Build your own burger @ Gourmet Burger Union

Similar to Toppings, except this place has even more choice.

From cheese to toppings and sauces, there are so many choices to choose, and for that extra gourmet factor, you can pay a small price to add that too.

Cheese wise, as not many places serve burgers with blue cheese, here they have three blue cheeses to choose from: Danish blue, Roquefort and Stilton, and if your a pizza lover, there is Italian Mozarella.

The toppings here are also quite different, you can choose baked beans which give it that breakfast tone to it. Personally I chose Portabello mushroom, as the common mushrooms in the far east are button mushrooms and shiitake, not the European stuff. Anyway the portobello mushroom tasted really good, much better than the one at Burger Joint which was sour as if it was drenched in vinegar.

As my burger was lamb I also opted for extra hummus for that meditarranean Kebab experience.

Then finally for my sauces, I picked the ones less served in other places which were Truffle cream and horseradish mayonnaise.

The burger was very neatly done, the toppings, ingredients, sauces were evenly laid out in the bun, makng it easy to eat with your hands.
The only thing that didnt work well, was that I picked too many sauces and toppings, so a bit hard to distinguish the tastes of the different elements. Tasted good overall.
But given so much choice its hard not to save that choice for the next visit.

The only topping that couldnt be ordered was the Calves liver, which is only served in The spotted pig signiature burger. So next time I will try that.

Chocolate truffle cake and Colourful lamingtons @ Pacific Coffee

I love trying new things at Pacific coffee, so far I have tried their summer coolers such as the Cranberry and mixed berry, and the Cranberry and strawberry.

I tried the mixed berry one first, a bit of disappointed, the berry taste was a bit fake. The strawberry one was better, not that artificial. But in general the Chillinos served at Pacific coffee consists primarily of crushed ice and syrup. It doesn’t taste milky. It tastes Ok when you drink it immediately, but as I can’t, I drink it slowly, but when you leave it for a while, the ice and the liquid separates, so your left with flavoured watery liquid at the bottom.

The next thing I tried were the colourful Lamingtons, cube shaped sponged cakes, with cream in the middle, dipped in shredded coconut.
I think there are 8 flavours, passion (orange), mango (orange), blood orange (red), blackcurrent (purple), apple (green), guava (pink), chocolate, coffee (both brown.

The texture of the Lamingtons are nice and soft, with light cream oozing from the centre, the coconut is light and fresh, and not dry due to being in the fridge too long.

The lastest cake I tried was the Chocolate Truffle cake, I was expecting a rich thick centre, but I was greeted with crunchy chocolate in the middle.
There was lots of chocolate mousse on the outside, not the bitter tasting one.
But overall it tasted OK.

Scrambled eggs with truffle @ Fairwood

Made an effort to get up for breakfast, luckily the truffle and egg has been a popular pick for the locals, so it has been on the Ala Carte for a while.

I really did not expect anything for the truffle to taste like the real thing, but just wanted to give it a try. The real truffle is very expensive, so I do not expect Fairwood to offer the expensive stuff, same as Pizzahut, so it seems there is a low grade version or truffle essence or oil is used for the cheaper end of the market.

Anyway, ordered the set with chicken steak and gravy, toast and freshly grounded coffee.
The coffee had lovely white froth covering it. I do not drink coffee, but that coffee was good, no sour taste to it, and the milk was just right. The chicken was also good, the skin was crispy.
Then the egg was just scrambled with finely chopped mushrooms on the top mimicking the truffle, with truffle oil on top.
For people who have not experienced truffle before, there is a slight hint of truffle to it, but for experienced trufflers, it is not that pungent.

Service Madly Lousy = SML

Apart from the Quarry Bay MiscoCool, this is the second restaurant featuring communal tables but in larger lounge.

The whole concept is fresh, and vibrant, nice for the young chics and boys to show their pride in a lively lounge. It also reminds me of school dinner days too, a rejuvenation of youth, relive the young days again, sitting amongst other hip and cool people.

If you do not fancy being on display, I guess it needs time getting used to, like California fitness gym for a specific part of the target market.

Anyway, sat down in the middle of a large bench table, people started filling beside us, but there was no one sitting on our left hand sides, so we placed our bags there. We were ushered to place the bag on one side, then a while later, the waiters from the opposite side ushered us to place the bags on the other side, playing shuffling bags here if u've played shuffling chairs!!

Food ordered:

Chicken Confit & Foie Gras with Truffle SaladBasically two pieces of sliced baguette served with salad and a pot with shredded chicken, bits of foie gras topped with poppy seeds. The chicken was not dry or chewy, and the bits of silky foie gras buttered the chicken, but there was not that much of foie gras. I thought it should have been layered chicken, then foie gras then the poppy seeds.

Prawn Toast with truffleSame comment as Babedolphin, no taste in truffle, overly greasy, I suppose the bitterness of the alcohol sauce took away that greasy taste.
Honestly I have had better prawn toasts at Takeaways in UK.

Octopus salad in olive oilThis was a very good mixed of diced yellow peppers, leaves, onions and the octopus, the octopus was chopped tentacles which were very big in diameter, I thought the octopus would be chewy, but it wasn’t at all. There was also some sort of jelly that had formed on the octopus, so it is probably the tinned version.

Lamb kebabThis was a huge stick of minced Lamb on a stick, I tried it with the olive oil from the salad, it was quite nice, and the lamb was strongly covered in Cajun powder. The yoghurt sauce that came with it was lovely, pure sour yoghurt.

Mushroom risottoThis had a very strong smell, but not that strong when I ate it, the texture of the rice was a bit hard, like red grain rice.

I was contemplated to order the Hangar steak and chips, but then I decided to order two desserts, which finished the meal quite elegantly! I wanted Gnocci too, but it wasn’t listed on the menu anymore!!

Pot of chocolate w/chocolate mousse & fudgeThis was yummy chocolate mousse with bits of chocolate cake covered with white cream and topped with two pieces of fudge.

Lime cream w/vanilla pineapple & coconut jellyThere were bits of coconut jelly with cutely diced pineapple pieces, layered with lime cream at the bottom, refreshingly delicious, leaving you with a slight hungriness that you will be back for more next time.

Lastly, we tried to paid for the bill, but one of the dreaming waiters either forgot to print out the bill or there was something wrong with the order, so had to ask another waiter got it for us.

Price wise, I think it’s quite reasonable for around $300 considering we ordered food with truffles, foie gras. I think for a good meal, its best to pick out the fine stuff rather than the stuff you can get anywhere, or it just defeats the purpose.

Truffle with scrambled eggs and kaya toast @ 華星冰室

Came here just for the scrambled eggs with truffle.

Their scrambled eggs are perfect, so I thought with the addition of truffle it would intensify the flavours even more, as the egg itself was abit bland, so with truffle it would give it some saltiness.

Anyway, when it arrived I was a bit surprised, there was lots of truffle on top, yet I couldnt smell any of it, even the cheap one at Fairwood had a more pungent smell.

The truffle didnt have much taste, so I wondered if the truffle had not been in an air tight container hence loosing its smell and flavour.



Also tried the toast with kaya and jam.
The jam was a bit sweet.
The kaya was orange instead of green, but it seems the Chinese serve the orange ones.
The flavour wasnt as fragrant as the green one.
Anyway I had mine unbuttered, as I don't like sweet and salty flavours mixed together.

Best buffet ever @ JW lounge

Although it was expensive, everything was perfect, apart from the foie gras which was too oily.
Out of the three admiralty pillars, conrad, shanghri La and JW Marriot, I would say this one is the best, although I have yet to try Shanghri La. Also they speak a good level of English here.

There was a nice selection of seafood and caviar, and all the people there were in orderly fashion, and well mannered.

Apart from being satisfied by their food range, I was also impressed with the drinks selection. There is unlimited fruit juice as well as a tea or coffee that is included.
The grapefruit juice was the best, pastel pink in colour and sweetened just right without taking away the natural fruit taste.
The apple juice was a nice pale green colour too.
Most impressively was the teas, there is a wall with many big glass jars that contain all the different teas, ranging from Russian tea to Floral teas.
Anyway I ordered earl grey, and they served it correctly with unfrothed milk.

While I was away getting food, I came back with a nice surprise, there was scrambled eggs with truffle at my table which was still lovely and warm.

It was the best scrambled egg I have ever had, even better than AusDairyMilkCo, it was so creamy, full bodied, and wholesome too with truffle taste reaching out to the tastebuds. Best of all, the scrambled egg was done with skill that it was very moist, almost like scrambled egg in creamy sauce.

 

 

 

Tuna and truffle bun @ Maxim's Bakery

Truffle is getting cheap these days, they used to be served in high-end restaurants, and then Pizzahut started serving it on their pizzas, and now on Bread, I wonder when it will be sold at a economic price at the local supermarkets.
The truffle used here is nothing like the high-end truffle, but it resembles a slight truffle taste, hence the affordability it can be served here and at Pizzahut.

Anyway, taking the bun out of the bag, the aroma of the herbs on the bun was very overpowering.

As with all Maxim’s bun it is hollow in the middle, with fillings on one side of the bun.

The tuna filling had a strong hint of freshly grounded black pepper aroma, yet the black pepper was not fiery.

The truffle wasn’t that strong, but went well with the herbs and black pepper.

Overall it tasted like the spread SEaLECT Snackit tuna and mayonnaise but it was less creamy.

 

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Hazelnut mousse and chocolate truffle cake @ Sweet lodge

Previously this dessert house used to be Fat Mama's Dessert, but Chinese desserts were not my cup of tea so I never went in.
To be honest, FMD looked really gloomy from the outside.

Anyway, this new Sweet Lodge fares slightly better, however its menu design gave me the impression it only served Chinese desserts until I looked at it closely.

The newly decorated dessert house was brighter than the previous shop and more appealing, it had lilac benches, similar to "Ng doy tung tong" but not as purple because they had white tables as well.
The menu could have been more modern to match the decor.
It would have been helpful if it had English as well.
If you can't read English, you can simply look at the fridge.

Went at an awkard timing because the staff were having their meal, so it was an awkard timing to order.

For the western desserts, they had chocolate truffle cake, chocolate mousse, hazelnut mousse, creme brulee and various milk puddings in glass jars just like Milk top. They also had this pear thing, but I couldnt read the Chinese, so I am guessing it is supposed to be a pear tart.

I ordered the chocolate truffle cake, chocolate mousse and hazelnut mousse.
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Chocolate Truffle cake:
The chinese name for it was "ju gu lik chung low" and the English was chocolate truffle.
When I tried it, it was velvety hard and like the western chocolate truffle texture.

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Chocolate mousse:
This was quite nice and not too sweet, also velvety smooth.
I would have preferred it without the crispy flakes.

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Hazelnut mousse:
Not many places serve hazelnut mousse, so tried it as well.
Again I would have preferred it without the crispy flakes.
It would have been nice if it was topped with real crushed hazelnuts or if the mousse had pieces of hazelnuts in it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Overall, the desserts were Ok, and it was impressive the dessert chef was wearing formal clothing.

This new dessert shop has definately brightened Thompson Road along with Gem Restaurant opposite.