Christmas at HABITŪ

Recently went to the Christmas party at HABITŪ where we got to preview the coming delights.

A one-stop-shop for all your festive food and drink, HABITŪ has also invited model and pastry chef Amanda Strang to design a collection of cakes and cookies.

HABITŪ x Amanda Strang White Christmas Collection:

The most luxurious of Amanda’s desserts is the White Christmas Log Cake (HK$688), a
vanilla tiramisu mousse with creamy cranberry and sour cherry jelly on a cranberry dacquoise.
(also available in miniature white Christmas Mini Log Cake for HK$52).

Less decadent but no less delicious is Santa’s Chestnut Pound Cake, (HK$25 per slice), which
features marrons glacé and Belgium chocolate flakes folded inside the French butter pound cake.
Finally, Amanda created Rudolph’s Biscuits (HK$98 per box) which are buttery cookies with
hazelnuts, cranberries and cocoa nibs.

Winter lattes were a colourful choice of matcha, beetroot and turmeric which can be made with coffee or coffee free.

The beetroot one was amazing because you can literally taste blended beetroot in it and the Christmas White truffle drinks come with a winged cup or cookie wings if you have it there.

Foodwise, I liked the festive dishes especially the Linguine Pasta with Smoked Turkey in
Beetroot Cream Sauce which is very Christmassy.

It is really thoughtful that HABITŪ has quite a few vegetarian options such as Sweet potato Beet Wellington and Avocado Organic Quinoa Kale Caesar.

Unknown to me, HABITŪ has an impressive cake library that can be ordered!
I loved the sparkling silver cake and the black cake Gothic table chandeliers.

Thanks to HABITŪ we got to have fun and decorate our own personalized cake.

https://www.habitu.com.hk/

Comforting food at de België

Previously tried Belgica in K Town so I knew the mussels were going to be good here because it is part of the same group.
de België is on the corner of Elgin Street looking small on the outside but spacious once you venture in.

That night, we had a bit of everything because they have other dishes as well as my beloved mussels.

Started with the Tomato aux crevettes and the pulpo a la gallega.
The Tomato aux crevettes were tender translucent shrimps in a delicious dressing encased in a tomato.

The pulpo a la gallega was tasty slices of octopus tentacle on top of new potato slices sprinkled with chili and paprika on a bed of creamy aioli.

It was a great start followed by the mussels.
Again, it was hard to choose because you could choose from mussels cooked in wine, beer etc.
I went for the beer as I was after strong flavours.
It was a huge pot of mussels served with their homemade fries that are fried twice to get that lovely texture.
The mussels were sweet infused with beer and they were free from grit and beard.
While I was eating them I thought I was lucky that the mussels were beard free but later the Chef told me they had removed the beard before cooking you can just enjoy them.

After the mussels, I had the herb roasted chicken.
The chicken was really comforting because it tasted how a roast chicken should taste, ie fully flavoured by the herbs as they were rubbed evenly and it was roasted just right.
The vegetables that came with it were fantastic because they were cooked thoroughly and flavoured in honey, something difficult in HK because the potatoes are normally too hard as the Chefs just grill them to save time.

Had a sweet ending which is hard in Hong Kong because it is really hard to get proper Western desserts.
The Waffle was done just right because it was not too sweet as the sweetness of the cream complemented it nicely and the Chantilly cream was fluffy and airy.

If you drink, I seriously recommend the coconut beer which I tried at the Belgica [other branch]!

+++++++++++++

de België:
21 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong.
https://www.facebook.com/deBelgiehk/

[3 ITALIANI] Italian gelato in Causeway Bay

3 ITALIANI meaning three Italians is obviously opened by three Italians.

At 3 ITALIANI, you can expect a good choice of authentic Italian gelato, chocolate and coffee.

There are 30 different flavours of gelato and sorbet.
(20 traditional Italian flavours and 10 Asian flavour on offer in Hong Kong).

They are made in store everyday, free from preservatives, syrups and colouring which can be seen behind the glass.

There are 5 flavours exclusively created for Hong Kong: 3 Italiani (mango, coconut and sponge cake), Chocolate Wasabi, English Trifle, Crema Antica and Chocolate sorbet.
The chocolate sorbet is an interesting one because it still tastes of strong chocolate without the milk.
Clearly English Trifle was my favourite being English.
It is slightly different to the trifle with custard and jelly because it had cherries, dark choc, red velvet cakes, small amount of liqueur but it was still good.
The best thing is that you can add whipped cream to it which I did.

Great coffee:

Also tried the waffle with nutella and cream, a great dessert to share:

[3 ITALIANI]:
535 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay.

[Flamingo Bloom] debuts at Tsim Sha Tsui

Kowlooners thirsty for Flamingo Bloom can now quench their thirst at the second new branch at TST!

With winter just around the corner, tea lovers can look forward to an enhanced menu full of
nourishing hot teas, such as the highly aromatic, fresh Australian Blush Pear x Jasmine Tea or
Lemon with freshly ground Ginger x your choice of tea base, such as Jasmine Tips Green,
Honey Orchid Black, Highland Oolong and Chrysanthemum Pu'er.
Most Flamingo Bloom teas can be prepared hot or cold, according to your preference.

And to make the new opening even sweeter, Flaming Bloom’s Tsim Sha Tsui menu offers
another Hong Kong favourite: Bubble waffles with ice-cream.

First, choose from six ice cream
flavours: Cookies & Cream, Milk Chocolate, Bitter Sweet Matcha, or Strawberry Fields. Next
comes the decadent toppings, including Pink Salted Milk Cap, Oreo Crumbs, Salted Caramel
Crumbs, and Double Matcha Sticks.

Get a free floaty at the TST branch with any drink purchased until the 2nd November.

[Gloucester Luk Kwok] Sorrowful Rice 2.0

Sorrowful rice 黯然銷魂飯 is a bowl of Cantonese barbecued pork, with an egg, on rice.inspired by Stephen Chow’s 周星馳 1996 movie, The God of Cookery 食神.
This dish was launched a year ago hence this is version 2.0.
To be honest, I haven't tried version 1.0 and it was my first time trying Sorrowful rice so I was really excited.

It will be available from 30/10/2017-24/01/18 on Mondays to Wednesdays for dinner which includes a crispy crab claw, soup and puerh and osmanthus dessert.

The roast pork is served in a big slab just like the way you buy it from the shops and it gives the satisfaction of having a whole piece of roast pork to yourself.

They use pork collar butt which is the best cut and the the roast pork is served with this glistening almost translucent glaze that is too beautiful and mesmerizing to eat.

To eat, you have to mix everything together especially the liquid yolk and the finely chopped onions underneath the roast pork so the sweetness of the onions come out and the creamy yolk lubricates the grains of rice.

For me every spoonful of rice was heaven because of the onions, egg yolk and the crisp egg white. There was also some lard which brings out all the flavours.
Moving onto the pork, it was just sensational, the meat was lean but tender and I finally satisfied my roast pork craving with this huge piece of pork!!

Saying that I desperately needed a knife and fork because the chopsticks were a bit difficult for me.

++++++++++
Canton Room, Gloucester Luk Kwok:
https://www.facebook.com/GloucesterLukKwok

[THE POND] Modern Chinese dishes in a pleasing environment

This is a great place to go for Chinese food because the vibes and environment is modern and chic yet on the menu you can still find Peking duck and other goodies.
By the stairs, there are fresh fish on ice which you can order and choose the way you want it cooked.

The price of the fish includes the cooking.

+++++++++++
We had the Kinmedai which is a prized Japanese fish served as fish soup.
As expected it was fantastic because the fish was delicate and the broth was full of fish sweetness.

+++++++++++
For starters, we had Sichuan translucent beef slices, drunken chicken, Sweet and sour spare ribs, diced beef with goose liver and mustard sauce, chilled sea blubber.
The translucent beef slice was wonderful with a sweet and spicy kick.

+++++++++++
Diced chicken with dried chili (laat ji gai):
I love spicy food and this was divine because it was crispy pieces of chicken that was evenly spicy and the chicken was tender.

+++++++++++
The steamed assorted dumplings (pork, duck and prawn) were colourful and delicious and the duck was special for me because you rarely get duck dumplings and the green one was also good because the dumpling wrap was made of fragrant pandan.

+++++++++++
The Peking minced pork pastries reminded me of flat sausage rolls but the meat was very moist while the pastry was chunkier and flaky.

+++++++++++
Barbecued Peking duck:
The crispy duck skin was served with sugar which gives it a sweet twist while there was a colourful side of vegetables including watermelon radish which tastes like carrot.
The pancakes with duck, vegetables and sauce put together was flawless.

+++++++++++

THE POND 魚塘鴨子:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Pond-HK-1894543014099106/

Guizhou lamb specialist open 24 hours in the heart of Mong Kok

I went here because they specialize in Lamb from Guizhou.
The name of this place is called 貴州遵義黔營羊肉粉 but the English name SIMPLEJOY [on Instagram and also printed on the napkins] is rather random and has nothing associated to Guizhou.

Anyway, it is hidden behind the stalls of Ladies Market so there is some sense of privacy when dining there
It is open 24 hours so a convenient place for early breakfast or midnight dinners!!

They have an English menu.
In Hong Kong, the items on the menu would be deemed as Hardcore but it is pretty common and they seem to eat anything over there!!
Not for the faint hearted because they have BRAINS, PLACENTA, PAIR OF EYES, TESTICLES, PENIS, you name it!

I tried the toothpick lamb which somehow wasn't served on toothpicks.
They were small juicy tender cubes of lamb seasoned with chili and spicy.
Each piece of lamb was scrumptious and not too spicy.

Next were the eyes! A pair of lamb eyes.
It was a surprise because I hadn't a clue how it was going to be served.
In my mind it was two eyes rolling about on a plate but it turned out to be eyes in the soup but they were not floating around.
I was also disappointed that the eyes were cut in half as I couldn't find the lens or vitreous humor.
There wasn't much taste to it but the texture was like springy chewy chicken cartilage.

The ribs were quite pricey but delicious because it was laced with spices.
Adding cumin and extra chili made it taste even better.

Anyway, next time I will be back for the noodles!!!
++++++++++
貴州遵義黔營羊肉粉:
86 Tung Choi street,
Mong Kok
Instagram: simplejoymongkok