Mind blowing contemporary dim sums

As soon as I found about these Western dim sums I had to dine here.
It is located on Upper Lascar Row where they sell antiques.

The restaurant is called Man Mo Cafe because it is near the Man Mo temple which you can spot easily by the brightly lit blue neon lights.


Inside the restaurant it was modern and extremely chic.
On the ceilings there were phoenixes, illustrated in a Western way.

As well as that, their logo is well designed.
It is a Bamboo steamer lid with the logo incorporated in the bamboo weaving patterns.


I loved the ambiance at this place because it was relaxing and you won't find people shouting or those annoying ceramic bowls and cups clinking together.
The best part is that you don't need to rinse anything!

The menu was simplistic serving contemporary dimsums that comes in a choice of twos or threes.


Here was what I ordered.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Kusmi strawberry green tea:

The combination of strawberry and green tea sounded unusual so ordered it.
When it came, the smell of strawberry was so fragrant that the whole restaurant could smell it.
It is different to other strawberry teas because it was not sour and there is green tea taste to it as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ratatouille with tomato sauce:

The Ratatouille dumpling had an Italian flair to it.
It was filled with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers with creamy tomato sauce to complement it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Kebabun:

This was my favourite because it was a combination of European kebabs and Mongolian food.
The pieces of lamb were done to perfection because they more moist and crispy on the edges heavily spiced with cumin.


It was dressed with salad, yoghurt and some feta choose which made it so tasty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken and mustard dumpling:


The chicken dumpling was slightly disappointing because the mustard sauce was too creamy and it did not have that mustard kick to it.
I was expecting the sauce to taste like English mustard with a kick or American mustard which has a tangy tone to it.
The chicken inside the dumpling was good, it was small chunks of chicken thigh and not minced chicken breast which has more flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Burgerbun:

I am not really a person for beef burgers but with those two cute bottles of squeezy sauces I decided to have fun and try it.
The buns are the same as those dim sum buns filled with roast pork (chaan baus) but they were filled with minced beef.
Basically you take a bite and add sauce to it using those cute mini squeezy bottles.
The sauce was quite creamy and not as refreshing as I would have liked so I just added salt and pepper to it which was also good.
THE SALT THEY USE IS BY MALDON AND THEY ARE A MUST SEE ITEM BECAUSE THEY ARE SQUARE FLAKES WHICH LOOK LIKE HOLLOW PYRAMIDS!!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Truffle and brie dumpling:

The truffle and brie dumpling was amazing! Looking like an ordinary potsticker, it was filled with brie cheese.
It was really tasty with cheese oozing out when you bit it and the amount of cheese inside was just right that it did not feel sickly.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Hk egg lemon tart:
I loved this egg tart because it had a tarty lemon base topped with fluffy gooey meringue, however the base was too delicate and crumbly that I had difficulty holding it because it was going to collapse any second!

Since my review, I think the tart base has improved because on the latest press clipping, the owner was able to hold it in mid air without collapsing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I love the dim sums here and they come in twos or three so you can indulge them yourself!

Next time I am going to try the soups and look forward to more new creations.
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Man Mo Cafe: 40 Upper Lascar Row, Sheung Wan

Price: $4XX
Service: OK
Service charge: 10%
Yummy factor: great
MSG levels: None
Napkins provided: yes
Portion sizes: small
Noise levels: None
Glass of water provided: yes
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
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UN grand marché dans Une petite boutique

Flavour (Sheung Wan)
G/F, 18 Possession Street, Sheung Wan

I have always wanted to come here but couldn't find it.
Fate brought me here again after spate of French meals recently.

Anyway went in and discovered it was a mini French grocery shop selling cheeses, baguettes and you can even order food and dine there.

The chewing gum that you can buy in France can be bought here!!


Huge selection of quiches, cheeses, hams, drinks and desserts~

Quiches galore!!

For food, the meals not including drinks or soups were about $55-65 which is an amazingly deal compared to other French dos.

While I sat there, there were so many French expats coming and going for French groceries.
The hot seller were the baguettes and cheeses which is their staple food!

NOW YOU SEE IT

NOW YOU DON'T!! Gone within 10 minutes!~


The owner is really NICE and GOOD LOOKING just as the review says~~

Here was what I had!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fish in creamy white sauce:

The fish was succulent and flakey covered in creamy sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Spinach and feta quiche:

The quiche selection was annoying because there were too many to choose from and the size of each quiche was HUGE!! About the size of a brick!!
It was loaded with spinach and flavoured by the cheesy crumbly feta.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fries:

The fries were a bit disappointing because they were not French. The ones I had in France are much thinner and freshly cut to be fried.
These were just the usual chips!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Moule frites:


The mussels were meant to be paired with fries but I had them with a baguette.
It was a huge portion and the sauce was generous too.
Although the mussels tasted like they were frozen ones, the way it was cooked made it taste like it was half fresh and the sauce was really nice because there was white wine, finely diced onions and herbs.
After finishing the mussels, the sauce was just amazing with the baguette.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
chicken leg in red wine sauce:

The chicken in red wine sauce was also good, it was well marinated that the chicken skin and chicken beneath it was full of flavour.
The sauce was lovely and rich, perfect with the rice they served.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Nougat glace:

The nougat icecream tasted like frozen whipped cream with nuts in it.
It was really affordable too compared to other French restaurants.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
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Price: $1xx
Service: Tres bon
Service charge: non
Yummy factor: manifique
Napkins provided: oui
Portion sizes: reasonable
Noise levels: None
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
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Tornado potato skewers whizzing in cheung chau

As soon as you arrive at Cheung Chau Island you will see people holding sticks of Tornado potato skewers / spiral potato skewers.

Basically, they are whole potatoes cut into a spiral and put on a skewer and fried.
I tried this place because they were fried to order and the skewers coming from this joint were not that brown because most Hong Kong people like to deep fried their snacks to a brown colour.

I would have ordered the frozen fruits on a stick but they were sold out.

The tornado potato skewers cost $27 a la carte or you can get it with drinks or fried icecream for $30.

After ordering, she takes a potato and puts it on a skewer and spreads it out on the stick.

Then she puts it in the fryer.

When it is ready, you can eat it unseasoned or you can season it with powders on the table.

There are eight seasonings to choose from:

Chicken and lemongrass
Salt
Cheese
Plum
Sichuan seasoning
BBQ
Spice salt
curry

Anyway, I liked mine plain so that I could taste the potato.
It tasted like freshly fried unsalted crisps and parts of it were soft as well which is why I liked it to be gently fried.



Basically it was one of those been there, tried that experiences.
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潮食坊 (Cheung Chau)
Price: $30
Service: OK
Yummy factor: ok
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Maxims rainbow cake

Tried this cake a year ago but forgot to write about it so here it is!!!!


I tried each of the coloured layers but they all taste the same.

Overall the cake was fun to eat and tasted better than their traditional cream cakes with canned fruit!
Basically it was sweet soft crumbly cake layers paired with cream.

If the cake layers had more distinctive flavours then it would not feel so artificial because of the colours.
Compared to the same rainbow cake I tried from Maxims a while ago, there were less fruit in this one such as sliced strawberries and kiwis.

$10 for an unusual experience

Initial Ice Cream Store (Tsim Sha Tsui)

After reading the reviews I was curious about their softserve icecreams.

Currently there are two flavours:
-Usual experience - 3.6 hokkaido milk
-Unusual experience - I dig leather

There is some speculation that there will be a new flavour to come called "tears".
(I wonder if it is going to be savoury!)

The softserve costs $10.

It was hard deciding which one to get, so I asked the guy about the Unusual experience and he said it tastes like tea.

I was silly to have thought that he meant Western milk tea coming from a Chinese guy because for milk tea they only have one kind which is the one I hate.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I dig leather :


Unfortunately I did not like it because it tasted just like Hong Kong Style tea.
I really regretted not getting the Usual experience because it tastes like white rabbit sweets according to the reviews.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Maintenance!
Yeah right!
I was so annoyed they stopped serving softserve because no one eats froyo/icecream during the winter except me because the temperature of winter here is probably autumn in the UK.
COME ON... ITS NOT COLD!!!


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Clean roasted chestnuts

China Dragon Arts (Sheung Wan)

Walked past this shop after trying Man Mo Cafe, these small chestnuts that were merely bigger than hazelnuts in their shells caught my attention.



These chestnuts are from Tianjin and I was compelled to get them because they were contained in a wooden tub.


I never buy roasted Chestnuts in HK because they are always roasted on the street surrounded in black coal. It STINKS when they do that and I wonder if the person who roasts them gets cancer cos its seriously toxic!
The smell is so bad that it makes me choke and throw up.

The chestnuts were only $36 per pound and you get quite a lot in the bag and they still feel warm.
They are easy to eat as well because the chestnut lining does not stick to it and they taste sweet and not starchy.

I am definitely coming back for more.

Mandarin hotel also does chestnuts but I have never seen that stall.

Love bites with the apple of love

Jam Bakery (North Point)

According to my reviews, it has been four years since I last visited Jam Bakery.

They used to be located in Tai Hang and closed down for a while until they reopened here recently.

Jam Bakery is on the corner and the shop is quite see through.


This branch is much bigger than the previous place with a cake cabinet, cookie shelf and a reasonable dining area.




I decided to go to Jam Bakery because of the apple cheesecake which is also being sold at Sogo branded with Hello Kitty.

There was a green one and a red one.


To be honest, the green one was not appealing because the shade of green looked a bit like gunge and slime so I got the red.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple Cheesecake (RED):
I do not like the colour red, but red was more appealing than green in this case.
The apple looked so realistic I was tempted to bite it just like can apple, but in the end I dug in with a fork.



As a cheesecake, it tasted nothing like a cheesecake, but it was delicious if you treat it as a apple cream cake.
Fresh apple and cream with light sponge cake in the middle that was not too sweet with a hint of cinammon.
However it was weird it had raisins in it.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Apple Cheesecake (GREEN):
Came here again for the cheesecake because it was really nice.
The service was much better this time because this time I got a glass of water.


The green one had an extra piece of chocolate on top which was not there before shown on the first photo.
According to the earlier reviews, both the red and green should have a piece of chocolate on top.



I was expecting the RED and GREEN to taste the same, but as you can see there is much more apple filling in it.
The green one was much sweeter too, so in conclusion, I prefer the red one that I tried before.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
As well as the cakes, I was hoping to try Froyo because they had a unique cactus topping that you could choose.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Previous visit:
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2056396&tc=sr2&con=rvw

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Price: $42
Service: OK
Yummy factor: not consistent
Napkins provided: yes
Glass of water provided: not on first visit
English Menu: Yes
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