back in hongkong again! this time round, i decided to bring mum along to go try a typical hongkong style hotpot.

it really reached a shocking level for me (us!) to be exposed to such an environment. i don't mean it in a bad way because as a tourist, this place showed me the other side of hong kong! the rowdiness, the 麻甩佬s & the use of the unpolished cantonese language...all i can say that it is classic typical hong kong!

honestly all 3 of us were so tensed & uneasy until the food came...it instantly distracted us!

i started off ordering just 枝竹魭鱼煲 because i wasn't sure of the portion. from what i saw from other tables, the pots are all quite big and it was only 3 of us. so only when we were confident that we could finish the food then we ordered the extras.

the 魭鱼煲 soup base was rich & tasty. the fish was reasonably fresh. the extras ordered was also generous in portions & fresh! although the beef 英花牛肉 didn't look too consistent (half plate perfect marbled meat & the other half has no marble). the rest of my orders were alright.

there was 1 thing that i refused to think too much - it was the soya sauce they provided because it looked stale with a layer of oily substance on top. the chilli soaked in it also didn't look good but since cut chilli (optional minced garlic) is part of our diet (from where i come from), i just have to dip my food into that soya sauce...with the freshly cut ones that was chargeable.

a lot of times, when a place serves good & reasonably priced food, there will always be a minus on their hygiene, service &/or environment. this applies to almost everywhere. for 春夏秋冬, if only they could clean the tables with more effort & with a cleaner table cloth...

我爱不肥. i love buffet.

since it was my last day of stay in hk, my friend suggested that we try this japanese buffet in central instead of the usual hotpot. location of the restaurant is good except that they tried to squeeze in as many seats as possible which makes big size people like me feeling a little uncomfortable when walking in. but fortunately we had those window seats so it wasn't that congested.

reservation is for 2 timings only - 6pm & 8.30pm. they let you have about 2 hours to enjoy the buffet but some of their serving wasn't quick enough so i thought it was a little unfair. of course, it is right for them to set such "rules" otherwise they won't be able to cater to 2 crowds of diners.

i didn't check the buffet price but i think it was quite reasonable for the spread offered which is why i rated this 正，開飯之選.

overall the easy food eg. soups, sashimi & sushi came fast. but the grills were slow so by the time we waited for the grills to serve, time was already wasted & we couldn't have another round of serving esp. when the grilled lamb was so delicious!

Cat (my hk friend) had highly recommended this & wanted to bring me to the better shop that's located in Central (i think). in the end i chanced upon this when walking around times square so decided to buy back to try. it was around 3pm & the shop was full.

the noodles i ordered was 酸辣菜肉饺小窝粉（中辣） ($25 + $1 豆浆）. the 小窝粉 noodles actually tasted like the rice noodles （粗米粉） used in the Singapore laksa, but smoother & softer. to my surprise, it actually absorbs the sour-spicy soup well.

Cat said that i ordered the wrong item. she said the pork item is actually the Best (note caps).

the dumplings were too soft by the time i dig in but since i don't mind soggy dumplings, it's still nice.

this was our first visit & man, it was good!!

i thought the xichuan spices for the chicken hotpot (中辣) was concocted well. at the first round of taste, it simply numbs the tongue. most xichuan hotpot is just spicy, salty & has strong aftertaste of msg (ie. need to drink alot alot of water). i must admit that i'm impressed by this hotpot of its multiple levels of spiciness & no one felt thirsty after dinner.

a big 駌鸯 spicy+non spicy chicken pot was good enough for 7 of us. ordered most of the usual stuffs but particularly if you like chives, you must try their 韭菜饺子. my personal favorite was the frozen tofu!

limited seats & space constraints is something that one should expect of in HK but the costs explain the worthiness. the total bill for 7 of us was around hk$780. not too bad! only thing that was considered unsatisfactory was their carelessness in missing out of some of our orders & not informing us if any items were not available. still, the overall experience was still good.

needed a place for easy lunch so Cat suggested this newly opened japanese restaurant in IFC.

Cat tried to make a reservation beforehand but was told by the restaurant to go earlier (before 1230) to avoid the queue as they won't be able to take reservation. so we were punctual & got a table quickly.

since this is in IFC, i wouldn't expect the prices be cheap. their standard lunch set offer is choice of ramen (soup base of miso soup, spicy miso soup & sesame soup) + a small side. the sides varies from sashimi, katsudon, chicken katsu, tempura etc. i tried both the miso soup & spicy miso soup base. personally i find the spicy soup base more tasty but i've tasted better ones back home though.

btw i ordered the katsudon for my side. it's a small bowl of rice with quite a good serving of pork cutlet & egg. nice.

service was alright - probably because i ordered my lunch partially in english, the waiter made a mistake on my ramen order. no bid deal but since the restaurant is in business district, i would thought that there should be a min standard in their understanding of english?

overall portion is good for lunch but i still find that it's a little too pricey. but since it's in IFC, i didn't expect much.

comparing this frozen yoghurt with the ones available in my country, this tastes alot more like ice-cream. creamier & the taste of milk is stronger. i find the texture similar to mcdonald's sundae but the taste is of course different, afterall it's still yoghurt.

i think i would like it more if it's more sour. the toppings available are alot more fanciful. i tried the house crumbs & mini meringues. nice. imo this wouldn't be a dessert that i must eat everyday but it's still worth trying.

btw while in the queue waiting for my order, i realised too i was surrounded by 99% youngsters. definitely something that the younger crowd would like.

Never knew that 川菜 can be that fresh & tasty!

My HK friend Cat insisted that I must try out the speciality from this restaurant. She says that it is best to make reservation first. Without reservation? You'll likely have to end up in a queue esp at peak hours.

We went there in a group of 6 adults (with reservations of cuz!) & had 4 plates of fishes (that makes 2 whole fishes), mutton sticks & a bowl of 米线. Cat says that 中辣 for the fish will not be too oily & it's perfect! Although I would have loved it to be more spicy...

I am sure they used freshwater fish & it does not taste muddy at all!

It's definitely worth a try!