EN Coffee Causeway Bay (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

It was a great lunch at Roganic. I have always enjoyed my dining experiences there and I think I am already missing this place!

After lunch, I spent some time strolling around the busy streets of Causeway Bay. It’s been a tough few weeks dealing with family matters and trying to resolve conflicts between different family members (including me). I’ve never been a good negotiator, and being the youngest in the family definitely doesn’t help.

While I was enjoying my quiet me time, I decided to add two coffee shops in the area to my agenda. Both are well known for their hand-drip coffee, but I was more interested in their dessert menus this afternoon.

EN Coffee (often stylized as E N) was the second café on my lineup. The moment I stepped onto their mezzanine level, I knew it was special — the place was absolutely buzzing with people of all ages. Their coffee menu includes some high-quality, artisanal specialty coffee options, and they also have enough small bites like sandwiches and a duck wrap to make the visit extra satisfying.

Basque cheesecake — I went straight to dessert with their signature basque cheesecake. It’s known for its soft, runny, almost foamy texture, so it was an easy choice for me.

I really love the fluffy, wobbly texture, but personally I'd like it to be a little more cheesy. 

The temperature was also a little off for me. It was slightly too frosty for me. I like it served closer to room temperature (if that’s possible). This reminded me a lot of the cheesecake from Mr. Cheesecake. Like a dense defrosting custard.

And that’s another basque cheesecake crossed off the list this week. I just hope I can keep up this pace — one basque cheesecake a week!

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: FShop G06, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 6628-3034

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 8:00pm (Mon - Fri), 9:00am - 8:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Cannubi Enoteca Cucina K11 Musea (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I’m back at K11 Musea for a quick lunch again this afternoon after a short meeting nearby. After my recent visit to BluHouse not too long ago, I was planning to steer clear of another Italian meal but the moment I stumbled upon Cannubi Enoteca Cucina, I realized I haven’t been back for ages.

This is the casual sister restaurant of Michelin-starred Tuber by Umberto Bombana, serving casual Italian comfort food with high-quality ingredients. I remembered having a really lovely dining experience here a few years ago.

Some piping hot sourdough bread served with olive oil. I barely ate this morning, so by this point I realized I was genuinely starving.

Seared scallops, breadcrumbs, fennel salad — My server insisted there was “nothing special” about these scallops and tried to steer me towards the warm white asparagus, which the chef obviously highly recommended. But sorry, I wanted scallops this afternoon.

And they were pretty nicely done. The two pieces were seared to golden brown colors and complemented well by a simple fennel salad and crispy breadcrumbs.

Alaskan cod, clams, seafood jus — I was torn between a pasta dish and a main (and then, of course, whether to go for meat or seafood?). In the end, I opted for the Alaskan cod in a rich, flavorful seafood jus. 

The cod itself was a little small in portion but I thought it did a wonderful job soaking up the essence of the broth.

I really didn’t like the service from my server this afternoon AT ALL. It felt very old-school, like the kind of experience you might have at some upscale Chinese restaurants.

Once I got settled, he came over and started recommending the most expensive dishes with supplements (such as white asparagus and linguine with Carabinero red prawn). And when I didn’t take his advice, he was clearly not happy about it. He was showing it on his face and never did come back to check up on me again (which was fine with me).

But of course, I wasn't going to let that little incident ruin the rest of my day.

P.S.  I’m not one of those diners who flashes cash — although even the richest mogul in town might still prefer abalone mushrooms to abalone on some days, right?

Food Rating: 6.6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 113A, 1/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2133-4903

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 12:00am daily

Gentle Pasta PAFC Mall 黑手制面 平安金融中心店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Gentle Pasta (黑手制面) is an American pasta bar with a Chinese-fusion twist that’s been on my to‑do list for ages. I finally found an outpost near my hangout spots in Shenzhen this week and just couldn’t wait to try out their pasta dishes.

We arrived slightly after 5pm and not surprisingly, there were still tables available both inside and outside the restaurant.

I wasted no time scrolling through their electronic food menu and it was indeed full of enticing fusion dishes from starter to mains.

A little bit of humor. 🤣🤣🤣

Caesar salad (凱蕯沙律) (¥25) — I needed some fibre and this Caesar salad was just perfect. I don’t like salads drowning in salad dressing so this was spot on.

Pumpkin cream soup (烤南瓜堅果奶油湯) — This was included as part of the pasta set. Silky and creamy, it struck a pleasant balance of sweet and savory.

Crispy tofu with crab roes (蟹黃配酥炸雲朶豆腐) (¥38) — Very Chinese in style. The fluffy crab-roe sauce was nicely complemented by a lovely acidic counterpoint from purple onion and what I thought was ginger.

Deep fried squid (酥炸魷魚) (¥33) — Nicely executed. The accompanying aioli tasted a little like fermented black beans with a bit of spicy kick.

Genovese sea king pasta (熱那亞風騷海皇意麵) (¥66) — The first main event tonight was a new creation here. The linguini was nicely tossed in a tomato based sauce with prawns, squid and clams, finished off with shaved Parmesan and chili oil. This was pretty delicious and the extra kick added a nice touch to the dish.

French red wine braised beef ribs pasta (法式紅酒燉牛肋排意麵) (¥78) — Same lovely texture from the linguine, topped with a braised rib. 

Comforting and rich.

We finally got to dine at one of the buzziest pasta bars in Guangzhou, and the food mostly lived up to the hype. Both the starters and pasta were very good, and I just love the wide selection of east-meets-west fusion. My only gripe: a restaurant celebrated for its fresh-made pasta should offer more than just linguine. Angel hair, lasagne, pappardelle — anyone?

Food Rating: 6.4/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: Shop 110, Level 1 South Tower, 5033 Yitian Road, Futian, Shenzhen, China

深圳市福田区福田街道福安社区益田路5033号平安金融中心南塔L1层110号铺

Closest Metro Station: Shopping Park (購物公園)

Tel: +86 13543918357

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm, 5:00pm - 9:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/3d/bEdM