French buffet at Café Renaissance

From today, French guest chef Raphael Szurek will be at Café Renaissance until 8th May to showcase his signature dishes including Baked Snails, Tartar and Nicoise Salad.

This sophisticated French gourmet journey experience is available from now to 29th June.

As well as French food, they serve Asian cuisine as well but being an expat I was impressed with the choices of pates, homemade terrine, baked snails, cheeses, rillettes and the almost 42" long baguette!!!!

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Pates and rillettes:






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Cheeses:



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super long baguette!!

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FLORA!!!
A choice of Flora or decent butter..

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Other French items:
Bacon wrapped asparagus, chicken with morel mushrooms, roasted duck confit.






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Desserts~




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What I had:
Freshly made steak tartare that was rich and full of flavours.

Pates galore, my favourite was the duck liver pate which was thick and velvety.


Baked buttery snails

Light salad.

Green tea eclair

Chocolate mousse and poached pear.

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Dinner buffet is priced at HK$538* per adult and HK$258* per child (age 3-11)
Monday to Thursday; HK$568* per adult and HK$278* per child (age 3-11) on Friday to Sunday, inclusive of unlimited orange juice and soft drinks.
To spice up the taste of France, you only need to add HK$250* to have unlimited sip of 15 red and white wines from Rhone Valley, and take a selected Rhone Valley wine home.

Savoury soybean soup

This restaurant is quite good for quick Shanghainese snacks such as tofu, soymilk, rice with spare ribs etc.
However it is easily forgotten because it is located on a back street of some unpopular mall and the restaurant itself is quite grubby.


Anyway here was what I had:
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Soymilk:


Lightly sweetened soymilk with a mild soybean taste.
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Savoury soymilk:

This was item that I came for and it did not let me down.
There were generous amounts of tiny dried shrimps, preserved vegetables (jaa-choi), spring onions and fried dough sticks in the soymilk.
It reminded me of Western soup because it was thick and wholesome yet tasty because of all the tasty elements especially the preserved vegetables and fried dough sticks.
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Fried tofu:

The tofu blocks were fried just right with a golden colour.
Inside it was soft and silky which tasted great with the chili bean sauce condiment on the table.
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Sweet soymilk with dumplings:

I was disappointed with the dumplings because they used to taste really good.
The dumplings were too soft this time with holes and the fillings came out.
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上海真美豆漿大王
Shop No.G22, G/F,Metro City Plaza 3, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O

Great tempura from Marugame Seimen

I was so glad I had a tasting nearby or I would not have gone in for some tempura.

On this visit, they had huge long strips of squid which was not there last time and the quality of the tempura was good because they were freshly fried for the busy session to come.



I only had the squid and the egg because I don't like their udon.

soy sauce with grated ginger and spring onions was self service from the condiments counter.

They also have forks and spoons for children.

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Tempura egg:


Again, another perfect egg with a runny yolk centre!!


It was simply delicous with the soy sauce complimented by the light crispy tempura coating.
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Squid:



The squid was so satisfying because it was such a big piece and the coating was light and the squid inside was soft.
I should have dipped it in the egg yolk above and it would have tasted amazing.
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I would love to come here more often but the design of this mall is really crap because the escalators are randomly located.

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Marugame Seimen
Shop 609, 6/F, iSQUARE, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Common Room reunion

At school, I have always been curious of the Teachers room, the only room that pupils could not enter so when we got our common room it felt really special.
It was a place just for 5th year pupils at secondary school.
Whilst it was exciting progressing on to the 5th year, at the same time I was dreading it because it was the last year of school before heading off to college and not everyone attends college so you don't see them anymore.
Thanks to Mjqueen7e for inviting me to The Common Room which reminded me of school.
It was a lovely gathering environment for drinks and food.
The small twisting flight of stairs at the entrance was interesting.
Anyway, here was what we tried:
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Pulled pork poutine:

Melted chedder cheese and bbq sauce.
Addictive fries topped with delicious gravy and bbq sauce with melted cheese, and the pulled pork makes it satisfying.
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Chicken lollipops:

Coated with maple syrup.
Irresistible chicken lollipops with a crispy coating enhanced by the maple syrup and sweet sauce.
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Charred sweet corn salad:

This was simple and delicious, nachos topped with corn, purple onions and diced tomatoes flavoured with spices.
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Flatbread:

caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, goats cheese and truffle.
This was a bit like pizza and a bit like crackers topped with delicious goats cheese on top with fragrant truffle and sweet caramelized onions and earthy mushrooms.
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Portobello mushroom sliders:

gruyere, caramelized onions and avocado.
These sliders were cute and I loved the way the mushroom was bigger than the bun.
It was really satisfying and meaty but not heavy because it was just a juicy mushroom in the middle with melted gruyere cheese and guacamole.
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WAGYU FOIE GRAS SLIDERS:
Caramelized onions, arugula and balsamic reduction.

These cute burgers were meaty and paired nicely with the balsamic reduction which made it more appetizing.
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Classic mac and cheese:
Buffalo mozzarella, gruyere, parmesan, gouda topped with breadcrumbs.

The macaroni was a little too heavy for my liking.
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Lobster linguine:
Spicy fresh half lobster in tomato sauce.

The pasta was al-dente but the tomato sauce was too spicy.
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Lobster Risotto:
Lobster chunks, cream, garlic and white sauce

This was similar to the above but with delicious creamy risotto beneath it.
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For drinks I had the LEMON LIME BITTER which was quite acidic at first but after the ice melted it was really refreshing with the food.

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Common Room:
1/F, Wo On Building, 8-13 Wo On Lane, Central