Date
13th March 2013

Meal
Dinner at 9pm and 2nd visit Dinner at 6pm

Intro
Bought to you byLes Amis Group , the same group who bought us Cepage in Wan Chai. http://www.lesamis.com.sg/index1.php

Ordered
Beef cheek braised in red wine,with carrot, mushroom, pearl onion, bacon & mashed potato - $250
Suckling pig confit (belly) - $210
French onion soup with croutons & cheese $80
Duck leg confit served with friesFood

Appetiser

French onion soup with croutons & cheese $80

This was an amazing appetiser. as we ordered 3 main dish and weren't so hungry, we opted for only one appetiser, a soup to share. I must say, I have never had a good onion soup before. And this onion soup blew my mind off. It was amazing and even looked sexy delicious. I think I can go on forever with this soup! Even looking at it made me dribble. And i must state my friend was getting impatient when I took a few minutes to take pictures of it. Just one look at it and you want to scoff it down your throat! What made it LOOK so appetizing? It must be the melted cheese. My past experience of onion soup was not too good, usually the cheese is small and tasteless. Or teh bread underneath the cheese was even bigger than the cheese WHICH MEANS, the cheese is TINYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

Main Course

Beef cheek braised in red wine, with carrot, mushroom, pearl onion, bacon & mashed potato -$250

To me this dish is - beef bourguignon. Especially classic beef bourguignon uses pearl onions, carrots and baby mushroom. Exactly how this dish is. I wonder why they don't just call it that here.

Beef bourguignon (US pron.: /ˌbiːf ˌbʊərɡɨnˈjɔːn/) or bœuf bourguignon (UK /ˌbɜrf ˈbʊərɡɨnjɔːn/;[1] French pronunciation: ​[bœf buʁ.ɡi.ɲɔ̃]), also called beef Burgundy, and boeuf à la Bourguignonne,[2] is a well-known, traditional French recipe.
The dish originates from the Burgundy region (in French, Bourgogne) which is in the east of present-day France, as do many of the more well-known French dishes such as coq au vin, escargot, persillé ham, oeufs meurette, gougères, pain d'epices,epoisses, etc.
It is a stew prepared with beef braised in red wine, traditionally red Burgundy, and beef broth, generally flavoured with garlic,onions and a bouquet garni, with pearl onions and mushrooms added towards the end of cooking.

From Wikipedia
I love this dish in general, and I have attempted to make this myself many times. So I do apprecate the hard worka nd preperation that needs to be done for this dish. Just a quick note on how this is made. Beef is chopped in chunks so as the vegetable. Bacona nd bacon fat is heated up and then throw in the herbs to cook the vigrant out. Then pour red wine in with the herb and fat with the beef. And needs to cover it up in fridge overnight. Next day throw in the vegetable and slow cook it for a good few hours. i love this dish. The meat is marinated in the herb and red wine liquid overnight and then slow cooked. The meat will be so tasty and soft and tender.

We ahd to share the piece of beef cheek between three of us, I think we would have killed each other for it if we weren't modern humans who have learned to share! The meat is so tender that we did not even need to cut into the meat, just lightly tear it and it will come apart. Let alone chewing it, it literally melts into my mouth after a few light chew. It was divine. I was drinking the base liek a soup. It was like a rich beef soup. It was unbelieavble.What I disliked the most was, there was onlya few mushrooms, like 2. And two piece of carrots. And hey, who would have guessed the carrots was made from Heaven too? Although you can see the carrot and mushroom was not braised as long as the beef and was put in probably when making out casserole hot, but the carrot was beautiful. I can taste the buttery flavour in it, it was sweet and buttery. Yummy. I would prefer them to have more carrots and mushroom though. that would have made it perfect.

Mashed Potatoes was served as a side with the Braised beef cheek, which is very authentic as the French do serve this with this dish. Although the mash was less stand out, I prefer it that way. as the braised beef cheek is rich and so full-bodied, the mash was not needed to be the same. One must be less rich and one is rich in flavour to keep the balance. The mash was hard and dry. Not what I had expected. i expected for soft mash with buttery taste. There was no buttery taste nor was it even seasoned probably. But as a side for the rich beef dish, it went well overall. The portion of mash was too tiny, there were still so many sauce left in the casserole after the mashw as finsihed, so I ended up dipping the leftover bread from starter into the sauce and it was divine.

Suckling pig confit (belly) - $210

We all agreed upon choosing the belly instead of the leg. the leg however is cheaper. But who doesn't prefer a big piece of the belly. The belly was served with Sauerkraut which is a famous German side dish. It is practically like pickles, sour cabbage. I have no idea why this is in a French bistro, nor why is it served with the pork belly. we all agreed that it did not go well with the dish. Lets say, the Sauerkraut wasn't too appetizing. I have had Sauerkraut in german restaurant and they taste many times better. This side dish was probably the worst one out of the three. Not surprisingly, we did not finsih the Sauerkraut.The suckling pork belly came with a gravy on the side. I did not use the gravy as the pork belly was good by itself or with some salt. The suckling pork belly was almost a square shape, wuite flat and you can tell from the golden brown, it is nicely done. the taste was heavenly! The skin was crunchy and crispy. The lean meat was tender and juicy. I have no idea how they can make it crispy on the outside and keep it so juicy on the inside. It was just too good. The only bad thing i thought was fat layer between the lean meat and the crispy skin. It was rather fat and for ladies who is trying to 'pig out' but no overdo it, that is not a good thing. I thought maybe it was just our piece of meat but the second time when I revisited them, it was the same.

Duck leg confit served with fries

This dish was rather generous compared to the other 2 dishes. It was served with salad and fries. The duck was generous too, a big piece. No problem in sharing. It was average, maybe comapred to the other two dishes were so fabulous, it made this one really average. Even thinking back now, I can't think of anything about the duck that stood out. It was surely good as we managed to finish it aswel. The skin was crispy and the meat was moist and soft. It was still delicious but did not have the WOW factor, it seemed like a dish that I can eat anywhere else with same standard. The duck was nice overall, but I did not taste any seasoning or herbs that makes it different from the rest that i have tasted.Fat fries was served with the duck leg. I loved the fries, although i have expected the fries to be duck fat fried, but they still tasted just as good. Maybe because they were thick and fat. i love the texture. They were nicely salted. As we ran out of mash, we dipped the fries into the Beef cheek red wine sauce. the fries quickly absorb the sauce and it was partner in crime. Incredible. I couldn't stop dipping it.

Grand marnier souffle, vanilla ice cream $75

this is one of their best selling dessert. And who doesn't get seduced by a Souffle? A souffle- so french, the word itself so elegant, the sound of 'souffle' is so seducing. I am not a big farn of souffle. I don't like the texture, it is sloppy, wet and too sweet. But I always think maybe it is just my bad experience in badly made souffle, maybe there are good ones and will change my mind? So everytime, I get lured into ordering one and regret it. As for this restaurant, since it is the best selling dessert and because all the dishes did not disappoint me, I wanted to try THE Souffle.The souffle was nicely risen up, white icing sugar sieved on top. baked in a mini casserole and served with ice cold vanilla ice cream which is my favourite. I guess I just don't liek Souffle. it did not change my mind. Souffle to me is still sloppy, too wet and too sweet. i don't like it. The texture is too soft to be a cake, actually it seems like a half baked cake or a warmthick oats porridge. I can't say it isn't nice as a Souffle, but it just not my thing. But the ice cream was top notch and we finished it in no time!


Atmosphere & Location

It is located at Kennedy town which is in Sai Wan. As the MTR is coming, Sai Wan is changing rapidly. And there seem to be a trend in opening new restaurants all in Sai Wan, Bistro Du vin has outrun others near it.I liked the interior there. Furnitures are wooden, lights were dim. It definately is a bistro when you see wooden chairs and tablee. It surely isn;t romantic with bigger tables for family and a bunch of friends. there are sofa seats on the side with cushions with french words on. There are picture hangings on the wall. The ambience is definately causal and family welcoming. There were many families coming with children on the weekends and it is usually very noisy. Seemed to me I was in a chinese restaurant or a market. It was noisy but it seemed warm and cozy. I did not have to be pretentious or need to hush my voice. A good place to come with friend or family. A great place to catch up and have a laugh with close or un-close friends. as it is so welcoming and casual, noone would be over listening your conversations.The restaurant is long and narrow, but atleast the ceiling was high. Bathrooms are located at the back, right behind the kitchen and the mini wine room. There are tables on the left and right, with the right having sofas seating.

Service - Poorly

Sometimes I feel frustrated and disappointed with bad service at a restaurant who serves GREAT food. Immediately the rating in my head drops down rapidly. A great service really affects how you rate the experience at the restaurant. I think it is unfair too as you come to the restaurant for the food so why let the service affects your review of the food. But a restaurant isn't just about the food. That is why you decorate it and TRY to hire people who you think do good at their job and presentable to give your customers the best dining experience.

The service here was under average, chains of disappointing service

1.) Firstly as I stepped into the restaurant, i was not greeted nor was I acknowledged. When they have finally noticed me, they asked for my booking and straight away took me to my table without any eye contact or a smile, which is very displeasing.
2.) We were not offered any menus til we asked for it. The lady with long hair that down our order had a blank face all throughout our dinner. One smile could have made a big difference to my meal. Maybe she was busy, but that is what happens at a restaurant and a smile should come natural.
Our water was not refilled and the glass was not on our table, despite we actually paid for the bottle of mineral water which was not cheap.
3.)When food was placed on our tables, the same waitress did not introduce or say the name of teh dish to us which is very unfriendly. Even in typical HK cafe, the waiter will say the name of the dish.
I would expect a 'Bistro' or they call themselves that, charges us for certain amount for a dish, they would have a certain standard of service. Our dishes were taken away without being politely asked. Actually we weren't even asked. Our onion soup was not finished when the main course came, which is unprofessional anyway. But we wanted to finish our onion soup after. It was half full, when the waitress just took it without even looking at us. And she just turned her backa n walked off so quickly before we could even react to it and ask her come back. that is really impolite. She should have acknowledged us and asked if she could take it away. Who comes and take it away just as she likes and not the costumer's will?
4.)Even after we finished dessert, our glass of water was still not refilled. Great attentive waitress!
After saying so much bad things, there is a good thing that I liked.

There is an older lady who works there who served me the second time I went. She was lovely and a good example of how a good service should be. She was polite and acknowledged me as I arrived. i asked for warm glass ofw ater and she gave me it straight away, and when she refilled my water, she smartly remembered my empty glass was warm water not cold water. she was excellent. she was attentive, polite and well mannered. When I was asking for the bill, the young waitress walked straight pass me a few times, but the older lady saw me and gave me the bill and apologized. If only teh boss could hire more people like the older lady waitress!

Menu explantaion

Menu was quite simple and short. Not a great extravagant list of food to choose from. There is a main menu which consist of 3-5 dishes in each categories in starters, main course, dessert etc. There is also the Daily special's menu which is written on the big blackboard hanging on the wall. They also have a few small blackboards which they bring to your table. The Daily specials to me seem more of the top dishes and favourites of every tables - for example The braised beef cheek in red wine, duck leg confit, baby squid etcThe menu is basic and the range is small. But every dish comes perfectly. So it is for the best, so the chef can concerntrate on their specialities and bring us the best they could!

Recommendation

Braised beef cheek in red wine sauce - this is the must. It is a bargain for such a heavenly dish to exist in Hong Kong and for a generous priceOnion soup - best i have tasted, even in France and in London. It is not too sweet nor too sour. Perfectly done!
Suckling pig belly - crunchy, cripsy juicy all rolled into one!

Verdict

Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

Details

Bistro du vin

Shop 1D,1 Davis Street, 852 Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2824 3010

Mon - Sun

Lunch - 12pm- 2pm
Dinner- 6pm - 11pm
Closed Tuesday lunch


Reservation: Essential!!!!


Outro

One thing i really want to mention. I have visited twice this restaurant and twice I have experienced the same issue.

The moment i sit down, the waitress ask if i want Still or Sparkling water. Immediately i answer 'Still' To my friend she described this as a 'trap' As usually they would allow you look at Drinks menu before ordering your drinks. But because they ask you straight away, youw ould expect it to be free. But it is not, it is charged. it is natural to want to drink a glass ofw ater after the journey to the restaurant and usually resturants provide free water for you at the start. I think this is an issue, if it is charged you should atleast state it or ask if tehyw ould like tap water or Still/Sparkling.

Introduction

Bought to you by castelo concepts, who owns Jaspas, sushi O (next door), Zaks, Harringtons, Piccolos etc so there must be some expectations from them. A big company and expertise in these sorts of restaurants
A lil introduction from their website

'The latest addition to the Castelo Concepts’ family is Oolaa. Having opened its doors in October, Oolaa is a unique all day dining and drinks destination. Located on Soho’s Bridges Street, at the ground floor of the luxury residential complex CentreStage, Oolaa is a 6000 square foot venue housing a restaurant, lounge bar, cafe corner and private dining area all under one roof.

With a seating capacity of 120 guests, Oolaa restaurant, with its intimate outdoor terrace, “fine wine corner”, wood fired pizza oven, serves an array of high quality unpretentious worldly cuisine; with a wine list to match.

The Bar area exudes a loungy atmosphere with its classic design and elegant drink list…..the perfect spot for a pre-dinner cocktail, happy hour with colleagues or to ring in the weekend with friends! After the dinner shift, Oolaa’s loungy bar will slip into something a little bit more comfortable with some soulful tunes and sinful grooves, while the drinks keep on flowing.

Last and certainly not least, Oolaa’s cafe corner is an early morning haven for Central’s city slickers and a Bridge Street’s weekend hang out. Comfy sofas and chairs, the smell of ground Illy coffee and freshly baked pastries will lure you in and make it tough to leave.'

Date
Sunday 17th March 2013

Meal
Brunch at 3pm

OrderedEggs Benedict - 2 poached egg with citrus hollandaise, leg ham and buttered baby spinach - $110
Oolaa' Big Breakfast - 2 Sunny side eggs, pork sausages, smoked bacon, roast Roma tomato, baked beans, mushrooms, home fried potatoes & toasted sour dough - $120Drinks

Grapefruit juice - $50
Ice cappucino -
Their Breakfast Menu - http://www.casteloconcepts.com/assets/block/Oolaa%20Breakfast%20%20Nov%202012.pdf

Food

Eggs Benedict

"Eggs Benedict is a dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs, andHollandaise sauce." from WikiprediaThe Eggs Benedict looked devine. The hollandaise sauce was beautifully done and settled on the surface of the egg. Even the eggs are perfectly poached.
I have tried making a poached egg before, it was incredibly hard to make it perfect. Meaning the shape of it, the texture, obviously the timing has to be perfect. What I love about these poached eggs are both of them seemed to me, identical size and shape.There were generous amount of Hollandaise sauce. I must admit, this was the most 'musturd' colour Hollandaise sauce I have seen. Usually they would be pale yellow, here it is almost like musturd. The leg ham was heavenly. I expected it to be as thin as paper, but this was generous. Not too thick, where I really need to chew my teeth off. But thick to where I can chew bit and taste the flavor of the ham!It was an incredible idea to add the buttered spinach underneath the ham. Firstly, it made the whole thing much healthier (yes with some green, I cheated my mind to think it is a healthy dish despite how many eggs is made to use the sauce!)

Firstly the spinach is delicious as it is lightly buttered, and it neutralize the saltiness of the ham. I loved it. It is first Egg benedict with green in it. I cannot say it is extrodinary, but the experience was pleasant. What was missing?I think it must be the eggs. Do not get me wrong, it was perfect poached eggs. Golden yellow egg yolk, identical shape and size. Perfectly poached, when I cut into it, the egg yolk flows out all over, and I dip the muffin into the runny egg yolk. It was heavenly.

So what went wrong? The egg itself. It was tasteless. I wanted to find out what egg they used. A cheap one/ I could taste it of course but yo can tell it wasn't a good egg where you will pop it in your both and go 'mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm im in Heaven'

The Hollandaise sauce was distinctive. It is less creamy than other Hollandaise sauce I have tasted but it goes well with the ham and spinach altogether. As a whole package, it was a delightful dish

Oolaa' Big Breakfast

Oolaa's BIG breakfast
It consisted of:

2 eggs (any style you wanted)
2 Pork sausages,
3 pieces smoked bacon,
Roast Roma tomato,
Baked beans,
Mushrooms,
Home fried potatoes
A toasted sour doughCannot miss out on a Big Breakfast when you are out for brunch, but not many places in Hong Kong gives you an authentic English breakfast. I think Oolaa's Big breakfast is as good as it gets in Hong Kong.

First of all I would like to state, THEIR PORK SAUSAGES ARE THE REAL THING!!!!! I hate, and I mean hate going places, and their menu says ' English breakfast' or 'American breakfast' then when it arrives on my table, they give me these chinese cheese sausage which you can get from Park n Shop or bit better they give me frankfurters. I prefer my good old Cumberland sausages. Although these weren't Cumberland, they were still thick pork sausages. I cuuld taste the herbs in it. i love it. These are the real sausages!Eggs weren't anything special as they were just sunny side up. I am sure it is quite easy to make and like I said previously, the egg weren't the best I have tasted. I loved the mushroom though. It was generously seasoned (for once) I tasted the pepper and the salt in it. There are so many places that don't bother seasoning the mushrooms, they miss out how important that is for the taste buds.

I liked the fried potatoes. They were cut into small cubes, just right for bite size! If all the cubes added up, probably only 1/4 of a potato. But there were lack of seasoning, I added salt and pepper myself. But It was still good, something different from a hashbrown.

There were only 3 bacons pieces and they were quite tough and hard, but obviously they tasted so good, who can resist bacon?

Overall the Big breakfast is average, nothing mindblowing, nothing you cannot make a home. No surprise there at all. Maybe if there is next time, I won't order this again.

Atmosphere


The atmosphere here is better than the food, it is a fact. The restaurant is big. One side is for dining, can fit around 15-18 tables, and the other side is the bar and lounge with sofas. I was told if no reservation you will be taken to the bar. Which I actually prefered. The music is different, bit more relax and less tense. There are sofas and people there seems less tense. It seems more like area where you want to chill and chat for long time while having a drink or so. They have the open window on that side facing the street, how peaceful. As the location is high up in central, it is much more quiet and less busy than soho itself.The dining area seems more tense. Everybody used their hushed voice and sat up straight and looked serious. I guess this side is for the REAL thing. Although I prefer the other side, this side is obviously for business lunch or something more sincere.

The atmosphere is still nice. Peaceful and relaxing.

The lights were dim and at 5 o'clock straight, the lights were turned even dimmer which made the mood more romantic.

White tablecloth and brown chairs, very classic look don't you think?Tables were not clued together like noram soho places would be. Place was quite spacious, part from the 2 seaters dining tables, they were closer together, the bigger tables were more spreaded out. I can assure you I cannot hear the table infront of me for once! YAY! no more 'free' gossips

Service: Poor

There weren't anything good about the service, even a long think.

They weren't rude to me either but, just looking at service. They were not up to standard.

First of all, noone ever answers the phone, I have been trying make a reservation since a night ago, noone picks up. So how am I suppose to make a reservation, especially their website do not have the online reservation service. Even in the morning, noone was picking up. And when they FINALLY answered, they were blunt and unhelpful.

Upon arriving, as the restaurant is quite big, the entrance seemed to be hidden in the middle. There are two sides of the restaurant from the middle, left is the bar, right is the dining area. When I walked in, I had no idea which side to go to as I wasn't greeted. No waiter nor waitress acknowledged me. It made me feel quite lost. I went out to the counter where a lady was facing the other lady inside the counter. They looked at me as if I was asking for direction- NOT WELCOMING. I am sure costumers feels the best when they are greeted immediately and they are hired to help me out not the other way round. So why do they make me feel so unwelcome.

As our booking was at 3pm, and we were late for 20mins. The lady rudely said 'Your booking is at 3pm, oh theres last tablae for you' and showed us to a table. I looked around the dining area, there were only 7 occupied table, so only 25 percent of tables are taken up. She obviously tried to make us feel bad for being late, wich i do apologize sincerely. But there is no need to make your costumer feels guilty especially if there are free tables.

Also, they never filled our empty glass with water from the start when everybody elses has. We asked for water twice and they still not filled our glasses. They never gave us a drink menu until I ask too.

It was nearly as hard as winning the lottery when trying to catch their attention.

They are never around, even when they are, they always hovering around the counter with their back facing us. Or they are walking straight pass us even if I am calling out to them. Surely if you know you have people seating in the dining area, eating or waiting for food, it is your job to be serving them. I am not saying you need to come over and ask if I want anything all time, but atleast you will have that alert for people when they ned you.

One woman on opposite table called out for a waitress and she walked straight pass twice. She got pretty annoyed so I got hold of the waitress for her. The waitress did not apologized. And from what I saw, there was soemthing wrong with her salad,. Sos he waited for a new one. IF the waitress would have acknowledged her earlier, then maybe the poor lady did not have to wait 5mins to tell her the problem and wait another 10mins for a new one. As her friend has already started eating hers.

I had to wait another extra 10mins for the bill as noone was around. I guess next time I can just walk out if they don't care that much

Drinks

There are fresh juices that can be ordered. At price of $50. A good healthy alternatives. But theere are wine and champagne available which I did not choose.

Iced cappuccino
My companion ordered iced cappuccino. and to our surprise it was huge, usally it would be a small glass only but this was huge. The Cappuccino was good, strong flavour with lots of milk. Just way how I like itYou can go check out their drinks menu here : http://www.casteloconcepts.com/assets/block/Oolaa%20Drinks%20List%20Aug%202012.pdf

Recommendation

I would definately recommend the Egg Benedict, much better than the plain old Big breakfast which was small and not worth the money. Did not even fill me up. The Egg benedict was so appetizing. Even looking at it gave me ecstasy. The perfectly poached egg and excellent hollandaise sauce. And the lovely spinach. Where else in Hong kong can you get better egg benedict?

Verdict

Would I go back again? Maybe

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥

I will come back to Oolaa, maybe not craving for it. But thinking about where to have a great Sunday brunch in Hk, nowhere can beats the atmosphere here and the above average food to be honest

Details

G/F, Bridges Street, CentreStage Soho | Mid-Levels – Hong Kong

+852 2803 2083

No details on opening hours on their website unfortunately

Reservation: Essential

Email: oolaa@casteloconcepts.com

Date

March 2013

Meal

Dinner at 9pm

Ordered

2 x 豬骨魚介拉麵 - $78

Food

豬骨魚介拉麵The noodles are the thick ramen, WHICH I LOVE. I ordered it to be 'al dente' and it came al dente which was the best. It has the texture and does not get too soft in the soup. it stayed hard and al dente til I finish the bowl. the colour is yellowy. I hate those thin white ramen noodles. there isn't too much texture to them, and they turn soft after being in the hot soup. the hard and thick noodles gives me more fullness and satisfaction. There are three options for the hardness of the noodlesAl dente
Moderate
Soft
I obviously chose Al dente. Above the cooker where they cook the noodles, there are four timers to control the texture of the noodles. Maybe some will think they are relying on gadgets to help them make the perfect noodles and that shouldn't be if they are real ramen chef. But I actually think that is better, atleast the ramen are accurate in the way I want.

Soup-

As I was instructed, before eating the noodles, I should taste a spoonful of the soup first. the soup was amazing. i have been tasting alot of Ramen these days since the Ramen trend has been long on going since the first one 'Butao' was opened. Ever since then, there has not been one that actually hit me with 'WOW' There was always something missing, either the soup was not too good, or the noodles, or the egg etc. But this soup has really hit me. The waiter told me that their soup is slowly cooked for two days so it is dense and strong. When you order on the piece of paper, there is three choices

Strong taste
Moderate
Weaker tasteHe said, the soup itself is alreday strong so can be quite salty to some people who isn't used to a strong dense soup. I chose 'moderate' and friend chose 'strong' The difference was obvious but not a huge difference. But i guess if you keep drinking the soup, the strongness builds up. After half of bowl I could feel the saltyness of the soup and needed to drink some water to neutrailize the taste in my mouth. My friend who ordered 'strong' did not find it salty and carried on without complaining. But I would suggest if it is your first time, go with 'moderate' It is enough to burst you with the flavoursome but not make you think it is too salty.

The soup was not too oily nor as thick as some ramen soup I have tasted. It still has that collegen texture but not as if i am drinking jelly like other ramen shop. It had a nice consistency. Sometiems when the soup is so dense, I don't feel like I am drinking the soup but more like slurping it down like jelly and fills you up too fast! I ran out of soup towards the end, and asked to add more soup onto it. I guess the amount of noodles they gave me and the soup was not in ratio. There was ALOT of noodles and I drank most of the soup. But they were so kind to give me more soup.

When I have finally finsihed my ramen, I sat and drink some water. When I returned and looked inside my bowl, i realize the top of the soup has formed a skin. It was like a jelly like form. It is obvious the fat from the soup.. or some would say the collegen?The roast pork -

The roast pork by appearance looked bit dull and colourless, which I thought did not look too invitaing. The cut was thick and chuncky and teh shape wasn't exactly nice. Every cut did not seem to be the same or precise either and that is because after you order your ramen, you will see the chef cutting it carefully himself.Who could have guessed this 'average' looking piece of meat tasted so damn good? I hate thinly sliced pork, there is no texture and absolutely nothing for your teeth to grind in. I ahve tasted roast pork that melts in your mouth n drowning your atste buds with flavour in japan. But in Hong Kong, I have not yet tasted Roast pork that I can really rave on about. This place did not make absolutely best roast pork but so far in Hong Kong, i think tehy are the best. Although the roast pork looks thick and tough, the pork was soft and tender. It did not melt in my mouth, but I did not ahve to chew for a long time. It was really tender, to me it seemed more like braised meat. i liked it. Hardly any fat meat on it which is so unhealthy. Only bad thing or i would say room for improvements is, I think once the meat is sliced, it should be cooked in teh soup for a bit more to absorb more of the taste. I preder the meat to be bursting with flavour, like every bite you bite into, you can taste the soup. But as the meat is sliced and just placed on top of the ramen, it is still cold and to me, it needs to coorporate into the ramen to amke it as one. And maybe cooking or even let it swim into teh soup for 1 second would make a difference. There are only two slices of roast pork in the ramen, but they are big and thick, quite generous.

Ramen as a whole

I am totally amazed by how good the whole ramen came together. The soup was superb, the consistency was almost perfect. The noodles was just how I liked it. The roast pork was probably the best I have tasted in Hong Kong, but there is definately room for improvement on the appearance and to amke it even better. I forgot to mention about the egg. I have a theory. When i taste good soup and noodles, usually the egg is a real let down. But they made my theory wrong, the egg was above average. The egg atsted fresh and tasted refreshing. Although the egg yolk seemed slightly on the cooked side, it was still great. Garlic nd pepper are near every seat and can be added as mucha s you like. i do not like pepper but the garlic does make the soup base difference. i do not add too much as it will over take the taste of the pork bone soup which i adore. Plus too much garlic makes your breath smells after!

Atmosphere

A small ramen shop with only bar seats. I would say there are only approximately 16-18 seats. Slightly bigger than ramen shops in hong kong island. there are still some room, than being right next to your neighbour's face. I enjoyed my meal there, watching the chefs preparing my ramen and I enjoyed looking at the painted wall. at first i thought was a wallpaper but I realized it was painted on. It is those typical japanese painting you will see. i loved the painting. Makes me feel welcome and more homey if the boss actually puts the effort into making it warma nd cozy. I do not see other ramen shop doing this but them Alot of ramen shops decorates with things from japan and plays japanese songs, but to paint a japanese painting on your wall. WOW I must give credits. It makes me feel closer to them and feel like the boss have given thoughts into this, for their costumer connect with themBut I have to say the front of the shop is sure eye catching - looks like pop art to me. Sharp yellow and red, caught my eye straight away. Reminds me of Pop Art, and this is Japanese pop art!Service:

Service was impeccable. I can't even suggest one flaw about it. From the momentw e stood outside we were greeted immediately. I was asked nicely to wait, and after a minute, I was led to my seat. He quickly offered to take my bag and will be hanged onto the portable hanger they provided onto the table itselfWhen we took off our coats, he offered again to hang it on another hanger. He was so polite and friendly, he even introduced us the hanger. When we were ordering and marking on the piece of paper given, he was so kind he came over to explain how dense the soup is and nicely advised me that 'moderate' strongness of the soup will be enough for me. Even when the ramen came, he kept apologizing that it took so long, which made me awkward as it did not even take so long. But he is ever so kind and polite, and helpfull. The chef was also very kind, Even though they spoke Japanese, they made eye contact with us and nodded and spoke Japanese. when i asked for extra soup, he did not look hassled or judging. As he gave me the extra soup, he smiled and nodded. I cannot rave more on about their service.

Menu explantaion

Each person needs to fill in an order sheet. the first part is ordering your own special ramen.
You need to choose from these few categories

1. You can choose from 4 different types of ramen - 1) The pork bone base soup ramen with bonito powder (original ) 豬骨魚介拉麵 $78 2.) The pork collegen dried noodles 豬軟骨骨膠原撈麵 $78 3) The Spicey ramen 紅色暴雨拉麵 $83 4) The tomato soup base with cheese ramen 伊台風 $882. Second step is choosing how strong you would like the soup to taste. You can choose from: Light, normal and strong.

3. Third step is choosing how much oil you want in your ramen: Less, normal and more.

4.Fourth step is the hardness of the noodles you prefer, choose from: Hard, normal and soft
5.Fifth, the last step is choosing whether you want sping onions or not. Yes or no
That is the basic steps of choosing your ramen. I was kindly reminded that the ramen will only have the toppings just like on the menu picture

The next part of the order paper is Toppings. You can add an extra egg or meat just as you wish

Toppings: Choose to add

Extra Char sui (meat) - $25
Extra seaweed - $10
Extra noodles - $10
Extra half boiled egg - $12

Next part you can choose your drink from choices of :

Coke - $12
Coke Light - $12
Sprite - $12
At the bottom of the sheet there is a boz where you can write your requirements or comments. That is so attentive. I haven't seen any other ramen places do that.

On other notice they put on the table is a piece that tells you how to enjoy your ramen, and directions on how you really should eat it.Maybe we all think or have our own ways of eating our ramen, but it is quite nice to read how we should be eating it to get the most out of it! i surely tried to follow the steps, especially to drinka spoonful of soup before eating the ramen staright away. I enjoyed the soup very much that way and it actually gave me a warm up!

Drinks

Water is complimentary. A jug of water is placed on the table, obviously sharing with people and glasses on the side. But you will need to help yourself with the water. There is a lemon in each jug which I don't like. But it is nice and fresh AND FREE!

They only serve 3 different soft drinks - coke, coke light and sprite all at $12. Which i persoanlly think it is bit expensive and rather go buy it at 7-11 later. But some people might like to drink it while they are eating. But with the BIG bowl of noodles, how can you possibly drink soft drink at same time?

Recommendation

I would definately recommend the 豬骨魚介拉麵 - $78 . The soup is delicious, a huge generous bowl. The noodles were made perfectly and even the pork was tasty. What more can you ask for?

I have tasted good ones in Hk island but it is rather a small bowl. And they don't even charge you service charge when the service is PERFECT. i cannot rave anymore on about this. But I have never been to a Ramen place so attentive, so polite, so welcoming!

Only thing is they do not provide you with roasted sesame to add into your ramen, which i like.

EXTRA

As the staff was so easy to approach and talk to. I asked him why this place is called '台風' (Typhoon) as it does not seem too japanese. And this place is cooked by japanese chef. He said their boss wanted the shop to come like a Typhoon! And a big name out of it.

That is why their logo is lightning over a bowl! it is quite cute!Verdict

Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥♥

Details

Mon - Sun
Lunch - 12.00am - 4pm
Dinner- 6pm - 11pm

Reservation: Walk-ins only, BUT PREPARE TO WAIT!
Service charge : NO! Hooray!

Introduction

This newly opened Japanese Dessert shop is strangely to be found situated in jordan. Not only it is a dessert shop but they also serve ramen and noodles.As a Japanese Dessert shop, of course their main ingredients will be GREEN TEA (My best love). Do not worry if you are not a Green tea fan, it serves many other flavours, chocolate, strawberries, etc

It is opened by a Japanese man who is living in Hong Kong. So 100 percentb authentic. Their swiss rolls are gorgeous, and I found out it is made from someone who used to work at the Swiss Roll Expert shop in TST which is now closed - ROLL - http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=42572

Date

January 2013

Meal

Dessert at 7pm

Ordered

SMALL Green tea Swiss roll 抹茶蛋糕卷 - $15
Baileys & Green tea macarons 馬卡龍 -$15
Green tea parfait 抹茶芭菲 - $75

Food

SMALL Green tea Swiss roll 抹茶蛋糕卷 - $15

I only ordered a small one which is half the price of a regular size one. Oh boy, did I regret that. There is literally only 4 mouthful when you order a small one. And it is NOT ENOUGH!It really did remind me of the swiss rolls I used to buy from Roll in TST http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=42572 but sadly they have closed down. supposedly the chef is from Roll. Roll was called the swiss roll expert, from the fluffiness of the cake and how creamy it is. It was delicious.

The roll here was just as good. the appearance makes you want to dig in and rip the roll apart straight away, It is so cute, round and fluffly. you can tell how fluffy it is compared to ones you can get from other bakeries, where they are much harder and stiffer even by looking at the appearance. The rolls here are round and tehre are more cream inside than the cake itself which makes it so yummy.

The cake is not hard as all, it is fluffy and light and you can smell the fragrant of eggs used in the swiss roll. The acke melts in your mouth with the cream on the inside. although there is some amount of cream, but it doesn't feel too heavy or overly sweet. The cream is light but flavoursome. I loved this green tea roll. the green tea is so rich but not to point where it is bitter like many places, because the boss here uses top quality green tea from japan. Every ingredients is from japan, even the rich japanese 3.5 milk. how can the rich green tea flavour not be dancing in your head when it is top notch Green tea from Japan.

i can taste it now even thinking about it. the rich smooth creamy center with the fluffy soft cake. Delicious.

Next time I will try other flavours too

Baileys & Green tea macarons 馬卡龍 -$15

I only choosed two flavours of the macarons, which i am quite glad. they are alot smaller than ones I get from other places (My favourite is TWG in IFC) but of course the price is cheaper too, at only $15.

I am going to be honest, but the macarons were not up to standard. Niether of them were,a nd it did not make me order more.i ate the bailey first. The texture was not hard on outside and chewy on the inside. When I bite into it, the whole thing collapsed, as if it was some cracker. The center wasn't chewing, it was like some jam in the middle, overly sweet. I could not taste any baileys in it. It did not seem like anything near it but just overly sweet. The outside was disappointing, if you look closer to the macarons, the surface is not smooth but bumpy. Not what i call a 'good' macarons. But who knows, maybe japanese likes it this way.

The Green tea flavour macaron was slightly better. The Green tea fragrant was subtle but not too sweet like the baileys macarons. The centre had more texture to it but still not chewy. It was missing some texture. It was still flaky though, once I bite into it, everything falls apart, and it gets everywhere. i see room for improvements here, maybe they are still newly opened. i will try again some time.

Green tea parfait 抹茶芭菲 - $75

This Parfait looks delicious, and I am not a big fan of parfait. But in the menu it looked so great... so why not try?The parfait has 7 layers, nad here they are (Starting from the bottom

1st layer = Cornflakes (crunchy)
2nd layer = white chocolate mousse (smooth)
3rd layer = Custurd (smooth)
4th layer = cream (smooth)
5th layer = Green tea flavour jelly (jelly texture)
6th layer = mousse (smooth)
7th layer = Green tea mochi with green tea ice cream on top
I adored this parfait.

It looked elegant, it looked healthy, surprisingly even with lots of creama nd ice cream. i think it is the green-ness that amkes it look healthy!The Green tea ice cream on top was cold, was chilly cold, so did not melt straight away. There was a few green tea mochi on top. they were adorable. They were bite size and chewy, but not to point where they are sticky. you can taste the green tea flavour in it but not over powered by the taste. Do not try eat them all on their own, have a spoonful with the cream mouse below. The chewy squashy texture with the smooth creamy mousse goes so well together. it is unbelievable. eating first two layers of the parfait made me want more. it is like unlocking secrets when you play games. every level you get new surprise! i loved it.But unfortunately the next ingredients down was the jelly. Green tea which i did not like. I am not a big fan of jelly, so i am quite biased on this. i don't like that texture and it did not atste too nice. it was not sweet at all, but a little bit bitter as it was just green tea. i had to scope them all out. the next few layers were the creama nd cuturd which i loved dearly. The mousse was smooth and fluffly. it was like fluffy texture when you whip the egg white to its peak when you are making tiramisu. when it is so fluffy and foamy, but snow white and smooth. when you put into your mouth, it slowly melts and disappears. This mousse/cream was just like that but with a powerful vanilla taste to it. inbetween the mousse was the custurd. I am a big fan of custurd who cannot get enough of it. the custurd here was smooth and rich. the few layers went so well with the crunchy cornflakes on the bottom. i must say, try scoop a few layers of cream/mousse and custurd with the cornflakes. at first it reminds me of breakfast, cereal with milk. But afterwards, you realize cornflakes can make a delicious dessert.The crunchiness gave more fun when eaten with the smoothness of the mousse and custurd. The taste of all three melts together and makes you want to scoop more. Who does not like cornflakes, crunchy sweet things that you can crunch them down? It was so yummy. I am glad it was on the bottom, gave it a good ending!


Atmosphere & Service

Who would have guessed a japanese Green tea dessert store in Jordan.The interior of the shop is all chic and modern. White walls, white tables, white chairs. Fairly simple design interior. It gives ooff a simple and refreshing feeling. Although the owner is Japanese and majority of the dessert is Japanese, somehow the whole shop gives of a very 'HOng Kong' feeling. I was sitting there and wondering why is this. The design is very simplified just like most Japanese places are, but somehow it seems very locak Hong Kong to me. It seems dirty 'white' than clean white, and it feels kinda cheap in there.

The whole atmosphere reminds me of typical Hong Kong cafe you will find in MK. Noisy with familes and friends talking, no music and cannot even hear myself talking. Costumers are majority families so with children playing around in background and adults talking aloud. If the market they are trying to attract are not families but working people (ladies more) and girls to come for a chat and chill out place maybe the atmosphere would be different. The Service provided by their staff plays also a big part of the atmosphere. they all seem bit too busy and unfriendly to us. Even if i was asking about the menu, theyw eren't very helpful. Lack of euthusiasm and lack of attentiveness. Why i know or feel I am in a local Hk cafe without any class is from the staff. They are not professional enough and it ruins the whole experisnce. Talkinga nd asking them things are a waste of time as they sincerely feels like I am giving them hassle They get irrated and impatient. So how am I supposed to think this place is professional and enjoyable?

ImpressionWhen I heard of this place, I was expecting a very small chic Japanese shop. with exterior that reminds me of Japanese restaurants I have seen in japan, and local trend in HK is to make it look as authentic as possible. But it was not my expectation to see a plain looking shop. Although I liked how you can see everything inside with the big windows at the front. First thing that caught my eyes was the macaron tree at the counter. Looked delicious enough for me to snatch it away.I don't think much people knows it is opened by a Japanese man. I think it is important for it to let people know about this. maybe adding Japanese to the menu or an introduction page on the menu. Or even have a Japanese or English Japanese name at the shop front.

Menu explantaion

There are a huge list of desserts especially grren tea base dessert on the menu. Apart from dessert, there are also savory food from rice to udon to ramen on the list. Which is why this isn't just a dessert shop, but a friendly family dining place.

There are lunch sets, Tea sets and dinner sets for those are coming here to dine.

There are many flavours for their Swiss rolls, from green tea to vanilla to Chocolate. There are 10 flavours to the macarons from Cassis, mango, salty caramel to green tea.

There are also a few choices of parfait.

Not only they do these few specialities but they also makes cakes and patiseerie which i would love to try. Especially their round pandan cake!This place uses ingredients only from Japan. Their flour is from Japan, even the eggs are from Japan! And of course their milk is from Japan, they uses the famous 3.7 milkRecommendation

Green tea parfait 抹茶芭菲 - $75 and Green tea Swiss roll 抹茶蛋糕卷 - $15


Verdict

Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

The dessert here gives quality and is delicious. From appearance to the taste. It has potential to be something bigger. But it lacks class and professional from their service. they need to improve the ambience and the service. Well known places with quality have professional and great costumer service. And it definately lacks that so far. But i will be going back and hope they have improved and fly out of Jordan!

And it would be best if they provide an english name, atleast foreigners can come and visit too. How are they gona pronounce or even know the name of this shop if they would like to visit? I guess they only thought of doing it for Chinese people who can read Chinese.

Details

Sun - Thurs

12 - 11pm
Fri & Sat

12-11.30pm


Reservation: Not neccessary

Service charge : Yes

Introduction

Brought to you by the same company, Miramar Group who created Tsui Hang Village, Assaggio Trattoria Italiana, Whisk, and Yamm. So as you can guess, this restaurant has style to it.

http://www.miramar-group.com/en/Our-Businesses/Food-and-Beverage.aspxDate

Febuary 2013

Meal

Dinner at 6.30pm

Ordered

Cold entree
BBQ Australia wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70
Spiced Obaro konbu and nori - $20
Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30
Squid noodles, pickled slaw - $40
Robatayaki

Kurobota
Pork, korean spicy chilli paste - $45
2 Chicken teriyaki - $25
2 Char-grilled miso tofu skewer - $25

Hot entree
"charcoal" vegetables - $45
Grilled eggplant with bonito floss - $30
Grilled wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65

Drinks
1 glass Asahi
2 glass zanzito

Food

Cold entree

Spiced Obaro konbu and nori - $20

This was not what i expected at all. i must say, it was awful. It was not disgusting, BUT not worth ordering.

I felt like I was eating wallpaper. it looked like a picece of wallpapaer,a nd the texture seemed like it too. itw as dry, rough and obviously tasteless (well, you can taste wallpaper) It did have some kind of spicy powder on the seaweed and on bottom of the bowl. But it wasn't tasty. It was bland, it was dry, it was not enjoyable. iat some point i felt like I had to eat some of it becuase I am paying for it. But after 3 attempts, i agave up, and did not want to ruin my meal. this was the first dish that came, and it was disappointing, and I was afraid the other dishes will be disappointing too.I have no idea what the dish Was meant to taste like, nor that i rememeber how exactly it taste like, as it was bland. Yes, i must admit it had a gimmick and dry nori, sounds quite creative. But I would, pay more for fresh ones. this was probably the worst dish of the night and will not be ordering again

BBQ Australia Wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70

This was probably the most anticipated dish on my list. i have seen photos and was recommended to try this dish. It came in a smaller bowl than I have expected. A few beef pieces on top of shredded cabbages and halved Cherry Tomatoes. It sure looks delicious and colourful. Our server kindly let us know that there are some Chimmichurri sauce over the beef already, but there is an extra pot that comes with the dish incase it is not enough. The Chimmichurri sauce is not as thick as it looks. it is easily to be dipped into and easily spread over the thin slice of beef. The sauce is slightly spicey, and that is why they serve an extra pot on the side for people who has a spicier taste. I liked how it mix in with the meat. It goes quite well with the cabbages too. The whole combination was flavoursome.Chimichurri from Wikipedia
Chimichurri (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃimiˈtʃuri]) or Chimmichurri is a sauce used for grilled meat. It is originally from Argentina[1][2] but is also used in Uruguay, Southern Brazil, Bolivia, and in countries as far north as Nicaragua, Ecuador,Colombia and Mexico.
Chimichurri is made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white or red wine vinegar. Additional flavorings such as cilantro, paprika, cumin, thyme, lemon, and bay leaf may be included. In its red version, tomato and red bell pepper may also be added. It can also be used as a marinade for grilled meat

The beef itself was not as great. Although it states the beef is Wagyu beef, I was expecting more from it. In return it was disappointing. You can clearly taste the beef was not top quality. BUT for $70 , what do you expect? The dish was GREAT ITSELF, the whole combination, how the sauce goes well with the beef, and how the cabbages neutralize the strong herby flavour. I loved it! When you taste the dish, it is best to eat the beef with the sauce and cabbages in one bite, it bursts with flavour!

Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30

I was sceptical in ordering this dish. I had second thoughts, but 'truffle sauce' definately lured me over. I love Chicken breast, although most Chinese people hates it! I love the meaty Chicken breast with the 'rough' texture, no bones! I am a huge fan of truffle (who isn't?) So why did I have second thought? Well, this dish seemed like a dish i can easily make a home, but what have I got to lose, $30, so gave it a try. Did i regret? OF COURSE NOT! I loved this dish too!!! It is probably the second best dish of the night for me. The dish was small size of course, and the sliced Chicken breast was so small, probably the size of half my thumb. there was fair amount of Truffle miso cream on top of the Chicken. Underneath the Chicken was cucumber, which is the best partner in cream. Refreshing and healthy! The chicekn was moist and tender and eaten with the cucumber was so refreshing. But WAIT. the cucumber had a different dressing. they used the Japanese Sesame dressing, which I love, but not with the Truffle cream. The sesame dressing was much stronger than the truffle cream, which ruined the whole thing. All I could taste was the sesame dressing. So I had to eat the chicken and the cucumber seperately. If they could adjust the strongness of the sesame dressing, it would be perfect, as the Truffle cream is the 'star' of the dish right?

Squid noodles, pickled slaw - $40

This was a last minute dish I ordered as I expected it wouldn't be nice, but ordered incase not enough. The dish was probably the smallest out of the all. It was a small bowl with only a few spoonful It was a orange-red colour, looked super spicey. It turned out to be hot but not as spicey as I thought.The squid 'noodles' was long strips. The shape and size reminds me of udon. It is served with shorter strips of carrots and pickled slaw, which was sour and tasted great with the spiciness. Also the vegetables in it was crunchy and refreshy, balanced with the squichy chewy squid. What a great dish. It was not mind blowing, but a good dish if you want some 'hotness' in your meal!

Robatayaki

Kurobota pork, korean spicy chilli paste - $45

This came first before any of the other. The pork was flatten and grilled to it was crispy which made it very delicious. The texture seemed more like it was grilled pork belly. I can't say it was still juicy as it was quite thin slice and burnt in a way. So it has lost its moisture. But it was still enjoyable, it was like eating fresh pork jerky. The spicy korean paste that was served with it, reminds me of having korean bbq. The cripsy grilled meat with the spicy paste. I like it!2 Char-grilled miso tofu skewer - $25

I was against in ordering this, as I could imagine that grilled tofu would just be tofu. Do not get me wrong, i love tofu, it tastes nice, but we all know tofu is actually quite bland, and we like it that way. Because its bland, smooth, and healthy. But grilling it? Does it make it taste better? it will still be bland. maybe the texture is different, but I do prefer my smooth and cold tofu, or steamed ones.

As i have expected the grilled tofu was bland, tasteless and hardly even seasoned by salt. Two different miso on top of the tofu, black and yellow. the miso was rather salty, which i suppose was to neutralize the blandness of the tofu. But to me, it did not match. I could taste the strongness of the miso, then slowing fading i can taste the tofu. I did not like this dish. It isn't awful, but i would prefer to order other dishes than paying for it.

2 Chicken teriyaki - $25

Out of the 3 Robatayaki, the chicken teriyaki was the best. The meat was juicy and tender.. hmmmmmm. It was lovely. It was not overcooked, nor burnt. The chicken was nicely marinated and seasoned. the sauce was not overflowing but just enough to taste how sweet the teriyaki sauce was. the meat came off the skewer easily, unlike the pork. I loved the chicken. it was perfectly cooked. Although chicken teriyaki is such a simple dish, and the sauce can be easily bought in supermarkets. This was superbly done.Hot entree

"Charcoal" vegetables - $45

This is a very creative dish. It is just a tempura but it is using 'charcoal'. With it black outlook, it makes the colouful vegetables stands out. It looks nothing like I have tasted. It is quite creative and smart using different colours of the vegetables with the black charcoalRed- red pepper
Purple - Purple potatoe
Green - Green Pepper
Orange - Sweet potatoe
Yellow - Pumpkin

The tempura was not oily and what I adored about it is, the tempura layer is not thick like other tempura I have tasted. I hate those thick layer of tempura, as it is just flour deep fried. Ones i ahve had in japan, is only a thin layer, not as hard and thick as the ones in Hong Kong, which makes it so oily and unhealthy. This tempura did not give me the unhealthy, oily feeling. Even letting it sit around for 20mins and continue to eat, it wasn't oily It was still crunchy, but without that thick crust and oily crust you can atste how fresh the vegetables it is, with some crunchiness on the outside. i like this tempura, even thought I am not a big fan. i like theres a combination of good fresh vegetables. And obviously the vibrant rainbow colour of the vegetables satisfied my eyes before i could even eat it!

Grilled eggplant with bonito floss - $30I needed more vegatable in my meal, and who does not like grilled eggplant. I know what iw as expecting from this dish so it was not much of a surprise, nor disappointment. it plainly taste like grilled eggplant with lots of bonito floss. The egg plant was in a thin slice with lots of sauce on top. the sauce reminds me of teriyaki sauce, but less dense and less salty. It went well. the eggplant was average, but it was still nice to eat. Especially if you prefer to have some vegatbles after eating lots of meat.

Grilled Wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65

This is definately my best dish of the night. The bowl was slightly bigger than the other dishes and came with a big spoon. Even looking at the dish made my mouth water. 4 thick slices of Wagyu beef on top of the rice and a lovely half cooked egg on the side! The egg was looked gorgeous. The egg yolk was golden orange. I popped the runny egg yolk and mixed it in with the fragrant Nishiki rice. The rice was sticky and bursting with the taste of the egg yolk. So creamy and juicy. I couldn't stop eating this dish. The beef is definately worth my rave about it. It was thick slice which means a richer taste of the beef. Can I actually say I could taste the beef in this beef? There was a moment where I thought 'wow, this is what beef should all taste like' It is char-grilled on the outside, not overdone, nor raw, perfectly done. It was juicy, it was moist, it was FANTASTIC! 4 slices of beef was definately NOT enough. I had to eat half of a slice with one spoonful rice, which was a great combination. It was a perfect dish. Too perfect, I am planning to go back soon just for this dish!

Atmosphere

Situated in the heart of tai Hang, i knew this place will be quite trendy. i love dining in tai Hang. Not as much tourist or people. yes there are lots of diners and usually huge queue or ealy reservation. But it isn't packed like CWB or Wanchai.

From the outside and looking in, it reminds me of those hip boutique restaurants in London near Soho or Covent garden. If you look in from outside near the entrance, you will be captivated by the glowing bar. the bar takes up almost the whole of the restaurants with seats around it. It is definately an attractive bar, with many alcohol stacked on top. I could not stop looking at the bar,e ven when I was seated.Even when it was packed, it did not seem too lousy. It kept its coolness and chilled. music plaing at the background, but not R&B but mixed trance music. It was quite nice, it really did seem like a bar than a restaurant to me, but I like these places, hard to find in Hong Kong.

table seats are tightly packed together. There are only 4 two people table and they are sitting side by side. And only 1 4 people table at the back.. But there are more bar seats which i would probably choose next time, as they arent as cramped. that is probably why they serve small dish size, the place is too small for bigger dishes.

Service:

Service was quite attentive. we were greeted by a lady which i guess is the manager. She did not come over and greet but acknowledge us as we entered. She kindly let us choose where to sit. She notified me the specials tonight and took orders for our drink. She was a plaesant lady, and always helpful even if I had questions. She seemed to have the patience and sincerity that many Hong Kong-ers do not have any more. It was super busy that night, but she still made sure we would get our food, and introduced each dish to us.

On the other hand, another waiter kept coming back to take away our dish. He was a nice guy, and very hardworking and polite. But it got quite annoying when he keeps standing behind us and then moving his hand to get the empty dishes like every 2 minutes, Even if I was taking pictures he would interupt and push the pishes, or even if I was spooning something up. He would come every 2mins to check and keep interupting the whole process of food and conversation. I do not think he had bad intentions, or did it on purpose, instead I think he is very responsible and hardworking, but over-doing it bit too much and casuing an issue for costumers tio chill. He needs to stop doing it.

The lady manager apologized for him as in the end he took away all the dishes before we paid the bill. I think overall, it was a good service provided. They were polite, attentive and even patience. What more can you ask?

Menu explantaion

Menu was only a page long. Simple but has a few varieties of dishes to choose from.I would say they are all tapas style, meaning small size and meant to be sharing! So do not expect or think what a bargain, for little price you get a big plate. Because you will not. prices are ranged from lowest $20 -$75

Food menu are divided into 4 categories

Cold entree
Robatayaki
Hot entree
Dessert
I picked a few from each category, except Dessert. as it did not look to appetising. plus there are so much choice of dessert around Tai hang and Tin Hau.

Drinks menu was rather huge. mainly alot of japanese alcohol, for example different types of sake, and different types of shochu. Which made me think this restaurant is running on Japanese style. there are beers,a nd wines. But less choices of wine. And just a reminder, as the table next to us, wasn't too happy that his wine was not served in a Wine glass. As this is japanese base, and focus on more of its sake and shochu, they used different type of glass. Which i quite liked. suited the environment and atmosphere more.

Drinks

Zanzito

I am a huge fan of Mojito. I love how the mint and lime gives you such a refreshing taste afterwards. It cools you down straight away. Zanzito is Zanzo's mojito, instead of using rum as the liquor, it uses sake. I was really curious on how it taste. Surprisingly, it was brilliant. i do not like rum much myself, It taste too bitter. So they used Sake instead of Rum, it was perfect. It wasn't bitter nor was it too strong. It seemed to me and I was sceptical that there was no alcohol in it. It seemed more like virgin mojito with soda water in. It was delicious though, it was refreshing with lots of mint and chilled. it was a fairly small glass with quite bit of ice. So i had two glass and still wanted more. I might just go back for more of these.Recommendation

BBQ Australia wagyu beef chimmichurri -$70
Chicken breast with truffle miso cream - $30
Chicken teriyaki - $25
Grilled wagyu beef with 'hot spring' egg on nishiki rice - $65
Zanzito

Verdict

Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥♥

Details

G/F, 15-16 School Street, Tai Hang

Tel : 2750 6490

Nearest MTR : Tin hau

http://www.zanzo.hk/

Mon - Sat

Lunch - NOT OPEN
Dinner- 6pm - 1am
Closed MONDAY
Reservation: Walk in only!

Date

January 2013

Meal

Dinner at 7pm

Ordered

木魚豬骨拉麵
&
蒜油拉麵

Food

木魚豬骨拉麵

with seaweed, roast pork, green onion, 木魚, pork bone base, choice of thick or thin noodles

I liked this bowl of noodles. First the noodles were thick which I like. They give more texture, and they don't get too sloppy soft being in the hot soup too quickly. I chose the texture to be hard, again, I hate sloppy soft noodles, it just gets like watery dough. I liked the noodles here, the hardness was exactly how I wanted. The soup was not as good as I expected, it wasn't bad as it tasted with 木魚, it gives off that authentic Japanese taste to it. Obviously stronger taste and bit saltier. But the soup was not thick like other Ramen shops these days, where it is so thick, the soup leaves a plastic collagen texture in your mouth. This soup is less dense but still packed with flavors.The roast pork was long rectangle shape instead of round shape that other places offer. To be honest te shape does not make any effect apart from visually different. Still taste the same and the texture. The roast pork seemed more like stew pork to me, it is medium thick, which i actually think it would be better if it was thicker. The fatness was equally spread so after eating, I did not feel too guilty. The ramen came with 2 slices only.蒜油拉麵

with roast pork, black fungus, lots of garlic in soup, spring onion, cabbage, pork bone base, thin noodlesYou did not get to choose the thickness of the noodles, which wasn't too impressive as I do not like thin noodles. But ou was granted to choose the hardness of the noodle (thank god) The noodles became soft quite soon and the texture went too sloppy which I did not like. There were less ingredients that came with the bowl of noodles. I am a person that prefers to have a lot of variety of food on top of my ramen, This came with a few only. Not enough for greedy person like me!The soup again was not the 'usual' thick soup base. This was ordinary soup base, that seems quite refreshing. Could not taste too much of the pork bone, but only taste the garlic. There was something missing though, it was vibrant garlic taste but still not exploding. The soup was not awesome,The half boiled egg
The boiled egg was really disappointing. Especially to find it cooked. I was expecting it to be just a little raw. But it was all cooked. And BOTH of them was, whole point was to taste the raw egg yolk. The egg was some what egg tasteless, and boring. They did not come with the ramen so we had to pay extra for the egg, which not many ramen does no include the egg. A bit of a rip off I think.Atmosphere

'It is a small little place with only bar seats which I like. It seems more 'Japanese Authentic' ramen shop. There is about 10-12 seats on either side bar. Everything was clean and neat. I think to improve the atmosphere, should have more Japanese decorations or play some Japanese music like other Japanese places do.

All the cooks had to wear their uniform, which was just a blue T-shirt with 'Ramen Jo' written on it. I like the simplicity but it has lack of design and doesn't remind people of being Japanese. Maybe that was the whole point? Compared to the other Ramen place in Tai Hang, their decorations and smal details were much more Japanese theme.Service

We were greeted as soon as we were walking into the shop. I like the nice gesture of being acknowledge and was shown to our seats onto the other side.

A girl waitress came over with the 'usual' menu and the 'special menu with two special seasonal ramen. And briefly introduced the ramen. The girl was polite but like always lack of friendliness and smile factor. Which i think if she did have that, it would be better service. We did order one egg each, but turned out she had forgotten one. But when we mentioned she apologized and quickly put the order in. When we left, they pleasantly said 'Thank you'


Verdict
The Ramen quality was not as good as I expected. Firstly the soup was not so great, it was missing the denseness, the collegen texture to the pork bones soup. It did not have the 'wow' factor and the soup base is the most important factor for Japanese Ramen. The taste isn't bad, I can see the quality in this shop, but it isn't there yet. I can see room in the improvement. The soup is a definate factor to improve, also the roast pork. The roast pork tasted too bland, cannot atste the marinate in the pork, it was too thin for a start, and not even juicey. The egg was a big spoiler. i usually leave the egg til last like a little treat, or like a dessert, which usually should finish it ff nicely, but instead it spoil the whole meal.

Service here, is above average I must say in Hong Kong standard but it could be better if they want to become a top notch in the Ramen industry in Hong Kong. Firstly, more interaction with costumers to make them feel more homey and relax. Secondly, smile more and be more helpful espcially to people who comes here for the first time. This way they enjoy the experiement more and will want to come back.Would I go back again? maybe, not too soon though

Rating from my brain (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥

Details

Ramen Jo
G.F, 3 Caroline Hill Road, Causeway Bay

2885 0638

Mon - Sun

Lunch - 11.30am - 3pm
Dinner- 6pm - 10.30pm
Reservation: No need, walk in only!

Date:
January 2013

Meal:
Lunch at 2pm

Ordered:
2 lunch set
( One Porker lunch set - soup or appetiser or salad + sandwich or speciality - $118 )
and
( one Wild Boar lunch set - soup or salad or appetiser + anything on the menun = $148)

PS: Lunch set does not include any drinks but water is provided ina bottle on the table!

Food:

First course Appetizer - Pork terrine with pistatio and crusty bread: there were only two choices of appetizers, the pork terrine or the salmon. The pork sounded more appealinga nd as this restaurant is Pork speciality, I chose the pork terrine.The terrine was seved on a brown board with three peces of small crusty bread and a pot of pickles. the pickles tasted so damn good! It was delicious! Although I couldn't figure out what were they. they were just delicious,a nd a good portion too. Not stingy at all The terrine was good and was nice with the pistachio. maybe I am not a big fan of pig's intestines or fatty meat, I could not eat too much of the terrine. It was also bit hard, but tasted great along with the bread. next time I will definately try the salmon with brioche, looks great tooSalad - Salad leaves, onion, broad beans, bacon and feta cheese The salad looked really appetising and colourful. I couldn't wait to dig into it. It was a huge portion, and I could share between two people with no problem and was half full after finishing the salad. The portion of bacona nd cheese was generous which i love. Who doesn't love cheese with salad? They used of cooked onion instead of raw onion, so do not worry about smelly breath afterwards! The leaves were fresh, it was just an unbeatable salad! i rated that salad 10 out of 10. And I started liking 'The salted Pig' straight after trying the salad.


Main coursePork burger with cheese and bacon and fries: The buger was definately a surprise. I was bit skeptical about a pork patty burger, but even looking at it, made my mouth waters. They did not use normal sesame burger roll, they used a delicious soft dough bread, which made it bit more special. The bread was soft and fluffy. I love it! The cheese was not yet melted yet when it arrived in front of my eyes, but after eating some fries, the cheese was alreday melted just the way it was meant to be. Oh and did I mention they used swiss cheese and not the boring Cheddar? And who else can resist bacon with the burger? The pork batty was delicious. I cannot believe this was ALL pork, I have probably not had sucha amazing pork burger! It was so juicy the juices was constantly dripping down. The meat was tender and juicy, with the melted swiss cheese and bacon, there was also gherkins too. It took me straight up to Heaven. It definately fills you up, but it is an amazing satisfactory. Left me dreaming of more Salted Pig. The 'Fat fries' as I call it came with the burger. i love these fries. They are fat and thick, to me they seem more crispier, and they taste more like potatoes. Defiantely not fake chips out there. Reminds me of chips from chinese Takeaway in UK. They came in generous portion, and what was the best, there were musturd, tomato salsa and bbq sauce on each table, I constantly dipped into the tomato salsa with my chips. Delicious!Main: Pork sandwich with coleslaw and salad - I was really skeptical on how this would taste. I was wondering what kind of pork it was, and just pork sandwich seems wierd, I would expect or add piece of cheese onto it. But once
it came, I know all the skepticism was waste of time. I loved the bread, it was panini, and was only slightly toasted, or warm, so atleast it isnt flat like how normal coffee shop will serve it.
The pork was just like pulled pork. i loved it. Pulled pork is just liek shredded marinated pork. It is gorgeous, with the coleslaw. It was filling indeed. but i loved the texture! Nothing beats this simple sandwich.

there was salad on the side which was nice and bland, as the star of the meal was the sandwich, so no need for sucha great salad!

Dessert- We wrent offered Dessert or got informed of what dessert is available. But I was really full already, so I did not think I missed out!

Atmosphere

Located at L place, where Hip restaurants like Linguini Fini and Shore are. The Salted Pig absolutely fits into this trendy new casual dining building.The salted pig is spascious and relaxed. With the bar on the side where the lifts are, and the rest of dining place on other side with open kitchen. Maybe because it was lunch time, it was really relaxed. There wasn't much view but lots of windows for great lots of sun light coming through. With music playing on the background, definately makes a great place to chill for lunch and Brunch.What is there not to like about this place? They use Le Creuset and they are all displayed around the resturant not just to serve you. They have the heart to impress, and I am definately falling for it. I love all these Piggies around the whole resturant. And look when you leave or come in from the lifts, there is a huge piggy there. Notice something special?Hahhahahaha, isnt it cute? Every part is delicious.... so do NOT miss the chance to have a porky feast here!

Service:

I can't say it was perfect but it was above average that I need to give it a mention. As it was my first time,a nd there were three different set lunch which was abit confusing as is restriction on what you can order for each price. My server came to me straight away and explained to me. Although lack of smiles, I can feel he was friendly and helpful. He served our food and cleaned up away from us nicely. Although i still think smiling would have made a difference!

Menu explantaion:

Let me do abit of explaining on the menu, there is THREE different set lunches which you can choose

Pigglet - You can choose a soup, or a salad or an appetiser from the menu - $98
Porker - You can choose a soup, or a salad or an appetiser from the menu + sandwich or speciality $118 (3 diff sandwiches to choose , lamb meatballs, pork sandwich or speciality like pasta etc)
Wild boar - You can choose a soup, or a salad or an appetiser from the menu + anything on the menu $148 ( anything on menu varied from the pork burger, cottage pie , ribs, risotto, fish of day etc)
also there is 2 set lunch that HAS TO BE SHARED as the portions are big, minimum 2 peopleKnuckle lunch feast - soup, salad or appetiser + crispy pork knuckle - $148 PER person
The run and tickle lunch feast - soup, salad or appetiser + Dry rubbed pork belly with coleslaw -$168 PER person
They serve brunch menu on Saturday too til 3.30pm! Price range from $120-200

Drinks:

Alcohol is served here, and it is normal to drink during afternoon! They do lovely cocktails, they even do 'Little piggy' cocktail, obviously for people who wants to drink, but do not want to be tipsy. How thoughtful.... or for those who want to try a few different kinds of cocktails...

Recommendation:

I would definately recommend the salad i had. It was fresh and delicious. I love the whole combination and generous amount.

The burger was definately not to be missed. it was so juicy, I am craving for more of the burger now writing about it!Verdict:

Overall I am very satisfied with The Salted pig, especially I have been so excited in trying this place since forever! And itt definately lives up to its name. Every pork dish that was served was delicious. There is complimentary bottle of water on every table which I like, atleast no need to ask for glass of water orw ait for your empty glass to be refilled. The food was served quickly, and nicely served.

People were friendly but lack of smiling, but did not make me feel unwelcome. The place was spacious, with music in the background. Even when I called up the lady was polite!

Oh how I love this place, it is definately one of my favourite.I also love how they give you the bill.. makes a difference when they put some thought into it huh?

Would I go back again? YES!!!!!!!!

Rating from my brains (out of 5 hearts) : ♥♥♥♥

Rating from my Heart (out of 5 hearts): ♥♥♥♥♥

Date Dined: 19th oct 2011 8.15pm

Ordered: Spaghetti Carbonara ($108) & Open sandwich & Pad Thai with mushroom ($108)Intro: Greyhound is a fashion brand from Bangkok. I first came across Greyhound while shopping in bangkok. It was sucha fashion brand with simple design and usually use the shades of white, blacka nd grey. It is sophisticated whoeres as their younger line, Playhound is bit more playful and causal They have been expanding their brand rapidly in the last few years. Due to their success they have opened their own restaurant and cafe in bangkok which has been a huge success. It is trendy and good place to have a tea, good fusion food and a place to chill out with friends.

when i go to bangkok, it is a must place to visit everytime. it is a place to be seen.Taste: Spaghetti Carbonara - This was rather small portion. But tasted better than I have expected. The pasta was creamy with lots of sauces unlike some places, their carbonara is dry and you can taste the parmesan in it. The Spahetti seems bit thinner than other spaghetti I have had somehow, but it was chewy and nice made. The pasta was definately al-dente, with bacon bits and mushrooms. one thing i wanted point out is, some bacons bits are crispy and some were not. some were big and chunky with lots offat. I must saw they probably gave you one mushroom button for the pasta which was thinnly sliced. To share between two people was not enough. For that price, could have gave a bigger portion and come with some salad or a piece of garlic bread.Pad Thai with mushroom - I wasnt sure if i wanted to order this pasta as I did not see many people around me ordering oriental type of food. Most people ordered pasta or satay chicken or other meat. There is another pad thai with prawn, but as i do not eat prawn, we opted for mushroom, as the waiter said they cannot change it to chicken. Which i was not too pleased. the portion of the pad thai was even so small, it probably was onli 1/6 of a plate. i finished it within 4 spoonful. The taste was definately not as good as what you get in a thai restaurant. there was only tofu and mushroom. Not my kinda thai food, despite this is a thai restaurant with bit of a twist.Open Sandwich (Forgot the name) - This was the on the sandwich and burger section. it caught my attention, as it said everything of a sandwich thrown into a bowl. sounds quite good as there will be bread, lettuce and tuna. Obviously when it came on the table, it did not look like the picture that was displayed nor sounded like it was on the menu. Although the appearance was not 5 star, and seemed like any normal salad from a average western restaurant in Hong Kong. The taste was just abit above average. The bread was thick and moist which i like. There are lots of dressing which was caeser dressing. i liked the taste with tuna and lettuce. was not as bad as it looked but i wouldnt say it is a sandwich. it seems more like a slad to me. It reminds me of the salad you get at pizza Express where they serve you with a bread dough.

What i liked: There are almost a picture of each item on the menu, so you can see what it looks like even if you do not know what it is.
-There are chinese translation on the bottom of the english.What i disliked: The management was appauling and I can write a book about it.. so here it goes-

- Firstly the water has no idea when i ordered in English, so why hire someone who do not know english when the whole menu is in english with small print of chinese
- we had chicken wings delivered to our table twice, when we have already said we did NOT order it. I then saw the waitress stressing it out to the manager, then the manager had speak to another manager. they were all bit lost.
-Same waiter came back to us after the chicken wing incident and asked " Has all the food you ordered arrived? what are you missing" when obviously only one plate has come and he has forgotten what we have ordered. i told him ONCE AGAIN pad thai and the open sandwich in a bowl. Then after 3 mins he came back with a menu and asked me apart from Pad thai what am i missing. was quite annoying. How can you keep forgetting my order.
- My pad thai finally came, and it was pad thai with just tofu. On the menu it says 'Pad thai WITH MUSHROOM' No sign of mushroom though. we got the manager over and i said there is no mushroom there. Surely a amanager's service should be much better but NO, he looked, dropped the palte back on table and walked off to speak to the waiter. should he not apologize first or say he will go check out why? Then the waiter came back and apologize and the manager came back with smile. How absurd can this be. just walk off? and how on earth did the chef forget the mushroom??????
-As food blogger I like to take pictures of the restaurant I am dining at. i was trying take picture of the menu cover, then a waitress with short hair ran over and said i cannot take pictures of the menu. I said 'fine' and switched off my Canon and placed it on the seat. then she kept repeating I cannot take a picture. so i said, 'you have already made your point so no need to repeat'
Then astonishingly, she repeated again, and she added, that she will speak to someone with authority and get them to stand here til i stop it. So i said to her, ' did you not see me put away my camera so why you keep repeating?' Then she said it again. So I said 'IM NOT GOING TO TAKE ANY PICTURE OF YOUR MENU'so then with abit of an attitude she said she will take my order, i said our order has been taken. she then said 'I will take away your menu" I said no, because iwould like to order something more. And she walked away staring at me. I dont undertsand the attitude and I putted away my camera first time she said. But she was literally lecturing me and telling me she will get someone to watch over my shoulder. Nice service!
-Then same waitress came over when i was taking picture of teh food and said 'you can take photos of the food ofc, (giggle)' I really dont think that was needed.
-as we were sharing, we had the food in middle and own plates. The carbonara came first and surely the sauces was left behind on the plate. Where i would later put my pad thai on, so i had wierd taste on my plate. i think they could do better by changing yoyr plate once so often like all places do.-they do not serve you any water when you sit down, but you can ask for it. warm or cold. but they should be more considerate.
-As Greyhound is really BIG in bangkok, first branch opening here in Hong Kong is a big thing. we booked a few days before. And when we arrived late they were alreday ringing us up. Busy but overated
-There was way too much going on in the menu. the pictures of food was always on another page from the description. then there was other graphics on a odd page and some other stuff. so they whole menu seems like a book, the menu was definately not user friendly. takes you ages to see what they have to offer and choose.Conclusion: I prefer the GreyHound in bangkok a million times more. You can chill and relax there, even meet up with your girlie and chat for whole night. In Hong Kong, this is like any other restaurant. Noisy, cramped, bad management, overated food and overpriced. i hate seeing Greyhound like this but it is the truth. it doesnt live up to its name and spoilt the brand. I saw about 4 managers with suits on and lots ofw aiters but they were all a mess. Not efficient and half the time running around not managing anything
One more thing i saw a waiter running out with food in his hand a few times, does he not know that is dangerous?
More management, crap food and crap atmosphere. i rather buy a plane ticket and visit a more worthy Greyhound

Date Dined: Monday 29th August 2011- 6.30pm

Intro:spanish tapas to me seems EXPENSIVE and SMALL portion, so has never been one of my top cuisine. but in london, there has a been a trend for comtemporary tapas, which i love. The food is much more choice and it atste better, in my opionion. so after searching, I wanted to come to FoFo by el willy for so long. anf yes, spanish tapas is seen to be xpenisive for such a small portion and for a chinese perception, we like our food cheap and HUGE portion. So let see if ordering 5 tapas and a drink will fill this chinese person up.

"Tapas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtapas]) is the name of a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain,
The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them " WIKIPEDIA

SO EAT SMALL, TALK MORE!!!!!!! is the art of tapas!


Ordered
Fried croquettes of iberian ham of 36months, $98
Crispy suckling pig on potatoes with mojo picon sauce, $115
Pan fried Foie gras with truffle and confit onion, #98
Spanish omellete with with poatoes &onions $60
Organic eggs cooked at 62 degree in crispy potatoes and onion nest with chorizio $110

Drinks- Pink sangria (jar) $380Taste: Spanish omellete with with poatoes &onions $60- This was made just as the one I had before UK. Nice and round. bright yellow with bits in it looking like onion! This was VERY VERY VERY VERY disappointing. As far as I am concerned, Spanish omellete usually are called Tortilla, and for the past few times I have ordered, the centre seems bit more runny. So when you cut open the egg, some egg will flow out. Even if i am wrong, this egg omellette is way overcooked. The egg should be creamy and souffle like, But isntead this was hard, dry and stiff. was not enjoyable eating and would HIGHLY NOT recommend this dish. a;though this will fill you up as it is made of eggs and potatoes.Fried croquettes of iberian ham of 36months, $98 - This was yet another disappointing dish. The crquette came in small portions. Came in 6. So small and not appealing at all. The texture was squashy and soft. teh outside was not crispy or hard, seems like the whole thing was small and soft. teh size did not appeal to me. the taste was averahe. i prefer other places that makes croquette. costing nearly 100 dollars was not worth it. the inside was creamy and had more taste than the tortilla. I had only one piece and did not intend to have another piece.Pan fried Foie gras with truffle and confit onion, #98 - this came in four piece. All comes with on top of a piece of toast. This looked absolutely amazing and could not wait to dig in. the foie gras was lightly pa fried so it was nice and warm, on top of a green leaf then on top of the toast. Underneath the toast was the confit onion, which i had to scoop up after having the foie gras. The taste of the onion compliments the foie gras, brings out the rich buttery taste of the foie gras. Because the foie gras is softa nd creamy, the toast adds more of a texture to it and also neutralizing the rich taste. What a perfect combination. although i cannot taste the truffle which is said to be in the dish, this was still the perfect dish. 4 in a portion, small portion, but just enough. Enough for your satisfaction and enough for you to daydream about it after the meal.. For 100 hkd, this was absolutely WORTH IT!Organic eggs cooked at 62 degree in crispy potatoes and onion nest with chorizio $110- This came in a rather BIG bowl. And yes, you can imagine it as a bird nest with the fried crispy stripes of potatoes. With then two organic eggs on top. We chose it with chorizio. We asked the waitress to scramble the egg ina nd mix it around. Which soon the egg becomes the creamy runnys auce mixed with the cripsy potatoes with chorizio scattered around. At first this dish tasted bit strange. it is like something i have never experienced. the texture was absolutely different. the potatoes are thina nd so crispy and you cannot atste the potatoe taste to it nomore. the egg sauce was slowly making the cripsy potatoe less crispy. There arent much taste to it unless you eat it with the chorizio, as it is VERY salty. chorizio is rather hard and stiff, but extremely salty just like our cured chinese sausage. But a good combination. A must try for a new sensation experience.
It became soggy in the end as the crispy potatoes has soaked up the egg mixture. So our kind waitress did advise us to eat it warm.Crispy suckling pig on potatoes with mojo picon sauce, $115- This also came in 4. each crispy suckling pig was nicely cutted into a square shape, most proabably 3cm by 3cm. each on top of a potato. the potato is much smaller than the suckling pig, that way it will not over take the taste of the pig. the dish came with the sauce which i tasted of alot of pepper and little bit sweet. I put the sauce onto the potato as the potato was tasteless, lack of seasoning, maybe for a purpose. The suckling pig was crispy and the meat was really tender. Although when you try to cut the pig, it usualy seperates the skin and the meat of the pig. the skin of the pig was delicious, crispy and not hard as some places try to reheat the pig and turns the skin real hard.Pink sangria (jar) $380 -Mixed of Barcardi Rum, white wine, cassis, strawberry and grapefruit. - i chose this sangria than the red or white sangria because of the fruits thatw as mixed into it. with pink sanfria, they would use strawberry, cassis and grapefruit. whereas the red sangria would use peach liquer and cinnamon. the white sangria, would use lychee and apple. to me, starwberry and cassis seems more fruity and sweeter to me. And, FYI, it was NOT disappointing. I loved it. i cannot taste much of the white wine, but i could taste the cassis and strawberry. made me drink more and more. I expected it to be quite a small glass, but soemhow was rather a BIG glass. it really fills you up. i had about 3-4 glass. 1 jar of sangria nad 5 plates of tapas made me really full. So not a good idea if you aren't going to stay a whole night to chat, but just for dinner. if you know you can't drink TOO much and wonts tay for too long, i will opt for a glass instead which only cost $65 dollars.

Service: we were served by a waitress who was superb. i can't say perfect as there was still room for improvement, like maybe try smiling bit more, but she was good enough/ Even when we took a long time to order food, she recommended us some dishes. Our tables was quite small, so our dishes did not all fit on our tables, she asked if we would like the unfinshed dish be put onto a smaller dish. Our sangria was refilled very often too. Like I said, they paid attention to us but would have been better if more of a smile. everybody likes to see a happy face. After the bill, I realize there is a comment card slipped inside. I like places who consider their costumers comments to be valuable. so i decided to write my comment , but OH NO, there was no pen. So was it just an act tos how they do care about your comments but dont expect or want you to comment. Anyhow, later on, the manager gave us a pen. I dont know, if they would read the comments I gave or thrown away in the bin.Conclusion: I expected quite a lot from this restaurant, as I have seen nice pictures on openrice and read nice reviews. there are few missed on the dished which gave me a bad impression of the restaurant. we have earlier booked atable for two for 8.30pm. It was 80 percent full. we were seated infront of teh bar on EXTREMELY small tables. there are two sides of seating area, on the left and right of the bar. More privacy and better view. But we were seated in the middle, infront of the bar. No privacy, no view. Not exactly best seat. Seems like they just put some tables there for emergency. did not like it.The wines was huge and that impressed me as majority was spanish wine, and 3 different types of sangria.There are lots of choices on tapas, from salads, to cold meat, rice and seafood. even two pages of dessert. I was TOTALLY disappointed in the spanish omellete which immediately make me dislike the restaurant and think it is overated by me. spanish omellette is a simple dish that can be easily made.But this dish by them was HARD, STIFF nad DRY. Cannot get wosrt. the suckling pig was crispy and suckling, cooked to perfect, although many people wouldnt like the spicy sauce, you can always eat it without the sauce. It will still taste good.
the Foie gras was my favourite. i wished I have never ordered the croquette which was badly made, I would have ordered two paltes of the Foie gras. it was warm, creamy on a crispy piece of toast. Yum. i highly recommend.
as there are a few hits and missed, I did not order dessert as I did not want to disappoint myself anymore. the place is on 20th floor above beijing club at M88 in LKF. Not high class, but not too cheap. casual dress will be fine.
TBH there is one thing i really dont like about thsi place is, the waiters and waitress seldomly group together chatting. That is not very professional. And soemtimes two of them would stand right next to me so i can clearly hear what they are discussing about which also not evry appropriate. To make sure your service is top notch i think they need to improve on this and look abit more professional.

Overall nice place in Hk as not many Comtemporary spanish tapas place in Hk. Price isnt outrageous nor cheap but good if you are coming with few friends for a chat to eat and drink. But do however considr it is Mitchelin star rated!

Date dined: weds 10th August 2011

Intro: Created by Bonnie Gokson who is famous for her ‘Marie Antoinette's Crave and the Original Caramel Crunch Cake ' at SEVVAOrdered: Better than sex, Madame Butterfly & CheesecakeTaste: Madame Butterfly- is an exotic and intense blend of beetroot, pistachio and chocolate layered chiffon with apricot compote and fresh cream crowned with dark and white chocolate.The appearance of this cake was colourful. Made of three layers of cake in different colour and taste. It attracted me straight away. The colour matched perfectly. With top layer being dark red then second layer a lime green then bottom layer is chocolate brown. The cake is on a piece of cake base as I call which has white & black lines. On top of the cake was a piece of chocolate in a shape of a ring with also black and white lines that matches the base!
I liked the whole design of the cake, round with different layer and the use of the colours.
Each layer is a different unique taste. The second layer has this lemony limeish taste. But the taste is not strong. You could hardly taste the unique taste. The bottom layer is chocolate taste which is also faint which is good, as three layers are faint in taste, they put together as ONE good cake. But it isn't as boring as just one boring chocolate cake. The cake is moist but not over moist or rich. What I loved about this cake is, it isn"t too sweet like nearly all the cakes you can get in Hong Kong are like. So sweet you can not taste the cake itself. The taste of freshly baked cake, the egg the flour etc. But the cakes here you could taste the cake itself. The cake is soft, light and very spongey. But not spongey as in a sponge cake, it still has the density of a cake.
With the appearance i couldnt wait to dig in. And it surely didn't disappoint me!
The only thing i did not like about the cake was the apricot filling in the cake. Firstly i did not like the filling as it was bit too sweet and it did not match the cake. Although i can understand why there would be the filling as without the filling the cake would be very boring. Maybe they could have chosen a different filling, maybe strawberry or respberry?Better than sex- i loved this name!!! So was it really better than sex? Hmmmmm... Was hard to say! But it was definately better than any chocolate cake! The appearance was not as classy or as thoughtful as Madame butterfly. Maybe the whole cake was brown so you cant't see the details or as complex as Madame Butterfly.The cake is chocolate cake with caramel crunchy parts on top with hard chocolate bits on top. Their is a red lips in candy on top. Makes the cake really sexy. Inside the cake is a thin layer of caramel inside. It might all sound very sweet but the cake was not sweet at all. The cake itself was light and taste very 'cake' with faint chocolate flavour. I had a spoonful of cake with some crunchy caramel bits with it which adds to the texture. Crunchy and spongey. The crunchy bits was quite sweet but there is only few small pieces so it was not overly sweet and it actually balance out with the unsweet spongey cake. The cake was not mind blowing, and i am not too sure about its name, but this is definately a hit than a miss. I loved the whole concept. How chocolate is better than sex. How the chocolate cake isnt VERY sweet to be a good chocolate cake. How they used crunchy caramel pieces wuth the cake. The red lips was alluring but, was just sugar, nothing special.Cheesecake- i did not taste much of it. but a short conclusion of it, It wasnt as good as the two cakes before. it had a coconut feeling to it which was strange. Coconuta nd cheese? dont go... hmmmm...conclusion: Ms b's cakery is very mind blowing. even teh names are so attractive. not only the cakes are pretty as all cakes needs to be pretty these days, but you can see the thoughts that have been put into it. the layers of different taste and color matching of one cake.. how much efforts and thoughts needed to make a cake, I cant even imagine. Although the cakes are much more expensive than otehr cake shops around. But it is well worth it. Her light fluffly chiffon cake, with egg fragrant. i love it. it is not too sweet although the appearance is so decieving.
i love it very much espcially madam butterfly. i cant wait to try more of their cakes, although there are limited single small cakes they have and DONT FORGET, the minimum you need to buy in a box is THREE!!!!! So that is 150hkd already.

I loved their cake design, but i loved their whole concept design. If in the cake industry you have designer, this designer must be Vivienne Westwood in the cake industry. The cakes are modern, outstanding, its way beyond petite little modern cakes these days. it is colorful, quirky with interesting names. The packaging is extroidinary. i feel proud holding the bag with the box. Black and white stripe with musturd green and red. What a choice of color, the compelling colors. The box is absolutly gorgeous, and the cake board underneath the cakes are black and white strips which is so quirky. i love it. i cant wait to go back for me.Unbeatable. I think it is way better than the cakes in SEVVA