Light buffet at Pinevino

Pane Vino (Mid-Levels)
There are two branches of Panevino in Hong Kong, one in Tai Hang and one at the Mid Levels.

At the Mid Levels branch, they have the antipasti buffet brunch so I went there.

It costs $198 with free flow of bubbly or soda.

The restaurant decor was quite nice.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
There were probably about ten items in total for the buffet.



Overall the selection was ok, but some cheese would have been nice and some melon too to go with the cold cuts.

My favourite was the baked mushrooms, probably the first restaurant in HK I have come accross that serves this (the garlic mushroom served UK's Pizzahut).

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pastries:


The pastries were really good, they were flakey with a soft centre.
They taste like the ones from La Rose Noire bakery.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soda water:

It was good that they provided plain soda water because it is nice having a non-sweetened carbonated drink.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Quick cuppa at Spade by Lassana

Spade by Lassana (Mong Kok)

Had a tasting nearby, so came to Lassana's for a quick drink.

Had my favourite Breakfast tea.

After I sat down, I was gutted when I saw the menu!
There were some NEW items that I really wanted to try but couldn't because I was just about to go to a tasting!
I really wanted to try the macaroni in lobster sauce and the black and white burgers with beef and crab patties respectively.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Breakfast tea:

Compared to my last visit, the milk is now served separately which is good.
When I first tried this particular brand of breakfast tea, I thought my tastesbuds were going funny because it tasted a bit like oyster, but this time it still had that oyster taste which was interesting.
At a recent tasting, I was really lucky to try this Oyster leaf which tastes exactly like an oyster so after trying that, the tea did not taste so weird.
Basically, the tea was better this time as the milk was served separately.
I just felt that the tea was not hot enough.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Taiwanese black pudding

King's Dumpling (Wan Chai)

For some reason my earlier review was deleted so I will make this review as short as it can be.
It either offended the Brighton hotel management or it offended King's Dumplings as they went at great lengths to contact OR to get it deleted with a trivial reason.

Anyway, the tables here in the centre are about 2mm apart so you can listen in on other conversations.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Taiwanese black pudding:

This was one of the side dishes at King's dumpling.
It is basically similar to black pudding made with blood but the taste of the Taiwanese version is not as good as the Scottish version because it was sweet and contains lots of glutinous rice so it was quite chewy and sticky.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Breaking news! Great souvenir snacks to bring home

Gu Fah Bakery (Tsim Sha Tsui)

Whether your from UK, America, Canada, China or wherever, Gu Fah has just the snacks to bring back because they represent traditional Chinese pastries which are beautifully boxed with English and Chinese and individually wrapped.

Their first branch was set up in Tsuen Wan and now the second branch is located next to the cinema at the iSquare mall which connects to the MTR.

On the left, there is a special tasting counter where everyone can try each available product before buying.

Thanks to Eric I got an assortment tin (Almond Pies, White Sesame Pies, Black Sesame Pies and Roast Pork Pies), Phoenix rolls, Wife cakes, Husband cakes, Almond pies, Low sugar sachimas, Brown sugar sachimas.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Assortment tin:
Almond Pies

This is a really nice snack that everyone is bound to like because it is flakey layers of pastry coated with a meringue like icing on top that is not too sweet.
White Sesame Pies

The white sesame is similar to the above but has a strong toasted taste because the sesame seeds are easily toasted.
Black Sesame Pies

Compared to the white sesame, I preferred the black sesame because the colour contrast was nicer and black sesame has a better taste.
Roast Pork Pies

This is made with oyster sauce by Lee Kam Kee and and the savouryness was really strong which was why I liked it and it was buttery as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Phoenix rolls:

These Phoenix rolls are made with crispy wafer thin egg pastry filled with shredded coconut and roasted sesame seeds.
I loved the coconut in these phoenix rolls and they are individually wrapped which is really handy.
The design of this box is much better than those boring tins with a stupid round lid and opening which makes it difficult to get them out.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
brown sugar sachima:

This has become one of my favourite snacks because I love its chewy and soft texture and it is not sweet at all!
For improvements, I would like to see smaller pieces individually wrapped.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
low sugar sachima:
Again, it was good because it was not sweet but does not have the fragrant touch of the brown sugar sachima.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Husband (black sesame):

This had savoury beef and stewed sweet wintermelon inside which was delicious.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Wife Cakes:

The Wife Cake tastes sweeter than the above and contains red beans.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

SF bowl mission failed @ Little Burro

Little Burro (Causeway Bay)

Ever since I found out about this new place, I have been itching to go.
On the first two attempts it was closed.

Since I read their latest update that day saying "they've got all the ingredients to roll through the week" I decided to give it a visit. The last item I was expecting them to run out was the sour cream.

I decided to get the bowl and for the fillings I was deciding whether I should get the Barbacoa beef or the vegetarian black beans with guacamole, but in the end I chose the beef because for the choice of beans you can only choose black beans or borracho beans with bacon.
If I was on a strict vegetarian diet then it would be a double dose of black beans which would be a very boring choice.

After paying for the order, the bowl was being made with cilantro rice being put on the bottom, then romaine lettuce, then the vegetables and then the beef and cheese.
She then passed it over to me, so I pointed to the sour cream because there is supposed to be sour cream but she did not put any. She told me it was all finished which really annoyed me.

Frankly, it's a bit dry without sour cream and incomplete.

I was really annoyed because if I knew before paying, I would have happily come back another day and this would have been a positive review.

After some complaining, I was grateful she forced the remaining sour cream out of the bottle.

It would have been totally crap if there was no sour cream, its like having beef with gravy without the gravy.

The sour cream was not really sufficient but the sour cream on the previous review was stingy too.
I requested for a bit of guacamole because the rice was a bit dry and she said she could not give me that because it's expensive.
In that case, if they don't have sour cream, maybe they should reduce the bill!!?

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The bowl:
The taste was similar to the Taco rice at Wired Cafe, but Wired Cafe fared slightly better because it had generous cheese and sour cream on top.The bowl was not bad, but it would have tasted better with more sour cream and the beef was quite dry and tough.
The rice beneath it was soft and fluffy just like Indian long grain rice with lots of cilantro in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cilantro rice:


The bowl was not that filling so I ordered extra rice and had it with the siraicha sauces on the table.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Delicious alcohol infused mini cupcakes

Thanks to Illiana for these amazingly cute cupcakes by Guilty Little Pleasures!
The size of these are so cute which allows you to try more flavours because they are bite-sized.
Inside, it has gorgeous alcoholic jam.

I tried the Lime and Ginger and the Chocolate and Baileys.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Lime and Ginger:

The Lime and ginger was visually colourful with edible glitter and a wedge of lime on top!

I loved the way, the lime is actually there for you to squeeze lime juice on the cake making it tangy, and the apple cider jam inside the cake paired it nicely.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Chocolate and Baileys:

The chocolate cake was lovely and rich filled with Scottish Black Isle Organic Beer jam but I would have liked the Baileys and beer jam to be stronger.

The bronzed chocolate on top made it look classy.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

I wonder where I will see them next at Stanley market or East Island market's BestBevHk stall?

Veggie Burger at Triple O's

Triple O's Hong Kong (Admiralty)

Havent tried the Veggie burger at Triple O's, so decided to try it.

In terms of price, it was very expensive and so are a lot of other places that sell the veggie burger.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Veggie burger:

It was wrapped just the same as other burgers at Triple O's with a slice of guerkin on top.

The patty was made of rice and vegetables.

The veggie patty was extremely disappointing because the rice in the patty was hard and it was similar to a rice burger.
The taste was bland and tasteless.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Poutine:

There could have been more gravy but the gravy was quite salty and the cheese was tasteless mozzarella and not cheese curds.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Breakfast tea:

Luckily there was nice tea to end it!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★