Plat du Jour Pacific Place (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

July is traditionally a very busy month for me at work. I have been looking for a chance to squeeze in a quick lunch in admiralty amid my busy schedule and finally managed to do so, albeit it wasn’t at my favorite place in the area (Restaurant Petrus), Instead, it was Plat du Jour. Well, it’s still French food and at least, I’m not breaking the bank with this meal.

 

White asparagus – A lot of French restaurants are showcasing their white and green asparagus dishes so I’m not surprised to see one here.

 

I thought the menu said “white” asparagus but they showed up a little more green than expected (perhaps the foam was made with white asparagus? Well my server didn't explain it to me so I guess I would never find out). Anyways, I was in a bit of a rush so I didn’t voice it out to my server.

This was a pretty interesting combination, with the French (presumably French) green asparagus matched up against a disk of cheesy goat cheese custard. I like the savory Jamon Iberico ham bringing some intense flavors to the dish while the crushed hazelnuts delivered some much needed crunch. But the asparagus and goat cheese custard...meh~

 

Chicken Paillard – An old French recipe with the slice of chicken breast pounded thin and deep-fried. It was served with a poached egg and tomato fondue.

 

I thought the dish would be better served with a soft-boiled egg so the runny egg yolk could add a bit more flavor and texture to the mix.

Creme brulee – I was a bit pressed for time but 5 minutes is all it would take for me to finish my dessert. A traditional creme brulee helps to wrap things up.

Like my previous meals at Plat du Jour, I wasn't particular happy with today's service. Not that the servers were rude or anything but they were never really interested in making my dining experience a memorable one. Things were always very rush and they never care enough to take the time to tell me about my dishes.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 007, LG1/F, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Admiralty
Tel: +852 2715-0511
Website: www.platdujourhk.com
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:30pm daily

Kee Wah Tearoom 奇華茶室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

When I first moved back to Hong Kong in 2001, Anytime Café (無休館) at then Jade Pearl Plaza used to one of my go-to cafes in town. Back in my hay days like many who have just moved back to Hong Kong, we believe Causeway Bay is the “centre of the universe” and it’s cool to wait for friends under the jumbotron at Time Square. The fact was, we couldn’t live without visiting Causeway Bay at least once every week. It was non-negotiable and such was life back then. I eventually stopped hanging around Causeway Bay in a few years thanks to the opening of other shopping malls and lifestyle hubs. Slowly, I also realized that it’s okay not to venture across the harbor on the weekends. But Anytime Café will always have a special place in my heart bcuz it’s one of my favorite hangout places with Jelloman. We spent countless hours enjoying their iced milk tea, grilled pork neck and stir-fried rice noodles there (before movie next door). So when I first heard about their closure a few years ago, I was heart-broken. But news broke a couple years ago that the same team re-surfaced at Lee Tung Avenue in Wanchai. It’s no longer Anytime Café and 無休館 but I guess most of us already knew many years ago who’s behind it – Kee Wah.

So, this time around with its second life, it’s officially Kee Wah Tea Room (奇華茶室).

This is a surprisingly popular place for lunch among OLs in Wanchai, as I found out on this visit. I thought many of them with their high heels would hate the staircase.

Well, the milk tea tasted as silky as ever. Not bad!

I had to rush through this meal since there's an important meeting starting at 2 sharp. And Hainanese chicken rice sounded like the perfect choice when one needs to rush through a meal. This was very very nice. Probably better than a lot of places that tout themselves as a "Hainanese chicken specialist". The chicken was so tender and flavorful. I'm not into chicken that's really soft and this was perfect.

I would love to have a baked sago pudding with lotus seed paste to wrap this up but the clock's ticking. I guess I'll have to settle that on my next visit.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 1/F, 188 Queens Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2148-3388

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

Wai Wai Wai 圍威喂 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We got a little bored with our usual breakfast place this morning and since we were in Lai Chi Kok, we thought we should check out a new cafe called Wai Wai Wai (圍威喂) which came highly recommended by Jelloman.

"If there's no tomorrow", that's always the mojo I have in the back of my mind. Work hard and play hard.

Little nugget looks pumped about this new place.

For a small coffee shop cum breakfast spot, they sure have a BIG breakfast menu. One full page!

All-day breakfast ($45) - One of the most popular breakfast dish. This came with ham, baked beans, fried egg, and toast, and a choice between deep-fried fish fillet, hamburger steak and more. A very good bargain for only $45.

Set B ($35) - The set came with truffled luncheon meat, rice vermicelli in chicken stock, fried egg and toast.

Much much suited for little guy especially the rice vermicelli.

I finally got to enjoy my milk tea after serving this guy his breakfast dish.

This looks like a very good breakfast spot and without breaking the bank. But make sure you come early cuz there're only limited seats available.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 1, G/F, Sing Shun Centre, 495 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok

Tel: +852 2350-6238

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 10:00pm (Mon - Sat)

Pici Pasta Bar Lai Chi Kok (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I'm taking Friday afternoon off to well, rest my sore back and more importantly, work on my Football Manager game which is taking a ton of my time these days. It's been a while since I last checked out Pici Pasta Bar in Lai Chi Kok so that's where I was heading for my quick lunch before heading home.

Surprisingly at 2pm, Pici was still packed with customers. I guess it's back to "business as usual" for most eateries these days. The tabletop privacy dividers are still on. I think they will remain there for much of the year.

Vitello Tonnato - I kicked off my lunch ($158, 3-course) with a classic Vitello Tonnato as usual. The thin sliced veal was topped with creamy tuna mayonnaise and Sicilian capers. A very lovely combination of flavors from the land and sea. Always a popular choice around here along with the beef carpaccio.

Tagliolini - I decided to drop a few extra bucks for the freshly made tagliolini because it came with fresh shaved black truffle! The pasta was very eggy, which is always a nice match with fresh truffle. My only complaint was the pasta being a little overcooked making its texture a tad soft for my liking.

Tiramisu - As always, I finished off my lunch at Pici with their classic tiramisu. This is as classic as it gets with foamy mascarpone, ladyfinger, coffee powder among other ingredients working in harmony.

A sweet and powerful end to my Italian lunch.

As usual, service wasn't particularly attentive (like all of the Pici's) but I will tolerate that as long as their dishes continue to be this good.

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop G03, G/F, D2 Place TWO, 15 Cheung Shun Street, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok
Tel: +852 2557-7227
Website: www.pici.hk

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 5:00pm - 10:00pm daily

Five Guys Wanchai (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I can't believe I still have another 40 minutes to spare before the start of my afternoon meeting. Instead of settling down early in the meeting room, I decided to get myself a frosty milkshake at Five Guys first.

Five Guys in Wanchai is the franchise's first foray into the city and it's consistently impossible to get in during lunch hours; which was the reason why I haven't had the chance for a meal here before (I did in Madrid and K11 Musea branch so I was in no hurry).

I had a long chat with my server while waiting for my milkshake and took the opportunity to find out what happened to the crowd. Her response was a rather unexpected one. "They're waiting until 2pm!". "That would be a very late lunch, or afternoon tea!", I replied.

I got myself a salted caramel shake as per usual with lots of bacon. Yeah, that mix of sweet and savory flavors; you can't beat that.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 60 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 3618-9122

Website: https://restaurants.fiveguys.com.hk/

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 6:00pm daily

Ichitora Ramen Wanchai 一虎拉麵 灣仔 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The pandemic has really done a lot of damages to the local dining scene with the smaller eateries taking the worst of the hit. Even when the number of confirmed cases is slowly coming down these days, the crowd isn’t interested in returning to some of the restaurants that used to be known for their long queues.

Ichitora Ramen in Wanchai (一虎拉麵 灣仔) is one of those places that used to be packed with customers during lunch hours but with many locals content with having their homemade meals at the comfort of their office, the long lineup which we were accustomed to seeing, is no longer there.

 

Ichitora’s kitchen is rumored to be helmed by the folks formerly from Kamitora Tonkotsu (神虎麵商店), a tonkotsu ramen specialist originated from Osaka Japan. Ironically, they also started off with their first branch here in Wanchai.

 

The menu here looks very similar to the one at Butao Ramen (豚王). Red Tora, Black Tora, White Tora, Ebi Tora (with shrimp miso soup) and Ichitora Special, a deluxe version with extra “toppings”. As a purist when it comes to ramen, I decided to have their Ichitora, which would be their best-selling tonkotsu ramen.

 

Ichitora Ramen (一虎) – The piping hot Ichitora came with the usual soft-boiled egg, black fungus and barbecued pork. There was what looked like a dab of chili paste floating on top of the char siu.

 

The pork bone based soup was really really good. Very creamy and great depth of flavors without going over the top, matched well with the noodles.

 

The soft-boiled egg, perfect.

 

The barbecued pork I thought was pretty nice too. Just the right amount of fat and really succulent. Now, I know well this place always had a long lineup in front of it during lunch time before the pandemic.

 

With such a nice tonkotsu ramen, I’m hoping that things will gradually get back to normal for this little ramen shop so more folks could enjoy their delicious ramen.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 23 Amoy Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 2808-0635

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily

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

Our Father's Day celebration continues after our dim sum lunch at House of Jasmine (八月居). Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel (當文歷餅店) is kind of my idea to begin with but Jelloman agrees to it cuz her parents have not been here before. Believe it or not, it's already my sixth visit here and now that I've already tried every single one of their desserts, I can handpick the ones I want more this afternoon.

Lemon Juice Box ($62) - The most iconic dessert from Chef Dominique based on the nostalgic look but I thought it tastes equally as good (as it looks). The Earl grey mascarpone mousse, bergamot curd and white chocolate combined to re-create the flavor reminiscent of our local lemon tea. And there's something about the crunch that I absolutely love thanks to the almond biscuit and crispy feuilletine.

Fish Balls ($68) - Probably my second favorite dessert here. The chewy mochi "fish balls", which were made to order, were filled with homemade red bean ice-cream. The contrast in temperature really made these extra special. Glutinous rice dessert lovers will absolutely love it~

Mochi Peanut Chausson ($38) - A flaky puff pastry turnover filled with mochi and peanut cream. I thought it tasted more savory than sweet, and more importantly, I would love a bit more peanut cream there in the middle.

That will be it for my Father's Day celebration this year. Frankly, I would much prefer to spend it overseas but with all the travel restrictions imposed by different countries, I think I will take this one.

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

House of Jasmine 八月居 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

Today is one of those rare days every year where I have no say on where to eat. Happy Father's Day. Jelloman is footing the bill this afternoon so I guess I just have to live with whatever place she picks for me and her dad. Turns out, that place is House of Jasmine (八月居) at Harbour City.

I have never really been a fan of this place cuz for one, the service always sucks. Let's see if they have turned things around now amidst COVID-19.

Drunken pigeon (花雕醉乳鴿) ($148) - This was a pretty nice start. The Hua Diao wine marinated pigeon was really nice and tender.

Chilled pork tripe, scallion oil (蔥油手撈豬肚) ($78) - The roller coaster ride started right about here. The crunchy pork tripe was really bland. Scallion oil? What scallion oil?

Baked South African abalone tart, chicken, mushroom (一口南非鮑魚撻) ($58 for two) - I have to admit, this was fairly tasty. And two pieces for $58 only.

The tart was nice and buttery; and not to be outdone was the South African abalone which was tender and full of flavors (thanks to the rich abalone sauce).

Bean curd sheet roll in fish soup, cordyceps flower (蟲草花魚湯鮮竹卷) ($45) - The color of the bean curd sheet not looking great at all. Meh...

Shrimp spring roll, foie gras, crab roes (鵝肝蟹籽脆春卷) ($48) - This was reasonably good. The crispy spring roll was stuffed with shrimps. Could have had a little more foie gras in there.

Shrimp rice roll, chives (韭黃鮮蝦腸粉) ($45) - Decent.

Pork and shrimp dumplings, morels and asparagus (羊肚菌露筍燒賣) ($41) - I love morels but that's about all there is to this dish. The pork and shrimp dumpling was forgettable.

Steamed sponge cake (古法馬拉糕) ($37) - Arguably the worst dim sum of the afternoon. There was a strong savory flavor in the mix which I thought was Indian almonds (欖仁). It was way over the top for me (Others thought okay). 

And guess what, Jelloman had a cake prepared for the occasion just for the two dads. It's an Ironman cake. I think I know who exactly is behind this. Little nugget! 

Red velvety cake with mixed fruits. This wasn't bad at all. In fact, it tasted much better than it looked.

As usual, service was very spotty around here (which was why I vowed not to come back in my lifetime but Jelloman made me eat my words this afternoon). When we finished all our dishes, we repeatedly reminded the service team that we still have a cake in their fridge. But no one dares to clear the table for the cake to arrive. As a matter of fact, no one followed up on bringing the cake out at all; all despite we talked to three different waiters and waitresses on separate occasions. Of course, I was fuming and that got my blood pressure high more than a few times. So yeah, this would be the last time I ever come here for a meal. I think Jelloman knows by now how much I hate coming to this place.

P.S. My apologies for the poor quality of the photos. My iPhone X let me know again under the crappy lighting and to add insult to injuries, there wasn't enough room on our small table to place our dishes in an artistic or instagrammable manner.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 401, 4/F, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2992-0232

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 3:00pm (Mon - Fri)/ 11:00am - 3:00pm (Sat - Sun), 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Sun)