The Hong Kong Limehouse vs East London Limehouse

Limehouse is an area in East London, part of the borough of Tower Hamlets, towns nearby the Limehouse are Isle of Dogs, Wapping, Shadwell, Stepney, Rotherhithe, Bethnal Green and Ratcliff.

In the old days there were large Chinese communities at Limehouse and Shadwell, established by the crews of merchantmen in the opium and tea trades, particularly chinese workers sold to work overseas. After the Second World War many of the Chinese community relocated to Soho.

For the old generation of Chinese in UK, Limehouse and Popular was a community for workers there with former Chinatown nearby in the Pennyfields. The second/third generations of BBC’s probably have less recollection of that or have been told stories by their grandparents of tales of dish washing and other duties in Chinese restaurants.

Limehouse was a maritime area in the old days with functioning docks, however the modern Limehouse has evolved with the Docklands railway serving it at Limehouse DLR station.

The Limehouse in HK could possibly be opened by a 2nd or 3rd generation BBC who knows the best of both worlds, but that is my guess.

Anyway, I have been longing to try out this restaurant since it opened, but it was closed when I wanted to try, and the phone is hard to get through.

The Limehouse in HK is situated in a secluded side street in Wan Chai, slightly uphill, with wooden windows and doors. When you dine there in the daytime, the gentle sun rays shine through the windows into the restaurant. Perhaps in period before the not so hot summer, it would be great to sit outside and eat, and if there were lush grass areas around it would be wonderful and golden retrievers running loose.

 

 

Well anyway for lunch, there was a simple lunch, which includes soup and mains, I chose the soup and bangers and mash.

When the pea soup was served, it had freshly chopped mint on the top, and fine bubbles on top.
The top layer is fine green foam, and the watery soup beneath it, is a darker green.
The greenness of it was like fresh chlorophyll, the consistency of the soup was very watery, yet it contained pieces of pea in it.
Although it was watery, the taste was intense, and the fresh mint complimented the soup very well.
I think this is the best pea soup I have had so far.

 

For the bangers and mash, it was three sausages on top of mash, a side of peas, and sauce.
The sauce was slightly disappointing because it wasn’t the usual gravy, it was made of mustard, mayonnaise and tasted creamy.

 

The Trifle which I wanted to try wasn’t available that day, but it looks delicious from earlier OR pictures.
In the end, I ordered the Lemon tart, which I haven’t had in a while, the lemon curd was nice and tangy and the whole tart was very buttery, the only thing that ruined it was the black crust on the edge.

 

Overall the meal was good, and it was relaxing dining there with the sun shining through, the sausages could have tasted better, and gravy would have been preferred.
Recently, I found the pork sausages I have been missing at Queen Victoria, the ones served for school dinner that everyone hates in the UK!!

Lemon cheesecake @ Pret a manger

Got the lemon cheesecake here because the texture fo the cheese was as light as mousse.

I would have preferred it, if it was more tangy.

As a cheesecake, it tastes as good as the Lemon cheesecake from UK's Marks and spencer, but the taste isnt so strong.
If it could taste more tangy, I would be back for more.
Overall it was very mousse like and the cheese taste wasnt strong. I would have liked a ginger biscuit base too.

Whilst unpacking the cheesecake, there was labelling stuck on the cheesecake box, which I usually rip of with brut force, but somehow I peeled it off gently and found a "cute" note about their "nasty" packaging.

 

SORRY please excuse the "nasty"..

 

An honest owner that deserves an "icy praise 冰讚"

Amongst all the Chinese cafes on Thompson Road, this dessert shop stood out being bright orange.

However during lunchtimes there are crowds of people at the restaurants beside it, so if you are at the entrance of Thompson road, it is probably blocked out of view.

During lunch hours, I doubt people would stop by for dessert unless they serve lunch sets.
Anyway I liked the decoration and the chain of brightly coloured balls on the ceiling.

 

 

Not sure how authentic it claims to be, but it did have interesting items such as Honey Aiyu Jelly and Dessert with eight treasures.
The menu was good because it had English.

I got the Honey Aiyu jelly dessert because usually you just find it as a side on snowflake ice and in drinks.

 

 

It was a big bowl of Honey Aiyu Jelly in sweet liquid, about 60% jelly and 40% liquid, without the liquid it would be tasteless, same as how grass jelly is served.
The liquid tasted like prune juice, it was slightly sour and refreshing, then it tasted like lemon, although it was meant to be honey. Overall, the aiyu jelly was refreshing and the honey wasn’t too sweet.

 

As for the grass jelly with sweet dumplings, the liquid for the grass jelly was too sweet, and the dumplings were a bit too floury. The grass jelly was in big chunks.

 

When I ordered the grass jelly, the owner said there are no strawberries as featured in the product picture.
I really appreciated the honestly rather than complaining there were no strawberries.
Hence that explains my title [An honest owner that deserves an "icy praise 冰讚" IN A GOOD WAY!!!!]
Next time I should try their savoury snacks, especially the fried tofu skin and octopus strips.