Chinese food in Macau tastes amazing

Thanks to M and the owner for inviting me to dinner at Elegant Seafood Restaurant.

Elegant Seafood Restaurant serves Chinese food in a grand and elegant setting with a huge liquor cabinet located at the reception.

Here was what we had:
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
鯊魚骨花膠湯:
This was soup boiled with shark bones and fish maw hence the lovely milky cream colour.
The star of the soup was the 1.5cm thick fish maw that had a super sticky texture so you could imagine how much pure collagen was in it.
It was such an unforgettable experience eating this because it was so soft and extremely gelatinous which meant it was good in quality.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
海鮮湯:
Seafood soup with clams
The presentation of this was different, it was served like tea in a Chinese tea pot.
There is a wedge of lime to add lime juice into the soup.
I tried it without the lime and the soup had strong seafood flavours especially the clam with a sweet aftertaste.
After the lime was added, the soup became more appetizing.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
佛跳牆:
Buddha jumps over the wall.
This is the famous Buddha jumps over the wall soup that had sharks fin, sea cucumber and fish maw which had a rich taste from the delicacies in the soup.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
川芎白芷魚頭湯:
Fish head soup with Chinese Angelica and Ligusticum wallichii (Szechuan lovage)
This is a herbal soup that is good for you. For more details the staff will happily explain it.
Anyway, I loved it because it had a strong fish taste with a nice bitterness from the herbs.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
燕窩炒蛋白 併 炸鴿子蛋:
Stir fried egg white with bird's nest and fried pigeons egg

This dish is loaded with protein, the scrambled egg white was silky with delicate pieces of bird's nest in it.
As well as the scrambled egg white, there was pigeon egg which had a lovely jelly like texture with an opaque colour.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
玻璃蝦球伴西班牙火腿:
Prawns paired with Spanish ham

On this plate was prawns done in two ways, one was in a crispy wasabi coating while the other one was complemented by the Spanish ham
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
玻璃蝦球伴中式雲腿:
Prawn with Chinese Yunnan ham

The Chinese ham and prawn were a perfect balance because the saltiness of the Chinese ham was just right.
For more flavour, there was prawn paste to take it to another level.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
脆皮魚翅／燕窩釀雞翼:
Stuffed chicken wings with sharks fin/bird's nest
There are two choices of fillings, it can be stuffed with sharks fin or birds nest.
I had the birds nest version and the chicken wing was crispy stuffed with a fair bit of bird's nest encased in a juicy chicken wing.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
葡式焗響螺:
Baked Portuguese whelk

The whelk was stuffed with diced chicken and crab that was marinated in a lovely thick sauce which had a hint of curry in the taste.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
脆皮咕嚕肉 併 酥炸九肚魚:
Sweet and sour paired with fried bombay duck!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_duck

I must admit the name is weird when I found it from wiki.
Anyway, the sweet and sour cannot fail because the pork was crispy and appetizing.

As for the fish, it didn't look like fish because there was seaweed mixed in the batter which made it look different but the texture of the fish was really silky just like jelly.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
辣子蝦球
Chili prawns:

I loved these prawns because there were so many Sichuan spices used to cook this.
It had a light crispy coating which released the fragrant flavours with a spicy kick that creeps onto you.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
豉汁蒸盤鱔:
Eels steamed in black bean sauce

I loved black bean sauce hence I liked these silky slices of eel in black bean sauce but watch out for the bones though.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
四川水煮龍躉球:
Giant grouper slices in hot chili oil

The grouper fish slices were silky but because they put okra in this dish, the fish was even more viscous with a strong spicy taste that was a bit too spicy for me.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
星洲黑胡椒蟹:
Singapore style crab in black pepper

The crab was cracked nicely so I got to eat big chunks of crabmeat conveniently from the claws which was flavoured deliciously by the sweet black pepper sauce.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
腊肉炒芥蘭:
Chinese broccoli stir fried with cured meat

I was surprised how nice the cured meat was because the fat on top was crispy and the cured meat was not too salty while the Chinese broccoli was crisp with a sweet taste that didn't have any grassiness to it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
芝士海鮮蟹蓋焗飯:
Baked seafood rice with cheese.

Beneath the cheese was rice and lots of diced seafood.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
鳳凰炒長遠:

This was stir fried glass vermicelli with egg and beanshoots .
I loved the fragrant egg taste and springy soft glass vermicelli that went well with the juicy beanshoots.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
乾炒牛河:
Stir fried beef noodles

A flawless noodle dish that was not oily.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
龍蝦湯瑤柱貴妃飯:
Lobster soup with scallop and crispy rice

Last but not least was this golden soup which had a lovely sweet lobster taste with some creaminess that is best dipped with the crueller to soak the broth.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
三色豬仔奶黃包:
Tri colour steamed piggy bun:

I was too full to eat this but I was told they use natrual colourings for the bun.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
Elegant seafood restaurant:
Level 5, Shop 3006
(Access via St. Mark's Square)
TEL:+853 2882 9339

https://www.venetianmacao.com/restaurants/chinese/elegant-seafood-restaurant.html

Could be better at Indian Turkish Kebab

For Indian and Turkish food, I get my usual fare on the Hong Kong side.
At this place they had some unusual items that were not available at my favourite haunts so went there for it.
The restaurant was empty and the waitress was very pushy.
After the food was ordered, it took ages to come.

Anyway, the Strained yoghurt cacik was just ordinary yoghurt with bits of cucumber in it.0

The Black sea anchovy rice was the most disappointing dish because it looked tasty in the picture but the rice was absolutely tasteless and the anchovies were not that fresh and they had a really fishy smell and taste.

The lahmacun was ok, but again the minced meat could have been fresher.

◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

DK Cuppa expands with a new branch

Previously tried the other branch but this new branch is much better because they serve salads, drinks and cakes.
As I was having dinner I only had the greek yoghurt cheese cake.

There were five flavours:
Rose
Lavender
Lemongrass
Lemon and ginger
Bergamot and grapefruit
Truffle chocolate
Peppermint chocolate

I could only choose the bergamot and grapefruit because I get dizzy with floral scents.
There was a truffle cream lavender latte which looked delicious but again lavender makes me queasy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
bergamot and grapefruit greek yoghurt cheese cake:

It looked slightly different to the product shot because there was no biscuit base but just as well because I don't like the biscuit base.
Anyway the pairing of citrus flavours and bergamot went nicely and the texture was thick and creamy but it was slightly icy.
The lady was really nice and gave me extra fruits on the side
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
I was also given an earl grey tea cookie which was really fragrant and crumbly.

I will definitely come back to this secret garden soon!
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

DK CUPPA TEA

G/F, 19 New Market Street, Sheung Wan

Roasted chicken leg at IKEA

On my last visit I didn't know that there were chicken legs because it was not on the menu.
I only saw them behind the counter when I collected my food.
Anyway, on this visit, there was a small sign near the counter which is really useless because by the time you are at the till, you have already ordered or made up your mind.

I got the set for $16 because they don't sell the chicken leg a la carte.
It comes with fizzy drinks which I don't drink.

The chicken leg was really good, I loved the skin because it was roasted to the point that it was moist and thin while the chicken inside was soft and juicy with chicken oil and juice dripping from it.

◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎

Basement, The Park Lane Hong Kong, 310 Gloucester Road,Causeway Bay

The Royal Touch Cafe by Carolyn Robb

I was excited when this opened because they serve British fare but the photos didn't really motivate me to try it out but as I was having dinner in TST I checked it out.
In UK, you get prawn toasts at your local Chinese takeaway LOL and I like the new invented word DUCK GRAS!




I opted for the cupcake which looks different to the cupcakes at Korea's Cocobruni which has a license Agreement with The Royal touch.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
Earl grey fairy cake:


The cupcake was really nice and moist covered with a light emulsified buttercream on top which had a strong milky earl grey taste.
I am now convinced to try other flavours because the buttercream is really nice.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
It was very worrying to see prawn toast and DUCK GRAS on the tea set menu!!

Hong Kong street vendor

Salted caramel donuts were not warm enough

Since my last visit, I was craving for warmed salted caramel donuts again.
Somehow, they did not taste as good as the first time because the donuts were cold and the caramel sauce did not have enough salt to give it a nice balance.



On the shelf, there are some entertaining sauces:

colon blow that gives you a red habanero emema!

deadly inferno

dumb ass hot sauce

ass blaster

Hopefully the donuts will be warmer next time.