expandible_stomach's Profile

We live in the neighbourhood and this has been our favourite place for pizza for quite some time. We have tried other things on the menu but find that the pasta and mains are not as consistently good as the pizza. We’ve tried most of the famous pizza joints in HK and still frequently come back here. …Read More

set lunch lamb kofta + 意粉超有誠意。lamb kofta 夠juicy，意粉唔會太多cream或太淋。建議唔好叫philly steak standwich。over $100一個sandwich我會期望高質D。呢個真係有D失望。裡面係吉野家嘅肥牛，無咩味嘅cheese，夾豬仔包內。希望大廚研究下咩係真正嘅philly steak sandwich.…Read More

Ordered a beef kebab for takeaway today. Paid $70 but the beef was so overcooked and tough that I couldn’t even chew it. Ended up throwing out half of it because I literally couldn’t chew the beef. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Puzzled at all the good reviews. Maybe chicken is the safer option? But don’t get the beef, unless you want beef jerky in your kebab.…Read More

I was so disappointed when I bought 2 types of bread and one slice of Napoleon from here. Can’t believe they are calling themselves French. The bread was all super soft without any crunchy crust (totally HK style). The Nepolean was over $40 for a slice but it was all pastry and no custard. The custard was so minimal that it only served to glue the top and bottom pastries together. So dry. Service was also terrible. The two staff did not smile or look at customers and when asked questions they were dismissive and unhelpful. …Read More

Lovely go have one more healthy option in Central! Loved the large size salad cos I’m pretty big eater. Enough protein for someone who trains like me. Quality of ingredients is great and love that you can choose all the salads mixed together on the menu. Service was friendly and they understood exactly when i asked for less carbs. …Read More

No surprises re food because what you see in the reviews is what you get. But I do wish the staff could be a bit more pleasant and friendly, especially for a place that's promoting healthy eating and animal welfare. I would have expected someone who actually enjoyed and believe in what she was doing instead of just trying to do the absolute minimum and telling customers off in a cold tone.…Read More

Our company got catering from Grove for lunch time training sessions. I got a chicken panini. It was hardly grilled, but was completely soggy, which was strange, because it should only have been wet if it was warm in the first place. To my horror and disgust, I found completely RAW and PINK bits of chicken in the middle of the panini!!! I was so appalled that I immediately threw out the whole thing and swore I'd never touch anything from Grove again. I was lucky I noticed, otherwise I might have been sick from it!…Read More

I was honestly disappointed after all that publicity Lupa received. Other than the wine we got, I really can't say I was too pleased with any of the dishes. I wasn't full after the meal but I didn't even want to order anything extra from the menu. I was THAT disappointed. The ambience was fine and the service was good, but that's the least you could expect from a place like this.Walnut & pecorino salad - Mediocre. The pecorino was good but that's about it.Cured cod - Way too much olive we could hardly taste the cod.Crab pasta - This was the best dish we had. The portion wasn't too small, pasta was chewy and sauce was nicely infused with sweet crab flavours.Pork shoulder - Meat was dry and tough. This dish tasted very similar to the 鎮江骨 you get in Chinese restaurants. There were no sides, except a few slices of cucumber and chilli. So we were expecting the meat to be really spectacular, that melt-in-your-mouth-goodness you get with pork cooked in this way. But let's say that my grandma could do a better job with her pork stews.…Read More

I work in the same building so have bought lunch from or eaten here many times. I can't fault them on the food but they could really improve their service and management.For a restaurant that's so remarkly tiny, they really are quite horrible at managing the traffic and customers' orders. The tables are tiny and cramped and they try to fit four people on a table that's only big enough for 2. So if all four people on the same table order the set lunch, you will find yourself eating half the meal off your lap. It's really simple: if you don't have enough space or staff, do not have so many seats for dining-in!At the counter, I asked for no butter on my bread. When it was ready for me to take away, I asked AGAIN whether it was without butter. Staff said yes. But of course, it had butter on it when I opened it at the office! And this wasn't even the first time, they've done the same thing before. God forbid anyone with an allergy eat their food without checking! I guess next time I will really have to inspect it on the spot before taking it away!Not to mention you have to queue for about 10 minutes to place your order with just 2 people in front of you, because for some incomprehensible reason, they have to serve all the people who are waiting to pay their dine-in bills first, despite the fact that people in our queue had been waiting there first and for a long time.I understand that places get busy at lunch time, but the worst thing about this place is the attitude of the staff. The manager always speaks with this condescending and commanding tone, as if she just doesn't really want to deal with you. A couple of the other staff also speak in a very dismissive and disinterested tone. If they don't have the capacity to deal with or manage so many customers, they really ought to reconsider doing this business.…Read More

Definitely the best double shot macchiato I've ever had in HK. Strong and aromatic with a healthy layer of crema at the top. Still can't forget the after taste that stayed for a long while afterwards. Only thing was I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for my takeaway coffee even though they only had about 5 tiny tables there.…Read More

Let me just preface this by saying that I have never been a huge fan of molecular gastronomy. I believe that first and foremost a good chef should make sure the food actually tastes good before he does all sorts of crazy things to it. If he can't get the taste right, it doesn't really matter how creative he is.We had the Tasting Menu (and we were glad we did because I don't think I would have been happy to pay anything more for above-average food), and ended up having to get a snack at 7-11 afterwards as the portions were quite tiny.I will only mention the couple of dishes that I think are worth mentioning.1. Foie Gras "Choy" - Lightly seared foie gras wrapped with lettuce and topped with bok choy marinated with vinegar and "mui choy" foam. The foie gras was really nicely seared so that it was still extremely creamy inside and it was a pleasant surprise to learn that "mui choy" works so well with foie gras. But give me a classic vinegrette sauce with that creamy foie gras and to me it would have tasted just as good.2. Molecular xiao long bao - To be honest, maybe I was expecting too much from the raving reviews about this signature dish, I found that it was a bit of an anti-climax. I was really amazed by that vinegar ginger which gave off such an intense pang of flavours. But that xiao long bao yolk simply cannot replace the texture and fragrance of a traditional xiao long bao done well.3. "Pea Shoot" - Pea sprout cappucino with deep fried (九肚魚) and pine nuts. This was actually our favourite, as the pea sprout flavour was very subtle and the fish was very creamy as it was fried perfectly. I think this really shows I prefer traditional Chinese cuisine, as the fish was done pretty much just like how it's normally fried in Chinese restaurants. I guess I wouldn't really come back, because it's really more of a novelty thing. The food didn't leave me wanting more (actually it did only because the portions were so small), which is really want restaurants should try to achieve right?…Read More

We went for lunch today. When we got there still had to wait 15 minutes WITH a booking. What was worse was that another group got a table before us even though we had arrived first.For a place which holds itself out to have good Hainanese Chicken Rice, it was less the mediocre. In fact, the chicken was so tasteless that I wouldn't have known what I was eating if I was blindfolded. The sauce was definitely not homemade (ok maybe it was just terribly homemade) and the rice didn't have any chicken taste.Service (or the lack thereof) was absolutely horrendous. We ordered everything including drinks in one go, but received one drink out of five. Throughout our meal we chased up on the drinks at least 4 or 5 times but they never came. It took them 45 MINUTES to get us the drinks and 15 MINUTES to get the bill even though we were among the only few tables left (all the other customers had already left because our drinks took so ridiculously long).…Read More

I have been wanting to try Sabatini for a long time and I have to say that after today's lunch, I will still be wanting to come back!The bread basket was rather delicious; I must say I almost single-handedly finished the entire basket! From what I have read in the other reviews, the grissini isn't highly rated, but having never tried the Grissini ones, I found these crispy on the outside and quite soft on the inside. There was a good selection of the usual antipasti but you can only do one round, although the waiter told us that this rule could be bent. ;) My favourite things amongst the antipasti were the funghi, eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes and smoked salmon, all of which were extremely fresh and appetising. I am not a huge fan of parma ham and did not find the parma ham especially impressive here. For the pasta, we picked the Strozzapreti with mozzarella and Risotto with prawns cooked in lemon juice. I had never tried strozzapreti before and the waiter explained that this was much like Udon in texture and size. Indeed, I almost thought I was eating Udon with tomato and mozzarella. I must say that I wasn't too fond of this dish, as the pasta was much too thick for my liking and the tomato sauce was slightly too watery to stand out. The risotto on the other hand was perfect. The prawns were fresh and almost crunchy and each grain of rice was bouncy and chewy and the flavour of the lemon juice made the dish seem lighter.We only ordered one main between the two of us - the lamb chops with potato gratin. The lamb chops were extremely tender and grilled to perfection, and the potato gratin on the side melted in my mouth.The highlight of the meal was really the dessert. If you want the St Honore, which I highly recommend, you must keep an eye on how much is left on the dessert cart, as once it runs out, it will not be refilled. Every time the cart was stopped in front of a table, my heart skipped a beat for fear of missing out on the famous St Honore! When I saw that there were only 2 slices left, I immediately asked the waiter to reserve a slice for us, which turned out to be a smart move because indeed it was never refilled. It lived up to its name. The pastry was fresh and crispy, but the best thing was the layer of crunchy brulee in the middle. The tiramisu I have tried before and the mascapone is consistently silkily smooth at just the right level of sweetness. The Napoleon with its smooth vanilla custard and fresh berries was a favourite of mine, but I'm afraid it's now been replaced by the St Honore! :)Over all I was quite pleased with the food and the easy and friendly environment allows for casual conversation. The service was attentive and unpretentious. We actually saw Sabatini in person today, who supposedly only comes to Hong Kong once a year, and he was bringing dishes out from the kitchen and refilling the antipasti with his own two hands, not to mention teaching Italian to a table of ladies! How's that for friendly service!And did I say this wonderful lunch only cost us $320 each after a 15% discount with HSBC Visa Platinum?? If this isn't good value for money, I don't know what is!…Read More