Hello Summer at [The Artisan Room]

I was meeting friends at The Cobo House which is right next door.
Since I was early, I went inside [The Artisan Room] to have a look.
It was a chic and modern place for drinks and cakes.
The cakes in display cabinet were so pretty.

On the side they have high quality teas which you can smell.

You can also buy the Designtific Scientific Coffee kit which has ground coffee in vials, drip-bags, and sugar in micro tubes. Ground coffee is sealed in each injection bottle for freshness and each bottle contains just the right amount for a cup of coffee.

It was hot so I had the Longan Sparkling drink from the Hello Summer Series.

The Longan Sparkling drink was so good as it wasn't too sweet and not everyday do you come across sparkling drinks that are longan based.

Definitely coming back for cakes and tea.

[The Artisan Room]
https://www.instagram.com/artisanroomhk/
https://www.artisanroomhk.com

Address:
G/F, 8-12 South Lane, Shek Tong Tsui, Western District
Tel: 26563198

Summer Truffle Set Menu at [Cobo House]

Shek Tong Tsui is now a hip place with the MTR and Instagram Pier nearby.
I was here again to visit COCO House which is located right outside B2 exit.
COBO means Community of Bohemians.

At COBO HOUSE, they strive to let people experience the world with Bohemian style of living.
The restaurant is designed by Mr Adrian Cheng, Founder of K11 Art Foundation, and every object inside COBO HOUSE is collected and sourced by him from around the world.

They are now serving the Summer Truffle Set Menu which is in collaboration with the famous Italian truffle brand BOSCOVIVO.
(Available from now to 26 August.)
During the Summer Truffle Promotion period, BOSCOVIVO truffle products can also be purchased at COBO HOUSE.

Here are the dishes that I had in the Truffle set menu:

Hokkaido Scallops with Rainbow Tomato Salad and Summer Truffles
[Rainbow Tomato salad, beets, mango, green plum vinaigrette, summer truffle]
It was impressive how they presented this dish from the placement of the cherry tomatoes to the layering especially the way they managed to put different colours on each tomato stack.
The pan-roasted Hokkaido scallops are sashimi-grade hence the silky texture and it was refreshingly complimented by the black vinegar.

Truffle Scrambled Eggs with Wild Mushrooms and Parma Ham:
[Wild mushroom, baby spinach, crispy parma ham, truffle toast, summer truffle]
The second starter was a bit more filling as it was scrambled egg, there was a good layering which can be seen on the side of the glass.
At the bottom was fried wild mushrooms and black truffles, in the middle is Italian baby spinach, at the top is truffle scrambled eggs surrounded with Italian Parma ham crisps.
It was all in harmony as scrambled eggs, truffle and crispy parma ham can never go wrong.

For the mains, there is a choice of Cod or Beef.

Cod Fish with Braised Fennel
[Braised fennel, asparagus truffle pasta, lobster emulsion, summer truffle]
This was a lighter main compared to the beef but I loved the paring of fennel and the fish.

Lobster Emulsion and Black Truffle and Beef Fillet:
[carrot puree, beer onion, finger potato, truffle jus, summer truffle]
The beef Fillet was just how I liked it, perfectly pink and juicy in the middle complimented with my favourite root vegetables and mash.

Truffle Marsala Tiramisu dessert:
Jasmine rice sorbet, chocolate wind, summer truffle
As well as a good beginning, the end was good especially the Jasmine rice sorbet which had a fragrant strong taste of rice contrasted by the bitterness of the coffee bubble.

+++++

COBO HOUSE
Address: G/F & 1/F, 8-12 South Lane Sai Wan, Hong Kong (HKU MTR Station Exit B2)
Business Hours: Lunch 12pm – 3 pm; Dinner 6pm – 11pm (Weekdays)
12pm – 11pm (Weekends)
Telephone: (852) 2656 3088 Email: info@cobohouse.com Website: www.cobohouse.com
FB: @COBOHOUSEHK (COBO HOUSE HONG KONG)
IG: @cobohousehk @ac_kaf #cobohousehk

Color Your Day, The Purple Way by [Starbucks]

[Starbucks] have launched a series of Purple treats to Colour your day!!
In this series, there are: Ube Pudding, Lavender Chiffon Cake, Purple Potato Tart, Blueberry Croissant and Lemon Lavender Scone.

I only tried the Ube Pudding and the Purple Potato Tart because I am not a fan of Lavender.
++++++++++
Purple Potato Tart:

The purple potato tart tasted better than the ube pudding.

Strangely, it had more taro taste in the custard than purple potato.
The only thing I didn't like was the hard tart base as it was too thick and you can see that the thickness was as thick as the filling.

The tart base was also too buttery in taste.
++++++++++
Ube Pudding:

Starbucks Puddings have been successful and now they have the new ube flavour.
In the past, they had caramel, Sakura, Green Tea, Chocolate and other flavours in Japan.
They didn't have the sleeve label so I wasn't able to see what ingredients were inside.
(Later found out from Starbucks website)

The ube pudding was smooth and not too sweet but the ube flavour was not that strong
Similar to the Purple Potato Tart, there were purple potato cubes in it.

Overall, it was quite a nice silky pudding contrasted by the cubes of purple potato.


http://www.starbucks.com.hk/

http://www.starbucks.com.hk/color-your-day-the-purple-way

I loved the Fish burger @ Burger Bar

As well as beef burgers, some places put effort into other burgers like fish, chicken or Vegetarian burgers.
At Burger Bar, I was truly impressed with the fish burger.
It was a whole fish!!
The coating was nice as it was crispy bread crumb so it was light and crunchy while the sauce was different and fantastic.
It was basil sauce which was very tasty with a hint of cumin.

The other beef burger was good too but the fish just stole the show.

There are gloves on the table which made it mess free and since there are gloves, I truly didn't mind eating with my hands.

Also had the prawns which were a bit over done.

There are gloves on the table which made it mess free and since there are gloves, I truly didn't mind eating with my hands.

Also had the prawns which were a bit over done.

[Burger Bar]

7 Lan Kwai Fong, Central

https://www.instagram.com/burgerbarhk/

Rosy afternoon tea at [嚐品慕茶 Spoon & Bowl]

As well as the tea set I was captivated by the Decoupage workshop taught by Gillian H!!!

For the tea set, there are a choice of drinks.
$298 includes two drinks or you can upgrade to other fancy teas below:
+$40 cold brew oolong tea with Osmanthus ice ball or rose ice ball tea with oolong

+$30 a pot of ginseng oolong or lychee red tea for two.

The tea set is served in a beautiful wooden box which has decoupage on it by Gillian H.

Items in the Tea Set:

Savoury items:
Tofu in Honey Osmanthus sauce, Chilled Prune noodles in Rose buckwheat sauce, Mini floral rolls and crab mentaiko

Sweet items:
Lychee and Rose mousse cake, Rose Cupcakes, Rose Palmiers, Dried flower Butter cookies, Lavender oolong icecream, Jasmine and Rose icecream.

It was a nice way to appreciate floral ingredients in different forms like cake, cookies and icecream.
My favourites was the mini floral rolls crammed with lots of dried flowers while the tofu was enhanced by the honey osmanthus sauce.
To finish off, the tea was good especially the one with the ice balls as they were pretty and floral flavours come out when it melts.

The decoupage workshop was fun and once you have learnt the technique, you can apply it to other stuff.
It felt like paper mache but using decoupage to blend in the fabric to look like it was painted.

 [嚐品慕茶 Spoon & Bowl]
M/F, Prosperity Industrial Building, 89 Wai Yip Street, Kowloon Bay

Dreamy gelato at [Dood Bottega Gelateria]

I am so glad I stumbled across this gelato shop on the way to dinner.

The gelato wasn't really labelled so I had to ask but they were really nice and gave out samples.

There was a good variety of flavours like black sesame, white sesame and mango which locals can relate too.

For me, I fell in love with the caramel because it was sweet with a strong caramel as well as vanilla taste.

You could visually see vanilla seeds in it. The texture was smooth and elastic which was impressive but not as elastic as Turkish icecream.

There was a unique cheese and tomato gelato which was quite nice because it was topped with tomato jam and there was a great savoury twist to it.

Also tried earl grey and chocolate which are non dairy sorbets and not gelato.

Strangely I found the earl grey sweeter than the caramel as it was syrupy.

As well as 3 Italiani doing chocolate sorbets, you can also get it here.
There used to be another Italian gelato parlour in Sai Kung called Bibini but the owner decided to run a pizza restaurant instead.
Will definitely return if they launch any more exciting flavours.

[Dood Bottega Gelateria]
Shop G13, G/F, Emperor Group Centre, 288 Henessy Road, Wan Chai

Donburis that are worth the wait at [Ranbashi Donburi Restaurant]

It wasn't even a Friday or Weekend but a Wednesday when the evening just begun at 6pm and there was a crowd outside.
As my friend was adamant on trying this place, we waited until we were arranged a table.
We ordered as soon as we got a table as we knew what we wanted.

I had the deluxe toro donburi while my friend had the eel donburi.

The toro donburi made me salivate as it was topped with jelly which turned out to be appetizing vinegar that made the fatty toro not so overwhelming.
On the side, there was a cute quail egg which just added to the silkiness and texture.
I finished it within a flash as the jelly vinegar constantly made me hungry and I have to admit I still felt hungry after eating it.

Definitely will be back earlier to avoid the queue.

[Ranbashi Donburi Restaurant 嵐橋丼飯專門店]:
Shop BCD, Rich Tower, 2 Blenheim Ave, Miden Ave, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 2244 3238
https://www.facebook.com/RanbashiDonburiRestaurant/