Lucky Strike Cafe 祥裕茶餐廳 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I love hole-in-the-wall cha chaan tengs and I thought I just discovered one in Tai Wo Hau near the market. After struggling to find time for my first visit, I finally got the chance to do so this afternoon. 



This place is called Lucky Strike Cafe (祥裕茶餐廳), a true fast food joint that used to be very popular in Hong Kong back in the 1980s.   

The daily soup with watercress was just average.

Much better was iced milk tea with a nice burst of creaminess and I thought the tea was robust enough. 

I decided to go with this stir-fried choy sum with sliced beef. Fairly decent "wok hei" with some nice crunch from the choy sum. 

Well, I wasn't expecting much coming in so it kinda exceeded my expectation.

Food Rating: 3.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 7 Tai Ha St, Tai Wo Hau, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tai Wo Hau / Tsuen Wan

Tel: +852 2420-1408

Opening Hours: 6:00am - 9:00pm daily

Senzuru Japanese Restaurant 千鶴日本料理 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I have a couple of papers for my boss to sign this afternoon. One thing led to another and rather than venturing over to his office, we decided to simply meet up for lunch at Senzuru Japanese Restaurant (千鶴日本料理) instead. 



The Japanese restaurant was located inside Harbour Plaza Metropolis. 

Surprised to find that we could enjoy a partial view of the harbour right from our table.

This place is generally not too busy at lunch making it a perfect spot for a business lunch.

We were first started off with a small salad drizzling in a Japanese sesame dressing.

Here comes the main event.

I decided to take care of the chawanmushi (茶碗蒸し) first.

Followed by my black cod with miso. This was garnished with tomato and lotus root.

My boss and I had a very nice chat over lunch and of course, I ended up sharing a few stories from my adventure in the South of France with him. That was the highlight of 2024!

Food Rating: 5.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: 8/F, Harbour Plaza Metropolis, 7 Metropolis Drive, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Hung Hom

Tel: +852 3160-6898

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 3:00pm (Sat - Sun), 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Sun) 

Tiffany Restaurant 名寶石餐廳 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Little nugget was having his usual class in Prince Edward and since I haven't seen mom in a couple of weeks after my trip to Seoul, I decided to ring her up for a quick lunch together. She wasn't particularly interested in meeting her favorite son but with her grandson around, she won't miss it for the world.

Not surprisingly, everyone had Tiffany Restaurant (名寶石餐廳) in mind for our lunch venue so that was a no-brainer.

First up, the creamy seafood soup which has been a signature here since my childhood days.

This has been my go-to dish in the last little while. The sole fillet was deep-fried to perfection with a nice, crispy batter. My only complaint was that mashed potato at the corner. It was just brutal.

Dessert was mango pudding with a generous portion of condensed milk. A great icing on the cake.

I didn't remember why this guy was so elated. It must be something about him being the most handsome guy in the family.

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 148 Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Prince Edward
Tel: +852 2381-1516

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 11:30pm daily

Gaddi's 吉地士 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

With 2025 just around the corner, I found myself once again going through my annual tradition of shortlisting a handful of restaurants I’d like to visit before the turn of calendar. It turned out that I didn’t have a very long list but one of those that stood out from my misses this year was Gaddi’s, one of my favorite French restaurants in town. Yes, I think I needed to do something about that.

I have read about a new head chef taking over the reins at Gaddi’s recently, the first-ever female chef to do so in the long history of the most storied fine-dining restaurants in Hong Kong. Chef Anne-Sophie Nicholas who worked at some of the finest restaurants in Paris including Le Meurice and Guy Savory, as well as most recently at Joel Robuchon Hong Kong, has been tasked to breathe fresh air into Gaddi’s menu. Let’s see if those subtle changes could be spotted at my lunch this afternoon.

Lunch started off brightly with a small amuse bouche of smoked salmon mousse topped nicely by a layer of herb emulsion. There was a crispy toast holding two quenelles of salmon tartare on top to go with the mousse.

Duck foie gras and yellow chicken terrine, onions, meat juice dressing – I elected to go with a dual of starters today and the first to arrive was my cold starter, a nicely executed foie gras terrine with a ring of poached yellow chicken meat on the outside. Served on the side were different textures of onions and hazelnuts to add contrasting flavors and textures to the mix. 

The dish was finished off with a vinaigrette made of meat jus and French yellow wine, and a nice sprinkle of what I thought was paprika. Not bad.

Boston lobster bisque, tomatoes, sweet peas, cognac – The second starter immediately followed and it was a rich and creamy lobster bisque with confit tomatoes, sweet peas and of course, lobster meat from Boston. 

Sitting on the bottom were patches of jelly made with Hennessey XO cognac so some bitterness on top of savory flavors and creaminess. Pretty interesting twist.

Burgaud duck breast, daikon, figs, thyme – My main dish was Burgaud duck breast served medium matched with Japanese daikon and variations of French figs. After having my fair share of figs during our stay in South of France two months ago, it was nice to get myself reacquainted with French figs again. Apart from the few tendons, this was a reasonably good dish that was both well cooked and presented.

Chocolate and caramelized banana tube, Guanaja 70% ganache, banana ice-cream – Dessert was a chocolate “cigar” with a chocolate exterior and fillings of caramelized banana and Guanaja 70% ganache. 

It was paired with a scoop of banana ice-cream for a nice balancing act.

Mignardises consisted of none other than Peninsula Hotel’s famous chocolate, this one with cardamom, along with a small éclair and financier.

Always have time for a cup of tea.

I gave the kitchen a small test of delivering this meal in roughly two hours, a feat they accomplished in flying colors. But despite the kitchen staff coming through nicely, the performance by the waiting staff has put a dent on the overall dining experience. As a solo diner, I was left cold at the corner of the dining room without much attention all afternoon. Yes, I have been through this before and while I am not someone who talk a lot, I appreciate the occasional chit chat with the service team. During my recent visit to Tosca also as a solo diner, the Assistant Manager there kept me warm throughout the meal and left a lasting impression on me. Here the restaurant also came with a Michelin star, but none of the staff was well-trained enough to come and offer me anything extra (normally to start, they would say something like, would you like a book or magazine?). At least not this afternoon. A lot of servers have come and gone by me but other than “mechanically” offloading stuff on the table (or removing stuff) with a memorized speech most of the time on the ingredients, no one has wholeheartedly come and served me (or at least half-heartedly). This was seen from a few of my recent meals in Hong Kong and one may add that these were not cheap meals. 

On the other hand, there was this VIP sitting next to me who has been getting all the attention from the hostess to the Restaurant Manager. Enough said.

Food Rating: 7.1/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 1/F, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2696-6763
Website: www.peninsula.com/en/hong-kong/hotel-fine-dining/gaddis-french-restaurant
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 7:00pm - 10:30pm (Tue - Sat)

Lucky Cafe Sham Shui Po 幸運茶餐廳 深水埗 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I have re-started my exercise routine again and for the second Sunday in a roll, I found myself in the heart of Sham Shui Po doing breakfast before the heavy lifting.



I was in the mood to try something new and once I saw this relatively new signage, Lucky Cafe (幸運茶餐廳), I didn't hesitate before walking right in. There was a decent selection of cha chaan teng breakfast and on top of that, some Chiu Chow breakfast noodle soup with fish balls or dumplings.  

The iced milk tea was reasonably good with above-average creaminess. 

Less successful was the macaroni with fried eggs and ham. The culprit here was the tasteless broth which was just very watery.

I hate to say it but there are a ton of breakfast spots in SSP. No point to waste my stomach room on this. 

Food Rating: 3.1/10

Price: $$$

Address: 291 Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sham Shui Po

Tel: +852 2522-8887

Ke Ming Bing Shi 克茗冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I wasn't expecting to see a familiar face on Prat Avenue but that was exactly what happened right in front of my very eyes. 



Ke Ming Bing Shi (克茗冰室) has been one of my go-to cha chaan tengs in Shenzhen the last few months. Rumors had that they have opened a couple of branches in Hong Kong but I have yet to have the luck to bump into one. I guess today is my lucky day.

The iced milk tea is a little heavy with the condensed milk (could see from its color) today. Hm...

Presentation-wise, this was a disaster and it's supposed to be one of the signature dishes here, their char siu egg rice, or better known as the "Sorrowful Rice (黯然銷魂飯)". I'm not sure why, but it seems that whenever an overseas chain sets up shop in Hong Kong, the quality of their food tends to decline by a notch or two. Check out this post on our experience dining at their InJoy (卓悅匯) in Shenzhen. It wasn't close.



Reading from one of the Google reviews, the reviewer claimed that this was a restaurant with the narrowest seats in town. I agreed that the seats were narrow (half of my backside was practically hanging off the sofa seat) but it wasn't like I haven't seen this before in Hong Kong. 

Food Rating: 3.7/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 1, G/F, 21-23 Prat Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2155-1799

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 10:30pm daily

Racines (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

My buddy V was in Vancouver celebrating his birthday with his family back in September so I didn't get the chance to celebrate with him then. Fast forward to October, I finally got a ping from him that he's back in town and it was time to catch up and do our (belated) birthday celebration together in one go. Back when V was hosting my birthday dinner in April, he was trying to get us a table at Racines but without success. This time around, I decided to return the favor and to my pleasant surprise, the restaurant had a table for us at 6pm. Not a problem considering we can both get off work early this week.

Racines is an intimate fine dining bistro on Upper Station Street, Sheung Wan right across the street from Nordic fine dining restaurant, Embla. Co-helmed by Chef Romain Dupeyre who cut his teeth at world-class establishments like Caprice, the restaurant serves up Provencal cuisine with a modern twist.

We chose not to sit at the counter table but our seats were close enough to the open kitchen for us to share several exchanges with Chef Dupeyre who was really animated working behind the scene. 

So really nice and pillowy bread to start off the meal.

Our bread was accompanied by this smoked Espelette butter with plum jam on top. 

Our night officially kicked off with a trio of small nibbles (well, not really that small). First up was potato croquette with cod fish, coconut cream and parsley powder which was really tasty. Thought the kaffir lime and lemon paste, along with the fresh herbs really stood out nicely.

The creamy chicken liver parfait with tomato confit and pickled mustard seed certainly wasn't bad but both V and I thought the spicy escargot tart marinated with yellow wine was easily the best of the trio.

Camus artichoke, foie gras, gizzard, green beans – Our first starter of the tasting menu was a small salad inspired by the Salade Landaise, a country salad from the Southwest of France.

This was a more refined and lighter version featuring artichoke cooked in truffle jus, topped nicely by a layer of foie gras panna cotta 😋 and a jelly made with duck and port wine. A slice of smoked duck breast and duck gizzard confit along with diced vegetables like smoked corn, French Beans, piquillo peppers and girolles provided some nice, savory flavors and contrasting textures to the mix. The dish was finished off beautifully with a light truffle vinaigrette.

Tarbouriech Oyster, girolles, ceps sabayon, pork feet – Following the artichoke and foie gras dish, we have another wonderful starter featuring a star ingredient from France. 

At the base of the dish, we have ragout of pickled girolles, shiitake, pan-fried fresh girolles and shiitake, roasted pork feet, shallot confit, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic confit, and chives. The addition of ceps sabayon made with ceps-infused butter and sherry vinegar provided extra richness to the Tarbouriech oyster from the South of France and last but not least, there are the parsley foam and dry ceps-infused pork jus to finish the dish off with some porky and herbal flavors.

Mediterranean red mullet, bouillabaisse, octopus, fennel – Chef Dupeyre is a native of Nice, France so not surprisingly, one of his signature dish around here is his Bouillabaisse, a traditional Provençal fish soup originating on the Mediterranean coast of France.

Racine’s version came with perfectly seared Golden threadfin bream, octopus, Yunnan Potato and Rouille bringing harmonious flavors from the sea together in harmony.

US Brandt beef, eggplant, mirabelle, shiso – Our meat dish was rib eye cap superbly cooked in the Binchotan BBQ. This came with tremendous tenderness and smokiness, which was complemented nicely by condiments of mirabelle purée, sherry vinegar, eggplant and shallots. The sauce was a reduction of veal stock which was subtle and spot on.

Burgundy Clacbitou, sorbet, blackberry chutney, arugula – Even the pre-dessert looks like a piece of art. On top of the dish was a sphere made with soft goat cheese, delicately wrapped in fig leaves and transformed into an espuma infused with rosemary. Accompanying the goat cheese was a fruity blackberry chutney, which has been blended with Banyuls vinegar from the Southeast of France, pickled red onions, arugula, piquillos and fresh rosemary. A really refreshing dish to get our palate ready for the final dessert.

Root Jerusalem artichoke, hazelnut ice-cream, dulce chocolate – I love Jerusalem artichoke and even more so when it is served as a dessert. 

On the bottom of this, we have root Jerusalem artichoke espuma cooked with honey and tonka beans, mixed well with a flavorful hazelnut paste and tonka beans custard. At the heart of the dessert, there is the hazelnut ice cream with meringue and syrup made of tonka beans, topped off with a nice sprinkle of hazelnut powder and shaved dulce chocolate, micro lemon balm, for a terrific mix of nutty, sweet and lemony flavors. I decided to drop a few more bucks for some white truffle and it proved to be an incredible match with the artichoke and the rest of the ingredients.

Madeleine and cracker with what I thought was pistachio.

Chocolate with hazelnut and almond praline. I didn't think I could afford more food at this point on so thankfully, it was over.

Food Rating: 7.6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 22 Upper Station Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sheung Wan

Website: https://www.racineshk.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm (Fri - Sat), 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Tue - Sat)