Tupalina的个人专页

Decided on the smallest restaurant amongst 3 similarly well-reviewed Portuguese restaurants in the area and we were not disappointed. Everything we ordered turned out to be delicious:Ham croquette balls - one could actually taste the ham and not just a mouthful of mashed potato. Kale soup with chorizo - unassuming but simply yummy.Grilled sardines - came with slices of bread to soak up the oil and grilled peppers. It was so nicely done with a crispy skin and moist flesh that even the skeptic was converted.Roast pork - my favourite dish. The pork was really tender and flavourful. Unlike many places serving similar dishes, the skin was crunchy but not teeth-breaking hard. Just this dish alone was worth returning.Seafood rice - a generous pot of rice with lots of seafood embedded inside, in addition to the half lobster and mussels on top of the rice. It was a shame we were so stuffed and couldn’t finish the dish.The only let down was the desserts which were lacklustre compared with the other dishes. Also, we feel that the restaurant should offer ordinary water instead of charging for bottled water.Special mention to the waitstaff who was particularly attentive and cheerful. Her reminder that we initially over-ordered was also much appreciated.…查看更多

Delighted to find that Ramen Cubism opened a branch in TST, we decided to try it out before the crowd found it. Ever since tasting the chicken soup ramen at Kagari Ramen in Tokyo, seeking out a comparable version in HK has become somewhat a personal holy grail. Zagin Soba is close, very close; another highly-recommended one in Jordan (forgot the name) turned out to be a little disappointing with its milky but not rich soup.And today, I found what I have been looking for in this newly opened branch. Both of us ordered the supreme cubism which was the signature chicken soup ramen in large size. First thing to do when the ramen arrives must always always be to taste the soup. I was blown away by the flavour and richness of the broth. It was very robust (and had a tinge of clams) but not thick and cloying. The thinly sliced pork had the right balance of fat and tender meat. The egg was nicely cooked as expected and the ramen chewy but not al dente. To round off the ramen were julienned leek, tender pieces of braised bamboo shoot and just the right amount of black pepper. It was delicious and supremely satisfying on a cold day.Nonetheless I do have two criticisms: first one being the soup could have been a little hotter, and the second thing was it was a bit salty for me, which prevented me from finishing every drop of soup.The other offerings on the menu looked interesting and I will certainly be back.…查看更多

Having had 2 great lunch experience with the ramen, I return to try the tsukemen which is only available at dinner time. The soup comes in a stone bowl presumably to help retain the heat. The soup is thick, almost the consistency of Campbell soup, but upon tasting, it is disappointingly bland and it is not hot enough which kind of defeats the purpose of using a stone bowl. And this is pretty much the end of a review of tsukemen: regardless of how al dente the noodles is (which it is) or how tender the slow-cooked chicken pieces are (which they are), the soup is the soul of the tsukemen. It lacks the richness and intensity necessary for tsukemen; by intensity I don’t mean saltiness though. I want my tsukemen soup to knock me back with rich flavour and burn my tongue because it is so hot. On both counts this one fails.Nonetheless, the ramen is good so this tiny eatery is worth trying.…查看更多

Nothing beats a bowl of piping hot ramen on a cool drizzly day and I was in for a real treat. The prawn broth was rich and flavourful without being too salty. Not sure what they did to the egg but it was really delicious. I didn’t know the ramen came with half an egg so I ordered an extra one which turned out to be a good mistake. The noodles were firm to the bite. The tempura ginger sprinkled on top was a lovely addition, wish there was more. There is no lack of ramen restaurants in Hong Kong amongst which are some famous names from Japan, but Ichigen is one that I will return.…查看更多

Uma Nota is a dependable restaurant for a good meal. But it’s not without its flaws. I like the staff: always friendly, always obliging. I like the food: flavourful (but not overly salty which is unfortunately quite often the case nowadays), fresh and interesting in a good way. What I don’t like is the noise level, I could barely hear my friend who was sitting next to me. I feel that knowledge of sign language would be handy in this place. Oh well, it’s a popular restaurant where people generally have a good time, so that’s what comes with it.Despite the noise, I will be back :)…查看更多

Experience should have warned me that “Chinese” restaurants targeting non-Chinese rarely delight. I did not heed my inner voice and paid the price. What was life-changing: the stir-fried Brussel sprouts. I used to hate Brussel sprouts; I now think they are not so bad.What totally flopped: everything else. - The few slivers of corn beef were ok, but nothing to shout about. - Prawn toast was a disaster. I could not taste any prawns, or shrimps or anything that remotely tasted of seafood. There was some pasty “thing” on the toast that I scrapped off and friend said THAT. WAS. THE. PRAWN. I don’t know which is worse: not having prawns on the prawn toast or that paste being the prawn...- Iberico pork char siu was sub-par. It was tender but it was also almost $200. And the sauce was very salty.- Dan Dan noodles did not look nor taste like Dan Dan noodles, and it was sooooo salty we had to send it back.I have no problem with Chinese fusion dishes or the lack of authenticity; before we can discuss fusion or authenticity, the food has to at least taste good, otherwise what’s the point?Madam Ching is a nicely kitted out place filled with hip-looking customers and a team of good waitstaff. What fails is the core of a restaurant- the food. …查看更多

On weekdays, my idea of luxury is to be able to sneak out in the middle of a busy day to have some "me time", to catch up on reading, to recharge, or simply to wind down over a nice cup of coffee.Armed with a good Kindle and an empty stomach, I checked out this 18 Grams On Kwong Wah Street, thinking that I wouldn't be too disappointed. As expected, the cappuccino was sweet and (mildly) bitter, flavourful on the nose and on the tongue, with a good substantial layer of milk foam on top. The real star of the visit however was the smashed avocado sandwich. Ok, I love avocado and poached egg, so any dish with these two items is bound to please me, but this offering was above and beyond the call of duty: the obligatory side salad was fresh and nicely dressed, the hollandaise sauce was eggy and delicious, and I love the dried fruits that topped the sandwich. The one criticism I have is that the avocado could have been fresher as it wasn't as green as it should be. Nonetheless, it was a tasty and satisfying dish.With physical and mental hunger satiated, I could move on.…查看更多

咪試過唔敢買太多，亦冇太大期望。不過好好味！糯米又軟又香，芒果夠厚、夠甜，每人一塊其實唔係太夠... 😬 同上環一間差不多。個人覺得可以改進的是糯米可以稍稍厚些。下次買榴槤俾 Mommy。不過太近屋企，好可能會經常買，所以有啲大鑊。。。…查看更多

After trying nitrogen ice-cream in Australia, I was super excited to find more of these nitrogen ice-cream outfits locally. My ice-cream craving has worsen having tasted ice-cream that is smoother than a baby's bottom. On this fateful afternoon, we boarded a bus that happened to stop right outside a rather empty Ice Pop, we were destined to try it.... And were let down...I had the Bloody apple crumble ice-cream; friends had pumpkin and the bubble tea ice-cream. None of us were impressed.My bloody apple crumble ice-cream was basically a rather bland vanilla ice-cream with bits of diced apple and crumble sprinkled on top. The gory blood was the red syrup that came  in a syringe. I have no idea whether it was strawberry blood or raspberry blood because it was just sweet. I did have a lot of fun trying to capture blood dripping out of the syringe on camera.The bubble tea ice-cream was an unimaginative red tea ice-cream with a spoonful of tapioca beads on top - literal and underwhelming. The only plus point was that neither my vanilla ice-cream (I think it was) nor the red tea ice-cream was too sweet. That cannot be said of the pumpkin counterpart. My friend didn't even finish it as it was too sweet for him. A bit of a personal rant: I believe that food must be tasty first and foremost. Gimmick and fancy preparation are fine but they are means to an end; if they don't add to the eating experience, they are meaningless. Such was the case here, at least on this occasion.If you hold high bar for ice-cream and have been seduced by the likes of Berthillon, Simmo's and Nitrogenie of the world, save your money and time for somewhere else. If mediocre ice-cream does not bother you, by all means try it.…查看更多

人有時就是貪新忘舊。明明已經有多家可靠的壽司店在銅鑼灣可光顧，但每有新壽司店開張，都總要去試試。一出電梯，就聞到一陣“新鮮”的油漆味，果然是新餐廳。幸好在餐廳內不覺這陣味道。老實說，除非是特別吸引或特別難看，我並不會太留意食肆的裝修細節，反而會注重整體的氣氛和感覺。鮨森的氣氛不錯，舒服、和諧。當日被安排坐在壽司吧對面的卡位，很舒適。三個老友不約而同選了北海道魚生飯套餐。套餐包含前菜（忙着八掛，忘了是甚麽，但好像沒吃完）、蒸蛋（一般貨色）、主角、烏冬或麵豉湯、雪糕或咖啡。魚生飯還不錯，份量和質素都好，唯獨是飯和三文魚籽太鹹。吃過飯後，大家都有點飽，所以都取湯捨麵；湯也不錯，用魚熬，有鮮味。由於只開張了幾天，餐單還是彩色影印本，但見午餐選擇不少，下次可以試其他的。…查看更多

歐遊個多星期，在回港的機上已經在想念牛腩粉、魚蛋河、雲吞、水餃和叉燒飯。昨天和老友吃過牛腩魚蛋河，今天決定向雲吞、水餃進發。路經新開張的正斗，正好符合我的要求。但見裏面的豪裝，心裏有點擔心，平民食品遇上豪裝，一般來說食物水準都大打折扣。要了一碗雲吞水餃麵。小小的一碗麵，有3粒雲吞，每粒像珍寶珠般大，兩粒水餃。麵很硬（注意：是硬，不是彈牙），雲吞和水餃非常普通，不是差，但也不正斗。湯沒甚麽鮮味，但不是味精湯。普普通通，不過不失。但埋單＄76大元，有點過份吧。…查看更多

Dining at Fa Zu Jie is always an adventure no matter how many time you have been. It starts with finding the place which is tucked away in an unnamed building in an obscure (dodgy more like) little lane in the middle of LKF. On my first trip I totally missed the opening to the lane. As I turned around and still couldn't see the lane, Platform 9 3/4 came to mind... Even now, I still love looking at the faces of first-timers as the door opens, I know, childish The restaurant looks and feels like a friend's dining room with it's compact size, terrace and open kitchen. One side of the room is filled with empty wine bottles, a testament to many a merry time spent there. Corkage is free by the way. The whole place can accommodate 2 dozens or so spread out on different tables. Back to the food. This is the third time I've been to Fa Zu Jie and just as the previous 2 visits, the food was true to its name: French cooking with Shanghainese cuisine ingredients. Creative but never at the expense of taste. The first course of watermelon with lemongrass and glassy noodles had a refreshing balance of sweetness and tartness. It certainly woke up my taste buds and as Chinese say, stimulated my appetite. Having said that, it was not everyone's cup of tea.The next course was the "drunken dish" and this time was drunken abalone on udon. The wine flavour was not overpowering but definitely robust enough to mark it as a drunken dish. Fragrance from wine aside, the abalone and udon were very tasty, the kind of dish that you would down every single bit of morsel and drop of soup.The following dish of yellow croaker (黃花魚) had the 2 thumbs up from everyone. Delicate, succulent, contrasting with the sharpness and saltiness of pickled veg. If licking the plate clean was an option...As we were devouring the yellow croaker, we could already smell the scallops being cooked in the kitchen. Tantalising. The scallop was cooked just right, sweet and plump. Lovely with the 馬蘭頭 (a kind of quintessential Shanghainese vegetable) and mashed potatoes.By this time, we were a little full. The fact that we still managed to polish off the Iberico pork on Shanghainese rice with vegetable tells you how good it was. The pork was tender and juicy, and the vegetable rice was made with rice from Niigata in Japan which made it extra special. Dessert is always, in my opinion, the weakest link here. Big fat strawberries with cream and osmanthus meringue. It wasn't bad at all but certainly lacked the "wow" factor in the other dishes.Once again, FZJ did not disappoint and just as before, service was prompt and friendly, making it another wonderful experience. Special mention to Chris, one of the partners, who is always patient and obliging in dealing with all sorts of dietary restrictions that I throw at him.…查看更多

It's one of life's mysteries why I haven't come to know The Helenia Home Bistro earlier. There is no review (so far) on it on Openrice, it's not that new apparently, and the food is fantastic.Having parents that demand high standards means I don't usually take them to restaurants unless I've test-driven them before, and even then... But I'm glad I took the plunge in choosing HHB, a restaurant specialising in sous vide cooking. I first came across sous vide cooking while I was researching on how to make onsen eggs and had been intrigued ever since, so glad I got to try it and boy, was it good!Helenia Home Bistro is indeed a homely and cosy sort of restaurant, with an open kitchen tucked away in a small street in Tai Hang. White-washed decor, wooden louvre blinds, flickering candle light in a cute little oil lamp on each table. Since the dishes had been pre-ordered 2 days ago, we could go straight into the drinking and the bread. Frankly, the bread wasn't that great, a bit too crunchy, but the spread was tasty: one was garlicky butter, strong but not pungent, the other was a basil butter which was lovely.First course was salad. A nice portion of fresh crunchy salad leaves in a simple but delicious olive oil and vinegar dressing. I have never tasted salad so fresh in any restaurants in Hong Kong, seriously. The balsamic vinegar was the real McCoy: sweet, glossy, rich. Absolutely delicious.Next came a real gem: smoked bacon pesto linguine. The dish came covered; once the cover was whisked away, a cloud of fragrant oaky smoke escaped to tantalise. The linguine was nothing short of "Wow!". I think it was one of the best pasta dishes I had ever had. I fear any attempt to articulate how it tasted would do serious injustice to the dish, so let me just leave it at "it was pasta heroin". Owner and chef, Jonathan, later explained that the pasta was cooked in a broth that had been simmered for 8 hours. More please.....Main course: Ribeye steak, rack of lamb and salmon. The meat was cooked sous vide but slightly char-grilled before serving. As expected, the steak and the lamb were tender, succulent and full of flavour (and rare - yay!!). The salmon was just cooked with a delicate scent of dill. All three dishes were very good but paled in comparison against the pasta past. The side dish was disappointingly the same for all three dishes: mashed potatoes, steamed veg and cherry tomatoes, but I must add that the tomatoes were dressed in a garlicky oil and very yummy.Dessert was a mango Napoleon of sorts. Instead of puff pastry, a more crusty biscuit was used. Not bad but not spectacular either. The low point of the entire meal was the tea and coffee. Sort that out and I really can't find much to complain.Service was attentive and friendly, albeit a bit slow once the place filled up; afterall, there was just the lovely Helen tending every table.Definitely would visit again!…查看更多

I'm not a fan of Fiat, nor do I understand what cafe has to do with cars or vice versa. But since the reviews all seem positive, I thought there was no harm in giving it a try, especially when the comment of "good coffee" caught my eye.So here I am this sunny afternoon, walking into a car showroom for my lunch.The cafe was half empty at 12.30 but quickly filled up in the next 10 minutes or so. We had a 4-person table which was frankly a little challenging even for us 4 petite signoras. Hence, it was surprising to see a lot of male customers, I guess the car theme is just irresistable.After a quick scan of the menu, I decided to opt for the set lunch. At $95, one gets soup or salad, a choice of pasta dish, tea/coffee. Dessert is $30 extra.My smoked duck and arugula salad was good: fresh veg, right amount of dressing, decent amount of leaves and meat. The slightly spicy fusilli with chorizo was tasty. The pasta was al dente, and it even had freshly grated parmesan on top. But but but why such a small portion? Decidedly un-Italian in that respect. I glanced around and wondered once again how men could put up with the portions. My friend ordered a panini from the a la carte menu and the surface of that panini was no bigger than 2 iPhones. If "diet queen" said it was small, then IT WAS SMALL... So the "small is beautiful" philosophy applies to the entire menu it seems.I had no choice but to order the daily dessert which turned out to be a dry and (yes) tiny piece of chocolate cake, it was no bigger than 2"x3"x1". As for the coffee, my espresso was ok, but friend's iced latte was yummy.The quality of the food is really not bad here, but come on, inflight meal portion is just bordering on ridiculous. …查看更多

Luk Yu Tea House, a legend in the local restaurant scene, the stuff of many urban legends. At a friend's invitation, I set foot in this venerable institution - now, how many restaurants can call itself that?It was as if time stood still here, or have I stepped into one of the movie sets? Chinese antique wooden panelling with faintly art deco influence. The clock on the wall, the stained glass decorations, the lamps... all covetable... kekekeeke...But we were here for the food. Friend did all the ordering so I just ateig's lung with almond soup (杏汁燉白肺湯): a milky white soup with a lovely almond flavour; one could actually taste the ground almonds. Soft airy pieces of lung. This soup is said to benefit health, improve complexion etc, so nobody hesitated in asking for 2nd helping. But taste alone would tempt a 2nd or 3rd helping. Sweet and sour pork: This is supposed to be a dish that sets apart the real chefs from wannabes as it's remarkably hard to do well. I guess the chef here is competent. It was tasty, not too pungently sour and not too cloyingly sweet. Would have preferred less fat in the pork.Chicken stuffed with glutinous rice (脆皮糯米雞): Impressive dish with an entire chicken deboned and stuffed with glutinous rice. So every mouthful was pure meat and rice plus crispy skin. Yummy and filling.Steamed buns with lard (奶皮豬油包): I wish I could come up with a more elegant translation for the name of this dish but this rather unappetising one is all I could think of. Imagine char siu bao without the char siu but with a topping of chopped pork fat, candied winter melon and Chinese ham. It was interesting and I could almost love it if only the buns were firmer and less crumbly. I was told by my friend that minimum order was 24 pieces. Not sure how reliable this hearsay is, so do check before pre-ordering.With a name that referenced the Tang poet Luk Yu, who wrote the equivalent of tea encyclopaedia, one would have expected the tea to be of a higher quality. The pu er that night was strong and dark but lacking in fragrance and taste.As for the rumour of lousy and discriminatory service, we experienced none of that. The waiters were wanting in smiles, but the service was prompt, helpful and attentive.…查看更多