Hazukido Croissant 八月堂 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

A couple of weeks ago, I suddenly thought of my cancelled trip to Seoul and what it would be like if I was sitting at my favorite croissanteria in Garosu-gil instead of the office chair at work. Life would be so good~

I missed Le Sight (my favorite croissanteria mentioned above)'s funky croissants so much that I started my lookout on some nice ones here locally and finally, I spotted some this afternoon at Hazukido Croissant (八月堂).

Frequent flyers to Taipei should be no stranger to Hazukido Croissant (八月堂) who's best known for their modern take on the French croissants. They always change up their lineup of croissants on a regular basis to a point where even die-hard fans could lose track on what's being currently offered.

Like Le Sight in Seoul, they have some funky flavors here too. Spicy Cod Roe Croissant, Earl Grey Bubble Croissant (inspiration from Taiwanese bubble milk tea of course!) and Brown Sugar Mochi Croissant...

Caramel Pudding Croissant - I have to admit, I really like the caramelized crust but the overall texture, really didn't have the usual flakiness in it like a typical croissant possesses. The pudding and caramel syrup on top was a little too mildly flavored as well. Perhaps I should have picked something with much stronger flavors!

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 164, 1/F, Metroplaza, 223 Hing Fong Road, Kwai Fong, NT, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kwai Fong
Website: www.hazukido.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Kaneko Hannosuke 金子半之助 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

When Kaneko Hannosuke (金子半之助), one of the top tendon (tempura rice bowl) specialty restaurant from Tokyo announced the opening of its first overseas shop at Lee Tung Avenue in Wanchai, I was really looking forward to it. Its flagship restaurant in Tokyo is just a minute's walk from Nihonbashi station and best known for having some of the longest queues for a tendon. Little that I knew, they've already expanded their presence in the last few months to Kwai Fong and Tung Chung.

Since we were visiting Metroplaza in Kwai Fong this afternoon, I was able to finally check out their tendon.

Regular Tempura rice bowl ($98) - With only three items on the item, it really didn't take long for me to make up my mind (two of those sets came with conger eel which I absolutely hated).

This Edomae-style (traditional way from old Tokyo) composed of different tempura including maitake mushroom, shrimp (two of them), mixed seafood fritter (mostly squid), seaweed, snow pea.....

And a soft-boiled egg. We were supposed to finish half of the bowl and then started mixing up the egg with the rice altogether.

I thought the tempura rice bowl was pretty decent. The homemade sweet soy was really nice although I won't mind having more of that with my tempura and rice. The shrimp tempura was a little undersized if you ask me (comparing to the prawns tempura we had in Kumamoto, there's no match at all!).

I was a little disappointed with this to be brutally honest. While everyone was focusing on their tendon, I was more hooked to the pickled burdock. That really said a lot.

This is likely one and done for me. To be named "No. 1 tendon in Tokyo (日本第一天丼), I have just one word to respond to that, based on the particular tendon we had this afternoon - Overrated!

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 107-108, 1/F, Metroplaza, 223 Hing Fong Road, Kwai Fong, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Kwai Fong

Tel: +852 2661-8212

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:00pm daily

The Cheesecake Factory (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

J.E.R.K. was supposed to meet up last week but Hanger Jack dropped out the very last minute so we decided to postpone our gathering until this week. There were a couple of places being thrown around as our potential dinner venue but surprisingly, it was Hanger Jack who came up with The Cheesecake Factory in Harbour City, a choice that everyone was happy with. It was my second visit to this Hong Kong outpost of The Cheesecake Factory. The last time I was here, it was its grand opening a few years ago. I have been trying hard to get in on a number of occasions but had to eventually give up due to the huge lineups.

California Guacamole salad ($158) - Everyone wanted to start the meal healthy so a salad with mixed greens, avocado, tomato, corn, black beans, onion, radish, crispy tortillas, feta cheese and Cilantro tossed with mildly spicy avocado dressing was a no-brainer. There's no secret that I'm a huge fan of avocado so a very good way to kick off the meal for me.

Buffalo Wings (?) - We all knew what's coming when K is around - chicken wings. The fried wings drizzled in hot sauce, was served with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks. I have to admit I've never been a fan of Buffalo wings in my life. Way too cheesy, sour and spicy at the same time. Didn't finish mine.

Fried shrimp platter ($218) - I ordered this on my first visit and I was more than happy to order it again. Shrimps, lightly breaded and fried crisp, are always huge crowd pleasers.

It was served with French fries and cole slaw like it always does! Yum~

Pasta da Vinci ($188) - J went with the safe bet here. Sauteed chicken, mushrooms and onion all tossed in a delicious Madeira wine sauce with penne pasta. Not a bad choice.

The Everything Pizza ($182) - There was just one more dish to go before our cheesecake session. They pretty much tossed everything on top of this pizza, from pepperoni to sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and tomato sauce. Didn't call this "The Everything Pizza" for nothing. 

Now here comes the cheesecakes. The list is crazily long (there's a second page).

Pineapple Upside-down cheesecake ($82) - We all agreed that we ordered way too much food tonight so no one had enough room to take on a cheesecake on his way. 

We all ended up taking one home instead. For me, it was the always-popular Pineapple Upside-down cheesecake since Jelloman has been calling for it. I didn't get a crack at it because I was so busy with Chef Dominique's Lychee & Jasmine cronut. But from what I heard from Jelloman, the pineapple cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of pineapple upside-down cake was way too small for her liking. And to add insult to injury, she thought the pineapple upside-down cakes were way too sweet that it totally overshadowed the cheesy pineapple cheesecake. That's the final verdict from the cheesecake expert.

It was good to catch up with the boys tonight. Let's hope we could do this more often once the pandemic goes away.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop G102, G/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 25 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2791-6628

Website: www.thecheesecakefactory.hk

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 11:00pm (Mon - Sat), 10:00am - 11:00pm (Sun)

Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel 當文歷餅店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Two weeks ago, I finally got the green light that Dominique Ansel's original cronut is finally making its debut in Hong Kong. For a limited time of two weeks only, the chef will launch a never-before-seen flavor at Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel (當文歷餅店) in Harbour City. As we later learned on the social media, that flavor will be Lychee and Jasmine. I was still trying to figure out a schedule on when I should come and line up for these but J.E.R.K. is meeting up for dinner again (guess where!? Harbour City) so I thought I better leave work a little early to get myself some cronuts before the meal. It will save me another extra trip.

At 6pm, I thought I had a 50-50 chance of getting myself one of the Lychee & Jasmine cronut but to my surprise, there were 70 left the moment I started lining up. Odds were definitely on my side.

I ended up getting 5 of these, 3 of those to members of J.E.R.K. I'm sure the wives would love it~

This was my second experience with Chef Dominique's original cronut. My first one dated back to 2016 when I was in Tokyo. I vaguely recalled that the flavor was Hazelnut & Orange and I have to admit, I wasn't all that impressive with that combo. Let's hope Lychee and Jasmine would be a better match.

I was a little nervous about this half croissant half doughnut. The lychee icing, lychee jam and jasmine ganache...would they mesh with the flaky cronut?

I thought this was really really delicious. The dough itself was less flaky than I remembered it to be. Instead, it was more "chewy" (in a good way) than I originally expected. The lychee jam and jasmine ganache came through beautifully too. Luckily, I had one and a half of these reserved for myself so there're more than enough for me.

It was a really good debut. Let's hope they make the pop-up a permanent one with a different flavor every month!

Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OT G63A, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2613-8618
Website: www.dangwenli.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily

Caprice (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

Mom's birthday is coming up again (after we celebrated her lunar birthday about a month ago), this time it's the western calendar one. Unlike last time when I was caught totally unprepared, I did make sure that I reserved a table at Caprice to celebrate with her a couple of weeks in advance. Of course, I had to bring along her favorite grandson to celebrate this precious moment. 

It's been nearly 6 months since I last visited Caprice but it felt like much much longer than that. I guess dining home do make life a little dull for me these days and it feels like it takes forever to get through 2020.

Caprice is doing a great job complying to the social distancing regulations. This has to be much more than 1.5 metres from my neighbours. In fact, in our section where there were altogether 5 tables, only 2 of them including ours were occupied. I was joking with mom that it felt like we were enjoying private dining in the main dining room.

First up, a small amuse which I forgot to jot down the details of. There was obviously the homemade smoked salmon in the middle but the emulsion I have to guess, it was either potato or artichoke (and onion I think).

Mom went with the beautifully plated foie gras terrine topped with a thin layer of rhurbarb jelly. The homemade raspberry chutney on the side did well to balance the richness of the terrine based on what I was told by the birthday gal.

I had the blue prawn tartare with green asparagus myself. My server Miss K described it as a safe bet but I thought the conservative pick would have been the foie gras terrine.

Like mom's foie gras terrine, the presentation of my tartare was nothing short of exquisite. The tart-like tower came with a base of avocado purée, followed by the blue prawn and finished off superbly with a layer of thin sliced asparagus. Comté cheese cubes, toasted walnuts and spring onion combined to deliver a wonderful finishing touch to my refreshing first dish.

Both mom and I went with the lobster bisque. The cute little "flower" on top was a homemade ravioli stuffed with diced firefly squid.

The rich and velvety soup was complemented nicely by some chopped leeks and a hint of cognac.

Next up was perfectly roasted Blue lobster from France served on a bed of Paris mushroom duxelles. What I love most about this dish was the marriage between the lobster and the surprising strawberry sauce infused with beetroot.

The sauce, both sweet and savory, gave the lobster an incredible mix of flavors and there was also the hint of rosemary there for a sublime finish.

I got myself an extra dish, pork pluma made with Spanish Iberico pork. This was beautifully cooked resulting in a very lovely crust. It was matched with roasted white asparagus, polenta espuma and natural jus. Another excellent dish.

For dessert, mom went with the coconut pandan parfait, finished off with palm sugar caramel, milk and sea salt ice-cream. I surprised her by asking the kitchen to write a couple of words on the dessert for the sake of photo-taking. As usual, it was capped off by a birthday song sang by none other than my little nugget who's really getting good at it (after singing one at daddy's birthday meal not long ago!).

Needless to say, mom's really enjoying every moment of this.

I ordered the restaurant's signature strawberry dessert since my little one is crazy about strawberries. This is pretty much a strawberry lover's haven with different textures of strawberry (fresh strawberries, strawberry jelly and strawberry sorbet) matching up against creamy vanilla Bavarois. Judging by the pace that little nugget finished this, I am guessing it's a seriously tasty dessert to wrap up the meal.

Some petite fours and of course, little guy couldn't resist from hiding a couple of these in the drawer.

 A nice drawing by the young picasso while we waited for the bill.

This was probably the first time since former Executive Chef Vincent Thierry left that I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed a meal at Caprice. For once, the service was impeccable and the effort sustained from start to finish (my hats off to Miss K and her colleagues for thoroughly entertaining mom and little one). I thought today's menu was one of the best I've seen from Chef Guillaume Galliot too (who's missing from action this afternoon by the way). Every dish from starter, soup to seafood, meat and dessert was genuinely impressive, which prompted the question...why didn't we come back here more often?

Food Rating: 8.1/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 6/F, 8 Finance Street, Four Seasons Hotel, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong Station
Tel: +852 3196-8860
Website: www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/caprice
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm daily

Pâtisserie Tony Wong Metroplaza (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I haven't had the chance to check out Metroplaza in Kwai Fong since COVID-19 breaks out early this year. I've heard there are a lot of turnovers the last few months and I am curious to see whether some of my go-to shops survive the pandemic so far.

Turns out Patisserie Tony Wong, the popular pastry shop by celebrity patissier Tony Wong is still around. I have to admit, it's been at least a year since I last visited his place so not surprisingly, there're a lot of new "faces" I am not familiar with. One dessert I know something about is their Musang King Durian Chiffon Cake. Nice to see it's become one of fan favorites here now.

We decided to grab a tea set each. $84 for a piece of cake plus coffee or tea. Not bad at this day and age.

I haven't had a Mont Blanc cake for years. In fact, this is my first experience of a Mont Blanc dessert at Tony Wong.

I got my rose flavored black tea ready to wash down my chestnut cake.

This was really disappointing. The layer of chestnut puree was really really thin. Underneath that were fresh cream, sponge cake and small chunks of chestnut. I think I can name at least a dozen other places who offer a much better Mont Blanc (Maxim's!).

It's pretty embarrassing coming from a famed pastry shop like this one. 

Food Rating: 4/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 329, 3/F, Metroplaza, 223 Hing Fong Road, Kwai Fong, NT, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kwai Fong
Tel: +852 2410-8118
Website: patisserietonywong.com

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 8:30pm daily

Mango Tree Elements (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I can't believe I'm coming back to Mango Tree Elements already having just dined here with V this Monday. Not only am I bringing my entire family and Jelloman's parents along, I have all the cash coupons received (from V) from my last dining experience with me this afternoon too. Looks like it's going to be a big feast for us.

Everybody talks about the view here but I am not sure if it's worth the hype.

Iced Thai milk tea ($55) - My favorite part of a Thai meal but the tea was a little strong today. I tried to get some extra condensed milk to balance things out but looks like it's not working for me.

Deep-fried Thai shrimp cake ($138) - Crispy on the outside and moist inside, which was perfect. I thought the dip was honey sauce so I tried to feed my little nugget with spoon after spoon only to be rejected time and time again. His response, "sour! (yeah he hates sour). Turned out it was sweet plum sauce which obviously wasn't sweet enough.

Thai egg omelette with crab meat ($138) - This was the dish that got me hooked to Mango Tree in Bangkok.

The crust was very crispy and we all know I can't resist such a fluffy omelette with layers of crab meat in the middle. Yum!

Red Curry Roasted Duck ($168) - I had this with V on Monday. Not bad so I ended up recommending it to the gang.

Stir-fried Thai cabbage with garlic ($98) - Another dish I had on Monday. Love the crunch of these Thai cabbage, similar to our Chinese kale.

Rice noodles with chicken in oyster sauce ($128) - A soupy noodle dish for little nugget. For some reason, he wasn't all that interested today. Could be the fact that he got a little carried away with his "PJ Masks videos".

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 2032, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2668-4884
Website: www.mangotree.com.hk

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 11:00pm daily