A nice cafe on Swatow alley

Mansons Lot (Wan Chai)

A nice place for coffee and relaxing lunches, but perhaps a bit too cosy.

Tried the lunch set which includes a soup, main and an expresso.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Menu:

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Gazpacho soup:

This was quite impressive because most places serve hot soups and here they serve Gazpacho which is cold.
The top is nicely frothed and has a refreshing taste of tomato.
I could also taste carrot too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Quiche:

I loved this chunky quiche loaded with spinach but it would be great if the quiche base was savoury and not sweet.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
expresso :

I don't drink coffee.....
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

C.H.E.A.P sushi

Daimaru Sushi (Sham Shui Po)
Before I tried this place, I used to think it was expensive because the presentation of the sushi was quite classy.

They had a glass platter of sushi which is unusual according to a review datedsept 2010.
http://static2.orstatic.com/UserPhoto/photo/2/1O1/00BUXV94BA9A7317BBC385l.jpg

The fish skin was also interesting featured on the review by Garycwm dated oct 2010.
http://static1.orstatic.com/UserPhoto/photo/2/1QT/00CEPX57C67C3CED527FBBl.jpg

I only came here because Wai Kee was full of people and I suddenly remembered this place.

I have not read the recent reviews so did not know the style had changed.

After sitting down, I realized the menu was totally different and they didnt have the platter sushi that was offered years ago!

Shockingly the items were CHEAP ranging from $3-$12 for a piece of sushi!
The ramen was the cheapest I have seen so far for $18!!!!!

Heres what I had....
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Signature ramen:

Tasteless but good for the eldery and people on a low sodium, low oil diet.
Eating suggestion: mix the soy sauce and wasabi and use it as a sauce for dipping the noodles if you feel its tasteless.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Abalone gunkan, clams gunkan, flower of love sushi:

Both the abalone and clams gunkan were quite nice because the sauce was slightly spicy.
There was not enough sauce and the sauce was a bit too watery.
The flower of love was edible but the orange roe on top was not that fresh and shrivelled up.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared salmon:

The sushi was ok but I think the rice was burnt!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared flower of love with scallop:

Tasted ok, but the fish roe was not that fresh and slightly shrivelled up.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The bill was only $50 and there was no 10% service charge.
Amazingly I did not food poisoning the next day either!!
I definately recommend the $3 sushis, or the seared sushis that cost $4.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Chill out with Häagen-Dazs' new summer drinks 2013

Thanks to Häagen-Dazs and the communications teams for organizing a tasting to try their new summer desserts and drinks.

There are four new icecream flavours:
Banana Chocolate Brownie
Passion fruit cheesecake
Mango and raspberry
Salted caramel

Each new dessert features the new ice cream flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Moon shadow:

This was basically three scoops of icecream sandwiched in between two halves of a banana.
The three scoops of icecream include: green tea, chocolate and banana brownies.
The banana brownies icecream had a nice natrual banana taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cheese temptation:

This was a triple cheesy temptation because both icecreams had cheesecake in it, there was passionfruit cheesecake icecream and strawberry cheesecake icecream as well as a cheesecake.
The taste of the passionfruit cheesecake icecream was lively and tropical.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Summer fiesta:

The presentation and colour of this dessert was vibrant and colourful paired with mango and raspberry icecream and summer berries icecream.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fantasy Eiffel:

This was my favourite because it had the salted caramel icecream with lovely marshmallows and crunchies at the bottom.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Summer mango paradise:

This drink was a nice icy cooler and the taste tasted like sorbet even though it was made with icecream.
Most people said the taste was bland, but I liked it bland because it wasnt too sweet and I do not really like mangoes anyway so the faint mango taste was just right for me.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Very berries:

Compared to the drink above, this drink was much stronger with delicious berry taste.
The berries on top were frozen too making it extra cool.
It would taste great if there was yoghurt in the drink too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mat Cha Wandering:

This drink was little too milky but I liked the raspberry syrup that was mixed in because it made the drink livelier.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The tuxedo:

The chocolate drink was nice but I wished there was some coffee or tiramisu blended in to give it some dimension.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
NEW flavours:

On the left is the salted caramel and the banana brownies on the right.
The Salted caramel is really nice while the banana has a natrual taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Nice rice rolls with fried dough sticks

新華粥品 (Wan Chai)

I did not realise this was a new shop.
Vaguely in my mind, there was a congee shop in this area and they had interesting things such as sweetcorn and egg in the ricerolls according to IVYCWK’s review which was why I wanted to try it.
When I got there, they did not have it on the menu so I thought they stopped it.

Anyway, I tried the rice rolls and there were two types, one was freshly made to order and the others were fresh but made some time ago.
The freshly made ones were more expensive and the other ones such as BBQ pork rice rolls were also cheap at $13 per dish.
The congee also is also freshly cooked!


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rice rolls with dough sticks:

The big plate of rice rolls were extremely cheap, they were only $10 and if you order it with a meal it only costs $6.
The fried dough inside WAS EXTREMELY delicious.
I was not sure if I was lucky the oil was fresh or whether it will be this good next time.
The fried dough inside was soft and the centre of it was clearly white indicating fresh oil and that it was not fried twice.
The rice roll wrap was nice and thin and the it was so delicious you could taste the natrual dough stick taste which is usually covered by the oil taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Freshly made rice rolls with dried shrimp and spring onions:





The rice roll sheets were nice and thin, and the spring onions on top were sliced finely and fresh because they were still green and not dehydrated.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Green apple cheesecake & Blueberry yogurt breakfast

Lab Made Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Laboratory (Tai Hang)

Came here again to try the new flavours.
This time there were two flavours I wanted to try:
Green apple cheesecake & Blueberry yogurt breakfast.


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Blueberry yogurt breakfast:


The blueberry yogurt was really nice because there were crunchy pieces of muesli in it and it was like having granola bars with icecream.
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Green apple cheesecake:

The apple cheesecake was just average compared to the blueberry because it tasted similar to the apple crumble they made before and the cheesecake taste was a bit too heavy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Festive crystal Zongzi at Sushi Take Out

Sushi Take Out (Tseung Kwan O)

Went to get some sushi and was surprised to see they had Zongzis in a Sushi shop!

There were two flavours for the Zongzis, grapefruit and red bean, distinguished by the coloured band.
Grapefruit was orange and sesame was purple.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grapefruit crystal zongzi:



The Zongzi's here were only $6 each which is the cheapest I have seen so far.
But the taste was too sweet.
Although it was too sweet, the zongzi did not stick to the leaf and you could see the filling inside the translucent zongzi.



The grapefruit tasted really artificial and sweet, and the filling was very starchy with pureed mung beans in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Salmon sushi:


The sushi looked good because I thought it was mayonnaise drizzled on top but it was sweet salad cream which ruined it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Octopus sushi:

I do not often see a plain octopus tentacles for sushi at this place so tried it and it was quite nice and I also got the octopus wasabi salad which is also good because the wasabi and octopus taste good together.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Kagoshima sweet purple potato crystal Zongzi

Arome Bakery (Tseung Kwan O)

Just like the mooncakes, where the traditions have been broken with snowy mooncakes.

There is now a sweet version of Zongzi that is ready to eat.
It was introduced last year but I did not get a chance to try it because they came in a pack of three with only one flavour I liked.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Kagoshima sweet purple potato crystal Zongzi:
At Arome Bakery, they come in single flavours in packs of twos so I was able to get the flavour I liked.


After removing it from the vacumn sealed pack, it is wrapped in dried leaves just like the usual Zongzi's.
The size of these Zongzi's are slightly smaller.


When I removed the leaf wrapping, the appearance was slightly different from their product shot.
On the product shot there is purple filling incased within the crystal clear exterior.
It was just a purple mass when I unwrapped it, the Zongzi stuck to the leaf wrapping and got deformed hence it did not come out as a perfect tetrahedral shape.

The taste was not bad, and the filling was slightly starchy with a hint of sweet purple potato taste.
The sweetness was just right and not as cloyingly sweet as this other brand I tried but the leaf wrapping was a bit oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★