Thanksgiving 2014 Turkey at Blue Butcher

Every year Thanksgiving is getting better because more restaurants are serving turkey.
A few years ago it was really scarce that I had to keep an eye on the calender so I wouldn't miss it.

At Blue Butcher, they are now serving a whole turkey which is enough for 6-8 people priced at $1860 or half a turkey for $930 with homemade stuffing, mash, candied bacon, Brussel sprouts and trimmings.
Dessert is finished with a scrumptious pumpkin pie.

(All turkeys must be ordered 72 hours in advance.)

That night we had Turkey and some of their other dishes so lets start with the Turkey first.

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[b]Green Goddess:[/b]

Started off with this drink which was a concoction of cucumber, dill, Vanilla gum and citrus.
The taste of dill in the drink was surprisingly good and it was such a healthy drink.

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[b]Roast Turkey:[/b]

Now to the star of the show, the turkey was sliced surrounded by the vegetables, stuffing, mash etc.
I tried both the breast and leg which were both incredibly soft and supple but I have to admit the leg was tastier.

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[b]Pumpkin pie:[/b]

The Thanksgiving meal ended with my favourite pumpkin pie which was not too sweet with a strong cinnamon flavour to it.
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Other dishes we had:

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[b]Kurobua BBQ pulled pork sliders:[/b]

These sliders were packed with pickled chili and aged cheddar which had a tangy smokey taste.

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[b]Veal sweetbread nuggets:[/b]

The nuggets came with black truffle emulsion and lemon.

You don't often see sweetbread on the menu so this was a must order item because it is delicious.
They are similar to chicken liver which has a soft mushy yet velvety texture and with the crispy coating they taste a bit like fried pieces of chicken.

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[b]Jarred foie gras and chicken liver:[/b]

The pate was lovely and velvety balanced by the sharpness of the onions.

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[b]Macaroni and cheese with egg:[/b]

This was amazing because the cheese was rich and the addition of the half cooked egg made the macaroni tastier.

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[b]Pig belly and cheek:[/b]

The pig belly was on a bed of lentils and Granny Smith apple slaw.

It was a nice mix of pork, starchy lentils and tangy apple pieces.
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Stylish Turkey in Asian style!

I have always wanted to try Mott32 because of the famous roast pork but unexpectedly my first visit was the turkey.

Inside the restaurant, it was like another world.

Mott 32 is actually a Chinese restaurant which is why it is funky serving turkey as a special dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas so people can break the traditional and still have Turkey while having Asian food!

The Free Range BBQ Roasted Turkey menu is available now priced at HKD1,680 to be booked in advanced.
It is served in three ways which makes it special.
The Whole BBQ Roasted Free Range Turkey, which will be carved at the tableside served with pancakes and three homemade sauces: a plum & lemon, fresh garlic and Chef Fung’s secret turkey sauce. 

The second style Turkey salad is a combination of papaya, dragon fruit, melon, scallion, red pepper, cashew nuts and a sweet peanut sauce to be mixed at the table. 

The last style is Minced Turkey served with Water Chestnut, Mushroom and Bamboo shoots to be eaten on a fresh, crisp lettuce cup.

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My favourite was the Turkey served in Peking style because I love the pancakes and sauce and it gives you a new eating experience.

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The turkey salad was refreshing and it reminded me of Bang Bang chicken.

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For non red meat lovers like me, the minced turkey was ideal because Turkey tastes so much better stir fried with the finely chopped water chestnuts, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

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To finish off, we had icecream which was another mind boggling experience! SOY SAUCE icecream.

The taste was similar to salted caramel icecream!

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www.mott32.com

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Thanksgiving turkey burro

Little Burro (Causeway Bay)

During 24th-30th November 2013, Little Burro served a special Thanksgiving Burrito!
Previously they did a really good one for Halloween 2013 which was why I went back to try the Thanksgiving one.

The Thanksgiving Burrito is a burrito filled with Turkey meat slow-cooked with tequila and Mexican beer, dressed with a bourbon-spiked chilli cranberry jam!
The burrito is made to 600g just like their previous Halloween boo-rrito.

On this visit, I sat at their back yard which is nicely decorated with graffiti.



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Thanksgiving Burrito:



Before I tried it, you could visually see lots of turkey in the middle.


After trying it, I was quite disappointed because the turkey was dry and tasteless and there was too much turkey.


I could not even taste the tequilla or cranberry.


It would have been great if they mixed all the ingredients before making the roll so then all the ingredients would have an even taste with the beans and salad evenly distributed.
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Water:


Since my last visit, it is good to see that they have refilled the bottles of water and have cups available for people to use.
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Thanksgiving dinner 2013 at Fat Angelo's

Fat Angelo's (Tsim Sha Tsui)

Thanks to 為食小豆 and Fat Angelo's for inviting me to this Thanksgiving dinner preview.

Thanksgiving is an important festival to the Americans.

I found out about Thanksgiving dinner through reviews in 2011 but since the reviews were written afterwards, I missed it and had to wait until 2012 when I tried my first Thanksgiving meal at Blue Smoke BBQ.

I did not see any reviews on Thanksgiving for Fat Angelo's so I did not know they had it as well.

I love Thanksgiving dinners because it is similar to our British Christmas dinner with roast turkey and stuffing.

Fat Angelo's used to be one of the restaurants I go for comfort foods.
There used to be a lot of branches in Central, Wan Chai and TKO which have not closed down.

Since then I have not dined at Fat Angelo's because I have been exploring food all over Hong Kong.

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For Thanksgiving at Fat Angelo's you can either dine there for $368 per person (28-29 November) or order the Take Home version which is for 8 people ($1788).
The take home dinner is available from now until the 25th November 2013 with *FREE delivery service in *selected areas.
The meal includes:
Freshly Baked Bread l Italian Salad
Slow Roasted Turkey
Savory Stuffing l Mashed Potatoes
Candied Yams l Autumn Vegetables
Cranberry Sauce l Turkey Gravy
Pumpkin Pie

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Here is what we had:

Freshly baked bread
{delicious crusty bread which was soft in the middle, great dipping with the vinegar and olive oil}

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Gammon ham
{Juicy thick cut gammon ham that was not too salty}

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Cranberry sauce
{I loved this sauce which was amazing with the turkey, whole plump cranberries that were not too sweet.}

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Juicy turkey
{The white meat was amazingly juicy and soft}


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Stuffing
{Not the same as British stuffing but I liked the herbs and pieces of bread in it}

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Candied Yams
{Delicious sweet and mushy yams}

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Vegetables

{a nice variety of greens, cauliflower and broccoli}
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Mashed potato

{creamy buttery mash}
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Pumpkin pie
{lovely pumpkin pie with a strong kick of cinnamon}

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Pasta with white truffle (this was not part of Thanksgiving but we tried it as well).
{The white truffle was strong and there were generous slices of it, however the sauce was too creamy for my liking}

Thanks to this tasting I have been rekindled with the delicious food at FA which I once loved and forgotten.
I will come back and try their new items which were not on the menu before.

Pumpkin and Spice Pie from TTPP

Tai Tai Pie Pies (Admiralty)

Previously tried the Pumpkin and Spice Pie at Blue Smoke for Thanksgiving but unfortunately it has packed up.

Then I got to try it again because Secret Ingredients stocked it.

At GREAT food hall, there is now a TTPP stall where I can get all my favourite pies directly from them.

The Pumpkin and Spice Pie is just the thing for Thanksgiving or halloween.

The two that I got were obviously for halloween because one had a cute bat and the other had a witch on a broomstick.

There were other designs as well.

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Pumpkin and Spice Pie:


The pie looked more like a tart because there was no pie top to cover it, and the filling was delicious and buttery with a strong taste of cinnamon.
The sweetness was just right and after reheating it, the pie was even more delicious because the pumpkin aroma came out more.
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My 1st Thanksgiving dinner at Blue Smoke BBQ 2012

Thanksgiving is American and new to me as I have never heard about it in the UK.

I found about the Thanksgiving dinner at Bluesmoke when I read about it last year just after Thanksgiving had passed, so I had to wait another year to be able to try this Thanksgiving dinner at Bluesmoke!

I was really attracted to this thanksgiving dinner because it is similar to the Christmas Dinners with roast turkey and stuffing.

Finally a year had nearly past and I kept calling Blue smoke in early November to see if they were doing the Thanksgiving dinner this year but they were not really good at calling people back because they did not return my call.
A few weeks later I checked their website and it had been updated with the coming thanks giving dinner so I booked it.

The thanksgiving menu for ths year is:
Chicharron (Crispy pork skins)
Veggie sticks and ranch dressing
Roasted butternut squash soup with chestnut and sage
Smoked turkey breast
Sage-giblet dressing
cinnamon cranberry sauce
Basket of biscuits
Candied yams with toasted marshmallow
Rosemary roasted carrots
Roasted garlic mashed potato
Ham and pea macaroni and cheese
Stewed cinnamon and spiced apples
Green bean casserole with crispy onions
Dessert: Pumpkin pie/apple pie/peacan chocolate chip pie.

The menu seemed quite reasonable because it had turkey and pumpkin pie which were Thanksgiving items.
Some other places in Hong Kong modified the menu slightly by serving lobster bisque which I thought defeated the purpose of Thanksgiving and more of a gimmick for business.

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Chicharron (Crispy pork skins):
Basically this was deep fried pork skins with cumin and paprika powder on it.
It did not have that foul taste but they had been left out in the air for two long because they were not crispy and you need to rip it with your teeth.
Apart from being too chewy, the taste was actually ok.
Veggie sticks and ranch dressing:
It was a basket of cucumber, carrots and spring onion sticks to dip with ranch dressing.
I only liked the cucumbers so I had the cucumber which was nice and refreshing with the ranch dressing.
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Roasted butternut squash soup with chestnut and sage:

 

The soup was slightly sour and there were alot of spices, the sage taste was quite strong, and the sweet pieces of chestnut balanced out the sourness of the soup.
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Smoked turkey breast:

 

On the menu it said turkey breast but it also came with a turkey drumstick!
Although turkey is the main star of the show, I actually tried this Thanksgiving dinner because of the fascinating sides which I have not tried before such as the biscuits, candied yams and the all American pumpkin pie!
I took a bite of turkey assuming it would be dry but it was so amazingly soft and tender.
The turkey was so delicious with the stuffing and sage-giblet dressing (the yellowish sauce).
The turkey drumstick was slightly hard and tasted like an over roasted duck leg with crispy skin.
Stuffing:
This was the best Stuffing I have had in my life! It was a generous portion too which I did not have to eat sparingly.
It was a mix of bread, livers, sage and whatever it had in it!
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Sage-giblet dressing:
The appearance of this dressing looks like French dressing but it was similar to gravy.
Again the taste was absolutely delicious, you could taste the giblets even there were no solid giblet parts in the gravy.
The taste of sage was prominent as well!
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Basket of biscuits:

 

These looked like four mini scones, which were really different to the British biscuits which are hard.
The same goes with US and English cookies which are totally different.
Anyway they tasted like unsweetened scones.
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Rosemary roasted carrots:
The carrots were delicious was a nice hint of rosemary.
Candied yams with toasted marshmallow:
I found this side dish really fun, I never imagined having marshmallows with dinner.
The candied yams were quite sweet and delicious.
Roasted garlic mashed potato:
The mashed potato was quite heavy but it was packed with garlic and mustard flavours.
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Ham and pea macaroni and cheese:

 

 

This was REAL cheese and macaroni, although it was quite fattening but it was delicious!
The melted cheese had a nice puree texture.
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Stewed cinnamon and spiced apples:
The stewed apples were quite nice.
Cinnamon cranberry sauce:
This was the usual cranberry sauce but there was a hint of cinnamon which was a bonus and made it different from the usual cranberry sauce.
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Green bean casserole with crispy onions:

 

This was delicious however the beans were a bit too hard, the sauce was really nice and the crispy onions on top were delicious.
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Dessert: Pumpkin pie/apple pie/peacan chocolate chip pie:

 

On the menu it said a choice of pies but all three were given which was great.
The pumpkin pie and peacan chocolate were the best.
The pumpkin had been mixed up so it was no longer orange, it was a bit like toffee puree.
The peacan chocolate pie was lovely and gooey with thick but not cloyingly sweet chocolate!
It was also chewy too.
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To summarise, it was a great dinner and they let you have seconds.
The portions were huge and most people could not finish it all, but they give you decent sturdy plastic boxes so you can take the rest home!! They even help you to put the food in the boxes.
I don't usually like eating leftovers but these were delicious and I was actually looking forward to eating the leftovers.
Our waitress was really nice and smart. I dont know her name but she was the pretty one with stylish glasses.