Oolaa (Hong Kong)

Life cannot be better when you can spend a wonderful Sunday afternoon with 3 lovely ladies over Brunch + Desserts! It certainly made the my day before Monday less miserable. I wish every Sunday can be the as eventful but of course at different venues. The culture of Sunday Brunch has been trending over the last few years in Hong Kong based on my observation especially with the number of establishments offering such menus. However, there are only a handful to be honest and there are more people like myself who are getting used to getting up late over the weekends and then head for brunch. Another interesting thing I realized is that people heading for brunch nowadays are increasing more causal, particularly ladies who obviously choose not to put any make up on. Don't get me wrong but I am just surprised, that's all.

Limehouse

Want to find a resto great for dating a girl? She wants to try something different yet offer no suggestion? A place that is quiet yet no need to walk so far with her heels? A place that tables are spaced wide enough to give you two enough personal space? A place that allow you to have certain walkable distance to the nearest MTR station after dinner? A location with more than a few crossings which you can make you lame move in garbing her hand while crossing the street? ... Don't worry, I think I have a recommendation for you: it's Limehouse on Ship Street, Wan Chai. Hiding behind the narrow and slightly steep street, you will immediate spot this rather outstanding white structure with several bright spotlights shining in all directions. 

Roast Restaurant (London)

This post should have been right after my Borough Market post but I was too excited about the picnic @ Greenwich post that I had it jump the queue! Anyhow, after my pre-lunch at Monmouth Coffee, we headed over to Roast Restaurant located right in the Borough Market. The decor / atmosphere was rather contemporary compared with the environment of the Borough Market. It was nice but a bit too fancy in a very humble marketplace in my opinion.

McSorley's Ale House

Many informed us that McSorley's Ale House is one of the best burger places in town but our experience tell us that it may not be exactly the case. It was by no means bad, perhaps we expected too much. A matter of expectation management I suppose. Therefore, it is very important to be as mutual as possible when visiting new restos in my opinion.

The Chinnery

The Chinnery is one of the few remaining old-school English pubs around town to my knowledge. Hiding on the 3rd floor of the Mandarin Hotel, it is not a common walk-by establishment unless you know it exists. The first thing you notice when you step into the premise is the huge shelf of whisky behind the bar and once you look around, you notice the heavy wood decor, soft lighting, oil paintings and leather chairs which you can hardly find in Hong Kong nowadays. Yes it carries a heavy masculine atmosphere to it but that is how a traditional English pub / club looks like.



My friends and I come here often for its large selection go Malt Whisky. There is a Malt Whisky List as thick as the wine list! I picked something new, something I never tried before. Caol Ila 12 years. It was very smooth and the fact that I ordered it with the ice sphere instead of cubes made it even better because the melting rate of the ice took way longer, keeping the whisky flavors intact for much longer.



(1) Bangers and Mash
The dish came with pork, lamb and venison sausages. Accordingly to some sources, there must be 3 bangers and not more or less, must be 3. Interesting indeed. Among the 3 bangers, the lamb one was wonderful with a crisp outer layer and tender insider. The mash potato was buttery and silky smooth, thumbs up! However, the sauce was a bit too strong and salty to my liking.


(2) Roast Prime Rib of Beef
One of my friends ordered this great looking dish but I did not try any myself. However, from the fact that he was chewing his beef very slowly with his eyes closed was definitely a positive sign of enjoyment.



(3) Baked Sea Bass
Again I did give this dish a try because I was too focused on my bandgers and mash (plus whisky). It looked delicious enough that I would come again to try it another day.



(4) Bread Pudding
Whenever I see Bread Pudding or Bread and Butter Pudding, I would order it because I am in search for a wonderful offering around town. As mentioned by Jodi in one of the comments from my previous entries, one of the more difficulties in making a good bread pudding is to find the right bread. (the same with bread and butter pudding) To my knowledge, the best and traditional method is to use stale / left-over bread (French and Italian bread preferred because sandwich bread would dissolve in the soaking process); however, many places nowadays use fresh bread instead. I wasn't sure if fresh bread was used for the bread pudding we ordered, but it certainly did not looked stale or maybe not stale enough. The whole pudding was too soft like a sponge cake and the vanilla custard was slightly too sweet. So far the vanilla custard from Jimmy's Kitchen's Apple Crumble remains on the top of my list in terms of dessert sauces.



(5) Dessert Side dishes
All meals came with a small dessert side dish consisted of mini-apple crumble and chocolate cookies. Flavor wise the apple crumble was fair but texture wise it was too dough-y / flour-y. The cookies on the other hand was a pleasant surprise with a soft and warm inside like a mini-molten chocolate cake. Thumbs up on the cookies.

Note: Thanks to smogsblog, I am learning new things everyday! Apparently the spelling of whisky (vs whiskey) has its fair share of history and the different spelling represent different origins of the spirit . "Today, the spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for whiskies distilled in Scotland, Wales, Canada, and Japan, while whiskey is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and America." - wikipedia

Likes:

• The comprehensive whisky list
• wonderful old school English pub / club decor + atmosphere
• Buttery and silky smooth mash potato

Dislikes:

• bread pudding - too soft and custard too sweet. Rather disappointing.
• Sauces too salty (of the Bangers and Mash dish)

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

The Chinnery
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2825 4009
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/


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