Fine Chinese food at Hyatt's The Chinese Restaurant

It was my first time dining at Hyatt thanks to LT and Hyatt.

Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui is conveniently connected to the MTR and K11 mall so you don't have to get wet or get too hot from walking outside.

The tables at this restaurant are spacious and nicely spaced out with some nice compartment seating on the side too.

Here was what we had:
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Chilled abalone

sweet and tender abalone.
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Crispy salt and pepper tofu

The tofu was really addictive, the coating was crisp and light gently flavoured with spices while the inside was piping hot silky tofu.
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Roast pork

When I picked them with chopsticks, I could already feel how soft they were and they were thickly cut slices too which were satisfying.
Each slice was soft, meaty and tender and they were gone in a flash!
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Eggplant with soy glaze and garlic

The eggplants were light which was complemented nicely by the thick tasty sauce.
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Traditional snake soup

I was so lucky to have snake soup here and the first bowl this year too!
It had so many goodies and the texture of the snake was similar to canned dace fish.
The thinly sliced ginger and orange peel made the soup livelier with some crunch.
I did not use the condiments because it tasted good already.
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Clay pot lobster ginger vermicelli

This was really amazing because the lobster meat was springy and sweet. The meat came off the shell easily.
The glass vermicelli beneath was GOLDEN and clear, each strand was evenly flavoured too.
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Stir fried diced Japanese saga beef with organic black garlic

I didn't realise this was the most expensive dish that night but the beef cubes were soft, sweet and tender complemented nicely by the fruity pieces of fermented black garlic.
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Smoked chicken in jasmine tea leaves

Before I tried it, I could smell tones of Jasmine coming from the chicken. As I ate it there was a sweet jasmine taste as well as the chicken.
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Simmered pea shoot superior broth

Pea shoots are always my favourite and here it was simmered in delicious Chinese ham soup which had a lovely salty flavour.
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Fried white and red rice seafood with shredded dried scallop

I was quite full when I got to the rice, but each grain of rice was distinct and fully flavoured.
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As well as top notch Chinese food, the desserts here also impressed me!

I am not a person for Chinese desserts so I don't normally see anything I want, but there were a few things I wanted to try here.

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Chilled black sesame pudding

The sesame pudding was quite nice, firm and not too sweet.
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Toffee strawberries

These were fresh strawberries coated in golden clear caramelized sugar just like toffee apples hence the name toffee strawberries.
I loved the juicy tart strawberries complemented by the crispy sweet toffee coating.
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steamed hakka style dumplings


These dumplings were quite close to the authentic ones with a savoury taste to start off with and a slightly sweet filling.
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sweet glutinous dumplings with sesame, peanut and coconut

I have only tried this recently at Gold Leaf dessert which was not bad.
The dumplings here taste better because it has a ginger taste and it was not as sweet as the ones at Gold Leaf!
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Baked egg custard tarts glutinous dumpling
These looked like mini Chinese pineapple tarts because of the pastry surface.

Beneath that, there is a glutinous rice ball with liquid custard in it.

It was a lovely combination of sticky dumplings with hot gooey custard in the middle.
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Delicious pumpkin rice

Daily Fresh Soybean Milk (Sheung Wan)

This is a fast food joint for Chinese food and ever since I saw Pumpkin rice on the menu I was really curious how it would turn out~!
Initially I thought it was literally going to be plain rice with pumpkin pieces mixed into it.
Anyway, decided to try it and and while I was queueing I saw Vermicelli with black pepper sauce or tomato sauce which was also interesting!

I got the vermicelli with tomato sauce as well because I just wanted to know if it was tomato ketchup or tomato sauce plonked on top of the noodles and it was pretty cheap for $16.

Anyway, I only tried the vegetarian items and both were cheap!
The rice was only $23!

There is another branch somewhere in Central and according to the reviews there are some interesting Chinese pancakes.

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Tomato sauce vermicelli:

It was surprisingly quite nice, it was their plain vermicelli base with tomato and egg on top.
The sauce was simple and nutritious because it had egg and real tomato in it which enhanced the vermicelli and made it more appetizing.
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Pumpkin rice:
When I opened the box, the pieces of pumpkin were evidently big! They were as big as the box, the rice had other vegetables mixed in it too.
Perhaps they should call it vegetable and pumpkin rice instead.

I loved the rice because I love flavoured rice. It was similar to eating the flavoured rice beneath spare ribs.
The rice was just addictive because it was lightly flavoured with soy sauce and other strong tasting vegetables in it such as mushroom.
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Party with sushi platters

Take Out Sushi (Wan Chai)

I never knew that you could get sushi party platters but since I found out, it is going to be a better option than the Chinese platters.

For gatherings people usually order fried snack platters and salads that are way too sweet and oily, but sushi platters seem much healthier, its just Japanese rice, fish, soy sauce and wasabi.

At Take Out Sushi, they are doing sushi party platters (with 49 sushis) good enough for about 4-5 people at $338 or $298.
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The KAGURA $338 has:

Salmon, tuna, sweet shrimp, grilled eel, scallop, surf clam, yellowtail, flying fish roe, salmon roll.
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The HOURAI $228 has:
salmon, boiled shrimp, scallop, surf clam, grilled eel, sweet beancurd, flying fish roe, jumbo shrimp roll.
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For sashimi lovers, they have sashimi platters for $198 with an option for plain salmon (BOTAN) or the assorted (TSUBAKI) which has: salmon, sweet shrimp, scallop, tuna and yellowtail.
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All platters come with sufficient wasabi and soy sauce.

If thats not enough, they have appetizers for $328 (fried stuff).
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Here was our sushi and sashimi platter ;)


Overall everyone was impressed by the freshness of the sushi and we all had a good time.
Here was my plate:

I really enjoyed it because it was so much nicer than boring chicken wings, Chinese salads etc!

Weekend Weekly Try it Secret Party @The Salted Pig

Thanks to KC and Weekend Weekly for inviting me to this Secret party at The Salted Pig.

There will be a new website called TRY IT which shall be launched in January next year, basically it is similar to ebay and brings people and products together.

People interested in trying food and products can register as TRIERS and companies who would like to get their restaurants/products reviewed can also register at TRY IT and get connected.

So what are you waiting for now! all you need is an account!!

Anyway I have registered, so you will see me at www.tryit.com.hk as SUPERSUPERGIRL~!!

Here was what we ate at the Secret party, headed by Chef Anthony Fletcher from the UK~

Hoooray!

The food has definitely improved since my last visit Thanks to Antonio who is young and talented.

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Weekend weekly “Try It” Dinner

Appetizers:

The salted pig board

Pancetta scallops on pea & broad bean hash with cider dressing

Grilled romaine Caesar

Main Courses

Crispy pork knuckle

Norwegian Salmon with lemon, courgettes, basil and white wine

Crispy fried chicken

Dessert

Banana eton mess

Or

Chocolate fudge sundae

Anyway, I will give the food a more detailed review later!!

2/3 Dolci Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut Florentine

After the tasting at Dolci, each guest was given a box of Dark Chocolate Fruit and Nut Florentine.

It was a neatly designed blue box which had a red cover designed by ROKO studio featuring pantone with gold and a diecut of a Christmas bauble shape in the middle.



Inside the box were two whole pieces of 64% dark chocolate covered with premium imported hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, sultanas, raisins and cranberries.
The chocolate was nice and not too sweet with gorgeous pieces of fruit and nuts.

2/3 Dolci at Festival Walk

2/3 Dolci (Kowloon Tong)

2/3 Dolci opened their first branch this year in Wan Chai during the summer and now they have a second branch at Festival walk within six months.

The Festival walk branch is much bigger with a lovely seating area and City University across the road, which is bound to be a popular with uni students.
I can't wait to see a third branch soon hopefully at Hysan place!

As Christmas is coming, I tried their new cakes and had a preview of their Christmas series.
Mjqueen7e went before me and managed to try four cakes and 3 scoops of icecream in one tasting which indicates the cakes are good and not too sweet.
Normally when I have tastings, I have to share cakes because they get too sweet, but at Dolci I also had four cakes easily because they were not too sweet!!
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83% cupola - 83% Chocolate Dome

Dark chocolate lovers will love this because the chocolate is STRONG with light chocolate mousse in the middle!
Before I ate the cake, I assumed the cake base would be hard but it was soft which went nicely with the mousse.
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Yule Log

Christmas yule log made with chocolate and Grand Marnier with cute macaron mushroom decorations.
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Guaiava: 8 layer guava cake (xmas version)

The Christmas version of the popular Guaiava cake!
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torta Bailey's - Bailey's Cake
For this cake, there were two versions, a sliced version and a whole cake version.
Personally I liked the sliced one because it looked visually stunning just like the NOCCIOLA with a super mini macaron.

The mini profiteroles are to die for because they have cream inside the dinky profiteroles!!!
They were delicious with a burst of cream and hint of saltiness because they were made with a dash of salt.


Although it had Bailey's, the cake was light without being too strong.
I had the profiteroles last because they were too cute.
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genmaicha roll

Previously they did not sell them in slices for the roll cakes, but they do and they have Genmaicha, yuzu and earl grey.
The roll was made with egg white and it was soft, moist, springy chiffon texture paired with whipped genmaicha cream which you could actually taste grounded genmaicha rice in it.
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festa del cioccolato

When I saw this, I thought it was a solid dense cake but inside it is soft.

It tasted mainly of cocoa balanced by the pieces of raspberry candy on top.
Overall it was nice but it lacked something in the middle such as raspberry jam or something simple.
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Gingerbread gelato (top) and Hazelnut gelato:

Both of the icecreams were nice especially the Hazelnut which just tasted of pure hazelnut just like the NOCCIOLA cake.
The gingerbread was just the flavour for Christmas with tones of ginger and a doughy taste.
They change their gelato flavours often so I am really looking forward to trying:
Blue Cheese with honey, Lychee, Fig, Egg Nog, Champagne, Basil and Sage.
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