老點點心竹筒飯 - A local Chinese dim sum place with extraordinary creativity

I was casually looking for a lunch place in MK and this dim sum resto caught my attention.  老點點心竹筒飯 has a funny name as "老點" in HK layman slang means "misguiding", the owner must be either very confident or very humorous to have named the restaurant this way :P

I did get to try some creative dim sums at 老點, no misguidance if you follow their recommendations haha! The food was okay not bad but you should expect more fun than delicious if you plan to eat in there~

Here are some dim sums I tried -

炸蝦小漢堡- the deep fried shrimp mini burgers are interesting with wasabi mayonnaise, the buns are pretty good too

海蝦肉餅竹筒飯- It tastes just like any other 盅飯...but it has red rice mixed in which adds a 'plus' to a 'B'

黑松露上素水晶球- could barely taste the truffle, not bad but just didn't meet with expectation

脆皮麥心小煎堆(麥提莎煎堆)- to be honest it's quite impressive to have the whole piece of Maltesers enclosed in a nicely done 煎堆, tho the taste of Maltesers doesn't go too well with its crust. It would be lovely if it's with custard stuffing :)

鮮上肉響鈴腸- forgive me I am a fan of 響鈴 so I'd say it's undoubtedly better than 炸兩~

老點點心竹筒飯
Address: Shop A, G/F, Lisa House, 12-14A Yim Po Fong Street, Mongkok
Tel: 2398 9992

Fiat Caffe - By an Italian car brand truly deserves to be liked

The Fiat brand philosophy is to produce cars with attractive styling and exciting engines, cars that are accessible and improve the quality of everyday life...blah blah blah...but Fiat seems to be one of the few car brands that walks the talk, and bothers to extend its brand experience to even non-drivers, ingeniously, by running a restaurant, Fiat Caffe, in its showroom.

What's more intriguing is that, Fiat might have foreseen "showrooming" as a new fashion in consumer behavior since years back, and decided to make the brand name and their cars "sticky" to people who visit them in the showroom. Putting a chic-looking Fiat 500 by GUCCI in the middle of the restaurant is a cool enough idea for diners to take a good look while enjoying a meal or drinking coffee next to it. (reminds me of attending the Geneva Auto Show some years ago...good old times)

There is a sales office in the back of the restaurant. If you appreciate up-selling with a touch of Italian humor, here I recommend you take the "Most Expensive Coffee in the World" - coming with an Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari (HK$799,888).

I wasn't exactly craving for a car so it's a regular cappuccino I had with illy espresso in it :P

The food was classic Italian and tasty, here are some I recommend:

Ricotta and Fig Salad - The subtle sweetness of figs compote and honey complement well the light fresh arugula and ricotta cheese. Interesting texture mix of creamy fluffy ricotta with crispy salad leaves.

Baked Potato Skins - Baked half potatoes with the core part removed and stuffed with minced beef, topped with cheese. Crispy and substantial~ it makes perfect food for HH :D

Wild Mushroon Truffle with Trofie - Thick mushroom cream sauce with overflowing mushroom aroma... I can't tell if the sauce was too thick with heavy cream or the truffle fragrance was too strong, the sauce was a bit heavy for the palate, but it's very tasty overall. Trofies were lovely and chewy too ;)

Very decent quality food and ingredients (esp. the salad, really fresh for all components). Two of us paid about $200 each for those above including coffee, nice price for this quality!


Fiat Caffe
Address: Shop G5-G6, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2808 4777

Herbivores - Not only for veggie but also for tasty food lovers

Herbivores topped my mind when choosing a place to farewell my vegetarian colleague, and I hope it succeed in leaving her a tasty memory.

The tablewares were nice-looking, all designed and branded with the restaurant's name. The food was homey and delicious :))) We ordered set lunches that came with a soup/ salad, a main course with 3 choices, a dessert of the day and coffee/ tea, at $128+10%.

Pumpkin Carbonara was phenomenal~the sauce was so pumpkinly and slightly sweet, I couldn't tell if the sweetness was from the pumpkin or seasoning, fragrant mushrooms in it gave the dish a wonderful touch.

The Four Cheeses Pizza had a thin crispy crust. The pizza was cut in a way I was able to roll up short burritos of tasty tomato paste and generous amount of cheeses with arugula :) 

The dessert was yogurt pudding with mango sauce. The sourness was quite a nice finish for the meal.

The restaurant could seat 18-20 ppl, it is probably a cozy venue to throw a decent vegetarian party!

Herbivores

Address: G/F, 35 Staunton Street, SOHO

Tel: 2613 2909

Bricklane - The Egg Benedict Place

After an exciting night watching the Cheung Chau Bun Scrambling Competition, you shall be waking up at brunch time and it's just perfect time to see this post :) Bricklane is an eatery with reminiscence of its namesake in London East End. Located in a relatively quiet corner of Tsim Sha Tsui, it's a nice place to sit back and chit chat for an afternoon if you go for a late-brunch (at least after 2:30pm), so you could have better chance to avoid being kicked out after your meal.

They serve a phenomenal egg benedict with Parma ham (yes! they do have this unique offer), with a perfectly poached egg with flowy yolk and delicious buttery Hollandaise. I especially like its 'English muffin' which seems to be a piece of burger bun instead toasted with savory butter. It is not as chewy as English muffin but still lets the sauce and ham hang on it perfectly well. One precaution is that you can't let the bun soak in the sauce for too long or it'd become soggy pretty soon. So yummy I'll go back only for this!

They have a supersize beef burger in the menu, with a patty of 10oz beef. It looked good but too heavy for me so I ordered fish and chips. The presentation was fun with chips building a jenga tower and a piece of crispy fish fillet laying on top. However, both the fish and chips were a bit too oily...it disappointed me when I was only craving for french fries at that time.

Out of curiosity I also ordered a red velvet cake for the sake of comparing with the one I made. I think my cupcakes could also be priced at $65...on the menu it recommends to order some time in advance for the cream cheese filling to soften at room temperature. I asked to verify, and the server said no need coz. he could take it out from the fridge in the restaurant across the street (?!) Anyway, the cake was a bit too hard, but the taste was fine, just like the red velvet cakes I had in Southern US. It would really be better if the cake was allowed to soften for maybe half an hour, guess the servers was only trying to be helpful though.

Overall it was a pleasant and relaxing afternoon sitting by the windows of Bricklane. Its location and egg benedict were major contributing factors to this :)

Bricklane [Menu]
G/F, 2 Blenheim Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui
2736 8893

Coffee Alley - A Sought-After Taiwanese Coffee Shop Is In Hong Kong

Coffee culture has grown enormous in Taiwan in recent years, visiting a cafe for an ice drip coffee has become part of the itinerary. What would happen if a popular Taiwanese cafe opens in HK? The answer is a two-hour wait in order to get in for its delish menu and be served by its good-looking, friendly and mandarin speaking waiters.

Coffee Alley (咖啡弄),  a sought-after chain coffee shop in Taipei, has just brought a replica to Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It has all the traits of a good Taiwanese cafe, which would incorporate international food and localize to suit the local taste, pay great attention to details and give an effort to impress customers.

A group size of 4-5 is perfect if you want to taste the most out of Coffee Alley's overwhelming menu. These are what comprised a delightful lunch for 5 girls today:

Baguette with curry beef - A fun 'East meets West' dish, the curry was more peppery than the usual Indian curry, quite appetizing

 

Club sandwich - A fulfilling dish with a nice egg salad and Doritos chips on the side, the marinated chicken in the sandwich was sweet and smoky, which turned up to be a nice surprise

 

Pizza with roast chicken - It's not exactly a pizza but a thin crispy baguette with tasty toppings, it's better named a toast for a more accurate expectation though

 

Waffles with black sesame ice-cream, chestnut paste and sunflower seeds - These phenomenal waffles popped out fresh with beautiful dark brown and light brown colors on both sides, the whipped cream was firm and rich, while the scoop of lightly sweet chestnut paste and sunflower seeds helped add more texture to the waffles. The ideas of black sesame ice-cream and black sesame sauce were nice too, though the sauce could be more intense in sesame flavor, very satisfying overall!

 

Strawberry mille feuilles - it's such an eye-candy already, the crunchy buttery puff pastry, heavenly custard and fresh strawberries with the right ripeness came altogether in harmony, fantastic!

 

Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream - It's good but not for those expecting an avalanche of chocolate sensation, 'cause this brownie has more walnut and black currants than chocolate cake. The good thing is the refreshing berries actually lighten up this massive looking dessert, so you could still manage it after a big meal, quite clever ;)

Other not to be missed are the variety of hand drip coffees from around the world and some unique and devilish ice coffees and lattes (I enjoyed my sea salt caramel latte with hazelnuts and almonds scattered around the whipped cream on the side, very thoughtful). 

It's also perfectly fine if you are not a coffee person because the fresh fruit teas are also to die for. The iced fresh fruit tea with passion fruit seeds, lime, orange, apple..and Lipton breakfast tea is a genius creation, the colorful mocktail comes in a carafe to pour over to a slice of frozen lemon embedded in an ice cube in a glass.

The menu portions are big, I guess it's because Coffee Alley insists to put so much details in each plate to wow its guests with sky-high expectations. Great job! The long wait surely worth it! (Recommended not to go during weekends)

Coffee Alley
Address: Room B1-B3, 1/F, Dragon Rise, 9-11 Pennington Street, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2493 3033

Shugetsu - Ramen full of love

Shugetsu's homemade ramen noodles are full of love, from ingredients to the perfectly served tsukemen, from production to service, you could feel Shugetsu's pride and insistence in bringing out the best of its ramen. Servers are highly attentive and informative, really impressive to have such service in HK, even during the regular business lunch hour :)

Shugetsu
Address: G/F, 5 Gough Street, Central
Tel: 2850 6009
URL: www.shugetsu.com.hk

Life Cafe - An urban getaway

Feeling stressed out towards the middle of the week? A lunch getaway to Life Cafe may cheer you up. Mushroom pizza and patio seating right by Soho's escalator are suggested, in order to get the most 'life' out of this experience ;)

Life Cafe Restaurant and Bar
Address: G/F-2/F, 10 Shelley Street, SoHo, Central
Tel: 2810 9777
Website: http://www.lifecafe.com.hk/

Zen in Central - Mana! Fast Slow Food

Vegetarian food is an upward trend with more and more veggie restaurants and bistros opening in town. "Lifestyle" is becoming its adjective in recent years, and a broad spectrum of vegetarian food styles is now available to satisfy different taste buds. Veggie pastas, skewers, pizzas, wraps, burgers, even "fish balls", Chinese, Western, whatever food you feel like, you could almost find a veggie version for it.

MANA! Fast Slow Food, located in the middle of the busiest part in Central, lower Soho, doesn't only add a style to the old building housing it, also  provides a famous flat bread with a delicious (seriously delicious!) Zaatar spread (What is Zaatar?), and gives whoever coming in a relaxing yet meaningful veggie experience. Why? cause MANA! promotes veggie, vegan, organic food, Eco-friendliness and community. "Eat like it matters" is its motto, from the time you buy your flat wrap, you are encouraged to lead a healthy and eco-friendly life.

MANA! is pioneering the food waste reduction movement. Very respectable is its waste separation bins - which collect plastic utensils, paper wastes, food compost etc. They do the good of helping customers reduce carbon footprint eating-in, and in my opinion, a generous act to raise the awareness of waste reduction by setting up 5 or 6 bins inside the small restaurant space.

"You go to the back of any restaurant in Hong Kong, and all their rubbish goes in the same bins – glass bottles, food waste, paper etc… It can make me very sad to see this happening, deeply saddened. It took us a long while & great effort to set up a system. There is no government system in place yet" - says Bobsy, the founder of MANA!

I agree with you Bobsy! So I don't have any reservation recommending you to go there, experience it and get inspired :)

MANA! Fast Slow Food - [Menu] - 92 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong  2851 1611
  
This is Bobsy-->

Check out his blog posts about humanity, spiritual values, ecology...etc.

K-roll - It all started with a 6-year old's lunch box

Apart from my fave K-fast food "Hungry Korean" (Ashley Road, TST), and the delicate-but-won't-break-the-bank choice "ChumChumMi" (Miramar Mall,TST), "K-Roll" in Sheung Wan is a new place to satisfy my K-food craving~ from kimbap, ramen to bibimbap, it has a bit of everything basic, and simple. And it all started with a 6-year old's lunch box in 2011...read their lovely story here

K-Roll
Address: Shop 6A, G/F, Sen Fat Building, 6 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan
Tel: 2234 5505

Shake 'em buns - Wakes your inner child

Shake'em buns' highlight is not only its variety of freshly made burgers (10 burger choices with creative names), but also it's thick french fries and creamy milkshakes - it wakes my inner child eating these stuff >w< tho even better if the meat patty is more seasoned, in my opinion

Shake'em Buns
Address: UG/F, 76 Wellington Street, Central
Tel: 2810 5533
Website: http://www.shakembuns.com/

Islamic halal food in Xinjiang/Chinese style- this famous halal beef dumpling(清真牛肉餅) is prepared in batches fresh off the frying pan, it would keep you drooling long enough before taking a juicy bite :) yum!

Islam Food
Address: 1 Lung Kong Road, Kowloon City
Tel: 2382 2822

Lin Heung Tea House - Rocking Lotus Bun in Hong Kong

Yum Cha during lunch hour sounds like a group thing - but not at Lin Heung Tea House, where you don't look odd at all sitting along with strangers at the same table, eating lotus seed bun and drinking tea in traditional cup, all alone :p

Lin Heung Tea House
Address: 160-164 Wellington Street, Central
Tel: 2544 4556