花園餐廳(Sweet Heart restaurant), Mongkok, HK

Haven't had a local sizzling hot plate steak set for a long time.  I thought about this place and went to its territory - Mongkok.  The lunch set was much lower than the dinner set, HK$72 vs $148.  The portion was the same.  The good thing about this place was that they didn't use heavy soda powder to marinate the steak. At least I could taste some meat texture.  The soup was steamy hot with a warm bread.  Appetite to get a chunky main.

 

Hand written menu

 

Swiss chicken thigh by Downstairs Cafe, Quarry Bay, HK

The Swiss chicken (as sweet chicken) was a legendary dish in local style restaurant in the 60's to 80's and now become a revival as a trend.  It seems many restaurants just focus on how sweet and dark the soy sauce they use but forget some other ingredients like bay leave and Chinese rose wine.  Yet, cooking chicken in sweet sauce over 30 minutes would make the chicken meat a bit too mashy, especially for those frozen chicken.  Supposed the sugar should be put in 10 minutes before it's done.

 

Nam Long Tea Room, Causeway Bay HK

This place wasn't impressive to me when it was still in TST, but I had some fond memory of some old friends.  As I strolled along Pennington Street, there I found this one re-opened in Causeway Bay.  Whether it's good or bad, I had to come here for a local dinner set.

Tsui Wah restaurant, Lok Hart Road's end, Causeway Bay, HK

Photo 1: Can you guess items 2, 5 & 6?  Photo 2: a must eat.  3: Another reminder - Tsui Wah was first famous with its broth (shark cartilage).  4: Their signature ice chilled milk tea.  5: Another recommended dish.

Tsui Wah HK style tea room

 Friends in town and I must bring them to try the piggy buns by Tsui Wah.  One of them is a fan for herbal jelly.  Surprisingly he found a bat man shaped herbal jelly (photo 3).  So we had 2 orders of piggy buns and a French (HK style) toast with vanilla ice cream.  The drinks were awesome too.  We had lime gum-guat, lime mint frappe and fresh orange juice.   Today is the first day Tsui Wah has been put on IPO.  Wish her a further big success.

Consistent worst meal at Lan Fong Yuen, Woodhouse basement, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon

The last several times at the courtesy of my friends that I went to Lan Fong Yuen in Central were still so horrible. This time I gave another try at their branch at the basement of Woodhouse TST. The answer is still "the no. 1 in its worst consistency". Check photo 3: I ordered an iced ovaltine. I recall my French friends calling certain coffee as "stocking water". Next to it is their house signature pork chop bun. When I saw this sesame bun and the ever-so-thin pork chop, I hesitated. Supposed the bun should be a crispy "piggy" bun. Photo 4: corned beef with egg sandwich - so so... The only (or I should say "better") good one is their milk tea though not the best to me. Forget it!

鳳城美食, 灣仔汕頭街 Fung Shing restaurant, Shantou Street, Wanchai HK

This shop is one my regular visited shop for a big full meal for a bowl of soup, a big bowl of rice and a drink. 12 years ago, this set big meal set was about HK$32. Last week when I tried it, it is surprisingly kept at HK$37. Their signature fish patty slices soup is still pretty good. Then the pork chop with over-easy egg on rice with sweet soy sauce is highly recommended. They only pan fry the pork chop and egg to the order. My top priority is still their stewed beef brisket with turnip. They often put 3 big chunks of sweet soft turnip in it with lots of brisket cuts. Their house brisket sauce is excellent too. See the dry grown morning glory (photo 4). The preserved bean curd sauce is very nice. It's at a right balance of sweet and salty flavour with a bit chili in it.

常餐, 特餐, 快餐, 全餐, ABC 餐, 金鳳茶餐廳 Various meal sets with Kam Fung restaurant, Wanchai HK

某一個下午，路過金鳳，撲鼻而來蛋撻，雞批，菠蘿包熱烘烘香氣，這刻完全背棄什麼高纖低脂低納。傳統菠蘿包再加片鮮油，火腿蛋奄烈加沙爹牛米，腸仔意，凍啡，華田，雞批加蛋撻。感謝還有像金鳳這些茶餐廳，帶給我們最回味的這些。金鳳的咖啡甚有當年茶餐廳的檀島咖啡的神韻﹣用煲煮的，焦香無澀味，菠蘿包非常有麵粉香，最讚嘆的還是他們的雞批，酥香惹味!
Passed by Kam Fung on one afternoon. There came the hot aroma from the freshly baked egg tart, chicken pie and "pineapple" bun. Decided to put aside all those high fiber, low fat, low sodium. Got a "pineapple" bun with a slice of fresh butter, ham omelette, satay beef noodle, sausage noodle, iced coffee, ovaltine, chicken pie and egg tart. Thanks to such local classic tea rooms as Kam Fung for bringing back all those flavours. The coffee of Kam Fung still keeps the classic making of the old time so-called "Honolulu" coffee (a name to be referred to a western coffee) - boiling to be with roasted aroma without the bitter taste. The "pineapple" bun has a nice flour flavour. The best is their chicken pie, so buttered aromatic.

Tsui Wah Restaurant, Lockhart Rd Wanchai, HK 翠華餐廳 洛克道

On the neon light area of Lockart Road, Tsui Wah landed at the Broadway building. This legendary restaurant carried on its success from their establishment on Wellington Street (off Lan Kwai Fong) where they got applauses from the night owl clientele. Below I'd like to go back to some Tsui Wah's signature dishes.

Photo 3: Piggy bun is a must try. 4/5: 沙丹豬扒飯 (satay pork chop over rice) (dinner set at HK$69). Supposed the ham should be inside the pork chop. However, I prefer this way and actually quite many restaurants cook this way with an over-easy egg on top. I would break the egg york and take it together with the pork chop. So yummy. 6. 鮑汁芥蘭雞粒飯 (kai lan chicken rice in abalone sauce) (HK$58). This dish is now almost forgotten but it's one of the ten top recommended dishes in the old days of Tsui Wah. Glad that Tsui Wah still keeps this one and does it so well. 7. Shoulder's beef in black pepper sauce (dinner set at HK$69). I cleaned the plate! 8. cutlet pork chop in curry (HK$58). Very aromatic curry and crispy dry fried pork chop. 9-11. See how they trim the veggie a bit. Though the prices are a bit higher (HK$20-28), some very fine soy sauce, preserved bean curd paste were used. Most of all, quite many forgot another signature dish - fish soup (the last one is in fish soup). I took it all. 12. Russian borsch soup (with dinner set). Another must try soup. 13. Tsui Wah has always been quite innovative in their menu. I tried this lime frosty drink (HK$22). It's in a very large portion - good for 2 persons. I like the way they don't make it too sweet. Very quenching in this hot summer. 14. Hot ovaltine drink. Just an extra spoon of ovaltine powder can make this drink so aromatic.