Fêtez Noël a agnès b. le pain grillé

agnès b. le pain grillé (Causeway Bay)

Thanks to agnès b. le pain grillé, Dragonsiuyeah and KelvinYFL for inviting me to an early Christmas preview which will be served on the 24th and 25th of December.

For $688 per person with 10% service charge on top, this is what your going to get.
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Bread:

Assorted crusty yeasty bread.
The one I tried had walnuts and raisins which was nutty and sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Amuse bouche

Creamy avocado and crabmeat on crispy toast and a blob of grape jelly.
Initially I thought it was filled with liquid but it was a cute blob of jelly that was not too strong tasting to start off with.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared us scallop with roasted beetroot and foam, parmesan crisp and Cured salmon in french yellow wine beetroot jelly and acquitine caviar

The scallop was seared nicely and flavoured by the crispy fried parmesan cheese netting, while the beetroot jelly melts in your mouth.
The cured salmon had a nice smokey taste with a hint of bitterness.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Smoked beef consomme, wild mushroom and foie gras tortellini, paysanne of assorted vegetables

The soup tasted really strong with a moderate smokey taste and the tortellini was filled with delicious foie gras.
It was delicately presented with paysanne cut vegetables but when you are consuming the soup, it was difficult to spoon these vegetables.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Red fruit sorbet and rose champagne

Not only was the presentation classy, it tasted lovely as well.
I loved the scoop of fruit sorbet served on light pink sparkling champagne, it was just like a classy float.
The sweet sorbet and the bitter tasting champagne were a lovely paring.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Atlantic cod fillet cider shellfish ragout and vegetables fettuccini

The chefs at this restaurant were highly talented from Paysanne cut vegetables to vegetable fettuccini.
Different vegetables were sliced into fettuccini shaped strips which were soft enough to take the form of fettuccini.
The cod fillet was extremely soft and melts in your mouth and the fresh mussels were a treat too.
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Roasted wagyu beef striploin, Jerusalem artichoke and smoked pork belly mousse, roasted pumpkin, carrot, Brussels sprout and truffle jus

The arrangement of this dish is supposed to resemble a Christmas tree.
Two chunks of soft and juicy beef with truffle slices on top with colourful carrots on brussel sprout leaves.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Chocolate and pistachio mousse, cranberry jelly raspberry coulis with rum and raisin icecream


The icecream was really nice, I loved the strong rum and vanilla taste.
To finish off I had the mousse which was equally as good especially the pistachio layer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lychee and strawberry mocktail

For people who do not drink alcohol, there was the Lychee and strawberry mocktail (not included in the Christmas dinner).
I was surprised how good lychee and strawberry tasted together and I loved the blended pieces of real lychee fruit at the bottom of the drink.
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To end the meal, there was tea or coffee.
After that Christmas dinner, you should be revved up and ready to party!

EBI burger is back 2013

McDonald's (Wan Chai)

My favourite EBI burger is back!~
There are now two options, one with egg and one without.

Went to the McDs on Johnsons Road for the first time and the queuing area was so small that the queue overflows to the stairs entrance coming down to McDonalds!

The queuing area is so small that I don't know why they bother having a McCafe right next to the food counter adding to the congestion.

Anyway tried both versions of the EBI burger and as usual the Shake Shake powder comes free if you order the extra large meal.

If you choose hot tea for the extra large meal then you are actually losing out because the cup is actually the same size as the cup in the regular meal!
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Ebi burger with egg:

This burger comes in a box and the one without egg is just wrapped in paper.
The egg in this burger was a bit too much and made the prawn patty tasteless.
I know McDs won't have this but if was omelette or scrambled egg with prawn instead of egg and prawn patty, it would taste much nicer.
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Ebi burger:


At first glance, there is not much sauce in the middle.

The frying oil was a bit old, so the delicate prawn patty was ruined by the rancid oil, luckily the sauce was strong and tart enough to save it.
The prawn patty was really nice, it was soft and jelly like inside.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Japanese curry shake shake powder:


Basically it tastes the same as the curry powder launched a while ago but it has a hint of sweetness because it is Japanese style curry.

After eating the fries, you will find that your fingers and fingernails are stained yellow!!
Food colouring...................Nice!
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Other new items:
Taro pie and Sweetcorn and mushroom soup

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Disappointing breakfast at The News Room

The News Room (Quarry Bay)

Before my visit to The News Room, I have always thought of it as a place for quality food.
Came here randomly for breakfast and regretted not taking photos of the menu.

The description for Newsroom breakfast was: tomato, egg, Toulouse sausage, Baguette, Bacon, Black pudding, potato rosti, mushroom and baked beans.

The baguette was the tiniest baguette I have seen in my life, it was merely bigger than the sausage!

The potato rosti was a stupid cold hash brown!
(potato rosti is basically grated potatoes fried into a round or irregular shape).

As for the black pudding, it was the thinnest sliced black pudding you could ever get.


The baked beans were not the Heinz brand and the Toulouse sausage was not my cup of tea.

Toast that was too hard at Honolulu Coffee shop

Honolulu Coffee Shop (Central)

Came here again because the noodles looked good at their other branch.

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Rice vermicelli tossed in satay beef:

This was the only thing that tasted ok, but a bit pricey.
The rice vermicelli was nicely flavoured by the rich satay sauce which had a hint of sweetness.
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cheese and ham toast:

The bread was not fresh and dehydrated so by the time it was toasted, the texture was hard and dry.
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Napkins:

Although the food was crap, I was surprised they had real napkins and not waxy tracing paper that other restaurants provide!!!
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Fermented beancurd spread on toast at Loyal Dining

Loyal Dining (Central)

Went here because some of the dishes were quite Western and some were quite local to satisfy someone requiring some Chinese food!

Heres what we had
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Toast with fermented beancurd and white sugar:
來佬厚多士 ( 腐乳砂糖 )

Chose this because it was weird, but not that weird because I used to spread fermented beancurd on bread.
The fermented beancurd they used was quite good because there was no weird aftertaste and it was pleasant.
I would prefer it without the sugar because savoury and sweet tastes are weird together.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Foie gras with Char Siu and a fried egg:
鵝肝充濶佬飯



It was interesting having roast pork and foie gras together so thats why we ordered it.
The foie gras was how it should be, not overly exciting but the roast pork was good, not too salty or sweet.
I was impressed because it came with spring onion sauce which usually comes with chicken.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef Wellington:
威靈頓 66 伴薯菜

This dish was surprised me too because it was properly Western with gravy and even a BAKED potato with sour cream and bacon bits.
The beef in the middle was tender and juicy complimented by the light puff pastry on the outside.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Wine and Dine 2013

This was my first year at Wine and Dine thanks to Openrice and City garden hotel for transporting us right to the entrance.

It was extra special because we went on Halloween and some bloggers from Asia who won the overseas Openrice "Be my guest" competition.

Before you go in, you are given a starter bag which contains a wine glass and a booklet of coupons for free wine and food tasting.

There are two types of food coupons depending on your pass, the ones I got were VIP coupons which entitles you to full portions of food according to the information and the normal ones are worth $10 per coupon.

It was confusing at first because I have not attended this before and some booths were mind boggled by these coupons, some treated these VIP coupons for half portions, and some treated them as being worth $10 so I did not the coupons on these booths.

Here was what I tried:
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Japan 88 (Shau Kei Wan)

Abalone in gravy:

The abalone and sauce was really hot so had to wait for it to cool down.
The abalone was relatively soft but the sauce was really salty.
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i-Scream Gelato
Caramel gelato:

The gelato was quite nice and not too sweet.
It was smooth, thick and not icy.
I liked the bitterness of the caramel.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Le Canele D'or
Le Canele D'or does not do retail and only takes orders for delivery so this was one of the booths I had to try.

There are three flavours: Traditional (vanilla/rum), Mediterranean (orange zest/liquor), Irish (coffee/whisky)

The boxes for these Canelés were quite classy.

At this booth, I used one VIP coupon on one cocktail sized canele.
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Traditional (vanilla/rum) canelé:

The canele was quite hard with a bitter caramelized crust and inside it was quite sweet and chewy.
I was expecting the middle to be eggy and soft but it was not.
It is similar to eating the burnt edges of a bread and butter pudding.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
IPC Foodlab
While we were chilling out admiring Hong Kong's Victoria harbour at night, a guy from IPC Foodlab gave us some desserts to try.
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Strawberry panna cotta:

I loved the cute presentation of this dessert, it came with a mini silver plated plastic spoon too!
Anyway it was sweet smooth milky tasting panna cotta at the bottom covered with delicious fruity strawberry sauce on top.
A real treat from IPC because Fanling is too far and I don't know how to get to Fanling.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
La Parole (Sheung Wan)
It was good seeing La Parole at Wine and Dine because I have yet to try their restaurant.


At this booth I used TWO VIP coupons for two half portion dishes.
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Savoury beef stew with mashed potato:

Not keen on beef but just felt like trying it.
The mash with the beef was really nice, it was dense and silky with a strong potato taste and the beef sauce was rich.
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Foie gras with caramelized apple:

The foie gras was nicely done, it was gently cooked leaving it soft and silky on the inside with a firm texture while the tart caramelized apples complimented it nicely balancing the heaviness of the foie gras.
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City garden hotel:

We tried a huge South African abalone which was cut into smaller pieces.

The abalone was served chilled and it was not covered in thick gravy.
It was soft with a nice springy texture and the light sauces and spices were perfect because it did not over power the natrual abalone taste.
Definately worth trying and I regretted not going back for more using those Food coupons.
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