2020 Nutritious Zongzi combo at Royal Plaza Hotel!

I am sure there are many omnipork zongis around but this is the first year Royal Plaza Hotel has omnipork in the nutritious combo which includes:
-Morel Mushroom, Chestnut and Omnipork
-Matsutake, Dried Longan and Coix seed
-Osmanthus Quinoa and Red bean
The omnipork one is amazing because the pairing of morel mushrooms and chestnut make it tasty as well as festive.

Tried the Matsutake with dried longan and coix seed last year along with the osmanthus quinoa and red bean which are both nourishingly light as well as fulfilling.

The Morel Mushroom with chestnut and ominpork was definitely the star of the show because the flavours of the morel mushrooms which are earthy with a strong umami taste complement the omnipork nicely.

Then we have the nutty chestnuts that are wholesome and festive to add a little sweetness to the taste!

[勝面] Sheng Mian from TW branches to HK

It seems that Sheng Mian is from Taiwan according to the media but photos of the food look very different.

The menu offers noodles and the usual Taiwanese fare.





I was curious of the Spicy noodles because photos showed that it looked like Laksa and Pork broth with Spicy oil over it so I ordered this item.
For noodles you get a choice of knife cut noodles, white noodles etc.
When it came, it looked like the other photos that people had here.





The beef slices were similar to the ones you get in Pho noodles, ie semi raw. You could see that some of the beef was visually dry without trying.
Although the beef could have been better the noodles were fantastic, it was more like Japanese ramen!

Also had plain rice with spicy tofu.
The rice was hard and clumped together that you could use chopsticks to pick up the rice in the bowl.





The star of the show was surprisingly the Taiwanese roti which fellow foodies said were too sweet.
Inside it was taro mash, thin layer of fried egg and sticky mochi.
As the taro mash was quite sweet, I scraped some away and the whole thing was so damn good because the roti tasted like mille feuille pastry filled with sticky mochi.





Unfortunately, the tea would have been good but it was sweetened. Most cold brews are not sweetened but for some bizarre reason they were sweetened here which I didn't expect or perhaps its MK!



Finished with the Grass Jelly dessert which was instaworthy but unfortunately it was canned grass jelly and you can even see the edge of the can.



Overall the Taiwanese roti was the best.

[川婆婆 Chuan Po Po] A Stylish hotpot place

Chuanpopo is located on the 8/F of Gala Place among other restaurants.

Gala place used to be just a commercial building but now they have restaurants on the 8th floor.
All the restaurants there are good so Chuanpopo has to be just as good to be in competition. In terms of decor, it was pink and stylish but in a different way. It was like an office with pink swivel chairs and tables arranged like a conference room.

On the other side, you have the comfy seats.

While I was looking around, I saw the dragon sculpture which was really familiar. I always used to see the guy sculpting this in Central and sometimes in MK.

I'm glad the owner at Chuanpopo likes his stuff and therefore got him to do the pandas. Moving on to the hotpot, we had the dual hotpot so one was non spicy while the other one was spicy.

In the sauces and condiments section, the choice was impressive as they had cumin, turmeric, galangal puree etc so the options were very different.

For drinks, they had the avocado banana smoothie which is not so boring compared to sugar cane and smoky prune drinks. The crab was recommended and it went really well in the non spicy pot as the flavours of the crab came out well in the soup which had morel mushrooms.



For vegetables, they had healthy options like Kale so I ordered that as well as my favourite Chrysanthenam garland..



My friend loves meat so we had meatballs and beef slices which he said were good.



Finished with the potato starch noodles which were thick and chewy.

Definitely a good and spacious place for hotpots.
As well as hotpots they also offer delightful lunch options like pickled fish and other Sichuan dishes.

Shanghai food with a Hong Kong twist at [Ging Sun Ho King of Bun]

King of Sheng Jian is  a well establish restaurant for Shanghai pan fried dumplings by Oscar Siu a former cantopop singer.
I have previously tried the Causeway Bay and Shamshuipo branches.

The latest debut Ging Sun Ho King of Bun in Mong Kok offers more with a young and modern vibe to it.

There is a digital menu at the front with English and Chinese.

Obviously I was captivated by the Roast Goose Xiao Long Baos which are made with roast goose and pork topped with a piece of crispy goose skin.
It also comes with plum sauce which I did not use as the Roast goose XLB tasted great on its own. You could taste the spices from the roast goose.

There were some new dishes that will satisfy your craving for spices such as the Chicken feet and pig ears.

For the mains, I liked the omnipork dandan noodles which were just as satisfying as the pork version because of the strong beany sauce contrasted by the sweet peanut broth.

If you're missing your balls, they've certainly got balls here!!!

But anyway Shanghainese food wouldn't be complete without trying the pork belly with vegetable rice and their signature chicken steak and Pan fried buns!

Will definitely be coming back.
 [Ging Sun Ho King of Bun 堅信號上海生煎皇 ]
Shop 7, G/F, Hung Wai Building, 3-5 Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok

Healthy Beverages at [Tea Days 小茶堂]

I was actually in for a surprise when I went here.]

They had slow pressed juices and you could order drinks that were 100% sugar free.

I was actually doubting if they would be sugar free as usually taro and purple sweet potato are made with powders but ordered anyway.

There was a choice of purple potato or taro.

Purple potato is trending now but I had the taro because it is not as sweet compared to purple potato and less shops serve taro these days so you have to go to proper Taiwanese joints.

To my surprise, both were the real deal.

The cold pressed OJ was sweet and thick in the sense you could taste all parts of the orange from the pulp to the orange membrane.

Then the taro was exactly what I wanted, it didn't have any colouring and there were real pieces of taro so it was very satisfying as well as healthy.


Will definitely be back for the Sweet purple potato milk when I am in the area.

Tea Days 小茶堂:

Shop 22, G/F, Ho King Commercial Centre, 2-16 Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok

Quality beef time @ Maruju Aburi Farm

Recently I got addicted to the Wagyu sando so I decided to go and try everywhere that has it.

Maruju Aburi Farm has it so decided to go there one evening.

This branch specializes in Wagyu beef and they have two other branches in Kwaihing and Mongkok which serves a slightly similar menu.

On every table, there is a classy little glass bottle of lemon juice which you can add to your food.

I had in mind what to eat but the pandan coconut frappe came as a surprise, firstly I didn't expect to see this on a Japanese menu and secondly it was so good.

There were so many items to choose from so ordered beef sausages, wagyu beef sando and eel Tamagoyaki egg rolls.
+++++++++++
Tamagoyaki egg rolls:
These egg rolls were soft and delicate with sweet eel in the middle.

+++++++++++
Maruju Farm Beef Sausage:
These beef sausages certainly gave me a surprise in the sense that they were softer than you would expect and they contains herbs in them which make them taste like English pork sausages.
Definitely the best beef sausages and they didn't contain any of gristle.

+++++++++++
As well as beef, I love chicken so we had the Chicken Feast where they use chickens from the South Iwate Prefecture.
On there platter, there was chicken wings, thigh, breast, breast cartilage and skin.
Four chickens are needed for the breast cartilage skewer as you only get one piece of breast cartilage per chicken.
My favourites were the thigh and wings.
Adding the fresh lemon and the lemon from the glass bottle made it more appetizing.

+++++++++++
Premium Whole Wagyu Beef Platter 2 Pcs ($580)
This was a really good way of sampling the Australian Wagyu Beef which is clearly labelled and for each different cut, you get 2 slices.
On the platter, there was Tri-tip, Sirloin, Oyster Blade, Tongue, Brisket, Shank, Rump, Top-round and Outside Skirt.
Evidently I liked the Top-Round and Outside Skirt which is meatier and tasty.

++++++
Now to the Wagyu toast:
The toast was extremely thin and crispy so when you eat it the beef is more prominent but saying that the sauce they used was sweet and spicy and tasted like concoction of spicy siracha + burger sauce.
The Wagyu in the middle was meaty and tender.

++++++
Overall, I was really impressed with everything especially the sausages.

[Maruji Aburi Farm]

Shop 342D, 3/F, MOKO, 193 Prince Edward Road West, Mong Kok