Wednesday, April 28, 2010

[HK Dec 2009] Day 4 What we ate

Breakfast at Cafe de Coral

Sick of hotel's breakfasts, we decided to check out Hong Kongers' favourite local fast food joint.

Fried noodles@Cafe de Coral
Fried noodles

Oily and ordinary.

Chicken chop set@Cafe de Corak HK
Maple syrup chicken chop set

Chicken chop tender and well marinated. Pan-fried radish cake is average, not too floury which is good.

The noodles was so blah, I decided to eat something nice and trekked up the street to buy egg tart from Tai Cheong. We were in Hong Kong for god's sake! Shouldn't be bogged down by sub-par food.

Ah bliss, those egg tarts never failed to please.

Tummy pleased, we made our way to Ocean Park.

Total waste of time and money. The only thing Princess enjoyed was those kiddy rides and we had better ones at our own backyard theme parks, Movie World, Seaworld so on and so on.

I even had asthma attack walking up and down the slopy roads. Not to mention the anxiety attacks earlier at the super long and scarily steep escalators at the bottom of those hills.

We had curry fishballs, mock sharks fin soup at the park and Princess had chips. All blah, must fuel the body with something nice when we escaped this nightmare place, grrrr, need good food!!

Tea at Salon de Thé de Joël Robuchon (Landmark, Central)

Went with the intention of having the tea set but they were sold out, chan nian-ing...

Not even a macaron in sight, sob.....

Also can't see millefuille, cry..........

Opera slice@obuchon de Salon de The HK
Opera slice

This was so more-ish, one of the best I have tasted, no joke!

Almond croissant@Robuchon Salon de The HK
Custard, chocolate and banana croissant

This is average (the croissant) but the filling is surprising tasty. Normally I shun banana whatever bake goods. I ordered this because Princess die die want almond croissant.

Not pictured but we also had a pear and caramel slice. It was so good I dived in and totally forgot to take a picture!

Caramel tea@Robuchon de Salon de The HK
Kusmi caramel tea

Of course we had coffee too, it was decent. The tea tasted medicinal, liquorish/aniseedy which I personally dislike.

Dinner at Mak An noodles house

Mak An Wonton Noodles
CWB branch

Wonton noodles@Mak An CWB
Dumpling noodle soup

The soup was seasoned OTT with white pepper and MSG. The wontons were tiny with little fillings. This can survived in good-food aplenty Hong Kong!? Seriously??

The noodles were springy, of course, for it reeks of alkali water. The lye was so strong it kind of seeped into the soup. Urghhh, total disaster bowl of 'thing'.

I can't believe Hong Kongers actually tolerate this 'thing'.

Dessert at Yan Wo soy products shop

Gloomy faced, I told Big-King I die die must eat something nice. We were in Hong Kong for @#$%'s sake. Morning episode coming back to haunt......

Soy products speciality shop@ CWB
Cross the street and we arrived at a soy products 'specialist'.

Stuffed beancurd@CWB
Stuffed beancurds with fish paste

A man was pan-frying the stuffed beancurd near the entrance. The smell was amazing, it kept getting my attention as I was reading the menu.

Of course, I die die must try.

The stuffed beancurds were quite tasty and even nicer with the chilli sauce on the table. But they were quite oily. There were ladies on other tables using lots of tissues to soak up the oil.

Tau fu fah@CWB
Beancurd tau-fu-fah with black sesame paste

Tau-fu-fah was awesome!! Lose the black sesame paste, it got diluted by the syrup and made it looked and tasted yuck.

Princess die die wanted her daily dose of black sesame paste glutinous balls tong yun. I got a take-away from Lucky Dessert and they were blah tiny with little filling with super spicy gingery soup. But Princess enjoyed them nonetheless. Also had a take-away steamed milk pudding from Chui Yun, totally blah.

I wonder where I can find a good traditional dessert shop around CWB?

Friday, April 09, 2010

[Brisbane] Beastie Burgers

Beastie Burgers
Shop 60D
Little Stanley St
Southbank 4101 Qld

Beastie Burgers@Southbank
Established less than 2 years ago, this little burger joint on the restaurant stretch of Southbank offers gourmet style burgers.

Brisbane has seen mushrooming of gourmet burger joints after rapid expansion of Grill'd. There is even one branch in my sleepy neighbourhood.
Pork burger@Beastie Burgers
Pork burger

It was supposed to be served with apple sauce instead of sweet chili mayo you see on the pic but they ran out. What? At 12.xx less than 2 hours after opening??

But the mayo goes well with the tasty pork patty.

Lamb burger@Beastie Burgers
Lamb burger

This is a seroiusly huge burger. Lamb patty topped with grilled eggplant and sweet potato. The lamb patty was disappointingly bland and dry. The flavours of the condiments do not go well with each other, sweet potato does not go well with eggplant and capsicum sauce and avocado puree. I'd say replace the sweet potato with grilled capsicum (though I don't like it) or lose it altogether. It has no place here, just spoiling the harmony of taste.

Balsamic fries@Beastie Burger
Balsamic glazed fries with dip

An idea copied from Red Rock Deli gourmet chips flavour perhaps? Fries were hot and crunchy, nothing spectacular nor memorable.

Now, the herby salted fries at Grill'd are simply to die for, it's no.1 in Brisbane in my book and no.2 is Salsa's spiced Mexican crinkled fries *drool*