Disappointing roast pork from 新一派 味道

新一派 味道 (Tseung Kwan O)

Honestly, I had no expectations of this place but it turned out far worse.

This place claims that their BBQ roast pork is good.

Anyway when I ordered, the waitress was a bit weird, after ordering one dish, she was rushing me to order a second dish as if I was not ordering enough.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Menu:





Most sets cost around $52-$55 which includes rice, vegetables, soup and a main dish.
The price is quite debatable because if you are getting so many items then $5x is a good deal but if the items in the meal are inexpensive then paying $5X is rather a waste!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Photos of the restaurant:



The restaurant is reasonably comfortable hidden at the corner of some mall.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roast pork with black pepper and honey:


The roast pork was just sweet, the black pepper was tasteless and having Chinese roast pork always depends on luck.
This time all the pieces were fatty. Great! NOT!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Red beancurd pork knuckles with beancurd skin:


The pork knuckles were on a bed of beancurd skin which soaked the beancurd sauce.
However the sauce was a bit gritty, it seemed like there were wood shavings in it.
As for the pork knuckles, they were too soft and had some prickly stubble that was not shaved properly.


Chinese radish:

The Chinese radish was good but the broth ruined it because it had a rancid pork smell.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ
Price: $1xx
Service: OK
Yummy factor: Could be better
Napkins provided: yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ

Surprisingly good beef tripes

Hung Lee (Tsim Sha Tsui)

Came here for a quick meal before a gathering.

I often go to places randomly in TST and MK because it is hard to plan.

Went to Hau Fook alley and there were a few options, one was really old and grubby so opted for this one.

When I sat down, I was pleased that they gave me an English menu.
I quickly glanced at the prices of the Chinese and English menu because in Tourist areas, the prices are generally marked up on the English version


Well the prices were the same but the English one had two portion sizes Large and medium and the Chinese menu only had one portion size.
Anyway I opted for the ox tripe in satay sauce for $38 as shown on the wall.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Satay ox tripes with rice:


I was quite impressed that the ox tripes and rice were served separately.
The satay sauce was different to the thick golden orange satay sauces you normally get.
There were pieces of ox tripe in satay soup on a bed of pak choi vegetables beneath.

The rice was too soft but the ox tripe was impressive because the satay sauce was not sweet like the usual ones and the broth made it really soft and tasty, however there was some slight MSG in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Baked Rice with Minced Pork and Black Olives

Chili Club (Wan Chai)

I have not had food from this place for a while so decided to pay it a visit again.
The new staff were much nicer and the air conditioning was not as cold as before.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Khao Ob Numlieb
Baked Rice with Minced Pork and Black Olives

As usual, this dish is lovely, minced pork with olives on rice with some soy sauce poured onto it.
The rice at the bottom is nice and crispy while the rice in the middle is soft and fluffy complemented by the minced pork and salty olives.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Gwit Dtee-Oh Kai Kaprao Krob
Spicy Fried Flat Noodles with Chicken and Basil

The noodles were disappointing because they were just oily and tasteless.
The basil leaves were not fresh because they were dry and shriveled up that there was no fragrant basil aroma.
The noodles which were meant to be spicy were not at all spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Pin noodles with beef brisket

Fish Ball Kong Chai Kee (Central)
G/F, 2 Kau U Fong, Central

Came here randomly because the restaurant I wanted to go was closed.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Menu:

This place basically served noodles and there were lots of different types of noodles.
I tried the silver pin noodles because not many places serve it.


As well as noodles, the banana toast was fancy, it was toast with nine slices of bananas put unformly on the toast.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef brisket with silver pin noodles:

The silver pin noodles were a bit disappointing because they were hard and tasteless.


The beef fared slightly better but it took me a long time to finish the bowl of noodles because the temperature was too hot.

How to spend $10,000 HKD in Macau (accommodation and food only)

A while ago, I won HKD10,000 at my company's Christmas party but unfortunately it was not cash and the requirements were for holiday expenses on food and accommodation only.

I chose to spend it in Macau because you can spend money more lavishly and the currency is 1:1 so it was easier to control the budget.

I booked two nights at Banyan Tree, Macau which took a good chunk of the money and for ferry tickets I decided to get the Turbojet Premier class because I wanted to experience it.
We also bought two tickets for the famous Festiva buffet.

I thought I had good control of the budget until I went to McCallans because they rounded the total up and I ended up getting some odd change of 50 avos which was hard to spend because I needed credit card receipts to claim the $10,000.

Anyway, here is a breakdown on how I spent $10,000 and the relevant links.

Banyan Tree (2 nights) = HKD5446
Turbojet Premier class x 2 to Macau = HKD820
Turbojet Premier class x 2 to HK = HKD820
Tea ceremony at Yamazato Okura = MOP506
Dinner at Mortons of Chicago = MOP627
Drinks at Macallans Whisky Bar = MOP126.5
Dinner buffet x 2 at Festiva = MOP720
Lunch at Laurel = MOP826
Drinks at Pacific Coffee = MOP108
==============================
Total HK$ 9999.50
==============================

Freebies that came with the hotel package:
Breakfast at Saffron, Banyan Tree
Quick Rich meal vouchers

Dreams come true: PART TWO

Ever since I tried this place, I have fallen in love with their food.
All the dishes are presented in a lovely way which makes them memorable.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tomato jelly ball paired with oyster leaf, preserved plum tomato basil:


For the starters, I was advised to start from the left, right, then centre.
The first item was the huge molecular tomato caviar filled with tomato essence.
It bursted with delicious tomato essence which was made from 7-8 tomatoes for a molecular caviar of this size.
Next was the oyster leaf which was served on an oyster shell covered with lava salt foam.
After devouring the oyster leaf I was really shocked by the taste because it was fascinating that you could get a plant tasting exactly like an oyster.
The lava salt foam on top made it taste like a freshly shucked oyster.
Lastly there was the Cherry tomato which was in a vacuumed environment forcing the preserved plum flavouring into it.
It had a really strong preserved plum flavour in the form a cherry tomato.
On this tasting the deep fried Chinese parsley beneath the tomato was replaced by jewel leaves which were much healthier.
Jewel leaves are incredibly crisp and juicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled fresh snow crab legs, beetroot powder, low temperature baked garlic chive roots, popcorn with seaweed powder

This was too pretty to eat and it was extremely colourful.
I really had fun dipping the snow crab legs in the beetroot powder which reminded me of icing sugar with a rich beetroot taste.
The baked garlic chive roots tasted just like freeze dried vegetables with a crispy light texture that crumbles in your mouth.
Lastly I had the savoury popcorn which was different and nice as it was flavoured with seaweed.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Dragon pearls:

These were huge crabmeat and squid patties filled with longnan berries with crab roe inside.
They tasted great with or without their homemade mayonnaise which had a nice hint of dill in the flavouring.
The dragon pearls have definitely improved because the ratio of patty meat and longnan were just right that you could taste the prawn patty as well as the longnan berry sweetness at the same time.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Steamed egg white with pumpkin puree topped with snow crab claw


The pumpkin puree had such a natrual taste with steamed egg white beneath it.
It was a really filling and piping hot dish.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pan fried Hokkaido scallop with honey soy sauce


It was such a surprise to see the scallops served on a pretty shell on a tray of salt with shells around it.
The huge sweet scallops were on a bed of enoki mushrooms dressed with honey soy sauce and black sesame cress!
The scallops were chunky and sweet complimented by the honey soy sauce which was not too sweet or salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried mini crabs with seaweed powder:


The crabs were too cute to eat and the way they were presented, they looked alive!
Each one was tasty because they were freshly fried further enhanced by the seaweed powder to give it that extra marine touch.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweet mango lights on Chocolate soil:



The beautiful pearl was served on pebbles with a maple leaf which reminded me of autumn.
Anyway it was too pretty to eat but I had to eat it, so I cracked the sugar shell which was made in the same way glass ornaments are blown.
Inside the pearl, there was gorgeous lightly whipped fresh chestnut mousse which was velvety and light complemented by the chocolate soil.
I felt that the pearl tasted better this time because the pearl shell was thinner and not so sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Black truffle creme brulee:


As you can see, there is so much truffle in this creme brulee.
However it was too rich and creamy for my liking.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
A choice of coffee or floral tea:

To end the delicious meal, I chose Black vanilla tea which was soothing and relaxing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

SHUE YUE
G/F., 17 Shelter Street, Causeway Bay

Restoration at Island East Markets

Restoration (Central)

Nearly every week I will visit IEM to see what goodies there are in store.

I was looking forward to IEM this time because Restoration was there.
I missed their gumbo last week because they did not promote it on Facebook.
It would be useful if restaurants could promote what they will have because if it is good people will come!!


Found out they had gumbo this week so this was what I went for!!
I wanted to try the ribs, but it's hard eating them standing up without knives and forks.



To be honest, I have not had much luck with Restoration because every tuesday they have the all you can eat fried chicken and I happen to be busy.

I love gumbo and the last time I had it was at Blue Smoke BBQ which closed down, but the good thing is that the chef from Blue Smoke works at Restoration.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Classic gumbo with seafood and crawfish


It was PIPING hot and I could barely hold the cup.
Anyway, it was so tasty and the spicyness was just right with pieces of crawfish, sausage meat in it and the lovely spring onions on top.
The rice blended in nicely and made it wholesome and filling.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Great night with friends with good vibes at VIbes

Vibes (Tsim Sha Tsui)
5/F, The Mira Hotel, 118 Nathan Road

It's pointless for me to go to bars because I don't drink alcohol but on this occasion went with friends to chill out at Vibes.

I was amazed how nice it was, it was like a secret garden surrounded in the middle of the hotel.

There were lots of comfortable tables, dreamy trees with lights and outdoor heating.


I loved these huge momentum balls which can actually move, but they are hollow inside so you might dent them if you touch them!!

At Vibes they have a minimum charge of $200 per person which is sufficient for two drinks.
I ordered the Lime soda and the Vibes passion.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vibes passion:
pineapple juice, passionfruit syrup muddled with fresh ginger slices topped with soda.

At the beginning it was really nice because the pineapple and soda tasted nice but towards the bottom of the drink it tasted like squash.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lime soda:

The lime soda was really good because it was really refreshing with fresh lime juice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
They also had fresh fruit shisha in fresh pineapples and watermelons which perfectly matched the oasis vibes at Vibes served by a guy dressed in Arabian clothing!!

Get snacking online from Lingsik King Limited

Lingsik King Limited (Sham Shui Po)

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Milky sweets:



These candies were chewy with a hint of strawberry and tastes like strawberry milkshake.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★



Thanks to Lingsik for sending these to me and Mjqueen7e.
To see more snacks visit the website as shown above.