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 #133: Ezo Seafood (Hirafu)

Updated on 27 January 2014 at Ezo Seafood (Take 2) 

We didn't pick this restaurant initially but the reviews were quite good and G was recommended this restaurant by one of the skiers in our ski class.  Lucky we did as the food quality here is excellent.  The restaurant is somewhat similar to the Malaysian style seafood joints where the fresh seafood is displayed, you pick the seafood you want and then decide how you want it cooked. 



The focal point of the restaurant was the chilled counter full of various seafood from fish to clams to crabs to.....etc

The proprietor is a fluent Jap speaking Aussie chap (and his Japanese wife)

Chilled Hokkaido snow crab legs

The crab legs were out of this world and priced as such.  We planned to savour it between G and I, with a share for the older one as she is normally reasonably adventurous with food.   Little did we realize that it was the little one who was munching down those legs.  Aiyo...even the little one knows a good thing when she taste one.  Poor parents...literally. 

Fish and chips

The fish and chips was ordered for the little one but she preferred the crab legs.  It was an interesting dish as the fish used was salmon.  Never had that one before.

Braised fish

The simple braised fish in soy sauce was excellent.  The kids loved it mixed with Japanese rice.  The little one even preferred this to the fish and chips.

Steamed clams in sake

Clam chowder...Japanese style

We certainly overdid it on the quantity but everything looked and sounded so delicous. We were not disappointed and thoroughly recommend anybody visiting Hirafu to try this place out.


Ezo Seafood
170-165 Yamada, Kutchan-cho
Abuta-gun, Hokkaido 044-0081
Japan

Tel: +81-136-22-3019+81-136-22-3019

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Adventure #129: Bang Bang (Hirafu)

Updated on 26 January 2014 at Bang Bang (Take 2)

Today's feast was at a very well known yakitori joint called Bang Bang. 

Grilled squid - G says its the best he has ever had.  Has this smoky charcoal grilled aroma and flavour but yet juicy and tender.

We ordered the fried potato wedges for our picky little eater but it was so good, we all fought for it, much to the little one's dismay.

A must have - beef

Asparagus roll (right) and the very interesting garlic sprout roll (left).

The standard chicken for the little one.

We also had yakitori skewers such as chicken liver, mushroom, ox tongue as well as venison which was excellent.

We would also have liked to try the grilled salmon head and the grilled Hokkaido crab legs but with only 2 eating adults......maybe next time.

The quality of the food here is excellent.  The older one voted this the best restaurant on this trip.

Bang Bang
188-24 Yamada, Kutchan-cho
Abuta-gun, Hokkaido 044-0081
Japan
Tel: +81-136-22-4292+81-136-22-4292

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Adventure #78: Bombay Dreams Indian Cuisine

Updated on 30 April 2013

After the excellent dinner last night, G refused to go back to our maid's cooking. So, he looked through the various guides and finally settled on Bombay Dreams.  Bombay Dreams has been around for a long long time but for whatever reason we never tried it.

Anyways, here we were tonight hoping to keep our culinary adventure going.  When we got to the lift lobby, there was an Indian family (including grandma and grandpa) going to the same restaurant. A good indication of the food quality.....I hope. Decor was modern and classy - not the traditional Indian joint.

They started us with a very refreshing free appetizer which consisted of crispy sliced lotus root, sweet potatoes chunks with yoghurt and tamarind sauce - yum!

Lukhnowi gosht biryani, the lamb briyani was full of flavour and yet not too spicy on the palate.

Palak Paneer, home made cottage cheese chunks with spinach. G's all time favourite. Very creamy......refused to think of the calories.

Chicken vindaloo, unlike the ones we used to have in England, this is the real McCoy - fiery hot!!!

Lucky it came with yoghurt and chopped onions.  Interesting how the yoghurt was able to neutralize the spiciness and yet bring out the flavour.

The mains were really filling but could not resist our favourite Jamun-E-Gul. An excellent dish to finish dinner with.

Update on 30 April 2013

The older one will be leaving for a 2-week school trip to Xian this weekend. So, today we took her out to dinner to spend some one-on-one time with her.  To prepare her for the food in Xian (we were told some of them spicy), we decided to go for curry at our favourite curry joint, Bombay Dreams.

In addition to our favourite dishes such as the lamb biryani and the home made cottage cheese chunks with spinach, we also wanted to order a not-so-spicy dish for the older one. 

G settle on Kadhai Gosht Kali Mirch, bonesless lamb marinated in yoghurt and crushed peppercorns cooked in a Handi without consulting the waiter. And as it turned out, this dish was very delicious, meat tender and the sauce delicious but it was more spicy than a curry. Lucky the older one had a lassi which helped cool her down.

For dessert, since there were 3 of us, in addition to our no. 1 favourite Jamun-E-Gul, we also ordered our no.2 favourite Rasmalai, cottage cheese dumplings in rabri (sweetened milk). 

Rasmalai - this is made slightly different from the ones we had. The milk had a slightly more salty taste to it. A bigger contrast of sweet and savoury. 

Bombay Dreams Indian Cruisine
4/F, 77 Wyndham Street
Central.
Tel: 2971 0001
Buffet lunch 12.00 Noon – 3.00 PM
A la carte dinner 6.00 PM to 11.00 PM daily
Sunday Bubbly Brunch Buffet 12.00 Noon to 3.00 PM

Adventure #57: Restaurant Leung Chee Hoong (Bukit Tinggi)

Updated on 5 April 2013

Tonight, my brother took us to sample his recent discovery - vermicelli cooked with big-head prawns 冬粉生蝦煲 at a restaurant in Bukit Tinggi.  I have never been to Bukit Tinggi which is on the way to Genting Highlands.  It is a funny place.  A whole row of shops and restaurants literally just pop up in the middle of the highway.  It is nowhere near the sea but all restaurants serve seafood - although I think there is a river nearby but I can't see it.

Traffic was relatively good coming here, took us only 20-25 mins rather than the usual 40-45 mins.  When we got to Bukit Tinggi, we drove past the main street, past all the big restaurants to the one right at the end of the street. It's a small restaurant with vegetable and fruits stalls on both sides and a counter that sell many specialty snacks.



This was what we were here for! Looked steaming good.




The soup which was already extremely tasty was not as orangy in colour as expected as there were not many prawns with roe.  The vermicelli which had absorbed the essence of the soup was sooooo yummy! Well worth the trip here.





This steam Sun Hok fish 順殼魚 was nicely done. Cooked just right so the fish was firm yet juicy. 



We also ordered other dishes but they were only OK when compared to the prawn dish. So, maybe next time, we just double up the prawn dish and call it a day!

Update - 5 April 2013

Went back again with the family for the vermicelli cooked with big-head prawns. This dish was still good. I was told that after my first visit, this restaurant has gotten a bit more popular and as a result service has gone downhill.  That is a fatal fault in a restaurant business, I hope they take note of this.

This trip we tried a new dish - deep fried 非洲魚. Again, the quality varies, this time it was OK.

Rstoran Leong Chee Hoong

No. 1, Kg. Bukit Tinggi

28750 Bentong

Pahang, Malaysia

Tel: +6018-908-8090

10:30am to 10:00pm

Adventure #41: Tanyoto Hotpot

Updated on 14 March 2012

The weather continued to be cold, staying at low teens for the most of the week. So, where better to have dinner on Saturday than a hotpot restaurant.  Someone brought up Tanyoto Hotpot 譚魚頭火鍋, so we decided to give it a try. Tanyoto is well known for its spicy hotpot soup base but we decided to try the mix one instead. 

Half of the pot was a non-spicy tomato soup and the other the deadly spicy one covered with a layer of red chili oil!

 

This was supposed to be the dipping bowl......don't we get to choose???



We were told to add the soup base to it......kinda weird as we were expecting soya sauce, peanut sauce etc
As it turned out, the dipping "sauce" was a total let down as it added nothing to the flavour.

The pot looked deliciously inviting as the food simmered away

 

We ordered the usual - beef, mutton, balls, dumpling, veggies etc but only managed to take the photo of the beef.


The restaurant is big (3 floors), table well spaced (rare in HK), clean and service OK.  Food-wise, the soups were delicious (I really like the tomato based soup which is one of its signature dish), the beef was good but prefer that from 滾得棧, BUT their dumplings were the best!

Update - 14 March 2012
Went back again with the kids. Ordered a mixture of the tomato soup base (still my favourite) and the fish soup base (which G now prefers). Ordered the Aussie beef instead of the US beef. Kids prefer this to 滾得棧 Hot in a Pot.


Tanyoto Hotpot
1-3/F,129-135 Johnston Road
Wan Chai
Tel: 2893 9268