Burger Republic resurrected

Burger Republic used to be on Gough Street in Sheung Wan but sadly they closed in 2009!
http://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/%E4%B8%8A%E7%92%B0-burger-republic/1889713?tc=sr2rvw&con=rvw

After six years they are back!
The last surviving branch of New York Fries have become extinct and Burger Republic resurrected.

It's sad news because I love NYF but then Burger Republic is also good.
The burger selection is not quite the same as before because they don't have the cranberry and cheese burger so I got the chicken guacamole burger instead.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
chicken guacamole burger:

It was a good juicy piece of chicken thigh smothered in guacamole and sour cream with some cajun spices.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Rajastani Thalis at Jashan Indian Cuisine

Normally I come here for the curry lunch buffets to get my curry fare but recently they launched the Thalis which is a meal made up of a selection of dishes served in small bowls placed on a round tray.
Here they specialize in Rajastani Thalis and there is a choice of meat or vegetarian thali.


For both the meat and vegetarian Thalis, there are a few dishes that are the same.
The same dishes that are in both sets are:
Rajastnani rice and bread
Traditional cottage cheese smoked with cardamon and marinated with spiced yoghurt
Marwari royal preparation of fresh spinach with corn and pines nuts
Poached fresh corn dumplings simmered in yoghurt, onion and cashew nut gravy
Traditional dessert meal of lentils, flour dumplings and sweetened cereal

Here are the dishes that are different in the vegetarian and meat thalis
Vegetarian:
Smoked cottage cheese cooked with plum tomatoes and cream
Rajastani dry beans and dry fruits with Rajastani spices
Meat Thali:
Murgh tikka kasoori methi
Bhune murgh ka shawta
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Vegetarian Thali:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Meat Thali:


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Both Thalis were good because there were so many different items but personally I preferred the vegetarian one because I love cottage cheese.
The food here is very spicy compared to other Indian places so be warned.

As well as the Thalis, we had the dosa and aloo gobi.
The dosa was light and crispy with a delicious coating of cheese in the middle filled with tasty potatoes.


The aloo gobi was a nice substantial vegetable dish of cauliflower and potatoes which were satisfyingly filling with fiery spices.

Jashan:

1/F, Amber Lodge, 23 Hollywood Road, SOHO, Central

Filming the promo of Jamie Oliver in Hong Kong

The great celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is in Hong Kong with his second branch of Jamie's Italian opening in May!!

I was really lucky to be involved in his video which was filmed at the car park of Marco Polo hotel.

Although it was misty, it was quite sunny as well which made it difficult to look up when we were doing the aerial shots.
The weather was hot, so our pink T-shirts were perfect and summery.

It was fun forming the letters and dancing in the video.

Here are some screen shots of the video.

I really enjoyed filming this. 

Jamie Oliver's team and production team were marvelous!

Sushi Take Out's canned products

Sushi Take Out is a successful Taiwanese brand selling affordable sushi.

It is interesting that they have other products such as crab and tinned foods so I went for the tinned squids and salmon which are branded by Sushi Take Out.



★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Braised squid:


The texture of the squid was surprisingly good because it was springy not like other tinned foods where they are mushy and hard.
I found the taste too sweet so I rinsed it with water and it tasted much better.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Braised salmon bone:


The salmon was surprisingly good because it was labelled salmon bone so who the heck would want to eat bones.
Again, the salmon had a natrual soft texture which was not mushy or hard and the bone was soft and edible so it was my first experience being able to eat salmon bones!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Dreamy delicious congee at Dream Tofa

The menu was limited before, they only had silky tofu dessert and fishballs but now they have congee and savoury beancurd.
These new items definitely lured me there because I love savoury snacks more than sweet.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Congee with soybeans and pork:


The congee tasted really nice because there were lots of soybeans in it which were tasty and had some chew to it.
It would be good if they put tofu in the congee because I reckon it would taste nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Marinated beancurd:

The tofu was hot and silky which was complemented by the sweet sauce and spicy chili bean sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Will be back for more.
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Dream Tofa:

Shop 6, G/D., 1 Lyndhurst Terrace Central.

Great Japanese food in the heart of LKF

At LKF most of the restaurants are American or International but now there is a good Japanese one called Ore-no Kappou by Ginza Okamoto at the new California building.

Here was what we had:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Welcome cocktail - Ore no Sakura:

Started off with this sweet cocktail that had notes of grapefruit, peach and sakura.
Definitely a sweet and pretty cocktail for girls.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Dassai 50% Junmai Daiginjo sparkling:


Tried this before and after it was shaken.
The taste before was quite light but after it was shaken the alcoholic taste was really strong.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Potato gazpacho with seafood:

Started with this delicious viscous potato gazpacho which was loaded with pieces of fish, scallops and prawns topped with creamy urchin on top.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Assorted sashimi:

The sashimi was fresh with a good assortment.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Seared abalone, sea urchin, scallop and seaweed wrapped in Japanese paper HOUSHO:

The Housho had a great wow factor, it was abalone, scallop, sea urchin topped with seaweed wrapped in paper with browned edges.


It was served with delicious abalone liver sauce that made it taste amazing.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pan fried shirako with butter, assorted vegetables, ponzu sauce:

It was my first time trying Shirako and I have always wanted to try this because they look like mini brains or twisted intestines clumped together.
I didn't know what they were before but I found out that they are fish sperm sacks.
Anyway, I liked them because the texture was mushy and sticky like sweetbreads and the sauce tasted like sweet and sour sauce which complemented it nicely.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Grilled wagyu tenderloin and pan fried foie gras with truffle sauce:

The foie gras was huge, it was just as thick and big as the tenderloin which was tender and juicy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Red miso soup:

Compared to the usual miso soups, this had a stronger beany bitter taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
mackerel saba sushi:


It was my first time trying this as well and it was like a huge omurice and the comments were good because others said the fish tasted good.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pineapple creme brulee:
I thought this was just going to be a an ordinary creme brulee flavoured with pineapple but again I was impressed because it was a huge slice of pineapple with creme brulee in the middle.

When you eat it, you have to dig right to the bottom to get the pineapple as well.

It was delicious because the juicy tart pineapple balances the sweetness and creaminess of the brulee which is a nice change from plain boring creme brulee.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Sweet red bean zenzai cigar style:

Red bean lovers will love this and there was a nice chewy layer in the middle of the crispy roll.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Ore-no Kappou by Ginza Okamoto (Central)

6/F, 32 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central

Alize Noire de Nova has potential

For brunch and Western fare, Central and SW are the places to go.
The first time I had brunch in East HK was a disaster and that was at the newsroom.

Anyway the brunch and dinner menu looked good so decided to try the brunch first because it was more captivating.
For dinner they have really cool stuff like pasta, yabbies and spinach risotto and purple milk latte.

To be honest, the price range is quite good because it costs $7x per brunch and the portions are big with two eggs but this is East HK and the fact they used to have a restaurant in Tsuen Wan.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Potato pancakes:

The potato pancakes were tasteless but after adding rock salt, pink salt and pepper is was amazingly delicious.
The pancakes evidently had pieces of potato in it but it didn't have a strong potato flavour but I liked the pieces of cherry tomatoes in it which gave it some flavour.

But the great thing is that the potato pancakes were not sweet because some weird local places like to sweeten savoury things.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ham and ricotta cheese strudel:
It didn't quite look like a strudel and I was expecting the ham, ricotta cheese and egg to be inside the pastry.
I think it is a HK obssession that a typical brunch has visible eggs in it hence the two poached eggs on top.


Anyway, the ham and cheese strudel was divine because the cheese was cheesy and the ham was thinly sliced tasty soft ham.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★