Private vegetarian fine dining by Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle

There are not many places that offer private Western vegetarian fine dining so this is probably the first where you can experience gourmet raw food for up to 12 guests at Modus Vivendi.

The food served is organic, vegan and raw ingredients from France, Italy and local markets in Hong Kong which is brought to you by Maya Cafe.

Each private dinner will be different, usually evolving around a country or regional theme creating fusions of traditional dishes or reinventing dishes.

The theme that I had was Summer in Tuscany.

It cost's $880 with pink prosecco wine or $680 with non alcoholic drinks.

There is a cocktail reception with finger food and raw canapes of:
-Rosemary cups with vegan aioli and sundried tomatos
-mini peppers with carrot tagbouli and basil
-almond and black pepper cups with black olive tapenade and pesto
-sundried tomato dip with veggie sticks

mini peppers with carrot tagbouli and basil

-almond and black pepper cups with black olive tapenade and pesto

-sundried tomato dip with veggie sticks

After devouring the canapes, we were led into this beautiful dining setting located in Modus Viviendi`s boutique.



We started off with a refreshing ganzpacho which was tomato in three ways.
Fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olive oil and black pepper on a bed of crunchy yellow and black tomato surrounded by pool of rich red tomato soup with rosemary n basil.
I definitely enjoyed a cooling ganzpacho to start with thee strongest tomato taste you could ever taste

Then we has lasagne which was made of delicate layers of yellow zucchini filled with luscious tomato sauce and basil pesto with pecan, wilted baby spinach and cashew nut cheese.
The yellow zucchini was sweet and crisp with zesty tomato sauce in the middle

It was then followed by a cheese platter made with nuts.
Tree nuts cheese platter:
-macadamia truffle white cheese
-cashew goats cheese with rosemary
-smoked sunflower cheddar cheese
-fresh cashew cheese with black pepper



It was mind blowing how good these cheeses could taste, especially the cream cheese and cheddar.
All the cheeses were made with probiotics which helps to turn it into cheese when it is added to the grounded nuts.

For dessert, we had a colourful plate with forest berries, dark chocolate tart and lavender icecream.
The icecream was really interesting, it was light with an extremely viscous texture just like whipped egg white at a freezing temperature.

Maya Cafe Mediterranean Lifestyle:

5 Moon Street, Wan Chai, +852 2529 3319

All your favourite noodles under one roof

Noodle House (Central)

I have been here so many times because the broths are good and I like the noodles.

Went again and had the following.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chinese herbal drink:

The sweetness was just right with a slight bitter taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Noodles in pickled cabbage soup with Kurobata pork:


The broth was really spicy but nice and there were lots of pickled cabbage.
Personally I did not like these noodles because the texture was too springy for my liking.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Somen noodles in tomato broth with scallops:

It was the first time trying out the tomato broth and it was surprisingly good because the tomato taste was natrual but I wanted the tomato broth to be more acidic.

The scallops were surprisingly good as well because they were springy and not the frozen tasteless types.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Squid ink noodles in lobster broth with angus beef:

The lobster broth was rich but not too salty and the squid ink noodles absorbed the soup nicely.

There was fresh spinach, sweetcorn and kelp in the soup.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Udon in lobster broth:

The udon noodles were silky and slippery.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chilled tomatoes:

These were skinned and sweet drenched in prune juice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Spicy pigs ears:

These were crunchy and spicy dressed in fragrant sesame oil.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Definitely coming back for the lobster broth or tomato broth!!

Halloween Tai Cheong jumpbo pandan egg tart cake

Previously tried the huge jumbo egg tart cake at Tai Cheong which got popular.
At first they began with the lemon flavour and then they launched the chocolate one.
For Halloween, they have the new pandan flavour as well as the other two flavours with Halloween images on it.


The lady at the till forgot to add the Halloween images on it.
When I started taking photos of the promotional poster she realized she forgot about the Halloween finishing on the cake and offered to add it for me but as it was just icing sugar that will make the cake sweeter I did not bother with it.

As well as forgetting that, she also forgot that there was a special box for it that says jumbo eggtarts.

Anyway, the egg tart cake tasted the best out of the three flavours.
Initially I was skeptical because I tried their Japanese Pandan cheesecake and didn't like it.



But the egg tart cake version is definitely good because it has triple pandan flavour, there is a layer of pandan cake, pandan cream and pandan pudding layer.


***Further reading***
Tai cheong pandan Japanese cheesecake
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2171801
Chocolate jumbo eggtart cake
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2362266
Lemon jumbo eggtart cake
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2368765

Belcolade Chocolate Afternoon Tea at Shangri La

Had a relaxing afternoon tea with divine Belcolade chocolate treats designed by chocolatier Stephane Leroux.
It costs $288 for one and $488 for two.

The tea selection was interesting, a huge section of it was Chinese teas so I chose the Tai Hung Po.


The tea had a nice earthy taste which was good when we got to the sweet section because it was good for refreshing the palate.

The tea set arrived with three tiers.



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


Fizzy lemon, cointreau, cocoa butter
Pear praline saffron, chocolate almond
Pistachio, pineapple, pineapple vanilla
Opera hazelnut, chocolate, almond biscuit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Raspberry chocolate
Eclat d’éclair, almond crumble, ecuador biscuit
Chocolate brownies, cardamon seed, lime , infusion
Coriander praline
++++++++++++++++++++++++++



Norwegian smoked salmon, sour cream, dill infusion
Duck liver pate, apple, brioche
Iberico ham, tomato ciabatta bread
Poached river prawns, olive oil, spinach bread
Smoked marinated swordfish, foccacia bread
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Warm raisin and plain scones with jam and clotted cream.

Started off with the scones which were surprisingly good because they were crumbly with a moist and firm texture on the inside.

They were delicious with jam and clotted cream.

Then I moved on to the savoury selection which was divine, the duck liver pate on brioche was rich and silky.
The prawn sandwich reminded me of a decent prawn and mayonnaise sandwich in the UK.

My next favourite was the Norwegian smoked salmon with sour cream and dill infusion.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Last but not least, it was chocolate time!!
All of them were great with the strong earthy tea.

My favourite was the Raspberry chocolate.



++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was great spending an afternoon there having tea in the relaxing lounge and catching up for a chat.

http://www.shangri-la.com/hongkong/islandshangrila/offers/details/dining/belcolade-chocolate-afternoon-tea/

Fish and Chips again at White Beard

The pies were sold out again so I had Fish and Chips, a battered oyster and my favourite sausage.

They ran out of forks so I had to eat the fish with my hands, but luckily the batter held the fish together and it was light and crispy.
The fish was flakey and adding salt and vinegar made it taste even better.


The beer batter oyster was good too.

The star was my favourite pork sausage which was as equally as good as the fish but these pork sausages are so delicious.
Next time I am going to order the sausage in batter.

To finish of I had a fragrant Earl Grey tea which was really nice.

They have two types of teas so make sure you order the tea bag one if you don't like Hong Kong style tea.


◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

Bubbling hot pot at Hong Kong Day

I was in the area so went there for dinner because the environment was comfortable and clean.


Tried the two new hotpots with my friend.


+++++
胡椒豬肚雞煲
Chicken & pork belly with pepper in casserole

My friend had this and said the broth was creamy and nourishing with a hint of black pepper.
It was loaded with delicious preserved vegetables, chicken and pork belly.
The pork belly was surprisingly good because the texture was similar to abalone.
+++++
麻辣花膠雞煲
Chicken & fish maw with spicy sauce in casserole

This was my favourite because it was spicy with fragrant Sichuan peppercorns and tender pieces of chicken.
I left the fish maw in the pot for a longer time so that it would become softer.
When it was ready to eat, it was soft, gelatinous and intensely flavoured with spices.
+++++
凍蜜糖山楂雪梨茶
Pear, Chinese Hawthorn & honey tea

To finish off, the drink was soothing and cooling.
+++++

Hong Kong Day:

Shop B03b,Basement, 1/F,Park Central, 9 Tong Tak Street, Tseung Kwan O