Peruvian flavours at El Mercado

I love Peruvian food but there are not many in Hong Kong.
Tried this place because it was new and it serves Peruvian fare.

Here was what we had:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Crispy sweet potatoes:

Started off with these sweet potato crisps which looked the same as crisps, they were hard and sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Grilled beef heart Anticucho marinated in chili corn puree:

I found this tantalizing because there were lots of different flavours going on and there was a strong taste of cumin.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Japanese oyster with lime and squid ink foam:

The oyster was different and I like the way it had dark grey squid ink foam with strong lime that made it appetizing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Seared beef flank, banana confit, quail egg nigiri:

The rice beneath it was mixed with banana so it was savoury and sweet with a small poached quail egg on top.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
ohnibe fish, leche de tigre, sweet potato and crispy calamari rings:

This dish was refreshing as well with bold lime juice and silky pieces of ohnibe fish.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Suckling pig, edamame tacu tacu, nikei chalaca:

The suckling pig was really tender that the texture was more like chicken and the rice beneath it was really similar to thick congee.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

Sizzling hot surprises at Maxim's Hong Kong Day

Hong Kong day has done it again!
We were there for the sizzling dishes.

There are four sizzling choices so we tried all four.


We went to the Tai Kok Tsui branch because it is accessible by MTR and the restaurant is spacious.





★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
All the sizzling dishes came with a soothing iced honey and barley drink that was sweet and cooling.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pork knuckles & egg in ginger & sweetened vinegar with braised red rice with assorted mushrooms, diced chicken & celery $68



I knew I was going to like this because I love pork knuckles stewed in ginger & sweetened vinegar.
Tried the braised rice and it was so tasty because it was flavoured by the chicken and mushrooms contrasted by the crisp fragrant celery.
If you have the pork knuckles with the rice, you get more complexity with sweet and savoury notes.
*I highly recommend this*
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
pan-fried chicken steak with cheese, stir-fried sweet potato vermicelli with kimchi & sliced pork belly $58


This is the dish for people who like sweet and spicy tastes.
The stir-fried sweet potato vermicelli was exciting because of the Kimchi and the chicken steak was tender, covered in delicious melted cheese.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
pork cartilage with cheese, braised shredded beef spaghetti with tomato $58


As well as the rice, this is another one that should be ordered because the stir fried spaghetti has an appetizing tomato flavour with juicy pieces of tomato and tender strips of beef.
The pork cartilage was soft and flavourful.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
abalone in oyster sauce, braised red rice with preserved vegetables, pork belly & fish fillet $88:

The abalone was surprisingly big!



This is another filling sizzling dish with fish, abalone and pork belly.

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The rice had a strong ginger taste which goes well with the fish and abalone.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Purple Taiwanese roti at 艾·蜜思手抓餅

A while ago foodie MungKK showed me a picture of this purple roti but Saiwanho was a bit far away so I didn’t bother.
I was in the area so decided to try it out.


The menu was a bit confusing because I couldn’t see the choices that I could choose.
Anyway, I knew there was cheese and corned beef so I chose that.

The roti was quite impressive, you could smell the scent of sweet purple potato and the roti was still crispy after 10 minutes of travelling.
Basically it was like a crispy chewy croissant filled with corned beef and melted processed cheese and the flakey pastry was not too sweet.

[Hoover Cake Shop] Smelly Margarine

I was still hungry so got a Flower roll from this place.

The woman was quite annoyed because I didn't buy more.


The Flower roll is made with bits of pandan cake, chocolate cake, cream and walnuts which are obviously cake scraps and leftover cake bits when they make the cakes.
Anyway, it was rather dry and the margarine was really smelly that it was still on my hands and it washes off with difficulty!

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The bill: $8
Service: bad
Yummy factor: Could be better
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J'adore Big Fernand

Came here in March, hence this is an outdated review.










I got the Big Fernand


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Big Fernand:

After taking a bite I was delighted because the patty was lean and pure with delicious cheese.

It was so delicious that I got another burger.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Fries:

Basically they are the fries that I like because they are not crispy and have a sweet aftertaste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
DIY burger:





For the DIY burger, I chose the raclette cheese with chives.


Again, this was good but the raclette does not taste as strong as the cheese in the first burger.
☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
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The bill: $1xx
Service: OK
Service charge: no
Yummy factor: Could be better
Napkins provided: yes
Noise levels: None
English Menu: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
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