CrookedTongue's Profile

A taste of Vietnam in a bowl. The restaurant is at the corner of the building on Wong Chuk St (黃竹街）. It is a small place with 2-3 tables with ample seating space. Simple menu featuring soup rice (flat) noodles, dried mixed rice (skinny) noodles & rice. Menu is clear with pictures clearly state what the dish looks like on the wall. The flavours here were simply spot on. Not to strong, nor overpowering-as to some other places where they make their broth overly sweet. Meats & noodle portions are generous. 2 sets (noodle+drink) were ordered. Averaging 60HKD per person. …Read More

Sheung Kee's dinner Dai Pai Dong spot has been emptied for a while and we recently found out that in it's place has now - 祥發點心 "Fat Kee Dim Sum". 祥發點心 opens daily Mon to Sun from 630am to 4pm for breakfast and afternoon tea.  Dai Pai Dong setting.We are not tea connoisseurs but tea served here tasted like proper tea.  We have been to places where tea was more of coloured hot water. Very pleased with their tea here. They have a menu of about 30 items and all items are being prepared (steamed or fried) upon ordering.  Today, the two of us went and we ordered: Shrimp Dumplings Har Gow, Spring Rolls Chun Juan, Cha Siu Rice Noodle Roll Cheong Fun and a plate of steamed veggies.Har Gow was huge and the dumpling skin is thin. Not fishy and very tasty.Chun Juan was not greesy and crunchy. I enjoyed the mushroom filling thou thought the skin was a tad thick. Cha Siu Cheong Fun was amazing.  Cheong Fun was thin and translucent and it is packed with finely chopped Cha Siu.Steamed veggies. Huge plate, steamed just right and you can tell the veggies were very fresh and they put effort in the presentation as well.I am very excited for being the first one reporting this new and quality restaurant to OpenRice. It was not the first time that we patroned here. Only for breakfast thou. I would imagine lunch will be a different experience as Happy Valley has many school kids and construction site workers all trying to lunch in the window from 12noon to 1pm. We made a point that every time we come, we would order something different and till now, we have not been disappointed. Pork & Shrimp Siu Mai Dumplings are scrumptious and a must have.…Read More

This Dai Pai Dong used to be located at Bowrington Road Market.  They have apparently moved for 1.5 years.  Their new venue is amongst other similar style restos and is not hard to find at all. Ambiance: Simple decor with large photos of food and their menu as their wall paper.  Simple and direct, perfect for a dai pai dong setting.  The place is clean, well lite and because it isn't at the market complex anymore, the place isn't noisy and that made our experience very enjoyable than when we were to dine at their old venue (before).The menu: same extensive menue with seasonal specials and this time around winter choices like lamp stew pot etc.  The four of us finally decided on:fried calamari, goldern (egg yolked) shrimps (黃金中蝦), steamed scallops with garlic and vermicili (蒜蓉蒸扇貝), fried garlic with baby Pak Choy, the house pork drum sticks (避風塘豬展骨), a tofu fish soup, some rice and cold beers.  Each dish was made fresh and came out steaming hot.  All of the dishes were tasty, flavourful and well prepared.  Yum, yum.The owner and staff were lovely and attentive - rare to find in HK. Highly recommend this place to those whom wanted to entertain guest to try out the local flair or a bunch of family or friends, hanging out for a good night.  We are coming back again!…Read More

The two of us went there at 2:20pm and even after lunch hour, the place was busy. We waited for about 20 mins as we needed to wait for other guests to finish their meal before they give their seats to us.  We stood on the side while waiting for the next available seating and of course, as we wait, we were ripping into our crunchy baguette and dipping it into the rich Hot Chocolate. The tip here is to order the Hot Chocolate in a to-go cup so that that you can lid it back to avoid spillage while waiting.Their Hot Chocolate is like molten lava. Thick, creamy, need I say more.Their Baguette is sourdough based.  It is crisp crusted (fresh) with light, soft, tasty inside.After we were seated, we ordered another Lait and demolished the whole 2 feet long baguette.Generally, the place is always packed. Tough biscuits in getting seating pronto but the Hot Chocolate and Baguette at Passion are really to die for, and worth the wait.I am also a huge fan of their Butter Croissants.  But that, will be for another day.…Read More

The resto is always packed and there are always people waiting or gathering outside the resto. Having heard that they do family / home style cantonese cuisine, we went one night and was lucky to get a table.Review on the menu: The menu was put together to incorporate both traditional comfort cantonese dishes and a few interesting dishes.  Dishes were steeply priced at minimum a hundred a dish.  Having taken this to account, we didn't order crazy as we do not want to break our wallets just having a simple meal. Between the 4 of us, we ordered 4 dishes and a bowl of soup for each of us.  The dishes were: 孖寶（芋卷x藕餅), 金銀蛋蔬菜, 蒜香粉絲蝦煲, 豉味蜜豆炒雙蚌, 例湯 & 白飯. Review on service: Maybe other tables were regulars, we felt we were given minimal attention and our service offered was slow and impersonal.All the dishes were satisfactory and did it's job as a hearty dinner, however, the overall experience of dinning there was just ok.  We hurried off home after the meal.  …Read More

With hot pot, you would like a bigger group so that you can try as many items as possible.  We were 10 of us that night with first tryers and old troupers.  Perhaps people weren't back from their CNY holidays, the place was not packed.  Good for us for we were sitting right in the middle of the resto and enjoyed a little of the side harbour view and a quiter hot pot environment.  We ordered a seafood platter where the fish (skeleton) and shrimp were still moving and freaked the gwailows out.  We have tried a few of their specials (beef and salmon) and they were fresh and of good quality. Dumplings were not the packaged ones and very juicy.  Shrimp pasted musshy were tops. Chili snails (花螺) were way way too spicy and we weren't able to taste anything else.  The 椒鹽九肚魚 were not available that day.We have tried 4 kinds of soup bases - two halves for each pot and all of them were rich and tasty.  The beers were cold and they have a few choices to choose from. Water melon juice (yum) and hot tea are avalible for non drinkers.  The deco is clean & neat and staff offered adequate serivce.  Each satisfied tummy paid 300 for an evening of fun.  Will definitely go there again.…Read More

We walked in at 830am on a weekday. It was still early and we got to choose a table by the window - over looking Gloucester road and the harbour. A very different ambiance to when we were here on the weekends. There were definately a lot less people and being able to have a table with natural lighting adds so much more to the dinning experince.We went straight to ordering upon being seated. Like many other dim sum places, Sino Plaza U-Banquet offers breakfast specials at a reduced pricing for morning dim sum.  And there is quite a large selection and choices to choose from as well. Our order consisted of 5 dim sum items.  Fried taro thingy 蜂巢芋角, custard buns 流沙奶皇包, siu mai 燒賣, ha gao 蝦餃 and cha siu rice noodle sheets 叉燒腸粉. All food items were steaming hot when served and all were flavourful, properly presented and well up to standard (有水準). Fried taro thingy (slightly crisped on the surface, very smooth and rich with miced pork stuffing inside) and siu mai (meaty/ hearty/ non fatty) would have to be my fav and I would totally order them again.  The bill rounded up to a little over $100.  Unbelievably reasonable for yummy quality dim sum in the heart of Causeway Bay.  Our bellies (and our wallets) were very happy.…Read More

It was a Sunday.  The 5 of us walked pass this place and we decided to give it a try.  It was around 8pm and there were plenty of free tables. This restaurant does only a la carte. Menu has both Chinese and English.We ordered a dual soup base. Better quality soup base with more soup ingredients were also avalible.  Tea, finger 'snacks' and the buffet assorted dipping sauce tray were extra.  As for food, we got a seafood plater, 2 kinds of beef (one thin cut and one in cubes), squid paste, assorted balls (not the factory produced bouncy ping pong ball ones), dual dumplings, hand made noodles, fried bean curd roll (响鈴), a few kinds of vegetables and a couple of cans of Cokes.Thin cut beef was yum but the cubes were a little tough. Squid paste and the assorted balls tasted very nice and last but not least, the seafood plater... definately exceeded out expection... the seafood were exceptionally fresh.  Some were still moving!  Service was ok. All in all, the food & experience were exceptional.…Read More

Not my first time here and will not be my last.  There are other choices on the beach but we went "We want some Thai"Love restaurants that you can walk off a sandy beach and into a place that won't mind you making a mess.We got a pot of Tom Yum Kung, Minced pork wrapped w lettuce, Pineapple fried rice, Pad Thai, Grilled garlic prawns, Morning glory, Mixed vegatable, Green curry chicken.I partically am very impressed with the Green curry chicken. Good qaulity curry - not the pasty gooey mixture - with decent pieces of chicken.Grilled garlic prawns are done well and the others are the standard stuff and are ok.I think the drinks are on the sweeter side so maybe before you order next time, ask them to tone down the sugar level.  Thais love their stuff sweet so I wonder if they were doing it the Thai way.There isn't a 10% service charge... that may have contributed to the relaxed service.  Yet, service can be improved but since it is a beach and the laid backness I guess is contagious.  …Read More

I've been here before but wow, coming here for breakfast gave me such a different perspective to the Café Gray experience. Of course the stunning views, the impeccable service, the carefully selected menu with fine ingredients, my perfect date and.... a QUIET environment - (sadly) a rare commodity at Café Gray. I have not been here for dinner.  Lunches (about $500 per person for a set lunch), teas (abouout $600 per two for the set tea) and happy hours (about $100 per cocktail) are normally rather busy and noisy which to me, not that enjoyable for a high end place such as Café Gray.  My boy decided to surprise me one morning, and he did.We came here for breakfast and I am highly recommending this to those whom wanted to step it up once in a while.  While enjoying the views and attentive service, we ordered a few things from the à la carte menu. A couple of fresh juices, Poached Eggs Benedict, Nutella filled brioche French toast and English back & American bacon with avocado on the side.The food was all around done well and satisfying. It was the usual, famous, popular Cafe Gray without the crowd. Food was pleasent on the tongue; the view was pleasent on the eyes; the ambience was as well pleasent on my ears!…Read More

It opened that very week and we were eager to try this new place every time we walked pass their renovation works which consisted of 3 floors. They have taken part of the old VolksWagen showroom.It was 815am that morning and we walked in for morning dim sum. No one really knew the place have opened and there were only a table taken.Small tables are of booth style, kind of like the Cha Chan Teng style, with a mini tv installed with every booth. All very grand looking with one simple flaw - the seating is quite narrow and it is not comfortable to sit in... Dim sum breakfast choices were not extensive, yet all that we have chosen were prepared with fresh ingredients and presented well. The two of us ordered Steamed shrimp dumplings (Ha Gao), Steamed rice flour roll w/ Cha Siu (Cha Siu Cheung Fun), Deep-fried garlic chives w/ crab meat and Turnip roll (a Law Pak thingy, but not a Law Pak Go). The classics Ha Gao and Cha Siu Cheung Fun were done very well. The other two fusion choices took a little longer to prepare but come hot and tasted delightful.They open 730am and they run their breakfast from 730-11am; then lunch from 11am-230pm with lots more variety to offer; then afternoon tea is from 230-4pm daily.I would surely visit this place as there are other items on the menu had caught my eye. But having said that, high end choices with high end price tags yet with Cha Chan Teng seating, I may not frequent this place as much as I would have.…Read More

After a few moments of glancing though the signages/ ad spaces at the lobby of the Circle Tower (永光中心), we decided on Sushi Mori. The photo ad was a simple photo of a piece of sushi. That photo, told us, a lot. That photo, of the piece of sushi, have a carefully selected piece of fish (can tell instantly the fish was of fine quality) on top of a good portion (not too much, not too little) of brown sushi rice.  Yes, we instantly knew that we were stepping up that night.We walked in and 2 tables were taken with one on each side of the resto. We decided to sit at the end of the sushi bar over watching the action.After carefully scanning through the menu, my partner and I decided to opt out their tasting set menu and went for a la carte. We went for the assorted sashimi, uni steamed egg, winter crab hot pot soup, miso soup and pork belly with spring onion/ ginger.It is always fun to watch experienced sushi chef at work.  The assorted sashimi platter arrived beautifully with 7 kinds of sea creatures in a pair serving. It was absolutely amazing. Wow. The platter was fresh, very fresh. I recommend staying away from dipping soy sause or wasabi as then you can taste and enjoy the fish.Uni was fresh and flavourful. I would thou like to have a bit more of the steamed egg as there were other ingredients within the egg (making the steamed egg part even less).  I felt that there just isn't enough egg to contrast and complement the uni.  Pork belly with spring onion/ ginger was well made.  Thou pork belly was chewy (coz of the marble of fat and a tad under cooked), it was very fresh and flavourful. The spring onion/ ginger complemented the belly very well.Crab hot pot - crab was fresh and soup was yummy. Miso - got left out and coz the rest were being taken care of, we sort of left the miso unattended and it got cold. Hot tea were served thoughout and service was attentive.Will definitely try their sushi next time.  Highly recommend Sushi Mori to those whom want good quality Japanese sashimi/ sushi.…Read More

We were a party of 4 and we got a table without any problem. It was a Sat and the place was not full. The Chop House has different seating arrangements to choose from and we decided we would like to be indoors with the high table/ high chairs for our starters and mains. We then moved to the terrace area for post dinner drinks and desserts. Nice high ceilings and spread out tables, nicely touched with appropriate decor and accents. Music was fun and with variety as well. We enjoyed that very much.We ordered 2 rounds of drinks before starting dinner. Cocktails were creative and yummy. The Chop House has a daily happy hour till 8pm for draft beer so some of us enjoyed a few pints.We had bangers and mash, a chicken and avocado burger, a sirloin steak and some sides - creamy spinach, steamed broccoli and sweet potato fries. We liked the bangers and mash and creamy spinach. The rest... was not worth mentioning.Service was there, but not there; lip servicing to the max with 80% delivery. Ambiance of the resto was fab but we felt the food and service could not match with it.  We all had fun at this gastro bar and would recommend the place for a hang out joint but not, for sure, recommending the dinning part. Hope they can impove this otherwise, not sure I will be coming back to try out the rest that's on the menu.  …Read More

It was a Sunday evening and 2 families were hungry wanted to find a walk in. We gave Saboten a try as we have 2 10 year olds whom love Japanese cuisine. All tables were full but we were told that the wait should not be long. Within 15 mins, a table left and we got our table. Our table of 4 adults + 2 childern ordered a Premium Pork Loin Set, Pork Loin and Egg in Clay Pot Set , Mixed Seafood + Pork tenderloin Set, crab croquettea and 2 salads to share.Each set comes with shredded cabbage, rice and miso soup. Where the rice and miso is refillable! There are a few kinds of dressing for you to choose to go with either the cabbage or your Tonkatsu. I think one is a mild sesame dressing, one is a grapefruit vinegar dressing. Those whom have been to Saboten will also know that they will let you grind your own sesame and make a DYI sause for your Tonkatsu. A lot of fun for the kids for sure.Our sets came simultaneously one after another. All mains were served freshly prepared and hot. One after another we demolished each dish and soon have our bellies full of mains and could not fit in any extra miso soup even we had originally wanted more.Saboten has pretty high ceilings and their seating arrangement is spacious and comfortable. Good for family and friends get together for a meal. Service is adequate and efficient. Pricing is also reasonable. We are very pleased with Saboten.…Read More

When every where has queues, The Sky Bar came to our attention where all we want is to have lunch, hang out on an early Saturday afternoon.The menu that day was a set menu of a salad buffet bar with soup and 4 or 5 choices for main course.  Our table of 3 each chose a main and we cruised through the salad bar.Soup was well heated and the soup of the day was tomato soup and not the creamed stuff - my fav.  There were a few different choices for salads, some of them swimming with mayo which those dishes don't cater to my palette much. Having said that, salad bars are always fun and it is always good to have a healthier option.Our mains were : lamp chops with mixed veggies , sirloin steak with mash and a pasta. We would grade the food being served as to that of a good Cha Chaan Teng with an upmarket ambiance. Lamp chops were flavoursome and up to standard (hard to screw up lamp chops). Side mixed veggies were nice. Sirloin steak was over done and rubbery.  We asked for 50% rare yet it came out medium well and this may surely have contributed to the rubberiness. Side mash was nice. Veggitarian pasta was poor.  Pasta may be low quality pasta and may be been sitting in the kitchen for a while.  The pasta dish came out marginally cold and tasteless.  This dish was a disappointment. Tea/ coffee and desserts are included in the meal.  Dessert is fun.  They come in mini servings and you get to choose 2 options from their selection per meal ordered.  Getting to choose is always fun.So, food was mediocre... yet they scored on the fact they have awesome, fun toys. For big kids like us whom just wanted to chill and hang.  This place is pretty cool.  There is a pool table. There are dart machines. There are tvs everywhere where they were playing music vdos at the time. So all in all, our bellies were full and it was a fantastic couple of hours spent with our loved ones on a Saturday afternoon.…Read More