el.bar's Profile

Delicious and cheap, this place is great when you're craving for some daa laang.You can order up to three types of marinated food - we had squid, pig ears and pig intestines. Their marinated goose was also good. I loved the pig ears that were done to chewy perfection.No daa laang meal would be complete without oyster so we had oyster pancakes and oyster congee.We also had a bowl of coagulated pork blood. It wasn't bad, but I'm also not a fan.Though the "big eye chicken" was tasty, it was a little too dry in my opinion.To balance all the meat, we also ordered some vegetables with fermented tofu. It was pretty good.…Read More

Although the exterior looks inviting enough and the food wasn’t exactly bad, there is no way I am ever coming back to this place; no way I am ever recommending this to anybody (except maybe to people I dislike).Why?Because this place is horribly exorbitant for totally unremarkable, run-of-the-mill noodles. $80 for a bowl of beef ball noodles (to their credit, there were five pieces instead of the usual three or four), fried fish skin and hot lemon tea.What a tourist-trap of a place in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui.…Read More

Nothing’s more comforting than hot, spicy noodles on a cold and windy evening, and Marsino’s build-your-own noodles option was the answer.I had fried bean curd, pork balls and Thai fish cakes for toppings; hot and sour as the soup base; and rice noodles. The rice noodles weren’t ho fun (don’t know what type they were – round, slightly thin, bouncy) so they didn’t sop up the soup and never got soggy.I was pleasantly surprised when the whole thing turned out amazingly. It was the perfect bowl of comfort noodles on a cold, windy night. So delish!…Read More

I love no-English-menu food adventures and this restaurant is one of the better ones.They have food pictures on their menu and the waiter who assisted us spoke English and was very helpful in getting us what we want. We had crispy fried squid, Yang Chow fried rice, oyster omelette (which was pretty good, by the way), but the highlight of the evening was the soy chicken.It's probably the best soy chicken I've ever had. Really. Exquisitely juicy, tender and flavorsome; well-worth going out of your way to Shau Kei Wan just to have it.…Read More

There's no English menu at Mui Kee but that's okay because they have lots of pictures of food in their  menu and one can always just point at the food at the next table and say, "I want one of those, please."We only got to try two (well three if you also want to count the veggie) dishes because we were worried about ordering too much (note to self: drag along at least three other friends for an even quartet when eating at a dai pai dong). We had crispy pork knuckles, a plate of stir-fried veggie and yau cha guai stuffed with squid (I think it was). Maybe we should've ordered something less dry, less yeet hay.  They were pretty good though - not too salty, crisped to perfection, I-think-I-feel-a-heart-attack-coming yummy.Oh. And they serve beer in chilled beer bowls, too. Reasonably priced for the amount of serving, this place is a better option to Tung Po especially for those  who'd rather stay on the Kowloon side of the city.…Read More

If cheese is your thing, this place is for you.Make sure to bring someone who can read Chinese because they don't have an English menu. I was informed of this when I called to book a table but the nice gentleman who took in my call very hospitably volunteered to help out with picking things off the menu if none of us can read Chinese. Alas, he seems to have not been on duty when we went because we didn't exactly have an easy time finding a server who spoke English well enough to easily help us out. We mostly relied on other pictures available on OpenRice to order food.Anyway.We started off with the chicken-cheese hotpot which was delightfully enjoyable! But after a couple of chicken pieces, you start to feel satiated and finishing everything becomes a chore. Maybe we should've just ordered half a chicken (but the server looked at my big, burly companions and figured we should get the whole chicken).As with typical chicken hotpots, after consuming all the chicken, you get broth poured into your pot so you can start with the "regular" hot pot. If you're having the chicken-cheese hotpot, the hot pot broth they give you is an orangey-coloured, cheesy concoction that does not help with the nauseating feeling of eating too much rich food. It was good, but taken in excess (which I think was what happened to us), the rich cheesiness gets you sated a little too fast, too early on in the evening.I would probably never come back here but I would recommend it to people who want a little something different, a little twist to the usual chicken hot pot. And to cheese lovers. The cheese lovers would definitely like this place.…Read More

I came here on a Friday night and was surprised that the place was not packed/fully-booked being right smack in the middle of Causeway Bay. They have clean-looking interiors (which I have no pictures of), and friendly and accommodating staff that make you feel welcome as soon as you come in.Dinner sets come with a slice of handmade bread (which was delicious!), mixed salad with Yuzu dressing - this was good, but a little too sour for me; and soup - which they've run out of when I came in for dinner. So no soup for me.For mains, I had the kimchi pork with rice which was A-M-A-zing! The pork was tender, the kimchi flavourful but not so much to the point of overpowering everything else. The rice was well done and the mushrooms aromatic. It was very filling, too! They did not scrimp on the rice or pork.I was initially thinking of trying one of their cakes for dessert but by the time I was done with my kimchi pork, I was stuffed. Sorry, but it's not true what they say - sometimes, there really isn't any more room, even for dessert.Good food, good value for money. Well worth recommending to others.…Read More

One of the things I liked about Ichiran in Causeway Bay is the individual stalls which allows for some modicum of privacy for solo eaters. Alas, this isn't available in the Tsim Sha Tsui branch where they have a typical open-area seating arrangement instead.It's been a while since I last ate at Ichiran but I'm pretty sure the tonkatsu was not a little sliver of thin, mostly fat pork the last time I was there.It was mostly just noodles and broth. Admittedly, the broth was very tasty and if you don't mind the carbo-load, you could probably get another order of the noodles. The broth was that good.But I'm really disappointed in the teeny-tiny slice of pork.…Read More

Look for something that looks a little out of place in Kwun Tong's long stretch of industrial buildings along Hoi Yuen Road. It's fairly easy to miss being squeezed between HSBC and the parking entrance to the Yip Fat Factory Building but it's the only one with a normal looking entrance. The café is on the 5th floor.Well-lit with friendly servers, I was seated immediately and given a bilingual menu (yey, English!)I ordered the daily soup and the Bulgogi cheese burger.The soup came in a bowl that's about twice as big as I usually get:The soup alone would've made some people full already.Then came the big Bulgogi cheese burger with sides of fries, salad and kimchi:The beef patty was almost an inch thick and cooked medi-um (hey OpenRice, I'm being flagged for spelling a word that contains d-i-u) well (which was perfect for me); the fries were crispy and the side salad refreshing.I wanted to order dessert (their lava cake looked so good!) but by the time I finished my burger, I was satiated and couldn't eat any more. So I guess this means I'll have to come back if only to try their lava cake and their craft coffees.…Read More

I thought there'd be a big dinner crowd at The Diner so my friend and I went very early one Saturday evening to sample the oh-so-talked-about Skirt Burger.It was practically empty when we got there at around 6.30 pm.We got a booth and made our orders - Skirt Burgers, Buttermilk Fried Chicken and a couple of hard ciders.The place had a stereotypical American diner vibe with checkered floor tiles, booths and round bar stools, fake mini-jukebox accessories and a license plate wall art. They have a good selection of burgers and other non-burger food such as sandwiches, sliders, soup and salads, as well as sides and fries (they have three kinds of fries). Their milkshake list was also pretty impressive - I don't think I've ever seen that many milkshake options in any other restaurant here before (they have both regular milkshakes and hard (read: alcoholic) milkshakes). And they earn extra points from me for having an awesome 90s alternative playlist when I visited.First came the Buttermilk Fried Chicken which smelled wonderful but tasted... bland. Sure, the chicken was tender, but the batter seemed slightly burned and had almost no taste. The apple slaw that came with the fried chicken was quite nice though. Its sweet, sour, tangy taste was a good partner to the tasteless fried chicken.Then came our Skirts. I was very excited to try this as I've heard nothing but good things about it. The extra large grilled cheese was dripping in oil but was actually pretty good when eaten while still hot. It becomes tough and chewy and a little gross after it's cooled down (when the grease starts solidifying). The burger itself was a bit challenging to wolf down because of the excess cheese all around that's keeping me from being able to bite into the burger but I somehow managed to get a bite and it was... disappointing. Not that it was bad, mind you. It just wasn't as good as I was expecting. Again, I've heard nothing but good things about the The Diner so I was expecting an exceptionally good burger but what I got was a just-okay burger. I loved the fries, though. Thin, slightly salty and very crispy, I absolutely loved it. (I see a trend here - I'm loving the sides, but not the main order. Too bad.)Is it worth visiting? Yes, at least to try the Skirt (or maybe some other burger. Or maybe even their milkshakes). But is it worth going back to is another thing altogether.…Read More

27 Turkish Kebab is a teeny tiny little place along Ashley Road so it might not be easy to get a table if there's more than four of you. I don't know if they accept reservations (probably not, with a place this tiny), but it wouldn't hurt to try. I usually get my doner fix from Istanbul Express but a friend took me to this joint over the weekend and I loved it!It was tough trying to choose between ordering a roll or plated rice meal, but eventually the craving for (slightly) oily but oh so fragrant and flavorsome pilaf rice prevailed. We ordered a plate of mixed doner (chicken and beef) and a plate of lamb kofte.Although this place doesn't serve alcohol, they do allow you to buy and bring bottles of your own drink from the corner 7-11 (or wherever else you might prefer to buy your alcohol from). So after ordering our rice meals, I scooted over to 7-11 to get a couple of drinks.As a side plug, Desperados beer is finally available in Hong Kong. This is tequila flavoured beer; and hands down, the freshest, most refreshing bottled beer I've ever had.A few minutes after I got back from 7-11, our rice plates arrived. The scent alone was delightful. Savory, smokey without being pungent.Thinly sliced, crispy-crunchy on one side, soft and tender on the other - the doner was perfect. The lamb kofte was tender yet cooked-through; and there was no gamey lamb after taste or lingering scent. Add in a little mint sauce mixed with chili garlic sauce and things can't get any better than this.Dinner was absolutely wonderful and I am definitely coming back for more.…Read More

The entrance to the building is in an easy-to-miss, dodgy looking alley along Dundas Street.Full Cup spans several floors of Hanwai Commercial Building with each floor catering to a specific theme/vibe. I went on a Monday night to the live music floor (3rd floor) and was able to get a table immediately.Contrary to other reviews I've read, Full Cup does have an English menu so do not fret, non-Chinese readers. You will have access to all they have on offer.I ordered the beef cubes in green curry set which includes a drink and an appetizer. The drink came not too long after I made my order but the salad took a while to arrive, and the beef curry soon after.I totally loved the salad. The combination of the different textures and flavours - smooth and creamy yoghurt; tangy, sweet and sour flavours from the assorted fruits and berries; chewy raisins; and crunchy, fiber-y muesli was amazing on the palate.The beef cubes were soft and tender, yet cooked through; and you can really feel the burn of the curry through your nose. Delicious!And for dessert, I ordered the New York cheesecake (which took a while to arrive as well). It was good, but not extraordinarily memorable.I liked the food, I loved the atmosphere. The staff assigned to my table was very nice and accomodating, too. But I think they could work on their food delivery timing better. I think the salad shouldn't have taken too long to prepare, yet it arrived just a little before I got my mains so I ended up eating slightly cold mains because I wanted to finish my salad before starting on my curry. But then again, in all my upstairs cafe experience, the time it takes for food and drinks to arrive is always too long. Or maybe I should've told the server that I want my salad first. Or maybe the waiting is supposed to be a part of the experience. Overall, Full Cup's a pretty good after work dinner or hang out place.…Read More

For want of foie gras, we decided to go to Bouchon because we figured, where better to eat foie gras than at a French restaurant, right?So up we went to Elgin Street on a sweltering Saturday evening. The place isn't very big and bookings are highly recommended. It should be noted that they have two seatings on weekends - the first one from 6pm to 830pm and the second one from 845pm onwards.We got a booth at the back corner, next to the semi-open kitchen with the fantastic garlic bulb hangings; and started the evening with a glass of their house Bordeaux and two appetizers.The assorted meat platter consisted of foie gras, bayonne ham, garlic sausages, saucisson, chorizo and rillette. Sadly, the foie gras, which was the reason why we picked Bouchon for dinner was totally unmemorable. However, the saucisson and chorizo were delicious! A little tough and chewy, salted to perfection, with just the right amount of fat that melts on your fingers as you nibble it away.They paired perfectly well with our other appetizer which was the assorted cheese platter. We had Camembert, Roquefort and one other cheese that I don't remember the name of.Then we ordered steaks for mains that came with a mountain of shoestring fries that tasted like Picnic (the pre-packed potato chips in a can). (I make this comparison as a compliment, by the way.)Although I asked for my steak to be medium well, it came to me well done; there was no slightly pink centre and it was almost carton-like in texture.In hindsight, maybe we should've skipped the steak and had frog legs and duck instead (which the table next to us had, and they looked exquisite!)We capped dinner off with an order of their dark chocolate mousse with assorted berries. This was, hands down, the best food I had that night.The place is a little pricey for the food quality, but the extra amount paid is probably for the service, which was outstanding.…Read More

My friends from work took me to this place for lunch on a rainy Tuesday and we got the last available table when we got there at about 10 minutes to one. We spent the next 10 minutes savoring the rich, thick scent of simmering meat inside the tiny restaurant and when the staff started serving at around 1pm, a queue of others hoping to catch lunch has formed outside.We ordered the song lam ho(牛爽腩). Song lam, apparently, is a choicier cut of brisket taken near the flank.As a staff comes over to bring me my bowl of noodles, I caught a whiff of it and boy, it smelled good! The soup base was rich and flavourful and every slurp felt like licking a cow. I'm kidding, of course. I have no idea what licking a cow tastes like.There were bits and pieces of tendon as well, which might've contributed to the sticky-rich texture of the soup. I didn't bother with the red vinegar and chili garlic since the soup was flavourful enough as it was.Although they have an English menu, the translation's a little off so you might want to bring Cantonese-speaking friends if you come by. And for the adventurous ones, they also serve bull penis in soup (with or without noodles).…Read More

Another "hidden gem" in Tsim Sha Tsui, Sun Kee is tucked in a tiny, back corridor on the lobby of Champagne Court. The general location seems seedy and the entrance is easy to miss what with a bigger and "louder" restaurant right next to it, but once you walk by and see the countless newspaper and magazine cut outs featuring the restaurant and the celebrities who patronize it plastered all over it's walls, you'll know you're in the right place.And no, it wasn't the celebrity endorsements that drew me - it was the recommendation of a friend that I try their cheesy pork noodles (after I told that friend how much I enjoyed Star Cafe's tomato-based beef noodles).The pork neck had that beautiful smokey, slightly-burnt-at-the-edges taste and the creamy cheese sauce was superb! (Though it was more creamy than cheesy - a little more cheesy taste and texture to it wouldn't hurt.) The noodles were... well, instant. (I don't think the cheesy pork neck would've gone well with any other type of noodles - unless you go western and use penne, maybe.)It wasn't a big serving but by the time I was halfway through, I was feeling satiated - probably due to the super creamy cheese sauce (plus the fact that instant noodles have always made me feel bloated), and also probably due to the glass of iced yuanyang I had with it - I should've ordered a drink that wasn't "creamy" at all to offset all the creamy goodness I was already getting from my bowl of noodles.Don't expect much in way of service though. And bring change. They apparently have signs all over the place saying they don't accept HK$1000 bills but they were all in Cantonese, which I couldn't read, and a HK$1000 was all I had. The cashier eventually took my money and gave me change, but not without a lot of frowning and grumbling first.…Read More