Hooked again at Hooked

Went there again with <<IVY>> after dining at Rosie Jeans!!

HOOKED must have been flocked with chip lovers because they keep running out of chips!

A friend that I recommended this place to went today [9-april-14] and they were serving crinkle cut chips.
BUT, the staff didn't ask her which salt she wanted so she missed out on the different choices of salt they offer.

Apart from Beers, they have other beverages from Australia.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken pie (pukka pie) $55:


It was so nice that <<IVY>> brought some cutlery along because I told her they don't have forks.
Anyway, the chicken pie was nice and the filling was quite thick which meant that you could probably eat it with your hands.
The pie crust was nice and flakey and it wasn't oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Battered banana $10:

Tried this on another visit without <<IVY>>.
I was surprised it was a WHOLE battered banana which was not even sliced in half!
I would advise shaking the bag before eating it because the cinnamon and sugar is at the bottom of the bag.
The banana was delicious because the battered coating was extremely light flavoured by the sugar and cinnamon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Hooked:

86-88 Caine Road

$1 chicken from Tao Heung

This branch of Tao Heung is located in a residential area which is not near the MTR, hence it is quite quiet on the weekdays and busier on the weekends.

At the moment Tao Heung is doing a $1  chicken (approximately a few pennies) promotion to attract diners.
Obviously people are not going to get away with just ordering chicken.

Here was what I tried.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
steamed flounder fish:

This is my favourite fish and it was steamed just right which was good.
The flesh was white which meant the fish was quite fresh.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
$1 chicken:

The chicken wasn't very meaty but reasonable for $1 unlike other places where you paying $1xx and getting the same crap.

The soy sauce for the chicken was really nice because it has a hint of spring onion in the taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Other dishes:

Surprisingly, just tried the spinach with beancurd sheets and it was quite nice.
The prawns were simply boiled in its shell and that tasted good too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
rice:

The portion of rice was quite decent but it looked like a dog bowl.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Tao Heung:

SHOP NO.111, 1/F, SHEUNG TAK SHOPPING CENTRE, SHEUNG TAK ESTATE, 2 Tong Ming Street, TSEUNG KWAN O, SAI KUNG, N.T., Tseung Kwan O

Delicious crab noodles at Noodlemi

Discovered this new shop in late 2012 so told <IVY> about it because she likes trying new shops.

At that time I thought it was expensive compared to other noodle joints but dined here this time because this other place I wanted to go was closed.

I ordered the Aromatic Crab & Shrimp Tomato Soup with Vermicelli for $68 which is cheap because the average bowl of ramen is about $70 these days.


The seating is quite cramped and uncomfortable.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Aromatic Crab & Shrimp Tomato Soup with Vermicelli




The broth was lovely and strong with rich tomato and crab taste but it was a bit too salty.
There were cubes of meat made from minced prawn and crab roe which was just like eating crab.
Surprisingly, I liked the noodles because they were similar to rice vermicelli but slightly thicker and did not have that Yunnan vermicelli plastic chewy texture.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Noodle Mi, G/F, 2 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan

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.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
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
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★