[National Swedish Day] celebration in Hong Kong

It has been pouring with rain for the past few days and I am so glad the rain stopped for [National Day and Midsummer the longest day of the year in Sweden] as there was a joyous celebration for it in Hong Kong!

It was a great event for families with children with a 3.5-meter tall maypole with folk music live performance.

There was Swedish treats which were delicious especially the Smörgåstårta, "sandwich cake" which is neither a cake or a sandwich but I loved it because the bread was smothered in creamy mayonnaise topped with shrimp.

After filling myself with treats, I hydrated myself with Bluewater (mineral water).

It was fun taking part in the flower crown making workshop where I made a lovely crown with pretty pink carnations.

This event has definitely enlightened me to travel to Sweden so I plan to make a trip there one day.

In love with [Joomak's] Vegetarian Menu

I am always here because of their vegan menu, it is great that they change it regularly.
On this visit, I tried some new items like the snow fungus salad which was light and satisfying while the Vegan Korean chicken was on the fiery side.

There was supposed to be some ice leaves in there but only found one!

The kale pancake is permanently on the menu but it makes sense because it tastes really good.

It is similar to those Chinese bokchang pancakes which are soft with a slight chew loaded with healthy kale and sweet wolfberries.

For drinks, both choices were so damn good especially the black garlic latte with charcoal, it was sweet with a gritty texture.

The yuzu chocolate smoothie which I thought was an odd combination turned out well because it was similar to the pairing of choc n orange which never fails.

Finished with the chia seed pudding which was silky and moreish!

Definitely will be back because on Wednesdays they have a promotion for all you can eat from the Vegetarian menu for $198 until the end of June!

Fried [Hainan Style chicken] at KFC 肯德基

In Hong Kong, KFC has a totally different recipe for the chicken coating so I rarely get KFC unless the flavour is interesting.
The KFC meals comes with waffle fries and not chips as served in UK which is another thing I don't like.

Anyway, the new Fried [Hainan Style chicken] captivated me because I love Scallion Oil.

The set comes with rice and a drink and you can also order two extra Hainan Style chicken wings.
Unfortunately, they gave me the wrong ones because they were spicy and tasted totally different from the star of the show.

As I said, the chicken wings were just spicy.

The star of the show was really tasty and you could taste spring onions in the coating.
The sauce that comes with this is chili and lime which really matches the chicken and gives a slight Thai kick to it.

It was good that it came with rice because I am not fond of Waffle fries.

Overall, the Fried [Hainan Style chicken] was impressive but not impressive because the chicken wings given were the wrong ones.

Healthy Hot Pot at [雲長小龍坎老火鍋]

Went here with a friend to check out this new hotpot place which used to be some other Sichuan restaurant.
When we arrived, we were greeted with this huge ceramic dragon, on the left was this animated image which was actually powered by a fan.

雲長小龍坎 is opened by cantopop singer Jason Chan and TV celeb Chiu King Ho so you might bump into them there!!

Inside, there are mini cans of oil which are used for dipping the food on each table and neatly stacked by the window.

Started with some spicy chicken feet and crispy pork.

The Salt and Pepper Sweetcorn was really addictive as the sweetcorn was split into four vertically which made it really easy to eat for people with small gobs!

We had two broths, one signature spicy broth and the non spicy herb broth.
Before we ordered anything for the pot, the guy kept recommending the meat balls and saying how good they were.

So we got some Celtuce slices, Premium beef, meat balls and the Ferris Wheel.

The Ferris Wheel was a real working one because when I took one of the carriages out, it started moving due to the weight imbalance!!

The guy didn't brag about the meat balls as they turned out tasty.
The reason they were good was that it was made of mostly grounded pure meat which you can taste otherwise the texture would be bouncy.
So far so good!
The next exciting thing was the fish gas bladders which I have always wanted to try as not many places serve them puffed up.

I loved the stickiness and you really do need to tug it as it was very elastic to withstand the pressures beneath the sea!! The only thing you have to becareful are the random sharp bone fragments. Duck's blood is becoming popular these days and the texture of the duck's blood was like tofu which disintegrates in your mouth as it is really delicate.
It definitely tastes better placed in the spicy broth.

Overall, I was really satisfied with the hotpot as everything was tasty and didn't need the condiments.
The way I eat spicy hotpot is use the non spicy broth to blanch it first and then a few drops of the spicy broth to make it tasty so that I can control how spicy it is.
On the way home, I noticed that I was not feeling thirsty after the hotpot.

[雲長小龍坎老火鍋]

Loyal to Vegans as well at [Loyal Dining]

Since my last visit to Loyal Dining, they have launched a Green Menu (Vegetarian) that serves Beyond Meat Burgers.

There is also a Half Priced Steak Night deal where guests can enjoy half priced steak for every second order of the Chef Recommended Classic Steak Set (original price starting HKD188up) available from Monday to Thursday.
The promotion has been extended until the end of June as it has proved to be very popular as almost every table was having steak that night!!!

I am a fan of Beyond Meat burgers and currently on a quest to try all these different places that serve it and see which place makes it taste the best!
As we were a large group, we had both meat and vegetarian dishes.

Started with the Signature Loyal Chicken Wings simmered in their home made sweet soy sauce. Each wing was tasty and soft fully infused with the sweet soy sauce.

Now to the new VEGAN stars of Loyal Dining, the Beyond Meat burger!!!
There are three burgers to choose from: Original, Sichuan or Scallion Oil. It was really difficult to pick a favourite as both were so good but different.
The Sichuan one had the Sichuan flare to it but it was a bit too salty.

I would probably say the Scallion Oil was better because the combination was interesting and strangely went really well as scallion oil is normally paired with chicken.

Look at all that yummy Scallion Oil!

I was really impressed they even had Sorrowful Rice in Vegetarian form. The vegan char siu had that freshly roasted char siu taste and aroma as it was slightly crispy on the edges.

Beef Wellington 66 is the signature dish here and one of my classic faves because it is British!
They use quality beef and the puff pastry is good.
Beef Wellington 66 signifies Loyal Dining's old address at 66 Wellington Street before they moved!
I miss that location as I used to go there for dimsum and went there with friends from UK.

Next we had the vegetable curry souffle which was interesting. Basically vegetable curry topped with souffle!

Now for the real dessert, it was Ovaltine Souffle which was fluffy and sweet infused with Ovaltine!

I really like the new menu and hope it stays forever so that Vegans can dine here as well!
I'll be back!

[Loyal Dining]:
1/F, 5 Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
https://www.loyaldining.com.hk/

[Nara Thai] Cuisine lands in Shatin

Wherever you are in Hong Kong, it is quicker from your location to travel to Nara Thai Cuisine than to fly to Bangkok. [Not to be confused with this other one in TST]

Nara Thai Cuisine is a famous restaurant from Thailand that has received the best restaurant award every year since 2007! How could I not try it when I was at Mimila earlier that day.

Began with the appetizers: Prawn carpaccio, Salmon carpaccio, Thai Fish cakes, Green mango salad with Thai sausage and North Eastern pork balls with lettuce.
[Prawn carpaccio]

[Salmon carpaccio]

[Thai Fishcakes]

I liked the way the pork salami was diced and made crispy as everything went together nicely in the [Green mango salad with Thai sausage].

To my surprise, the [North Eastern pork balls with lettuce] stole the show among the appetizers because they were crunchy on the outside while it was moist in the middle packed with fiery kick, hence the lettuce mellows the fierness.

There is always soup in the Thai Cuisine such as coconut chicken, tom yum kung etc. Tried the tom yum kung which was refreshing with a prominent herb flavour while the lemongrass was not too strong.

The Soft Shell Crab Yellow Curry with Butterfly Pea Rice, Jasmine and Roti Prata is great for sharing, the best thing is the curry as it was thick yet light, great with the rice or roti.

The Grilled Pork Neck is also worth ordering as it was lean and meaty.

The Fried Butterfly Pea rice with Crispy Fish and Thai Herbs was really photogenic, while the egg turned out to be the star of the show as it was salted egg.

Nara is also famous for noodles especially the [Ayuthaya boat noodles with Beef] which come in a strong beefy broth infused with herbs.

They also had the [Rainbow soup rice noodles with fish fillet], another noodle that has become popular in HK.

For dessert, the [Nara Coconut ice cream with assorted Thai sweet condiments] was a brilliant experience as you are presented with all these sweet toppings to add on the coconut icecream.

Finished off with this photogenic butterfly pea tea drink!

A video of the Ice Butterfly tea changing colour:

Overall, I really like the food and hope there will be another branch coming to the city.

[NARA THAI]
Shop 507, 5/F, New Town Plaza, 18 Sha Tin Centre Street, Sha Tin
Tel: 31881138