very large high end restaurants. While visiting Hong Kong during my first week, my aunt and uncle took us to Maxim Palace. it has won several awards and was named the “Newly wed’s most favorable wedding venue”.

It has been renowned for its Guangdong-style dim sum and dishes and offers a classic Chinese yumcha and dining experience. The servers come around the restaurant with trolleys of dim sum! Maxim’s Palace has eight restaurants, all at prime locations near subways and buses.

The interior is HUGE and I can see why people would use this for special occasions.

Tea! I love tea! It comes in a little coffee cup. I was so happy there was a handle because the usual cups can burn your fingers. It’s like drinking tea with a bit of style.

Fishmaw Stuffed with Minced Prawns were very good! I actually didn’t know the bottom was fish maw until someone told me a week later. I initially thought it was puff tofu. hahaha. Fish maw are the air bladders of a fish to control their buoyancy. It a very delicious item since there are a lot of air pockets to soak in all the flavours of the dish.

Tripe is the stomach lining of beef. This dish was prepared with some aromatic vegetables and a nice savory sauce. I like this type of tripe better than the thick harder ones. It’s a good dish to eat if you can wrap your head around eating cow stomach. It’s a popular ingredient to use in Pho as well.

Steamed Fish Ball is paired with some fish sauce for additional taste. It was delicious and delicate.

Steamed chicken with fish maw (Cotton chicken) was really good. Fish maw seems to be a very popular ingredient in dim sum in Hong Kong. I haven’t seen too much in Vancouver. This was a very delicious dish.

Roasted Duck was really good. Good amounts of meat on the bones and just down to earth good.

Rice was ordered to accompany the meat. Its good with the duck since the duck has very delicious sauce.

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly is quite addictive! If you’ve ever eaten this, you will know that you could eat all the skin like chips. It’s done very nicely here too!

Beef in Rice Roll was alright, nothing too special about it.

Sui Mai was ok as well.

Lotus Wrapped Rice (Lo Mai Gai) came with three pieces with one order. I didn’t eat any of this.

Baked Lotus Seed Paste and Sago Pudding was my little sisters favorite.

Red and Green Bean Soup is made with the two types of beans rather than just one.

Overall, it was great dining at Maxim Palace, but it can get quite pricey. There are long line ups during weekends, so do arrive early if you are with a large party. It’s located all over Hong Kong, but this particular location is at the ShaTin New Town Plaza. you can do some shopping before and after your dim sum!

We Rate Maxim Palace:

Address:
8/F, New Town Plaza, Phase I
Shatin, Hong Kong

Website:

http://www.maximschinese.com.hk

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In Fairview

Suika Japanese Snackbar: Stingray, Pig Foot, and Other Odd Dishes

July 17, 2012

Suika Japanese Snackbar is owned by the same people who created Kingyo Izakaya. It is located on Broadway near Fir St. I’ve been to Suika Snackbar a few times and it’s a great place to dine with friends over yummy Japanese food.

The famous chandelier!

Chicken Karaage ($7.80) is deep fried chicken pieces with a side of salt and pepper. Very yummy! I usually order this when I go to any Izakaya restaurant.

Corn Kakiage ($4.80) are corn niblets fried in cilantro batter, soy sauce and butter. It’s one of my favorite items! It comes with 3 pieces and the butter definitely enhances the flavour!

Tonsoku ($6.80) is a sauteed pig foot until it’s crispy. It is flavoured with soy butter. On the menu it says “Don’t try, if you never had”. Just because of that line, it made CandiedZen and I eat it! When it arrived at the table, it was indeed a pig foot. It tasted good, but it’s not for everyone. There’s not much meat on it, so you are basically eating skin, fat and cartilage.

Sweet Balsamic Sauteed Portabella Mushroom ($6.80) was a very interesting dish. It looked really weird, but with the balsamic vinegar, it was sweet.

Eihire – Dried Sting Ray ($4.20) was something that caught our eye on the menu. CandiedZen and I were so curious about how this would taste! It is also accompanied by a chili sauce and mayo. The look of it was quite weird as I commented saying it looked like very thick feet skin. I think I ruined M and CandiedZen’s appetite. hahaha. The taste was like dried squid, so it tasted totally fine.

Ahi Tuna Carpaccio ($9.20) had lots of slices of tuna with mayo, onions, tobiko, and pea shoots. It’s a pretty solid dish to order at any izakaya restaurant and Suika does a good job at making this. Yum.

Words of Wisdom:

Pay parking on Street
No refills on pop (M accidently spent $7.50 on 3 cups of coke)
Reservations highly recommended!

We Rate Suika Snackbar:

Address:
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.suika-snackbar.com/

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In Bakery

Ess-A-Bagel: It’s a Bagel in New York

July 16, 2012

Ess-A-Bagel is located in Midtown East in New York. They are best known for their bagels and it was conveniently located less than a black away from my hotel! CanuckGirl went twice and told me it was very awesome and delicious!

You can order bagels at the back of the store, but if you want it prepared, you need to go to the counter on the left.

They have a lot of cream cheese! Imagine a gelato shop but instead of gelato, it’s cream cheese.

Sesame Bagel ($1) was not as fresh as the one I had devoured in montreal. I had the sesame bagel toasted on each side and didn’t add any cream cheese inside. I wanted to taste the bagel itself, which I guess was a mistake. It’s not very great on its own, you really need something to go with this.

I took the bagel back with me as I waited for my flight to Vancouver. As I sat there eating my plain cream cheese-less bagel, I really wish I ordered it with cream cheese or some other type of filling. Departing New York with regret because I wish I could have eaten more.

Address:
831 3rd Ave Ste 1
New York, NY

Website:
http://www.ess-a-bagel.com/

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In Fast Food

Wendy’s: Burgers, Bacon, and Chili Cheese Fries

July 15, 2012

I told you I love fast food. Wendy’s in my opinion is the best when it comes to bacon. Plus, their bacon looks so much better than McDonalds or any other fast food chain. M and I came here one night because he really wanted to try the chili cheese fries.

We chose to dine in, but its always very depressing. Empty and with super outdated furniture. I always hate eating in the restaurant. I prefer eating it in the car hahahahahahaaha. Yes, I can be quite a slob sometimes too.

The ‘W’ Sandwich has 2 beef patties, two slices of cheese, thick-sliced tomato, and sauce in a bun. M enjoyed all that meaty goodness.

Asiago Ranch Chicken Sandwich has white meat chicken breasts topped with smoked bacon, asiago cheese, ranch sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes. It tasted ok, but the chicken breast had way too much pepper. The bacon inside this was very good!!

Chili Cheese Fries contain sea salt, meaty chili, melted cheese, and shredded cheese. It tasted alright, but it could have had more cheese. M enjoyed it. I kinda dislike beans, so I didn’t like it very much. I probably wouldn’t order it again.

Overall, the experience this time was alright. I would just stick with getting any burger with bacon. If you don’t get bacon, you’ll be sorry. Get the Baconator or the Jr. bacon cheese burger!!