Showing posts with label Squid ink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Squid ink. Show all posts

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Go KART Noodles!!

The last time I had great cart noodles were from HAPPY NOODLE in Happy Valley but sadly that closed down.

Now there is Cartson's Noodle which is going to be great because it is opened by two really cool people who have a touch of Western influence over it.

The restaurant is really modern and chic and the logo says it all!
Designed with thought as well as incorporating the Chinese characters of Cart noodles as well as a pictorial of a real cart.
It features a TOP VIEW of a boy pushing a cart (on the left) which is also part of the Chinese character of the word CAR and the squares represent the the cooking segments in the cart!!

The interior is chic, no more grubby tables and uncomfortable environments.

You can choose to sit at the tables or the bar table.

The bar table makes the joint looks spacious.

Beneath the bar tables, there are hooks for your bags.

To order, you tick what you want, go to the counter and pay then wait for your number on the red display.

Ordering sheets:
There are four combos and my favourite one is the premium combo 2 because it has all my favourites.

Or you can choose a lighter option.

The are three broths:
Angel: tomato
Cartson's secret: mala spicy soup with various spice levels
Devil: fragrant spicy tomato broth

The angel means not spicy while the devil means spicy.

The counter:


Loved the bright plastic bowls for kids

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Squid ink noodles :

The presentation of this was just amazing!!
Jet black noodles contrasted by the bright orange squid skewers and the leafy green coriander leaves.

The noodles are not black, but covered in so much black squid ink that it has this strong squid taste.

Whoever has this will get black lips and a black tongue!!
Anyway, the noodles are definitely worth trying.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Premium cart noodles:

I chose this because it had everything in it that I liked from pork knuckles, meat patty, fish roll, onsen egg.

I thought the fish patty was the best because you don't often find it in noodles shops as a topping.
For the noodles I chose Chinese buccatini because it draws more soup.


The soup was lovely with a strong tomato base and spicy tones to it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tofu with cumin:

I loved the tofu because the coating is different to the usual fried tofu.
It tasted the same as the Japanese Agedashi tofu which is lightly dusted with potato starch or cornstarch and then deep fried until golden brown.
The one here had lots of cumin giving it a lovely flavour and reminds you of Xinjiang cuisine.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Condiments:


Even though you don't really need it, the sauces were also tempting and creative.
XO sauce with salted fish and the spicy pickled vegetables which were great complementing anything.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled items:

As well as noodles, they do great grilled items, great with beers which they plan sell later.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Prune drink:

I don't normally order this but it was not too sweet and the smoky taste was not that strong.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
On my next visit, I am going to try the noodles in sauce with seacucumber and ducks feet.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cartson's Noodle
Shop C2, G/F, 440 Jaffe Rd, Causeway Bay, Causeway Bay

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Delicious Okinawan style in East Soho

This Okinawan restaurant has been around before people started to discover that Okinawa was a good place to travel to and the trend for Okinawan foods.

Long before the time when Japanese dramas were broadcasted on TV.

It is located near Tai Koo Plaza by the residential flats and its first review dates back to 2007.

The decor was quite nice, it was mainly wood and black.
There was a sashimi bar where people can sit and chat to the chef while waiting for their food.
After trying an Okinawan restaurant recently, I was slightly more familiar with Okinawan food and the main items in that cuisine are Bitter gourd and seagrapes.
I would have ordered the jewel leaf but they did not have it.

They had pork knuckles as well but I tried other stuff.

After you have ordered, they give you some jellyfish pickles.
They provide tea as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Musabi with roe:
The musabis were quite big and it came with pickles to give it more flavour.

The roe in the middle was quite salty and hard.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Miso soup:
The miso soup was quite nice and there were generous vegetables and tofu pieces in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Congee with sea kelp and fish roe:
The taste of this extremely light so it is advised to try this first.
There is orange cod roe in the congee which gives it some slight flavour if you really concentrate your tastebuds.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bitter gourd panfried dumplings:
These dumplings were delicious, the dumpling skin was also green, inside the dumplings were thinly sliced pieces of bitter gourd which were crisp and still had the bitterness to it.
After dipping it in the vinaigrette, it was even more delicious as the bitterness was reduced.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Squid ink soup:
The squid ink taste was not prominent. You could only tell that it was squid ink because of the colour.
I was expecting the soup to be slighty thicker and not transparent.
Basically it tasted the same as the miso soup I had earlier.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon stir fried in squid ink sauce:
The udon was fried in squid ink sauce and there were generous pieces of baby sweetcorn, carrots and sliced pork.
However the slices of pork were not lean, and the squid ink taste was not prominent.
It tasted like udon stir fried in oyster sauce because it was quite sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Overall the portions here were reasonably big.
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