Cafe Loisl - A Viennese Corner in Sheung Wan

When the sun comes out after all these damp and rainy days, what's better than spending an afternoon alfresco enjoying a cup of coffee and a piece of delicious cake? The experience would even be greater if the location is quiet without people buzzing around and stressing you to finish your coffee. Cafe Loisl is one of the kind, you only have to walk up a bit for it.

This artisan Vienna style coffee house is located on the stair landing up Po Hing Fong, Sheung Wan. People who have visited would describe it as an oasis, or a corner of Vienna in Hong Kong. Yes, these are all correct descriptions for Cafe Loisl. The place is furnished with a Viennese touch, from the chandelier, marble coffee tables, floor tiles, wall decors to tableware, all the details suggest the owner's passion to bring the Viennese coffee shop culture to Hong Kong.

 

For those who have been to Austria, or wish to go there, you'll be happy to find some of the very best of this beautiful country. Number one on my list is definitely the Sacher Torte, this devilish chocolate cake traditionally consists of two layers of dense chocolate sponge cake with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle, coated in dark chocolate icing on the top and sides, and served with whipped cream. The version at Cafe Loisl is more like a chocolate truffle cake, with alternate layers of chocolate sponge cake and rich ganache, coated with smooth chocolate icings. A Viennese coffee is a must to go with this sumptuous cake. Apfelstrudel, or apple strudel, is also a traditional Viennese dessert available in the menu. I didn't get to try it this time but it looked like a nice treat for people who loves the combination of apples cooked with cinnamon in puff pastry. 

The mille feuilles was a bit on the heavy side with custard.It would have been awesome if there were more layers of puff pastry (and must be fresh and crispy). The taste was great though, just too heavy.

 

Apart from desserts, classics like bratwurst, omelette and currywurst were also available. I was just a happy girl at Cafe Loisl having the food I miss from Europe :)

Cafe Loisl
G/F, 8A Tai On Terrace - Pound Lane, Sheung Wan
9179 0209

Yokozuna vs Shugetsu - A Japanese Ramen Battle

Yokozuna Ramen Restaurant in Yau Ma Tei is famous for its red cherry shrimp ramen, marinated soft-boiled eggs, and pan-fried pork belly. As it's even better-known for its constant long queue, I've been discouraged many times to try. Thanks to my friends, I finally got to get in after an hour and a half of waiting (by them) on a Friday night.

Shugetsu, the rival ramen shop in this battle, is located in Sheung Wan, which is an overseas branch of its original shop in Japan’s Ehime prefecture. As introduced in my previous post, Shugetsu - Ramen full of love, it is famous for its homemade thick soba, and the broth made of a  special savory soy sauce from Ehime.

Here is the battle, I am going to compare 3 signature dishes from both with a 5* rating scale (the more * the better of coz). Since I haven't decided to write this post during my visits to the two stores, some pictures are missing. Anyway, hope you could imagine by the words.

Round 1 - Ramen
Yokozuna Ramen (miso base): ** The soup was light and ordinary, none of the ingredient stood out. The soba was okay but not too impressive, a bit too soft though.

Shugetsu Ramen (intense soy broth): *** I liked the broth, though it was a bit too oily, the bamboo shoot and the spring onion were loud on top of the already strong taste of the soy sauce broth. Good? can't really say. Bad? not at all. The soba was ideally chewy without being too thick/thin.

Round 2 - Tsukemen (Dipping noodles) 
Yokozuna: *** The soul of this dish - the dipping broth lacked character, it tasted nice but seemed missing something. The clear broth adding to the dipping broth suggested a taste of water with unintended seaweed flavor. The highlight was the pan-fried pork belly though, which was well flavored and tender.

Shugetsu: **** The soup, its signature soy sauce based broth was too much on the oily side, but I appreciated the taste of the sauce and it's added with vinegar, marinated bamboo shoots and spring onion, which made the dip such a bomb. I still think its taste was too strong but it's yummy as a dip for the perfect thick soba. The downside was the pity amount of kurobuta pork belly soaked in the broth that made it even saltier. There's a lovely clear chicken broth to add to the dipping soup after you finish the soba, I'd suggest you take the chicken broth by itself, or add the dipping soup in the chicken broth instead of vice versa.

Round 3 - Marinated soft-boiled egg
Yokozuna: ***** Need to order separately. It's claimed to be germ-less and more importantly it tasted good! The yolk was in perfect equilibrium between the liquid and solid state, nice!
Shugetsu: ***** Comes with the ramen. The egg well absorbed the tasty soy sauce during the marination, delicious! The only thing was the slight over-cooking, pity

Personally, I prefer Shugetsu better. For those who pursue excitement and details in the taste, I think Shugetsu outdoes Yokozuna in this way. Though both are good ramen restaurants in Hong Kong for a reason and it would be great if restaurants and food vendors take an effort to listen to customers' opinions and advance or maintain high standards.

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

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

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