Xia Mian Guan     夏麵館   (Closed)

red bean biscuit freshly fried but the outer layer is not cripsy at all as it's too thick!
luckily they are not oily and the red bean paste is not too sweet, it was cooked as"sand like", quite good, $28 for 8 small pieces, not too expensive~

siu long baoouter layer is not thick and the soup inside will not leak out. The meat inside is fresh, not much fat meat, with some vinega the taste is ok~

soya ,ilksoya taste is rich, i believe it is from fresh soya bean, not sweet at all

service is so so and i need to ask the waiter to refill the tea to me, they are not active enough

We came to Kowloon Bay to go to Megabox. I have not been to Kowloon Bay for decades and didn't realise it has a nice shopping centre. Anyway, by the time the girls were ready to leave the house and we got to Kowloon Bay, it was already 1pm and we were hungry. So we went to hunt for lunch.
One wanted Starbucks and one wanted Genki Sushi but these were vetoed as I told them I had passed by this noodle place in Elements a few times and there is always a long queue. I queued while they shopped a bit more. It only took 5 mins for the table to be ready as some people had given up on their spots.
We ordered 2 lunch sets and a cold noodle.
Pickled mustard plant and pork soup noodles with Smoked eggs
Fried vegetables and ham rice with wor tips
Cold noodles with shredded meat
The sets came with drinks and we had cold soy milk and sour plum juice.
Everything was good except the wor tips were average and the skin wasn't crispy. The cold noodles were the best. The fried rice tasted fine but was a bit oily. The noodle texture was al dente and the presentation was good.
The food was slow and the cold noodles refused to come for a long time. Quick lunch turned into almost an hour.
So that was a happy break between journeys to Megabox

I have been disappointed by the oversea branches of some famed restaurants from China, like 小南國, 南翔饅頭店, 王家沙, & 新吉士, which all started out to be quite authentic and good, but have now become a chain with no resemblance to the originals. I blame this to the unnecessary adaptation of traditional dishes to please local palates. So how is 夏麵館 measuring up? I found myself wondering about this when I walked into the Kowloon Bay branch with my friends the other day.
The restaurant was hardly full at 7pm, which made me worry as most restaurants in this arcade were mobbed at this time. The wide selection on menu provided ample choices for everyone, including my vegetarian dining companions. Strange enough, the first dish, Stewed Noodles with Dried Shrimp and Spring Onion蔥油開洋拌麵($28)(we asked for no dried shrimp for the vegetarians), arrived minutes after we placed our order, and before the soups, appetizers, and dumplings. Perhaps they wanted us to play with the noodles, as they were served separately from the fried scallion for your own mixing. I was pleased to see that they didn’t skimp on the fragrant scallion oil to fit with the locals’ “healthy and less oil” trend. The noodles were soft yet retaining its proper texture, slightly passing Italian’s al dente, which was how Shanghai noodles should be cooked. The seaweed soup on the side wasn’t needed as there was plenty of scallion oil to lubricate and coat the noodles. This dish showcased why simple food was often the most satisfying one.
With no sight of our soups, the cold appetizers 涼菜五小碟($58)arrived next. The smoked eggs 燻蛋 placed at the center were just incredibly attempting with the runny yolks literally flowing out like lava. When I put one into my mouth, the smoky flavor was powerful, exactly what I was looking for. I even mixed some of the running yolk with the noodles and god what’s that good! The other four appetizers, namely 糖醋排骨,麻醬粉皮,四喜烤夫, 涼拌海蜇were utterly average, with the tough and dry meat of 糖醋排骨 being the worst. Rather than being negative, we jokingly said that at least we lost less than if we were to order all 5 appetizers separately. Instead of finishing the platter, we opted for an extra 燻蛋 in the end.
The appearance of the Vegetarian Goose Rolls 素鵝($38)was a bit bizarre. The small “tubes" of beancurd skins were fried so that they were a bit crispy outside and chewy inside. The negligible fungus filling didn’t add any flavor, and while this dish wasn’t terrible, I much preferred the normal version of 素鵝 that I had.
Something must have happened to the kitchen as all the remaining dishes came the same time. The Crispy Sliced Lotus Roots 脆香藕條($38) was a respectable attempt to “energize” the otherwise boring lotus roots, but the execution fell short with the thick batter coating, albeit the appetizing spicy flavor with the peppercorn. The lack of essential meat juice in the Pan-Fried Pork Buns 生煎包($20/3pc) was as severe as the blandness of the Wild Vegetable and Tofu Soup 薺菜豆腐羮 ($18/p), and in my opinion both deserved no place on the menu.
Fortunately 夏麵館was able to keep their signature dish, DoReMi 哆唻咪($138), at a high quality. Simply put, it’s just 蟹粉河蝦仁. For the price, they certain gave you enough crab meat and roes (蟹粉蟹黃). Again, with no compromise to the health trend, a spoonful of this would send you to nirvana with the crab meat and roes swimming in crab oil (蟹油)in your mouth. The 河蝦仁was completely redundant as they were neither sweet nor bouncy; its main job was just to jack up the price. Next time I would just order 蟹粉dishes with other ingredients, like tofu, rice, noodle, or rice cake, and save the extra money for another helping of smoky eggs. Of course, it’s not hairy crab season, and if you demand really high quality, you should probably hit 天香樓 (and bring 5 times the cash)
I wasn’t expecting greatness from our desserts 酒釀丸子and 南瓜拔絲, and I was right. 酒釀丸子 would have been better if the strong flavor of 桂花 was more balanced with the relatively weak 酒釀flavor. 南瓜拔絲 arrived in its final form and was pleasant in taste. But having just had the 拔絲at 美利堅where they prepared it tableside, I couldn’t help but to feel a bit cheated somewhat.
Overall, I am appreciative that 夏麵館 is trying to stay close to their original restaurant in Shanghai. The dishes that excelled were clearly the ones that did not compromise on the signature strong and oily flavors of Shanghai cuisine to suit the taste of locals. I hope they can continue to stick with the traditional and authentic offerings, and avoid following the paths of her peer restaurants.

My friends brought me to this noodle house the first time. The noodle is SOOOO good! We had the fish noodle soup,vegi dumplings and vegi rice in a pot. The vegi rice is not greasy and salty, just perfect to please our taste buds. We had some appetizers such as the sampler platter with 5 different cold dish to taste. The price is so reasonable in such a nice and upscale type of restaurant. We spent about 50 HKD per person. I will definitely go back again.