Gaylord @ TST

Indian cuisine reminds me of the good old university days when dining out was a luxury. There were only a few Indian restaurants where I studied and it was usually on a special occasion that my friends and I would head out to dine; and Indian cuisine was one of our usually top picks. Those were the good times! This meal was with the same old crowds mentioned so it did bring back a lot of memories. We picked Gaylord because of the relatively more comfortable environment compared with those in Chung King Mansions.



We were assigned the VIP room at the end of the dining hall. Perfect! A perfect environment to talk and catch up with good old friends. I would not consider the decor and environment as authentic at all but it was nice and cozy, a bit westernized in my opinion. Apparently they offer buffet that night but we opted for a la carte because we were all too lazy to walk out to get our food all the time. HAHA



(1) Chicken & Vegetables Samosa
This was a classic standard dish to order as starters and I love them as always. I prefer the vegetables samosa this time but I think they used a little bit too much dough. For some reasons, I have a very strong feeling that these samosas were grabbed from the buffet table.



(2) Tandoori Mix Grill
It was served on a sizzling hot plate with a delicious smell filling the room. The chicken was too dry though while the prawn was wonderful with just the right amount of flavors and seasonings. The Seekh Kabab (lamb sausage kabab) was the highlight of this dish and that was why we ordered an extra dish to share.



(3) Seekh Kabab
It was wonderful, the flavors were great. The minced meat was tightly packed to form the sausage but it was soft on every bite. Great texture, not bad at all.



(4) Paneer Tikka Lajawab (Grilled Cheese)
An interesting dish in my opinion. It was grilled cheese, grill block of cheese to be exact. However, there was lack of cheese flavors and texture was like tofu but only harder. It was so-so, a new dish to me for sure.



(5) Chicken Korma
One of my favorite non-spicy "curries." The sauce was rich and deep, very nice. Yes it was creamy, which means heavy on the cream but it tasted very good, I don't mind at all. If my understanding is correct, the authentic way to prepare curry is to use onion based cream / paste which takes a long time to prepare and master as well. Many places now opt to use milk / cream / flour as a substitute for convenience I think. That was my feeling towards this dish and I can be wrong.



(6) Chicken Madaras
I used to be very reluctant to eat hot and spicy food but gradually I am slowly having a higher tolerance for it. One is because I want to be able to enjoy a wider variety of food and two is because I have the belief that the hot food would help me sweat out the humidity inside my body. I am not sure how true that is but hey I am enjoying the food ! haha ... The chicken Madaras was rather spicy in a good way of course. The flavor was very strong and the sauce was a lot thicker than the Korma for some reasons. It seemed to have a very strong herb taste though.



(7) Achaar Gosht (Lamb)
I only had a few spoonful of this dish because while the sauce was rich and flavorable, it gave me a sour kind of taste like Kang Som (sour curry) in Thai cuisine. Don;t get it wrong, I love Kang Som and I once made it myself at the Blue Elephant Cooking School in Bangkok, but just not quite the same since it was a totally different dish! And yes, the curry served was quite spicy as well!



(8) Aloo Gobi (Vegi)
This dish was more about the paste instead of the curry sauce and it was alright. There was a mixtures of various vegetables which I could not really distinguish myself. I do taste a lot of cauliflowers and alot of herbs. A fair dish in my opinion.



(9) Naan / Paneer Kulcha / Roomali Roti
How can an Indian cuisine go without Naan! In additional of the Naan, we also ordered some cheese Naan (Paneer Kulcha). Both types of Naan were a bit disappointing because they were overly thick and firm, closer to pita bread than Naan in my humble opinion. The handkerchief size Roti was thinner but it was rather greasy. I was expecting better Naan from this place especially with an open oven area showing customers the making process of tandoori rotiyan. Chung King Mansions, I am coming back very soon!

Likes:

• very comfortable environment compared with Chung King Mansions
• Seekh Kabab - flavor was great and texture was lovely.

Dislikes:

• Naan - too thick and too firm
• Paneer Tikka Lajawab (Grilled Cheese) - lack of cheese flavors, or maybe it is suppose to be like that?

Avg Spending: HKD 100 - 200 per person

Gaylord Indian Restaurant
1/F, 23-25 Ashley Road, TST
Tel: 2376-1001

Quest for Food @ Lamma Island & TST

After several days of non-stop raining, it is time to get out of the house and get some fresh air (or at least what 's left of that in Hong Kong). My friend invited me for a little outing to Lamma Island and I accepted without much hesitation. The following blog focuses on the food aspect of my trip and if you are interested in my outing highlights (ie: a cat on a leash?!) , check out my other blog @ http://jason-cestmoi.blogspot.com/.

It was my first time to Lamma Island and i have heard alot about its hiking trails and seafood; but we were not very certain about the quality of the seafood so we decided to go there and check it out first. We started out trip from the Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣) towards the direction of Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣). About 15 - 20 mins into the walk, we came by a dessert hut famous for its Tofu Fa.

(1) Kin Hing Tofu Dessert (建興亞婆豆腐花)



This place is famous for its tofu fa but seriously, I really don't see why. In my humble opinion, a good tofu fa requires the following elements: (1) a rich soya taste (2) good texture (smooth but firm as well) (3) a good syrup plus yellow powder sugar. The only element I can find from the tofu fa is the smoothness, that was it. Very light soya taste but strong burnt taste likely a result from the lack of stirring during the cooking process. Also, it was so "liquid" like jello with too much water. I could not even finish the whole thing. Maybe it was just this time that the tofu fa was not up to standard but a single failure of inconsistency is enough for me to have such harsh words. I had better tofu fa all over HK, for example, Tang Dynasty (唐朝) in TST even though it does not offer the yellow sugar powder (make sure you order the bucket one).






======================================

(2) Concerto Inn (浪濤軒)



As we moved along, we passed by the beach Hung Shing Yeh Wan (洪聖爺灣) where we stopped for a little break at a beach side restaurant named Concerto Inn (浪濤軒). Nothing really special about their drinks but the so-called Singaporean Satay Chicken was pretty good. It was a nice little break overlooking the beach. I did not copy down the address but you will find this place for sure because there is only one major path from Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣) to Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣).



======================================

(3) Herboland 香草原



After a 45 mins break we continued our walk. Just before we were heading away from the beach, we saw something surprising, something we rarely see in Hong Kong. We saw a little plantation with a cozy hut where people relax and have tea.




By the end of the walk / hike, we passed by the many seafood restaurants but we left Lamma Island without trying the famous seafood because (1) it was pretty early when we finished the walk and there was nothing else to walk around when we reached Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣); and (2) I really hated those restaurants staffs coming up to your face literally to solicit their seafood and blah blah blah. It was annoying and just pissed me off. So instead of staying there for dinner, we decided to head back to TST to eat Indian at Chung King Mansions (重慶大廈).

======================================

(4) Khyber Pass (咖喱王)

[note: they are all called 咖喱王 there, so the address is important !]
Good that we know our way otherwise it would be a while before we can find Block E. It was my first time here and the place seems cozy enough and of a typical Indian restaurant at Chung King Mansions. It is a bit ghetto but it is as expected so can't really compliant. The first thing I ordered was a glass of Mango Lassi to cure my thirst. We were Nan bread fans so we called both Cheese Nan and also plain Nan. The Cheese Nan was nice but more cheese would be even better. It can be served without anything but itself as a starter if you want. In order to accompany the plain Nan, we ordered the Lamb Masala (med spiciness) and a Fish Madras (little spiciness). The lamb was surprisingly tender while the fish was surprisingly hard. The two dishes were of two different types of curry. The Masala is more like spicy gravy paste while the Madras is the tpyical yellow curry. I personally prefer the Madras curry because it is less spicy but I found the Masala's aftertaste richer, a good match with the Nan.





In addition to Nan, I am also a big fan of Indian Style Basmati Rice (3 colours rice) because I think it goes really well with curry. The Basmati Rice here were cooked with chicken oil which certainly enhanced its flavor. For some reason the grain they used was the shorter kind. Overall it was alright. It was a very fulfilling day indeed. The only negative thing I can think of is that even after exercising / sweating for the whole day, not only did I not lose any weight, I might have gained some from the dinner !!!

Khyber Pass (咖喱王)
Block E, 7/F, Chung King Mansions
Tel: 2739 1177