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

www.towngasavenue.com

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

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

Luxury Lunch at Amber

I seldom eat lunch, and seldom eat luxury lunch.  Last week, I had a treat from a client and had a luxury lunch at the 2 star Michelin restaurant - Amber at Landmark Oriental.  It's a high class famous French restaurant.  You may come across their signature dishes very easily over the internet.  Here are couple of them.

Duck Foie Gras

This little deep fried ball was one among the starter trio.  They had the manager explained what it was and told us to eat it in one bite.  It was hot inside, so we had to take extra care in that one bite.   The other starter was something like a mini spring roll (1 x 3cm) and we were told to eat by hand (licenced no table manner!)

The mushroom consumme was in fact what I liked most.  Unfortunately forgot to take a photo.  The mushroom fragrance was wonderful.

We had two choices of main course.  One was reindeer meat in ravioli, the other was fish.  I really wanted to try the reindeer meat as it is rarely available on any menu.  However to be on the safe side, I decided to go for fish.  The other guests having reindeer meat said it was very strong in taste, while my fish was relatively mild.  Served with lobster gravey, the combination and presentation was perfect. 

We had two choices of dessserts.  I don't like strawberries, so I opted for the chocolate mousse.  It was also very well done and nicely presented.  Crunchy chocolate sheets with vanilla ice cream.  The silky fine chocolate mousse was lying on the little flat bed below.  Very yummy!

 

Petits Fours is one of the Amber signature dishes.  Although I was so full but I simply couldn't resist as they were so delicious and beautiful.  After this super huge lunch, I had to fast through the next day's dinner. 

After all, we took office a box of Amber cookies as souviner.
I thought this lunch may go beyond HK$1,000 if we had to pay.

 

Amber

7/F Mandarin Oriental, Landmark, Hong Kong

852 - 2132 0066

 

Hong Kong Food Blog

Old Fashion Hong Kong Dim Sum

I have some dim sum dishes that remind me of my childhood.  That's why I call them Old Fashion Hong Kong Dim Sum.  These dishes have been existing for long and are ever lastingly loved by Hong Kong Cantonese.

Sticky Rice Chicken
Strange name!  Look at it, this historic dim sum had nothing to do with chicken in terms of shape, ingredients and taste.  In the olden days, restaurants made huge size Sticky Rice Chickens.  Nowadays people usually make small size ones.  It is hardly to find its original size.  I happen to find one recently.  There are many ingredients inside - egg yolk, dry shrimps, minced pork, mushroom, preserved sausage (lap cheung) wrapped inside sticky rice and a lotus leave.  Very delicious.

Sticky Rice Chicken 糯米雞

Pork Dumpling with Liver

This is an old Hong Kong food as well.  Somehow it seem to have disappeared on menus for a long time however re-appear recently in some restaurants.  May be liver is relatively cheap and it was only popular many years ago when the living standard was not that high.  Liver is high in cholesterol which made people feared.  In fact, liver is rich in vitamin B and is good for preventing mouth ulcer.

豬潤燒賣

Mottled Spinefoot Fish Congee

When I was a little girl, I was only able to eat this congee while outing to Cheung Chau.  Few to no restaurants like to serve this dish because it is very labour intensive. The fish itself is like 6 inches long and it needs a lot of manpower to extract the meat.  If you have bones inside the congee and hurt the customer, you are going to receive complaints.  The fish is very delicious though quite fishy.  Therefore we usually put millenium tangerine peels to balance the taste.  Of course we can add pepper to increase fragrance.

生滾泥鯭粥 HK$30

(weekend special price, original price $48) 

 

Mottled Spinefoot Fish 泥鯭魚

You can imagine how labour intensive it is to extract meat from the tiny mottled spinefoot fishes

Stir Fried Noodle with Soy Sauce
Old Hong Kong living standard was not high at all.  A perfect breakfast combo was a bowl of congee plus a dish of stir fried noodle.  A typical Hong Kong Cantonese style fried noodle is the Soy Sauce Noodle with Bean Sprout.  There is no meat in it, hence a lot of people grade it as low class cheap dish.  Well, it is delicious.  I don't care whether it is cheap or elegant.  In fact it used to be quite cheap, like a few dollars a dish at some fast food shops. 

Today I have fish congee and stir fried noodle together.  What a sweet memory!

豉油皇炒面 HK$48

(weekend special price, original price $68)

Mini Egg Tart
One of the old Hong Kong desserts.  Over the table we were discussing whether Hong Kong people invented this.  I didn't seem to have found this dessert elsewhere.  It used to be less than $1 per tart.  When I was a kid. I was so excited to have one of these as an afternoon treat.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Old Fashion Hong Kong Dim Sum

Outback Wanchai – Aussie Set Lunch

Outback Steak House - Aussie Set Lunch

At the red light district in Wanchai, there are lots of pubs and bars.  Although these shops are situated among normal residents’ homes, I have never heard of any conflicts.  In fact I live in this area. These pubs and bars provide quality set lunch at very reasonable prices.  Outback is one of the restaurants that I like most in this area.   

I wanted to go to Australia this Christmas however without success.  I have therefore decided to go for an Aussie meal.  Set lunch is far more economic than a la carte, however food is as equally good as dinner.  I haven’t come here for long after my changing of eating habit (eat dinner only).  Today I have a half day off, so I decided to do something different – eat lunch instead.  Here’s a summary.

 

Aussie Set Lunch

All set lunches at Outback Wanchai are served with bread, soup, salad and a glass of soft drink.  There are 9 set lunch options from $68 to $98, depending on the main course. 

 

Well, this black color wheat bun is their signature dish. Hot, soft and aroma together with house cream, I’m sure it won’t let anyone down. Salad is quite average but the veggies are fresh and it offers a good balance of diet. 

The porcini soup tastes very well, however extremely thick.I’m not if Aussies really love heavy consistency.

I used to come here for their hamburger which is really big and super delicious.  But today I have grilled fish of the day, served with risotto and vegetables.  The salmon is very crispy outside and juicy inside.  Unfortunately the skin is a bit over done.  For health reason, I’ve decided to omit the black skin.

After all the big meal made me completely full and satisfy.  I must say it is a very good value of money.  Western foods in Hong Kong are very often being cooked to compromise local taste.  I’m not sure if Outback is 100% authentic Aussie,  but I’m happy with them.

 

There is a bar area at the centre of the restaurant

You can find signs of Australia everywhere in the restaurant.

 

Grill Fish Set Lunch

HK$98 (US$12.6) + 10% service charge

Outback Steak House

1/F, De Fenwick, 8-12 Fenwick Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong.

Tel: 3101-0418

Outback has 8 restaurants in Hong Kong

Neighborhood bars and pubs serve set lunches from HK$58 to HK$98, plus 10% service charge.  Most of them display their menus at the entrance.  Feel free to walk around and pick your favourite foods.

 

Hong Kong Food Blog - Aussie Set Lunch 

Wedding Banquet 2012

I went to a wedding banquet last Thursday.  I liked the food, but didn't like the arrangement.

 

Typical Hong Kong Wedding Banquet Run Down

 

Hosts usually start to receiving guests at around 4pm.  Guests can play games, such as mahjong till 8pm.  Hosts and guests usually take photos before dinner.  Then after a short ceremony and video presentation about the couple's love story, dinner starts.  Here's how I don't like the arrangement.

 

MC announced that dinner will start at 8.15pm (while the invitation card says 8pm).  Well I would say a 15-minute delay is acceptable.  Guess what, dinner didn't serve till 9.30pm.  Guests all gathered around the tables, waiters were standing there waiting for nothing as they've done all they could, but there were no signal from the host that dinner could start.  Everyone getting very impatient and very hungry.  After dinner, the hosts were still busy taking photos and even forgot to go shake hands and say goodbye to the guests until the restaurant master reminded them.

 

Fortunately the food was not as bad as the arrangement.  I would say it was quite a good dinner.  Good food, fresh ingredient, well presented and served.

 

Good Chinese food has three elements:  look good, smell good and taste good.  Here are a few good examples.  For wedding banquets, all dishes are given very beautiful and meaningful names.  Please excuse me as I'm really unable to translate these names.

 

Stir Fried Spiral Shell and Broccoli

榆意珊瑚翠螺片

Very colorful and beautiful

South African Abalony with Cabbage and Goose Web

原隻非鮑扣鵝掌

My favourite!  Each one of us has an abalony.  The goose webs are very soft and delicious.

 

Mushrooms, Bean Sprout and Dry Scallop in Melon

金錢瑤柱襯玉環

A very healthy dish, mostly vegetable, looks good and tastes good

 

Shark Fin Soup with Crab Meat

紅燒鮮蟹肉生翅

I don't mean to offend shark fans, but this dish was exceptionally well done.  The crab meat in the soup was like the size of my little finger.  The shark fins are thick and chewy.  It's expensive.  I can realise that top grade ingredients are used.

It's time for a break.  In a Cantonese wedding banquet, the bride and groom as well as the host family members will walk around the floor and toast to each table.

 

After the toast, it's time for the fish and chicken to show off.

 

Oh my goodness, this garoupa is really giant, fresh and yummy.  Do you notice the little bowls and dishes around the fish.  That was for the waiter to serve us.  We were not allowed to grab the food oursleves.  Instead we had to wait for the waiter to share for us.  They replace a fresh serving plate for each guest for each dish.  Well, good services, but not environmental!

 

Steam Giant Garoupa

清蒸大海星班

 

Cantonese banquest always fill guests stomach to their limit.  After the heavy 8-course dinner, there were rice and noodle, dessert duo style and fruits.  Come on, we simply couldn't eat any more.  After all, everyone had to take the oranges home.

 

Hasma Dessert with Lotus Seeds

蓮子百合燉雪蛤

Few people will host their wedding banquet with this dessert, because hasma is expensive.  That's why I say the dinner arrangement was bad, but the food was really good. 

 

Wedding Menu

菜譜

Here's the menu.  In a typical Cantonese wedding banquet, food is usually served in this sequence.  Depending on the budget of the host, the choice of food may vary.  I must say this banquet may cost around HK$6,000 per table.

Roasted Piglet * Prawns of Duo Style * Mushroom and Scallop * Spiral Shell and Broccoli

Shark Fin with Crab Meat * Abalony and Goose Web * Giant Garoupa * Crispy Chicken

Seafood Fried Rice * Dumplings and Noodle * Hasma Dessert * Pudding Dessert * Fruits

 

Wedding date:  November 29, 2012

Restaurant: Chao Dynasty, 132 Nathan Road, Kowloon

Standard gift:  HK$500

In the Hong Kong Cantonese culture, we usually give cash coupon as gift when attending wedding banquets.  Of course this is the most welcomed gift.  I spend $500 for this dinner, but well worth it.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Wedding Banquet

Message to Shark Fans

Please DO NOT post comments about your shark protection / protest message.  I will NOT publish them.  If you want to protect sharks, here are my suggested methods:

1. Advertise in mass media
2. Everyday protests, demonstrations…in front of all shops selling shark fins
3. Everyday protests, demonstrations in public areas such as streets, parks to educate the public not to eat shark fin
4. Letter, fax, email, telephone or personal visits to restaurant owners to insist them to remove shark fin from their menu
5. Write to the government to request shark fin eating to be illegal
6. Hire fleet of ships to go out to the sea to stop any shark catching activities.

Leaving comments in my blog is a matter of wasting my time to read and delete.  It is in no sense contributive in saving sharks.