[YEARS] Plant based gem in SSP

As well as food in general, I love Vegetarian food.
When I found out about this joint, I decided to go and check it out even though there were no pictures on social media yet.
YEARS is located in SSP, the exact spot where NEW ORDER used to be.

Inside, you will find a modern setting and at the far end you will see cartons of OATLY on the shelf.

The current food menu which includes drinks.

Drinks menu:

Clearly the burger was my pick because of the Impossible Patty which came with my favourite iced Earl Grey Tea without any extra charges.

I have had so many Impossible burgers so far which were all good but this one is my favourite because it is simple and not overwhelmed by strong sauces. I got to taste the Impossible patty properly which was paired with delicious cheese, balsamic and arugula leaves which all worked in harmony. The Impossible patty was definitely beefy in taste and texture, it reminded me of eating sweetbread as it was quite velvety yet it had a lovely crispy edge where it got seared. The bun they sourced was a good one as it was soft and pillowly without any sweetness.

The fries were to my liking as they were crispy on the outside and starchy in the middle. Finished with iced Earl Grey which made my day as it had a lovely fragrant aroma that was not artificial and I appreciate how it wasn't sweetened by default.

I look forward to coming back as I'm sure they will have some new creations.

[YEARS]
Shop 1, G/F, Fuk Lung Building,191-199 Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po

Me Time Capsules at K11

Hong Kong designer Gary Hon, founder of the award-winning WOWOW Studio is the creator of this 3-part artwork which invites visitors to travel to their inner space and enjoy quality Me Time in a trio of ways, allowing us to discover, heal and reinvigorate ourselves. 

Gary believes to truly enjoy Me Time, we should be free from external interference, as if time melts.

1. Me Time Capsule（ExperienceMe Time）
2. Me Time 360° （Discover Me Time）
3. Me-Drawing LOOP （Create Me Time）

I definitely enjoyed the moment to myself in these Me Time Capsules and frankly who doesn't.

The colour theme of the artwork was pink and black which is inviting in a cosmopolitian enviroment. 

It is quite rare to get comfortable Me Time moments in Hong Kong except for those toilet moments because HK is simply overcrowded and tiny. 

Date：14 March – 2 May 2019
Time：10:00am – 10:00pm
Venue：Atrium (G/F)

[Oggi] Interesting calculation

I love Gnocchi so went there specifically for that, however it was sold out so I had to choose something else. This also happened in another restaurant nearby so gnocchi must be very popular or very unpopular in Tinhau.


Anyway, ordered the mussels for in creamy white wine sauce $85.


It was very sweet and creamy with a white wine aftertaste.
Since I had the mussels I ordered the chips baked with cheese $52 as chips and mussels go well together.


The texture was a bit strange because they were fried and then baked.
The cheese tasted like they put butter/margarine on it as well.
For desserts had the baked marshmallow with icecream $43 which was on a layer of non sweetened cornflakes.


It was simply delicious and reminds me of those homemade gooey chewy marshmallow crisps using marshmallow and rice crispies.
The bill was quite strange as I was expecting it to be $198 , ie 43 + 85 + 52 = 180, then with 10% service charge it should be $198.

Anyway, quite puzzled how they got $201 according to the menu.

Instadelicious dishes at [Time Park Lounge]

Time Park is a brilliant new hip place to hang out in TST, located in the Basement of Minden Avenue. I felt like I was in London because of the decor and vibes.

Started with drinks and the Snow Elf visually looked like a trifle so I was really chuffed. It was made with pineapple and passionfruit.

The other drink was Taishan Mountain which was more refreshing with crushed ice and grapefruit.

As well as drinks, Time Park has nailed it with instadelicious dishes.
I liked the way they have used sea urchin shells as part of the presentation especially the abalone which is inside the uni shell on a nest of hay.

The abalone was slow cooked topped with glistening salmon roe pearls and a melon molecular gastronomy sphere.
It was simply divine popping the melon ball and mixing it together.

 

The other instaworthy dish was the Arancini balls which were served in sea urchin shells. On the side were dried barley grass which also bought me back to fields in UK.
These Arancini  balls were stuffed with rice and I liked the way fermented beancurd was used making it taste cheesy without the heaviness.

My next favourite was the tartare, it was cubes of tuna tossed in this tantalizing shoyu sauce mixed with my favourite salmon roe topped with air dried beef.
On top of that was my favourite garden cress which made me thing of egg cress sandwiches.

Last but not least was the panfried seabass which was tender with a lovely crispy skin again topped with more garden cress so I was really happy.

Overall, I enjoyed my time there escaping from the city.
Food was brilliant which makes the whole experience wonderful.

 [Time Park Lounge]
Basement, Minden House, 13-15 Minden Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

[一幻拉麵 Ebisoba Ichigen] Hattendo Cafe Buns for White Valentines Day

Save room for dessert if you are eating at Ichigen Ramen.They are serving the famous cream buns from Hattendo Cafe during the whole month of March for White Valentines Day.
Had one after ramen and I loved it, it was a soft pillowy bun filled with fluffy white cream which tasted like a lighter version of buttercream.

It comes wrapped up like a burger.

English labeling at the back.

一幻拉麵 Ebisoba Ichigen:
Wanchai:
Shop B, G/F, Yan King Court, 119-121 Queen`s Road
Tsim Sha Tsui:
Shop OT G59, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City

Hattendo Cafe:
G104, Ground Floor, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City

[Goolo 咕咾] Sweet and Sour Pork Specialist

Being raised in UK, most of my so called Chinese foods that I've eaten come from Takeaways and Chinatown.
It's a shame that Hong Kong being the home of Chinese food doesn't serve good Chinese food unless you fork out at expensive places or hunt for it at some smaller joints.

Since coming to Hong Kong, I have rarely had sweet and sour pork because restaurants get away with coating rubbish fat and meat with flour and thinking they can get away with.
Theoretically they do as for some strange reason people do eat crap and they can't even taste foods that have gone wrong or rancid,

Hence ordering sweet and sour pork is a waste of money as you are just biting into pieces of fat and crap, whereas you get pieces of real meat in other countries.

The main issue is the meat because it is not fresh and often the chefs just use too much oil and seasoning.
I am so glad that some Western restaurants have set a good standard such as Madame Ching and Yum Cha.

At Goolo, I was impressed that you could choose the pork for the sweet and sour.
You get to choose from Pork shoulder, Pork Jowl and Pork Brisket.
I liked the way the sauce is served separate and they have 5 different sauces for you to choose from.
In UK , the sauce was always served separate in some takeaways so that the pork can remain crispy by the time you  take it home.
Another item I had to try was the sparkling sugar cane herbal tea so I had that as a set with the sweet and sour pork.

I chose the pork shoulder as I wanted lean meat. It was coated in corn starch which is the same as the coating used in takeaways so I found it comforting already.
After taking a bite, it was just like the sweet and sour pork in UK with a decent piece of meat in the middle.
The pork was so tasty as the frying oil was fresh which didn't ruin the crispy coating.
THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT WAS THAT IT WAS FRESH AND IT DIDN'T HAVE WEIRD BITS OF FAT AND GRISTLE SO I WAS PLEASED.
I know HKD39 is a bit much paying for a few pieces of pork but paying HKD50+ for crappy sweet and sour pork with only one piece of pork that is edible is a bigger waste.

As for the sweet and sour sauce, I liked it as it was more tart than sweet but frankly it tasted like tomato ketchup mixed with vinegar.
But technically the Sweet and sour sauce recipe in UK does have vinegar as I have seen it being made before.

For the sides you can choose from Fried Luncheon Meat, Crudites, Fried Mushroom, Potato Wedges, Calamari, Pigs Ear, Salad and meatballs which I thought was boring except the mushrooms and luncheon meat.

I regretted not ordering the Luncheon meat as the mushrooms were half nice.
You get two type of mushrooms, Shimeji and Trumpet mushrooms.
The Shimeji mushrooms tasted nice but the trumpet mushrooms were too chewy.

Last but not least, the sparkling drink was so damn good that I wish I could get this drink more often as it wasn't too sweet.

[Bombay Kitchen] Astounding Indian Fare in Kowloon City

Spotted this Indian joint a few days ago and I wasn't sure whether to try it or not as I was worried it would be localized especially in Kowloon City.
On one side it was English and the other side was Chinese so I thought it was two restaurants.
I have always heard "mangmai" on the Chinese weather forecast but never knew that it was Bombay until now when I was told the Chinese name of this restaurant.

Anyway, decided to try it after browsing the menu as it had almost everything but they said the menu would be changed soon which is why I had to try it now!

They even had Bhurji and Momo on the menu!

Every dish we had was fantastic so I would definitely recommend this if you are in Kowloon City.

Started with the fried rice which I usually order because it always tastes better than Chinese Salty Oily fried rice.

Although they used Jasmine rice and not Basmati rice, it was still good.

To accompany the rice, had it with egg bhurji and lamb sagwala.

The egg bhurji was slightly drier than the one I had at Noble Spice but still tasty with lots of spices.

The sagwala was also as good as Chautauri but had a super fiery kick to it.

Also had some plain rice to go with the curry and my favourite jeera aloo.

I was so pleased with the Jeera Aloo potatoes as they were fluffy in the middle with a crispy exterior laced with herbs.

Definitely will be returning to try the Aloo Gobi and Butter Chicken!!

[Bombay Kitchen]

72 -74 South Wall Road

Kowloon City