ABC Kitchen (Revisited)

My first visit to ABC Kitchen was a couple of months ago but on a different capacity. You can check out my first review here. This time around I finally got the chance to order the entire Roasted Suckling Pig since we have 6 people. Pictures will follow later. As mentioned before ABC Kitchen stands for A Better Cooking kitchen which offers a range of Continental cuisines including French, Italian and a bit or Portuguese.  Yeah, it is a mix of everything. Compared with m first visit, one thing I noticed was their menu which was updated quite a bit with a slightly increase in price. I guess that's normal for being popular. And they no long have set dinners, at least on the night we were there.

Duecento Otto 208

When I first steped into Duecento Otto 208, I truly thought I was at the scene of Sex and the City, at a restaurant somewhere in New York city. Why? Well, the decor was hip and trendy with beautifully decorated wall-tiles, but the key was the people, the crowds that were present at 7pm on a weeknights. For the brief stay I was there, the place was frequented by model like females and males as well. I mean many of the girls were either in 4" heels and ultra tight pencil skirts or 3" heels and really short skirts! As for guys, many were in tight jeans and pointy leather shoes with tight shirts that somehow lost the few top buttons. Were these good distractions elements for the rustic atmosphere? It is really up to your personal preferences and mood perhaps?

Fusion Gourmet

Combining a restaurant and groceries / market at one place isn't something new, perhaps new to Hong Kong, but it has been quite popular in Mexico or at least for Mexican dining establishments to my understanding. Fusion Gourmet has been establishment following this model offering fresh produces along with a wide selection of meats and seafood as well for both its dining menu and grocery.

Bonheur

Those who frequent the Central and Sheung Wan area must have heard of the establishment Bonheur which serves upscale French cuisine at relatively reasonable price or perhaps you like to call it fine dinging at affordable prices or whatever you like to call it. Many friends of mine and many from the foodie community recommended me to come pay a visit and so I did with my friend M in celebration of my birthday. However, either we have overly high expectation or simply it did not live up to what we have been told.

Le Velo the baker

I am really not in the mood for heavy or fancy meals these past few days. Maybe it is due to my monthly mood swing. I really have no idea. My friend asked me out for lunch today and she suggested something quick and light which I was more than happy to have. The place is very down-to-earth with a dozen or some tables. It looks more like a fast food joint than a bakery in my opinion.



My friend suggested me to have one of her favorites, which is the Apple Brie Cheese Walnut on Rye. Since I was not in the mood to think at all, I ordered the same thing. That was all I ordered. The first thing I realized was that the Rye was not what I expected. I thought it should be hard, very hard, but the bread used here was rather soft. Not the type of Rye bread I am used to. The combination of roasted walnut, sliced granny apples and sliced brie cheese was rather refreshing in my opinion. Such a combination is not for everyone, especially the brie cheese flavor. I like brie cheese and stronger the flavor the better. The type used here was not the strong type but good enough because otherwise it will overtake the flavors of the walnuts and apples. Also, the eating experience or sensation was interesting because in every bite, you will get chunk of the walnut in your mouth.

Likes:

• Refreshing combination of ingredients

Dislikes:

• can be very crowded
• Rye bread was not the hard type

Budget: Below HKD 100 per person

Le Velo the baker
G/F, Beautiful Group Tower
74 - 77 Connaught Road Central
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 3118 2895

Shung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant 尚興潮州飯店

It has been a number of years since I have been to this restaurant. It was quite a random decision to come to this place tonight, to have something different, something more interesting than the usual western or Chinese cuisines near the Central or Soho area. Before arriving, I already have the following in mind in terms of expectation or what this place lacks of: (1) service, (2) clean environment & (3) comfortable seating. Then again, when I come to here for dinner, I would expect great food quality (or so I assumed).

I am sure many of you have heard of this chiu chow restaurant and it is rather famous for its so-called authentic chiu chow cuisine. My friend and I arrived around 730pm and got a table near the entrance on the ground floor. I was right, this place certainly lacks a clean environment and comfortable seating area; but then again, I expected because I was there for some good food, especially some traditional dishes! We ordered the following: (1) 蠔餅, (2) 鵝片鵝血, (3) 椒鹽白飯魚, (4) 蘿蔔牛腩, (5) 糖醋麵 & (6) 清心綠豆爽

(1) 蠔餅 (mini oyster pancake?)

They were very generous with two things for this dish: 1 - is the mini oysters & 2 - OIL ! YES, excessive OIL. I do understand that to cook this dish requires a lot of oil but not to the point of soaked ingredients in it ! I did not dip any pieces into the fish sauce because I did not want the sauce to overtake the taste of other ingredients, but I should have dipped into the sauce because it might be able to take over the oily / greasy taste it gave me.

(2) 鵝片鵝血

It was my first time trying the 鵝血 and it has an interesting texture which I liked. The 鵝血 itself was rather tasteless, it was more about the texture. Along with the sauce, it was a fair item considering this is the first time I tried this. The 鵝片 was nice, the meat was tender enough for me to give it a thumbs up.

(3) 椒鹽白飯魚

This dish was fair indeed. Maybe abit less batter would be better but it was not bad at all. It was a very generous dish and the spices used were not excessive to a point that made me very thirsty. It was lucky that we did not order 白飯魚炒蛋 because I am pretty sure that it will be as oily or as greasy as the 蠔餅. Maybe their deep-fried items are fairly good, maybe.

(4) 蘿蔔牛腩

A very disappointment dish indeed. The sauce / soup are too creamy, thick and salty. Beef briskets were TOO chewy and beef tendons were not soft enough. The best item in this dish was the 蘿蔔 (white radish). We were both fans of beef briskets but we could not even finish the dish. Maybe this was not a common dish people would normally order during dinner but we were hoping for something better. Very disappointed.

(5) 糖醋麵

We were looking forward to this dish from the beginning but came out to be another disappointment. It was too greasy even the sugar and vinegar sauce that come with the dish did not help much. The noodle itself was alright, very crispy but it was pan-fried on one side only. I thought 糖醋麵 is supposed to be fried on both side or maybe we should have ordered the 雙面黃 instead? I thought they are basically the same thing.

(6) 清心綠豆爽

My friend is not a fan of sweets while I considered myself to be one. However, for this free dessert, for some reasons, the color seemed so wrong and artificial. 清心綠豆爽 is actually one of my favorite Chinese desserts but the one being served here was not that tempting at all. Tried a few spoons of it and it was very watery. It was only 8pm and the dessert was already that watery? I wonder how it will taste later on the night. Hummm ....

Likes:

• Good fried items
• Good 鵝片鵝血
  

Dislikes:

• Service (as expected)
• Environment (expected)
• TOO many greasy / oily dishes
• Watery dessert (too artificial in color)
  

Shung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant
G/F, 29 Queen's Road West,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Tel: 2854-4557