Sunday, March 31, 2013

Semi Buffet Brunch

Eggs Benedict made my weekend brunch very special and I do love it.  In Hong Kong it's not easy to find quality genuine western food at reasonable price.  Recently I have had a very nice egg benedict from the Town Gas restaurant in Causeway Bay.

Town Gas is the sole supplier of cooking gas in Hong Kong.  It promotes real fire cooking, offers cooking classes and at he same time running a restaurant which emphasis 'cooking on real fire'.  Hence the name of the restaurant is called 'Flame'.

I went on Sunday when they serve semi buffet brunch.  The cost varies upon your choice of main course.  Salad bar and dessert on buffet table; soup, main course and coffee being brought to you by waiters.

Eggs Benedict - HK$128 (US$16.4)
 
My eggs benedict was very nice.  My friend's king prawn linguine was also very good.
 
Prawns Linguine HK$148 (US$18.9)

We had an option of upgrading the daily soup to lobster bisque by adding HK$20.  This was highly recommended by the shop manager, so we decided to give it a try.  It was good but personally I thought the taste was a bit too strong for me. 

Lobster Bisque (HK$20 surcharge)
The bread basket was also nice.  The crunchy fingers and warm breads served with homemade butter.
There were many cold dishes and we love green vegetables the most.  There were several salad dressings and I found the Balsamico to be the best, while my friend said their classic caesar dressing was really good.

Jet-Fresh Mesciun Mix Green & Fresh Romaine Lettuce
As for dessert, there were tiny cups of jelly, creme brulee, puffs and cakes.  Of course the creme brulee is always my favourite.

Creme Brulee
 
Having a cup of latte to wrap up our Sunday brunch was absolutely perfect.

Latte, cappuccino or any other kind of beverage at your choice.
 
Flame
G/F, 59-65 Paterson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2367 2710

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Japanese Hot Pot in Hong Kong


If you love Japanese hot pot, this place is highly recommended.  I found it on an internet search and notice it has a lot of great reviews.  So we decided to give it a try.  They are specialised in hot pot and skewing.  It was expensive but the food was really good.  I was told that they were the pioneer in introducing one-person-one-pot into Hong Kong.  We were able to choose our own soup base and do the cooking and eating at our own pace. 

They mainly sell two dinner sets - seafood and A5 Wagyu (80 gram/150 gram), rest on a la carte.  Both included starter, vegetables, clam or miso soup, udon or noodle of your choice, soup base of your choice and dessert.  My friend is a seafood fan and I’m a beef fan, so both of us had our favourite foods. 
 
My 80-gram A5 Wagyu

The A5 Waygu are flown in from Kyushu, Japan everyday. It was lucky I ordered 80 gram, otherwise I should not be able to finish the 150 gram along with the vegetables and noodles.  80 gram is approximately 4 sheets of little blankets 10x20mm and 2-3mm thick.  It’s really silky smooth and worth the price.  My friend’s seafood was also brilliant, tiger prawns, giant scallop and oysters.  She’s oyster allergic, so they swap with scallops for her. 
 
My Friend's Seafoods
Vegetables gave us a balance of diet.  The whole meal was actually quite healthy.  But we had no choice, everybody were given the same basket of vegetables.  Anyway they were the vegetables that I love.

The 20-seat restaurant is small but comfortable.  The whole restaurant was tailored for hot pot.  Everyone sit around a rectangular table surrounding the service area.  This makes service easy, but communications difficult if you have a group of more than two people.  Luckily we had four pairs of people in the restaurant, all were not loud people.  So we had a peaceful and lovely dinner, though pricy.

Katte Shabu Shabu 勝手
G/F, 5 Caroline Hill Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel:  852-2577-2628
Booking recommended
Travel instruction:  MTR Causeway Bay Exit ‘F’.  Walk through Yan Ping Road along Caroline Centre, cross Leighton Road and walk into Caroline Hill Road.  About 5 minute walk from MTR exit. 
 
Seafood Set:
HK$480 (app. US$61.5)
 
A5 Wagyu Set:
HK$350 (app. US$44.9) - 80 gram
HK$600 (app. US$76.9) - 150 gram
 
10% service charge
 
Hong Kong Food Blog - Japanese Hot Pot

Thursday, March 14, 2013

My 15-Minute Meal - Thai Yellow Curry Risotto

My 15-Minute Meal
Thai Yellow Curry Risotto - Vegetarian Style

If you love risotto but find it too time consuming to cook, you should love my 15-minute recipe here. It's simple, cheap, quick to cook, and most important of all very delicious.  You just need to enjoy cutting a bit.

Ingredients
  1. Some grinded garlic
  2. One onion
  3. Two medium size chicken leg mushroom
  4. One or two eggplants, depend on size
  5. 100 gm Thai yellow curry paste
  6. 250 ml coconut milk, thick or thin (I personally use thick milk as I can adjust consistency by adding water.)
  7. Two bowls of plain rice

Thai Yellow Curry Risotto - Vegetarian Style
I don't know the proper name of this kind of mushroom.  We call it 雞肶菇 (chicken leg mushroom) in Cantonese.  I like its chewy kind of feeling.  Eggplant is a good companion of curry.  All the ingredients are cheap and easily available. 

Cooking Steps
  1. Cook two bowls of plain rice.
  2. Cut the onion, mushrooms and eggplants into small cubes.
  3. Add some olive oil to a hot pan and brown the garlic and onion.
  4. Add curry paste and stir until aromatic.
  5. Add the diced mushrooms and eggplants and keep stiring.
  6. Add coconut milk, keep stiring until boil.  Add water to adjust consistency as you wish.
  7. Turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Now your rice should be about cooked.
  9. Add rice to the curry mixture and stir well for two minutes.
  10. Dish up.

Serve for two.  Cooking time 15 minutes

When I watch Jamie Oliver's 15-minute Meal, I notice one thing - he seldom or never wash anything.  He only counts the cooking time.  In that sense, mine is also a 15-minute meal.  However if we count preparation time such as wasing, cutting, getting pans ready, it's fair to add 15 minutes.  Well, cook a meal in 30 minutes is not bad at all! Isn't it?

I encourage home cooking, as it is far more healthy and economic than eating out.  Lack of cooking idea?  Check out the cook books I recommend in this blog.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Anna's 15-minute Meal