We were just going to have a simple meal at Pacific Place this afternoon but with places like Thai Basil, Kokomi and Peking Garden absolutely packed, I decided to treat everyone to something a little more exquisite.
Lumi Borderless Cuisine was one of those places that I've been keeping my radar screen open for since they were under renovation. I eventually checked them out on their second day of operation and came away pretty happy with the new Japanese-French establishment's borderless cuisine.
Seasonal legume jelly - As a solo diner, I wasn't able to check out this refreshing starter with Hokkaido sea urchin, onion purée and garden vegetable jelly. But second time's a charm!
This was a really good way to start the meal.
The elegant sweetness of the sea urchin worked really well with the subtle flavors of the jelly. Very refreshing start!
Shiitake mushroom fettuccine - I had to deduct marks from the service team because they knew it's for my little one. The fettuccine wasn't bad but it was pretty spicy with a fair amount of chili which wasn't mentioned anywhere on the menu. Should have at least given us a heads-up.
Lobster and parma ham risotto - Jelloman wanted something a little more healthy and she got her wish with this lobster and parma ham risotto. It came with ingredients like organic barley, Hokkaido soba seed, wild rice, onsen egg, mushrooms, blue cheese and parmesan. Pretty creamy and rich flavored without going over the top. Pretty nice.
Grilled sea bass - I had this when I was here last time. The sea bass was smoked with aromatic sakura wood while served with cherry tomato, pumpkin, avocado purée, cucumber, asparagus and green pea ravigote sauce. Even when I was having this for the second time, I was still amazed with how well the herby notes of the vegetables complemented the grilled sea bass fillet.
Kobe beef mignon - I had high hopes for this dish because it's Kobe beef!
The charred crust was quite decent but the mignon was way too dry for me. I did enjoy the Japanese twist though, with the Sendai spicy miso sauce, garlic cream and burdock root chips all adding something extra to the dish.
The result was obviously not as rosy as my last outing. Could it be the fact that Japanese chef Kihachi Kumagai who helped design the menu, is no longer supervising the kitchen?
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 301, 3/F, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Admiralty
Tel: +852 2918-1313
Website: www.lumi.com.hk
For months, I've been trying to keep tabs on the opening of Super Sweets Gallery, a new dessert café and pastry shop concept in selected City Super stores. I knew the City Super at Harbour City would be in the thick of it after seeing this sign right outside the supermarket.
This new concept is spearheaded by Hironobu Tsujiguchi (辻口博啟), an award-winning pâtissier and chocolatier who represented Japan on a number of occasions in the international stage. Personally, I got to know chef Tsujiguchi's name pretty well based on my travel in Tokyo and Seoul. His Mont St Clair brand has been working really well in those two markets and I was curious of whether he would bring some of his signature desserts to Hong Kong including his hexagon-shaped C'est la Vie (white chocolate mousse with raspberry and pistachio sponge).
It's finally ready for prime time!
These two on the left certainly looked appealing.
There you have it, a summary of all the offerings at Super Sweets Gallery. I won't say it's a wide selection of Japanese sweets but it's got a little bit of everything. Japanese-style roll cakes, a Japanese inspired Paris-brest made with brown sugar and walnut, diafuku with seasonal fruits and Hojicha pudding.
They have even added a small café right behind the counter for those interested in dining in.
But I always prefer to enjoy my desserts at the comfort of my humble home. Say hello to my newest friend Japan, a rice milk mousse cake with strawberry jelly, white chocolate and rice crispies. It was very milky with a silky smooth texture. I like the nice acidity from the strawberry jelly to balance things out a bit and the rice crispies did well to add some extra texture to the mix. Very refreshing and it definitely reminded me of a panna cotta but only better.
It's really nice to have another choice for sweet treats in Tsim Sha Tsui, or more specifically in Harbour City, not that the popular mall really needs more options for dessert lovers (coz it has tons already - Dalloyau, Cova, Baekmidang, Hattendo, La Famille, Le Cafe de Joel Robuchon, Paul LaFayet, Sift., The Cheesecake Factory....).
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: cookedDeli by city'super, Shop 3001, 3/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Mom has been on the injury reserve since last October which saw her miss out on our Hokkaido trip all together. She has finally returned to full health this week so I decided to take her out for dim sum over the weekend.
Michelin starred Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (御寶軒) has drawn mixed reviews from us during our previous visit. While we all concurred that the food quality was pretty good (so is the price line), their service left a lot to be desired. But I was hoping it was just an isolated incident from one particular waitress that requires more training.
Steamed shrimp dumplings (笋尖鮮蝦餃) ($45) - This was pretty nice. Bite-sized with lots of shrimps packed in the middle.
Steamed pork dumplings (香菇燒賣皇) ($42) - Also pretty nice. The mushrooms were fairly aromatic.
Steamed rice rolls with BBQ pork (叉燒蒸腸粉) ($48) - I really like their steamed rice rolls and sweet soy but the diced BBQ pork was more on the hard side.
Steamed diced mushroom dumplings (什菌如意餃) ($38) - Decent but I could easily name a dozen places with a better mushroom dumpling.
Baked BBQ pork pastry (蜜汁叉燒酥) ($42) - The puff pastry was very buttery and flaky. The sauce was more on the sweet side but I could live with that. Not bad.
Baked chicken and mushroom pastry (磨菇雞粒酥) ($42) - This one I had a little trouble figuring out. After a relatively tasty baked BBQ pork pastry, I was expecting more or less the same thing here but with a different filling (diced chicken and mushroom). But this pastry was way too thick and not nearly flaky enough. On top of that, I thought there was too much starch in the middle for my liking. Definitely could do without this one.
Pan-fried turnip cake (臘味蘿蔔糕) ($38) - Very crispy on the outside. Pretty good, especially after dipping into the chili sauce.
Barbecue pork with honey sauce (金牌蜜汁叉燒) ($168) - I missed out on their famous char siu last time I was here because of a stupid mistake by our rude server (And they won't even admit to this mistake!). So, I had to make sure that it's on our agenda this afternoon.
This was a little disappointing though. I had high hopes coming in but it's too lean for me. And I thought the flavors were overshadowed too much by the honey sauce.
Fried rice with chicken in tomato sauce and prawn in cream sauce (鴛鴦燴炒飯) ($168) - Their "wok" kitchen does two things really well here, their fried rice and Penang-style wok-fried thick noodles. I went with this one simply because my little nugget loves his red and white fried rice. Pretty tasty.
We didn't get to try some of their signature dishes including the suckling pig with glutinous rice so I didn't have enough information to judge whether their Michelin star was well deserved. However, judging by what we had this afternoon, only the har gow (蝦餃), siu mai (燒賣) and fried rice managed to receive good grades from us which said a lot about their lofty credentials. But then, at least we didn't burn a hole in our wallet like we usually do at some of these Michelin starred Chinese restaurants.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 10/F, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2613-9800
When it comes to Chinese barbecued meat (燒臘) in Central district, Wah Fung (華豐燒臘專家) is widely regarded as the second-best place right behind Yat Lok (一樂燒鵝). I have yet to pay them a visit since they moved out of their Wellington Street location but today is as good a time as any for my first visit since I will be in the area to see my therapist.
Their afternoon tea set comes with fried egg, ham and garlic butter toast.
But I came here specially for their char siu (叉燒). This was a little disappointing though, only 4 pieces of their famous char siu and to add insult to injury, they have been swimming in the broth for a while.
I was really curious what the taste would've been like without the broth but I guess I could never find out. But judging from its texture, it was a little dry and lean. Definitely not the best I've seen from their (old) kitchen.
I would much prefer to have my char siu served on a separate plate rather than having them swim in my noodle soup. That's my honest opinion.
Food Rating: 3.5/10
Price: $$
Address: Shop A,B&E,G/F, 5-8 Queen Victoria Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2544-3466
I decided to give one of my favorite cake shops another chance today. After a disappointing encounter with Lady M's passion fruit mille crepes a few weeks ago, I opted to give the newest member of their mille crepes family another opportunity to impress me.
This time around, they have their patented paper-thin handmade crepes flavored with charcoal and layered with light coffee and charcoal-infused pastry cream. Finally, it was garnished with charcoal ganache and crisp cacao nibs on top.
I thought it tasted a little weird right from the start. The light coffee pastry cream didn't really work in harmony with the charcoal flavored crepes at all. It's yet another step back if you ask me (caramel, coconut, passion fruit and now charcoal!).
I think they should seriously consider bringing back their earl grey mille crepes. It's by far the most delicious one coming out of the mille crepes family.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop OT 215K, 2/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2873-2356
Website: www.ladymhk.com
Jelloman wanted Italian today so after a quick breakfast at Mon Kee Cafe (旺記冰室), we decided to venture over to Harbour City to try our luck at Paper Moon. To my surprise, the harbourside restaurant wasn't full like it always was last year.
We even got one of the best seats in the house next to the bar, close to the breathtaking harbour view.
Fettuccine alla Bolognese ($188) - The homemade fettuccine was again pretty eggy but the sauce with the classic Bolognese ragout was a little soupy for my liking.
Pizza Edi ($218) - I remembered Paper Moon as having one of the best wood fired pizza. This was one of their signature pizzas around with pepperoni, tomato, mozzarella, onion and fresh chili pepper toppings.
But it was a little soggy today.
Risotto al frutti di mare ($248) - Easily the best dish of the afternoon. The seafood risotto was pretty soupy, the way I like it to be. And there were lots of seafood there including prawn, baby cuttledish, baby octopus, scallop and mussels. Very nice.
I skipped dessert at Paper Moon intentionally so I could leave enough stomach space for some dessert at the newly opened Super Sweets Gallery.
Located inside City Super, Super Sweets Gallery is a brand new concept spearheaded by Hironobu Tsujiguchi (辻口博啟), an award-winning pâtissier and chocolatier who represented Japan on a number of occasions in the international stage. He's best known for his Mont St Clair concept in Tokyo and Seoul. I had the chance to try both of them recently and can honestly say, their cakes were very very good.
Back to Paper Moon for a moment, I thought we have all witnessed a steady decline in quality since they first opened doors a couple of years ago. I don't exactly know the root cause but it seems to happen to a lot of these eateries in Hong Kong. Wheels always seem to fall off after the first year (in Paper Moon's case, just the screws were off but the wheels were still there!).
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OTE301, Level 3, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2156-2256
Website: www.papermoonhongkong.com
My little nugget is having his first-ever kindergarten interview this morning. I thought it was going to take all morning but surprisingly, five minutes were all it took to wrap up our short meeting. Since my little one did so well in his first interview, I decided to reward him with a late breakfast at Mon Kee Cafe (旺記冰室), one of the more popular modern cha chaan tian (tea restaurants) in Tsim Sha Tsui these days. It's my second visit since they opened doors few months ago and it's obviously gotten more crowded because of its commitment of using Japanese eggs exclusively in their dishes.
Macaroni with premium luncheon meat in rich tomato soup - Always a crowd pleasing breakfast dish. The tomato soup was really rich flavored working well with the macaroni. Definitely a soul-warming choice in the morning.
Scrambled egg sandwich with luncheon meat, lettuce and peanut butter - I had my eyes on this one all the way because of its (weird) combination of ingredients.
This came with a fluffy Japanese-style scrambled eggs, luncheon meat and spring onion in the middle but what got me really curious about it was the butter that was used for the toast. It's peanut butter, ladies and gentlemen. That's pretty funky and I don't think I have had something like this before.
It was soooo good~ Peanut butter and scrambled egg didn't look like the perfect marriage made in heaven but they were also not the worst enemies. In fact, I thought the sweetness and rich nutty flavors of the peanut butter meshed well with the savory scrambled eggs.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$
Address: G/F, Kowloon Centre, 29-39 Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2617-2616
Obviously, I have been out of action for way too long which explained why everything I saw this week seemed to be new. Following my discovery of Peninsula Boutique's newest creation, Little Treasure Box yesterday, here I am standing in front of Pan de Pain Pancake and Sweets at K11.....
.....Looking at their new berry cheesecake souffle pancake. Yes, it's NEW.
As always, it takes a good 20 to 30 minutes for them to prepare their souffle pancakes (depending on how busy their kitchen is on that particular day). So, I got myself a green tea latte while I patiently waited.
This looked more or less the same as their original souffle pancake except the fact that they've got cheese fillings in the middle of each pancake. Not bad but for some reason, I expected it to be a little more tasty and perhaps a bit more like a cheesecake.
Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop B111, B/F, K11 Art Mall, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui / East Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2576-1968
Website: www.facebook.com/pandepain
It's been ages since I last dropped by Peninsula Boutique for some sweet treats. So as soon as I got my hair done, I swing by the famed chocolate and pastry shop in Peninsula Hotel before they close at 7PM. Not surprisingly, they only had 5 pieces of cakes left after a very typical busy day.
Little Treasure Box ($70) - It's been a while since they last came out with a new creation so as expected, I jumped all over it.
The presentation of a green gift box with a golden gift wrap looked really cute. Under the layer of green glaze was a delectable combination of mint chocolate mousse and mint panna cotta. I asked my server what she thought of their newest creation and surprisingly, she said something like the flavors were really weird. Not exactly ringing endorsement, is it!? But I like honest opinion.
Having tried it myself, I do agree with the description of "weird flavors". The texture was wonderful but the mint chocolate flavors really didn't stand out well. In fact, Jelloman said she thought it tasted like her mouthwash. Yikes~
Fraise Roulade ($55) - Our honest server told me it's one of their best sellers but all these years, I have never thought about bringing one home!
This was indeed pretty nice. Sandwiched between the soft and pillowy sponge cake were some really sweet and delicate strawberries. It's a very simple cake but sometimes the simplest one is the toughest to make perfect.
I missed my two favorite pastries here tonight, Sakura and Le Peninsula. A return trip is a must.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop 7-9, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 19-21 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2920-2888
Website: www.peninsulaboutique.com/hk
