Adventure #107: Soi 38 (Bangkok)

Soi 38 is another one of our must visit destinations.  There is an enclave on the right in the beginning of the street with food that we really liked.  So, the plan today was to have a nice long Thai massage at the Asia Herb Association, a spa behind Emporium and then make our leisurely way to Soi 38 for a late dinner.

We didn't book ahead coz G didn't have the contact details, we thought we'd try our luck.  No luck today! The spa was fully booked and I was getting really hungry (the duck noodle this afternoon was only small), we made our way to Soi 38, getting there at around 6.30pm when the stalls were just opening up.  Tragedy - our favourite stalls in the enclave were not yet opened!!!

We asked around and were told that these stalls opened at around 8pm.  Hungry and disappointed, we walked down Soi 38 for the first time.

Towards the end of Soi 38, we came across a stall selling roast pork noodle 燒肉粉. The stuff on his stall looked really good, so we sat down and ordered.

Good choice.  It was very delicious. 

After food, brain started to work again.  Reluctant to leave without tasting our favourite noodle.  So, we crossed the main road, found a decent looking foot massage place and slept for 90 mins!

Then just after 8pm, we made our way back to Soi 38 to find the whole street alive with diners!

Dry wonton noodle with crab meat. 
Very different from the dry noodle we have in Malaysia but very delicious.

The stall near the entrance of the enclave serves very good Pha Thai and O Jian 蠔煎 but too full tonight to have any.

But we could not leave without the mango sticky rice from the store opposite.  So, we bought one to go!

A wonderful end to our long dinner

Adventure #106: Duck Soup Noodle (Bangkok)

We stopped by the weekend Chatucak market every time we visit Bangkok.  Of all the food we tried there over the years, the duck noodle over in Section 4 remains G's favourite.

So delicious that G had to have another one!

Also ordered extra meat and stuff on the side.

No question about it, this joint is one of G's favourite hawker food stalls anywhere in the world.

Adventure #105: Bo.Lan (Bangkok)

Tis' the time of the year and G and I were off to Bangkok for our annual "no-kids" get away.  The trip didn't start off well.  Soon after I landed in Bangkok, I ended up eating a late although rather delicious lunch at Grand Hyatt's tea house in Erawan Center followed by endless walking round and round Erawan Center while on a conference call the whole time - for over an hour and a half!

After the call, everything calmed down a bit and we were able to plan our 4 days in Bangkok.  For our first dinner, we met up with G's high school friend Woon Siew for dinner at Bo.Lan, a contemporary Thai restaurant.  Bo.Lan was named after its two chefs: Duangporn Songvisava (Bo) and Dylan Jones (Lan), both of who trained at Nahm in London under Michelin-starred Chef, David Thompson.

As with many high end restaurants in Bangkok, Bo.Lan is housed in a bungalow just off a busy main road, giving it plenty of character.

To avoid missing out on any signature dishes, we opted for the tasting menu.

Our welcome drink - ice cold pandan flavoured drink. Really refreshing.

Complementary rice crispy - sweet crispy rice with an occasional kick - chili!  Loved it!

Ya dong grachai dum served with sour fruits - basically a shot of Thai rice wine (left) followed by a shot of pandan juice (right) and then finished with some sour fruits.  Not what I expected but this combo really gave us a zesty jolt. Now we were totally ready for our meal.

As the alcohol from the rice wine kicked in, the second course arrived.
Bo.Lan Amuse Bouche - from left - curry wrapped in waffle (sweet but interesting), rice salad with salmon (I think...whatever it was, it was delicious!), a very spicy fish salad (this one was fiery, burnt my tongue). 

Another complimentary dish made of fried shredded pork (I think....again.....must be rice wine), to soothe the burn from the spicy fish.

Included in the tasting menu is a soup dish. They have a clam soup that is not spicy and spicy pork rib or beef soup.  I didn't want too much spice so I ordered the clam soup while the others ordered the more popular spicy spare rib soup.  As it turned out the clam soup was also spicy!

The spicy pork rib soup tasted much better. 

Like the Chinese, the Thai have soup together with their food. So, it was served just before the mains arrived. And they also served us rice to go with the mains.

The stir-fried pork tender with chili relish of dried prawns was a very unique and excellent dish.

The salad of "Nakornsrithammarat" sweet prawns, green mango with small fried fish was delicious but no element of surprise there. Just another good dish.

"Mon" style khii lek (Cassioa) leaf and flower curry with grilled ocean fish accompanied with pickled mustard green salad. Eaten by itself, the curry was good but a bit bland. But when taken with the pickled mustard green salad, the curry suddenly came alive! A wonderful dish.

Chili relish of steamed herbal fed chicken served with fried fresh water fish and local vegetables. This was an unusual dish. Although G said the chicken in the middle tasted like Malaysian otak-otak!

On the menu, this was merely known as pre-dessert, one of three desserts!  The crispy roll on top and the cold sweet jelly like dessert was such a contrast.

Then came HIS and HERS desserts - This was HIS for G and Woon Siew. Something made of sticky rice and fruits.

This was HERS or mine!  Coconut sago dessert with banana and crispy coconut.  Traditional yet different. I liked this.

After two wonderful desserts, we were served Bo.Lan blend of Chiang Mai tea with spices, mint, ginger and honey. 

Bo.Lan's version of the petite fours. Very interesting but I think a bit over the top.

Had a unique and wonderful dining experience. 

Bo Lan
42 Soi Pichai Ronnarong
Songkram Sukhumvit 26
Klongteoy
Bangkok 10110
Tel: (662) 260-2962

Adventure #104: Mooncakes - Peninsula vs Wangyue

We have stopped eating the traditional mooncake made with lotus seeds for a long time and have opted instead for a more modern and lighter version 冰皮月餅.  However, in recent years, G's preference shifted to another modern version of the mooncake 奶黃月餅.  And his favourite is from Peninsula Hotel.

This year, there was a big fuss surrounding Peninsula's mooncake.  Swamps of people went to queue up at the Peninsula to buy coupons for the mooncake and when the coupons were sold out, there were still many in the queue and a small riot broke out! Only in HK. We thought there was not a chance in the world we were going to eat Peninsula's mooncake this year. So I went in search for the next best thing.

I read in a local magazine that a bakery in Kowloon called 望月, supposedly has the best 奶黃月餅 in town.  So, I arranged for our maid to pick up 2 boxes for us. 

When my 望月 mooncakes arrived, so did a box of Peninsula mooncakes! Oh well, at least now we can have a tasting and compare the two.

The well sought after mini mooncakes from Peninsula Hotel

The mini mooncakes from 望月. Master Yip, who is now a mooncake consultant at 望月 used to work at Peninsula and claims that he is the inventor of these mini mooncakes 迷你酥皮奶黃月餅.

Peninsula vs 望月

The inside of the Peninsula mooncake, filled with creamy egg custard with minced egg yolk.

The 望月 mooncake is essentially the same but it has a fluffier pastry and in the middle of the mooncake, it has a salty egg yolk. 

G dislikes having a lot of egg yolk in his mooncake so his initial reaction was that he still prefers the Peninsula ones.  However, when he tried the 望月 mooncake again without the yolk, he was not so sure.

We had a few more tastings with friends and I think the conclusion is:
It's a TIE!

Adventure #103: AMMO

Browsing through the web looking for a lunch venue in Admiralty, I came across a fairly new restaurant named AMMO.  An interesting name, not only is it a short form for ammunition - the building housing the restaurant used to be an old ammunition warehouse, it also stands for Asia, Modern, Museum, Original (sounds like they were probably trying too hard)-part of the building is now a Museum of Asian Culture (or something along that line). 

I have worked in Admiralty for almost 18 years and never knew that there is a building at the end (or top) of Justice Road!  So, I called up to reserve a table. Guess what?! They told me the earliest available lunch date they had then was over a month later on 18 September.  And I thought, why not, I'd take it.

18 September arrived and we made my way up Justice Road. 

The restaurant was behind the main building separating it from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The interior which was decorated mainly with copper pipes gave it a contemporary retro look

We ordered the set lunch and they started us with some nice warm bread.  The one made with black pepper was delicious!

I had the Zucchini Trumbetta Gateau with Anchovies and Crispy Mozzarella.  The gateau was ok but I was more impressed with the fried mozzarella.

G thought his Seafood Soup with Rouille Sauce and French Baguette was excellent.

I had the Fettuccine with Quail Ragout and Parmesan Fondue which I thought was very well done.

G's Tagliolini with Tuna Tartare and Yogurt Sauce was an interesting mix of East and West.

I loved my Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream.

And this Hazelnut Praline Parfait with Chocolate Sauce was just sufficient to complete G's lunch as he is generally not into very sweet western desserts.

And of course the mandatory coffee.

We thought the quality of food and service was very good and value for money at the lunch-time prices.  We were more impressed with the decor and the location of the restaurant.  Felt like an oasis in the middle of HK. 

AMMO

9 Justice Drive

Admiralty

Tel: 2537 9888



Adventure #102: 群記清湯腩

Today, a charity event took us to Tai Wai in the New Territories. And since we were in the area, we thought we should check out 群記清湯腩 in Tai Po, which was relatively nearby.

群記清湯腩 is the only other 3-star "affordable" eatery rated by a well known local magazine, the other one being 阿鴻小吃. However, other than for the food the other comments about the establishment in the magazine were not very flattering.

As with all good food in HK, we had to queue up for about 30 mins before we were seated.  It didn't help that the shop was small with seating for only about 20-25 "diners". Having read the comments, we also expected very bad service from the waitresses but suprisingly no one yelled at us, so I guess the service was ok (by old HK standards of course)!  This could also be a positive side-effect from the magazine who mentioned a very rude lady who worked there.  Either she was fired (unlikely as all the staff appear related) or was suitably embarassed enough to mend her ways.

This eatery is famous for serving all parts of the "bull/cow" from the normal beef brisket (and you can choose whether you prefer the fattier ones or leaner ones) to beef cheek to beef tendon to bull's penis!

豬油渣麵 - Pork fat noodle. As this was advertised as one of their specialties, we ordered it. Not quite what we expected - we were expecting noodles topped with fried pork lard. Was a bit disappointed coz I am not a fan of soft pork fat.  Noodle was tasty though a bit salty.

牛腩河粉 - The kids had the usual beef brisket noodle which was very tasty.

牛腩 - We ordered extra beef brisket to try and cover as much as we could on the menu.  We asked for the leaner, softer ones and we weren't disappointed.

Food was good but I think we overdid it on the meat.  Not something we can eat often.  The food was pretty good overall but we didn't think it merits 3 stars (perhaps somewhere between 1-2 stars tops).  As 3 stars go, we definitely prefer 阿鴻小吃, so it will be a long while before we revisit.


群記清湯腩

G/F, 26 Dai Ming Lane

Tai Po Market

Tai Po

Adventure #101: Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant

An old friend is visiting from Malaysia, so we do what Malaysians do - gather some Malaysian friends and have a feast!   This time we decided to give the Shanghainese restaurant in the basement of the Century Hotel in Wanchai a try.  It used to be 老正興飯店 and we used to eat there a lot, especially when our parents were in town. 

Like 老正興飯店, Lao Shang Hai Restaurant is also a Shanghainese restaurant. And since we are 10 strong, we can try many more dishes.  That's the beauty of Chinese cuisine!

We started off with 5 classic cold dishes.  All very well done.

Didn't know whether to order the drunken chicken (top top) or the drunken pigeon (top), so we ordered both. I think the drunken pigeon was slightly better as it had a stronger flavour.

Tofu with century egg, my favourite

烤麩, my favourite too

Chicken, noodle with peanut sauce, who can resist that

And the excellent cold dishes were followed by 8 main dishes......

The 龍井抄蝦仁 was very good.  Able to taste the tea infused into the prawns

This was a chicken dish which name I forgot!

乳腐方肉 is one of the signature dishes. Meat was very tasty.

清燉獅子頭 is also one of the signature dishes. Again very well done.

Sweet and sour fish, a must have in a Shanghainese restaurant. An ok dish.

To complete the meal, we had 2 veggie dishes.  乾煸四季豆 a classic Shanghainese dish.

Stir-fried spinach

This was 肉絲雙面黃, a noodle dish.  Wanted something different but ended up with this. Though not what I had wanted to order, it tasted good.

We conclude the dinner with 2 of G's favourite dessert, dumpling.....

......and 棗泥鍋餅

We didn't order any speciality dishes, all classic Shanghainese dishes and all great.  Still one of the better Shanghainese restaurants in HK.

Hong Kong Lao Shang Hai Restaurant

UG1, Novotel Century Hong Kong

238 Jaffe Road

Wan Chai

Tel: 2827-9339