5 minutes checking out - Mandarin Oriental Taipei

I believe this is the worst MO I have ever come across.  The deco. is a bit too ordinary but claimed to be noble European.  Originally I wanted to try their cafe lounge but found out it was too crowded with some local ladies with scanner eyes.  Yet, the cafe lounge looks like a fast food shop.  I did't take nay photos of it as I don't wanna give the impression of those scanner ladies thinking they are special.   As I wanna go try their MO Bar, it was closed.  Supposed MO Bar should be opened in the afternoon time.  However, as I looked inside, better not go trying it.  Then I just spent about 5 minutes in this MO and left without any regret.

Le Dalat, and its warm young coconut story, Emquartier BKK

Visited this place for its beef noodle soup when it was at the soi 23 Sukhumvit.  That's it.  The service is quite "pigeon's eyes" in Chinese saying (meaning snobbish).  

This time we came to try this one in Emquartier.  There was no one inside at 7-8pm.  As we walked in and tried to order some young coconut, the waitress went away and another lady showed up to say that the person for chopping young coconut wasn't there, so in order not to show the ugly cut coconut, they would serve the coconut juice in glass and made sure the juice is fresh.  Later on, when my friend said never mind and just served it in the young coconut.  Then that lady said "if you don't mind the coconut isn't chilled, then they would serve it in its shell.  So I suggested my friend not to bother with that and simply cancel the order.  This is very ridiculous and super low IQ of that lady.  So there is no need to downgrade ourselves to go with the same super low IQ.  Food-wise, it wasn't too impressive like the old one.  As there is no service, no need to give any tipping.  I wrote the exact amount with not even a 20 baht.  Forget it.

Siu Nan Kwok 小南國 Shanghai restaurant, Times Square Causeway Bay, HK

This shop has been very consistent with their "pigeon's eyes (arrogant)" services for their branches in Central and Causeway Bay.  Besides, their "hard-sell" technique is really old-fashioned.  The captain pretended to be very acquainted with the seniors at the table.  When I helped to order the dishes, the captain kept repeating their seafood and crab meal...etc.  So as I was about to say "that's all".  Then the captain said "those cold dishes you ordered are so small that only a few bites can take it.  Turned out his few bites are like these shown on the photo.  Of course, he has a crocodile mouth with snake heart and crab hands to rip off customers.  The most ridiculous thing they don't have some typical Shanghai dishes like stir fried veggie crab (賽螃蟹).  Food-wise, those are just at average.  If it's not with another big group of family, I'd definitely leave the table right away.

A horrible dinner at Paradise Dynasty (樂天皇朝), Lee Theatre Plaza, Causeway Bay HK

The colourful sou lon bao aroused much attention on the food forums when this branch was launched in early May.  Came here once but super crowded with a long queue.  So I decided to try it at around 9-10pm.  Still a queue was there.

photo 3: the smallest portion I have ever tried (check the sauce plate next to it and you will get to see how small of this dish).  The black fungus isn't in a nice black vinegar but with heavy crushed garlic.

4: the worst is the foie gras one.  Supposed they should have pan fried the foie gras and put that as a filling, but this one is horrible with heavy greasy smell.  The better one is the original pork flavour.

5: wonton noodle: the noodle wasn't with any fresh flour flavour.  The soup broth was too artificial flavoured.

6: stir fried egg white: the first time I could taste egg white without egg white and the vinegar isn't of any vinegar flavour.  The worst dish ever!

7: stir fried shred pork in steamed crepe: I could only taste the seafood sauce.  The shred pork was of some frozen meat.  Then the steamed crepe wasn't in any flour flavour.

8: see how much we left! 

Alert warning: P Kitchen, soi 18 Sukhumvit BKK

Got curious about this place as I passed by it during the various stays at Park Plaza soi 18.  Finally on one late morning, I decided to get an early lunch.  As I browsed their menu, the prices are somewhat alarming, and even some are more expensive than Jer Ngor (on the next soi, at about 5 min. walking time), e.g. the stir fried morning glory shown here is THB80 (same price as Jer Ngor on the small portion, but Jer Ngor's small portion is much bigger than this one and their morning glory is shred in thin slices).  Taste-wsie, super greasy and super salty too.  The other 2 dishes fried rice and Pad Thai need not to be mentioned, nor wasting my card's memory.

Consistently worst at Ruby Tuesday, Taikooshing HK

There are times we might make some X-file mistake of going back to places where we had some horrible time.  Last weekend I did such a X-file return to this place.  A one trip salad bar at HK$88 for some canned fruits and veggie in no-frills salad dressing.  The beef burger (HK$128) can be the more eatable one, but only the burger.  The fries is warm and too wet and oily.  The fish fingers - forget it.  It's soaked in the oil not deep fried.  The waitress kept on asking me to join their membership (payment of HK$250 for 3 months and getting 50% discount).  I kept on replying "no need".

Fallen Dynasty - Sweet Dynasty, Hysan Place, Causeway Bay HK

Such so many bad lucks with all the branches in this new mall Hysan Place, including this one which used to be my favourite place (only the Happy Valley main shop but now no more).  The branch in Happy Valley reminds me of so much good old memory esp. with my very best friend that we often got their almond sweet and pork chop on rice.  Unfortunately, this new branch didn't even keep up to a standard of a decent Cantonese dessert shop.  The almond sweet is horrible like corn starch water.  The red bean herbal jelly is not chilled and the red bean is not cooked well.  The only half edible one is their sticky rice dumpling with Malteser (photo 2) because of Malteser.

An hour for a meal but a day of suffering, at Piccolo Pizza & Bar, Tin Hau, HK

Some areas in HK, like Tin Hau, Soho or Kowloon City are not what I prefer to visit. Restaurants are mostly on the surface and charging higher than normal, and with many human-like scanners. For those who wanna show off, these 3 areas are the choices. With this pressure, I tried not to have any prejudice in judging the food in restaurants I tried in these areas. However, not only me but also my friends have the same feeling.

Got attracted to this place due to its fireplace for baking pizza. Thought it's a good one. The pizza is just average. The sauce is too thin and the cheese too, but it's charged at HK$135. The important dough isn't that appealing either. The house salad (HK$68) is in a very small portion. It's interestingly put on a small plate for a coffee cup, not a decent plate. The veggie was tossed with some cheap olive oil and lemon juice. Supposed it's a correct making but the cheap olive oil destroyed the whole dish. This is worse than a fast shop indeed. Tried their so-called signature calamari (HK$68). The squid wasn't fresh and the coating didn't cover up that. A disastrous dish! See the shop entrance. Click to enlarge to see how they treat customers. Besides the table where 2 customers are there, there is one more table on the other side at the entrance. So the entrance is only 1 foot wide. We needed to walk pass it like a snake. Most of all, they are not charging street stall prices when they are giving services worse than street stall. BTW, they reminded every customer to return the table in an hour time.

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!

Rip-off breakfast at Chu's Cafe, True Fitness tower, Asoke, Sukhumvit BKK

So after the interesting one-kitchen-two-system breakfast at Minibar Royale, I was frustrated in finding another place for breakfast but simply checked the one nearer to Park Plaza soi 18. Chinese saying - don't care if it's good or bad, convenience matters 唔理好醜，只要就手.

So I was given a breakfast with a panini set at around THB260-320. Then I ordered an iced mocha together with a roast beef panini. The bill came and showed a separate charge of the iced mocha of THB130. As I checked with the waitress, then she pointed at the small square box on the menu "add THB100 for a hot coffee/tea and a brownie". I decided not to argue with them about why Panini set is titled on the menu, since the waitress didn't respond with a word.

The iced mocha is not bad, but the panini is awful - too hard to chew. The filling is not bad but just over-cooked. Waste of food. On photo 2, one thing caught my attention. Choose from dark chocolate 58%, milk chocolate 35% and white chocolate 28%. It has been known to most people that dark and milk chocolate are one type of chocolate with varying cocoa solids, but white chocolate is another type of chocolate without cocoa solids.

On photo 3, check on a note on right top. do not bring food and drink from outside, esp. Starbucks and Cha Lee. So by now we know who the owner of this shop is.

In conclusion, the lesson learned from here tells us not to take the most of convenience. So the next morning I walked across the street and got a very nice breakfast of a 6 inch sub-sandwich with a hot coffee from Subway at just THB69. At least the bread of Subway is far much better than this place.