The Pantry Cafe Metroplaza (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

One of Little nugget’s favorite soufflé pancake shops is opening in Metroplaza. Replacing The Salted Pig in Metroplaza this month is The Pantry Cafe, a restaurant and café known for their Japanese soufflé pancakes, frosty milkshakes and pasta dishes. To check out the newly restaurant, I have recruited my good friend visiting from Brighton as my partner in crime. Hopefully, this would be a nice way to kill two birds with one stone.

From my previous experience dining at The Pantry in MOKO, I pretty much knew their food menu inside out. Their lunch set which I admittedly knew less about, came with an appetizer or salad, a choose of main dish and a drink for a little upward of $150. Decent price to eat out these days.

Carrot soup – Well, when we asked our server what the soup of the day was, her answer was lobster bisque! But when the dust finally settled, the lobster bisque disappointingly turned into a bowl of carrot soup. Of course, my friend and I immediately raised our disappointment but obviously, there was nothing they could do, as our server admitted that her memory has failed to serve her correctly.

Prawn cutlet linguine – The creamy mentaiko pasta came with what I thought was a hint of miso, matching well with the Japanese theme (prawn tempura). The tempura however was a little depressing thanks to the thicker-than-usual batter.

What a nice gathering that was. We had so much to talk about that we ended up forgetting about ordering desserts (soufflé pancakes!). While it was sad to bid farewell to my friend following lunch, it was comforting to know she would be back in town in the very near future.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 531-540, 5/F, Metroplaza, 223 Hing Fong Road, Kwai Fong, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Kwai Fong

Tel: +852 2428-6131

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri), 10:00am - 10:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Xi Yue House PAFC Mall 喜公館 平安金融中心店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After enjoying Hangzhou cuisine at PAFC Mall (平安金融中心) two weeks ago, we are coming back to the luxurious shopping mall for another dinner, this time a highly anticipated Jiangzhe feast (江浙菜) at Xi Yue House (喜公館).

Judging from its interior décor, Xi Yue House looked to be in a totally different league than our last dinner venue, Kwei Mun Lung (桂满陇·西湖船宴).

The main dining room was full tonight and without advance booking, our only option was to go for the VIP room which required a 10% service charge and nothing more. Not a bad deal.

Early on, we were treated like VIPs, as our meal was kickstarted by a complimentary fruit platter full of grapes and melon.

Peking roast duck (灌湯酥不膩烤鴨) (¥169) – Our quest for the best Peking duck in Shenzhen continues tonight.

Each slice of duck came with the perfect proportion of crispy skin and succulent meat separated by a thin layer of fat. Not surprisingly, it was really delicious to go with the warm pancakes. The only thing missing was the fruity flavors from the fruit wood.

Apart from the usual condiments of hoisin, cucumber, hawthorn jelly and scallion, there was a small plate of passion fruit sauce in the middle. Interestingly, it went well with the duck adding some sharp acidity to the mix.

Deep-fried pork ribs, glutinous rice vinegar sauce (雪絨糖醋排骨) (¥159) – This was nicely done with the pork ribs perfectly coated by a thin layer of crispy crust. The vinegar sauce was the nice icing on the cake offering some seriously appetizing flavors to go with the pork. Another nice twist to the dish was the Macadamia nuts shaving which added a nutty texture and flavor for a rounded finish.

Stir-fried shrimps with Longjing tea leaves (龍井蝦仁) (¥269) – Not bad but after two pretty good dishes in a roll, it was due for a small regression. 😅😅

Scallion oil noodle with dried shrimps (開洋葱油拌面) (¥29) – We ordered this instead of steamed rice. I thought the scallion oil noodles were strong to the bite and the dried shrimp oil really propelled the dish with its umami-rich flavors.

We were thinking about ordering a few more dishes but with our train leaving in less than an hour, we all agreed that it was wise to call for the bill.

Our night at Xi Yue House started off strong with a complimentary fruit platter making us look like VIPs but as the night went on, the service faded. No one really came to check on us throughout the meal and despite having a designated staff standing at the doorstep of our room, she was simply a puppet (紙板人) with no service to offer (i.e. the occasional topping of water would be nice). Other than the inconsistent service, this was an otherwise pleasant dining experience, albeit coming with a relatively heavier price tag than most Chinese restaurants in Shenzhen.

Food Rating: 6.7/10

Price: ¥¥¥¥

Address: Shop 408, Level 4 PAFC, 5033 Yitian Road, Futian, Shenzhen, China

Closest Metro Station: Shopping Park (購物公園)

Tel: +86 (755) 8381-9858

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:00pm, 5:30pm - 9:00pm (Mon - Thu), 11:00am - 2:30pm, 5:00pm - 9:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/be/16gh

GiGi Lucky soufflé pancake 生乳水果舒芙蕾 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Riding the hot trend sparked by Fufuland's fresh cream soufflé pancakes (生乳舒芙蕾), GiGi Lucky 生乳水果舒芙蕾 enters the scene as another specialty shop dedicated to soufflé pancakes with beautiful decorations of fruit and fresh cream. This new establishment has recently opened its doors at Galaxy COCO Park (星河COCO Park), ready to delight pancake enthusiasts with its unique offerings.

GiGi Lucky's fruit-centric menu closely resembles the one from Fufuland, as both offer a wide range of fruity flavors on top of other creations like Oreo, tiramisu, matcha and pistachio.

I was told that all of these were freshly made to preserve the soft and pillowy texture.

I was given an insulated bag to keep the pancakes cold free of charge.

These were so tasty! The soufflé pancakes were a little more fluffy than the ones we had at Fufuland last time. My personal favorite was this pistachio one, with deep nutty flavors.

The strawberry and, rose and lychee were also not bad.

Judging from his facial expression, little nugget is loving it too (but he wanted the Oreo flavor which I gave to his friend).

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: B1F COCO Park, 268 Fuhua Road 3rd, Futian, Shenzhen, China

深圳市福田区福华三路268号星河COCO Park B1F

Closest Metro Station: Shopping Park (購物公園)

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

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/36/ccmi

COCOFOUR Hainan Coconut chicken 四季椰林海南椰子雞 中洲灣 C Future City 店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

We are back in Shenzhen to spend an afternoon with little nugget’s friend and his family. All of us didn’t have a clue what to do during our time in SZ but we all agreed to spend it indoor away from the nasty heat.

After deciding to meet up at 中洲灣 C Future City above Xiasha station (下沙站), we took the subway from Futian and didn’t take long before arriving at the upscale shopping mall. Once again, Jelloman suggested we have Hainan coconut chicken hotpot for lunch and that’s where we were heading – COCOFOUR Hainan Coconut chicken (四季椰林海南椰子雞), a hotpot restaurant we had very fond memory of from our previous time there.

The calling card for COCOFOUR has always been their really concentrated broth made with coconut water and chicken without a single drop of water.

Coconut chicken broth (椰子雞湯) (¥109) – The coconut broth with about half a chicken. Not really cheap in SZ standard.

Coconut juice (海南鮮榨椰汁) (¥16) – Didn’t think it was freshly squeezed but it was on promotion for half price.

Fatty beef in “volcano” platter(?) (火山肥牛) (¥49) – The most popular dish here with about 8 thin slices of fatty beef for just 49 RMB. The beef was pretty succulent and for that price alone, a real nice bargain. Sorry, I am making up the English translations along the way so bear with me here! 😅😅

Sliced wagyu beef (原切和牛雪花牛肉) (¥98) – Presumably, Australian wagyu beef. This came with slightly better marbling but the meat was also a bit more rough. Would most definitely choose the cheaper one since the portion was more or less the same.

Restaurants in Shenzhen (and China overall) are known for their attentive service but today, that was sorely missing. Our servers left all these here and disappeared for nearly an hour leaving us hanging to dry. I know it was almost 2pm, a very late lunch for everybody’s standard so they would be looking for a break before dinner starts, but there were still 5-6 tables full of customers with hardly any servers around…..anyways…..

Handmade cuttlefish cakes (手工墨魚餅) (¥19) – Not the best texture but for 19RMB, I was complaining much.

Crispy bean curd roll (三秒響鈴) (¥15) – Admittedly, I overcooked it a bit for a few more seconds but still very nice bite from the bean curd sheets. A must for hotpot!

Luncheon meat (午餐肉) (¥13) – The kids love these and not ordering them would likely cause a riot. 😂😂

Claypot rice with Chinese preserved meat (金牌臘味煲仔飯) (¥69) – I recalled this was so goooood when we had it last time. It was a little more moist than the usual claypot rice but the texture and flavors were more soothing and comforting to my palate (for an old man like me). But different chefs have slightly different interpretation obviously (even for same restaurants in different locations), and the rice here was noticeably more on the hard side, and disappointingly with fewer cured meat.

While a hotpot meal is always undeniably delicious, its preparation often requires minimal cooking techniques. The success of the dishes lie heavily on the quality of the ingredients which, unfortunately, were only decent but not exceptional today. And once you add in the subpar service, you begin to realize that there are far better choices out there for the taking. 

Food Rating: 4.8/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: Shop No.205, B2F, Zhongzhou Binhai Commercial Centre, 9283 Binhe Boulevard, Shenzhen, China

深圳市上沙滨河大道9283号中州滨海商业中心一期2栋负二层205号

Closest Metro Station: Xiasha (下沙)

Tel: +86 (755) 8626-9953

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

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/b7/ygmi

Wonyi Ramen Sham Shui Po 泓一拉麵 深水埗 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After a run of spicy food in Bangkok, I was in need for a nice bowl of Japanese ramen this weekend. Since I was going to Sham Shui Po, I thought I should check out Wonyi (泓一拉麵), a Japanese ramen shop that I have passed by a couple of times before.

Situated next door to black sesame dessert specialist, Heartwarming (暖心芝作), Wonyi is a chicken ramen shop offering a variety of chicken soup ramen.

Tori paitan ramen (鶏白湯拉麵) ($103) – I got a nice scouting report on Wonyi after overhearing a conversation between the chef and a customer, presumably a frequent customer. It turns out that they have a flagship in Whampoa which offers a more intense and richly flavored chicken broth; whereas over here, they are more focused on their shoyu (soy sauce based) ramen (地雞醤油拉麵) which has been infused with chicken broth. 

I like the fact that they have finely diced vegetables floating on top of the broth giving diners a nice colorful backdrop.

While the broth wasn't considered intense, it was rich enough to clog up the noodles with its nice poultry flavors.

The soft-boiled egg was very nicely executed with a runny yolk.

The chicken fillet, as usual, was pretty bland. Never my favorite part of a chicken paitan ramen.

The thin-sliced pork shoulder added some much needed bite to the dish.

While the chicken broth here was a lot better than the one I had at Noodle House Ippei-An (麵屋一平安) a few weeks ago, it wasn't the most creamy and comforting one full of collagen which I was fully expecting from a chicken paitan soup. And for $103 in the middle of Sham Shui Po (it's about half price in Japan!), I just expected more.

Food Rating: 5.1/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop E, G/F, Ying Loy Mansion, 21 Yu Chau Street, Prince Edward, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Prince Edward

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 4:00pm, 6:00pm - 9:00pm daily

Yin Yue at Panda Hotel 殷悦中菜廳 悦來酒店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It’s been a while since we last held a gathering with some of our departed colleagues from the good old days. In order to iron out a date, I have been exchanging text messages with a few colleagues the past week even when I was on vacation in Bangkok, and we finally decided on this Thursday. As some of us have been raving about Yin Yue (殷悅) at Panda Hotel (悅來酒店), I was all too happy to accommodate this request.

For years, Yin Yue was on my list of go-to Chinese restaurants in Tsuen Wan, but the drop in service and quality saw them removed from that list for a while. Let’s see if it’s worthy of a recall.

Tofu skin roll in lobster bisque (龍蝦湯鮮竹卷) – Bamboo shoots, mushrooms and black fungus wrapped underneath the tofu skin sheets, with the flavorful lobster bisque providing a sublime finish. Solid start.

Steamed pork skin and squid in curry sauce (咖哩豬皮土魷) – I was never a fan of this dish and would remain that way for the foreseeable future. As usual, the squid was a little rubbery; the crispy pork skin fared slightly better with the gluey curry sauce but that’s about all the good things I would say about this dish.

Steamed pork dumpling with scallop (杞子玉帶燒賣) – Very nice and meaty.

Steamed rice flour roll with minced beef and coriander (香茜牛肉腸粉) – Gotta love that strong fragrance from the coriander.

Steamed rice with grouper fish head, garlic and lotus leaf (蒜蓉荷香蒸龍躉頭腩飯) – One of the house specialty here so it was nice to see my colleagues didn't miss it (I wasn’t in charge of ordering today).

I thought the rice was getting more attention than the fish and understandably so, with the rice doing a great job absorbing the flavors from the fish oil, garlic and lotus leaf.

Poached vegetables (白灼時蔬) – Some veggies to stay healthy of course.

We did order more than the writing here suggested but I was too busy doing most of the talking so I probably missed out on quite a number of dishes than I could remember.

Food Rating: 6.2/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 30/F, Panda Hotel, 3 Tsuen Wah Street, Tsuen Wan, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsuen Wan

Tel: +852 2409-3182

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

Lukkaithong Royal Cooking at Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

As usual, our final meal in Bangkok was a quick one at Mango Tree from the departure hall of Suvarnabhumi International Airport. At least that was the original plan going forward. I was in charge of leading the team to Mango Tree while Jelloman peeled off to take care of her VAT refunds. But my mission ended up failing miserably as I was unable to find the Mango Tree we used to visit in the past. 😖😖  This time, it was Lukkaithong Royal Cooking coming to the rescue.



The interior décor of Lukkaithong Royal Cooking did remind me a little of Audrey Café, which we had no time for on this trip.

Of course, one final sip of iced Thai milk tea before we took off. The Thai milk tea here actually came from Pang Cha and it came with an extra kick of sweetness and richness of tea flavors. This was by far the best Thai milk tea I had on this trip.

We just had enough time for this egg noodle dish, tossed with prawns and crispy kale. The gravy with umami-rich flavors (prawn heads and corals?) was a fairly nice touch.

This guy wounded up eating most of my noodles so I guess I would have to try my luck with the airplane food after all. 😓😓

Thank you, Bangkok for your hospitality! It's always nice to be back and as I said on many different occasions, the city will always have a special place in my heart (due to my many many visits in the past for business). Until next time!

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: Suvarnabhumi Airport Gate F DFS Mall, 999/1Suvarnabhumi 3 Road, Nong Prue, Bang Phli, Samut Prakan, Thailand

Tel: +66 (0) 2134-7956

Website: www.lukkaithong.com

Opening Hours: 24 hours daily

Oh My Godmother EmSphere (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

The final destination of our Bangkok trip will be EmSphere, a lifestyle, shopping and dining hub in Sukhumvit, just a few steps from EmQuartier. It was opened back in December 2023 just before the new year. We didn't have anything planned for dinner but figured we should check out a number of popular eateries in the mall including the red hot Oh My Godmother (OMGM).

When I said red hot, I meant OMGM has been one of the most popular cafés in Bangkok right now (with the exception of Le Café Louis Vuitton of course). The collaboration with Korean patissier Narae Kim who was the creator of the famous Godmother's Chiffon cake in Ho Chi Minh City, has proved to be a very successful one so far thanks to an exciting array of fusion dishes. Apart from their signature fusion pasta, OMGM also offers some of the cutest chiffon cakes with a variety of flavors including sweet corn and earl grey.

Seafood Doria (฿580) – The parsley rice pilaf was nicely topped with shrimp, calamari, clams and black mussels in a creamy sauce, finished off with cheddar and parmesan. Pretty decent.

Brown mushroom linguine AOP (฿320) – The al dente linguine was sautéed with champignon and brown shimeji mushrooms. 

Spaghetti mentaiko cream & shrimp (฿520) – Another pasta dish. This was a little soupier than I thought with the mentaiko cream flowing all over the spaghetti. There were a lot of ingredients in this one including shrimp, ikura, Japanese onion and nori strips; and the extra kick from the mentaiko cream meshed well with the pasta. (They always do).

I wish I had the room for their chiffon cakes but with Le Café Louis Vuitton coming up shortly (more on that later), it was time to settle the bills and venture back over to Gaysorn Village. 

Food Rating: 5.1/10

Price: ฿฿

Address: G/F The EmSphere, 524 Sukhumvit Road, Khlong Tan, Khlong Toei, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Phrom Phong

Tel: +66 (0) 2125-6901

Website: https://www.instagram.com/omgm.bkk/?hl=en

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