Comforting food at de België

Previously tried Belgica in K Town so I knew the mussels were going to be good here because it is part of the same group.
de België is on the corner of Elgin Street looking small on the outside but spacious once you venture in.

That night, we had a bit of everything because they have other dishes as well as my beloved mussels.

Started with the Tomato aux crevettes and the pulpo a la gallega.
The Tomato aux crevettes were tender translucent shrimps in a delicious dressing encased in a tomato.

The pulpo a la gallega was tasty slices of octopus tentacle on top of new potato slices sprinkled with chili and paprika on a bed of creamy aioli.

It was a great start followed by the mussels.
Again, it was hard to choose because you could choose from mussels cooked in wine, beer etc.
I went for the beer as I was after strong flavours.
It was a huge pot of mussels served with their homemade fries that are fried twice to get that lovely texture.
The mussels were sweet infused with beer and they were free from grit and beard.
While I was eating them I thought I was lucky that the mussels were beard free but later the Chef told me they had removed the beard before cooking you can just enjoy them.

After the mussels, I had the herb roasted chicken.
The chicken was really comforting because it tasted how a roast chicken should taste, ie fully flavoured by the herbs as they were rubbed evenly and it was roasted just right.
The vegetables that came with it were fantastic because they were cooked thoroughly and flavoured in honey, something difficult in HK because the potatoes are normally too hard as the Chefs just grill them to save time.

Had a sweet ending which is hard in Hong Kong because it is really hard to get proper Western desserts.
The Waffle was done just right because it was not too sweet as the sweetness of the cream complemented it nicely and the Chantilly cream was fluffy and airy.

If you drink, I seriously recommend the coconut beer which I tried at the Belgica [other branch]!

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de België:
21 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong.
https://www.facebook.com/deBelgiehk/

Kitchen J gets a new life with new menu items

kitchen J (Tseung Kwan O)

Previously the menu at Kitchen J was extremely limited, they only offered Japanese curries and cutlets.

Now they offer more items just like Watami did, but prices are more expensive than Watami.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed Hiroshima oysters with white wine:
I went to Kitchen J specifically to try these oysters, there was a baked cheese version too.

When it came, it was served on a ceramic dish with a Moroccan claypot lid.

The oysters were plump but the edges and body of the oysters were quite black and grey.

One of them was appalling because you can see crushed white shell on the top left of the oyster so I had to waste time removing them.

Only one oyster was properly detached from the shell and the rest were not which was a nuisance!

As for the taste, the white wine taste was not strong and I could only taste the standard creaminess and smell that comes from Hiroshima oysters.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Sicily deep fried octopus:

To be honest, I don't think they were Sicilian style.

As well as the octopus, they had deep fried squid but I chose the deep fried octopus because not many places serve it.
The coating smelt and tasted like the coating for southern fried chicken and cajun fried chicken.
It was moderately thick and crunchy.
The octopus was rather chewy but there were some tender pieces.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Anyway, I am glad that the menu has improved and they accept cents too!

Orangelicious deep sea octopus and turkey gizzards

I rarely eat from these street stalls because it usually results in food poisoning, but this particular stall is one that I walked past all the time and get the temptation to try it, however everytime I pass by it is always crowded and it is right on the corner of the road where everyone crosses the road from.

 

 

 

It was really good because the cabinet had the whole gizzards and octopus tentacles so you could visually see how big they were.

 

Recently I tried some orange coloured pig intestines which I have never tried before and realised they were really delicious and did not have a foul smell.
The ones that smelt bad were the big intestines with a fatty lining but the smaller intestines looks like huge flattened macaroni.

For these street stalls snacks I just found out that there are two ways of eating the snacks, one is eaten chilled and the other that is blanched.

The snacks here are eaten chilled and surprisingly for this type of snack there are only two sauces to put on it: yellow mustard and sweet sauce.

Finally I had the chance to experience the messyness of eating snacks on the street, holding the skewer away from the body so that you do not drip the sauce on your clothes but on the pavement/road.
Anyway the owner was quite nice, she said I could take my time eating it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Deep sea octopus tentacles:
I tried the octopus because the tentacles looked huge. It was so delicious I had another one.
The tentacles were extremely tender and the sauce it was marinated in was packed with aromatic spices that are not spicy.
The tentacles looked so glassy and shiny in the cabinet that they were just irresistable.
I tried without the sauces and it was nice but after adding the yellow mustard which had a hint of sourness, it was even more appetising!

 

First skewer:

 

Second skewer:

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Turkey gizzard:

 

 

I was surprised at the enormity of these gizzards, I thought the chicken was fed drugs to enlarge its gizzard or it had some illness.
Then after looking at the menu I found out that these were not chicken gizzards but TURKEY which explains the size.

 

As for the taste, it was really nice and well complemented by the sweet sauce and yellow mustard.
The gizzard texture was really meaty and did not smell.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I am really surprised that this snack joint only has one review which was dated 2010, so this joint must have been here for quite a while and everytime I go past it, there are so many people queuing for it too