Frederic Blondeel chocolates now in Hong Kong

Frederic Blondeel has been a master chocolatier for over 15 years and makes chocolates at his unit in Beauvoorde, Belgium.
His chocolates are now available at K11!

I was so lucky to try their chocolates which cost around $18-$20 per piece.

Each chocolate is named according to its taste.
Joint flavours are named by the predominate taste that comes first then the aftertaste eg Rose and woody pepper which means you get the rose taste first followed by the woody pepper aftertaste.
Personally I liked this brand because other brands such as Godiva, Jean Paul Hevin and La Maison du Chocolat disappointed me.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sao Tome 75%

It was soft with a nice crispy coating.
The sweetness and bitterness were perfectly balanced.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Jasmin

The Jasmine was not that significant at the beginning but it slowly comes out.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rose and woody pepper

I don't like Rose but it was pleasant and tasted like Turkish delight but much better because it was chocolately.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Coeur


This had Hazelnut gianduja, cocoa nibs with feuillantine.
I don't know why but it reminded me of the peanut M & Ms.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Szechuan Pepper

This was my favourite because it was not spicy but it had the lovely aromatic szechuan pepper taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chili

The chili chocolate tastes like normal chocolate at the beginning and then the aftertaste of chili slowly comes out.
This chocolate would be a good prank for someone who does not like chili because it tastes innocently like a normal chocolate at the beginning but the chili is not that strong, so they won't get too annoyed.
For chocolate and chili lovers, this would be a good pick and you can also get Drunken Chocolate Chili Ice Cream at Yun Yan.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Cralin Dark

Caramel lovers are going to love this because the caramel is slightly salted with a crispy texture to balance out the stickiness of the caramel.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ghana 85%

This was smooth with a hint of bitterness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Feullantine Dark

The feullantine dark has a crunchy centre.
Cassonade Dark

The cassonade has a soft inside wtih a crispy shell.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Irish Coffee

This was my favourite because the centre was thick ganache with a mega strong Irish coffee taste.
I would definitely recommend this to guys.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Address:
K11 Art Mall, B1 Kiosk 2, Tsim Sha Tsui

Overpriced food at Yu Restaurant

Yu Restaurant (Ma On Shan)

Was forced to dine here because Chinese people only eat Chinese food.

The restaurant was nice and glitzy but the stupid thing was that you are going to pay around $1xxx for a meal and you still have to rinse those stupid bowls with hot water.
So it makes no difference dining at Cafe de Coral or Fairwood which is cheaper and you don't have to rinse anything but the downside is that it is self service so you need to collect the food yourself.

The menu was quite creative, eg sweet potato and cheese bun ..(weird)

Other items were good but if the Chef is crap, no matter how good you are at choosing the food, the dishes will taste crap.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
roasted pigeon:

I could'nt believe the whole pigeon was sliced into 6 big chunks which made it difficult to share and eat.
Pigeon meat basically tastes like goose.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Purple Sweet potatoes and vegetables:

This was so disappointing compared to the one at 金滿庭京川滬菜館 Modern China Restaurant
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2253602
There were more vegetables than purple sweet potato so they might as well have renamed the dish called Vegetables with purple sweet potato.
As you can see, there was such a stingy amount if you compare it to Modern China.

The stupid vegetables were not cut either, they only sliced the root away!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Oysters in fruit sauce:

Basically it was honey sauce.
The huge delicious oysters were ruined because it was wasted in batter!!
Places I have tried before normally cook it in a light flour coating.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Razor clams:
Chewy and not fresh.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fish:
Not fresh because the fish flesh was grey and murky
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken:
The chicken breast was soft and juicy, and the rest of the chicken was just skin and bones!!
I don't know why people pay $1xx only half a chicken that you can really eat!!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lunch may be better because the review below says dinner is not so good.
This is the reason I don't eat Chinese food if I am not forced to because it is such a waste of time and money.

The queue never ends at Federal Restaurant

Federal Restaurant (Diamond Hill)

Whether the food is good or bad, the queue does not end for this place because Chinese dim sum is a tradition.
It's location is also good too, right in the heart of a residental area and above the MTR station.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chinese radish puffs:

Oily pastry
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tofu:

This was not really a dim sum item but the only dish that tasted ok.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Stir fried noodles:
Oily, greasy with a nasty rancid wok taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Spring rolls:
Effortless fried spring rolls with nothing much inside it and extremely oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
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Price: $1xx
Service: OK
Service charge: 10% and tea
Yummy factor: yuck
MSG levels: slight
Napkins provided: no
Toilets: yes
Portion sizes: reasonable
Noise levels: Noisy
English Menu: Yes
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Chicken risoni in fresh tomato soup!!

Went to Satay King for dinner and saw something new on the menu.
It was Chicken risoni in fresh tomato soup which is an odd item to find in Satay King because it was Italian

Orzo also known as risoni (Italian meaning big rice), is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice.

Evidently it was not fresh tomato soup but tomato puree because it tasted like pizza sauce with lots of herbs.

Anyway, it was quite a nice because the texture of the risoni was al dente but soft and absorbed the tangy tomato broth.
On the product shot, it had Chinese vegetables which was replaced by Indian lettuce.
I felt that the lettuce matched the soup better because Chinese vegetables in tomato soup would be a bit weird.

◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
Satay King

3F Carnarvon Plaza 

20 Carnarvon Road

◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

Too salty at 譚仔雲南米線

譚仔雲南米線 and TamJai SamGor Mixian are really famous restaurants in Hong Kong for Yunnan noodles.

As I don't eat Yunnan rice noodles, I used to get the two mixed up until now when I tried to add it on OpenRice.

Anyway, I never planned to try 譚仔雲南米線 or TamJai SamGor Mixian because there is always a queue, but since this place was newly opened there was no queue.

The snacks menu was simple:



However the noodles section was slightly more complicated.


Ended up ordering chicken wings and plain noodles.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
chicken wings:


The chicken wings were really nice because they had lots of cumin sprinkled on it.
However it could have been cooked more thoroughly because it was pink inside.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Plain noodles:


As usual the noodles tasted like chewy elastic plastic but they were tasty because the broth was way too salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Déjà vu of the salty noodles at Tsim chai Kee

Some friends from UK wanted to try this place because it was recommended on the Michelin guide so I was forced to dine here again.

On my previous visit, I vowed not to come again because I found a hairy cockcoach leg.
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2316219
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Noodles with wontons:



On this visit, I found a small vegetable fly stuck to the noodles but had to pretend it wasn't there because my friends were expecting so much from this place.
Strangely the kitchen LOOKS cleans but twice I found something in the noodles.
Anyway, the broth and wontons were extremely salty which were the comments from my friends as well and the same comment I made last time.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Egg tart con artist

King Bakery (Lok Fu)

I only tried these egg tarts because someone wanted to try them.

To be honest, it is so hard to find delicious egg tarts that I like.

At King Bakery they have lots of different egg tarts ranging from durian egg tarts to cheese egg tarts.


Ordered THREE egg tarts loud and clear, but she insisted putting four in the box and tried charging for FOUR!!

Honestly the cheek in people who I have met that try to get you to buy things when you don't agree to buy.

Past experiences:
I was looking at some fruit which I wasn't intending to buy and they bagged it and asked me to pay!!! WTF!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Egg tarts:

Again, these egg tarts were just like the ones at V8, the flakey tart pastry was soft and floppy that they collapse when you eat them and the filling was too watery.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★