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Café Corridor restaurant review – cute and cosy in Causeway

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 2 Comments

cafe corridor hk

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!

cafe corridor earl grey chocolate tart

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.

cafe corridor caramelised apple tart

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.

cafe corridor bacon and scrambled eggs

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!

cafe corridor peanut butter and banana toast

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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Fiat Caffè restaurant review: start your engines!

Posted on October 8, 2012 | 1 Comment

My friend Mirander and I are engaged in on-going quest to check out every café in Hong Kong… and latest to make it on our radar was the Fiat Caffè in Causeway Bay. And yes, that is Fiat as in cars.

Cunningly disguised as a car showroom in Leighton Centre, I must have walked past countless times before realising that there was actually a menu pinned outside… and not just a basic café menu of perfunctory espressos and sad-looking sandwiches, but a mouth-watering menu stuffed with interesting Italian dishes.

Amongst the bruschetta, panini, pasta and gelato on offer, there is one gimmicky ‘most expensive coffee in the world’ (it comes with a Fiat) but otherwise, the menu is done with far more conviction and flair than you would expect of a café parked within a car showroom (parked… see what I did there?!).

The environment is bigger than expected (from outside, all you can see are the cars!) and a little busy – there’s a large kitchen-bar area, food to buy and take home (including pasta, tea bags and ice-cream) stacked everywhere, and a wall constantly re-playing Fiat commercials (I will probably now take Jennifer Lopez’s advert to the grave). Again, I was expecting a more gimmicky element – Fiat branding on the crockery, seats shaped like cars (clearly, I’ve been to too many Disney themed restaurants in my time!), but thankfully it was much cooler than that. Mirander and I eyed the uncomfortable-looking latticework perspex chairs dubiously, but actually they were surprisingly fine (for the first hour anyway) – so not just style over comfort!

Because I am a pig and couldn’t pick between two salivating-sounding bruschetta, I ordered both! First up was one topped with crispy pancetta, fried eggs, stewed tomatoes and black truffle – come on, doesn’t that just sound seriously sexy?! It arrived looking just as sexy, a mountain of indulgent Italian goodies (like a posher English breakfast!) piled atop a hefty wedge of toasted and defiantly un-soggy bruschetta, and it was as utterly scrumptious as those ingredients would have you expect.

The eggs (two eggs! result!) were cooked beautifully; one prod and beautiful yellow creamy goodness spilled out from the yolks. The pancetta was crispy salty and wonderful, although I do wish there had been a little more of it given the size of the dish, whilst the truffle flakes added a slight but unmistakeable woody smoky touch. I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes so would have preferred them in a less ‘wet’ form, but they added the right amount of fresh tanginess to balance the other rich flavours.

Second and even better was the prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, shallots and Fontina cheese bruschetta. The flavours here were much lighter and more obviously Italian than my first pick. The prosciutto was heaped on generously (how many times have you ordered this kind of thing only to get a tiny handful of the stuff?) and was dreamily beautiful – soft, salty and dangerously addictive. The sun-dried tomatoes were also packed with flavour; I see these all too rarely in restaurants here and wish they’d been more generous with these too! Nevertheless, the lack of sun-dried tomatoes was almost made up by the abundance of beautiful shallots – little balls packed with zinging sweet but sour loveliness. The Fontina was sliced very thinly, meaning it was practically welded to the toast, and has a more mild nutty flavour compared to other Italian cheeses, but the tastes all came together perfectly. I had to admit defeat and couldn’t finish half of the bread this time – yes, there are limits to my gluttony!

Miranda opted for a panini stuffed with more Fontina, balsamic mushrooms and tomatoes, pronouncing it ‘pretty good’; panini are a bit of a weakness for me so I will definitely be back to try one. I also really liked the honest presentation of all the dishes – no fancy drizzling of this or that, just plated up (in the case of the panini, on a rustic chunky wood board) and letting the ingredients and tastes do the talking.

Even better, despite the fact that this is a table-service joint and the waitresses are happy to keep topping you up with free tap water at all times? No 10% service charge! With the bruschetta and panini costing around $60-80, prices aren’t unreasonable for the quality of ingredients and hearty portion sizes, plus if you are that way inclined, they do offer good value lunch, afternoon tea and dinner sets too.

Although Hong Kong is not exactly short of Italian restaurants or indeed cafés, Fiat Caffè is a one-of-a-kind here. The dishes are a cut above the norm and despite their simplicity, are combinations that I just haven’t seen elsewhere. They’re well thought-out, authentic and have been created with an obvious love for food – and are absolutely delicious enough to warrant repeated return visits to work your way through the whole menu (I’m already eyeing all mentions of anchovies and homemade ricotta)!

The busy environment and the gradual sensation of the chairs’ latticework pressing into your bum means that the Fiat Caffè isn’t really the place to enjoy a long leisurely meal or a social dinner gathering. However, as a pit stop for an afternoon pick-me-up or a quick, filling and very delicious lunch, it’s definitely right up there for pole position. Vroom vroom!

Fiat Caffè, Shops G5-6, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2960 9222

Bottom photo credit: Fiat HK’s Facebook Page

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

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 4 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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La Creperie restaurant review – why every day should be Pancake Day!

Posted on April 6, 2012 | 2 Comments

Whenever my friend Mirander and I meet up, we fall into incredibly girlie stereotypes. We gossip, we shop, we eat desserts. You’ve already followed our expedition for high tea at Robuchon, but now for one of our favourite pit-stops… La Creperie.

Unassumingly tucked away on the first floor of some serviced apartments mid-way between Admiralty and Wan Chai, La Creperie is probably Hong Kong’s most authentic purveyor of French crepes – specifically buckwheat pancakes, galettes hailing from Brittany (thinner, larger, darker and crisper than the more conventional ones). Sweet, savoury, seafood, salad… they’ve stuffed them with anything they can get their hands on here… great news for greedy cochons like me, who can opt for crepes as both a main course and dessert!

The room is large and charming in a homely way, with well-worn dark wood furniture and a nautical theme in the décor (lighthouse salt and pepper pots!) that extends to the staff wearing Breton-striped shirts. Mirander and I always go off-peak, around 3pm, when the place is deserted – meaning service can be a little slow (especially as we always seem to find ourselves hidden behind a pillar) but that we can sit and gossip to our heart’s content!

For my main, I always go for Le Four. I just can’t look past any dish that has bacon as its main component! In addition to that deliciously salty shredded bacon, Le Four also contains a mix of slippery earthy diced mushrooms, some obligatory lettuce leaves to make me feel healthy and a creamy ultra more-ish sauce to totally cancel that out. This darling usually gets devoured in ten minutes flat; I just can’t get enough of the light crisp perfect accompaniment of wrapping all that deliciousness in a crepe brings – can I wrap all my food in one please?!

For desserts, Mirander and I fall into yet another girl stereotype – we order one to share. This means both of us get to feel better about halving our calories, whilst ensuring our orgasmic ‘mmmm-ing’ happens at the same time and neither of us get food lust for the other’s dish! There are so many scrumptious-sounding options on La Creperie’s menu, but again, we’ve never yet managed to look past La Defi, which comes topped with baby caramelised chunks of banana, a scoop of caramel ice-cream and lashings of salted caramel.

YES SALTED CARAMEL. I think I may have mentioned my love for salted caramel before. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s positively sinful. Gooey sticky unctuous love in liquid form… how could anyone resist?! And at La Creperie, they have that salty-sweet balance absolutely right. The banana’s natural mellow sweetness cuts in at just the right points, whilst the caramel ice-cream is soothingly creamily cool, helping the whole thing wash down with a serene soft sweetness and the occasional crunch of little nuggets of hardened caramel in there too. Heaven.

Savoury crepes clock in around the $100 mark, sweet ones around $50, with some very reasonable lunch and tea set deals available too. They also do a mean homemade lemonade, although alas their jars of salted caramel butter and sweets are no longer available (yes, I’ve tried to buy them, many-a-time!). And in the battle of the creperies between this and the similarly French-run Fleur de Sel in Causeway Bay, Le Creperie is a very easy winner for me – in terms of taste, atmosphere, service, price and pretty much everything else you can think of. I love that you can linger here comfortably for hours and no-one bats an eyelid, although I have heard it gets busy at dinner… so just do what I do an eat your dinner in the middle of the day! It’s also within tempting proximity of Sift Cupcakes, allowing Mirander and I the chance to indulge our girlie impulses even more!

So yes, Mirander and I are total girls. But when desserts, company and long lingering meet-ups are as good as this, I just love being a girl – don’t you?!

La Creperie, 1/F, Kui Chi Mansion, 100-102 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, 2529 9280. Closed on Mondays.

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Brasserie De L’ile restaurant review: frites for my sweet…

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 6 Comments

I may have mentioned on just a couple of occasions (like here… and here… and errr… here too) that my boyfriend is a bit of a chip connoisseur. For him, fries are one of the main food groups and golden chip fat probably runs through his veins. So when I heard about a new joint in town, Brasserie de L’ile, that was serving all you can eat fries, I knew it wasn’t a matter of if we would go, but WHEN!

Luckily for Brasserie de L’ile, it is located on Arbuthnot Road – and Central not being one of our frequent hang-outs, I felt slightly less nervous that my boyfriend would manage to put them out of business in just one visit!

They bill themselves as Hong Kong’s first authentic Northern French brasserie and specialise in pots of moules and handmade frites – with the large 800g option (note: smaller than Frites 1kg offering) coming with the much-heralded all-you-can-eat fries deal!

The restaurant itself is exactly my kind of place – very casual, very French, with comfy plush banquettes lining the walls and an open-front out onto Arbuthnot (not admittedly much fun when lorries and traffic come charging down it, and a bit chilly in winter too). It reminded me of nicer-looking Café Rouges in the UK and of a lighter brighter Press Room here; gorgeous Art Noveau prints and classic French advertising posters adorn the walls, red velvet curtains cordon off the back, and I knew it was made for me when I discovered a stash of amazing-smelling luxurious Aesop hand wash and cream in the bathroom. Yes, the make-up junkie in me is never put to rest, even on foodie trips!

My boyfriend and I ended up going at a betwixt and between time (following my knockout new haircut courtesy of Lorena Severi – see all the photos here!), meaning they weren’t actually serving dinner yet. So, we ended up doing our meal backwards and starting with dessert, a novel way of me getting round the fact that I often feel too full for pudding!

We opted for… well, I chose and assured my boyfriend that he would like it… crepes with sea salt caramel. ‘Oh my God…’ the boyfriend drooled, as soon as he had a bite. Salted caramel is truly a gift of the gods and this was the stuff of Zeus’ dreams. The crepes themselves were a thin, light delight and our plate was licked clean all too soon. We could have done with just one more of the feather-light crepes to truly satisfy our sweet urges though.

Then, we moved onto our starter – escargot with a garlic herb butter. Whenever I see escargot on a menu, however sketchy the joint (and I have had some truly sketchy escargots in HK, which the proprietors probably sourced from the back streets), I just have to have them. Brasserie de L’ile is a definitely non-sketchy joint and these escargots were absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. Boyfriend had cautioned against having them (as he wanted to leave as much room for the fries as possible!) but these are worth making room for. However, not served in their shells and swimming in a pool of green sauce, I’ll admit it doesn’t make for the most appetising picture – but trust me, these are so good!

The snails themselves were juicy squishy little morsels that carried the full flavour of all the heady rich garlic butter could throw at them. Sadly, these weren’t served on a bed of mashed potato to catch all the juices; my advice is to save some of the (rather average) bread to soak up every last drip! See how full the bowl is in my picture? Well, by the time we were done, it was completely wiped clean!

Finally, the main event… the moules! We went for the classic Mariniere – white wine, garlic, leeks, herbs and love in a pot. The obvious point of comparison here has to be Frites; for me, Brasserie de L’ile’s sauce was a little thinner but the flavours were spot on. As for the mussels themselves, Brasserie’s are mere tiddlers compared to the big ‘uns at Frites; the result is that although the large option here weighs less, it feels like you get more! The taste of the mussels themselves was delightful – sweet with just the right hint of the sea, and tender without a hint of that rubbery stringiness of being overcooked.

And now… onto what you’ve all been waiting for… the frites. WOW. Even for a non chip connoisseur like myself, these are definitely amongst the best in Hong Kong. They are defiantly homemade – soft, light, hand-cut chunks of awesome. They are also seasoned to perfection, salty, buttery, even a little garlicky. We made it through three dishes… and my boyfriend claims he could have made it through at least another three more. (It seems to compensate for the all-you-can-eat deal, they do make your initial serving smaller than the norm but don’t be afraid to ask for more, and they come quickly enough not to put you off your rhythm!)

I must also complement the service that day, from a lovely smilingly attentive waitress who made us feel so welcome, even when we wandered in at the most random of times, and for whom nothing was too much trouble.

My boyfriend and I have actually taken to reminiscing about the chips, like some golden childhood memory… that’s how good they were! The truth is though, that everything we tried off Brasserie de L’ile’s menu was similar levels of wonderful and, coupled with its relaxed vibe and reasonable for the quality prices (most mains are around the $150-200 mark), we can’t wait to go back. Maybe we’ll even do the menu the right way round next time!

Brasserie De L’ile, G/F, 4 Arbuthnot Road, Central, Hong Kong, 2147 2389

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Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon high tea set review: one sandwich short of a picnic?

Posted on October 7, 2011 | 12 Comments

One of life’s laziest pleasures has to be high tea. Being able to enjoy a mid-week afternoon tea set basically signals ‘Hey, I’m a jobless slacker!’ but that’s all part of the fun, right?

My BFF Mirander (studying so not a jobless slacker btw) and I (freelancer, so technically not a jobless slacker either) have a fondness for long afternoons spent shopping with occasional – and even longer! – dessert pit-stops, so we decided to check out the Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon after I heard lots of good things about it on Twitter.

Braving the high-end, too-good-for-our-sorts designer label playground that is The Landmark in our quest for good cake, we quickly opted for the High Tea Set For Two ($315). We didn’t really pay much attention to the description, instead being won over by the pretty pictures, and so our meal mainly consisted of eating first and trying to identify the tastes later!

Even though the menu made the tea set look sizeable, all the pictures were printed practically to scale! They were all rather miniature, though definitely more of the ‘small and perfectly formed’ rather than ‘stingy Masterchef-y nonsense’ variety.

First up, the savouries. These were utterly delicious and we both wished there were more, as the sweet side rather overbalanced this tea set. Belated online consultation of the menu tells me this consisted of the following sandwiches (left to right): lobster flavoured with tarragon, tuna and poached egg, Norwegian smoked salmon and caviar and premium ham and mustard seed. Our universal favourite was the salmon, which was soft, smoky melt-in-mouth deliciousness, even if there was too little caviar to make any difference.

The filling of the lobster one was lovely (but we hated the intense sharp sweetness of whatever those little red cubes were on the top), the tuna was pleasantly un-fishy though the egg pieces felt a little cumbersome for such a dinky morsel and the ham was blandly unmemorable but probably the best a ham sandwich could be. All-round, the bread was delightfully light, fresh and made swallowing these whole an easy and all-too-enticing prospect!

The scones were also great. Served with PROPER Devonshire clotted cream (not the nasty straight-out-of-a-can stuff many places here serve), these were warm, heavy, buttery globes straight out a (posh) English teashop. The real star was the homemade strawberry jam, which despite looking initially thin and watery, was actually wonderful. Just the right amount of sweetness, neither too tart nor too sugary, with lashings of luscious homely fruitiness.

Finally, the pastries, which were almost too delicately artistically pretty to eat! Alas, consulting the menu online hasn’t really helped me to decide which sweet was which! Apparently there was a Paris-brest, L’exotique, Mont Blanc, macaroon ganache and blueberry cheesecake; well, I don’t even know what three of those things are (don’t Mont Blanc make pens?!) and there’s clearly no blueberry going on in my photo!

Let’s start with the obvious – the macaroon ganache (far left). The most visually stunning – and the most difficult to divvy up! The macaroons themselves were light sweet confections of airy nothingness, as the best macaroons are, and they were given a hit of rich creamy chocolate thanks to the ganache. As a high tea pastry, it was pretty perfect.

Second from the left is what I think may be the Mont Blanc, which Wikipedia tells me is a dessert of chestnut and whipped cream. For me, the cream topping and mousse base was just too much of one texture – super soft, super creamy and way too rich for my palette.

In the middle is what I reckon was a mango cheesecake. That sounds so ordinary, yet this was a whole different level of mango cheesecake! I found it utterly more-ishly wonderful. The cheese part was blended just right to be such a wonderfully creamy, non-heavy, non-lumpy consistency that it just slunk down my throat with a seductive sweet shiver. The mango was fresh, fruity, juicy and exuberant, the perfect counterpoint to the cheese. We just wished the base had been a bit more crumbly and biscuity, in the traditional cheesecake way, but the whole thing was feather-light enough to not register you’d swallowed anything at all!

Second from the right and here’s where I start losing my way. I reckon this might be L’exotique, with Wikipedia coming to the rescue to say it’s a pastry of white chocolate and passion fruit (no mention of raspberries though!). I distinctly remember tasting pineapple at some stage… and I guess my mistaken pineapple could easily be passion fruit… so L’exotique it is! Honestly, this was a bit nothing-y – just small squidges of some chocolatey creamy fruity substance on a fairly flavourless cardboard pastry bottom. It looks better than it tasted.

Finally, on the far right, is what I’m guessing is the Paris-brest – a choux pastry with praline-flavoured cream (thanks again Wikipedia!) – and also not a favourite at our table. Although the dessert itself gave me profiterole vibes in its composition, it simply wasn’t as tasty as one. The choux pastry was dry, bland and there was far too much of it, compared with the filling, which I can’t even remember.

On the extreme left are the Petit-fours… basically yet more sweets. These were bigger and more filling than most of the pastries proper! There was a slice of banana cake/bread, which you’ll either love or loathe depending on quite how much you like banana. My friend Mirander is a banana fiend and was all over this; I’m not such a fan and found it’s full-on BANANA-ness and intense sticky moistness a bit much. Even after one bite, I felt full! (Incidentally, I love the banana bread at Applegreen, which Mirander hates because it’s too dry and not banana-y enough, telling you everything you need to about our banana scale, so you can see who you side with!).

There was also a dark-chocolate covered nut stack and some tiny blackberry pastilles. The former was extremely gorgeous – I’m a sucker for chocolate covered nuts (keep your dirty jokes to yourself thanks!) and the pastilles packed way more tangy intensity than we could ever expected from such a little cube! Imagine a whole pack of blackberry Fruitips (Fruit Pastilles to British readers) distilled into one miniature square and you’re almost there.

All in all, I could have done with the Petit-fours counting towards the sweet portion, sparing us a few of the less memorable pastries and giving us an extra sandwich for good luck!

Tea was served in chunky metal super-stylish Chinoiserie-inspired pots, which totally fitted into the restaurant’s red-and-black décor but were a heavy pain to lift! Note to anyone picking the orange tea: don’t bother. The free glasses of water which had a lemon swirled around in them had more of a citrus taste!

A final word on the place itself. The restaurant, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, is upstairs and continues the red and black theme, but to Edgar Allan Poe levels of Gothic intent. You have to go there to use the washrooms and, in the middle of the afternoon, it’s eerily quiet, creepy and deserted – and that’s before a door springs open soundlessly and automatically with no warning! I was searching for a headless horseman of a doorman (thankfully to no avail!) but luckily, Le Salon is open-plan in the mall itself, so has a much lighter and less oppressive feel!

Overall, Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon delivers a premium high tea experience that looks fabulous on photos and is almost as fabulous to the taste. Saying that, I wouldn’t go for the tea set again (though I’ve heard good stuff about the sandwiches), simply because there is such an ocean of other high-end high teas to sample in Hong Kong and although this was great, I’m sure it wasn’t THE best. Suggestions in the comments box please!

Le Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon, Shop 315, 3/F, The Landmark, 16 Des Voeux Road Central, Central, Hong Kong, 2166 9088

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Applegreen restaurant review: These are the salad days…

Posted on September 15, 2011 | 6 Comments

After my post on being a calamari glutton at Grappas, I had a lovely email from a reader demanding (very politely, of course) more posts like that. So hello Kai and may I present another of my regular Hong Kong haunts – Applegreen.

Applegreen’s cuisine is inspired by the café culture of California and its strapline ‘The house of salad’ is the main reason it took me so long to get there! My boyfriend is no particular friend of salad (or anything healthy and non fried potato based) and made disgusted faces every time I attempted to broach a visit to a place boasting salad as its signature dish. Instead, I waited it out until a group dinner with friends, which turned out to be great and where I spotted Cajun Fries (served in a trash can, no less) smiling brightly on the menu. Well, the boyfriend loves Cajun Fries almost as much as he hates salad – and consequently, we have found ourselves there nearly every fortnight ever since!

Salads may be Applegreen’s thing but there’s plenty more on their menu, including meat entrees, pastas and a range of highly-enticing appetisers and desserts. Plus, of course, those Cajun Fries. Overall, it’s a really nicely-balanced Western menu, fresh, reasonably-priced and with some pretty unique signature items.

It’s also absolutely enhanced by the environment, which is relaxed, spacious and sophisticated. Clean minimalism is the order of the day, with colourful modern art splashing the walls (including more than its fair share of apples), and it’s just a really pleasant place to eat. Service is brisk and probably amongst the best I’ve had in Hong Kong, beating out more expensive restaurants and their snooty white-gloved waiters hands down.

Upon being seated, you’re immediately asked whether you would like warm or cold water – yes, the free tap water that many establishments go out of their way to hide, make you feel bad for ordering or, in some cases, actually charge you for. You’re provided with sharing plates, are always given a coaster (s0mething my Dad was obsessed with and which I can never now not notice), can easily customise orders for dietary requirements (we ordered potato skins without bacon due to a vegetarian and they actually went to the trouble of putting the bacon in a separate dish for us meat-eaters to still enjoy), they’ll always make the effort to seat you at the best tables as opposed to the nearest/easiest and it’s one of the few places where they still come to ask how your food is (always excellent, obviously). All the waitresses are quick, friendly, efficient and do their job with a smile. I can’t praise them enough.

Since we’re there so often, I’m just going to tell you about some of our favourite (and not so favourite) dishes. Take a deep breath, as it’s quite a long list!

Appetisers-wise, I’m obsessed with Applegreen’s made-to-order guacamole ($88). Actually, I’m pretty obsessed with guacamole full stop but this stuff is epic. It is YUMMY. Bursting with flavour, intensely more-ish and as hearteningly home-made as you can get without putting in the elbow grease yourself. I just wish it came with more tortilla chips to load up as you’re presented with a delightfully huge portion, and that said chips were actual tortillas as opposed to some strange wonton-pastry chip hybrid.

The Portobello Fries ($72) are slices of earthy mushroom with any potential nutritional goodness cancelled out by being deep-fried and encrusted in golden, crunchy batter. Just like that anchovy aioli I often dream about, the star of this is the black truffle cream dip, which is ridiculously delicious and thick and indulgent and did I mention ridiculously delicious too? It’s another wholly addictive appetiser, thick gooey clouds of gorgeousness, if a little heavy unless you’re sharing.

One of Applegreen’s signature dishes are their Asian Nachos ($68), chicken on wonton crisps with a smorgasbord of other toppings. It sounds a good idea on paper but the presence of puke-inducing wasabi meant it was a less enjoyable one in person. If you love wasabi, go forth and order; if not, like me, you might find it tastes oddly of toothpaste and old shoes.

A recent addition to their menu is a selection of flatbreads, which are just fantastic. They’re essentially lighter, healthier pizzas and are a total taste revelation. I love the Garlic Shrimp one ($148), which is also topped with pesto sauce, basil and cheese. It has a lovely fresh invigoratingly herby taste to it and the flavours are so more-ish that you’ll find yourself continually reaching for ‘just one more’ slice. The flatbread itself is light and crispy and it’s a pretty huge slab, so is ideal for sharing.

I suppose I have to feature at least one salad, and my rabbit food of choice is the Wild Mushroom ($58, $98). Their salads come in two sizes and include a slice of their utterly scrumptious banana walnut bread (which you can buy to take-away too and which I have been known to save until ‘dessert’!). I love the flavours of this salad – slippery woody nutty mushrooms combined with crispy greens and intense tang-tastic sun-dried tomatoes. I just wish they went a little easier on the oily dressing and were a bit more generous with their sun-dried tomatoes, which are just such amazing flavour enchancers that I’d like more of them with everything to be honest!

I’ve also tried their Shrimp Tostada ($70, $118), which is an intriguing Mexican-inspired salad, featuring black beans, corn, guacamole, sour cream and tortilla alongside the normal salad regulars. Major props for the presence of guacamole aside, this is, in truth, a little odd – two separate dishes that don’t sit entirely right with each other. The tortilla is marooned on one side of your plate, with dollops of sour cream and guacamole sitting on top like scoops of ice-cream that have forlornly fallen off a child’s cone somewhere. The rest is mixed together on the other side and is a bit stingy with the shrimp, which are cut into pieces and don’t number more than four morsels in total. It’s an “interesting” mix of flavours but probably not one I’d come rushing back for. Well, unless I just wanted to devour a load more of their guacamole, of course!

My boyfriend is obsessed with the Garlic, Chilli & Basil Spaghetti ($82) – even more amazing given that he generally turns his nose up at any pasta that isn’t in a red sauce. The sauce here is more of a dressing than anything else, olive oil mixed with the above ingredients and drizzled on, with cheese flaked on top. But despite the sauce being nearly invisible, some sort of food alchemy has gone on with this; it’s a highly flavourful, perfectly-seasoned dish that bursts onto the palette and exits with a cheeky little chilli kick to your behind. Very simple and very tasty.

I tried their Carbonara ($92) one day when I was in the mood for wallowing in puddles of creamy indulgence – and it definitely delivered on that! It ticked all the right boxes for a comfort bowl of carbonara – super-creamy and rich, ridiculously yummy, salty but somehow sweet and also way too heavy to finish in one go. Their Pesto ($82) is also rather yummy with a dynamic fresh taste but also quite heavy too. [All their pastas come with garlic bread and there’s also a list of ingredients you can add in too.]

Finally, desserts. Unfortunately, I haven’t sampled nearly as many of these as I’d like, because I’m nearly always WAY too full! I’d also add that their desserts are very generously proportioned – no piddling fancy Masterchef-sized efforts here – and you either need to find a willing partner to share or make the active effort to leave enough room earlier. I’ve so far managed a Brownie (gorgeous plus brownie points – haha! – for amazing inclusion of candied nuts, $58), Churros (cinnamon-y, finger-lickingly scrumptious churros, not enough chocolate sauce that was too anyway, $56) and the Applegreen Signature Sampler ($72), which was a light fun way to end the meal. The star of the plate was the apple crumble, the perfect mix of crunch, sticky syrup and molten fruit (the sampler has since been re-jigged not to include this) whilst the Applegreen Crisp, a bizarre little concoction seemingly filled with lemon cheesecake mix, was too unexpected for my tastebuds around to get their guacamole-addled brains around.

And oh yes, the Cajun Fries ($28). The whole reason I was allowed back to visit in the first place. They’re amongst my boyfriend’s favourite chips in Hong Kong. That’s about all there is to say really!

As long as Applegreen can keep delivering a high-quality menu at reasonable prices and with great service, we will keep coming back for more. Applegreen are a great unique and happily home-grown addition to Hong Kong’s dining scene who thoroughly deserve their success – with or without the Cajun Fries! (Just don’t tell my boyfriend I said that!)

All Applegreen locations in Hong Kong:

- 2/F, Plaza 2000, 2-4 Russell Street, Causeway Bay, 2368 1263
- 4/F, Carnarvon Plaza, 20 Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2312 2488
- 713-715, 7/F, Grand Century Place, Mong Kok, 2628 3711

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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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Red Pepper restaurant review: The spice of life!

Posted on May 17, 2011 | 4 Comments

Ask my boyfriend what his favourite restaurant in Hong Kong is and his answer may well be Red Pepper.

Red Pepper has been a staple of Hong Kong’s dining scene for years. It’s the kind of place that old-timers in HK for flying visits make a point of visiting, the kind of place businessmen take clients for impressive banquets and the kind of place that tourists get told to try. Consequently, some of my local friends shake their heads and complain it’s only for ‘gweilos and expats’, with its Sichuan dishes geared towards Western tastes. Oh well, leave it to the gweilos and expats then, as that means more prawns for us!

There is one star dish at Red Pepper that you will see every table order whilst the interior rapidly fills with a spicy-tinged smoke. It’s the Sizzling Chilli Prawns and it’s amazing. Those diners aren’t raising their napkins in horror but merely in anticipation of smoke stinging their eyes and sauce spitting away in a highly delicious manner! Huge chunky morsels of sweet tender meat, coated in an unctuous spicy-sweet secret recipe sauce, all served on a sizzling platter. It looks near-radioactive in photos and sure enough, get ready for a sensational taste explosion. It’s my favourite dish and the one that always keeps me coming back for more. Be sure to ladle all that special sauce onto your rice afterwards!

The Sizzling Prawns (yes, they deserve capitalisation) are without a doubt the star of the show. I’ve tried the dish at numerous other Sichuan restaurants and I do think these are the absolute tops. So there.

Elsewhere, the menu can be a bit hit and miss and some of the fare that bulks out their menu can be found (and better) at more standard eateries in the city. Sticking to their signature dishes, there’s a sweet and sour garoupa, probably enough to justify the ‘just for gweilo’ accusations, and which I find a waste of this delicate lovely fish. The sauce is thick and heavy, smothering the nuanced flavours of the garoupa, already overwhelmed by batter and a jostling of other unnecessary ingredients. One for Chinese takeaway sweet and sour fans only, I think!

Meanwhile, their diced chicken with chilli and cashew nuts signature dish is much better. The nuggets of chicken are tender and ideal for nibbling away on until suddenly they’re all gone, whilst the sauce is surprisingly light and subtly spicy, rather than the full head-blowing hit you might expect from the whole chillis that pepper the plate! I actually prefer their other diced chicken dish, which has a more salty somewhat tangy sauce and much more of it (I’m a bit of a sauce fiend in Chinese restaurants).

I’d also recommend the fried string beans with minced pork. I’ve not liked string beans before or since, apart from in the context of this dish, that’s how good it is! You can find it in lots of other Sichuan and Shanghainese restaurants and Red Pepper’s version hits all the right notes. So that’s fresh beans cooked to just the right texture (a bit of crunch but not enough to break your tooth on) and this wonderful mince mixture that’s both insanely salty yet sweet enough to keep it dancing on your palette. Their hot and sour soup also makes for a good traditional starter and it does everything you’d expect and a little bit more. I also like that all their dishes come in medium or large sizes, so you’re not stacked with leftovers as can often be the way when small groups dine at Chinese restaurants.

The must-have dessert is their banana fritters, which can also be found in most Chinese restaurants here and where the cooking process is almost as much fun as the eating! As with the plumes of smoke and raising of napkins that signal the arrival of the sizzling prawns, it’s all about the theatre. First comes a large bowl of ice cubes, then a plate of syrup coated segments of banana, with little slivers of cherry (not chilli as I’d alarmingly imagined!) clinging to the coating too. These are thrown into the ice, whereupon they snap crackle and pop with all the vigour of someone auditioning for a Rice Crispies advert. Then out they come – the Chinese equivalent of candy apples at the funfair, done with chopsticks throughout of course.

Any so-called fritters you’ve had in the UK can barely lay claim to the term after you’ve tried these. The banana is soft molten goo whilst the syrup snaps on your teeth in the most pleasing way possible. It’s super-sweet, strictly non diet-safe and obviously utterly delicious.

Red Pepper has a four-decade long history in HK and its retro décor belies this. We’re in trademark old-fashioned Chinese restaurant territory here, with a dragon-carved dark wood ceiling, ornate tasselled lamps, orange tablecloths topped with Lazy Susans and reverential service from staff dressed like waiters rather than stage hands or clothes shop assistants. The atmosphere, other than the sizzle and sputter of the prawns, is generally a tad quieter than the crowded commotion of more local joints. As such, it’s special occasion dining with prices that reflect this – a meal of around four dishes, plus dessert and drinks (and you know it tastes better washed down with a bottle of Tsing Tao!), should have you bobbling around the thousand dollar mark. Not unreasonable by any means, especially if you opt for their specialities rather than dishes you can get anywhere else in the city for significantly cheaper.

So Red Pepper – just for gweilos? You saw the prawns, didn’t you?! If so, I don’t think I need to say any more!

Red Pepper, G/F, 7 Lan Fong Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2577 3811

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Simplylife Bakery Café restaurant review – a tea set down to a tee!

Posted on April 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

I’m sure you must be sick of posts starting with ‘another thing I love about Hong Kong’ but ANOTHER thing I love about Hong Kong is the humble tea set. Usually served between 2.30-6pm at upscale restaurants and chan chaan dengs alike, they generally consist of a drink and snack-type main that’s a little lighter than the ones available at lunch – and at around half the price! Obviously, this is because most normal people are beavering away at work but for layabouts like me, living the life of leisure and not seeing daylight before 12pm anyway, it’s a perfect brunch-style compromise! And the tea set at Simplylife Bakery Café is one of the best around.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s nicer than both their lunch and dinner menus! I’ve eaten at Simplylife many times and enjoy their laidback casual café style but, despite an emphasis on quality ingredients, generous portion sizes and decent value, the meals themselves tend to be a bit hit-and-miss. Their European-based cuisine sounds great on paper, with healthy-sounding salads and pastas and hearty but modern meat and veg combinations dominating, yet all too often the food itself is slightly bland and underwhelming. However, their tea set is the tops.

When I was at school, a new café opened in town called Panini that served… well, I think you can guess. But it their pancetta and mozzarella croissantini that stole my heart and which, five years on, I still get pangs for. Basically, a croissant filled with thin slices of pancetta and mozzarella – how hard can it be?! Yet the blend of flavours was amazing – the buttery sweet flaky croissant, the salty crispy (when toasted) pancetta, the soft creamy mozzarella… swoon. It tasted just as good toasted as cold and my friends and I used to nip down in our free periods (£2.99 each and we’d practically buy up their entire stock) and polish one off just on the walk back! I could get through three a day given the chance. Alas, Pannini closed down, taking my beloved croissantini with it and although I tried to replicate it at home, it never tasted quite the same. I’ve never found anything like it before or since, until…

The tea set at Simplylife (yes, believe it or not, that story was headed somewhere). Unfortunately, they don’t make pancetta and mozzarella yet – although hopefully the head-chef is reading now and thinking that sounds like a good idea! – but what they do offer are toasted croissants with a variety of fillings, plus chips and a drink, for just $48 (plus 10% service charge)! AMAZING.

The moment I tried the peppered roast beef and mozzarella croissant, I was instantly taken back to munching my way through those heavenly croissantinis in the sixth-form common room. Yes, it’s not pancetta but the roast beef is almost as good – and you already know how much I love roast beef! – tender, rich and thinly-sliced with a nice kick to it thanks to the pepper. The mozzarella and croissant combo was just as good as I remembered and altogether, it’s a delicate but perfectly mouth-watering balance… seriously, someone needs to spread the word of filled croissants around the world and I’m a signed-and-sealed disciple! They’re just so much lighter and tastier than a boring old soggy sandwich.

AND it comes with chips. Not just two or three but a decent serving of thick-cut crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside golden delights. You can either have them plain or with a spicy seasoning, which is utterly more-ish – not quite as good as Nando’s peri-peri but it’ll do nicely!

They don’t just do croissants though. Still all at $48, their tea set also includes sandwiches, baguettes and, probably the most popular item, a 4oz baby cheeseburger, either with bacon or a Portobello mushroom. I say baby but my boyfriend actually thinks it’s the perfect size – rabbit food kept to a minimum and easily finish-able! He liked the bun and said the beef patty was juicy and moist without covering him in its juices. By now, you’ll all know he’s the chip fiend around here but you might not know that he’s also the spice fiend, so the spicy chips pleased him immensely!

The tea set comes with tea, coffee, a soft drink or the daily Simplylife special iced tea. Whenever I come, it’s usually something unappealing, like chrysanthemum (the perennially-hated accidental purchase when you meant to buy a carton of lemon tea), hibiscus or grapefruit. This time, however, it was apple! Tasting like slightly bitter cold apple juice, it was something a little bit unusual and nevertheless rather refreshing.

For an extra $10, you can add a sweet – this time, a choice between cheesecake or brownie. It’s a pretty small portion but the just-right ending to a light but still filling meal. Of course, I can never pass up chocolate and although their brownie is heavy claggy work, it’s supremely earthily chocolate-y yet still not too sweet.

I really like Simplylife’s chilled vibe and its contemporary feel, all black furniture and clean crisp lines. They’re owned by Maxim’s, the bakery behemoth in HK (who also own Starbucks!), hence making Simplylife’s aptitude at producing bread that doesn’t taste like it substituted sugar for flour even more surprising; in fact, they’re pretty renowned for the quality of their breads, pastries and cakes, which I sadly haven’t had much chance to try, although they always look and smell wonderful. [Many of these m.a.x concepts restaurants have this same modern funky vibe, like Rice Paper, Simply Thai and Thai Basil – look out for paper menus, one of their signature elements!]

The Tai Koo branch has an indoor area with an open kitchen, yet also an “outdoor” section (inverted commas as this is all in a mall!) which staff refuse to open at tea-time even when there’s a queue, otherwise known as happily turning away business – imagine what Lord Sugar would say!

I would love Simplylife even more if they served this tea set all day, every day, all hours! They change to a more lucrative set menu for weekends and alas, the croissants don’t form part of their regular set lunch, so we have to time our visits with precision. Frankly, the sooner the world is converted the croissantinis the better – and whoever manages to make me a pancetta and mozzarella one, you’ll have a customer for life! But in the meantime, the tea set at Simplylife definitely has my vote.

Simplylife Bakery Café, Shop 142A, 1/F, Cityplaza I, 18 Taikoo Shing Road, Tai Koo, Hong Kong, 2967 8163

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