Lutosa at HOFEX 2019

As a potato and carbs lover, I was immediately drawn to the Lutosa booth Thanks to those eye catching Belgian cones that hold the fries/chips.

It sent me memories of La Cornet Belgie in Central.

I tried samples of the flat slices which were fried to perfection!!!
They were similar to potato scallops but without the batter.

At the front, there was a cabinet that showcases most of the products they have.

I believe I have tried most of them at various different restaurants except the Pom'Tapas so I was really keen in trying some.
They are delicately flavoured potato mash under a crispy crust and they come in four flavours:

Pom'Tapas Sirataki: garlic onion paprika, coriander, cumin, pepper, caraway seed and oregano
Pom'Tapas Latino: tomato, paprika, pepper, allspice, cumin, oregano, thyme, bay leaf and parsley
Pom'Tapas Basilic: basil
Pom'Tapas Arabesque: coriander, cumin, curcuma, pepper, fennel seeds, aniseed, allspice, celery seed, mace.

All of them were captivating especially the Arabesque and Green because I love cumin and fennel.
I can imagine for the Hong Kong market, restaurants would probably want to offer the Italian but in UK it would be the Arabesque or the Latino but I believe they would all taste great.

Tried the Pom'Tapas Sirataki which was just how I expected it to taste, they were crispy on the outside and silky in the middle infused with light cumin and caraway seeds.

All the samples I tried were good on their own and didn't need sauces.
Quality potatoes and bi products should be tasty on their own and things like mayonnaise should enhance the taste.
It frustrates me when I see people dunking their fries/chips in sauce without trying how it tastes alone.

After browsing the Lutosa catalogue, they offer more than just fries and it seems I have tried a majority of their items at different restaurants.
It is hard for me to remember fries/chips but if I was to seriously taste test them I possibly could, whereas the restaurants that serve different potato products make it memorable.
My personal preference is [blonde] lightly crispy on the outside and not hollow in the middle but in Hong Kong fries have to be CRUNCHY or people complain and even bread has to be hard toasted.
This explains why my blonde hair is white to them as their definition of gold is BROWN, so if you ask for blonde hair at the hairdressors in Hong Kong,  you get ginger.
The fried stuff in HK which is golden brown by their definition is burnt in my opinion!!!

The HK KFC fried chicken has a different batter to UK, again it is crunchy!
They serve grid fries only whereas UK serves chips.

I just wish that Hong Kong restaurants could be more adventurous with more variety.
Once something is trending then all restaurants will be serving it which makes dining so boring as the menu is practically the same everywhere.
I understand they will only serve what will sell but as a consumer I feel that the restaurant scene is getting boring.
As well as the restaurants, shopping malls are clones with the same shops, restaurant groups and even clothes.
The hilarious thing in Hong Kong is that when the temperature drops below 14 degrees, you will find 90% people wearing puffer jackets!!!

Enough ranting for now, here are the potato products from different restaurants which I believe are from Lutosa.

[Please Note:  Some restaurants below are no longer in business]

Mini Waffles at Shelter Lounge, Sheung Wan:

Croquette at Shakeem Bun, Wanchai

Dauphines at La Cantoche:

Duchess at Champak:

Vegetable Rosti and Cheese Rosti at Chip In"

Potato cubes at the Green Waffle Diner:

• Lutosa also does mash and roast potatoes but I would really need to try samples from them to recall anything but for now I want to buy every Pom'Tapas flavours as you can put them in the oven according to the brochure which is convenient!!

KFC's Spudastic tomato flavoured Potato party

I love potatoes so i just had to try this, however the KFC in Hong Kong is not as good as the KFC in UK.

In UK, we have fries/chips and not the Criss-cut Fries that come as a standard in Hong Kong, and they also have chicken gravy as an option for chips.

Anyway, since the Potato party 反斗薯 was slightly different I decided to try it.
They are hash browns in the shape of discs and stars which are bite sized.

I was disappointed they also had the criss-cut fries with them because the star of the snack is really the hashbrowns.
I can understand they are trying to give you more variety because it is called potato party, but I dislike these criss-cut fries.

When you open the box there is a tomato scent and the tomato flavouring is sweet and artificial.
If you have tried the Walker's tomato crisps you can actually taste ketchup, but the tomato flavour on these hash browns tastes neither like tomato or ketchup.
The taste is very sweet and not sour at all, it tastes of paprika and carotene flavouring.

New mini Kami bucket with camo design @ KFC 2011

Went to try the mini kami bucket just because of the potato sticks.
The mini kami bucket meal consists of two pieces of chicken, potato sticks, kami pudding and a drink for $39.

 

In Hong Kong they only serve the waffle cut fries which are boring, I prefer them served with fries just like the UK, and they also have gravy as well.

Anyway, I was excited when they had potato sticks, an alternative to waffle fries.

 

From the product shot, the shape and size of the potato sticks looked like fish fingers.
On closer inspection, they were just hash browns made into that shape.
The chicken tasted how it should however the potato sticks were overdone, it was too crispy and not fluffy inside lacking potato taste and smell.
It looked slightly different to the product shot, because the real thing looked evidently like a hash brown, but the one in the product shot had a smooth surface looking like breadcrumbs or a long croquette.

 

The Kami pudding had two flavours: strawberry and caramel.
I opted for the caramel, which has a layer of caramel at the bottom.
The kami pudding is actually made by epoch desserteries.
The taste of the pudding was ok, slightly creamy sweetened by the caramel at the bottom.

caramel kami pudding

 

Overall, the design of the bucket was really nice, it was the camo pattern incorporated with the KFC design resulting in red camouflage design.
A nice concept using the camo pattern as a packaging design for the kami dessert.

red camoflage design

The King's breakfast @ Burger King

It is not often that I get a chance to have breakfast so I was greedy and ordered the set with an extra croissant and french toast.
There was so much choice!!

 

 

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

King's platter
The platter consists of round hash brown nuggets, tomato, cheese and ham omelette and a scone.
The hash brown nuggets were crispy with a slight soft centre. The tomato was grilled lightly so it just tasted like a raw tomato! As for the cheese and ham omelette, it had melted processed cheddar cheese in the middle with pieces of ham. The cheese was quite salty.
As for the scone it was quite dry.

 

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Croissant with fish fillet and cheese
The croissant was not soft enough and it tasted like the cheap croissants with leathery skin.
The fish fillet was ok but the processed cheese in this croissant was also very salty.

 

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
French toast
The French toast did not have extra syrup to spread, but it was coated on the French toast making it sticky to handle.
The egg was coated very slightly on the bread hence the egg taste was not so strong.

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆