GāGǐNāng 飯館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I am having a rare day-off on a Monday today. Rather than spending a quiet day at home, I decided to venture out to Harbour City to check out some of the new happenings there. Little that I knew, I would spend the next few hours wandering around the mall before I realized that it was well past the lunch hours. As much as I wanted to avoid dining out these days, I managed to convince myself that I could find myself a "safe" lunch venue.

At 2:30pm, the crowd at most of the restaurants already thinned out so I had plenty of options including one of my favorite dim sum places, GāGǐNāng (飯館).



I love sitting by the window here watching the ferries come and go on a quiet day like this.

It used to be impossible to get a table by the window here but not anymore.

Wok-fried rice rolls with beef in shacha sauce (沙茶牛肉炒腸粉) – One of the restaurant's signature dishes and one of my favorites.

The wok-fried rice rolls drizzled in the tangy and flavorful shacha sauce.

It was very addictive and very very tasty.

Steamed shrimp dumpling (水晶蝦餃) – Very nicely done as well. Love the thin wrapper working well with the bouncy texture of the shrimp.

Stewed honeycomb tripes with barbecue sauce (醬皇金錢肚) – The beef tripes were very tender and there was just enough chewiness in there to make my teeth work (in a good way). A little heavy-handed with the black pepper though.

Steamed Cantonese sponge cake (古法馬拉糕) – Not very often I got to have the entire sponge cake all to myself. This was very spongy 👍. 

This marked just the third time I dined out in the past three weeks as we were still wary of contracting the virus while eating out. If the current situation continues, I am quite sure if we would be seeing our family and friends come Chinese New Year. And that would be quite a disappointment for everyone.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop OT310, 3/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2116-9068

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

Main Street Deli (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

With the upward trend of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks, we haven't been able to dine out as usual lately. Little nugget who was stuck home most weekends, has been secretly asking me if there's a chance we could sneak out for a meal this week. Old dad has been eyeing the latest development on the local news as well. Since we were at Harbour City to get little one some new toys, I thought the three of us could finally enjoy a meal out together.

There was probably no better place than Main Street Deli in the area due to its usually low occupancy. The American diner at Langham Hotel was again pretty quiet and understandably so, considering it's already 4:30pm when we stepped in.

This guy finally got his wish of dining out.

Cookie and Cream Milkshake – Ever since I introduced him with his first milkshake a few years ago, he's been addicted to it. This one was really thick like a typical American shake.

Of course, he loves it~ In fact, he loves it so much that I had to order another one just for myself.

Crab cakes – A little disappointing considering there was very few crab meat in there (and a little too much potato). The chipotle dip was an interesting choice for the dip.

Lobster Roll – A little bit heavy as an afternoon snack, don't you think?

This came with loads of Boston lobster meat, served in a soft charcoal brioche bun.

The diced vegetables and radish provided some really nice crunch while the citrus mayonnaise delivered the finishing touch. Much better than the crab cakes, that's for sure.

I was more focused on the shoestring fries than the lobster roll to be honest.

After not eating out together for nearly 3 weeks, everyone desperately needed this one. It was nice to find a quiet little place like Main Street Deli where we could take our masks off in public to enjoy some nice gourmet food. Hopefully, the number of cases starts to go down the next couple of weeks so we can finally get some family gatherings going for Chinese New Year.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Lower Lobby Level, The Langham Hong Kong, 8 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2132-7898
Website: Link

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 9:00pm (Mon - Fri), 11:00am - 9:00pm (Sat - Sun)

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

My self-imposed ban on dining out is really killing me. After having exclusively home cooking for almost 2 weeks, I decided to get myself some take-away food this afternoon. And good thing I was out on the streets early this morning for my son's primary school application so I have an abundance of restaurants to choose from.

I stumbled upon Pici at D2 Place and was handed this take-away menu by restaurant manager. I guess it's time to take a break from home cooking 😁😁.

As usual, the portions from Pici are a little small but who really cares if they're good, right? 

The burrata cheese with cherry tomatoes and rocket leaves was pretty tasty today. But I probably won't mind a bit more olive oil there.

I took a little too longer to get myself ready so the pappardelle with beef cheek ragu was a bit cold (and dry) when I finally had my first bite.

For dessert, I got this panna cotta for my little nugget. Not surprisingly, he was head over heels in love with his vanilla pudding. The raspberry coulis once again proved to be a wonderful match for the sweetness of the panna cotta.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
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