Walking from Wanchai to an appointment in Causeway Bay and looking for a place to lunch on the way. Came across this eatery and decided to go in to try since there was an available table.

From the choice of available lunch sets, I ordered the Ipoh Hor Fun Soup with Shredded Chicken and Prawns (怡保雞絲鮮蝦湯河粉), with a cup of Teh Tarik (Malaysian "pulled" milk tea 馬來西亞拉茶). My friend who subsequently came to join me ordered the Malaysian Curry Chicken Rice (馬來西亞咖哩雞飯) and a cup of Ipoh White Coffee (怡保白咖啡).

The Ipoh Hor Fun came piping hot and looked quite delicious, but was a little disappointing taste wise. The soup did not have the sweet taste of prawn that one would have expected from its color. There was a thick layer of oil floating atop the soup that I was ultimately forced to skim - there turned out to be almost half a rice bowl of oil in the soup. Digging from the bottom of the bowl of hor fun, there were grey-colored prawn shells with heads and legs that appeared to have been put in to flavor the soup. These should have been removed before serving, as they made the noodle look unappetizing and tended to get caught between the strips of hor fun which then forced one to spit as they could not be swallowed. Although I am not a big fan of hor fun, the noodle in this dish was smooth and had a little bite (not overly soft), which I did like. The shredded chicken was tender, unlike those found at some other eateries that taste like meat that has been used to brew the soup base. The prawns that were used however, were totally tasteless.
My friend had much better luck with the Malaysian Chicken Curry. The flavor of the curry is quite authentic, although we found it a little salty and would also prefer a little less coconut milk, so that we would not feel surfeit after. Thankfully, paired with rice, the saltiness was bearable. There were 3 big pieces of chicken with potato in the serving of curry - quite a generous portion. The chicken was tender and appeared to have been simmered in the curry, as it had absorbed the curry flavor.I tried both beverages and will pass on the teh taik next time. The tea had an astringent aftertaste, in spite of the milk. I liked the white coffee as the aroma was strong and there was no sour aftertaste. Be forewarned though that it can be a little sweet, so a request for a reduced-sweetened version may be necessary for some.I intend to return to the eatery to try other dishes such as bak kut teh (肉骨茶). The table next to ours ordered it and the aroma was delectable. The Hainanese chicken rice (馬來西亞海南雞飯) also looked like it was worth a try.

I have been buying cookies from this shop for more than a year now.

I have tried most of their selection of cookies, but my favorite is the almond cookies. The texture of these cookies are crumbly and melt in the mouth. As salt is sprinkled over the top of the cookies, the taste is sweet with a touch of saltiness. It would be more perfect (and better suited for elderly people) if both the sugar and salt were slightly reduced. Nonetheless, these cookies are addictive - it is always difficult to stop at one helping. This range of cookies also comes in two other flavors - cashew nut and walnut. The cashew nut is also good as it has the rich flavor of the nut, but tends to be slightly sweeter than the almond cookies.

The cookies are packaged in a simple tin box that is quite air-tight to ensure freshness. They are sold in 2 sizes - small and big, the latter being better value for money. If you are not sure of what to do with the cookie tins after, you may return them to the shop for a rebate of $3 per tin to offset the cost of the next purchase.The staff at the shop are friendly and most, if not all the selection of cookies are available for sampling, so feel free to try the cookies before deciding on which to buy.

Read about the prime rib promotion the restaurant was running, so made a reservation to catch up with 2 girlfriends over dinner there. The ambiance in the restaurant was good (nice for couples). We were shown to a booth table that afforded us privacy to chat.

The dinner was a set consisting of a soup of the day, 10oz prime rib and a beverage.

Bread rolls came to the table warm, soft and fluffy - wish they provided more than one per person. The soup served that day was a cream of leek with crab meat. With the first spoon of soup, one of my friends and I found it a tad too salty, though we found the flavor of the leek pleasant. There were little bits of crab meat in the soup that though not very sweet, were fortunately not "fishy". When the manager came by to check, we informed him that we thought the soup was over-salted. He immediately offered to change the soup for a salad, but as we enjoyed the flavor of the soup and the level of saltiness did not render the soup inedible, we did not take him up on his offer. The manager later returned to our table with a cup of soup to taste for himself and obtain more feedback. He concluded that the aftertaste was a little salty and promised to share the comments with the chef. Fearing that the prime rib would be overcooked, I requested for medium rare, instead of the usual medium. My friends in turn requested an 80% doneness. The meat was perfectly cooked to the requested degree, which I then found a little rare for my taste, so the staff very kindly offered to send it back to the kitchen to be cooked a little more. This time it came out perfectly medium as I preferred. The portion is actually a little huge for the average girl, but as the meat was juicy and had a rich beef flavor (we did not even need to use the gravy that was served on the side), we could not help finishing the entire steak. The tomato and broccoli garnishing the dish were fresh and the side of baked potato was soft and fluffy.We were offered the dessert menu and informed that having ordered the set dinner, we could enjoy the desserts at half price. We were really full then, but the photos of the desserts looked so decadent, we finally gave in to temptation and ordered both the apple crumble and tiramisu with extra rum. We wanted to order the souffle as well, but they had just taken the order for the last one - I shall have to go back for it. I did not try the apple crumble but my friends declared that it was delicious, not overly sweet and without an overpowering cinnamon flavor. The warmth of the apple crumble made a nice combination with the cold of the vanilla ice cream.The tiramisu was served with a small pitcher of rum. The rum was to be poured around the piece of tiramisu so that it will not become too soggy. The coffee flavor of the tiramisu with the rum-soaked sponge in the dessert was perfect!For the beverage in the set, I ordered a latte. It is nice that one does not have to pay an additional charge for ordering drinks other than the usual daily brew. As I still had half a pitcher of rum left after finishing the tiramisu, I decided to add it to my latte. I have read of liquor being added to coffee and now understand why - the added rum enhanced the coffee, really nice.I look forward to re-visiting the restaurant to try other items on the menu or even have the prime rib set again, but perhaps to share the latter this time as the portion is generous. It helps that most of the restaurant staff were friendly and sincere in their service.

The boss wanted to treat the team to lunch and eventually settled on this restaurant as the venue. I had been here for dinner previously and was quite impressed by the quality of the food.

The lunch sets did not disappoint either. As there were more than 20 in our party, we were requested by the restaurant to pre-order to ensure sufficient time for preparation. The service was polite and food was served up in a timely manner.

The 3-course lunch sets were very affordable, ranging from $88 to $108.
Appetizers were a choice of a soup and a variety of salads. The Caesar salad had fresh greens and crunchy croutons, though a little more bacon and cheese would have been preferred.

There were quite a few main courses to select from, ranging from pasta, rice, fish, chicken, and various types of red meat. I ordered the baby lamb fillet without realizing that it came with a mint gravy, which I do not normally enjoy. I was a little concerned after I caught a whiff of the mint when the dish was set before me. But was I in for a surprise! The mint in the gravy was very light. The gravy was a good balance of sweet and sour and a perfect complement to the tender lamb strips. I would definitely go back for it.
I had a taste of the seafood paella that my colleague ordered and it was quite nice too. The rice was cooked just right and the portion of seafood was generous. The feedback on the grilled ribeye steak was also favorable.

The set lunch included a choice of beverages or dessert of the day. I was hoping that tiramisu would be offered as I recall it to be quite good when I had it on my previous visit. But the dessert turned out to be a chocolate cake served warm and a la mode - it did not disappoint though. The cake was of a dense texture and rich, but not overly sweet. Very nice with the vanilla ice cream. The location of the restaurant may be a little out of the way, but for the price and quality of the lunch sets, as well as the spacious and comfortable seating arrangement, it is well worth the trudge up the hill.

When I visited this eatery in Tin Hau with my family for lunch on the weekend, all the tables on ground level were occupied, so we were directed to the 2nd floor. Seating is generally comfortable but beware as you make your way to the back of the restaurant where both the stairs and the kitchen meet as the wet and oily patch of floor in that area can be a hazard.

After placing our orders, we had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes as the dimsum was cooked to order, and not pre-cooked, so all the dishes arrived at our table piping hot.

The vegetable and shrimp dumpling (鮮蝦菜苗餃) was delicious. There was a generous serving of the vegetable filling in the dumpling that was not in the least fibrous. The skin of the dumpling which was thin, did not break easily, and had a slightly “chewy” texture. The same type of dumpling skin was used for the beef and bittergourd dumpling (涼瓜水晶牛肉餃). This is an unusual choice of filling for a steamed dumpling as the bitter taste of the bittergourd may not be for everyone. Fortunately, the bittergourd was diced small enough such that it was sufficiently soft and cooked through to remove the “green” taste of the gourd, and it was a nice combination with the tender beef filling. The ingredients in the filling of the chiu-chao style dumpling (古法潮州粉果) complemented each other well and were not overly salty – the only imperfection for me being that the peanuts in the dumpling were not as crispy as some others I have tried. The family member who had the pork and shrimp soup dumpling (瑤柱灌湯餃) found it bland and unexciting. The shrimp dumpling (功夫蝦餃皇) at $7 each was unremarkable and seemed little overdone - the skin of the dumpling was a little too soft.We loved the plain rice rolls (布拉滑腸粉) which had a nice “chewy” texture, and were thin and smooth without being overly oily. The soy sauce that accompanied the rice rolls was a good balance of sweet and salty. The fragrance of the lotus leaf wrapping the rice with shrimp, chicken and pork (足料鮮蝦荷葉飯) preceded the dish. The rice looked quite dry and unappetizing when it was unwrapped, but turned out to be surprisingly soft and fluffy when eaten. There was not as much meat ingredients in the rice as we had expected, and we were left with quite a lot of rice and no accompanying meat at the end.We did not find the potsticker (金網香煎鍋貼), a recommended dish on their menu, outstanding. It did look unusual with the pan-fried dumpling sitting atop a rice flour netting, but the novelty ends there. The rice flour netting was hard, not crispy, and the skin of the dumpling was thick. The meat filling, though juicy, was a strange tinge of pink, like uncooked meat.We had the jujube (dried red dates) and ginger juice steamed cake (特色薑汁紅棗糕) for dessert. Quite a few dimsum restaurants offer this dessert, but this is one of the best I have had so far. The cake was not too sweet with the strong fragrance of jujubes and a little kick of spiciness from the ginger juice. The texture of the cake is smooth and chewy, without sticking to the teeth. I also liked that it could be peeled off in layers to eat.
Service was polite, even though it was very busy that day and the service staff looked hassle. The challenge was in trying to catch their attention at opportune times.

Prices are average (not cheap), considering the quality, but I will visit again.