Meeting up with a friend and his wife for dinner, we decided to try out Pisces Coffee. Located in Mong Kok, it was near the wet market building.
Spacious seating with the kitchen area to one side.
Menu is in English and Chinese. They have various cafe type  food along with a menu with items only available after 6 PM. There are also options to add ons to create a set. We decided to just order a la carte and share.
As it was hot out, I ordered an Ice House Blend Siphon Coffee ($68). The decanter was chilled and served in an ice bath. The glass was also chilled. Nice small attention to detail! Their house blend was slightly sweet with  touch of bitterness. It went down well and was much like a glass of clean tea.
Boyfriend saw the Yebisu deal for $58 and got that. And that is when he approved of this place. Many of the items on the menu were fried nad went well with beer.

Single Boned Chicken Wings in Salted Egg Yolk Paste ($78)  were really good. There were eight pieces and each was heavily coated with plenty of salted egg yolk. The meat was still juicy even though the pieces were separated.

Onion Rings ($78) were large pieces! Coating was not too thick and the onions were very sweet. A generous coating of Taiwanese style salt and pepper made it an easy companion to beer.
Four Cheese Pizza with Honey ($108) was actually two pieces of tortilla stuck together so the crust was crispy. A good amount of cheese and tomato sauce was added. Then you poured on the honey making this sweet and savory.
German Pork Knuckle with Sauerkraut and Mashed Potato ($178) was a very good deal. The knuckle was a large size and well seasoned. The meat fell off the bone easily and the skin was super crunchy. I was surprised the sauerkraut provided was real sauerkraut. So many places in Hong Kong say it's sauerkraut but it's just cabbage with mayo. But this was real sauerkraut! Impressive! Creamy mashed potato anchored it together. There was side of salad and mustard for dipping.
We ended with dessert of Homemade Bailey Basque Cheesecake ($60). This was extremely boozy as they really didn't skimp on the Bailey's. The cheesecake was creamy and rich as well. I could come back just for dessert.
A nice place to gather as it wasn't noisy and location is convenient. The food portions were generous and tasted good. Plenty of fried stuff and beer for the guys as well so they didn't grumble over another cafe.

Ging Sun Ho King of Bun, it said. There are many branches but I haven't tried one. Why? People keep saying it's a sad excuse for pan fried buns. As it was a weekend and there were long queues everywhere, boyfriend and I decided to give it a try as we didn't have to wait.

Menu is in English and Chinese. You order by scanning a QR code. There is no 10% service charge and you pay on your way out. Everything is a la carte and do not offer sets.
As the name suggests, we ordered the Signature Pan Fried Pork Soup Bun ($22 for two). You can choose a portion of 2 or 4 which is quite nice especially if you are eating alone. It honestly wasn't as bad as many people say. There was plenty of soup and the meat was seasoned. It did feel like the ones you get from a frozen package but it wasn't as bad as people say.
Boyfriend ordered the Signature  Pork Chop Dan Dan Noodles ($68) because he was wondering what the difference between this and deep fried version. The noodles were a bit soggy and the soup was fairly spicy. Some mince was found on top.
The pork chop was very sweet and seemed more like char siu. I liked it a lot. The meat wasn't dry and very juicy.
I had the Pork and Chives Dumplings Noodles in Soup ($54). The soup was basically MSG but was expected. Noodles were very soggy and over cooked.
The dumplings were ok like the ones. Plenty of filling and well seasoned.
The food wasn't as bad as people said. It was not great but for a fast food chain establishment, it was not terrible. I've had worse. An option if we were stuck in the mall with not much choices.

Bubble tea, brown sugar milk tea, Taiwanese fruit tea and now ... hand punched lemon tea. Suddenly various brands have propped up throughout the city. All of them use a green lemon and then they pound away by hand to make you a cup of lemon tea.

I love lemon tea and curious about this trend. A while ago, I tried a place in Kennedy Town and was thoroughly disappointed. It lacked everything. Poor tea quality and lack of lemon flavour. Then other brands propped up. All from China. I decided to give it another try but at a locally run shop in Tai On Building. Called 友米YM, they only sell drinks to go all with hand crushed lemons. 
Menu is in Chinese only and there is no English.  As it's takeaway, there is no 10% service charge. You only choose the type of tea you want. A cup costs about $16. After ordering, they start to pound away at the lemon with a stick. I chose the oolong tea. It was quite good. The lemon flavour was intense. Not as citrus and sharp as the regular yellow lemon. A bit more floral. Made the tea even more refreshing.
The cup is also very sturdy and hard. Perhaps they need the cup to not be flimsy so when they pound it, it doesn't break. Definitely good and cheap price.

Boyfriend met me after work and he brought me to 小老板. A takeaway only place selling Shanghainese food for very cheap.
The menu is in Chinese only. There is no 10% service charge as it's takeaway only. They apparently have another location in San Wan Ho and North Point. They make their own food and you can see people wrapping dumplings in the back.
We got ourselves 3 gyoza ($10) and 3 pan fried bao ($10). The sad thing they were not hot as they were sitting in the pan for a while. I guess they wasn't enough turn over when we came. But it was ok. The skin was a bit thick but not too doughy. The pan fried bao could have been a bit more juicier but it was at least flavourful. Might try again and see if they would have freshly cooked ones next time.

The Camel Building never ceases to surprise me. I always find something of interest and always something new. This time we discovered 滾餃 (English name: Boiledumplingss).  A small restaurant serving dumplings. The dumplings are made in house as we saw a group of ladies wrapping away in the corner. A decent amount of diners were eating so we decided to give it a try.Menu is in Chinese only. You order by scanning a QR code, there is no 10% service charge and you pay on your way out. They have a variety of dumpling varieties and you can order 8 or 10 and even do combinations as well as fried or in boiled in soup. Shanghainese snacks are also available.
 The housemade preserved vegetables are in a jar on each table. Rather spicy but quite fragrant.Drinks are in bottle form. The Bottled Milk Tea ($22) is made in house and fairly good. Strong taste of tea. I had the  Soymilk ($10) which is a brand a number of dumpling restaurants like to order from. I think most people know what it tastes like.Cold Rice Noodles with Sesame and Shredded Chicken ($34) is a favorite appetizer we like to share. This place is very generous with the sesame sauce. It was well tossed so every strand of noodle was coated. The chicken was not dry and seasoned well.I like my dumplings in soup and ordered a combination of Chive and Pork and Garlic Scapes with Shrimp and Pork ($60 for 10).The default soup is a pork bone soup with plenty of carrots and onions. It was rich and flavourful without being too heavy.The Chive and Pork is my goto dumpling. I love it. And this place did a good job. The skin was not too thick.The filling was plentiful and the chives were still soft.The Garlic Scapes with Shrimp and Pork was even better.A whole plump fresh shrimp was found in each dumpling.  There was the right amount of pork to boost the flavour of the shrimp.Boyfriend likes his dumplings deep fried and he had Mushroom, Bacon, Cheese and Pork and Coriander Pork ($66 for 10). Well fried without feeling oily.The Coriander Pork was very pretty to look at in it's deep fried form.Plenty of filling with  good ratio of pork to coriander.The Mushroom, Bacon, Cheese and Pork dumpling we decided was a favorite of the night. The cheese was a bit melted. It was matched by the smokiness from the bacon. Bits of mushroom and ground pork made this little thing taste like a cheeseburger.Boyfriend has a bigger appetite so he added noodles ($8) and changed his soup to tomato soup for $3. This is worth the upgrade. The tomato soup was rich with plenty of carrot and potatoes. The noodles were the thick Shanghainese type so it clung to the soup very well.
A surprise find in this building. Fair prices with delicious dumplings. We'll definitely be back.

Red Bean Is an interesting bakery that sells not only your usual Hong Kong bread but also copys of other popular local bakeries. The first time I went, I tried their version of the French pudding bread. Now, they have a version of the multi layer bread. They have original, chocolate and strawberry all for $25 each. I chose strawberry.
It looked pretty with the many layers.
There was even a nice strawberry on top that was stuck on with a bit of sweet pastry cream.
But peeling it layer by layer was really difficult. This is when I realized it wasn't true layers. I just looked like it.
Slicing it in half, I saw it was actually just a regular Danish loaf and not in individual layers like the original bakery did it. It also had strawberry jam in the middle. It wasn't like the original at all but it still tasted ok.

明記潮館 (English name: Ming Kee) is a really popular Chiu Chow restaurant located in Mong Kok and I've often received a lot of recommendations to give it  try when I ask for good Chiu Chow daa laang in the city. As I had a craving for it, we decided to head over for dinner. Reservations is a must but luckily we came early and got ourselves a table. But it does fill up fast.

We weren't sure where it was as it said the address was on Portland Street, but actually the entrance is on the side. They have another one on Nathan Road. There is a huge sign that does point you in the direction.You go up the escalator to the second floor that is part of another Chinese restaurant.The restaurant is split into two parts. They sat us here as there were tables for smaller groups. The other side is mostly for large groups.On one side, you see all the fresh seafood and Chiu Chow specialities on offer. The seafood is market value so you need to ask ahead of time before ordering. But you are free to take a look.Menu is in English and Chinese with photos of most of the food.They also have combo deals. This is in Chinese only. Basically, they offer two mains for a special discounted price.Other deals are also in Chinese only. Like the super size 1 L ice lemon tea.And this promo where you get an assorted braised platter or jellied pork blood if you order over $300 for $8. This is actually easily attenable.They do have a small snack fee for $20. This consisted of peanuts and preserved vegetables. There is also a plate of white vinegar and their house chilli sauce which is really excellent.We ordered the 1L Ice Lemon Tea ($42) and Ice Lemon Tea Bear ($8). And it was BIG! The bear was really cute so this pleased me for a bit of photo taking.The Braised Slice Goose Breast ($188) was well marinaded with rich sauce. The goose breast was firm but not dry. Layered underneath were slices of tofu that soaked up a lot of the sauce. There was also peanuts as well.Porridge with Baby Oyster and Minced Pork ($80 for small portion) is a more well known Chiu Chow daa laang classic.  You can get two sizes and we ordered a small. But small is quite a lot and we had more than 2 servings each. Plenty of plump small oysters with a umami rich broth with mince meat throughout. The rice was soft. A truely hearty dish.Deep Fried Crispy Baby Oyster Cake ($118) is my favorite Chiu Chow dish. The last few I had recently have been terrible and soggy. But this place did it right. Lots of plump juicy oysters in every bite, it wasn't too dough but crispy. To make it even more crunchy, they added a crunchy topping on top.As they had a promotion where you order over $300, you get to choose either assorted braised platter or jelly pork blood for $8. We chose the Braised Assorted Platter.  We had no idea the portion was this generous. For $8 you do get lot. A variety of offals such as pig liver, pig small and big intestine and pig ear. Red Chinese sausage and octopus slices were found along with plenty of bean sprouts. Definitely a good deal.
A decently price place in a convenient location. It's perfect for doing Chiu Chow daa laang without sitting on the street but in the comfort of air conditioning. The food was good with generous portions as well.

Boyfriend suddenly decided to come over for dinner. But I was way too tire to make something so I stopped for takeaway before heading home. Eggdicted is a new takeaway spot located in Quarry Bay. 
Menu is in English and Chinese. There is no 10% service charge and it's mostly for takeaway though they do have a VERY tiny space for dine in. But takeaway is  what they are more focused on. They offer omelette rice and tomato soup noodles for a low price.  Food is made to order so there was a bit of a wait.  Everything was packed in sturdy containers that didn't spill by the time I got home. Items were still warm when we sat down to eat. They offer snacks that you can order a la carte or with a combo deal add on. As I was sharing with boyfriend, I chose the a la carte portio of  Chicken Karaage ($25).  You get four pieces. Well seasoned and crispy even all the way home! The meat was juicy.I had The Signature Chicken Cutlet Omelette Rice ($58). Portion of Japanese  rice was the right amount. It wasn't too much I couldn't finish. The egg was fluffy and not over cooked. The chicken was very tender and moist. It was glazed with a sweet teriyaki sauce. Boyfriend had the Crispy Pork Tomato Soup Based Udon ($58). He originally wanted macaroni but they had run out for the day! It was apparently very busy at lunch time. 
The pork was placed in a separate container on top of the noodles so it wouldn't get soggy.  The coating was still crunchy. The meat was tender.The portion of udon was a lot. More than expected. And the soup was a rich tomato soup with lots of carrots and slicses of fresh tomato.
A good inexpensive takeaway place where the food was not lazily slapped together.  A good option for takeaway on my way home.

Like everyone else in Hong Kong, we decided to explore the new mall in Tai Wai called The Wai. Conveniently located next to the MTR station, we checked out everything and decided to have dinner at the mall. But as many places are restaurants we've tried elsewhere, we wanted something different and came across Galbi Gung. A Korean BBQ restaurant. Getting a number is done by scanning a QR code. I noticed this in other restaurants at this mall. It was definitely different and very convenient as it tells you when to come back. There was a bit of a wait as the mall is now very popular.The interior was large but all the tables were separated into neat rows with dividers to provide a bit of privacy. Seating was spacious and plenty of space on the table for all the orders. The BBQ grill was in the middle.Menu is in English, Korean and Chinese. They have sets for two and four people.A la carte is also available.They also have this interesting promotion. Guess the weight of the beef you order and get a discount. I'm not sure how this works. I guess I should have asked.We decided to do a set meal for two for $788. Immediately the banchan started rolling out! Kimchi, Kimchi fishcakes, pickled seaweed, spinach and bean sprouts.Salt and onion soysauce was provided for dipping.They also provided  raw egg yolk with spring onions and a savory sauce for dipping as well. This I liked a lot and use it the most.They provided a piece of fat to oil up the grill.The set comes with two starters. The first was the Beef Tendon and Ox Tongue Stew.  A small bowl of this that was so good, I wish there was more. The tongue was so soft and melt in your mouth. The tendon gelatinous. But the best was the sauce. Very savory. Combined with the carrots and daikon that soaked it all up. This needed a bowl of rice to not waste the sauce!Tofu and Seaweed Salad was the other starter. Salty umami flavor from the seaweed. The lettuce was crisp and fresh with chunks of soft tofu throughout. This was a large portion.BBQ items included a tray of Scallops in Butter along with shitake mushrooms. The butter was mixed with herbs and the whole tray is placed on the grill to cook away. Don't waste the butter! We used it to cook the vegetables that came with the meat items.You get three meat items to BBQ.  Wagyu Outside Skirt and Gyeongiu Iberico Pork Belly with Fruit Soy Sauce was on one plate. It came with a shitake mushroom and slices of pumpkin. I loved the pork belly the most as the marinade was sweet and went well with pork. We grilled it to the point of crispiness and it was divine. The skirt was tender and juicy. Just a touch of salt made it better.The other plate was the Wagyu Chuck Platter. Excellent marbleization with a strong beef taste. Literally melted in your mouth in tenderness.A choice of Soybean Paste Stew with Beef or Naengmyeon and I chose Naengmyeon because I wanted cold noodle. The noodles were chewy and the soup was refreshingly cold. Mustard and a very spicy clear chili vinegar is provided for you to add a bit more flavour if you wish. There is also half a hard boiled egg and fresh cucumber slices and pickled daikon.The set comes with dessert. This  was Grilled Banana with Chocolate and Cinnamon and Creme Caramel.

The creme caramel was really good. A lovely soft custardy taste. It was topped with soft whipped cream and a strawberry. The caramel sauce was the right amount of bitterness.The banana part was served on a separate plate.  Now this is where the hilarious bit of fun happen. A change of a new grill plate and we place the bananas on top. After a while, sugar is sprinkled on top. Wait a bit more and flip it for about a minute. Check to see if it is caramelized and then flip it again.Our caramelized bananas! A sprinkle of cinnamon and chocolate sauce completes this.  It was fun and the staff did help us out as we were confused on what to do.  My suggestion is to perhaps mix the cinnamon and sugar together and then grill it. I think that might make it taste even better. A fun way to end dinner.Very good value group sets. The quality of the food was very good and the service was excellent. Always coming around to check on you and offer a hand if they see you struggling. Spacious seating as well.

I think a lot of people have been to Kadoorie Bakery and had their famous French pudding bread. But for me? I have no patience to line up especially in the hot Hong Kong weather. But for some reason, I passed by when the bread comes out and there was only 5 people waiting! I decided to see what the hype was about.

They now have two additional flavours along with their original. Prices are displayed on the photograph. There is no English available. The line does go very quickly as everything is already divided into boxes.
We asked for one of each flavour and a box was given to us.
The original French custard pudding ($15, bottom left), black sesame ($23, bottom right) and matcha azuki bean ($23, top). The matcha azuki bean one was the smallest size but the rest were about hand size. The filling was very runny and actually quite good. A lot better than the competition. The custard was very creamy. The bread, however, I felt was a bit too chewy. I guess they need that to hold the runny filling? I liked the bread from the competitors more but than their filling is also a lot less runny. The best was the black sesame one. The bread was not only soft but the filling tasted like the Chinese black sesame dessert.
Worth the hype but yeah ... only if I don't need to line up.  I'm just not that dedicated.