New sesame chicken Bing

Mr. Bing (Wan Chai)

There are two new flavours at Mr Bing: Sesame Chicken Bing (Bang Bang Chicken) and tuna and sweetcorn salad.

Tried the Sesame Chicken Bing (Bang Bang Chicken).
[Bang Bang Chicken is known as Bon Bon Chicken, a popular Szechuan dish made with sesame paste, rice vinegar, and cucumbers].


The Bings are made in the usual way.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sesame chicken bing:




I was disappointed with this new flavour because it was tasteless, the sesame sauce and peanut butter was not strong enough.
I have made Bang Bang chicken myself and it does not tastes that bland.
The other flavours are much better.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Okinawa purple potato swiss roll

Arome Bakery
The new Okinawa purple potato series looked really nice.

The cake and tart looked captivating but a whole cake was too much for me so I got the roll.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Okinawa purple potato roll:

On the top of the roll, it was covered with purple sweet potato puree and two pistachio nuts.
I was impressed that they put a sturdy card at the bottom of the bag so that when you carry it the cake does not stick to the bag.

It was a chocolate roll filled with cream and more purple sweet potato puree.
I loved this cake because the chocolate rolls was moist and chocolately without being too sweet complemented by the purple sweet potato puree which surprisingly tasted good together.
The sweet potato puree was velvety and not too starchy which was made lighter with the foamy whipped cream in the middle.
As a whole, it was a good balance of chocolate cake, cream and potato puree.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Start your CNY with Poon Choi in Thai style!

When I was invited to this tasting I was like 'huh' because it was a Thai restaurant but the item we were going to try was Poon Choi (big bowl feast).

Poon Choi is a traditional type of dish originating from Hong Kong rural villages found in different parts of Hong Kong. In the old days, it was served in huge wooden, porcelain bowls but these days they are often served in disposable metal basins that allows it to be kept warm on top of those gas portable cookers.

The traditional Chinese poon choi includes ingredients such as pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, prawn, crab, dried mushroom, fishballs, squid, dried eel, dried shrimp, pigskin, beancurd and Chinese radish.

Before I tried the Thai style poon choi, I was already curious whether it would be spicy or served in some sort of Thai sauce.

When we got there, we saw the poster and it looked like the usual poon choi.

It is currently on promotion as shown.

Here's what the Thai style poon choi looked like:



Basically it had some Thai items such as Thai style porks trotters, Thai style Royal chicken, Thai sausage and fish balls.

The usual items such as ducks feet, dried mushrooms, abalone and dried oysters are still there so fuddy duddies won't get upset!

To be honest, I prefer the Thai style poon choi because it does not contain fatty pork, pigs skin and duck which make the whole bowl really oily.
It was also great that it was not spicy and is suitable for everyone.

I chose young coconut water with my poon choi for an extra Thai touch!~


***
In the product shot, there are prawns, but that they were served separately.

Restaurant:

Bangkok Thai Restaurant
2/F, De Fenwick, 42-50 Lockhart Road,
3102 1618

Beloved popcorn

Marks & Spencer Fresh Bakery (Central)
Thanks to Garycwm for getting this delicious popcorn.

I have previously tried it and it was really nice.

There are two flavours:
-Chocolate and pecan
-White chocolate and strawberry.

Both flavours are really nice.
The chocolate and pecan is divine, each popcorn is covered with caramelised buttery coating with some chocolate on it.

It tastes better than the normal popcorn because I find that too dry.

Modern Sichuan food with style

Yun Yan (Causeway Bay)

This was my first time having high end Sichuan food.
The ones I normally go to are casual and the seating is less comfortable.

Here, the restaurant is really modern with an open dining area.
There is an open kitchen bar for COLD & SHAKE where Sichuan starters and noodles are shaken in cocktail shakers mimicking popular Sichuan snacks served on the streets which are shaken in bags with sauces and spices similar to the Hong Kong bag noodles that used to be popular a while ago.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Translucent beef:
Although there is no picture here, it is definitely worth trying because it is thinly sliced beef similar to beef jerky with a lovely sichuan peppercorn taste with sweetness.
In chinese it is called lantern beef because each slice is so thin that it lets light through almost like a paper lantern.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef tongue in wild mushroom oil:


This was not spicy and I loved the chunky cubes of beef tongue complimented by the fragrant wild mushroom oil and crispy black and white sesame seeds.
For a stronger and intense taste you can add more mushroom oil which is on the table too.
The beef tongue was tenders and soft.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled noodles with garlic pork belly:


There were a choice of sichuan white flour noodles, cornflour noodles or buckwheat noodles.
We had the cornflour noodles.
The noodles were refreshingly cool tossed in Sichuan vinaigrette with lots of garlic.
A good option for females wanting a light lunch.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Eight flavour tofu:


This was just fun!
There was a huge slab of tofu accompanied by a choice of condiments ranging from:
pepper powder, chili powder, chili sauce, sichuan style preserved cabbage, scallion, chili oil, garlic puree, sesame oil, black vinegar.


Basically you choose the condiments you like and slap it on the tofu!
The Sichuan peppercorns are not grounded so you have fun grinding it in the bowl and once its done you can really smell and taste how fragrant they are.
Before I tried the condiments with the tofu, I tried the tofu on its own and the soybean taste is really strong.
As well as the fancy condiments, they also had pink Himalayan salt which also tasted good with it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
hot and sour crab meat soup:



The soup had generous pieces of crabmeat in it as you can see.
Unfortunately the soup was too spicy for me, but I loved the Vinegar jelly cubes that you put in the soup which contribute to the sourness of the hot and sour soup.
It is recommended to put 1-2 cubes of vinegar jelly in the soup.
I tried one of the jelly cubes on its own and it was basically vinegar in jelly form.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
sauteed prawns in chili garlic sauce:


These prawns were huge and the edges were nice and crispy.
The sauce was rich with lots of finely chopped garlic and chili in it perfect with the meaty springy prawns.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
steamed fish head with chili:


Although this looked really spicy but it turned out to be my favourite because the size of the fish head was huge yet the fish was tender and there was lots of collagen in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sichuan house smoked cherry duckling:


This was smoked duck similar to peking duck which came with these super cute scallop shaped buns.
The buns were easily opened in the middle just like scallops were you put the duck in between and sauce.
It was really satisfying having the piping hot bun with smoked duck complemented with the sweet smokey barbecue sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Poached rib eye beef in chili broth:


I have never ordered this before because it looks scarily hot with red chilis floating on top.
Surprisingly it is not as spicy as it looks and rib eye was perfect for this because the texture is really tender with a smooth oily touch to it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
strawberry tofu milkshake :


I loved this tofu milkshake because it was blended with fresh strawberries, the sweetness was just right with the occasional strawberry tartness.
There was a strong soy bean taste too and the tofu that was blended into it contributes to that thickness just like a milkshake.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Panfried glutinous walnut cake:


These glutinous walnut cakes are green because it is made with grounded spinach.
I loved the chewy warm texture and the crunch of walnuts without being too sweet.
It reminded me of the Sticky and heavy Chinese new year cake but tasting much much better!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
For icecreams, they even had green bell pepper icecream, Sichuan pepper icecream which were really cool!
I don't mind coming back again and if it wasn't for this tasting I would just assume that all dishes were spicy!

I love this little teaser

Just a quick teaser for Shui Yue.

This was an off menu item that they prepared for me.

It was so sweet that they remembered these little crabs.
They were fried to perfection and because they were freshly done, the taste was not rancid.
Although the crabs did not have a strong taste, they were sprinkled with seaweed powder which gave it that extra freshly caught from the sea feeling.

The crabs were too cute to eat and they all looked alive on the plate.

Sooooooooo Veganlicious

Sooo Vegi (North Point)

Walked past and saw this new shop serving vegetarian food, so stopped by for dinner.


For some reason it reminded me of Veggie Spinner at Tai Hang because they were both decorated with green.

When I looked at the menu, they had Turkish rolls just like Veggie Spinner which was why I got confused.


As well as rolls, they had pastas and Chinese dishes.


I opted for Chinese food and came back another day for the Western choices.
The Chinese choice was really good because they were popular dishes such as spicy tofu with minced meat and aubergines with salted fish but in vegetarian form.
I love these dishes but I rarely have them because real meat stinks!

The prices were really affordable, just the same as the prices at Chinese cha chaan tengs and the wraps were only $28 each.


Here was what I had over two visits:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stewed Aubergines and salted fish with rice (VEGAN):



The aubergines were paired with healthy mixed grain rice.
I really enjoyed this dish because it was meat free and healthy, the dish is not as oily as the meat version and the aubergines were nice and soft with the taste as good as the meat version.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soup:


This was soup with Lion's Mane Mushroom, walnuts and black eye beans.
I wish the taste was stronger because it lacked the taste of mushroom but the bean taste was strong enough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried three treasures:


This appetizer was really cool because I have never seen a vegetarian version.
There were aubergines, mushrooms and green peppers.
My favourites were the mushrooms and green peppers which tasted meaty with the vegetarian meat substitute.
It was a bit oily for my liking but if they had the sweet sauces, I could have been fooled to think I was eating the meat version.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mexican wrap:



The roll was wrapped with avocado, vegetarian meat sauce, kidney beans, purple onions, sour cream and tomato sauce.
The roll was not spicy which was good and it was so delicious because it had kidney beans in rich sauce and creamy avocado along with crunchy vegetables.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Buffalo wrap:



The roll was wrapped with vegetarian chicken, sweetcorn, purple cabbage, celery, mixed veg, buffalo spicy sauce and ranch dressing.
This roll was also delicious, it had a nice sour tone to it which makes you even more hungry but the sweetcorn in it gives it a burst of sweetness while the carrots gives it a crunch.
Both rolls were beautifully wrapped.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Next time I am going to try the sausage wrap and other Chinese dishes which are guaranteed to be less oily than meat dishes.

New kid J on da block

J's Bar & Restaurant (Wan Chai)

I was browsing OpenRice for new restaurants and found this one so decided to go.

It was a neat little restaurant bar tucked away on Anton Road near Queen Road East.
When I got there, there was a bright menu by the door.


Before going in, I made up my mind on the sandwich.

After I sat down, the girl came to take my orders, there was no lunch menu, but luckily I took a photo of the menu outside which I referred to.
After a while, I realized SHxT, there was no price on the board so I was a little worried that it might be one of those over priced places, but luckily it was only $89 after asking.
The set lunch was a four course meal.

The decor was quite pleasant with a bar facing the door.


There was a quiet dining area left of the bar.


The evening menu was difficult to see but then I realised that you don't read the white writing but the shadow behind it!


The toilet signs were cute.



Here was what I had:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tomato soup:


It was really creative how they put the drops of cream forming a circle pattern.
After trying a spoonful I realized to was extremely spicy so I could not finish it.
The soup would have tasted really good because I loved the sourness but the spicyness was just too strong for me.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple and avocado salad:


The salad on the other hand was great, it was simple with an effective dressing.
As you can see, it had baby spinach leaves, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, avocado and thinly sliced red and green apples.
It was really nice because everything was tossed and flavoured well with a sauce that tasted like orange juice that was really tangy.
I liked this dressing because it was not oily, heavy or creamy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Looney tuna sandwich:



I did not like the beans because they were a bit raw, but the creamy tuna filling was good with the crispy soft baguette bun.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tea:


The tea was disappointing even though it was Liptons because it was the Hong Kong style RED tea which has a bitter taste.
It would be great if they had Earl grey or the breakfast blend.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★