Adventure #144: Restaurant Ba Yi

Got the gang together for a Friday night dinner.  Decided to go to Ba Yi which specializes in Xin Jiang food, especially all things lamb.  I called on Tuesday to make a reservation for Friday and was told that all dinner slots for 6pm and 7.30pm were already taken, would I be ok for the 9pm slot.  I tried a few other restaurants we wanted to try, they were all full too! This is the annoying thing about HK. Economy is not that great but can never get a place for lunch or dinner without reservation. 

Anyway, since we didn't have much choices, we took the 9pm slot.  With hind sight, not a good idea as we are not late eater, so appetite not so good.

The yogurt drink which was served in a mini jug. Interesting. I liked the original flavoured one but G thought it was a bit too sour for him. For thought who didn't prefer a sour drink, try the mango flavoured one.

The tofu with century egg dish is very good.

This is called tiger veggies, kinda like a veggie salad.  Very refreshing and a little spicy.  A good starter to wake up those taste buds, especially at 9pm.

Mince lamb and veggie to be wrapped in pancake. An OK dish.

Grilled lamb chops. I should have pre-ordered the BBQ leg of lamb which I didn't so we ordered the lamb chops instead. It was OK but the leg of lamb would have been better.

The dumplings were very good.

Finally, spicy chicken.  Very good, just wish the chicken had more meat on it!

I think the food would have tasted much better if we had a "normal" slot. 

Ba Yi Restaurant

G/F, 43 Water Street, Western District
Tel: 2484 9981

Adventure #143: Yorkshire Pudding

Popped over to Soho for lunch again.  Today we felt like having some British food, so Yorkshire Pudding it is. 

Instead of bread, we were served warm Yorkshire pudding with with gravy. Yum!

The set lunch came with salad or soup. We chose the cauliflower soup which tasted OK.

For mains, we had the fish and chips which we thought was very well done.  The batter very light and we could taste the fish.  The chip nice and fat. We much prefer this to the one served at The Pawn

Yorkshire Pudding
8 Staunton Street
SOHO
Central
Tel: 2536 9968

Adventure #142: 店小二(東寶)

Updated on 13 April 2013

Through her contacts, Vernee managed to get us a table at the extreme-difficult-to-book 店小二 for dinner tonight.  I have heard/read about both 東寶 and 店小二 located above the North Point Municipal Market.  Not sure about the relationship of the two but definitely related.   

When we arrived at about 7pm, the 東寶 side was already full and very happening.  The 店小二 side is just getting started.  We sat at our table just outside the kitchen.  Amazing how such a small kitchen (see below) can churn out so many dishes! 

As Vernee and Bernie have been here before, they did the ordering. And what a great job they did, ordering some from the menu and some not.

Spicy eel with spring onion, served cold.  The cold crunchy eel went really well with the tanginess of the spring onion. Very refreshing.

Wasabi squid salad, served cold.  The squid fresh and the wasabi sauce very unique.  My favourite dish of the night.

清蒸馬友魚 Steamed Ma You fish.  This fish was specially reserved for us.  A very simple dish but excellently executed. Fish fresh and tasted awesome.  G's favourite dish.

Prawns on a bed of fried noodle.  Once again, delicious.

Deep fried Japanese oyster.

Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.  The batter very light and didn't overwhelm the oyster.

Sweet and sour pork.  This is supposedly one of their signature dishes. Sauce and pork served separately to prevent the pork getting too soggy.  However, don't know what happened, it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. Disappointing dish.

Last dish, roast chicken.  Roast to perfection, worth the wait. 

A wonderful culinary experience and very reasonably priced. Will definitely come back again.



Update on 13 April 2013
Today we went back there for dinner, taking kids with us.  In addition to some of the classics above such as the wasabi salad, the steamed fish and roast chicken, we also ordered some new dishes. The wasabi salad is still my favourite dish! 



Today, we didn't bring wine, opted for chilled beer served in a bowl.



Drunken pigeon, kids got to it before I managed to take a photo.

Deep fried squid.  Very nice.  Cripsy on the outside and tender on the inside.  As with the deep fried oysters we had the last time, the standard of their deep fried dishes are very good.

Grilled ox tongue.  Not my favourite dish but nicely done.

Liver with spring onion.  Not many places serve this dish.  Very well done. Liver tender. I enjoyed this very much.

Signature steam rice in lotus leaf. Delicious.

The food was as good as the last time.  Although the food is good, I think the food is more for adults.  The kids really didn't enjoyed it.  So, we will be back but not with the kids.

Dim Siu Yi (Tung Po)
CF1-2 Cooked Food Centre
Java Road Municipal Services Building
99 Java Road
North Point
Tel: 2893 9393

Adventure #141: Bistro Manchu

Popped over to Soho for lunch. Today we picked Bistro Manchu which we last visited over 10 years ago.  I remembered food to be good but service not so. Let's see if 10 years made any difference. 

When we got there at about 12.30-ish, there were no other patrons.  We were shown to our seats by a waitress with an indifferent attitude. We ordered a portion of lamb dumplings and 2 noodles.  While we waited for our food, 2 more tables were filled and remained so for the entire lunch period.

After about 20 mins, food still hadn't arrived.  When asked, the waiter said that all their dumplings were made fresh when ordered, hence the wait.  And if we wanted to eat pre-made dumpling, this is not the place. It also seemed that they don't really care for the lunch time crowd. 

Finally, the dumplings arrived and they were good.

牛肉麵 Beef noodle. Beef a bit tough, not much flavour.

炸醬麵 Noodle in sauce.  OK but different, not something we were used to.

The dumplings were good but the noodles so so.  Service barely there. May be come back in another 10 years.

Bistro Manchu
G/F, 33 Elgin Street
SOHO
Central
Tel: 2536 9218

Adventure #140: La Creperie

While in Niseko, the girls didn't get to try the crepes at TNSC and hence we promised to take them to La Creperie. We were there nice and early on a lazy Sunday morning.  Although booking is accepted on the weekends, we didn't make a reservation but still managed to get a table on arrival.

Whilst the decor gives a warm and cosy feel, we didn't feel that way as there weren't much service from the Nepalese waitresses.

We ordered 3 La Complete to share.  The galettes were a bit too thick and burnt for our liking. Still prefer the ones from TNSC.

For crepes, we had banana and ice cream topped with caramel.  This was much better. The texture of their crepes were better than their galettes.

For the price and service, I think their weekday set lunch offers better value.

La Creperie

1/F, Kui Chi Mansion

100-102 Queen's Road East

Wan Chai

Tel: 2529 9280

Adventure #139: Wing Lai Yuen Sichuan Noodle Restaurant

G bought a new car and wanted to go check out new wheels and body kits.  The only shop we know is at Wong Tai Sin.  So, on a sunny Saturday morning, we were over at Wong Tia Sin.  Just a street away from the Wong Tai Sin Temple is a Sichuan restaurant famous for its Dan Dan noodle.

Really old style - got to rinse utensils in hot water.

The fried 四季豆 was very good but a little too spicy for the kids.

The little one's favourite.  They were good but she liked it coz they were the only things she could eat!

口水雞 very well done. Meat soft. More 麻 than 辣. Nice!

螞蟻上樹 fried vermicelli with mince meat.  Only average.

Finally, THE noodle.  Came in spicy or non-spicy. Of course we had to have the spicy one and just look at the chilli oil! G said this is by far the best dan dan noodle he had.

Will be back again soon when G brings his new car in for fitting.  I am just going to have the dan dan noodle!

Wing Lai Yuen Sze Chuen Noodles Restaurant
G/F, 15-17 Fung Tak Road
Wong Tai Sin
Kowloon
Tel: 2726-3818

Adventure #138: Yat Woon Min

Today, I got tickets to see Liza Wong's concert in 新光戲院, a refurbished theatre in North Point. G and I popped over to North Point after work for a quick bite to eat before the show at 7.45pm.  We were thinking of 阿鴻小吃 but there was already a queue (although short, we didn't think we had the time to spare) when we got there at about 7pm. So, we tried the shop next door, Yat Woon Min or literally translated to be one bowl of noodle.  This shop, which had mixed reviews, is due to close later this month with no new known address. A good excuse to try.

As the name suggests, it specialises in noodle, specifically flat egg noodles.  So, that was what we had.  We also had another of its speciality, hard boiled egg in wine or 酒糟蛋.

The egg came first.  We can smell the wine instantly.

The yoke was still liquid. Good.  A refreshing mix of liquid yoke and wine.

鮑魚腩撈麵 or noodle with pork cheek.  The meat was soft and the noodle, which tasted a bit like pasta, was chewy.  I liked it but G didn't care much of the noodle.

牛腩撈麵 or noodle with beef brisket.  Not much difference, other than the meat.

I quite enjoyed the noodle even if G didn't.  Let's see if it will re-open and if the food will be the same.