Adventure #46: Ho Choi Seafood Restaurant (Sheung Wan)

We used to frequent Ho Choi Seafood Restaurant (only the Sheung Wan branch) and then I cannot remember why we stopped going.  G's mum is in town, so we went to Ho Choi again after a long long while.  We ordered our usual plus a couple of different one for dinner. Quality still good.

Lobster cooked in broth with noodle is one of our must eat.  We were asked to choose between Canadian Lobster at HK$8.8 per 両 (16 両 in 1 kati, a Chinese pound) or Australian lobster at HK$23.5 per 両.  Errr, that's a no brainer, of course Canadian! When asked, the head waiter said the reason for the high price for the Australian lobster is because they were all eaten up by Mainlanders! So what's new these days! 

Next came the deep fried oysters.  This is a new dish for us and rather interesting.

Our other must have is steam scallops in soya sauce and vermicelli with lots of garlic and spring onions. Heavenly!

We also ordered sweet and sour pork for our picky little eater.

And finally some vegetable to round up the dinner.

I am glad we went back to Ho Choi.  Good quality food at still reasonable prices.

Ho Choi Seafood Restaurant

287-291 Des Voeus Road Central
Sheung Wan
Tel: 2850-6722

Adventure #45: Yuen Kee Dessert

One of G's favourite dessert is 白果腐竹. We used to frequent one local dessert shop at Aberdeen but sadly that closed down last year (victim of the ever increasing rent in HK) and we never found out where it went.  So, G has been out of his favourite dessert for some time until a friend mentioned that an old dessert shop at Sai Ying Pun may serve it. 


After dinner one night, we ventured around the area and found Yuen Kee Dessert Shop 源記甜品專家.  It sure look old and very traditional.  Unfortunately, no 白果腐竹.  But we tried their 杏仁茶, 綠豆沙, 芝麻糊 and famous 雞蛋糕 which were all good.

So, our search for a decent 白果腐竹 continues.......

Yuen Kee Dessert
G/F, 32 Centre Street
Western District
Tel: 2548 8687

Mon - Sun: 12:00-23:30

Adventure #44: Posto Pubblico

After 3 days of gym and cereal for lunch, I was really looking forward to today's lunch at Posto Pubblico.  And I wasn't disappointed.  The food quality good and portion large (American Italian!).  At HK$130, the set lunch which included a starter, a main and coffee/tea was good value.



The Veal Meatballs were soft and yummy




The Mozzarella with Cherry Tomatoes and Balsamic Vineger were just amazing!



The spicy Bucatini a'Matricana was a bit different than the usual pastas

The Roast Pork with Pesto was huge, I think it could do with a bit more pesto

Posto Pubblico
G/F, 28 Elgin Street
SOHO
Central

Tel: 2577 7160

Adventure #43: 麵尊

We stumbled upon this noodle (車仔麵) shop in Sheungwan a few weeks ago and we have been eating there 3 Saturdays in a row.  It's good and the kids love it.

After 3 weeks of trial and error, G finally admitted that for 車仔麵 it is best to have it with yellow noodle 油麵



Mine



Even the older one agreed that the turnip was really very good - very sweet

As usual, the picky one only wanted sausages and instant noodle

Noodle Supreme
Shop 1, 22-24 Jervois Street
Sheung Wan
Tel: 2851 0626

Mon - Fri: 11:00-19:00

Sat: 11:00-18:00
Closed Sun and public hols

Adventure #42: The Bostonian

For our Friday night out, we went to The Bostonian at the Langham Hotel, TST with Amy and Luca.  To start the evening off, we ordered an Australian red called Barrel Monkeys - trust the Aussies to come up with such interesting names!

For starters, we had.......


Succulent oysters (Virginia, Skookum and Irish Rock) - very fresh and juicy



4 different type of salmon - I prefer the oysters

and Lobster Chowder - G had wanted to have Clam Chowder (kinda miss our East Coast Road Trip in 2010) but they were doing a lobster promotion and thought this might be an interesting try. It was different to the clam chowder but very good

For mains.......

I had a Sauteed Lobster with Clams from the Lobster Promotion menu - a rather interesting twist - with Japanese pickle ginger

G too had Lobster Pot Pie from the Lobster Promotion Menu - very good

Amy had a Grilled Lobster - similar to my Sauteed Lobster but with a creamier sauce

Luca had a good old fashion Rib Eye - yummmm

We had so much to eat, we had no room for dessert.  However, to complete the dinner, we ordered 1 desset to share amongst the 4 of us - the waiter recommended a Chocolate Cream Pie.  Unfortunately, it didn't lived up to our expectations.  To sum the night up, the oysters were fresh and juicy - very important as I have a rather sensitive tummy - I was fine after dinner.  Food quality that night was very good, defnitely come back again.

The Bostonian Restaurant

Lower lobby level
The Langham Hong Kong
8 Peking Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 2132 7898

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

Adventure #40: Gourmet Burger Union

Sunday lunch. G went for a hair cut and the older one went for a birthday party.  So, the little one and I went in search for lunch in Central.  We walked along the escalator and decided to try Gourmet Burger Union. 

G.B.U. was on a 1st floor of a building next to the escalator.  Not too many customers on a Sunday afternoon.  Decor tired and manned by 3 Filipino ladies.  I ordered a G.B.U. Burger and the little one had a Traditional Long Hotdog.



The burger was a little dry and the fries not nice

The hotdog was ok but mummy forgot to tell the lady not to add the toppings and mustard!

Should have gone to Shake 'em Bun further up the road.

Gourmet Burger Union

1/F, Cheung Fai Building
45-47 Cochrane Street
Central
Tel: 2581 0521

Adventure #39: Ivan The Kozak

For once, not sure where to dine on a Friday night.  Felt like trying something different and so settled on a Russian restaurant, Ivan The Kozak.  Have seen this restaurant around for the past 10 or so years but never felt like giving it a try until today.  Called up at 6pm on a Friday evening and managed to get a table for 2 for 7.30pm......not a good sign???

Arrived on time and was given a table in the main dinning room. Deco is rather dated.  Musty feel, not my cup of tea.  Restaurant was packed though.  Many of the diners were in groups and had dinner coupons from the likes of Groupons and they had to order from a "special" menu.  We ordered from the "normal" a la carte menu. 



The fruit beer was very refreshing



The Russian Bortsch was different from those we tasted from other restaurant in HK, sourish but very refreshing




The mini pork dumpling served with sour cream was rustic but good

 

Finally, the bubbling braised lamb shoulder was OK


Owner was a friendly HK Chinese man named Ivan! Ahahaha! There were several waitresses some of who looked Russian.  One of them spoke fluent Cantonese. Must have grew up in HK but too young to be his wife and didn't look mixed.  Will find out more if we ever visit again......

Ivan The Kozak

G/F, 46-48 Cochrane Street
Central
Tel: 2851 1193

Adventure #38: Restaurant Kayu (SS2)

We were back in KL for CNY week.  Most days and nights were dominated by meals with family. Today, kids were with cousins and we were left on our own.  Was going to try Roti Canai (my favourite food) at Valentines but G was sure about the location, so we went to Kayu at SS2 instead.  There are many Kayu around town but G said that this one is consistently the best.


It was the second day of CNY, most Chinese eateries were closed, so Kayu was packed.  The food took a while to come because our young waiter kept getting the orders wrong!



The plain roti with dhal is still my favourite

I also ordered the fried maggie mee which is good but texture-wise, I think the 公仔麵 in HK is better

The tandoori chicken was good but the presentation was .. er .. a bit weird

Then we had a tosse (not sure how to spell) which I didn't quite like

Kayu is also famous for its Nasi Kandar but too full to order anymore.  Next time when I am in town......

Adventure #37: BLT Burgers

G wanted to check out something at Ocean Terminals, so we decided to try out BLT Burgers, a well rated burger joint.  No reservations, walk-in only.  We got there before the lunch time crowd, so no waiting.


We ordered the BLT Burger - what else!



G ordered his medium rare.  Burger looked juicy but not as tasty as I expected.



The waffle fries, on the other hand, were heavenly!



The coleslaw ok but the pickle that came with it rather bland.

The milk shake that came with the combo was a bit too thick even for the kids.  G was put off by the sprinkles on top - he's a MAN.  Had shopping to do so didn't try the Spiked Milk Shake - should be interesting, milk shake with vodka!



As usual, we had to order different for the little one who had the corn dog from the kids menu.  She was not very impressed with this.



The A&W Root Beer, surprisingly, was a hit with all!

I think we preferred the Angus beef burger we get from Pacific Gourmet and fire up on our BBQ.  For burger joints, I prefer Triple O at Great. Shake em Bun is not too bad either.

BLT Burgers
Shop OT301-301A
3/F, Ocean Terminal
Harbour City
17 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: 2730 2338