Adventure #36: 輝記盆菜 (Take Away)

I have always wanted to try 盆菜.  But this is a dish to share and I have never been able to mobilise 10-12 people to track all the way to the New Territories for this.  This year, I decided to have one at our new place.  Once I mentioned this, I was told to order from 輝記盆菜, the place the locals in Yuen Long go for 盆菜.

The 盆菜 came just 30 mins before the dinner was due to start.  Once again, I forgot to take a picture of the 盆菜 in its original state.  I was eager to see what's inside!  Anyways, 盆菜 is a poor man's food - that is why everything is cooked in a 盆 (basin).  So, you didn't miss much......



Chicken and prawns on the top.  Braised meat below.  But the most yummy ones are the mushroom, turnip, fu-pei etc at the bottom!



We supplemented the 盆菜 with a pot of 南乳斎 made from my mother-in-law's recipe.

There were 12 of us and we only managed to finish about two-thirds of the 盆!  Well, I guess I know what I am having for dinner tomorrow.......

We finished the dinner, appropriately, with tong yun.  Hope this is a good start to all for the Dragon Year!

Adventure #35: Hide-Chan Ramen

Friday evening.  After a few rounds of drinks, feeling a little tipsy, looking for a quick bite before heading out to see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Walked past this ramen place.  Usually packed during lunch time but rather empty now - I guess ramen is not a Friday night dinner thingy. But just the thing we were looking for!

G had a Black-Hide Ramen.
Must add egg (extra) - yoke appropriately runny!

I had the Red-Hide Ramen - Spicy one

Ramen is good, different from the usual Japanese ramen, kinda like a hybrid between Japanese ramen and Chinese wanton noodle.  Nice.

Another signature dish is the Tsukemen 日式撈麵. Will definitely try that next time.

Hide-Chan Ramen

UG/F, The Loop
33 Wellington Street
Central
Tel: 2522 5990

Adventure #34: 渝川菜館 (Take 2)

We still owe Fred his 水煮魚 , so this Saturday we managed to get 8 people together for take 2 at 渝川菜館.  For 8 people, we were entitled to order 5 cold dishes and 8 hot dishes but only entitled to 1 crab dish which had to be pre-ordered.  I wanted to try both the spicy and non-spicy crab, so we paid extra for another crab dish.

As is always the case with me, always so eager to sample the food, very often I forget to take photos of the food for the blog until the food's half gone. And in today's case, the 涼菜 were almost all gone before I remembered!



For 涼菜, we had 口水雞, 夫妻肺片, 川椒皮蛋, 四川涼麵 and a 豆腐 dish. The 四川涼麵 was better than the last time (see middle plate, all gone!) and the 川椒皮蛋 was really good.



They started us off with 川式椒鹽蝦, a non-spicy dish.  As good as I remembered it to be.

Next came another non-spicy dish (hello!) - 蛋黃蟹.  A lot like what we have in Malaysia but the taste not as strong. But very good though.

Finally, our first spicy dish - 重慶辣子蟹.  Obviously very different from the 蛋黃蟹. And this was more 麻 than 辣.

 

The 粉蒸肉 was by far the most disappointing dish.  No one knew what it was supposed to be, it didn't look like anything nor appetizing.  It was supposed to have meat in it but we can hardly taste any.  Definitely not a dish to repeat.

The 酸菜魚 was a refreshing dish and the most popular dish.  I think we finished all but a small bowl of soup.



Finally, THE 水煮魚.  Fred - worth the wait?

 

The 回鍋肉 was not too spicy.  A good dish to follow the 水煮魚.

A 鍋巴 dish - ok lah, nothing special.

We ended with 乾煸四季豆  which turned out to be the spiciest dish of the night! 

Some of us felt that the dinner was not as fiery as expected.  I think perhaps we ordered one too many non-spicy dishes this time - which were all very tasty.  I rather enjoyed it though.  I like spicy but I also like to taste what I eat.

Adventure #33: 勝香園

G has been eating at this joint for many years.  For some reasons, I never made it here. Either I was too late (have to get there before noon for lunch) or it's closed for holiday/renovation etc.  Today, both girls were in classes and we went for a stroll around the area and somehow ended up near Gough Street.  Since it was only about 11am on Saturday, there was no queue.  At last, I was able to try out this place!

G ordered his usual for me to try - 蛋牛番茄通 beef and egg macaroni in tomato soup

 

The beef soft, egg crispy and tomato soup a balance of saltiness and sweetness. No wonder G likes this so much!

G also ordered his other favourite for me to try - 奶油脆 condense milk on toasted bun

And I also had a glass of thick 奶茶 ....... yummmm.

Sing Heung Yuen

2 Mei Lun Street
Central
Mon - Sat: 08:00-17:30
Closed Sun

Adventure #32: Hunan Garden (Times Square)

Today's New Year's Day. The kids were up relatively early despite having stayed past midnight for the count down.  Once again we ventured to Times Square for a bite to eat and some shopping afterwards.  As always, G wanted Chinese food and the kids wanted Western food.  And as always, G won. 

We parked in Times Square and took the lift up to the Food Forum.  Since G wanted dim sum, so we pressed 10.  However, when the lift door opened, all we could see were PEOPLE.  We moved on to another floor.  It's New Year, not going to waste my time queueing.  So, we decided to try Hunan Garden which was rather empty by comparison.......



The older one wanted pizza so we ordered this 蔥油餅 for her instead.  Lots of onion, different but good



We ordered this 蔥油拌麵 for the little one and luckily she loved it! Not as good as the one from Xiao Nan Guo but close

G wanted something less starchy, so he order this 椒鹽九肚魚. It didn't turn out as he expected, he didn't like it but the kids loved it....weird.

We also ordered some dim sum....so so lah.  We will stick to having Hunan food at Hunan Garden.

Hunan Garden at Time Square has since closed.

Adventure #31: 滬揚川上海料理

We often frequent this little restaurant during our Friday night CWB shopping trips.  The food quality varies depending on the dishes ordered. We tried a number of dishes over the years and only like a couple.  We usually only order肉末粉絲 mince meat in glass noodle and 砂鍋雲吞雞 chicken wanton soup for dinner for the two of us.

Today, we were in a bit of a hurry.  We came to CWB to get some stuff for the new flat but the Christmas shopping crowd was just unbelievable! Since it was lunch, we ordered something slightly different.


The 肉末粉絲 is still the best



The noodle  蔥油拌麵 - long on onion and sauce but short on taste



The 小籠包 could be better

I guess we will stick to our usually dishes in the future.

Wu Yueng Chun Shanghai Restaurant

G/F, 18 Matheson Street
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2575 4805

Adventure #30: Sabah

Today we were at Wanchai getting some stuff for the new flat.  And since we were there, we went to try out (again....we were there years ago and the food did not entice us to return) the most well known Malaysian restaurant, Sabah.  After much disappointment over the years, we almost never go for Malaysian food (other than the 蝦麵店) in HK.  However, we have heard quite a few positive comments on Sabah recently from some fellow Malaysians, so here we are.

The first alarm bell - the menu has all sorts of curry including curry rogan josh.....how is that Malaysian?

The second alarm bell - when G ordered a 涼粉 drink, the lady asked if he wanted coconut milk in it.  G just stared at her, totally horrified.

I guess after such a long time in HK, the menu/food had become a bit (we hope only a bit) localised.  However, since we already sat down, we might as well go through with it.  G ordered a fried kuey teow and I ordered Malaysian curry chicken with roti.....and......

The fried kuey teow was definitely not up to standard

Curry chicken was not as good as the ones my helper cooked

The roti was the only thing close to the real thing....

Oh well, back to our golden rule, only have Malaysian food in Malaysia!!!

Sabah Malaysian Cuisine

G/F., Shop 4-5
98-102 Jaffe Road
Wan Chai
Tel: 2143 6626

Adventure #29: Forum 富臨 (CWB)

Today is G's birthday.  We are in the midst of moving into the new flat, so we decided to have a birthday lunch (as with mine but for different reasons) instead.  G is a fan of Chinese food and for lunch today, he chose Forum.  Abalone is not really a lunch thing, so we will leave that to dinner after we get our new place sorted.

As this is his birthday lunch, G ordered ALL of his favourite food (cholesterol, move aside!).

Chinese liver sausage in bun 潤腸卷



Liver Siu Mai 豬潤燒賣



G's favourite noodle 叉燒鮑汁撈麵

Almond Tea 杏仁茶

Food quality is very good and G's a VERY HAPPY bunny!

Forum Restaurant

485 Lockhart Road
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2869 8282

Adventure #28: 雅翠茶餐廳

G always said this place has one of the best roast pork in town.  A bit of a rush today but managed to get a seat for 2 and sampled the 燒肉飯.

Skin is thin and crispy.  Just enough fat on the meat.  Too much rice though.....

G also said the 干炒牛河 is also good.  Save that for my next visit.

Adventure #27: 德如茶餐廳

We usually only eat here a couple times a year and only when the weather is very cool - like today (just under 20C) Why? Coz it is HK style al fresco dining!  

Food is simple but wholesome.  Usual clientele is construction workers and us..... 

Very interesting store front

 

The drinks station or the Bar


 

The 例湯 is full of flavour




Our favourite dish - 梅菜扣肉飯



德如茶餐廳
2, Kwong Ming Street
Wan Chai
Mon - Sun: 06:00-18:00