This is one of my usual japanese dinner spot since I get a good credit card deal here. Also, the food choices here is so extend that I haven't tried everything on the menu yet even though i come pretty often. This time around, the desserts here really stood out to me. I usually would order their ice creams because I would be too full to order anything else. Finally I got to try the desserts here and they were not disappointing at all.

Blueberry tart with cream and choice of ice cream on the side was the first one I picked because we saw other tables ordered it and it looked so fancy! It's basically layers of crispy pastry and along with a layer of blueberry and cream. The pastry is very crispy and the cream is well balanced with the blueberry so overall it wasn't too sweet. I chose the raspberry sorbet with it and it was a good compliment to the whole dessert.Then the second dessert my friend ordered it, so Im not exactly sure what the name is. But it consists of a crispy cube of peanut butter toffee crisp and with a side of chocolate crunch and then she paired it with a sesame ice cream. This is a good choice if u like really sweet dessert. But the texture is still light and crunchy throughout the dish. Also, sesame ice cream here has a very rich and strong flavouring if you like that. Overall, for the price and for the quality of the dessert you get, I think it's worth it to have dessert here! Definitely won't skip dessert next time that I'm here!

As usual went to pick up my girlfriend from her workplace in North point on Saturday night.. we were starving so we decided to fill ourselves up with this restaurant as it was quite close to where we stopped by, however, surprisingly the food in my opinion is above average taking into consideration of the price (quite competitive) – which I would say is out of my expectation!

Having looked up the menu for a while, both my girlfriend and myself were so exhausted (after a long day at work) to come up with something to order.. Therefore we asked the manager to recommend something for us. The manager was so nice and very kind and at the end we agreed to go with the dishes that he selected for us.We had the Dried Putter Fish Skin as the kickoff of the dinner, it was hot, savory, not too sweet which is of my appetiteWe were then served with a bottle of Sake – which I would say perfectly matches with the Putter Fish Skin. The drink is quite soft, sweet, mildly fragrant, very approachable.Jellyfish – very fresh and crisp, different from what we used to have in other restaurantsFried Salmon fillet – THUMBS UP for this dish ! It is very slick and delicious, without being overdone. Each bite is heavenly prefect and it was not very greasy at all. It was quite remarkable as it was almost fried to perfection.Crispy pork chop – they are unexpectedly juicy and the breading was thin but crunchy. It does not taste too oil. We were then told by the manager that the breadcrumbs are prepared every single day thus making a crunchy / crispy pork chop. A recommended dish!Sashimi – Many choices, Salmond, Tuna, scallops, fresh and yummy, quite thickly sliced, quite nice overall

Despite passing by IFC Mall for perhaps the hundredth time I have waited until today to visit Fuel Espresso for the first time. Perhaps its because of the location on the 3/F which is outside the sphere of my usual activities, or the timing of my arrival at the mall which is usually in the afternoon, and sadly any sip of caffeine in the afternoon would drive me insomniac in the night. Hence when I was venturing the mall at ten ish in the morning I decided to give Fuel Espresso a go.

Interestingly I notice how three cafes at IFC Mall have formed some sort of an iron triangle across the floors: Starbucks on 1/F, LGB on 2/F, and Fuel on 3/F. What is even more interesting is as I went upstairs on the escalators, I notice that Fuel is the most 'hidden' and yet the most popular amongst the triangle. It was literally bursted with white-collars who are having some leisurable coffee time with colleagues or bitter conferences with clients across the table.

I have always wanted to try Gold so went there for dinner for the first time. Overall the place, the service, and the food were all fine but on the whole not as good as expected.

The place - not bad. Tables are reasonably spaced apart but the decoration is a cross between 90s USA west coast trendy chic and New York night club look. The protruding sets of concentric circles on the ceiling have a retro feel but would probably look better if the room had higher ceiling.

The staff - the young lady at the door who showed us to the table was slightly spaced out but the rest of the staff was fine. Service was not bad but not exceptional either.

The food - we tried the tasting menu with 5 courses (for $880 each). The foccacia bread that came before everything else was extremely good - fresh out of the oven with nice sun-dried tomatoes on top. The first course was pork with burrata on some fruit salad...a bit of a weird dish that was a bit watery. The second course was white asparagus with egg yolk which had a wonderful smoky flavor and was very good. Course number 3 was angle hair with clams which was very ordinary and some clams actually had sand in them! This was probably the most disappointing dish of the night. The fourth dish was the main course which was sea bass. The fish was very nice and tender but it had some very sweet puree on top which overpowered the fresh flavor of the fish. On the whole it was ok - the cuttlefish and potato that came with it were very tasty. The final dish was a chocolate and hazelnut mousse cake which was quite wonderful.

Hmmm...it was a reasonably pleasant meal but might be a while before I go back.

On the recommendation of a couple I met at the Krug Room the night before, I decided to check out this, "moderately priced sushi joint." Compared to starred sushi places, this is indeed moderately priced, but by no means cheap. I arrived early enough to get one of the only two seats open on a packed night. Asking for anything that might not be on the menu, I happily learned that kinmedai (alfonsino) was available, which was so amazing at RyuGin cooked that I had to try it as sashimi. This is also my first encounter with the small black fish, mijina. Then I ordered a few things that looked good as they passed by.

Shou Zen is a nice place to go early to check out the selection of daily specials items. Given their rice style, go with sashimi over sushi. If they aren't slammed, they do a pretty good job at deep frying. And while I didn't try any, the flaming beef dishes looked good with the pieces served rare on hot slate.

Gallery Text:

1. Garlic: marinated in dashi and sprinkled with bonito, these have lost most of their garlicky flavor but not the garlic crunch.

2. Aji Belly, Swordfish Belly, Toro Sushi: All of these used medium grain rice that's a bit overcooked. Without the textural separation of great short grain, the overall experience suffers. At least it's well-seasoned. Aji/ This close to the skin, there's a bit of crunch before the beautifully fatty interior on this cut of aji. Swordfish/ Scored to increase the perception of tenderness, this still has a bit too much crunch. It's flavor profile is close to hamachi but fishier. There's a fair amount of oil here, but it's not very refined. Toro/ Nicely melty fat make this some kind of wonderful. Sadly, there's an untrimmed strand of silverskin in this piece.

3. Mijina and Kinmedai Sashimi: Mijina/ Slices of translucent white mijina resemble fluke. They have a fairly neutral taste with a little crunch (thus necessitating the thin slices) and pomelo sac grain. Kinmedai/ After the spectacular rice-crusted kinmedai at RyuGin, I had to try this ingredient raw. It's not on the menu, but that's the reward for dining at 6PM before everyone else arrives; you get to inspect the best of what's come in before the masses. Well this certainly did not disappoint. It's richer and fattier than the mijina in a aji meets red snapper kind of way. It doesn't have the initial crunch of the fattiest part of aji (which I don't consider a great attribute on a fatty fish anyways). And it has cleaner oil than either aji or red snapper. The flesh pulls apart beautifully with a slightly lighter flavored collagen and more bite than chutoro. Could this be the turbot of Japan?

4. Mijina Bones: The head and bones from the mijina get whisked away and return deep fried. They're perfectly seasoned and the light batter works well here. The head and gills are great, but some of the bones aren't fully cooked through. Delicious, but caution required.

5. Botan Ebi Sushi: Beautiful, medium sweet shrimp. It's not as sweet as amaebi. It's closest to langoustine with a slight bitter edge and a gummier texture. This would have been better torched to alleviate both issues.

6. Botan Ebi Head: Overbattered compared to the mijina bones but still good. The head fat resembles a cross between Dungeness crab back fat and amaebi head fat is hot and juicy under that crunchy shell.

High res photos and ratings at tastecompendium(dot)com

Went to The One for a light dinner and ended up trying this Vietnamese restaurant. Its first impression was very spacious and even though there wasn't a wait time, there were stil alot of customers dining.

First off, I must note that the staff and service was minimal. I don't want to use the word "terrible" to describe them because it was lacking too much in service to much to tell whether it was terrible or not. I asked for spicy sauce and napkins and basically got ignored by every staff there. I had to lose my patience and holler before a staff would come and service our table. At the end, they got me what I wanted but with no expression at all--it was as if they didn't care.As for the food, I have to be fair that the soup base is actually quite tasty and flavourful. It was hot enough with a rich beefy fragrant. I ordered the chicken noodle soup and I liked it very much especially with extra green onions

Have you ever craved for a bowl of hearty Italian carbs and can't for the life of you think of an affordable place to go? Pane Vino is a good option to keep in mind when that craving hits next. It's just a short stroll from Causeway Bay and there wasn't a queue when we arrived around 7pm on a Sunday. The french windows were open that night and we were seated by the sidewalk. Sounds romantic, but it really wasn't. It was so noisy with all the buses passing by, so unless the windows are closed, ask for a seat inside.

I was really impressed with the big selection of starters and especially the prices. The polenta fries with parmesan aioli was only $22 and portion was generous. This was by far my favorite dish with the bready crust that gave way to warm, gritty polenta. Much better than potato fries! The cripsy rosemary pork belly wasn't too fatty but I wished it was accompanied with some apple puree, or something sweet and tangy to offset the saltiness a little. I won't say too much about our mains (seafood squid ink risotto and spaghetti with a tomato-sausage sauce) as they were pretty standard and portions were generous. The seafood (shrimp, scallop, fish, squid) in the risotto tasted fresh but a bit overcooked, that dragged down an otherwise great dish. Note of caution for happy-hour-goers: It's only available in the bar area (strange policy...) but you can also order food there. Next time I might just order a whole spread of appetizers there! Dinner for two plus a glass of wine came to about $470. You could walk off a meal there in the nearby Victoria Park or stay in Tai Hang and have some nitrogen ice cream or mango sago for dessert! I'd choose the latter.

Date of visit : 1 May 2013 (Wed) 3 pm
No. of diners : 4
Average cost per head : $65
Food quality : 8/10
Environment : 8/10
Service : 8/10
Value-for-money : 8/10
Overall rating : 8/10

Good coffee shop and patisserie is a wonderful marriage if they both produce high quality F&B, and so does this Knockbox Coffee Company x J'aime bien Patisserie in Mongkok. Not on the main street but still accessible with 10 minutes walk from the nearest MTR station, it attracts coffee addicts every day with a reason.Knockbox offers a wide range of coffee beans which are clearly marked with their characteristics on the chalkboard. The baristas are helpful to answer your question and carry a pleasant smile. If you want a hand drip coffee, you’d better get a seat by the bar table as watching a barista preparing your coffee and chatting with them is a pleasure.

J'aime bien Patisserie only focuses on a few pastry items such as pound cakes, scones and baguette. Great to know that all the breads are with no boosters or preservatives which means all the bakery are fresh.


a) Parma Ham & Cheese Baguette ($35) – 9/10It’s a surprise when I took my first bite on the baguette as it was very fresh and crispy. Value for the money.

b) Earl Grey Flavoured Scone ($15) – 9/10Earl grey bears such an elegant and pleasing aroma that would go well with many bakery and dessert such as ice cream, macaron and this scone. Poppy seeds added an extra texture to the scone, the fresh whipped cream by the side became redundant.

c) Lemon Cake ($20 for 1 pc) - 8.5/10The lemon cake was with refreshing citrus flavour, moist and soft. The texture was between chiffon and pound cake. Its lightness should be welcome by many girls.

d) Hazelnut and Chocolate Cake ($25 for 1 pc) – 8.5/10Likely hazelnut essence was used as I couldn’t find any nuts in the cake. However, the cake was rich in dark chocolate flavour and moist after reheated by microwave oven.

e) Americano ($28) - 8.5/10, Long Black ($28) – 8.5/10Both coffee was made from the house blend of Sidamo (Ethiopia) and Columbia. With crisp acidity, hand drip may be a better brewing method.

g) Hand Drip Brazil ($65) – 7.8/10This Brazil bean should carry a nutty and dark chocolate notes, however, it’s a bit weak for me.

05.2013

Everytime my customer (also a good friend) come over to Hong Kong, we will go for some coffee. He, being a coffee sales + barista in Latvia, loves Hong Kong coffee culture. He says the coffee culture in Latvia is very commercialised, people drinks only Starbucks and even some barista does not care about coffee. Anyway, this time we went to CoCo Espresso.

We made reservations to try out this new restaurant and to celebrate our friend's birthday. When we arrived for dinner, the restaurant was packed and atmohsphere was cheery bright. It's a nice place to chill with a few friends and have a glass of wine. Since I'm a wine fanatic, the first thing I did was order their organic wine Rivetto Moscato D'vsti. It was crisp and sweet with soothing acid, and ít was a fairly decent table wine. Hence, I ordered the cheese platter to go with it. I was a bit disappointed with he variety and quality of Italian cheeses. I recall there were Parmiggiano Reggiano, Gorgonzola, Mozzarella, etc. but nothing jumped out of the regular. The cheese paired well with the wine but I would recommend Jars on Lynhurst's cheese platter any day.I must say, this Parma ham pizza was delicious! Even with all the competition out there in Italian cuisine word, his Parma ham pizza stood out. The choice of ham used enhanced with the rocket leaves and tomato sauce made it absolutely mouth watering. I would defintely recommend this dish to anyone who dines hereLast but not least, since we were celebrating a friend's birthday, I called in earlier to ask whether they catered to birthdays. The staff was nice and created this personalizd dessert fo the birthday girl for celebration. The apple crumble itself wasn't bad--a bit dry and could use a hint more of cinnamon and spice.

Overall, the service was fine even thought the restaurant was packed and the atmosphere was very suitable for celebrating with a few friends or colleague. However, for the same price, I would continue to try other Italian restaurants before I come back to this one again.

After a dinner gathering, someone brought out a Heart shaped Pandan cake for dessert.

The Heart shaped Pandan cake was from Kowloon City's Hoover cake shop.I have tried their pandan cakes before so I expected this to taste good.

The cake has two layers, there is no filling in between so the top and bottom layer can be eaten separately.

It's my 4th time dining at Mr Steak and they never cease to amaze me. The food is delicious and there's a large variety to choose from. What I love the most is the fois gras and, of course, all the special desserts.The last few times I went, there were lobsters so I was pretty happy with the special addition. They were juicy and tender but I'm not sure if they have lobsters every day.

My all time fav is the fois gras which Mr Steak offers in large quanitites so I always get to tuck in a large number of pieces. However, this time Mr Steak didn't cook the fois gras on the spot--the just left a dozen or so pieces on the rack which meant the fois gras wasn't very hot. Since it was an annivsary, I had a special lava cake made just for my hubby. I really love this special service of theirs because any diners can have a special night and surprise their friends or loved ones. Of course, the lava cake itself was delicious and everytime the liquid chocolate spills out perfectly. Usually by this time, I'm already quite stuffed but their milk pudding is a MUST TRY!
It's super creamy though so it's always best to share with a friend so you'll have room for thier Haagen Daaz ice cream.

Overall, we paid $448+10% each and it's pretty worth it with thier large variety of seafood and other delicacies. I'm not a huge fan of sashimis or oysters but my hubby said they are pretty nice too. There's a short wait for oysters but you get 6 each time. They also have king crab legs and uni if you're a fan, and waygu beef which I thought were delicious but quite frankly, it was a bit thin too.

All in all, I would definitely continue to dine here for special occasions and enjoy a very filling and scrumptious meal!