Chinese Laksa @ 壹麵館 Eat Garden

This restaurant is always packed with people, and it never crossed my mind to try this place.

However, there were not many customers that day, so I gave it a try.

I entered the restaurant as you would normally do, however I waited for ages and no-one came to take me to a table.
After a while, someone finally took me to a table, and then I tried to order, but it turns out you have to go to the counter and pay for it then sit down.

After discovering that, I went to the counter and ordered a Laksa including a drink for $28.

Then after a while I was served and had no expectations for this place.
I made the mistake of ordering ramen because the noodles looked like Shanghai noodles and instant noodles would probably taste better with the laksa soup.
The fried egg was so Chinese and the presentation could have been better without those chilli oil spots splattered all over the rim of the bowl.

Banana fritters and Laksa @ Ma Thai

As mentioned in my earlier review, I would revisit this place to try either the Laksa or the Buk Ku Teh.
So this time I tried the Laksa, just to compare with the other places I had before.

For a bowl of Laksa, it was priced at $60, which is the average Laksa price in Hong Kong for a seafood one. As shown on the picture, the seafood, were the frozen ones as expected with no taste, boiled and placed on top of the noodles when served.

The prawns were the peeled types, which were convenient, the only draw back, is that it doesn’t have that prawn taste.

Anyway tasted better than I expected, the soup was much stronger, it was thick and full bodied, creamy, but not too strong of coconut.
The noodles were the thick white ones like spaghetti, they were soft and flavoured from the soup.
The tofu was slightly harder and chewier than preferred, the soup was not spicy at all, so anyone who cannot eat spicy laksa, can try it here.

For dessert I had coconut banana fritters, the batter was just right, light and crispy, inside with pureed banana, and topped with lots of desiccated coconut. The sweetness was acceptable.
Quite a good dessert too.

 

Fried cheddar and Camembert cheese @ 嵐山料理

I love fried food, so was happy to see one that just specialises in fried take-out snacks.
Luckily I am not affected by sore-throats or any after effects and myths I hear about fried food from the Chinese ppl.

I ordered the fried cheese and prawn; both were covered in cutlet coating.
Next time I will try the fried oyster and banana fritters.
Personally I prefer tempura coating, but cutlet is ok too.

Each item comes with a few pieces of flat cut chips, which lightens out the snack a bit.
The prawn cutlet was ok, however I preferred the cheese. There were two types in the portion, Camembert and Chedder cheese.

Chedder tastes stronger, and Camembert is creamier and oozes out with a sharp taste from the white Camembert rind.

 

MISOCOOL reminds me of Wagamama

Well, thought there was only one Misocool in HK, but there is one in Staunton Street, despite finding out too late, I still went to the Quarry bay one.

Quite an array of restaurants there, Epoch, Habitu, Misocool, and even KFC on that road.

Got there early in the evening, was allocated to this communal type large table, the décor and settings reminds me of WAGAMAMA http://www.wagamama.com/
At Wagamama, there are huge long tables, where people sit in rows with people opposite each other, and they are also specialists in noodles as well.

Anyway back to Miscocool, I ordered the White carrot gyozas, Stir-fried ink noodles in soup, Spicy Konjac noodles in soup, and a Miu Miu Berry (Strawberry milkshake).

The gyozas, was the main attraction that drew me to Misocool, normal gyozas are wrapped like dumplings, however these gyozas are minced gyoza fillings in between a folded sliced white carrot.

Presented on a plate with a drop of Japanese mayonnaise and fish roe on top. The gyoza is crunchy and the white carrot on the outside has been pan-fried. When dipped in the soy dipping sauce, the taste of white carrot is more evident, as the crunchiness has been softened by the soy sauce.

With or without sauce, it tastes good, however I prefer without the sauce, so that it tastes crunchier.

As for the noodles, they tasted OK, the spicy konjac noodles tasted like bean thread noodles but thicker and chewier. The noodle shape was long and cylindrical a bit different to the illustrated pictures which was long and flat like tagliatelle.
The Konjac noodles, had a sugar centred egg (tong sum daan), my first time eating one as I always had the impression it was sweet, but it just tastes like a soft boiled egg with a slight runny firm centre .

The ink noodles was also good, the bowl was worth its price, full of vegetables, seafood, even found 2 clams, 4 prawns, squid, 2 scallops. The soup base was nice and milky, however the smell was slightly milky for me. The only draw back, was the noodles were hot in temperature all the way through, which took me ages to eat, and frankly food with high temperatures, you can’t really taste it.

Lastly the milkshake didn’t taste that nice, a bit fake, no ice-cream taste in it at all, or maybe the fake strawberry taste was just the strawberry ice-cream.