Joseph's (已結業)

My Little Weekend EscapeI know it sounds unbelievable, but HKU has been one of my "havens" during weekends. The student canteen sells really cheap food (you can have a breakfast at $11.5 while the same is sold at some $20 at a downtown MX; some visitors say the food here is better), and it's quiet enough for me to dive in books there. Besides, there is no lack of free, fast wi-fi.I have been told that there is "higher-end" food at the Graduate Hall, but we have never attempted to find out where it is. Recently, we attended an open seminar there, and we finally got to know the location. The next day, we went to the restaurant there without haste for a lunch.Good First Impression ...Joseph's is a "restaurant" not a "canteen", and it's more cozy. Tranquility is taken for granted; the seats are very comfortable. We checked in before noon (soon after we finished our breakfast at the student canteen!), so we could have the best seats available: the table for 2 at the corner (adjacent to big windows) with small sofas. An even better place to spend a few relaxed hours on a Saturday!The waitress handed us menus, and we smiled. Most 4-course sets (including soup, dessert and tea) are priced at $60-90, which is quite affordable even to undergraduates. And they offer a nice variety of cuisines from Western to SE Asean (Thai), Korean and Japanese. (Of course, whether they do them equally well is another matter.) Today we picked rib eye and sea bass.Behind a Nice AmbienceHere came the soup. When I looked at the Russian Broth I frowned a bit. It was too thin. In order to give the soup substance, it must be cooked long enough - even with the help of a blender - but what was in front of us was just like that sold at the canteen. I don't think they share a "central" kitchen, but such suspicion is just natural. The cream of mushroom soup was better - it gave me the required creaminess, thickness (not from corn starch!) and rich taste.All said, the beginning had been quite a flop - not very bad, but down the hill there are good restaurants at similar prices.Oops, a Mistake ...When the waiter presented the steak, we noticed that something was wrong - we asked for "all vegetable" but there was still mashed potato. The waiter apologized and replaced that. Still, the dish was disappointing. The rib eye was somewhat too thin and overcooked. It lacked tenderness and was even a bit chewy. The sauce did not help much. I paid $98 (there is no service charge; the quality of service is another matter) for the set, but I couldn't see the value if Memo's is also offering the same main dish during lunch at the same price (see my forthcoming review).Then the sea bass. There were many things on the plate - too many. They attempted to make the dish look more "classy" by putting some asparagus on the top, but that didn't match with the cauliflower and broccoli on the side. Worse, the rice was not totally "brown" as claimed on the menu; it was at best "mixed rice" and it appeared to come from the canteen. The tomato concasse was thin and not rich enough. The fish itself was, to be fair, quite well cooked; the problem was, I didn't know where to put it because the rest of the plate was occupied by the "brown" rice, and the moist from underneath was making the fish less and less crispy.The chef has to think through how their food can be done "one class above" if they are serious about keeping the business.... and Yet Another OneThere was a choice of fruit platter and cake for the dessert. We opted cake but the waiter missed that, again. We had to ask again for a replacement, and when I tasted the chocolate brownie, I wish I had kept the fruit platter - it was sooooo dry! Soon I understood why. When I returned from the toilet, I saw decks of chocolate brownie on plates in a small room - all cut and ready to serve. You can try it out - cut a cake and then put it in the air conditioned living room for an hour. A flop became a blunder!Joseph's was quiet on this day. At first I thought it was because it's a non-teaching day. When we left I knew there were other (very obvious) reasons. The graduate students (who are presumably smarter) have gone elsewhere to have their appetite satisfied. For me, I'd say the canteens are the places for me when I come again. 继续阅读

朋友介绍, 话呢间餐厅几好食. 于是衬个朋友生日, book 位试吓, 一行共4人.好在有book位, 原来中午呢间餐厅都好full.虽然行到一条气, 入到餐厅感觉好好, 装修同座位好舒服.点左牛扒,羊扒 同 凯撒三文鱼salad.... 牛扒跟南爪薯蓉同d sauce好正, 凯撒三文鱼salad 好新鲜好味, 但羊扒就好耐先黎, 味道唔错可惜熟过笼, 又唔热....唔知系咁放左好耐先拿出来...食物总括黎讲好好味, 朋友冇介绍错.好可惜d侍应就好差...... 冇一个有笑容, 讲野系佢自己先听到, 介绍餐汤同餐后甜品完全唔清唔楚..食食吓仲听到好多次打烂野声...真影响食野mood 最离谱系埋单时, 我想攞本埋单簿睇吓张单, 侍应可以同我对峙拉住本埋单簿唔放手...真要命....还有就系个女厕冇厕纸又唔清洁....其实 ...一间餐厅食物好食重要, 但service同厕所卫生都影响餐厅形象.... 继续阅读

今日好忙碌，又买书又上堂又lecture又温书… 所以揸车返来泊左系graduate house，顺便同honey上来lunch。今日Lunch time好似有人包场所以好嘈好似酒楼，我地先入房坐也觉劲嘈，服务生做到踢哂脚却仍好好礼貌，我地的lunch:餐包x2: ok, nothing special忌帘汤: ok, nothing specialGreen salad: excellent! Very fresh and I love its salad sauce! Sweet n sour!炭烧肉眼牛扒伴南爪薯蓉：肉眼牛扒好大件份量不错，煮得刚刚好合我的5成要求，好衬mushroom sauce，意外是它的南爪薯蓉！平时不食薯仔既我，劲钟意呢个南爪薯蓉！𠮶种又甜又”林”又cream既感觉… 唔停得口！！！厨师，点煮架？带子鲜虾炒天使面：不差，带子厚身又爽口，鲜虾一般，天使面身煮得几靓，但被肉眼牛扒风头盖过…甜品choco-cakex2: 麻麻地咯…冻coffeer & lemon tea: ok so so.Honey闪左去lecture，我又懒鬼唔去library，见lunch过后静番，于是系度直落tea兼玩ipad，my lovely tea:三文鱼蟹籽意粉：几乎冇蟹籽，意粉煮得一般，但好夹个忌帘汁，再衬三文鱼丝，几健康清新。冻柚子茶：好好味，好sweet！。。。熊仔返来喇! 佢口干干又想食下热气野，于是要左：炸鱼burger并薯角: 个炸鱼好厚肉又滑又脆，burger就一般啦，而薯角真系好正好鬼念mood! 仲有好味既Green salad!冻horlick: ok. 百忙中偷闲，与honey enjoyed 左一个饱满的下午，哈哈！ 继续阅读

想返港大行一下，又未曾试过这间餐厅，不过并非其他食评那么好，失望。暑假又是平日人不多，不过我们想转去较静的位置，部长说因为当天人多拒绝了。午餐选择不多，主要是西式或日式。我们选了烧靖鱼定食和墨西哥鸡溥饼。烧靖鱼大小还可以，但没有萝卜葺的汁，我问侍应取些少汁送饭，那鳗鱼汁很咸。糙米饭不好吃，只是够大碗。那所谓的溥饼其实只是两件卷，小得根本吃不饱人，附一小杯西瓜粒。餐饮点了咖啡和柚子蜜，咖啡难饮极了，怎会如此?早之到学生饭堂好过，不过当日月明楼的餐厅没有开。 继续阅读

1.12.08 (Mon)去开附近，之后返campus约人食饭，hku最high都系呢度架喇前一晚book 8:00pm，但其实唔驶book，因为夜晚都冇乜人黎，当晚全场只有两台人(book都系想同佢讲有人会黎，费时佢早收)两左两个ｓｅｔ　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ（$130+ 包汤、ｄｒｉｎｋ、ｃａｒｒｏｔ　ｃａｋｅ）同埋两个意粉- set: 烧春鸡 - 鸡几硬，ｗｉｎｅ　ｓａｕｃｅ，味道都可以，但薯条食得出系番炸！（唔系番炸一定仲好食）- set: 鱼 - 几好食，因为个ｓａｕｃｅ好食，特别既ｓａｌａｄ　ｓａｕｃｅ- 三文鱼白汁天使面 - 最好食，干干地但有sauce!- 海鲜龙虾意粉 - sauce比较咸，普普通通，龙虾只不过系虾- carrot cake - 略甜，而且carrot cake唔系我favourite，可以唔食，所以都系散叫好阿waiter service依然好好total $4xx，四人 继续阅读