Christmas 2013 at The Canny Man

The Canny Man (Wan Chai)

I love Christmas and this year so many places are doing Roast Turkey so I intend to try every restaurant that does it whether I pay for it myself or I am invited to tasting.

The Canny Man which is a Scottish bar has Roast Turkey every year and this year is my fourth year of it.
I liked it so much that I chose this place for my food interview with the Hong Kong Economic Times Newspaper earlier this year.

I only wrote about the Canny Man Christmas lunch in 2010 because 2011 and 2012 were pretty much the same.

The menu for this year was slightly different and they have a vegetarian option too.

Here was what I had:
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Salad with feta cheese:

A lovely healthy salad with just the right dressing and scrumptious cubes of cheese!
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pumpkin soup:

A light soup to start you appetite going.
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Roast Turkey with Yuletide stuffing:

I loved the generous slice of Stuffing which is my favourite item and the stuffing here contains lots of oatmeal because it is Scottish!
The turkey was juicy and tender paired with appetizing cranberry sauce which had whole pieces of cranberries.

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Christmas vegetable terrine:

I was glad they had a vegetarian option, it was jellied grilled vegetables in a terrine form complemented by deliciously sweet pomodoro sauce.

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Yorkshire pudding with blueberries and custard:

I thought I was seeing things when I saw Yorkshire pudding for dessert but it really was Yorkshire pudding filled with fresh blueberries and custard.
It was actually quite nice because it went well with the tart blueberries and sweet custard.
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Millionaire's shortbread:

This was the best dessert and tastes the same as the ones at infant school.
You can see the clear layers of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate on top. It tasted similar to TWIX but a thousand times better because the shortbread was really buttery and the caramel was lovely and chewy.
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Minced pie:

The minced pie was different to the ones a few years ago.
This one was HUGE and tasted better because the pastry was freshly made.
Each person who has the Christmas lunch will have this MEGA mince pie so prepare yourself for it!!!
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Looking forward to it next year again!

Rooftop market at The Pawn

Thanks to NK and Catch On for inviting me to this rooftop market to try a galore of wonderful food.

The event was a success and I hope they will do it again because there were so many expats there and it gave me an opportunity to try the restaurants in that group which were: The Pawn, The Principal, The News Room, SML and Classified.

All food and beverage was paid for using tokens which were available for purchase at the reception.

As a summary, the fish and chips were the best and it was a bargain for $50 with two huge succulent chunks of fish.

The weather was a bit too hot and sunny that day but once I started eating the food it was so delicious that the hot weather did not bother me.

Here was what we tried:
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The Pawn:
Fish and Chips $50

Two generous pieces of fish, which were succulent and tender.
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Classified:
Montgomery panini (toastie) $40

The toast was simply melted cheese in the middle which was delicious and the toast was crispy and soft on the inside.
As it was hot that day, we had numerous drinks to hydrate ourselves: Sparkling water, Mulled wine (served warm), and Cranberry juice.

Cauliflower with Raclette cheese:
The raclette cheese was lovely and gooey, great with cauliflower.

Their jams looked good, so bought the Strawberry and champagne jam and the Chunky orange marmalade.

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News Room:
Popcorn chicken

You could smell the lovely cajun and spices, but the texture of the chicken was a little dry.

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Principal:
Rice Pudding Espuma x 2

This was gorgeous so I had two!!
It was deliciously cool foamy rice pudding with fresh orange bits and crunchy caramelized pistachios on top.

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Fish and Meat opening party

Thanks to HKE for inviting me to this event!
I was looking forward to it but HKE did not turn up !
Anyway I had a GREAT time there.

When I arrived I could already see the party and people mingling on the balcony.

There were so many celebrities there that night including Carl NG!

There were many welcoming flower baskets and a huge celebration signature board.



Inside, there were so many guests and lots of gourmet snacks.
It was hard to take pictures because it was crowded so I only managed to photograph the octopus which tasted delicious.
It was grilled to perfection and it was slightly crispy.

Each female guest was given a pretty flower crown to wear which you can see on the next picture and the goodies given to guests when they left!!


There was also a jar of herbs too which smelt gorgeous!!

Creative food jamming with Jam

let's Jam (Sai Kung)

Previously tried to dine here but the owner was ill so it was closed that day.

Came here a few weeks later when the weather was lovely and cool.

As expected, the place stood out because the decor was nice.
It was sort of vintage English but also American.

Something that you would expect in a little town.

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Lovely rustic picnic hamper

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Stylish sink and mirror

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Cute pastel straws that are made of paper and not plastic

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The name let's Jam reminded me of the recent trend of art jamming and music jamming but they are actually called that because they produce many homemade jams.

For every dish, it is paired with a choice of jam, even their beef burgers have jam in it to balance the beefy taste.

Here was what I ordered:
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Double cheese omelette:

The omelette was surprisingly fluffy with delicious cheese inside, there were two different cheeses inside, I think one was mozzarella and the other was cheddar.
Also on the plate were some delicious earthy mushrooms and some bacon, but the bacon was different to the ones I usually have because it was harder and had a smokier taste.
The thickness of the toast was thick!!!
It was great with the jam which I had last because it was sweet.

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Apple and rose jam:

I wanted to try apple and cinnamon jam but it was sold out so tried the apple and rose. Luckily the rose was not that strong so it was quite nice and not too sweet with a tangy apple flavour.
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Pear in red wine jam:

The pear jam was sweeter than the apple.
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cheesecake with blueberry jam:

Had the cheesecake as well because the jam made me hungrier.
It was a Japanese style soft and moist cheesecake with a light texture.
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apple and rose soda:

The soda was really nice and it was nice having a cold drink on a cold day.
Again, the rose flavouring was not that prominent which was great because I don't like rose.
It was great drinking from the vintage paper straw.
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Overall, the food here is affordable but it takes a while for the food to come.
Their plates are really cute because they have cute fancy cut outs.

Maxim's Shandong Chestnut Cake

Maxim's Cake Shop (Central)

It was someones birthday and they happened to get one of the cakes from Maxim's new Chestnut series.

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Shandong Chestnut Cake:


Thanks to Maxim's I have already tried the other three chestnut cakes in that series and this was the only one I have not tried.
This is the biggest cake in the Chestnut series with a chestnut puree lattice on the top.
The taste of this one was surprisingly better than the Chestnut and Almond cake because it was mainly soft cake and chestnut puree with the right sweetness.
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Dehydrated bun from It's a Tuck Shop

It's a Tuck Shop (Wan Chai)

Came here again for the burgers.

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Mini burgers:

I was a bit disappointed this time because the bun was dehydrated and hard.
There was too much relish in the burger as well which made it too sweet.
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Cosy joint that is easily missed

Holly Brown (Central)

I have never dined at Holly Brown before because I was not attracted to their icecreams and if I am in Central there are plenty of other options.


However this branch is on the corner by the escalators, there is a small dining area inside.


It appears to focus more and coffee, grab and go items such as hotdogs and sandwiches convenient for people getting some light snacks before they get on the escalator.


Just for fun I had the Babyccino with marshmallows.

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Babyccino with marshmallows:

The milk was nice and foamed topped with white marshmallow pieces.
The temperature was not that hot so the marshmallow pieces did not really melt, but it enhanced the taste of boring flat milk with some sweetness.
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