It's a Chinese culture for families to gather together on Sundays and enjoy a nice meal. As a tradition, all yum-cha restaurants would be fully packed on the day. Today was nonetheless the same. We arrived at 12noon - peak time for lunch and hoped to find a seat somewhere. Not surprisingly, queues were lining outside every single Chinese restaurants like 湘川滬, 鴻星, 皇廷, 翠園 which were all situated at 7/F and 8/F in grand century place. The least number of tables that we had to wait for a small table was 22... In the midst of the crowd, we spotted this japanese restaurant, 80% empty hoping that it's because of the unwillingness to depart from the tradition yum-cha instead of its quality, we decided to give it a go.
The setting was indeed unsuitable for family gathering, but great for couples. Due to the lack of people, it's rather quiet, or positively saying, tranquil ambiance. As traditional japanese restaurants, the lightings were not as bright as chinese ones as well. We were given a menu, 3 pages, and were told that those were the only dishes available for lunch. There wasn't any sunday specials, mostly were 定食 - at attractive price of around $70-80 per set. It would be great if they could provide a la carte so families/friends could share food, and they could definitely earn more as well
We wanted sushi, and...nope sorry Rather disappointed, we opted for other snacks. give credit where credit is due - this egg roll was fab. it was a bit rough when we looked at it, however as we bit into it, the egg was actually soft and smooth. It was a delightful combination with cheese and mentaiko. The subtle sweetness made it alluring. It was the first dish delivered, towards the completion of our meal, we were delivered another plate, apparently they made a mistake and we were told that the chef mistakenly made an extra one. To avoid "wastage", we decided to have it! At the cost of our bill of courseThis is another dish that deserves praise. A straightforward rendition without any tricks. The deep fried soft chicken bones were golden brown, crunchy, not too oily yet juicy. All you look for in this simple starter was presented at only $18! It was encored immediatelySalmon sashimi, grilled salmon and strands of fried eggs are the combination of this three-colour set. They were served side-by-side as you can see from the picture. Nothing too fancy, expected taste. Since they didn't serve salmon sashimi a la carte, I wasn't expecting too much from the salmon. It was fresh, but not too juicy, mediocre at best. The grilled salmon was lukewarm, slightly below average standard as it wasn't tender and pretty bland... The sushi rice was amazingly lovable moist and chewy, definitely augmented this dish overall. It was generously portioned as well. The set also came with a steamed egg custard, it was smooth but we didn't like sour egg so it was left untouched.The staff especially brought our attention to this dish, mentioning that it was sour, which is of my liking and escalated my expectation. It came with a nice pot that was heating upon delivery. We had to wait like 5 mins before uncovering it. I simply couldn't understand why it bothered with all the gimmick when everything was simply distinctive off-note. It wasn't sour because of the tomatoes, it was austere salty. The pork was stale and coarse, soup was queasy. No excuses were made for the lackluster performance of this effortless dish.We only ordered this after the drab tomato pot. Sadly, it was a grave implication of the chef's skill. The pork bone ramen was again too salty, could taste the MSG straight away, which made me questioned the chef's tastebud (or maybe he didn't bother foodtasting at all). The noodles were close to al dente, but not enough to pull up the standard of this dish. The soup clang too much on the noodles which made it way too heavy. The miso soup, awkwardly, was decent - a flovourful broth that wasn't salty! We dipped the noodles to the miso soup and managed to finish the noodles. We would definitely call it an accomplishment The fried chicken was average, pulled down by the soup as well as made it soggy. It should really served separately to conserve its juiciness.

In addition, the service was not flattering given the lack of customers, not attentive at all and we had to cue for water adding; they were "so eager" to collect our menus as if not enough were printed for a mass of customers-_- All I could say at the end of this experience was.. 虎頭蛇尾 Understood why it didn't "dare" to charge at a higher price in such a decent place. Grateful that waiting time was saved but we immediately went to auntie anne's to make sure our stomachs were satisfied and filled. How about simply extend one of the Chinese restaurants to its location and save the public's time

I have heard of Red Ant before but I thought they offer food like Eurogogo: quick, readily-made western sets, it was a pleasant surprise to find the range of different styles of food available. A decent setting but there were this group of teenagers chatting quite loudly and a few families with children, so won't really recommend couples spending time there.
I enjoyed reading their menu as it was nicely printed and colourful, the proportion of photos to dishes was comparatively higher than average restaurants. Without having read any of its food reviews beforehand, I was attracted by the self mix-and-match noodles and chose 髮絲麵 with 椰香海鮮辣湯 and 豬頸肉. Amazing, it is among one of the top preferences. It was said that the 髮絲麵 was home-made. I found it a bit too soft, it was really thin as well, couldn't absorb much flavour from the soup nor provide a gratifying texture. The soup on the other hand was better, it was normal to have anticipated a sweet aroma of coconut and a refreshing spice from the description of the soup and that was more or less what was delivered. The level of MSG was acceptable as I didn't have to drink in cups of water when I got home. Not going to compare pork's neck meat with those from Thai restaurants, so I'll just say it was average. Not too roasted, quite tender. The lettuce, though, tasted a bit bitter

It's pretty considerate to give the authentic Chinese tea cup a nice cute handle as people with larger hands often find it difficult to gently lift the cup. In order to distinguish it from western tea cup, it is smaller in size, such that the volume can maintain more or less similar to the ones used by ordinary Chinese restaurants. The overall setting was pretty classy but not to the extent where you would feel intimidated to not behave in a way gentleman/lady-like.

this is the decade in which individuals are set apart based on networking and relationships. to me, the value of a dining experience depends on the advance in bonding one obtained instead of the effort the chef put in (of coz, that matters as well, but not that lasting).
i guess, for a university student, the purpose of these couple of years is all about finding the future path and direction rather than the arbitrary figures found on one's transcript. to keep it short, one insightful breakfast worths more than the countess hours in the lecture theatres.
in case you weren't aware of, only 3-4 cova in hong kong provide breakfast service. being a "kowloon person", it was the first time i visited the cwb cova.
altho it was a saturday morning, there werent many customers and the tables were set apart thus the tranquil ambiance made it a perfect place for communication(quite a formal word used as i didnt imagine i would have the chance to talk to this superior guest of my mum's frd. serious business here, not chitchatting)the choices of breakfast selection was a typical one, with the four of us, two of us chose the omelette prosciutto cotto & formaggio, a uova strappazzate & salmone affumicato(mine) and a uova in camicia all'olandese. in order to act "professional" in a "business-like meeting", i didnt dare to take my camera out in front of the guest so sorry, no photos this time.
scrambled eggs wrapped in thin slice smoked salmon garnish with caviar that came with my set was palatable. i am not a fan of eggs, to some extend, i actually have egg-phobia. yet, i managed to finish the whole plate this time! why? simply becoz the straightforward rendition of wrapping the completely cooked yet fluffy scrambled eggs in smoked salmon got rid of the yolky taste it usually has. the lightly salted caviar did the job of the usual way of adding pepper to scrambled eggs as well as adorned the dish. hope that i could take a photo the next time i encore this dish.
the poached eggs were as appealing as my salmon scrambled egg but as juicy egg yolk is still a barrier to me, i wouldnt say it was appetizing couldn't comment on the taste as i didnt try them.
the omelette was simply an omelette. mediocre at best, not much to pick on nor to appraise but definitely a bit drab without much thought on garnishment. in order to sustain the fine image of cova, it should really find ways to improve
toasts were included in all the sets, my mum changed hers to croissant(you have to ask the more senior waitress for the arrangement as we were first rejected by a supposedly less senior waitress). anyways, could choose between brown and white bread. sigh! they were poorly presented to the table all the toasts(6 slices+1 croissant) were placed on a plain white plate. very thin, not completely toasted. my dear cova, is this what you've got!? in order to uphold its image in me, i will approach its bakery sooner or later(please be good). yes, i'm bias towards the reputation it established.
fresh grapefruit/orange juice at your pick. no sugar added to my grapefruit juice yet sweet

a nice english breakfast tea to sum up the meal. accept it or not, i only drink coffee at night when i need to work. no matter how long i've slept, i'm always energetic in the day time

as a matter of fact, the "breakfast" lasted for slightly more than 3 hours(even longer than my numerous encountered dessert buffet). will visit it again in no time but more for its all along signature desserts for breakfast, would like to tryout other options for the meantime. nonetheless..a beam of light emerging through the mist of my future path^^

Grand century plaza has a nice food court if you managed to get a seat. Quite spacious, modern and not too noisy even if it’s filled with people. However, if you arrive during the lunch hour of students from the school nearby, it is unlikely that you could get a seat without having to squeeze… There’s a playground outside, with the full-length transparent glass, the atmosphere is indeed pleasant.There is a range of food you can choose from, thai, jap, fastfood, singap, hk etc etc. Why on earth would I end up choosing this lousy restaurant
I ordered 什錦沙鍋. It is said to be spicy but in fact there was simply chilly oil that produced a hottish colour but it tasted nothing at all. There was only some minced pork with sliced fungi and bean curd. It looked nice at first sight but was simply bland. A serious disappointment but definitely cheap in nowadays inflation(renders it a "ok" instead of "cry"). Many students nonetheless support its food, I think it has better 鐵板燒飯 and I would want to give it a second chance by trying its signature dish - 沙鍋雞