Funky dandan noodle bar‏

Dandan caught my attention because of the manga style logo, bilingual menu and the whole place was just inviting.




Upon arrival I was greeted by Jerome who was dressed up like a Martial arts dude, a French expat who owns this place with his wife.


The decor definitely made the experience more enjoyable because it was modern and comfortable.

I ended up trying the dan dan la mian and the minced pork and zucchini dumplings.
Also on the menu were brownies and the disclaimer explaining it was not Sichuan was cute.


This place is going to be popular with expats who find local joints daunting.

Within a flash, my food arrived.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
dan dan la mian:

When it came, there was a lovely Sichuan pepper fragrance.
I started on the noodles which had a lovely al-dente texture, the strands were round and ribbed which hung the soup nicely.

The meat sauce on top was differerent to the ones I have tried in Hong Kong because the Sichuan pepper was more prominent than chili.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
minced pork and zucchini dumplings:

The dumplings were big and there were eight in a portion.
Each dumpling was plump and juicy and it came with a delicious dipping sauce made of chili, Sichuan pepper, spring onions and soy sauce which added more kick to it.


For improvements, I would like the skin to be thinner and possibly smaller dumplings because I found it hard to pick them up with my limited chopstick skills.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lemon tea:

To finish off I had lemon tea which was nice and refreshing.
As well as lemon tea, there are other drinks as well.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Previously, this shop used to be Hero's, but now the Hero has gone, let's see how well these kick ass noodles do!

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Dandan

Shop 101A, Grand Millennium Plaza, 181 Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan

Water of life at Tai King Restaurant

Tai King Restaurant (San Po Kong)

I am quite surprised this little joint is listed.



Anyway, I only dined here because I wanted a drink, water was what I really wanted.

Sat down and ordered some Fish shaomai and hot lemon water because it was the closest drink I could get to water.

The shaomai was the usual fare with a high percentage of flour and a fishy taste.

Then when I was taking photos I saw a plastic jug of water with cups.

As I did not finish the lemon water drink, the staff there were really nice and asked me if I wanted it to take it away.

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Thai feast at Koh Thai

Great place to meet up with friends because this place is expat friendly and conveniently located on Ship Street.

Here was the feast we had

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Toong Thong:

These were Thai style treasure bags which tasted similar to fried wontons with meat in the middle.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Tom Yum Kung
Thailand's famous spicy soup prepared in a shrimp bouillon with lemongrass, kaffir leaves and galangal


Personally I found it too spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ruam Mit Koh Thai
Mixed Platter: fresh spring rolls, satays, and prawn cakes

This was great for sharing and the satays were paired with delicious peanut sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Khor Moo Yang
Tender slices of marinated grilled pork neck served with Chef’s very special spicy sauce

The grilled pork neck meat was meaty and not that fatty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Gaeng Massamun Ka Gae
slow-roasted lamb shank "fill off the bone" meat in massamun curry, baby pumpkin & okra

I loved lamb and the lamb shank was soft and came off the bone easily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pla Kra Pong Tod Sam Rod:
Whole wild red snapper deep fried and served on the bone with a koh thai special sweet and sour sauce with chili

The fish was amazing, it was crispy and the fish was silky with a spicy twist.
I loved it because it was Thai version of sweet and sour fish.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Gai Phad Med Ma Muang Himmapan
Stir-fried pieces of chicken, crunchy, cashew nuts, dried chili, onion and water chestnut

Kung Po chicken lovers will love this.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Kradook Moo Phad Nam Prik Pao
Koh Thai signature dish.
Tender slow-roasted pork ribs in a tangy sweet tamarind chili jam

When it was ordered, I did not know it was the signature dish but it turned out to be my favourite because the meat was so soft and came off the bone easily drenched in sweet and spicy dressing which is a nice change from Western smokey ribs.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Koh Thai (Wan Chai)

My favourite 2014 mooncake

I was thrilled to receive a mooncake gift certificate for Dolci's mooncakes because I tried it before and it was delicious.

I redeemed it quickly because these mooncakes are just divine and it comes with my favourite Jasmine tea.

The box had a modern subtle moon festival theme with clouds, moon and a rabbit.

If you look carefully, you will find a rabbit looking at the moon with its colour matched to the tea packaging.




Normally when I have these mini custard mooncakes, a quarter would be enough because it is usually too sweet and buttery but these are so palatable that I have a whole one in one go and selfishly I did not share these with anyone because they are too good to share.
After microwaving it for 10 seconds, it becomes warm and fragrant, and the custard filling was dreamy unlike other brands!!

2/3 Dolci (Central)

Exotic sausages - Beware or do you dare?

Craft and Brew is on the corner of Old Bailey Street with simple rustic decor and lots of beer taps.



I was really excited about Craft and Brew because they serve some really DIFFERENT sausages!!!!
It gave me the same excitement as BRAT did because they don't just serve ordinary meat sausages.
The selection is more exhilarating than BRAT with their EXOTICS range featuring:
Snake, rabbit and Jalapeno
Crocodile, wild boar and chili
Mexican buffalo nachos
roast duck and plum
Beef, chili and chocolate
Chicken, honey and macadamia
Roast duck and plum was obviously going to be delicious but as a daring foodie I had to try the Snake and rabbit.
I wanted to try the crocodile too but it has Wild boar which is basically pork.
As there were so many sausages, I came here a few times.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Snake and rabbit sausage:


To be honest if I did not know it was rabbit and snake meat I would have assumed it was a chicken sausage because the texture was like chicken and the colour was pale.
The snake and rabbit sausage was interesting because it was velvety and the Jalapenos gave it a lovely kick of spiciness.
For the sides, the beetroot relish was nice and sweet which was great with the spicy sausage and saukeraut is always good with sausage.
The potato salad was lovely and creamy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Mexican lamb merguez:


The lamb was slightly gamey and chewy because they use fresh natrual casings.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chicken, honey and macadamia:


I knew this going to be delicious but it was amazing because it was sweet and juicy and it had WHOLE macadamia nuts in the sausage.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roast duck and plum:

The duck sausage was fun because it was like the East meets the West tasting like Peking duck.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Although I do not drink but they have almost every beer you would want.
There were two which I found interesting because of the names:
Dead pony and Dead frog!

For improvements, it would be great if they did not put the paper sheet beneath the sausages because when you cut the sausages you end up ripping the paper as well.

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Craft and Brew:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/CRAFT-BREW-CO/1412720748960283

Spices for your tastebuds at Spicy House

Spicy House is located near the Wong Tai Sin MTR.

Went there to try some Sichuan dishes which were great and creative.

Here was what we had.

Some dishes do not have English names hence the Chinese name.
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毛血旺

This was a huge bowl with porks blood, luncheon ham, cow's stomach tripe and instestines.
A typical Sichuan dish which was very aromatic because of the Sichuan peppercorns leaving your mouth feeling extremely numb afterwards.
My favourite were the porks blood and luncheon meat.
+++++++++
川烤BB豬
Sichuan roast suckling pig

This is an adaption where they have used Roast sucking pig instead of other meats.
It was really enjoyable because the skin was crispy just like pork crackling and the sauce was like rich Western gravy spiked with Sichuan spices perfect with rice, potatoes or noodles.
+++++++++
冰鎮鮮鮑魚同
Fresh chilled abalone

The photograph does not show, but when it was brought to the table, there was cold smoke coming from it and the abalone was sweet and fresh with a light soy sauce taste.
+++++++++
桑拿田雞
Frog sauna style


The inspiration behind this dish is hot steam saunas which is why there are hot pebbles in the sauna style wooden tub so that when the frogmeat is poured into the bowl, it will sizzle and let off steam.
The frog meat was spicy and springy and it was just like eating chicken.
+++++++++
豆花黃魚
Fish with beancurd

Last but not least, this was my favourite because the fish was extremely silky paired with appetizing pickled vegetables and smooth beancurd which the fish even more silky.
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To watch this episode of  玩轉18區 at 麻醉館 hosted by 周中師傅, Miki and Supersupergirl and other shows by Aplus YUS, please visit the link below.

Lab Made 2nd year anniversary

The flavours this time were quite impressive, so tried three out of the four.
-Ginger tofu
-Birthday cake
-Sweet pea tofu



The sweet pea tofu had a nice taste but I did not like the texture because it was starchy.

The ginger tofu was fun because of the pipette.

The birthday cake had cream and marshmallows this year and the pandan flavour was stronger but sweeter.
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Lab Made Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Laboratory (Tseung Kwan O)