My first zongzi in 2015

It is the time of year when shops are selling Zongzis to celebrate dragon boat festival.
I dread this time of the year because of the hot summer to come.
Anyway, Kee Wah have come up with a variety of dumplings and they even a dumpling with a touch of Taiwanese flare.



Zongzis are eaten hot so you have to steam them but as I don't have a steamer, I put them in the microwave and they still tasted good, but I had to put a piece of wet paper hand towel on top to keep the dumpling from drying out.

Here were the ones I tried
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Betty’s xo sauce rice dumpling with pork belly:



Glutinous rice, pork belly, xo sauce (garlic, shallot, chinese ham, dried shrimp, red pepper, dried scallop, dried shrimp).
This was my favourite because it was spicy which makes the sticky glutinous rice more appetizing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Chinese ham and supreme dried scallop rice dumpling with two yolks:


The size of the zongzi was comparatively bigger than the other ones and it was like a Kinder surprise dumpling because it was loaded with surprises!

Ham and Egg yolk:

Whole chestnut:

Whole dried scallop:

The second egg yolk:

I loved the five spice powder and double egg yolks which gave the overall dumpling extra saltiness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Fresh meat and preserved sausage zongzi:


It was loaded with a huge shittake musrhoom and slices of preserved sausage which gave the overall zongzi a sweet and savoury taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Walnut and date zongzi:

This was a sweet one which was filled with thick sweet walnut and date paste, and the glutinous rice was firm and chewy.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Casa Lisboa in Hong Kong

Casa Lisboa in Hong Kong
Casa Lisboa Portuguese Restaurant & Bar (Central)
When I first heard of this place I associated it with Macau but Casa Lisboa has been in HK for a while according to the reviews.
It is nice to be able to eat good Portuguese food without going to Macau.

We had a lot of fish which was nice and here was what we had:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Traditional creamy bacalhau:

Tasted like fish pie with parsley so I really loved it because it was creamy and the fish was silky without being too salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
“Santos populares” style baby sardines:

The baby sardines were delicate and soft with edible bones.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Classic codfish cakes:


These codfish cakes were delicious because there was quite a far bit of cod in it.
Brits will love this because it tastes like a good fishcake!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Poached Atlantic cod with roasted tomato and herbs:

The fish was chunky and flakey covered in rich tomato sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Traditional roasted suckling pig:

The roast suckling pig was soft as expected but a little too dry for my liking.
For big groups, you can order a whole pig but for smaller groups you can order the smaller portion of four pieces.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Baked Portuguese duck rice old style:

This was my first experience of real Portuguese rice which looks nothing like the HongKongized ones covered in weird coloured sauce.
The grains of rice are crispy and al-dente flavoured with duck and there are tasty pieces of duck shreds in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Traditional seafood “cataplana”:

Seafood lovers will love this but I wish there was more sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Iberico pork tenderloin and mushroom rice:


I loved the rice because it was in a tasty mushroom gravy and it was like a fusion of risotto and rice in broth.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Portuguese tart:


Although it was quite sweet, I liked the hint of lemon in it.
Normally Portuguese people have this with black coffee to balance the sweetness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Tigelada, portuguese egg pudding with icecream:


I loved this because there was a strong cinnamon taste.
When you cut it in half, there are lots of capillaries which look like a crumpet, however the texture is much softer and soggy compared to a crumpet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Casa lisboa apple and raisin sablee with vanilla icecream:

This was a delicate two layered flaky pastry with apple that was soaked in port wine and raisins in between and a top layer of silky egg white that was not too sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Big portions at The Grill Room

There are not many Australian restaurants in HK so the only Australian places I have tried are Flames, Seasalt, which serve specific things.
Since I have just tried this place, I intend to try Bellbrook too.


The Grill room is themed by these wolves which actually look like cute foxes.
I love the table sheets, which are so tempting to colour in if I had colouring pencils.




I ended up ordering too much because the portions were really big.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
For starters, I chose the sharing board which lets you choose 3 or 4 little bites and the portion was huge.
I had the mushrooms, chicken, clams and calamari.

+++++++
The calamari came with a lovely yoghurt sauce which was loaded with cucumbers.


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Sauteed mushrooms:
The mushrooms were quite creamy and great with toast.

+++++++
clams:
The clams were fresh and juicy with a nice white wine and chili flavouring.

+++++++
chicken:
These were crispy pieces of white chicken meat paired with a lovely peri peri sauce dip.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Cauliflower, almonds and crispy garlic:

The cauliflower had a strong buttery aroma and taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Slow braised beef cheek ragu fettucine:

The beef was soft and gelatinous as expected but the ragu sauce was a tad too spicy but I loved the cumin that was in it because it is a bit like chili con carne.
I think it should say spicy on the menu because Ragu is not usually spicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Crispy pork belly:

It is nice that the chef has marinated the pork belly with kumquat which gives the pork belly an interesting taste.

The buttery caramelized apples tasted great with the smoky pork belly.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Peri peri spring chicken

This tastes just as good as the chicken from Flames.
It was tender, juicy and flavourful.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Icecream in a tin at Initial Ice Cream Store

The first icecream I tried at Initial d wasn't good because it tasted like HK milk tea, but went back because they had this new salad flavour icecream that is served in a tin garnished with ice lettuce.

The icecream was really nice because it was spiked with lots of black pepper which went well with the tartness of the icecream.
After you finish the icecream, you can keep the tin by removing the plastic cup.

Premium lobster experience

When I went in this Lobster bar, I thought it was just a place for drinks because there were only three tables and bar.
I couldn’t see the kitchen anywhere so I wondered how they could cook all these wonderful sophisticated seafood dishes.
But sure enough, they were capable because I could smell these wonderful smells while I was looking at the menu.
As there were two of us, we had the lobster sliders and Typhoon shelter lobster.
+++++++++++++++
lobster sliders:

These were surprisingly good because the lobster meat was springy and sweet paired with this sauce that was spicy and delicious.
+++++++++++++++
New Brunswick Lobster – Hong Kong Typhoon Shelter style:

Traditionally, crabs and Mantis prawns have been used for Typhoon shelter dishes but eating crabs and Mantis prawns are difficult.
I like the way, they have Typhoon shelter lobster because it gives this dish a new experience and this is the best Typhoon shelter I have tried.
Normally it does not contain black beans but it was a mix of ginger, spring onions and black beans which is really tasty.

I finished the non lobster remains with bread because it was really tasty.
+++++++++++++++
Guilty Little Pleasures Mini Cupcakes:
Chocolate & Baileys / Mojito / Jack Daniels & Ginger

I loved these mini cupcakes because they were sweet and heavily spiked with alcohol!
The chocolate and Jack Daniels were my favourite.
+++++++++++++++
I will be back very soon!

Something sweet in the neighbourhood called Munchies

I love donuts with icing but not many places in HK have it so this is the place to go.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Earl grey donut with earl grey icecream:

The donut with earl grey icing was really nice because there was a strong earl grey flavour.
I also opted for EG icecream in the donut which I should have changed when I tried some because it was too sweet but there was a hoard of people behind so I couldn't be bothered to choose a different flavour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
earl grey cookie:


The cookie was soft and moist with a nice sugary taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
cinnamon donut:


This was another good donut for sugar cravings with lovely cinnamon powder and sugar coating.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Nice view at the back and the staff were really nice.

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