上海婆婆 (上水)

俠女

這天跟俠男去了中文大學閒逛，晚上便在上水廣場的「上海婆婆」醫肚。

我們已吃過幾回上海菜了，不過自己還是蠻喜歡的。 個人認為江南菜比北方菜易入口，款式較多，外觀精緻，加上俠女是個「飯桶」，無飯不歡！ 曾跟俠男提及過，有回去北京遊玩，幾天內只吃包點水餃，好吃歸好吃，心理上卻不大滿足。 後來上了一間上海館子，叫了一碗菜飯，吃一口，立即精神奕奕，可謂靈丹妙藥!

現在是大閘蟹當造的季節，所以選了蟹粉豆腐，另加兩碗白飯、京蔥手切牛肉包和砂鍋雲吞雞（半隻）。

蟹粉豆腐先來。豆腐表面上確有橙色粉狀物體，但整碟菜吃不到蟹的鮮香。一分錢一分貨，88元的蟹粉豆腐也不寄望是真材實料了，視它是一般菜式的話，伴飯 吃是可取的。牛肉包的外表很可愛，像麵包超人的圓臉蛋，一客三個。包很軟滑，餡料味道不錯，只是油膩了點。

最後是砂鍋雲吞雞。一大鍋甚為足料：半隻雞、雲吞、小唐菜，還有金華火腿，湯底味道濃郁，不錯。 當晚俠女胃口不好，俠男幾乎一個人將整鍋幹掉，回想起來也覺誇張！

出外吃飯吃多了，開始可以分辨不同食肆的特色。上海婆婆給我的印象是「有形無神」：味道中規中矩，就是找不出亮點來。就像打一份工，沒犯錯，但說不上表現突出。

說到打工，該店的服務員可真有點散漫，絕對有待改善。

HERO

After we took a tour in CUHK today, we were all tired and would like to seek dinner place near the transportation hub of our homes. Therefore, we chose to eat in Sheung Shui and would like to have Chinese food.

Shanghai Po Po serves Shanghai cuisine and we got a seat quite fast in 5 minutes when we arrived. We ordered 1) Tofu marinated in minced crab, 2) Pan fried beef pastries, 3) boiled chicken with Wonton.

The tofu marinated in minced crab is quite good to go with rice. The sauce is tasty and the tofu is soft but still will not be too soft that will be broken up when picking up by chopsticks . It will be a mess if it breaks easily. For the pan fried beef pastries, the taste is satisfactory but I think the one in Islam Food is better as the seasoning is better there. Boiled Chicken with Wonton is the last dish and this is a traditional Shanghai dish which tests the skill of the chef. The chicken has quite a lot of meat and there were adequate vegetables to go along. The wonton is ok and the soup is not full of MSG. Overall it is ok.However, the service quality still needs to be improved , when we order our dish, the waitress was not paying attention to our orders and we have to rush our rice after the tofu came. The service really needs improvement!

阿芳上海餛飩 (尖沙咀)

俠女

俠女的父母曾於北方生活過，所以偶然也會包餃子吃。聽俠男說他家也會做，讓我感到有點意外 ，以為一般香港家庭不會做這道菜。

這晚去了一間小店吃餃子/餛飩。店子可容納十多名客人，當晚客人不多，亦沒有排隊的壓力，可以舒舒服服晚膳。來這兒自然要嚐嚐招牌食物。點了兩碗雙併餃子和餛飩，分別是：玉豆豬肉餛飩、時菜豬肉餛飩、洋蔥豬肉餃子和甘筍素菜餃子（每碗十枚），並附送豆漿兩杯。上次夏麵館一役，給那碟燻魚弄得頭昏腦脹 ，這次再接再厲 ，嘗試在坊間尋找最好吃的燻魚！

燻魚先來，色水和味道也很到位，跟我媽媽做的沒有兩樣。門口張貼了很多雜誌報導，說這店日賣600隻餃子 ，在人流不多的地方，加上隔壁的同類型食店競爭，成績算理想。我特別欣賞店主那份創意（俠女在此說明：好吃的叫創意，不好吃的叫亂來），能打破傳統，讓食客感受不一樣的味道。其中的洋蔥餃子可謂聞所未聞，紫洋蔥味道甚濃，隔天口腔仍留有餘味，合口胃與否則見仁見智。個人較喜歡玉豆豬肉餛飩和時菜豬肉餛飩，餛飩皮晶瑩剔透，內餡若隱若現，玉豆、白菜跟豬肉相輔相成，濃淡適中。湯底為店主自己熬製，內有小銀蝦，清甜可口。

結帳只是80元，實在太便宜了！ 俠女跟俠男說，要多多發掘這類小店，支持一下！

HERO

I am a dumpling lover since I was small as I am a person not fond of rice comparatively. Therefore, I was thinking whether I was a Northern Chinese rather than a Southern one (Of course, it wasn’t ). I and Adorable went to the travel agency today to make travel arrangements for November and after all that was done, we needed to search for an eatery place.

Seems there are lots of choices in Austin Avenue so we decided to head there. Two dumplings shops are famous there with high ratings, thus, we decided to try the one with the higher scores first.The shop size of Ah Fong Shanghai Wonton is quite small. There are only about 20 seats only and it’s like a small family restaurant to us. Fortunately, there were seats available when we go in.

The shop is family-run and the menu is quite simple. Adorable and I decided to order the specialty here: Dumplings! There were 5 types of dumplings available and we chose 4 of them with mix-and-match (10 dumplings for each bowl and in 2 bowls so 5 dumplings for each variety). The dumpling varieties are 1) Pork and French beans dumplings, 2) Pork with seasoned vegetables dumplings, 3) Pork with onions dumplings, 4) Carrots and vegetables dumplings (This dumplings is a veggie). Each bowl of dumplings comes with soya bean drink. Plus, we ordered a Shanghai style smoked fish as appetizer. As we had experience in Xia Mian Guan before, we can clearly compare how the fish tastes when it came first. The dish is smaller than we expected but the taste is better than Xia Mian Guan as it is less overcooked.

Then, the grand finale came! Dumplings can be boiled or pan-fried but this time we chose the boiled style since taste is positively related to the simplicity (In other words, the more simple it is, the more it is difficult to taste delicious ). We also asked for a bowl to share the dumplings too. The food itself is really colorful especially for the veggie dumplings. We were just fascinated and excited with the varieties mixing together in the bowl and were playing guessing games before we took a bite.

An element relating to dumpling evaluation is the skin-to-ingredients proportion. If there was too much dough, customer may think they are ripped off but if there was too much ingredients then the dumplings will break open easily where ingredients are spilling everywhere . This time, the proportion is adequate.

The second element to dumpling goodness is the ingredients. The ingredients are freshly made and with lots of varieties. The pork is fresh and flavored; The veggies in the veggies dumplings are really colorful. They also used purple onions for the onion dumplings and it is good for onion lovers as the scent is moderately strong. The dumplings itself are freshly made as we see the shopkeeper wrapping them next to us and you can see how she makes her produces live. It’s a sort of advertisement I guess but normal for a family shop. The taste is very good after we took a bite and we don’t feel thirsty either. This means they don’t add much MSG in the soup base or for flavoring . I was curious with the soup base and asked the shopkeeper for its composition. She said she used domestic ingredients such as soy sauce and shrimp together as soup base which goes well-along with the food.

Overall, the whole meal is HK$80 and it is economical in a HongKonger sense . It’s a family shop so you get the cozy feeling when you have your meal and the staff is friendly. The shopkeeper is very happy to answer questions and it’s a good retreat in the bustling TST district.

坐位有限，坐滿即止。(Seats are scarce and there were around 20 so come and get seats early. The shop is a family shop so please be silent when eating, don't spoil the atmosphere)

飯BOWL (尖沙咀)

俠女

俠男從八月開始已嚷著要看「賤熊30」，好，都依你的！ 事前先去吃個快餐醫肚吧。

原本打算試試戲院的熱狗餐，但又不想吃上火的爆谷，最後決定去新港中心的大食代。

美食廣場的座位很多，食肆的種類也不少。從遠處傳來陣陣飄香，引得俠女口水直流，只管要吃Pepper Lunch的鐵板牛肉飯，可是俠女肚子還未好，在俠男力勸下，唯有乖乖另覓其他食物。俠女是個「飯桶」，之前數餐吃過粉麵，現在巴不得要吃兩碗飯！看到店頭那個「飯」字，已不顧一切點菜去。

俠女選了「帆立貝雞排蛋包飯」，俠男的則是「饅魚雞排大碗飯」，套餐附送麵豉湯一碗。先喝喝麵豉湯，像味精湯多一點，不值一提。至於蛋包飯，看來很飽滿討好，怎知內裏只有白飯，不是茄汁飯，頗失望。雞排有點乾，飯亦是。比較好吃的是帆立貝，也可能是個人偏好這食材罷了。

算了，反正滿足了吃飯的願望，可以開開心心看電影去！HERO

Food Republic - 飯BOWL Fusion Rice

As we are going to see “Ted” in a rush, thus, we have to grab something to eat quickly and chose to eat in the food court “Food Republic” nearby Tsim Sha Tsui.

The food court has a variety of restaurants for world’s delicacies. We had chosen “Bowl Fusion Rice” as we would like to have something that would make us full (such as rice) so as to cope with any hunger within the 1.5 hour time slot.The fusion rice restaurant specialized in Japanese style fusion cuisine and we chose 1) Omelet rice in chicken with scallops and 2) Grilled eel with chicken rice set. All sets come with miso soup.

The meal is typically fast food and our expectation is not that much. Adorable was sort of disappointed knowing the omelet rice is ordinary rice instead of rice in tomato sauce. My eel rice is just below-average and the rice is quite dry, I just don’t expect food court food to be much of a delicacy really.

Conclusion: Fast, below average fast food. After all, its food from food court but it’s not a value for money choice really.

Oliver's Super Sandwiches (九龍塘)

Hero

Squash day for today so we should have something to eat before doing such vigorous sports. A light lunch is needed instead of a heavy one so we decided to go for Oliver’s. The food chain is under Café De Coral and is famous for sandwiches and baked potatoes. Since Adorable and I were potato fanatic , we are not reluctant to go for it.We ordered a 1) Honey Cajun chicken baked potato set with Caesar salad, hot lemon tea and 2) Prosciutto, Asparagus, Mixed Mushroom linguine with creamy mushroom sauce and hot lemon tea combo.

I had Cajun chicken with baked potatoes before but never know that Adorable never had tried. Thus, I was surprised how she was being so happy with the well-baked potato in her mouth mixed with the sweet chicken. The set is well-baked and warmed in ones mouth but not too hot compare to outside. The potato is well-structured and can be easily dissected using utensils. For the linguine, the Prosciutto is crispy and the portions of cheese and bacon bits are right. The taste is light and digestive.


Overall, we are well-satisfied for a light lunch in this setting.

俠女

俠男俠女坐言起行，今天去打壁球！運動前，要補充體力，便在又一城吃個簡單的午餐。

這間連鎖食店已吃過無數次，但今次俠女卻吃得份外開心。 俠男知我愛吃薯仔，所以點了一個蜜味新奧爾良雞肉焗薯配凱撒沙律和白汁火腿露筍扁意粉。俠女從未吃過雞肉配料的焗薯，想不到原來是這麼匹配。薯仔夠粉，入口即融，熱呼呼的，非常可口。羅馬生菜新鮮爽脆，芝士和煙肉碎份量剛好。平日在這兒多吃三文魚扁意粉，原來火腿扁意粉也很美味，最重要是味道清淡，不然影響消化，飯後便無法盡興了。之後，俠男帶我去打壁球，很感謝俠男帶我去那麼好的地方做運動，很想再去玩呀！

清真牛肉館 (九龍城)

俠女

近日秋風起，人也變得心曠神怡，怎料這天太陽伯伯很勤力，彷彿回到炎夏……俠女先是遲到，在九龍城迷路了，該死的GPS又不中用，眼見時候不早，清真牛肉館定要排隊輪候，愈熱愈躁，愈躁愈熱，俠女變得急性子，脾氣要來了！

俠男見俠女目無表情，自然好言安慰，抱抱過後，俠女又笑逐顏開，真感謝俠男的體諒！抵達九龍城的人龍店清真牛肉館，雖要等位，但門外有座位，商量好要點的食物後不久，便被安排入座。
　　
記憶中是第二次來，原來附近開了分店，不過還是到總店吃較安全。點了馳名牛肉餅一客（兩件）、牛肚絲芝麻醬冷麵、咖哩羊單點、蝦子鍋塔豆腐和豆漿。

熱騰騰的牛肉餅上來了，外層的麵粉皮煎得剛好，黃金色的，非常養眼。我給俠男溫馨提示：小心肉汁四濺！說時遲那時快，我的餅已漏汁了，肉汁竟可注滿一匙！只好一口牛肉一口汁，仍很過癮。牛肉吃得出很新鮮，軟硬適中，沒有多餘脂肪，亦沒有加鬆肉粉。俠男對之讚不絕口。俠女自然知道俠男不太能吃辣，但此店的咖哩是鎮店之寶，不吃白不吃！特意選了咖哩羊，因為我倆都愛吃羊。一吃之下，俠女幾乎要感動得哭出來。羊塊鮮嫩、「啖啖肉」不在話下，其靈魂是那秘製咖哩汁，味道濃得化不開，還有洋蔥等配料，光有這咖哩汁，已可吃三碗白飯了。俠女愈吃愈興奮，還說下次什麼也不吃，只叫咖哩便好。說著說著，不禁詩興大發：「一吃解千愁」！俠男立刻接了下句：「辣到冇人有」，果然文武兩全！至於牛肚絲芝麻醬冷麵則屬普通，芝麻醬味道雖好，但太濃稠，麵容易漿在一起。最後的蝦子鍋塔豆腐極具份量（一碟八大件），做法如紅燒豆腐，蝦子惹味香口，俠男一口氣吃了四份三碟！此店令人回味無窮，激發靈感，實是香港難得一見的廉價高質食店，短期內定必再去大吃一頓！

Hero

Islam Food

Today is a bright and sunny day which is quite abnormal in autumn. It’s squash day again but since time is ample, Adorable and I decided to go for delicacies in Kowloon City.

Adorable recommended Islam Food as the shop is famous for Islamic food and is being visited by enormous Hong Kong stars and praised by locals. Let’s give it a try! We found out that there were queues outside the shop thus we have to get lots and wait.Fortunately, we were seated within 10 minutes. The shop interior is like a family restaurant with lots of hard-working restaurant staff. It is best to think of the items to order before being seated to speed up the time for dish arrival. Thus, we picked the following: 1) Veal Goulash (Juicy Beef cake), 2) Curry lamb chop (Stand alone order, rice ordered separately), 3) A cold dish: beef tripe with Bean Vermicelli, 4) Seasoned shrimp roe tofu, 5) 3 cups of soya bean drink (ordered during meals).

The Veal Goulash is the most famous dish of the restaurant and cheap too (just $13/pc). Before you took a bite, be careful! Or the juice will spill and burst all over the place. Its juicy beef fillings will make you feel unforgettable after visiting the restaurant.

The curry lamb chop is another restaurant feature. The lamb chop is very tender and the curry sauce is rich in flavor and very spicy. The curry sauce is concentrated rather than diluted. The dish comes with onions dazzling in with the flavors. I was not a spicy lover while Adorable was and the curry is perfect and rich altogether. I gave up the dish after I took a few bites with rice as it is too spicy for me, so Adorable has to finish the dish.

The beef tripe with Bean Vermicelli is good with hot weather to cool down the heat but there was nothing special in terms of taste. I just don’t like the vermicelli all sticking together in one piece as it is difficult to separate them.
Since I am not a spicy lover so I went for the tofu with the rice, there are 8 pieces of large tofu! It is braised and goes with seasoned shrimp roe and it is perfect with rice. I really love this dish!The experience is very memorable and we found out that the shop has an English website with lots of food description and recommendations. We discovered that we tried too few dishes and will definitely come again to retry the others!