[川婆婆 Chuan Po Po] A Stylish hotpot place

Chuanpopo is located on the 8/F of Gala Place among other restaurants.

Gala place used to be just a commercial building but now they have restaurants on the 8th floor.
All the restaurants there are good so Chuanpopo has to be just as good to be in competition. In terms of decor, it was pink and stylish but in a different way. It was like an office with pink swivel chairs and tables arranged like a conference room.

On the other side, you have the comfy seats.

While I was looking around, I saw the dragon sculpture which was really familiar. I always used to see the guy sculpting this in Central and sometimes in MK.

I'm glad the owner at Chuanpopo likes his stuff and therefore got him to do the pandas. Moving on to the hotpot, we had the dual hotpot so one was non spicy while the other one was spicy.

In the sauces and condiments section, the choice was impressive as they had cumin, turmeric, galangal puree etc so the options were very different.

For drinks, they had the avocado banana smoothie which is not so boring compared to sugar cane and smoky prune drinks. The crab was recommended and it went really well in the non spicy pot as the flavours of the crab came out well in the soup which had morel mushrooms.



For vegetables, they had healthy options like Kale so I ordered that as well as my favourite Chrysanthenam garland..



My friend loves meat so we had meatballs and beef slices which he said were good.



Finished with the potato starch noodles which were thick and chewy.

Definitely a good and spacious place for hotpots.
As well as hotpots they also offer delightful lunch options like pickled fish and other Sichuan dishes.

[Coffeelin] Great Gelato

It is really hot so the best way to cool down is to have gelato and the nearest place was here.





As well as gelato, they have panini so I also had a panini because I was hungry.



The Salted caramel gelato came first. It was thick with a nice bitterness and saltiness.





Coffee: I am not a coffee person, but this Espresso Rosa was so different.



At the bottom you have pink lemonade with double espresso poured on top.
There is popping candy on the glass rim.
To drink you stir the lemonade and espresso together.
I loved it because it was really refreshing with a slight bitterness which was balanced by the sweetness of the candy when you drank it.



Panini:



There was so much mozzarella in the panini that it tasted a bit like pizza but all good.



Hoping to come back on a cooler day to buy their Ruby Chocolate so that it won't melt when I leave their shop.

[皇茶 Royaltea by Tea Circle] Not your usual tea shop

Discovered this place while I was dining at Potato King as they are doing a combo with them.



From the outside, it looks like the usual takeaway tea shop but inside it is quite spacious with a small bar table.






The thing that makes it different is that they serve alcoholic drinks which makes it an ideal place for drinks or a Friday night.













They have live music in the evenings according to their FB.
While I was there they had some good songs so I had a good time.
For drinks, we had teas sweetened with Momordica so it was sugar free.
We chose oolong and puer.



Both teas did not taste too sweet which was good yet you could taste a faint hint of Momordica.
Puer sweetened with Momordica:



Oolong sweetened with Momordica:


I will keep this place in mind if I am in the area.

[皇茶 Royaltea by Tea Circle] 

Shop 22, G/F, Yan on Building, 1 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok

[Gloucester Luk Kwok Hotel] Sorrowful rice 黯然銷魂飯 3.0

Sorrowful rice 黯然銷魂飯 is a bowl of Cantonese barbecued pork, with an egg, on rice inspired by Stephen Chow’s 周星馳 1996 movie, The God of Cookery 食神.

Previously I tried version 2.0 ,  the difference between 2.0 and 3.0 is the Pork oil which is said to be more aromatic as they use Roast Pork oil drippings.

Sorrowful rice 3.0 黯然銷魂飯 is served as a set meal.
Available from 16/9/2019-12/12/2019

The menu:

A nice appetizer to begin the dinner with Prawn head coated in Salted Egg Yolk and Prawn tail tossed in preserved fruit peel.

Next was the morel mushroom, conch chicken soup.

Now to the star of the show!

To eat, you have to mix everything together especially the liquid yolk and the finely chopped onions underneath the roast pork so the sweetness of the onions come out and the creamy yolk lubricates the grains of rice.

[The eggs they use are Japanese Eggs and a special soy sauce which I wouldn't mind just pairing with plain rice because the soy sauce is that good.]
Every spoonful of rice was heaven because of the onions, egg yolk and the crisp egg white.  There was also some lard which brings out all the flavours.
Moving onto the pork, it was just sensational, the meat was lean but tender and I finally satisfied my roast pork craving with this huge piece of pork!!
They use pork collar butt which is the best cut and the the roast pork is served with this glistening almost translucent glaze that is too beautiful and mesmerizing to eat.

It was very satisfying because I prefer my roast meats intact and not cut!!

Dessert was Daihaongpao osthmanthus pudding and the rose and Chinese ham pastry.

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Canton Room, Gloucester Luk Kwok:
1/F, Luk Kwok Hotel, 72 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai
https://www.facebook.com/GloucesterLukKwok

The best buffet in Tokwawan! 8度餐廳 (土瓜灣)

Summer is not over yet!!!
8 Degrees are doing a summer buffet which I almost missed.




The highlights this time are the freshly cooked mussels in wine!




Foie gras from the live cooking station:







Oysters, lobsters and seafood are always there so don't fret!












The Chinese soup is a must as it is loaded with delicacies with a strong conch taste.



There were lots of English delights as I found items like: cauliflower cheese, mashed potato and cheese, pigs in blankets, Indian curries and bread pudding! Moving on to dessert, they have freshly made durian crepes!







The dessert selection was definitely a delight as they had my favourite pandan cake as well as a lovely spread of Western cakes like strawberry cream cake and their signature mango mille feuille.




Despite the quietness in town at the moment, this place was full which is a sign of good food. Will definitely be back.