Sips;;lban (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

A couple of my teeth have been bothering me during our Southern France tour. I had to bear with it a bit until this week when I finally had no meeting what so ever. Since my dental surgeon was working at Harbour City this afternoon, I thought I should come over for lunch as well.



Sips;;lban, a Seoul based Korean-style cafe at the upscale Harbour City, has been on my radar screen since it first opened its door early this year. I haven't had the chance to check it out personally but people I knew have been raving about it. Let's see if it really lives up to my expectation.

Like Coffee Hwajeon (커피화전), another popular Korean cafe at Elements shopping mall, Sips;;lban offers a small selection of comfort food including Korean gimbap, toast and pasta dishes on top of their bread and butter cakes and bingsu (Koream shaved ice).

I got myself a black sesame latte to start off the meal with. This was pretty creamy but lacking big time flavors (black sesame?). 

A little more successful was the creamy Iberian pork carbonara with crispy pancetta and leeks.  

The recently opened Charcoal Bar next door appears to be a more appealing choice for lunch.. Perhaps, I should give it a shot next time.

Food Rating: 4.8/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop OTG61, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2360-2181

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

Kinzakaya 金酒屋 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It's been a while since J.E.R.K. last met up for a gathering. Master shifu was tasked with finding a dinner spot this time and to everyone's surprise, he came up with a place none of us had heard of before, Kinzakaya (金酒屋).



Located on the quiet side of Lai Chi Kok, Kinzakaya (金酒屋) is modern Japanese Izakaya restaurant offering a nice mix of salad, sushi, yakitori, beef, and noodle dishes.

Sea urchin & salmon roe sushi taco (粟米脆餅壽司-海膽三文魚籽) ($138) – This caught my eyes immediately when I took a deep dive into the food menu. We've got rice, avocado, marinated salmon, sea urchin and salmon roe all slotted inside the crispy taco flavored with corn. Not bad.

Sakura shrimp & prawn tempura sushi roll (櫻花蝦天婦羅炸蝦卷) ($78) – Nicely presented shrimp and prawn tempura roll but unfortunately, nothing special.

Chicken meatball with egg yolk dipping (月見雞肉棒) ($48) – I thought a little more flavorful than the one from Nantei we had a few days ago.

Japanese Awa chicken wing (阿波尾雞翼) ($38) – Japanese Awa chicken wings are known for their meaty texture. Pretty nice.

Homemade chicken skin with prawn (自家製雞皮蝦) ($58) – I had high hopes for this simply because it's not something we typically found from a Japanese yakitori. The prawn here was tightly wrapped by a sheet of paper-thin chicken skin adding to the wonderful texture and flavor.

Black pork belly (黑豚五花腩) ($58) – Not bad but I like it to be a little more charred.

Black pork & asparagus roll (黑豚肉蘆筍卷) ($58) – Decent.

Japanese okra (日本秋葵) ($22) – Like the pork belly, could have spent a little more time on the grill.

Fried tofu (油揚豆腐) ($38) – One of the weakest link tonight for sure. No competition to the one from Nantei which was crispy on the outside and soft inside.

Seared Japanese pork roll with Inaniwa Udon (炙燒厚切黑豚叉燒烏冬) ($128) – We decided to get ourselves some udon noodles.

It was nice to find out about this place just a stone's throw to our home. The bill came in a bit higher than we had anticipated but I guess that's just the dining scene in Hong Kong these days.

Food Rating: 6.1/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, 909 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok

Tel: +852 2633-2552

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm daily

Waso Café Grandmark 華嫂冰室 加威中心 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

For months, I have been keeping tabs on Semua Semua So Bar (蘇媽.蘇媽)'s eventual replacement across the street from The ONE. Finally, I have the answer, Waso Café (華嫂冰室). 

I have always had a love-and-hate relationship with this legendary cha chaan teng. Despite only in its soft-opening phase, the newest Waso Café was already swamped with customers and perhaps thanks to "Little red book", they were mainly our friends from north of the border. 

Waso's signature milk tea was very strong as always. I didn't think my stomach was ready for it this afternoon.

When it comes to its signature dish, the café is best known for its pineapple buns stuffed with egg and tomato, with a thick slab of butter wedged in the middle. 

But I was a purist when I had my pineapple buns! Just the generous knob of butter with my bun please. This was very very filling.

I overheard some guy saying that he waited almost an hour for his table. This sounds a little crazy, especially considering that cha chaan tengs are everywhere in Tsim Sha Tsui. I was a little fortunate that as a solo diner, I got squeezed in easily sharing a table with some strangers also craving a nice afternoon tea set.    

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, Grandmark, 10 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2259-9318

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