Adventure #23: 樓外樓 (Hangzhou)

There are 4 famous restaurants in Hangzhou, 樓外樓, 天外天,山外山 and 知味觀.  And I was told the locals eat at the new comer 外婆家. 

We tried a branch of 知味觀 on the first day.  So, before we left we went to 樓外樓 by the lake.  We were lucky to get a table out on the veranda overlooking the lake.

This is a traditional Hangzhou starter dish - lotus roots stuffed with glutinous rice (sweet)

Had to try the Tongpo Meat again - delicious but personally preferred the one at 味莊



We ordered this because it was a popular dish.  It was supposed to be a fish ball dish but the fish balls were so well made, they melted in the mouth like tofu!



The two famous dishes here are Westlake Vinegar Fish and Beggar Chicken.  Since there were only two of us, we could only eat one, so we opted for the fish.  Kinda taste like sweet and sour fish.  A bit of a waste as the vinegar over-powered the the freshness of the fish.

 



Adventure #22: 28 HuBin Road (Hangzhou)

A friend asked us to try the "pyramid" dish at the Chinese restaurant at Hyatt Regency Hangzhou.  As it turned out, the restaurant is called 28 HuBin Road and the dish is a healthier version of the Tongpo Meat called 招牌扣肉.

This dish was beautifully presented.  Under the pyramid of meat were winter bamboo shoots.  As this was the healthier version, the taste was not as intense.  Good but different.



We also ordered a traditional fish soup 宋嫂魚羹



Then we ordered something which is not a Hangzhou dish but a speciality of the chef Gongpo Chicken.  It was delicious!



We finished with a simple but delicious fried veggy in garlic

Adventure #21: 味莊 (Hangzhou)

Our first meal in Hangzhou was at 味莊 (Wei Zhuang) along Yanggongti 楊公堤.  The concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel strongly recommended this as, in his opinion, this restaurant cooks very good Hangzhou dishes.  We later found out that this is a branch of 知味觀, one of 4 famous restaurants in Hangzhou.



The cold braised duck was very good



Our first Tongpo Meat 東坡肉 on this trip - meat was tender and the sauce thick and sweet....yummm



The crab roe on tofu was heavenly




This dish was by far the best dish - braised fish head

Adventure #20: 烏鎮 Wuzhen

When the kids are away, the parents get to play!  This trip took us to Hangzhou but with a detour to Wuzhen, one of the famous water towns.  First meal there was a simple one - Braised Mutton Noodle but it was delicious. Wonder if it is because we were hungry......



紅燒羊肉麵

For dinner, while wondering the streets of Wuzhen, we came across an interesting little restaurant by the name of 辣 or Spicy.  We decided to give it a try.  Food was delicious!


The spicy and sour fish soup 酸菜魚湯 was excellent



Mutton cooked in boiling oil is also superb



Even a simple fried vegetable dish is good

Adventure #19: 金龍泰美食

Kids were away, went to look for dinner at Tai Hang.  Today, we tried a little Thai eatery called 金龍泰美食.

Tom Yum Kung was so so, not spicy enough for me

Lat Na was acceptable but could be better

The surprise winner was this Fried Glass Noodle with Meat and Egg

Curry Clam was rather good

So was the Thai coffee - a bit like Malaysian coffee

Food was OK, nothing great.  Value for money though.

金龍泰美食
Shop A, 96, Tung Lo Wan Road
Tai Hung
Tel: 2578 5932

Adventure #18: 阿鴻小吃 (HK Airport)

My mum's visiting with my niece and they arrived at dinner time on Saturday.  Since our visit to Hung's Delicacies, we have missed the 豬油撈麵.  So we thought why not give the new airport branch a try?

Mum wanted to try the chicken tendon, so we ordered one. Cannot compare to the main shop as we didn't try it the last time. But I think it is so so only lah

The veggy goose didn't look appetizing at all.......

The Chiu Chow goose was the only dish that was comparable to that of the main shop

Most disappointing of all was the noodle.  We had such high expectation and it was a total flop!!! Tasted so bad, even the kids didn't want to eat it!!!

Definitely not going to the airport branch ever again!

Hung's deliciacies

3P116 & 3P117, Level 3
Sky Plaza, Terminal 2
Hong Kong International Airport
Chek Lap Kok
Tel: 3197 9331

Adventure #17: Pho26

Each Sat after the kids' class, we looked around Sheung Wan for lunch.  Today we decided to try Pho26, a Vietmanese eatery. 

Our favourite Vietnamese restaurant is Nha Trang.  So, we ordered our favourite dishes to compare.

G's raw beef noodle was not as good



My lemon grass beef in glass noodle tasted better than it looked but still not as good as Nha Trang

The pork in the BBQ pork rice was far too tough

The curry beef turned out ok

We still prefer Nha Trang.......

Adventure #16: 祥記飯店

Enticed by this blog, 6 foodies willingly joined me for dinner tonight at 祥記飯店.  However, once I sat down and saw that the English name of 祥記 is Club The Silver.....I wasn't so confident about my choice of restaurant for the night.

For starters we had the vegetarian goose 素鵝 and the peking duck 片皮鴨.  Although the vegetarian goose was the restaurant's specialty, we didn't think much of it, not smokey at all.  The peking duck, on the other hand, was rather well made. May be this is because this is a guilo Chinese restaurant! Shortly after we sat down, we realised that the majority of the restaurant's patrons were guilos. Not surprising given its location in Wanchai.



Fred looked satisfactorily at the starters



The lamb in spring onion 京燒羊肉 is very good



So is this veggy dish 和菜戴帽 



This is something all of us haven't tried for a long time - a favourite with guilos and children

We also had 蔥油餅 and 鴨崧生菜包 which were quite good.  All in all, pretty good food considering it is a guilo Chinese restaurant.

Cheung Kee Restaurant/Club Silver

G/F, 75 Lockhart Road
Wan Chai
Tel: 2529 0707

Adventure #15: 太平館餐廳 (CWB)

This Friday night, we had initially planned to try out an eatery in Tai Hang. Unfortunately, we arrived late and there was already a queue outside the place. The queue kept growing as we tried in vain to find a parking space.  In the end, we gave up and ventured to Causeway Bay instead for dinner.

While in CWB, we walked past Tai Ping Koon Restaurant.  Although we usually go to the one in Central, it was past 8pm and our tummies were protesting furiously, so we decided to give it a try.  Luckily, the queue was not too long and we were seated within 20 minutes.

As with the Central restaurant, the waiters here are all as old if not older than my dad.  Deco a little dated - just enough to create that nostalgic feeling. 

We ordered our usual 2-person set dinner which started with the signature warm soft bun.

Then came the seafood soup.

And then things got a little chaotic.  Unlike the Central branch (which presumably is not as busy as the CWB one), the next 3 dishes did not arrived in the order they should.  The roast pigeon should come next and when that is finished followed by the fried beef noodle 干炒牛河.  Instead, the fried vegetable (this dish is not in the Central menu) came with the beef noodle.  And when we were half way through the noodle, the roasted pigeon arrived. 





Once we finished dinner, dessert was served.  The dessert of the day was sponge cake with sweet whipped cream - kinda of Chinese type cake as I used to have cakes like this in Malaysia when I was young, not the same at all as western cakes.  Again, the feeling of nostalgia.

Dessert is served with tea or coffee.  Geoff ordered a Yin Yong, a mixture of tea and coffee. He said it tasted just like the one his grandma used to make - nostalgia.  I had the milk tea which is nice and strong and served in a TPK cup!

To conclude, food quality was as good as the one in Central but the service was not.  We still prefer the Central TPK Restaurant.

Tai Ping Koon Restaurant (CWB)

6 Pak Sha Road
Causeway Bay

Tel: 2576 9161

Tai Ping Koon Restaurant (Central)

G/F, No. 60 Standley Street
Central
Tel: 2899 2780