McVeggie burger 2014

When I saw news that the McVeggie burger would be available I was glad.
In UK, it is permanently on the menu called the Spicy veggie sandwich (a veggie patty with chickpeas, coriander and cumin, served with lettuce and cucumber and a dollop of sweet chilli and mayo sauces.)

The Hong Kong version has mushrooms in it and was only available at Cheung Chau during Buddha's festival.
Last year, I deliberately went to Cheung Chau for the McVeggie burger.
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2297433

With all the media and rising awareness of Green Monday, McDonald's has decided to serve the McVeggie burger all over Hong Kong until 7th May.

Green Monday is a social enterprise that encourages healthy, environmentally friendly living in Hong Kong. It starts with going meatless on Mondays — an easy and effective way to reduce your carbon footprint and improve your health.

As soon as the burger was launched, I tried the McVeggie and the sweetcorn pie.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Oscar the Grouch:
I think McD's trashed the packaging!!
Instead of designing vibrant wrappers printed with colourful veggie illustrations to promote a healthy burger, they made it look like trash with brown wrapping!!
The cartoon looks like OSCAR the GROUCH from Sesame street who loves TRASH!!!

For improvements, perhaps a white wrapping with mushroom illustrations and colourful words for McVeggie??


The wrapping also reminded me of a TOAD and recycled paper!~!


On the other hand, the sweetcorn pie packaging was bright and eye-catching, you could see people having them.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweetcorn pie:



I didn't really like this because sweetcorn is a vegetable and not a dessert so the creamy sweet sauce and sweetcorn tasted weird together.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
McVeggie:




Compared to the one at Cheung Chau, it was disappointing.
The patty was soft, dark and chewy which proves it has been made for quite a while because no one ordered it.
Looking around the restaurant, no one had the McVeggie burger nor was it eye-catching to people who walked past.
There was no mashed potato in the patty compared to the one at Cheung Chau.
I happened to try it again at another branch and it was even worse because there was virtually no sauce on it and it tasted rancid.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Antipodeaness

When this place opened last year, I had high expectations and there were so many items I wanted to try.
But everytime I got there, it was always closed.

It was finally open on this visit and there were only two items I tried because the rest weren't launched yet.

The items I wanted to try were:
Chicken Mushroom & Tarragon Pie
Cheese Strata with Prosciutto, Basil & Spinach
Breakfast Ravioli drizzled with Creamy Sage & White Wine Sauce
Shakshuka with handmade pita bread
[Shakshuka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions, often spiced with cumin]

This was the menu they were serving.



The menu may have changed by now because I tried this in October 2013~

While I was waiting for the food, I took photos of their cute salt and pepper shakers and ketchup bottle.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rolled up spinach omelette:


This was a rolled-up spinach omelette with goats cheese & dried tomatoes on a slice of toasted sourdough!
The omelette texture was really interesting just like a swiss roll.
It was soft, moist and fluffy with strong spinach taste which went nicely with the goats cheese.
I don't know how the spinach omelette was made, but it took alot of effort and time!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Louise Slice $20:
The Louise cake is an old fashioned New Zealand favorite consisting of a thin layer of cake or biscuit topped with raspberry or plum jam, coconut meringue and then baked in the oven.
I got it because it was really similar to this British jam and coconut slice.


It tasted quite similar to the one I had at school but it was too sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

NUR = Light and Nourishing by Nurdin Topham

NUR! NUR! NUR! A new concept restaurant which is nourishing, light and gastronomic.
NUR meaning Light in Arabic which is why there are so many light-bulbs in the restaurants and the Chef himself is called Nurdin.

Head Chef Nurdin Topham is a British chef who has worked for almost 20 years’ with Raymond Blanc as well as the best restaurant in the world, NOMA.





The restaurant is really down to earth with a lovely porch, sitting area and home grown herbs which can just be plucked to eat.

For food, there are three different set dinners, LIGHT (a 6-course set dinner for HKD788) or a FEAST of 9 courses for HKD988.
Vegetarians are not left out either because they serve a Vegetarian set too.

We tried the LIGHT set which was fabulous in presentation as well as taste.

Here is what was in it.
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Jasmine kombucha :

This was fermented tea with a lovely Jasmine taste. If I wasn't told, I couldn't tell it was fermented because the taste was so pleasant.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Canapes:

A light starter of nourishing vegetables with cute beetroot tacos with watercress cultured cream, baby sweetcorns, carrots with carrot powder and cumin.
Everything on the plate was edible including baby sweetcorn tassels.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
OYSTERS Gillardeau oyster, cucumber, wasabi:

The oyster was half poached which gave it a semi raw but slightly cooked texture.
It was paired with wasabi foam, cucumber pearls and seaweed which went together surpisingly well.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
SALMON Irish organic salmon, beetroot, smoked butter milk:

It had almost every colour on the plate and the stripes on the beetroots were striking.
Each piece of beetroot was fresh, crisp and sweet and the salmon was just divine.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Zen Organic Garden Vegetables:

The salad was colourful and fun to eat because we were given chopsticks for it!!
At the bottom of the bowl, there was a strong cheesy paste which gave the salad an extra kick.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Poached Japanese Taiyouran egg:

The egg was poached so beautifully and it looked like burrata cheese.
Inside, the yolk was perfectly fluid which went nicely with the tasty quinoa beneath it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Home Made 10 Grains Sourdough with Natural Yeast:
The sourdough was soft and I loved the proper sour tones it had complemented by the earthy mushroom butter.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roasted Chicken Thigh & Breast Roulade:

The chicken roulade was the best of both worlds, succulent chicken breast wrapped in tender chicken thigh meat on the outside, paired with a crunchy melody of Romanesco broccoli.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bitter Chocolate, Orange & Hazelnut :

The chocolate was amazingly silky, it was like having chocolate sorbet flavoured nicely with a twist of orange and nutty hazelnuts.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
As a conclusion, the FEAST would be a better option for those with bigger appetites and I wish there were more choices for tea.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Address: 3/F, 1 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Telephone: 2871 9993
Email: Reservation@nur.hk
www.nur.hk
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Cheap but not edible cakes

Sunny Boulangerie et Patisserie (Jordan)

Sunny Boulangerie et Patisserie looks promising from the outside but when you go in, the cakes and breads are Chinese style.
There are other branches in Hong Kong but this is the only branch that has a cafe area serving teas and coffees.


I was attracted by the orange cream carrot cake which cost $32, when it was brought over, it was three slices!!
I thought $32 was per slice/piece as the label says because in the cabinet, it was already sliced into three slices, so per piece meaning one of those slices.



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Orange cream carrot cake $32:



Anyway, the cake looked quite genuine with lots of carrots in it.


However it was dry and hard. God knows how long it has been in the cabinet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Numi Aged Earl Grey $13:
The organic tea was only $13 per cup. How cheap!!



Unfortunately, the cup containing hot tea gave off toxic plastic fumes which made the tea undrinkable.
I did not drink the tea
Seriously, these cups should be checked or confiscated by the health department or whatever department is responsible.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Taiwanese pork chop with rice at 炊豕店

炊豕店 (Causeway Bay)

Most people who are not from the New Territories are attracted to this place because of the retro decor and green floor tiles.








★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pork chop and rice:


The pork chop was succulent and juicy which was not too salty.
Beneath the pork were tasty pickled vegetables which gave the rice a lovely flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
As I am not a fan of Taiwanese food, it didn't really impress me and it was expensive.
It is also annoying that this restaurant has a minimum spenditure per person.
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Starbucks Vanilla cream frappe

Needed something icy to cool down so contemplated on the green tea frappe or the vanilla cream frappe.
Since I tried the green tea, I decided to try the vanilla.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vanilla cream frappe:

Basically it tastes like a vanilla icecream milkshake but it is not that creamy with lots of cooling fine ice crystals in it.
As I was really hot, I loved all those ice crystals, but I found it a bit too sweet.
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