[Review] Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream - China Town

There are two branches of Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream and they are famous for its purple ube ice-cream and other sweet treats.

Mamasons specializes in Filipino ice cream with special items during the weekend when there are more people.
There are two branches, one in Chinatown and one at Camden.

As I was at Leicester Square, I tried Mamasons over the weekend as they had the donuts as well.

I went for the ube icecream on ube brownie as well as the donut.

If you have tried Flipino food, a majority of it can be quite sweet but overall Flipino food is extremely delicious especially dinuguan, pinkabare, taro leaves etc.

At the Chinatown branch of Mamasons, you can expect it to be quite busy being in a prime location so best to visit on week days.

The ube donut was just pretty, an ordinary donut contrasted by the purple creme which had a rich and fragrant ube taste, however the doughnut dough was a little disappointing because it wasn't yeasty and it was rather oily and yellow just like Chinese donuts.

As for the ube brownie, it was definitely different because it was made of ube hence the dark purple.
Unfortunately, I found the texture too sugary but luckily the ube ice-cream fared better.

Also had tea, but it was too hot to handle as they didn't have cup sleeves but luckily they gave me another cup.

Color Your Day, The Purple Way by [Starbucks]

[Starbucks] have launched a series of Purple treats to Colour your day!!
In this series, there are: Ube Pudding, Lavender Chiffon Cake, Purple Potato Tart, Blueberry Croissant and Lemon Lavender Scone.

I only tried the Ube Pudding and the Purple Potato Tart because I am not a fan of Lavender.
++++++++++
Purple Potato Tart:

The purple potato tart tasted better than the ube pudding.

Strangely, it had more taro taste in the custard than purple potato.
The only thing I didn't like was the hard tart base as it was too thick and you can see that the thickness was as thick as the filling.

The tart base was also too buttery in taste.
++++++++++
Ube Pudding:

Starbucks Puddings have been successful and now they have the new ube flavour.
In the past, they had caramel, Sakura, Green Tea, Chocolate and other flavours in Japan.
They didn't have the sleeve label so I wasn't able to see what ingredients were inside.
(Later found out from Starbucks website)

The ube pudding was smooth and not too sweet but the ube flavour was not that strong
Similar to the Purple Potato Tart, there were purple potato cubes in it.

Overall, it was quite a nice silky pudding contrasted by the cubes of purple potato.


http://www.starbucks.com.hk/

http://www.starbucks.com.hk/color-your-day-the-purple-way

Taro puffs at Tin tin vegetarian

Walked past and the taro puffs looked good so decided to get one.

I thought they were $4 each but they were $7 which made them quite expensive.

They were too hard for my liking and the filling was a bit boring because it had Chinese radish and it lacked gravy.

Tin Tin Vegetarian

G6-7, G/F, Tin Hau Apple Mall, 

14 King's Road, Tin Hau, 

Tel: 2566-0096

Taro McFlurry

I was really looking forward to the new Taro McFlurry so got it as soon as it was launched.



Basically it is McDonald's softserve, oreo cookies and taro syrup mixed together.
I had mine without oreo cookies because I don't like them.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taro McFlurry:




The McFlurry had a nice taro syrup fragrance but unfortunately it was too sweet because the softserve is already sweet and the taro syrup made it even more sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ

Divine Filipino Ube milkshake

Cinta J Express (Wan Chai)

This place is normally closed during lunch, but it was open so I tried their set lunches.

There were four choices which were not really Filipino style but were Chinesey.
Tried the Pancit bihon with chicken and it was basically like the Chinese stir fried rice vermicelli with a piece of lemon.
I suppose their lunch options are targeted for the locals and not so much Filipinos.

They now sell icecream too and many other new items and drinks.



I spotted the milkshake maker which meant their milkshakes are made with icecream just like Caliburger.

I ordered the ube milkshake because I love UBE!
The ube milkshake (ube meaning Taro) was divine, it was not to sweet but extremely creamy with a strong taro taste.


Hopefully they are open again during lunch so I can try the Baby cocktail even though I don't have a clue what it is.

Thai style Ice lollies at Cheung Chau

The Garden Cafe/Pub (Cheung Chau)

On my previous visit to Cheung Chau I have always been captivated by this stall selling ice lollies but I never tried it because there were always people surrounding it.


I found the huge revolving metal barrel/drum interesting and the Chinese letters seem to say that they are made to order.

Anyway, I am not quite sure how they can freeze the ice lollies that quickly but all of the lollies are in a slim metal mould with a chopstick in the middle acting as a lolly stick!
They look similar to the British brand of WALL's mini milk ice lollies

I have not been to Thailand before so I do not know what Thai style ice lollies are meant to be.

These Thai style ice lollies only cost $8 and the size was not too big which was good.
It was perfect for people who were going to try snacks at every stall.
The ice lollies probably froze quicker at that sizel.

There were eight flavours: Watermelon, sesame, tea, coffee, coconut, mango, melon and taro.

I only considered the taro because the rest were standard Chinese flavours which I was not fond of.

After ordering, the guy rotates the drum/cylinder to get the required flavour.

He either lets you take it out of the mould or he takes it out for you.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taro ice lolly:


The ice lolly was quite watery and icy, it was not milky but tasted of taro.
The sweetness was just right and the size was not too big which was good because it meant I could try other delicacies on the island.
Basically they tasted the same as WALL's mini milk ice lollies with taro flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

The world of Xiamen, mini wontons and treasures

I have always wanted to try this place because I like food made with Taro and there were lots of other weird and wonderful snacks as well.
However this place is not located near an MTR so you have to take the bus, but since I am not a bus person I took the ferry route to Kowloon pier from North Point.

When I sat down there were lots of magazine clippings on the wall which was expected but there was an English one which must of meant that it is quite good if you have an English publication featuring their Xiamen cuisine.
However there is no English menu!

 

 

Since this place serves jellied sand worms it reminded me of the other Mun Nan Style cuisine in North Point but the choice here is more extensive.

The prices here are relatively cheap but the portion sizes relate to its price, but since the portions are small you can try other items as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taro and Chinese chives croquette:

 

 

The appearance was like a ball and the exterior of the croquette was rather hard.
Inside the croquette it was slightly hollow filled with chinese chives, on the interior or the croquette it had mashed pure taro which was dense and delicious.
It tastes better than the taro croquettes found in dim sum restaurants because it was less oily and there was less meat and the chives gave it a nice taste.
The only thing I did not like was that it tasted slightly sweet.
I was going to order the plain taro croquettes too which are sweet but since the savoury one was sweet as well it was the same thing without the meat and chives.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Octopus:

 

I ordered it because of the reviews and it tasted really nice.
I was expecting the octopus to be chewy and rubbery but it was so tender.
I could taste mustard in the sauce which went well with it.
There was chili sauce to go with it as well.
According to the reviews the octopus is not raw so it was cooked just right so that it is not chewy.
There was also pickled julienne carrots and chinese radishes but they tasted sweet as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Duck soup:

 

 

I really liked this soup and was surprised that they served this type of soup because it was made from lots of herbs such a dong gwai.
The soup was lovely and strong and tasted similar to Pork bone tea but better.
However it was slightly oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir-fried pork offal:

 

On the menu it said it was blanched but when it was served it had been stir-fried.
It was really nice because it was jazzed up with dried shrimps when it was cooked.
I did not eat the intestines or gizzards but the pork liver was good.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sacha noodles with mini wontons:

 

 

 

I wanted to try the sacha noodles and the mini wontons and these noodles had both which was great.
There were lots of wontons. The wontons were basically pieces of pork inside them. In Chinese they are called Wontons but in Xiamen they are called "been siks"!! (interesting name!)
The sacha broth was nice and spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Noodles with spring onions:

 

I was slightly disappointed with this because photos from the preview reviews show lots of spring onions on the top, however they were at the bottom of the bowl.
There were dried shrimps too which gave the noodles some flavour however the noodles were too soft for my liking.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★