Camellia is not just a garden flower

Earlier this year I discovered Camellia oil because it was awarded 'The Best Natural Cooking Oil' award at Hong Kong LOHAS Award 2019.

Sunplan - Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Camellia Oil is a vegetable oil extracted from Camellia tea seeds which contains all three essential fatty acids like Omega 3, 6 & 9.

Since I have this plant in my garden, I felt compelled to try it because Camellia has always been a pretty flower in the garden.

Before I use any ingredient, I will always smell and taste it so that it can be used accordingly.

I was expecting the oil to have a flowery aroma like the real plant but it didn't which meant you could use the oil for anything like cooking and making cakes.

One of the advantages of Camellia oil is its high smoke point (burning point) which means it is suitable for cooking at high temperatures like frying food.

I used the oil on egg fried rice because egg is the soul of fried rice and it turned out quite well.

It just behaved like normal oil and the fried rice tasted good as you could still taste the egg.

For baking, I happily used the oil in the muffin mixture because it is good for your health and better than using non nutritious oils.

As as well as cooking, it can also be used on hair and skin.

The best thing is that it complies to the FDA which is something I trust.

Sunplan - Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Camellia Oil can be purchased from HKTVmall:
https://www.hktvmall.com/hktv/en/main/DRAGON-MAX-SEAFOOD-COMPANY-LIMITED/s/H6625001/Supermarket/Supermarket/Rice-%26-Cooking-Oil/Cooking-Oil/Others/Cold-Pressed-Extra-Virgin-Camellia-Oil-500ml-gift-set/p/H6625001_S_F00120

Over the moon with the world's first KFC mooncakes

A while ago, I spotted this huge signage that KFC was going to open a new branch at Causeway Bay in July so made a mental note about it.

The new branch is located on the corner and occupies two floors!!

The street level is Sweet Box which is grab and go desserts and drinks, the first floor is the ordering area with self service kiosks and bar seats while the second floor is the main dining area.
Both floors have an order screen that indicates the orders that are ready to pick up. 

Attended the KFC Causeway Bay new store and Mooncake official launch.
At the new concept store, there are some exclusive options to give diners a different experience.

Grilled chicken combo:
The chicken is grilled to order and it was really comforting because it visually reminded me of nandos, although the taste is different.
The chicken tastes like the flava roast.

Oven glazed hot wings platter:
The wings platter is great for sharing.
My favourites were the garlic cheese and honey glazed hot wings while most people liked the sweet chili.

Chizza:
Previously this was only available takeaway but they were so popular that it is now offered for dine ins.
It was appetizing with the pineapple chunks.

Baked rice with chicken filet combo:
For carb lovers, this is another option as well as the rice buckets.

All of them were tasty but my favourite had to be the  grilled chicken because it was grilled to perfection.
As well as chicken, they have desserts!!!

For mid Autumns festival, I was over the moon with their new World's ever KFC moonlight bucket which lights up with LED.

Inside this cool moonlight bucket you will find Moonakes!!!

There are two flavours:  Golden Lava custard and Spicy chicken and nuts mooncakes.
The Golden Lava custard is a popular mooncake in Hong Kong so it can't go wrong.

For the Spicy Chicken and nuts mooncake, think of it like chewy chicken biscuits gaaijaibeng with chicken floss and nuts inside just like the five nuts mooncake.

Overall I felt that the chicken mooncakes were quite traditional so it won't be a shock for the tastebuds.

KFC, G/F, 1/F & 2/F, East South Building,

479 & 481 Hennessy Road & 29 Percival Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2745 2903

華御結 Hana-Musubi new product launch event

華御結 hana-musubi has been around for quite a while, they started off with a few shops and now they have more than 20 branches with shops conveniently located at various MTR stations.

As a fan of HM, I was really lucky to get to visit their factory and see how the musubis are made.

Everything is taken seriously so quality is ensured with high hygiene standards.
Before you enter the factory, you have to get vacuumed for any dust or stray hair, scrubbed 2 times, enter a drying room and then wear protective gear from head to toe.

At the product launch event, we got a preview of the Jumbo omusubis and the healthy mixed rice series that will be launched on 8th July 2019.

Jumbo Omusubi series:

Okinawa style ham and egg Jumbo Omusubi

Black pepper and chicken and burdock roots jumbo Omusubi
Grilled salmon with cod roe mayonnaise Jumbo Omusubi

Healthy mixed grain series:

Pork and vegetables in Okinawa style:

Konbu and Dadachamame:

Soy sauce and Sakura shrimp

We even tried our hand at making some omusubis.

When we left, we were given this lovely box which lights up when opened.

Inside was the new musubis we tried, Koshihikari rice and Amazake drink.

#hanamusubi
#ssghanamusubi

[品 PIIN Wine Restaurant] Fine wines paired with Cantonese food

Piin is a wine restaurant founded by the owner of Chateau de Meursault and Chateau de Marsannay. The restaurant focuses on Burgundy Wines so you can expect over 2,000 fine wines on the list. At the wine bar, they had whisky and other spirits a well.

As well as wines, they serve Cantonese food by Chef Ming who used to work at FLM according to their website so they did a fabulous pairing of Chinese food with these wines. I was super hungry after trying these wintermelon balls soaked in red wine which were refreshing and appetizing.

We were in good hands that night with experienced sommelier Jason who paired the wines that went with the dishes.

Started with the Cold Abalone In Smoke With Plum Sauce paired with Château de Meursault, Clos du Château 2014
I loved the way the abalone was thinly sliced drenched generously in tart plum sauce.

Next was the Stir Fry Fish "Noodles" With Abalone Thins paired with Domaine Prieure Roch, 13 Roses 2013.
Again, more delicious abalone tossed with springy fish noodles which tasted similar to dace mince.

The Seasonal Double Boiled Soup with bamboo piths, whelks and mushrooms was really comforting and moreish.
I loved the glass spoon and pot which made it memorable.

Deboned Crispy Chicken paired with Château de Marsannay, Le Clos de Jeu 2017
This was the best Chinese style crispy chicken I have ever had.
To be more exact it should be called deconstructed crispy chicken as the skin is fried separately which makes it evilicious like wafer thin crisps.

Cigar Duck Roll paired with Cos d’Estournel 2006
There are lots of edible Cigar rolls these days and it was much better than the one I had at Super Giant Tapas a few years ago because the duck here wasn't gamey and the frying oil was fresh.
At Piin, they have used fried kale to mimic the ashes whereas SG has used poppy seeds.

Signature Black Garlic Fried Rice paired with E. Guigal, Brune et Blonde, Côte-Rôtie 2011
The fried rice had a lot of texture in it with chewy black garlic and raw garlic pieces.
Overall, I found it quite bitter.

Finished with the Whiskey Cheesecake which was creamy cheesecake topped with a layer of whisky jelly.
It would be great if the Whiskey jelly was stronger.

Chocolate: Inspired like the Chinese cocktail bun filled with custard coconut, the chocolate actually tasted like the chocolate BOUNTY bar.

Overall, a fine place to dine with quality Chinese food and wines in the experienced hands of sommelier J who made the wine pairing experience a good one.

品 PIIN Wine Restaurant:
2/F, The Steps ‧ H Code, 45 Pottinger Street, Central

A great hot pot experience in Macau

Went to Macau for the weekend and it was someones birthday so decided to celebrate it here as it was close to the hotel and the place is new and spacious.

This is the beauty of Macau, everything is spaced out with tall ceilings and tables well spread out.

To begin, everyone gets to mix sauces from the sauce tray.

I was impressed with the choices as there were more options than Hong Kong and they had the English name for each sauce.

There were a few sauces that were really tasty such as the Thai Chili sauce which went well with the lobster.

For the non hotpot items, there was soy sauce fried rice and salt and pepper lobsters.

Eating the rice and lobster together was so satisfying.
The lobster was impressive as the coating was crispy and light.

As for the fried rice, every grain was fragrant and evenly coated in soy sauce.

Moving on to the hotpot, we had the tomyumkung broth and the pork broth.

Streaky pork with Sake:
The pork was quite unique because it was just like bacon but not cured.
You get a side of sake which you either dip before you put in the hotpot or dip after it is cooked.
I think it tastes better dipping in the sake after it has cooked in the pot because if you dip it before the sake gets diluted in the pot but overall delicious because the pork is tender.

Ferris wheel meatballs:
There was a good assortment of meatballs and my favourite was the one filled with salted egg yolk.

Dumplings:
The dumplings were neatly wrapped like tortelli, after they were cooked the prawns inside were nice and bouncy.

What appears to be fish shaped pudding is actually squid paste which you break up into smaller pieces into the pot.
When it is cooked, it is springy with delicious pieces of squid in it.

For beef, we had two types: Angus and Fresh beef slices with egg.
I liked the fresh slices of beef as they were tender and silky.

To finish, we had this light Chinese soup which had pieces of peach and egg which was soothing.

Our friend also got a free birthday cake because you get a free birthday cake if you book a birthday dinner a day in advance within the birthday month.
Will definitely be going again as Macau is always a good getaway.

[Seasons Hot Pot 春秋火鍋]
1/F, Harbourview Hotel, Macau Fisherman’s Wharf, Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, Porto Exterior