Head to 85 South!!

After having some crappy chicken nearby decided to check this place out.

I was so annoyed I didn't remember this place earlier because I could have tried the pulled sandwich instead of having crappy chicken.

85 South is an American diner offering Carolina barbeque fare of pulled pork and ribs.

Although I was full, I tried the slaw for $50 which is a sidedish.

On the table they have three types of sauces representing the South, East and West of Carolina:

‘South Sauce’ - honey mustard barbecue flavour
‘West Sauce’ - tomato and barbecue flavour
‘East Sauce’ - vinegar and peppery flavour

The restaurant is nicely decorated with lots of rustic wood and benches.



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Slaw:

The slaw was presented in four cute scoops.

It was finely chopped cabbages in sweet vinegar sauce American style with a gorgeous crunch.
There was also a hint of peppery kick and bits of cracked black pepper and red chili which you can visually see.
Ideally for complementing pull pork and ribs but since I was full I had on its own which got a bit sweet.
This sidedish is probably suitable for four people to share.
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Lastly you can leave your mark that you've been there.

Anyway, I'll be back for the smokin ribs and pulled pork!
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Restaurant: 85 South
Address: 6-10 Kau U Fong, Central
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Grilled skewers with prized Takesumi Bamboo Salt

ABURI (Wan Chai)

I don't often eat Japanese grilled items because the first thing that springs to mind is skewers of meat covered in thick sticky sweet sauce.

Following a tasting at Charcoal Grill SHO-EN a few days agos, I was also invited to a tasting here which specializes in skewers too.
The difference here is that they put Takesumi Bamboo Salt on the skewers which are then grilled on super hot electric grills resulting in skewers with a really crispy texture.

"Takesumi Bamboo Salt is a carbonated salt topping made by packing the Japanese deep sea salt into the hollow shaft of bamboo and incinerating the stalks under 1000 to 1500 degrees centigrade for three whole days in a charcoal kiln.
Then the stalks are split and the carbon-infused salt is scraped out.
Takesumi Bamboo Salt is rich in mineral and has antioxidant and detoxifying properties.
The Japanese believes that Takesumi Bamboo Salt helps to infuse positive energy and boosts the immune system." quoted from the menu.

Here is what we tried:
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Beetroot & Radish Salad $62:

The beetroot, perilla leaves and radish are painstakingly hand sliced into thin slices before slicing it into julienne salad.
This helps to retain its juices and vitamins.
When you eat them, you can just feel their natrual juices oozing out as you chew them.
I loved this refreshing salad because the taste was natrual and did not need any other sauces.
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Tatami (baby sardine crackers) $48:
This was amazing, it was millions of baby sardines netted together in a crispy cracker.
The crackers were light and had a delicious roasted fishy taste.
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Edamame $38:
The edamame beans were lightly salted but full of flavour.
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Minced chicken stick with perilla $68:
It was minced chicken on a stick served with a vibrant orange egg yolk from Japan.
The minced chicken had ultra fine perilla shreds in it giving it a nice grassy touch and dipping it in the egg yolk was lovely.
The egg yolk was full of flavour and just right for dipping the minced chicken.
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Asparagus wrapped with Pork $32:

The pork that was wrapped onto the asparagus was nano thin that you can barely see it but the pork gives it a slight savory taste keeping the asparagus moist when it is grilled.
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Grilled rice balls $32:

As well as the Takesumi Inaniwa Udon you can also order this to share if your still feeling hungry.
The other foodies thought it was a bit plain but I loved it because I love plain rice, breads and potatoes.
It had a lovely crispy rice crust just like the burnt ones you find in ricepots, but this tastes better because it is fragrant and not bitter.
In the middle, there was lovely soft rice which tasted delicious with the Takesumi bamboo salt.
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Grilled Tofu $20:

After taking photos and passing it round the tofu was still hot.
When I put my fork in it, there was steam coming out.
The tofu inside was lovely and soft whilst the outside was extremely crispy.
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Grilled Fresh Eel $45:

I don't normally like eel, but the eel skin and coating was extremely light and crispy just like fried fish skin.
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Grilled Chicken soft bone Cartilage $22:

The soft bone had a nice crunch with bits of chicken meat and chicken skin attached which was grilled to perfection giving a lovely chicken flavour with a perfect balance of chicken, skin and soft bones.
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Grilled chicken livers $38:

These were chicken livers from the Chōshū Domain, they had a slightly starchy texture with a hint of bitterness.
They also had this other interesting grilled item which was chicken heart veins.
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Grilled chicken soft breast bone cartilage:

Basically this was the chicken breast part near the bottom where it tends to be the most tender, however it was a bit too dry for my liking.
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Soft-boiled Quail Eggs $28:

It was amazing how these quail eggs were skewered because each quail egg had a runny yolk.
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Takesumi Inaniwa Udon $68

Soothing and cooling udon imported from Japan, these chilled charcoal noodles were perfect for cooling your mouth after eating some piping hot skewers.
On the right, there was a dipping broth made with atlantic mackerel and bonito flakes giving it full flare and there was ginger puree too to add some kick in it too.
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Grilled chicken wings stuffed with whole scallops:

Usually grilled chicken wings are stuffed with dumpling meat or mentaiko, but these were stuffed with a huge scallop inside.
It was a nice contrast of juicy sweet scallop and salty crispy chicken skin on the outside.
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Home-made ginger icecream and black sesame icecream $32:
Both the icecreams were nice but the ginger was my favourite because it had bits of ginger in it, however the texture was a little icy.
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Overall, I was really impressed by their skewers and the price was shockingly affordable because the quality and taste was well above average.

Hello Kitty's Birthday X Maxim’s cakes

Maxim's Cake Shop (Wan Chai)

To celebrate Hello Kitty's birthday, Maxims have made a Hello Kitty series and for Christmas there is going to be a Hello Kitty Christmas cake.


In the Hello Kitty series, there is a Big ferris wheel that comes with cupcakes for $298,
3D Helly Kitty cake $168, Hello Kitty Dessert cups $20 and Hello Kitty rainbow cake $228!

With any purchase of Hello Kitty cakes or cupcake sets, you can get a cute Grey or Red Hello Kitty tote bag for $78 (worth $398)

These cute Hello Kitty cakes will be on sale from 1st November to the end of this year!

Thanks to the PR company for this lovely tote bag that you can really use!!!!
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Hello Kitty tote bag:


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Hello Kitty ferris wheel cupcake set:
It was really fun assembling the ferris wheel which was quick and easy.
The instructions were in Chinese but the pictorial was clear enough and they even had some spare nuts and plastic fixers incase you lose any.


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Hello Kitty cupcakes:

With the ferris wheel, there are eight cup cakes, 4 chocolate and 4 plain (pink icing).
The chocolate one was really nice and had a strong chocolate taste.

As for the plain one, it had a strong buttery taste.

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Deep fried Shao mai @ 東門町

東門町 (Tseung Kwan O)

This joint sells spicy noodles and snacks.

Their first branch was opened in Kwai Hing and now they have just expanded from the West side of Hong Kong to the East side of Hong Kong at EastPoint City.

I opted for the deep fried shao mai because the rest of the food items were spicy.

There was a choice of honey or salt and pepper to go with the shao mai.
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Deep fried siumai:

The outside of the siumai was nice and crispy and the inside was soft.

The suimai was not too salty and complemented nicely with the salt and pepper.
It would be great if there was ketchup or vinegar for dipping.
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Food engulfed in flames

Charcoal Grill SHO-EN (Causeway Bay)

I don't often eat Japanese grilled items because the first thing that springs to mind is skewers of meat covered in thick sticky sweet sauce.

At this tasting, I did not have any expectations, but as I have already tried the other restaurants in this group their food seemed promising.

When you enter this restaurant, you are greeted with a glass tank of cute crawling crabs.
Then behind the bar, there is a grilling corner for the food.
To be more precise, the food is actually cooked in the flames which is fueled by Charcoal.

Here was what we tried:
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Starter platter:

A cute platter of starters including white bait with seaweed beneath it, diced sashimi pieces in spicy dressing and squid in miso sauce.
My favourite was the white bait because the other two were a bit too strong and spicy for my palette.
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Charcoal grilled Okinawan chicken:

Before we ordered this, they were saying how good it was but I assumed it was going to be dry and tough if it was not the chicken thigh part.
Well I was wrong, and the chicken was tender and juicy with an addictive chargrilled taste that was natural and the yuzu dip was addictive.
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Deep fried Okinawan chicken with powdered salt:

These were crispy and juicy wings with one of the bones removed.
The chicken was deliciously piping hot and the coating was thin and tasty.
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Charcoal grilled squid:

The grilled squid was ok but it was not as exciting as the chicken.
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Charcoal grilled thickly sliced AGU pork bacon:

This was thickly sliced bacon that was grilled in charcoal.
As you can see there is an even distribution of fat and meat and the pork was not too salty.
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Charcoal grilled red king Alaskan crab legs:

The crab legs were amazing but a little pricey!
When I ate them, it was oozing with liquid so it was not dry at all.
The shells were really crispy and easy to remove as well.
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Charcoal grilled chicken gizzards:

The fat plump grilled chicken gizzards were also delicious with a nice chew and springy crunch.
I wish they did chicken livers too.
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Black curry rice with Wagyu beef and cheese in hot stonepot:

The rice was interesting because the curry sauce was black with some addition of squid ink.
It tasted slightly sweet with a hint of curry.
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Okinawa Wagyu beef stonepot rice:

The rice had more flavours compared to the curry and I enjoyed this one more because the sauce reminded me of peking duck.
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Pacific saury

Last but not least, the pacific saury which was great for sashimi because the taste was enhanced with wasabi and soy sauce.
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Eel with cucumber

The eel was nicely grilled and refreshing paired with the julienne cucumber beneath it.
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As a summary, their Charcoal grilled items are really good and the ones I recommend are: grilled chicken, crabs legs and thick cut bacon and the rest of the menu comprises of Okinawan food which tastes great too.

Falafel balls

Life Cafe Restaurant and Bar (Central)

Went to the Wan Chai branch and one of the staff seemed to have an attitude problem but the lady in the kitchen was great.

Despite that, I left and went to the Central branch which is much bigger and spacious.

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Falafel curry balls:

The falafel balls were a bit disappointing because they were extremely hard and dry.
Luckily the sesame sauce saved it because it was dry and tasteless.
Inside the falafel there was too much quinoa and not enough chickpeas and beans.
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Back for more curry at Curries Inc

Curries Inc (Causeway Bay)

Came back for more curry because it was quite good on my first visit.
The ones I was hoping to try was not there today so had the beef massaman again and some fish balls in green curry sauce.

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beef massaman:

The portion was a little smaller this time and the vegetables were different, it was cauliflower.
The curry was sweet and not even spicy with lots of soft peanuts and the beef was soft and tender.
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Fish balls in green curry sauce:


The fish balls were too spicy and the sauce had a strong lemongrass taste which I did not like.
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