GE Flavor (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

GE BAKE is a highly regarded Japanese-style soufflé pancake and brunch spot in Shenzhen, and it’s gained solid momentum over the past few years. Now that they’ve built a loyal fanbase for their signature soufflé and western brunch items, it’s time to expand.

Enter GE Flavor — a brand new all-day-menu restaurant focused on comfort food, from salads and pasta to more classic, shareable plates.

Naturally, for their first location, they’ve chosen MixC World (萬象天地).

It was 3pm in the afternoon and the place was absolutely buzzing. Why am I not surprised?

Beef and fig salad with Balsamic glaze (牛肉無花果黑醋沙律) (¥78) — The beef fillet was really tender. I thought the fresh pink fig, corn, broad beans and balsamic dressing did a great job cutting through the richness.

Grilled ox tongue with sancho and scallion (山椒葱絲烤牛舌) (¥78) — The ox tongue had that melt-in-your-mouth texture, and it worked wonderfully with the extra heat from the sancho pepper (花山椒) aioli.

Chestnut Mont Blanc (栗子蒙布朗提拉米蘇) (¥56) — The reason why we were here in the first place.

I saw this on social media last week. In the clip, the server uses a special handheld squeezer to spray chestnut vermicelli all over the sponge cake — essentially what they call a tiramisu on the menu. Unfortunately for us, the spraying of chestnut was already done in the kitchen so we could only see the finished product.

The chestnut vermicelli itself was fine although it definitely wasn’t the creamy Tanba chestnut (丹波栗) from Japan. That said, it wasn’t the chestnut that bothered me. What really threw me off was the sponge cake at the bottom, which came with crushed nuts and dried fruit.

That was just weird to me. When was the last time you had fruit inside a tiramisu?

Food Rating: 5.7/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: G/F Tower C, China Resources Land Tower, No. 9668 Shennan Road, Nanshan, Shenzhen, China

深圳市南山区深南大道9668号华润置地大厦C座

Closest Metro Station: Hi-Tech Park (高新园)

Tel: +86 18026962030

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Thu), 9:00am - 10:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/14/H8pM

Cha of Yulian MixC World 裕蓮茶樓 萬象天地店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After enjoying a few rounds of Chun Tian Tea Company (椿田熟成茶行)’s Golden Brick Silk Stocking Milk Tea (金磚絲襪奶茶) back in April, I started to feel a little bored. The Ceylon tea flavor was definitely pronounced, but it has a pretty similar fragrance to the ones you can find locally in Hong Kong. To satisfy my ever-changing palate, I wanted something different — something more unique.

And I found it this afternoon when we stumbled upon MixC World (萬象天地), the upscale shopping complex in Nanshan district that we haven’t visited in months. The place? Cha of Yulian (裕蓮茶樓) — a tea house we usually stopped by for egg tarts, but never really took the time to explore their popular milk teas, which are especially known for their aromatic tea base.

Cha of Yulian is highly celebrated for its signature He Ding Black Tea (鶴頂紅茶). It is renowned for its rich flavor profile that starts with a sweet, candied-fruit-like aroma, that transitions into a subtle woody note, and finishes with light floral and fruity undertones.

Amber Milk Tea with Tea Ice (特濃茶鑽琥珀奶) — This uses the He Ding Black Tea as a heavy-tea base, topped with a special tea-infused ice block. Even as the ice melts, the milk tea stays incredibly rich and bold. It doesn’t end up getting watered down.

I just love how deep and robust the tea flavors are, especially with those delicate floral and fruity undertones.

 

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Shop B107, Level B1, MixC World, Shennan Road, Nanshan, Shenzhen, China

深圳市南山区深南大道华润万象天地B1层 B107号铺

Closest Metro Station: Hi-Tech Park (高新园)

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/fd/P1ri

Yakitori Tsukada 燒鳥塚田 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We had such a good time dining at Yakitori Tsukada (燒鳥塚田) last time that I told myself I’d return again — eventually. But of course, “eventually” turned into today, and this time I came as a solo diner after meeting up with my hair stylist.

Tucked away on the ground floor of Grand Centre (格蘭中心), Yakitori Tsukada offers both regular tables and a counter setup for guests. As is usually the case when I’m dining at a yakitori restaurant, I went straight for the bar table.

Rice bowl with minced chicken and egg omelette ($128) — I spotted this during our visit back in February and it stayed on my radar. Unfortunately, it’s only available at lunch, so I knew I had to come back for it at some point.

When it arrived, I did exactly what the dish seemed to ask for — mixing the egg yolk with the minced chicken patty and the egg omelette, enjoying every ingredient together with a spoonful of rice. 

And as expected, the yolk soaked in beautifully, turning the rice into something rich and satisfying.

The egg omelette was, again, wonderfully succulent.

But the same could not be said about the minced chicken patty. It was way too smooth, with hardly any texture almost like having a purée. It could have been so much more enjoyable with a little more bite, perhaps with the addition of something like soft bones or water chestnut for the contrasting texture. Those elements were sorely missing here.

I didn’t get to try any of their skewers today. The seasonal items like grilled firefly had my attention but I was simply too full to take on more food at this point.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, 8 Humphreys Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2688-6773

Website: https://instagram.com/yakitoritsukada_hk

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 5:00pm  -11:00pm daily