Stirring Belgium chocolate that causes a stir @ Hui Lau Shan

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To warm up for winter, lets play a game of spot the difference!
If you have read my HLS reviews before, you will know what I am talking about.
!

 

 

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The last drink I had at HLS was the chocolate fruit drink, it was extremely nice, but it depends which branch you go because I found it inconsistent.
I really like the way HLS is slowly changing its image by serving almost Western drinks with some Chinese elements to it.
The design of the cup is similar to the Western brands of coffee with a slight Taiwanese touch to it.
It is quite interesting their recent products such as the choco fruit drink and this drink do not feature their corporate image.

HLS design VS Pacific coffee

 

Anyway, I tried to order this drink when I dined there, but I didnt realise it was Takeaway only!!

The fine print: Take away only

 

I felt that it killed the fun because as a Takeaway drink, the solid chocolate on the spoon was already in the cup of hot milk with the lid firmly on.
It took away all the magic of visually stirring it and seeing it turn from milk into chocolate and virtually impossible whilst walking through packed streets with the lid on.
But with a lid clasped firmly on, and for takeaway, it takes the fun and magic away.
Anyway it totally defeats the purpose being called Stirring Belgium Chocolate.

It should be served A la Carte with the spoon of solid chocolate and the drink served separately so you can have the fun of putting the chocolate into the hot milk and stirring it until it magically turns into hot chocolate, afterall their poster is conveying stirring belgium chocoate.

However the magic could still be saved if they used a clear plastic cup, but the cup would be too hot to hold as a takeaway drink.
The weather is not helping too, because I love sipping hot chocolate in the cold, and frankly it is still summer to me.

I do not like milk but since this one had Belgian chocolate I decided to try it.
It was basically a cup of hot milk with a choice of Belgian chocolate, Strawberry chocolate or Mocha.
You also get a free condiment to put in the drink which is similar to the Taiwanese drinks, the choices are wheatgerm, purple rice or mini glutinous rice balls.

The service at this branch was poor, the staff didn’t seem to have any knowledge of the drink or perhaps it was new and no one had ordered it yet, the staff did not ask me which chocolate I wanted or which condiment I wanted. I had to tell her I wanted the mini glutinous rice dumplings.

I ordered the Belgian chocolate but when I opened the lid I saw bits of pink floating!!

They gave me the wrong chocolate, but luckily I chose the glutinous rice balls because I don’t like the combination of wheat germ or purple rice and strawberry.

the choc-spoon submerged in the milk

 

solid choc attached to the spoon

 

Fully melted chocolate mixed with milk

 

Luckily I found a quiet spot to stir the chocolate before it melted and it turned out quite nice.
However there was SYRUP in it which made it too sweet and totally ruined it, but the scent of strawberry was really nice with the chocolate and not that fake.
The mini glutinous rice dumplings matched ok with chocolate and strawberry.
Next time I will request it without syrup
HUI LAU SHAN HEALTHY DESSERT
www.hkhls.com

Stirring belgium chocolate Xmas edition @ Hui Lau Shan

I really liked their stirring chocolate series, so when the Christmas edition came out I did not hesitate to try it.

On the product shot, the Christmas edition is chocolate with nuts which look green on the product shot.
I thought they were pistachios.

However when you get the drink, the nuts cannot be seen as nearly as the product shot and they are not green.
It would have been nice if the nuts were pistachios.

Anyway, the milk was luke warm so it did not melt the chocolate properly.
But other than that, the new drink is as good as the other drinks in the Stirring chocolate series

HUI LAU SHAN HEALTHY DESSERT
www.hkhls.com

More and more Arabic dishes on the menu @ Oh Food

Just as I am writing this review, there are new dishes on the menu which I havent tried yet.

Anyway ordered my favourite starters which you would expect to see in an Arabic restaurant.

I have previously tried them at Habibi in central and its supermarket counter at Gourmet.

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Tabouleh:
This is a finely chopped salad containing wheat, tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion and garlic seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
The salad is so finely chopped that you can just eat with a spoon.
I love the colours in this dish, green with hints of grain and tomato.
It is very refreshing to start the meal with, however the wheat could be softer.

 

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Mutabal:
This is pureed Egg plant mixed with lemon juice.
Again another one of my favourites that go nicely with pita bread.

Oh Food: http://www.ohhalalfood.com

Indomie noodles Hongkonised and made high-end @ Hong Kong Tea Time

Indomie instant noodles were cheap and affordable noodles that used to be sold in Indonesian grocery shops for Indonesian expats, now they are commonly served in Chinese small food joints and even at 7-eleven as a noodle snack for less than $10, moreover they can be bought at a slightly higher retail price in Hong Kong supermarkets.

Interestingly, many restaurants now serve Indomie because the Chinese are familiar with it along with the traditional brands such as Dolls and Nissin, and Indomie is cheaper than them both.

Anyway, at this restaurant there was five choices with this noodle and it was priced between $25 and $38.

 

I ordered the one with the satay, which was sold out; however it took them long enough to tell me that it was not available after I asked them.

In the end I ordered the first which was the noodles in Thai Style!
When it was served, you could see it was loaded with finely chopped chili.

 

It tasted so spicy I could not finish it all.
As for the noodles it tastes like the usual Indomie noodles but with chili added.
The fried egg just tasted like an ordinary fried egg.

香港茶餐廳

Hong Kong Tea TimeShop 1021, L1/F, Metro City Plaza, 8 Mau Yip Road 

KFC's Bulgogi roasted chicken

Something new again, Korean bulgogi roasted chicken!

Korean food to me just tastes sweet and spicy, but anyway decided to give it a try.

The appearance of the chicken just reminds me of the flava crava roasted chicken with added black and white sesame.

It actually tasted like the Flava Crava roasted chicken with extra sweet and spicy sauce on top.

 

 

I have not tried real bulgogi so I can't comment on how authentic it is, but the sauce tasted nice.
The KFC in Korea does not serve bulgogi roasted chicken but they have a bulgogi burger.

Bulgogi burger @ KFC in Korea

 

The rice with seaweed was a nice change at KFC too and it was the typical long grain rice and not the pearl rice which you would expect for Korean/Japanese food.
The seaweed however was not the type I was expecting, I was expecting moist kelp to go with plain rice and not the dried laver snack types, but overall I liked it, but the rice could have been better because they gave me the dehydrated rice from the edges of the rice cooker.

 

Finally the honey green tea was basically a green tea Tea-bag immersed in hot water and syrup at the bottom of the cup which had not been stirred.
As it had not been stirred, I sipped the tea avoiding the syrup because I do not like drinks that are too sweet.