Tag Archives: Food

Café Corridor restaurant review – cute and cosy in Causeway

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 3 Comments

Next stop on Mirander & Rach’s cute café tour of Hong Kong – Café Corridor in Causeway Bay.

Tucked away down a… surprise, surprise… corridor opposite Times Square, Café Corridor is a homely little independent joint that’s become surprisingly well-known and loved despite its positively diminutive size. Its owner, Felix Wong, knows his way around a coffee bean (he also founded two other companies, Coffee Assembly and Barista Academy, to promote HK’s coffee culture) and Café Corridor’s reputation quickly grew, meaning the space is always packed with people looking for a quality caffeine fix.

However, if you’re looking for a coffee review, I’m afraid you’ll have to go elsewhere. I don’t drink the stuff (other than in highly diluted, sweetened, milkified and no longer bearing any resemblance to actual coffee, dung ga fe form) so can’t give you my opinion on that… but I’m happy to tell you about everything else!

Café Corridor has an almighty tempting cabinet of homemade pastries and desserts and I had a hard job picking just one… So I picked two, of course! Luckily, Mirander was there to order our second sweet treat, lessening the heavy side order of guilt (calories shared don’t count, right?)! On my second visit, the desserts cabinet was much less well stocked, so I guess it depends on getting lucky on the day!

Our first dessert was Earl Grey Chocolate Tart, which managed to look both elegant and sinful, one of the best possible combinations! It tasted great, made with proper rich dark chocolate, not the wishy-washy stuff you find in many places. The Earl Grey was rather too subtle to make much of a difference – more a hint of mellowness that kept the whole thing on the right side of not too sweet. The buttery base was similarly delicious but it was the texture of the chocolate that threw us off – we were expecting a gooey ganache consistency, but it was quite firm and difficult to break into. It got softer, better and more melt-in-mouth towards the wide end of the slice… we just wish the whole thing had been like that.

Our second dessert of Caramelised Apple Tart was pretty flawless, with presentation SO cute that it’s just crying for shedloads of Instagram pics. Thankfully, the adorable presentation was backed up by the taste – soft sticky syrupy caramelised apples, but still with a hint of bite, heaped generously into a moreish flaky buttery pastry shell. It managed to be homely, comforting and cute but done with considerable style.

I also managed to fit in a main dish of bacon and scrambled eggs on toast. I’m generally a sunny side up kind of girl but this was surprisingly scrummy – it had been seasoned and herbed up to perfection, making it taste more than the sum of its parts. But Café Corridor, why so stingy with the bacon?! I admit to loving my bacon more than most (I can tuck away a whole pack in one sitting), but one and a half tiny rashers divided over two pieces of toast is just not enough!

Next trip, Mirander went for peanut butter and banana on toast – a combination I’ve clearly not eaten nearly enough of over the years as it was more-ishly addictive. I loved the lashings of syrup and cinnamon on top; I didn’t love the uber-charred crusts that had been left on the toast though.

I washed all this down with a pot of lemongrass and ginger tea, which was so weak that it didn’t taste much different to tap water (which, incidentally, staff are happy to give you free of charge); I’d try a smoothie or hot chocolate next time instead. With desserts costing around $30, mains around $60 and drinks $20-40, prices are reasonable enough given how good the desserts are and the lack of a service charge. Judging by its popularity and quality, Café Corridor could easily open up a larger shop elsewhere or have several other Café Corridors popping up all over town… but that just wouldn’t be the point of the place.

Inside is small and cosy (a euphemism for cramped… the toilet being particularly grim), with wooden tables and chairs packed in tightly like a game of sardines, although there is also a small outdoor space too. A floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall mirror at the back of the room cleverly gives the illusion of space, so much so I almost wandered directly into it! The décor isn’t much to write home about, but I did like the abundance of personal touches, with one wall covered in Polaroids of staff, customers and other little scribblings.

For such a cosy café, the range of the menu and desserts is truly impressive and there is plenty I want to come back for. With such lovely presentation and homespun local charm, it’s the kind of place that just puts a smile on your face (even if you’re so close to the table next to you that you could join in their conversation) and happily transplants you to a kinder corner of Causeway, a world apart from the rest of its commercial cookie cutter-dom.

In short, the place, just like the food, has been obviously created and filled with love. And for that reason, although it doesn’t benefit my afternoon tea comfort, Café Corridor thoroughly deserves to be packed out every hour of the day.

Café Corridor, G/F, 26A Russel Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2892 2927

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Tagged best cafes in Hong Kong, café, Cafe Corridor, cafes in Causeway Bay, cafes in Hong Kong, Causeway Bay, coffee shops in Hong Kong, CWB, eating out, Food, independent cafes Hong Kong, independent coffee shops Hong Kong, restaurant, review

Harbour City Chocolate Trail 2013 – going cocoa loco!

Posted on February 13, 2013 | 1 Comment

Anyone who knows me should already know about my sweet tooth. Well, it ain’t just the one tooth, I tell you! Dessert queen, pudding princess, sweet treat sucker – call it what you will, but I’m an addict… and top of the (cake) pops is my love for chocolate! So as soon as I heard about Harbour City’s Chocolate Trail, I knew I had to get in on the cocoa action.

Having read and drooled over That Food Cray’s chocoholic tour of the mall, I was lucky enough to be offered a similar whistle-stop walk-through from Harbour City’s awesome PR, Season. On emailing Season, I declared that my 90-minute window should offer us ‘plenty of time’ to look around The Chocolate Trail – turns out that Nicole (That Food Cray) spent three hours there! And having seen and sampled just a few of the dessert delights on offer, I can totally see why!

The Chocolate Trail is an annual fixture at Harbour City, featuring displays, demos, exclusive pop-up kiosks from gourmet chocolatiers, and special treats from some of the mall’s existing brands and restaurants. Some of the chocolate themed displays are more cheese than chocolate (boom boom) but the coolest/craziest HAS to be the royal banquet created by Austrian pastry chef Gerhard Petzl. Every single thing – the table, the place settings, the cutlery, crockery and the food itself – had all been hand-crafted from chocolate and the level of detail is insane; we’re talking Heston levels of dedication here!

The room smelt absolutely incredible (ever wondered what eau de chocolate might smell like? Get a waft of this!)… although this might be too much chocolate even for me! I asked Season what was happening to this once the Chocolate Trail was over and she wasn’t sure – so maybe you should hang around come closing day to try and grab a bite!

Gallery by the Harbour, Harbour City, First Floor

Our first chocolate stop was Kapok, which I knew mainly as a cool style boutique on Star Street in Wan Chai. Turns out that they carry a whole lotta chocolate too! In-keeping with Kapok’s hip and edgy style, many of the brands were beautifully packaged artisanal chocolates that you can’t find anywhere else in HK.

I already wrote about ChocoYOU – a website where you can build your own customisable chocolate bar – for Sassy; Kapok is the only physical retailer to sell some of their pre-packaged varieties, so this time I tried their curry-infused chocolate. It was a whole lot less daunting than I imagined, with a mellow spicy buzz that complemented the chocolate taste well (even if I doubt I’d ever choose curry chocolate of my accord!).

Kapok has also scored an exclusive partnership with Rannou Metivier, producing these gorgeous selection boxes of assorted chocolates. We tried several – the Ceylon tea one was slightly disappointing without much noticeable tea taste, the salted butter caramel one was more buttery caramel than salt, whilst our favourite was the pistachio with its deliciously nutty yet silky smooth and gooey filling.

Kapok, Gateway Ground Floor

After seeing so many Instagram photos of Thierry Mulphart’s chocolate sea salt caramel macaron, I had told Season that it was my only definite must-have. Chocolate, sea salt, caramel AND macaron?! I mean seriously, it’s like someone stepped into my wildest chocoholic dreams and made it happen! Alas, I probably set my expectations too high but this was still pretty tasty.

It didn’t really have the trademark airy but chewy texture of a macaron; instead, there was more of a crunch and combined with its unusual hard chocolate shell, this felt more like a biscuit or chocolate bar… a super tasty one, that is! I don’t think you can really go wrong with that marriage of flavours and this macaron-biscuit-yum hybrid was further proof of that.

Thierry Mulphart, Gateway First Floor

Next was Christophe Roussel, a French pâtissier who allegedly supplies Lauduree with their chocolate – well, with provenance like that, how could I resist?! I loved their super cute Star Ferry chocolates created exclusively for the Chocolate Trail – they’d make for great souvenirs… albeit ones that disappeared into your belly very quickly! Roussel’s signature chocolates are his lip-shaped ones, so we dutifully tried the Yuzu flavour. Normally, I steer clear of fruity chocolates as I usually find the syrup artificially sweet, but these were actually rather lovely and light. Yuzu is a pretty unusual fruit flavour to go for and the sweet but sour citrus cut through the chocolate nicely, making the whole thing sing on the palette.

Christophe Roussel, Gateway First Floor

Sugar and spice and all things nice… La Madeleine de Proust definitely wins for prettiest display! This French brand is nothing new in Hong Kong, having hosted many similar pop-up kiosks in malls before – but their set-up is absolutely stunning, reminding me of the sweet shops you thought only existed in fairy tales. We tried their signature Florentine – a gorgeously chewy biscuit featuring chopped nuts set in a caramel base and coated with dark chocolate. Apparently, the name originates from the words for a French kiss (‘baiser florentin’) and the sensation of eating one is supposed to produce a similarly sweet feeling; well, I’m not entirely sure about that, but given some of the ropey kisses I’ve “enjoyed” in my time, I’m pretty sure the Florentine biscuit would be the reliably more pleasurable option! This was so yummy that I was nearly tempted to buy several on the spot – it wasn’t too sweet and the soft but feather-light chewiness was delightful.

La Madeleine de Proust also sell a variety of sweets, biscuits and other confectionary, so if you’re getting a bit of cocoa overload, stop by here for a breather!

La Madeleine de Proust, Gateway Second Floor

The next stop on our tour is a must-visit – French artisan chocolatier Chapon. This stall was buzzing with people – apparently, they were re-stocking from selling out over the past few days and the staff literally could not get the chocolates out fast enough! Chapon is selling exclusively in Hong Kong at Harbour City for the Chocolate Trail and it’s the first time the brand has been here… and with any luck, they’ll be back soon because the chocolates are divine. Patrice Chapon was previously the ice-cream maker at Buckingham Palace, but luckily found his true calling in chocolate, and his Smoked Salt Praline Dome is his signature calling card… and they are SENSATIONAL.

I can’t quite describe the flavours of this unique chocolate; simultaneously blow-your-socks off stunning but still subtle, refined and sophisticated. The dome has a thin salty smoky outer layer with a satisfying caramel crunch layer inside, followed by the soft smooth nutty centre; the flavours are perfectly balanced and the final lingering taste of mellow smoky chocolate exquisiteness was just beyond. I will definitely be back to grab a few more (if there are any left!) and we should all keep our fingers crossed that Chapon becomes a permanent fixture in HK! In case you hadn’t realised, this is THE must-have chocolate from the Chocolate Trail – miss it at your peril!

Chapon, Gateway Ground Floor

There was a small pit stop to check out the unbelievably cute animal chocs at Lucullus, before we moved onto Baruzzo, an Italian chocolatier inspired by the handmade precision and bespoke nature of couture dressmaking. Fittingly, their thin square-shaped chocolates are all decorated with beautiful colourful designs; normally, super pretty chocolates look super pretty to hide the fact that they don’t taste too pretty… but I was very pleasantly surprised with Baruzzo’s! They have loads of innovative and interesting flavours just as unusual as their designs.

Our personal favourites were Rosemary, with the aromatic savoury herb nicely setting off the chocolate’s richness and complementing rather than overwhelming it (and I managed not to think about roast lamb once!). I have previously tried VERO’s rosemary chocolate with its liquid caramel centre, but Baruzzo’s rosemary element was delivered in the form of a scrummy crunchy middle – one of our favourite chocolates of the day. We also loved the Jasmine chocolate, which really did deliver the clean light and fragrant essence of Jasmine tea but without being too floral.

The Marigold variety was also intriguingly complex, with many different playful flavour notes (none of which I could quite put my finger on!), whilst I also tried their salted caramel soft centre and it was a-ma-zing. Normally, I hate orange-flavoured chocolates (Terry can keep his Chocolate Orange thanks very much!) so the fact that I even enjoyed their Orange Blossom variety (light, fruity and enhanced with some fine crunchy hazelnuts) means that Baruzzo must be onto a good thing!

Baruzzo, Ocean Terminal Ground Floor (by KidsX)

Our final port of call was British brand Prestat, the only chocolatier to hold two Royal Warrants. With over one hundred years of chocolate expertise, their speciality is the truffle so we tried the Banoffee (the banana-caramel filling was luscious but the shell being white chocolate just made the whole thing too sweet) and the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt. I am obsessed with the chocolate salt flavour combo and this hit all my buttons – saltier than most with a rich addictive caramel filling. The packaging is also suitably grand and gorgeous, chocolate truly fit for royalty so you can feast like a queen! P.S. I was clearly in a chocolate coma by this stage, as I forget to take any chocolate photos – sorry!

Prestat, Ocean Terminal Ground Floor (by KidsX)

Season also generously gifted us a swag bag of chocolate goodies, including a few brands I didn’t have time to try. I was surprised by Godiva’s Truffles, which are MUCH better than I gave them credit for. They’re a little on the sweet side but the Crème Brulee and Apple Tart Tatin ones in particular were beautifully nuanced and way more interesting than I thought mainstream chocolate brands were capable of being – it definitely beats Thorntons, that’s for sure!

I’d highly recommend a little jaunt around The Chocolate Trail – it’s a great opportunity to check out tonnes of awesome chocolatiers at once, many of which have only limited availability in Hong Kong… if they’re even available here yet at all. My must-visits? Chapon, Baruzzo and Prestat.

Obviously, given the beautiful presentation of these brands, many of these chocolates would make for amazing presents for others – but it’s just as important to bag a few to treat yourself! I know I will…

The 2013 Chocolate Trail runs at Harbour City until 24 February; Harbour City, 3 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, 2118 8666

Many thanks to the lovely and generous Season for arranging our tour, my friend Mirander for coming along and being my hand model and Nicole for doing such an amazing blog post that inspired me to get off my ass and hit TST!

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Tagged Baruzzo, best chocolate in Hong Kong, best chocolate in the world, best chocolatiers in the world, Chapon, chocolate sea salt, chocolate sea salt caramel, ChocoYOU, Christophe Roussel, Food, Gateway, Gerhard Petzl, Godiva, Harbour City Chocolate Trail 2013, HK, Hong Kong, Kapok, La Madeleine de Proust, macarons, Ocean Terminal, Prestat, Rannou Metivier, smoke salt praline domes, Thierry Mulphart, truffles, Tsim Sha Tsui, where to buy chocolate in Hong Kong

Heirloom Eatery restaurant review – Smores, Smores, Smores! (how do you like it…)

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 6 Comments

Hong Kong is all about the hype. Be it Hello Kitty toys, Lady Gaga tickets or the latest ‘it-restaurant’, there’s always buzz around something.

One of the coolest, most talked-about restaurants from a while back, is Heirloom Eatery in the also buzzing Sheung Wan side of Hollywood Road. In traditional Rach late to the party style, I didn’t get round to trying it out until a month or so ago – with foodie partner-in-crime Michelle of Chopstixfix and her friend Amy (not a blogger but just as game for taking loads of pics and eating loads of food!).

Heirloom is a quaint little eaterie with lots of quirky design touches. It’s definitely a world away from any of the flashy restaurant group behemoths in Hong Kong and, with its whimsical menus, floral crockery, mismatched furniture and homespun feel, is probably all the better for it. Although the restaurant is on the smaller side, it’s lovely to sit outside watching the world go by on a nice spring day.

The menu is casual and international, with a few key influences – Mexican and Asian (thanks to the heritage of the two founders) – and a few majorly hyped dishes… Dear reader, we tried all of them!

Hong Kong suffers from a dearth of good Mexican food… even a dearth of good Tex-Mex food, in fact… so everyone has clamoured on board Heirloom’s tacos like they’re the great white hope of the HK dining scene. There are four varieties and my favourite was the Carnitas of slow-braised pork with pickled onions – the pork was deliciously meaty, melt-in-mouth, and the seasoning absolutely perfectly judged, making it the most moreish mouthful of taco ever. And we really are talking mouthful… because these tacos are tiny!

The Balinese fish taco was complemented nicely with a fresh kaffir-lime dressing whilst a prawn one benefited from some heavenly dressing and chunks of avocado; however, I didn’t get on well at all with the Tree Hugger taco of hibiscus, black bean and salsa verde (a bitter floral flavour that reminded me more of a fancy tea brew than a main meal). Shared between the three of us to get a taste of each type, these tacos were literally rendered bite-size – and I do think $120 for a plate of these four tasty but tiny morsels is a little pricey.

I normally do my best to avoid too much greenery on my plate, but my friend Emma recommended the Balinese Chopped Chicken Salad ($115). This was a more generous serving of roasted chicken, piles of chopped purple cabbage, hearty chunks of avocado (YUM), runner beans, cherry tomatoes and a lemongrass-lime-sambal dressing. The real star of the show was the dressing – that delicious twist of fresh lemongrass, zinging lime and just a little heat from the sambal made for an intoxicating combination. More avocado, less cabbage though thanks, as we definitely had enough left to feed a few rabbits afterwards!

You can’t go wrong with sweet potato fries ($35) and these were exactly the crispy sweet finger-licking golden strips they should be – and that spicy mayo was utterly delish (I think my mayo to chip ratio was approximately 4:1).

We were excited about the Mexican street corn ($55) but the coriander-mayo-lime dressing was just a bite too wincingly sour that day (as our puckered up faces after taking a bite showed!)… although liberally rolling your corn in the addictive crumbled cheese does help matters significantly!

Finally, onto what we’ve all been waiting for, dessert! Beautiful tempting homemade cakes had been sitting on the counter throughout and I could practically hear their siren’s call all meal, whilst Heirloom’s signature make-your-own Smores (complete with mini gas burner, $120) had been the talk of the town practically as soon as the place opened.

The Smores were awesome. Of course they were. Cinnamon-crunchy Graham crackers, decadent dark Willie’s chocolate and sinful molten marshmallows… was there any doubt that these wouldn’t hit the heights of my axis of awesome? Plus there’s something about being given a mini flame and toasting forks that just transforms me into a gleeful child and the three of us spent faaaar too long melting, smearing and intensely photographing the entire gooey process. It’s exactly the kind of delightful charming fun with friends dining that I think Heirloom is all about and makes your meal an experience rather than just forking food down blindly. It is a little bit of work breaking up the slabs of chocolate and getting them on your fork long enough to melt them, but trust me, it’s totally worth it.

The other desserts were less great – the chocolate fudge cake that had been tempting us all lunch was (whisper it) not quite moist or chocolate-y enough; a berry crème brulee was bursting with fruity juicy summer flavours (nature’s equivalent of stuffing a pack of Skittles in your mouth all at once, $80) but the consistency was far too runny. However, there’s no denying the gorgeousness of that floral crockery (yes, I’m a girl and care about such things)!

Now that the worst of the hype has passed onto other restaurants in Hong Kong, Heirloom is definitely worth a visit. For me, it’s a little pricey for what it is (both in terms of portion size and overall quality, although there is no service charge); bar the Smores, which I would love to gang around with girlfriends, there’s nothing I’m absolutely desperate to come back for either. Yet the interior, the design and the menu have all been lovingly personably created and the whole place has bagfuls of quaint heart-warming charm. And that’s a concept I can definitely get on board with.

Heirloom Eatery, 226 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, 2547 8008

Top photo credit: HK Magazine

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Tagged best tacos in Hong Kong, carnitas, Central, eating out, F&B, Food, heirloom, heirloom eatery, Hollywood Road, international cuisine, Mexican cuisine, photos, restaurant, review, sheung wan, smores

Grappa’s restaurant review: The Italian job

Posted on August 10, 2011 | 6 Comments

I don’t think Grappa’s gets nearly enough love.

Whenever there’s a request for reasonably-priced, good quality pasta or a shout-out for your favourite Italian in Hong Kong, I feel like I’m the only one gunning for Grappa’s! It might not be the newest or hippest Italian restaurant on the block or have a particularly innovative exciting menu, but what it does deliver is efficient service, consistent quality, food that I want to come back for and at prices that don’t make my wallet run away screaming in horror.

For a chain, its branches do vary a lot, both in quality and atmosphere. The one in Central is in a cosy cellar and is one of the best venues for live music from artists that can’t yet sell out arenas but aren’t quite ‘skivy bar in Wan Chai’ material. The one in Quarry Bay has a more business-like vibe and fantastic staff, yet their food tends to range wildly in quality (two years ago, it had a limited menu that barely included any meat; now, they’ve rebranded with a whole new supposedly American-Italian menu). But for me, the one in Pacific Place – a stalwart of the HK dining scene for over 20 years – is where it’s at.

My favourite, most craved for dish is their Calamari Fritti. Good God, this stuff is like little nuggets of culinary gold. The secret is in the calamari itself, marinated in buttermilk and with only the juiciest baby squid deemed fit for purpose. So there’s no great hulking rings of rubber that require more masticulation than a pack of chewing gum – it’s succulent, bursting with flavour, almost melt in mouth stuff (and who thought you’d ever say that about calamari?!). The batter is light, golden, crispy and lip-smackingly delicious and the bite-size pieces mean I can wolf it down like popcorn in the cinema; popcorn chicken seems positively archaic and bland in comparison! Yet the piece de resistance of the dish is the anchovy aioli.

Start selling this stuff bottled PLEASE! I have even toyed with bringing my own Tupperware to decant this gorgeous gunk into, I love it that much. My photo made it look like wallpaper paste and was too off-putting to include but, trust me, it is just super-appetising, addictive and amazing. I load it onto my calamari in an approximately 4:1 ratio. It’s also, sadly for the purposes of this review, indescribable. Salty, garlicky, thick, creamy, bounding across my palette with flavour… I just can’t do it. Suffice to say, I love it and need the recipe STAT. This is not just my vote for the best calamari in Hong Kong (that I’ve tasted so far anyway) but is well up there for my favourite dish here full-stop.

My other favourite appetiser is the Scampi in a garlic lemon butter sauce. It’s deliciously light and fresh but again, zinging with vibrant and warming flavours. The scampi are always soft, sweet and lovely but again, it’s the sauce that owns. Garlic butter is just one of my favourite things anyway and there’s a twist from the lemon that just lifts the whole dish. Make sure you save something from your bread-basket to mop this golden potion up.

Onto the mains and, given we’re here at least once a month (or more depending on how hard the anchovy aioli craving gets), we’ve sampled many. So before I begin piling on the praise, here’s what I didn’t like – the calzone (cheesy, doughy, heavy brick), the chicken ravioli (overly rich, too creamy, baby food soft), the chicken and rosemary entrée (very brown and unexceptional, felt more French than Italian).

But enough of that. The Rigatoni Al Ragu is our go-to – perfectly-cooked al dente tubes of pasta, set off with a few thin flakes of parmesan and ladled with lashings of rich, meaty, scrumptious sauce. As someone who has to have lots of sauce with pasta, I love that they’re generous with the stuff – it has a deep tomato tang and doesn’t hold on the beef either, all of which is lean mince and supremely flavourful.

The Spaghetti Marinara with buffalo mozzarella and mushrooms is one of those dishes that basks in the beauty of its simplicity. The sauce here is sweeter and more playful, and I love the velvety globs of mozzarella. It’s homely and hearty and very very tasty. [Incidentally, I reckon all of their pastas are superior to any of Pizza Express’ here, another of our staple Italian restaurants.]

Their pizzas are also well worth a gander. I’m not a huge fan of tomato sauce on pizza (this makes me abnormal according to my boyfriend, though I guess I’ve come to the right country for abnormal pizzas) and my all-time favourite is BBQ Chicken. Grappas’ version is easily better for me than the other main place here that serves it – California Pizza Kitchen – simply because it includes meaty chunks of chicken, as opposed to the small diced morsels that are almost more decoration than flavour on the CPK one. Grappas’ BBQ sauce is tangy, smokily sweet and goes down a treat with the soft bite of the onions and creamy mozzarella.

Their signature Pizza Alla Salsicca is similarly tasty and rather unique. It features wafer-thin slices of salty salami on the base and is topped with Grappas’ homemade spicy sausage, crumbled into a fine mince and scattered over the scene like fake snow at Santa’s Grotto. This makes it kinda difficult to eat but it’s a really unusual but delightful mix of tastes and textures.

Just to attest my point about the divergence between branches, all these dishes seem to be priced differently at different locations but basically hover in and around the $100 mark. I find their portion size is relatively generous and great for sharing between two – if I was to try and polish off a main on my own, I doubt I’d be able to manage any calamari at all, which you must realise by now would be a VERY BAD THING. When my boyfriend and I order a starter (calamari, OBVIOUSLY) and a main, we often even have enough pasta left for me to take it home and have as my lunch the next day. And I’ve never once had room for a dessert.

So, overall, decent value, good quality, scrumptious food. And did I mention the calamari?!

Grappa’s Ristorante, Shop 132 Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong, 2868 0086

Banner photo from Openrice

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Tagged Admiralty, best Italian in Hong Kong, best pasta in Hong Kong, eating out, El Grande Concepts, F&B, Food, Grappa's Ristorante, Grappas, HK, Hong Kong, Italian cuisine, Pacific Place, pasta, pizza, restaurant, review

Pizza Hut pizza: still disgusting

Posted on December 17, 2010 | 3 Comments

So the shrimp-stuffed crusts of the Tapas Pizza weren’t disgusting enough for you? Well, Pizza Hut HK sees your Tapas Pizza and raises you one Scallop Cheesy Volcano just in time for the festive season.

Oh, that some poor, beautiful scallops had to die in vain to make this monstrosity. It seems Pizza Hut has so little respect for premium ingredients that seeing truffle-sprinkled caviar on their next special wouldn’t come as much of a surprise. And they’d still manage to make it look like a pre-schooler’s art project.

There are little cheese-stuffed balls bubbling out a lava of cheddar and mozzarella (creating the eponymous volcanos), encircling the creation menacingly and preventing the scallops from even thinking about any last-ditch attempts at escape. This is demo-ed in the advert by a lang-mo delicately squeezing said globule. Big bulbous thing oozing out unctuous yellow goo? I’m not thinking volcano… I’m thinking giant pus-filled spot. Gross.

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Tagged advertisements, adverts, Food, gross, HK, Hong Kong, Pizza Hut, quirky stuff, Random, Scallop Cheesy Volcano, tv advert, weird

Dessert of the day: get a Sift of that!

Posted on December 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

So you’ve already worked out my predilection towards afternoon tea and its cakey delights. Well, I’m not fussy. I can do afternoon tea in the comfort of my own home too!

However, given my cooking skills (I once exploded a bowl of rice in a microwave), I prefer to leave the baking to the professionals. I’d heard that Sift cupcakes were the best in town so decided to grab a few from their Wan Chai patisserie to devour back at the ranch.

Almost all the gush I’d heard had been for their Red Velvet cupcakes so they were top of my must-try list. As I weighed up my other options (there were over a dozen different varieties of cupcake to choose from, all $22), a girl giggled her way in, queue-jumped me and promptly pinched the last two Red Velvet cakes on display. Never mind red velvet, red smoke began flaring from my nostrils. ‘Are the cakes on display all you have?’ I asked counter girl #1. She informed me that this was the case. My growls probably reverberated all the way down Queen’s Road!

I was just about to do an indignant huff out of the shop, when counter girl #2 (i.e. competent counter girl) located a Red Velvet lurking round the back. I rounded up my order with a Luscious Chocolate and an Oreo (catering to my boyfriend’s specific pre-request of chocolate cake with vanilla frosting!) and skipped happily out of the shop, hoping that for $66, I was about to get the cupcake experience of my life. I wasn’t far wrong.

I’ve often found American-style cupcakes, toppling over with a top-heavy frosting to sponge ratio, have a tendency to be too heavy, too rich and simply too sickly-sweet. Indulgent paradise for the first few mouthfuls; claggy sticky death by cupcake towards the end. Sift’s, however, were none of the above. I have to complement their sponge the most – light, smooth and fluffy but moist and rich, the went down far too easily and quickly given the amount of calories involved!

The much-heralded Red Velvet (light chocolate cake dyed red, Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cream cheese frosting): The moist but feather-light sponge with a soft dainty chocolate taste was a delight but I wasn’t so keen on the topping. Admittedly, I wasn’t actually aware that it was cream cheese… An immediately potent punch of ultra-sweet, super-smooth cream, almost like custard, with a twangy tangy hit. Not my favourite but that’s purely personal taste.

Luscious Chocolate (Valrhona dark chocolate cake, dark chocolate buttercream frosting): In the words of Apprentice Season 4 winner, Lee McQueen – ‘That’s what I’m talking about!’ One for all the chocoholics out there (I’m a fully-paid, season-ticket holder), this was pure indulgence in a cupcake liner. The thicker consistency of the frosting was more what I expect of buttercream whilst the whole thing was rich, dense, dark heady hit after hit of intense chocolate flavour but without being overpowering. Yum.

Oreo (Valrhona dark chocolate cake, Madagascar Bourbon vanilla buttercream): Smells like an Oreo, tastes like an Oreo but apparently, not an Oreo… Again, the sponge was a decadent dream of deep chocolate whilst the topping was, by some strange cupcake sorcery, pure Oreo although it seems no Oreos were hurt in the making of this cake. The two sides complemented each other perfectly whilst the stiffer, more icing-like texture of the frosting made it a pleasantly less gooey gobble. The boyfriend was all smiles with this one.

So… orgasmic noises all round, much licking of chocolate-y smears from lips/fingers/plate, two cupcake-scented happy customers. Best cupcakes in Hong Kong? Definite contenders for the crown… and there’s a whole pantheon of other cakes, pastries and cookies to try yet! As long as giggling girl doesn’t thwart my plans, that is…!

Sift Patisserie, 43 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, 2528 0084, closed Mondays

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Pomme café review: the apple of my eye!

Posted on December 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

As regular readers may have established (from here… or here… or even here!), I may have a bit of a sweet tooth. Everyone knows dessert occupies a different space in the stomach, right?! So it may come as no surprise to learn that one of my favourite “meals” of the day is afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea in Hong Kong can be a little strange; whilst many chan chan tengs do offer afternoon ‘tea sets’, these often include pork chops, chicken wings, bowls of macaroni and wedges of toast about the thickness of The Bible. Not exactly jam and scones, is it? So the rise of the Western coffee shop, and a mid-afternoon pit-stop to refuel after a hard day’s shopping, is something I wholeheartedly champion!

Pomme is exactly the sort of place that comes to mind. A little haven of Continental peace and quiet in bustling Wan Chai, it’s one of those places where I find myself wanting to buy not just everything on the menu, but everything decorating the place too!

I loved the colourful pretty prints of French shops on the wall. I loved the cabinet of antique copper teaware. I loved the door handle shaped like a whisk, the baby Eiffel tower made out of baguettes and the numerous ornaments inspired by their name (French for apple). Most of all, I loved their delectable range of cakes on display at the counter – great for hungry eyes to feast on, not so great for poor decision-makers (especially when your inner 5 year old wants to go for the signature cupcake decorated to look like a donkey)!

In the end, I settled for a chocolate hazelnut tart whilst my auntie went for lemon cheesecake (both $28). Thankfully, Pomme didn’t go for the cheat’s option of spreading the tart base with Nutella to achieve the chocolate hazelnut effect! Instead the filling was decadently rich, creamily smooth and with little crunch explosions of hazelnut pieces inside. However, although the tart shell was utterly buttery, it was a too hard and came away from the ganache-esque filling too easily.

The lemon cheesecake was a beauty. Light, tangy and neither too sweet, too tart or too heavy, it came complete with crumbly buttery biscuit base, silky smooth topping and just enough zing of lemon to keep things interesting. Textbook stuff.

Finally, a nice cuppa char to wash things down. I particularly liked how the menu told you which kind of teas were suited to which desserts – although I subsequently ignored all advice and went for the one with the prettiest name. My Vanilla Sencha (around $24) was delicately but not overwhelmingly sweet; a good clean fresh brew! I was rather taken with Pomme’s classy teacups – check out those fluid flowing lines!

Although a little pricey, it’s pretty much what I’d expect from a coffee shop in England and certainly no worse but far tastier than the likes of the dreaded Starbucks and Pacific Coffee. For the serene ambience, beautiful décor and an extensive menu I look forward to working my way through, Pomme is definitely deserving of ‘regular pit-stop’ status!

Pomme, G/F Southern Commercial Building, 11 Luard Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, 2527 9933

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Frites restaurant review: a meal to moule over!

Posted on November 28, 2010 | 3 Comments

Concept Creations is definitely one of my favourite restaurant groups in Hong Kong. Whilst they’re somewhat dwarfed by dining behemoths like King Parrot, Igor’s and Dining Concepts, it’s quality not quantity, right? I’ve already banged on about how great Tapeo is here (and I was a big fan of their homely little Italian in Soho, Mrs Jones, that they sadly decided to shut down earlier in the year) so now it’s the turn of their other flagship restaurant, Frites.

Frites has bagged a prime location in Central (before all those steep slopes, perfect for lazy arses like me) and unlike many restaurants in the area, its premises are larger than a postage stamp. With a lofty, grand but relaxed ambience, it’s frankly nice to enjoy some high ceilings in this city for a change!

There’s a distinctly Bavarian feel to both the place and the menu – think lederhosen, bratwurst and beerhall and you’re not far off. Sturdy wood furniture, long wooden tables, dark green leather, chequered floors and, most importantly, a very big bar! Screw Hong Kong’s interminably long Oktoberfests, it’s like this at Frites all year round!

But the word Frites isn’t German, I hear you cry! So where’s the common ground between French for chips and Bavarian architecture… why, Belgium, of course.

Having been to Belgium, I can safely say the only thing remotely enjoyable about the place was the food. Never mind Belgian chocolate, it’s all about moules et frites, best enjoyed with a pale pint by your side. Almost every little local eaterie worth its salt serves the stuff so unsurprisingly, it’s Frites’ signature dish – and a very good signature dish it is too.

We opted for a kilogram of the most traditional of the six flavours on offer, the Moules Mariniere (somehow, I doubt Belgians are chowing down on Thai Curry steamed mussels just yet), which clocks in at a pricey $310. Served with a side of frites and mayo, plus a slab of bread, it’s just about enough for a meal for two, although you might be getting dinner pangs slightly earlier than usual later.

Dished up in a big steaming pot, the mussels were plump, tender and infused with flavour. The Mariniere broth, made from white wine, celery, garlic and mixed herbs, was a little too watery for my liking, but the delicate balance of flavours was spot-on. I’m all for liberal garlic use and it can be so awesome that it tends to overpower things, but here it played adeptly against the aromatic herbs, heady hit of wine and most interestingly, the flat, almost bitter, tang of the celery to produce a meal that had us smacking our lips from the smell alone!

Elsewhere, the frites were good but unexceptional, though they win marks for being obviously fresh, piping hot and nicely-seasoned. They come with mayonnaise, the most beloved of all condiments in Belgium and France, and though this was a nice touch, it didn’t really add much to the flavour (although I know it adds plenty to the hips!).

Just one slice of bread is a little stingy though, non? Everyone knows practically the best part of a mussel pot is mopping up the excess juices so only one slice for a whole kilogram was a little disappointing.

Lead us not into incarceration but deliver us from hangovers… Barmen! (click for enlargement)

But where Frites really comes into its own is with its beer selection – they have more beers than they do dishes! With a wide variety of Belgian beers both bottled and on draught that are far from your typical run-of-the-mill HK bar fare, it’s a booze aficionados paradise (beer-mat collectors will be in for a treat too!). It’s also the rationale behind Frites’ monk mascot (Belgium is famous for beer produced in monasteries) and there’s even a ‘Frites Prayer’ extolling the delights of booze, with riffs on the Lord’s Prayer that will doubtless have the vicar’s wife reaching for the smelling salts.

We went for a Leffe Blonde Draught ($55 for 330ml) – check out the head on that! What I know about beer you could write on a Borrowers’ Post-It note but I do know that this beer was delicious. Light, sweet, almost fruity and not wincingly dry, it was the perfect accompaniment.

Sunlight streaming through the massive windows, a huge pot of steaming mussels to pick over and a pint of Belgium’s finest to wash it all down, Frites is the perfect place to enjoy a leisurely lunch on a lazy Sunday. Or brunch. Or dinner. Or tea…

Frites: Belgium On Tap, Shop 1 & 2, 1/F, Queen’s Palace, 74 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong, 2179 5179

P.S. Nowhere to really fit this in but I just wanted to applaud Concept Creations for continuing to think outside the box in choosing locations for their new restaurants. After unexpectedly picking Sai Wan Ho for their newest Tapeo (a particularly inspired decision, as you can see here), Frites has just opened their second branch in Quarry Bay. Nice to see Concept Creations showing some love to the neglected Island East side, rather than just carrying on the Central-TST appreciation society.

A version of this review also appears on Sassy Hong Kong.

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Tagged Belgian cuisine, best beers in HK, Central, Concept Creations, Continental cuisine, European cuisine, F&B, Food, frites, gastropub, HK, Hong Kong, moules et frites, Moules Mariniere, restaurant, review, SoHo

The Pawn restaurant review: the Pawn identity

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 4 Comments

So we’ve talked history, we’ve worried about heritage and we’ve waxed lyrical about the views – but what about the restaurant itself? Well, it’s safe to say that The Pawn acquits itself fairly nicely on the food front as well.

So what does The Pawn have in common with The Press Room Group’s other restaurants (The Press Room and SML)? Amazing attention to detail, that’s what. Part of what makes all three of those places real dining experiences is that no expense has been spared on the décor, the ambience and the little niggly things that all contribute to giving you a great feeling about eating there. Consequently, The Pawn makes the most of its old shophouse setting – airy high ceilings, balcony seating, long iron-grilled windows and decoration that totally fits with the simple grandeur of the place.

It feels like a comfy dining room. Not a posh snooty one where you daren’t clatter your cutlery, not the one in your gran’s sitting room with the conked-out sofas, but somewhere nice in-between. The chairs are proper rustic wooden dining chairs, with embroidered cushions and arts and crafts style engravings, but all slightly different so it’s obvious they weren’t just bulk bought from Ikea. There are strips of beautiful bespoke floral wallpaper (designed by HK artist Tsang Kin-Wah) that, when viewed up-close, is basically pretty graffiti. There’s lots more honest brown furniture that feels old without feeling ancient, like it had a life before The Pawn rather than being created especially for it, whilst the famous HK pawnshop symbol recurs throughout, on their personalised crockery, restored on the wall outside and even on the platter that your bill arrives on. Add a few Hong Kong touches, like simple dangling plastic ceiling lamps and views over bustling Wan Chai with the audible dinging of passing trams and you have beautifully-executed design that’s obviously had hours of thought poured into it but that still feels relaxed and unobtrusive, rather than fake and try-hard. As you may be able to tell, I loved it.

Meanwhile, the menu is pure British gastropub. Ham hock, bone marrow, liver, hearty portions of red meat and mash in various guises, sticky toffee pudding, apple crumble… but all posh-ed up, with modern chef-y twists and served in a becoming manner, hence just about justifying charging $180 for a plate of fish and chips.

The lunch deal, however, is pretty amazing. $150 for three generously-sized courses of such quality is fantastic value and bizarrely, cheaper than ordering any single main from the a la carte menu.

I started things off with pumpkin and ginger soup, definitely only suitable for those that don’t mind their soups being sweet. Despite it being part of the set, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they hadn’t stinted on portion size and despite it being a piping hot day, I was pleasantly surprised that my piping hot soup still felt summery. It was rich, thick and creamily sweet and I loved the warm fuzzy kick that the ginger gave. There were also two glazed crispy toast type things providing a snappy crunch that complemented the soup perfectly.

Onto my main of Dover sole, with a lemon butter sauce, mash and assorted leaves. When my boyfriend tasted it, he commented ‘The sauce is the best thing on there.’ He was absolutely right, begging the question: why wasn’t there more of it?! One of my pet hates (can you tell I watch too much Masterchef?!) is when sauces are dribbled about for artistic effect rather than actual consumption. Yes, it looked pretty, but it tasted even better and I wanted more! My fish was nicely-cooked and, combined with what little drizzle there was, tasted lightly lovely, but the mash was oddly cold and there was too much of it (a problem endemic with mash in general). And, to me, leaves will always be just leaves.

My boyfriend had the fish and chips. I tested the waiter was genuinely curious and asked what type of fish it was – sole again, apparently. Given how thin sole is, chef did well to fry this without making it dry and flaky. It was soft and moist, coated in golden crispy batter that was just about the right thickness. We knew it’d be a good ‘un when my boyfriend stuck his knife in and it crackled and crunched nicely! The boring peas would have been better as mushy peas, with some appropriately chef-y twist like mint and again, the overall portion was huge. But the chips were the star. In Hong Kong, you’ll get served a lot of supposed chips, with very few of them equating to anything like a British chip. French fries, frites, wedges, criss-cut, curly, julienne, slightly fatter frites but still definitely not chips, very obviously formerly-frozen chips out a bag – we’ve seen it all. These chips were the real deal. Reassuringly fat, crispy on the outside, meltingly soft on the inside, piping hot and made from quality spuds, they were just about the closest I’ve come to real chips so far in Hong Kong. Steak-cut slabs of gold.

Finally, dessert. Otherwise known as heaven. It was a banana walnut cake with toffee sauce, which I was ordering mainly for the toffee sauce, hoping it would be similar to the a-maz-ing butterscotch sauce in SML’s profiteroles. I don’t even like banana walnut cake… I’m now banana walnut cake’s biggest fan. Often, banana can be an overpowering presence but here it was a pleasant fruity undertone and the earthy flavour and crunch of walnuts ran through the cake, in addition to some very Chinese candied walnut clusters on the top (often seen as appetisers in Chinese restaurants). The sponge was light and I’d practically scoffed it all before I realised I’d started. But oh, the toffee sauce! I’m in raptures just reliving it now. Sticky, gooey, dark, rich, sweet, syrupy caramel. I would have licked the plate clean if I could (and as you can see, I gave it a good go with my spoon!). My boyfriend kept catching me give little gleeful grins as I set about demolishing it; I think I was hugging myself with delight by the end. Imagine the infamous scene from When Harry Met Sally and you’re probably not far off.

So yes, the prices are a little steep. Yes, the food is not really aiming at Michelin-starred ingenuity. And yes, you’re paying as much for the atmosphere as for the ingredients. But for a special occasion, a luxurious lunch or just because you fancy treating yourself, I think it’s worth it. And if you really can’t stretch to it, just shimmy up to the roof garden instead!

The Pawn, 2F, 62 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, 2866 3444

Banner photo from Urban Renewal Authority’s website

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Mid-Autumn Festival: It’s a marvellous night for a mooncake

Posted on October 4, 2010 | 1 Comment

Mid-Autumn Festival may just be one of my favourite festivals in Hong Kong because just about everywhere makes the effort to look pretty. Admittedly, all it takes is a few paper lanterns scattered about, but at night time especially, it looks charming and uniquely Chinese.

Also know as Moon Festival, it’s held on the 15^th day of the 8^th month (of the lunar calendar, so roughly late September) when the moon is supposed to be at its brightest. There are many variants of the legend behind the festival, but I’ll tell you (in the best Chinese tradition!) the one that my mum told me.

A long long time ago, there used to be ten suns in the sky, which burnt away terribly at the Earth. The emperor commanded the most skilled archer in all the land, Hou Yi, to shoot down all but one of the suns – which he did, leaving us with the one sun we have today. As a reward, he was given a magic potion that would grant him eternal life and he hid it away at home. According to my mum’s version, Hou Yi became a tyrant, corrupted by power and ambition; on seeing this, his beautiful wife, Seung Orr, decided to eat the pill herself to prevent him from living forever (other versions have the wife finding and eating the pill accidentally). Upon eating the pill, she found herself becoming lighter and lighter and she began to float. Eventually, she floated out of the window, up into the sky and onto the moon where she lives today. She also has her rabbit with her, who you can sometimes see outlined on the moon.

If you’re a virgin to Moon Festival, there are only two things you need to know – lanterns and mooncake! Seung Orr adorns many a mooncake box and the traditional cakes are made with a yellow duck egg inside, representing the moon. Nowadays, there are all kinds of modern takes on the mooncake, including chocolate, mango, green tea or even ‘snowy’ ice-cream ones. We bought one that was shaped like a pig! It came in a miniature version of the traditional basket that real pigs used to be carried to market in the olden days and I love how he even has a little curly tail! Alas, he had to be decapitated and eaten – the filling was green bean paste – and my auntie said he looked a lot nicer than he tasted!

Lanterns are lit to accentuate the brightness of the moon and on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival itself, paper ones are lit and floated off to the moon. This year, one managed to land on an MTR train, sparking a small fire, panic, evacuations, delays and talk of regulating lanterns more closely next year. As with mooncakes, lanterns have evolved with the times and you can get them in practically any shape, size or colour you desire, with inflatable musical cartoon character versions proving particularly popular with youngsters (so if it’s late September and you’re hearing a tinny tune in the dim and distant, it’s probably a toddler holding a blow-up Doaremon).

We went to the special market in Tsing Yi’s Maritime Square Mall, which is basically your one-stop Mid-Autumn shop. As you can see, the lantern stall was a riot of colour! We bought two ($35 each) – a pretty lotus flower and a gorgeous goldfish. You can see them in action in our flat below!

However, these are mere small fry compared to the lanterns that the government has built to mark the occasion. For all of Mid-Autumn weekend, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay is transformed into a luminous lantern extravaganza. It costs a small fortune but hey, who cares when it looks this spectacular?!