Monday, December 28, 2015

Purple potato mochi

Mochi flavours used to be just mango but now they have Durian and even purple potato.
Tried the Durian a while ago so this time tried the purple potato, which looks like Ube icecream mochi by a local dairy brand.
The purple potato mochi was really nice and not too sweet, the mash was thick and velvety but the purple potato was a bit dry.


Moo Mi Ci:
G/F, Tsui Yuen Mansion Phase 2, 
8 Kwong Wah Street Mong Kok.




Winter menu at AVA Restaurant Slash Bar

It was my first time at AVA hence I was mesmerized by the beautiful views of the harbour.
Went there for the winter menu which costs $628 per person or an extra $250 with wine pairing which I did not opt for.

Started with bread and the famous tricolour butter made by AVA.
There was pesto, garlic and tomato butter.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Quinoa with avocado mousse wrapped in eggplant mixed salad:

The salad was good especially the greens because the salt in it made it tasty.
As for the eggplant, they had a smokey charred taste and aroma.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Cream of morel mushrooms soup with fresh cream:
Wine: Casa Lapostolle Chardonnay 2011


The soup was good but I found it a bit too creamy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Risotto with shrimps & Saffron topped with caviar
Wine: Casa Mentelle Sauvignon blanc semillon

The risotto was nicely done because the grains of rice were al-dente covered in rich creamy sauce which was balanced by the saltiness of the caviar.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Slow cooked beef wagyu cheek
With herbs and white wine , mash, veg
Wine: Chateau gemeillan medoc cru bourgeois 2011

The beef cheek was a bit dry for my liking and not gelatinous.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Granny apple & rum raisin crumble with vanilla sauce
Wine: bottega prosecco DOC NV

For dessert, we finished with this apple crumble which was jazzed up by rum.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Monday, December 14, 2015

Molecular Gastronomy bar

Discovered this place because I was having dinner nearby and found out that they do Molecular Gastronomy, which seemed interesting because it looked like a small bar.

There are two sessions in the evening so I had to book in advance the earlier session.
When I arrived, there were no seats at all hence the reason they are called Three Dice Kitchen Standing Molecular.

The cost is $200 per head, which you pay before you go in.
I felt that it was a pretty good deal for a six-course dinner as other places are charging over $1000.

While I was waiting for other people to arrive, they will give you this bottle with a magnet and it was really fun using the magnet on the metallic liquid inside.






It was an entertaining and educational Molecular Gastronomy experience because they don’t hide anything and explain every step.

The six course comes with a drink so I had the sweet butterfly pea tea which is blue and turns purple when you add lemon to it.

The cutlery that they give you is different from your usual fork, knife and spoon.

Started with the fizzy peeled cherry tomatoes, that were soaked in fizzy vinegar.
I really liked them and found them extremely appetizing with bursts of fizzyness.

+++++++++++
Next we had the hami-melon molecular sphere on jamon Iberico.

+++++++++++
Then we had this sour cream nitro dome filled with salmon and potato drizzled with dill oil.
The nitro dome was made in front of us by putting sour cream on to a ladle and filling it with salmon and potato and sealing it with sour cream and immersing it into liquid nitrogen.


The white dome tasted a bit like savory frozen meringue icecream with delicious pieces of salmon and potato inside.


+++++++++++
We were then served these cute cups filled with cauliflower, lobster foamed topped with caviar.
The lobster foam had a really strong taste, which flavoured the cauliflower pieces that had a nice crunch to it.

+++++++++++
Then we moved on to a warm course of smoked chicken, which had soft cotton like texture paired with fragrant herbs.


+++++++++++
The last course was Chinese style potrice paella with Kobe beef cheek and garlic cream air.
I really liked it because of the rich abalone sauce and there were lots of chickpeas in the rice.
It tasted like a savoury dragon boat festival zhongzhi.


+++++++++++
As a surprise, they gave us some Nitrogen soaked macarons which have interesting effects on you.
I won’t spoil the fun here but the molecular gastronomy specialist will demonstrate what happens when you eat it which looks quite scary but you won’t feel anything.

At the end, they gave out business cards, which were really cool, because it pops up into a DICE.
https://www.facebook.com/3dicekitchen
Shop 2, Haven Court, 136 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: 23523314
http://www.3dicekitchen.com/
info@3dicekitchen.com

Sunday, December 13, 2015

#McDonaldsNext Hong Kong Concept

Earlier we saw McDonalds #createyourtaste which allows you to customize your burger.

Now there is #McDonaldsnext which is a modern restaurant that lets you customize your salad using the touchscreen stands.


There are also charging points for your mobile phones.
The only bad point about this restaurant is that they sell their regular menu as well which means there are lots of people buying drinks and occupying the seats doing trivial things like tuition and selling insurance, the norm in Hong Kong.

I customized a salad and ordered the waffle because these were the items unique to this store.
The cheese choices for the salad were poor, it was either mozzarella or Parmesan and no Cheddar.


Unfortunately, they gave me the wrong salad base.



I was given the romaine, iceberg and lettuce mix and not the California mix that I chose.
The Quinoa and the big pearls of Couscous was amazing because it was really tasty.
The crayfish and egg salad was nice which is basically the same filling as the one they use in their croissants

It was really good that they give you the dressing separately because I didn't really need it but there are three dressings: vinaigrette, caesar and sesame.

For desserts, the mixed berries sundae waffle was a bit too sweet.

The tea was weird, I was given a pot of hot water and a cup of hot water.
.
Photos of #mcdonaldsnext






As well as Hong Kong, you can also find #createyourtaste in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and some stores in New York.

Address:
Admiralty Centre,
18 Harcourt Road.
Admiralty.
Hong Kong

Saturday, December 12, 2015

A taste of Beijing in Macau

I am not familiar with Macau so my friends chose this place and they booked the private room for our early Xmas gathering where there is a special menu for MOP8,888.

The restaurant was big and spacious with high ceilings.


We started with Beijing Kitchen Appetizer Platter which was presented really nicely on a tray.
There was tofu, scallops and jellyfish.
The tofu was my favourite because it gets mashed up with the spring onions to make it tasty.

+++++++++
Next we had the Double Boiled Abalone and Dried Seafood Soup which was a surprise because I have never seen such a big pot of soup for one person!


There were lots of goodies such as fish maw, big abalone and whelks in the soup.
+++++++++
Then came the Traditional Beijing Style Duck which was roasted in a wood fired oven:



I liked the way the duck was served because it was served on three plates, duck with skin, just duck and crispy duck skin on its own.
+++++++++
Next we had the fish and lamb.
The Steamed Garoupa fillets were steamed with Jinhua ham slices.
I really liked the deep fried salt and pepper lamb Gigot because the lamb was soft with crispy.

+++++++++
The Braised Sea Cucumber and Quail Eggs was an interesting combination but both are high in protein.
The sea cucumber was soft in delicious rich gravy.

+++++++++
The braised beancurd with minced pork, prawns, chili and Sichuan Peppercorn was a shocker!


My tolerance for spicy dishes has gone up but this was extremely spicy.
It was so spicy I could use the sauce as chili sauce!
+++++++++
Then we had the Beijing Kitchen Style Braised King Prawn which were big and springy.

+++++++++
The Sautéed bitter melon with salted egg yolk was really nice because I love crisp bittermelon and it had bits of salted egg yolk on it.

+++++++++
There was also a "Beijing Kitchen" Dim Sum Platter in the set which was really good because I got to try the vegetable dumplings.


The dumplings were amazingly tasty with just vegetables and egg.

There were cute roujiamas as well which tasted great with chili sauce.

+++++++++
For dessert we finished wit the Grand Dessert Platter.
You get four desserts and my favourite was the purple potato sago.

Seasonal Fresh Fruits.

+++++++++
We also tried this new molten black sesame cake with refreshing chili and lime icecream.


+++++++++
To be honest, I was quite full by the end but I hope to come back for more dumplings and try some other dishes.
+++++++++
Beijing Kitchen:
Address: Estrada do Istmo, Cotai Grand Hyatt andar 1 Macau, Macau
Phone:+853 8868 1930
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...