很有heart的街坊小店 | 波仔記車仔麵

回想起第一次吃波仔記是已經二十多年前的事。時隔那麼多年，最surprised的是在煮麵的（應該就是波仔吧！？）師傅還是二十年前的那個，在旁邊幫手的還是他的太太（只是猜猜而已嘻嘻）。

在這裡自己選料，有湯麵和lo麵。lo麵我覺得是最好吃的，雖然比較肥，應該是用了豬油lo在一起。寫好了還點了一杯凍「燕鴦」小甜。

lo麵我點了菜心，牛根腩，魚皮餃，魚蛋，齋跟幼麵。啊姐放低碟麵幫我拿對筷子說：啊妹，嗔熱食，慢慢食。我突然覺得很warm很有親切感，比起同一個街市另外一間車仔麵的服務好很多。雖然另外一家的openrice review多好多，但我反而覺得波仔記的lo麵是比較好吃，料也比較多，真誠的態度更加是無價啦！

很有人情味的lo麵

我喜歡再加兩圈的甜醬，肥C啦，但真的超超正。最多晚飯吃小D喔。。。


加了兩圈甜醬 - 超超正



在香港現在真的很難找到那麼有人情味的店鋪了。波仔記是一間我首選吃車仔麵的小店。

Venue:  波仔記車仔麵
District:  WC / CWB

Must-try:  lo麵

Overall Rating:  4.5 / 5

Cost:  $46 - Lunch
Address:  灣仔寶靈頓街21號鵝頸街市2樓鵝頸熟食中心

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

A Meal With a View | Penthouse by Harlan Goldstein

We were actually heading straight to Jamie's Italian for lunch but having stood in line for 40 min we started to leave and went to Penthouse instead. We didn't make any booking and luckily someone had a no-show so we got a table for 2 pax immediately. I gave the view-facing seat for my friend, and I realized having sat for 5 min, nobody came to even gave us some water until I called someone over. Anyway, the lunch set is an open salad bar with optional main course. Since we were already short on time (it IS a weekday afterall) we passed on the main and only went for the salad bar. I was having quite high expectations for this place cuz look, even the guy from Jamie's Italian next door came to have lunch here HAHA.

Eating on a sunny day with a view over Victoria Harbor really made my day. At first I thought the servers were quite rude in making faces at me when I made order but I think it's actually because of the bright sun shining behind me...they were actually pretty friendly.

The salad bar was stacked with parmasan cheese and cold cuts - parma ham and two kinds of saucisson. There's also focaccia with pesto on the side, assorted salad vegetable, beans, peas and pine nuts to summarize. I did go a little crazy on the peas though!



My friend innocently made the comment that the restaurant was so considerate in serving the desert in bite-size portions. Well...yes? The plates were actually pretty small so I did see a majority of the people having to go back and forth for a few more rounds of food.



A comment on the side which I'd like to make is the bathroom - very thoughtful indeed. Before starting each meal I'd make sure my sanitized, washed hands do not come in contact with anything such as the bathroom door before I return to my seat. The bathrooms here were built with swinging bar doors which I found so amazing not having to push the door open with my paper towel wrapped fingers. You have no idea how much that means to a hygenic freak.

I would most likely give this place a second try but will definitely come in the weekend where slow eating wouldn't have been a sin. Gotta try their main next time too cuz with that cost on top, might as well just go all-in. I ended the meal with a view with a sinful iced chocolate while my friend had a latte. The barista was really trying, I guess.

Well, he did try.

Venue:  Penthouse by Harlan Goldstein

District:  CWB

Overall Rating:  4 / 5

Cost:  $260 ph - Lunch (salad bar only)
Address:  30/F Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay

Link:  www.penthouse-dining.com/

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

清淡味道吃不清淡的午餐 | Empire City Roasted Duck (大都烤鴨)

Lunch time 過海到尖沙咀食飯跟行去LKF/Soho不會差太多時閒但選擇就多好多。所以我跟同事確定到地鐵站一上的K11商場隨便選一間餐廳。到了K11一路上電梯上到其中一層看到有好幾間餐廳便沖進去了不需等位的大都烤鴨，因爲同事說夜晚來的話通常都要排長龍。

這裡裝修都挺豪華，還掛了像水晶的燈。

不想用腦叫菜便點了個二人套餐。先來了前菜，some kinda 豬肉和蠔油菇菇。菇菇很細心的切開還有很香的麻油味。

之後上dish的次序已經不記得了，反正飢餓時來甚麽都會吃吧。。。以下圖片次序不分前後 - si油皇鴨條炒菇菇，小籠包，菇菇竹笙燉湯，si油皇炒麵，豆腐蒸魚塊。

真是很多菇菇和si油皇炒東東的一餐。價錢不算平。On average 些食物味道我覺得偏淡，不足夠令我有十分的開胃。如果晚飯需要排超長隊我一定不會來。走時看到對面餐廳滿座兼排長龍我終于明白這裡為甚麽有那麽多空位。

Venue:  大都烤鴨 Empire City Roasted Duck

District:  TST

Cost:  $150 ph - Lunch

Overall Rating:  3.5 / 5

Address:  尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館2樓221號舖

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

Crossover of world's two most fattening pastries | Urban Bakery

During weekday lunch hour this place is usually very packed with long queues so I had to pass each time I wanna grab a quick bite. But today since my colleague was really craving for the signature pastry, I was oh so very kind enough to go and get it for her. I went at 12pm sharp to avoid the crowd, and as a gesture, she did offer me to have a bite...

I always thought these things are just gimmick but out of my surprise, the Ball Law Cowssant was actually pretty good - flaky and crunchy and everything you can imagine from a good croissant with a tint of sweetness. Oh, you could opt for an extra slice of butter too (or margarine?), which would cost you $12 on top of the $18 Cowssant (yeah I know, doesn't really make sense to pay $30 for a croissant which you can finish in 3 bites, well ok maybe 5, I DO have a small mouth).

Ball Law Cowssant - very crunchy and flaky

Not sure if the chinese x français Ball Law Cowssant could fill up your tummy on a hungry day but for this price, it isn't a bad afternoon snack / munchie to fight the Monday blues.


Venue:  Urban Bakery Works
District:  Central
Must-try:  Ball Law Cowssant
Overall Rating:  4 / 5
Cost:  $13 (for plain Cowssant only)
Address:  3/F The Landmark, 12-16 Des Voeux Road Central, Central

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

WC Burger Joint | The Butchers Club Burger

While bosses were not in my colleague and I decided to check out The Butchers Club Burger to see for ourselves what the hype was all about. This was my second encounter with The Butchers Club chain, and the first being the sister store in Aberdeen. Now with that as the backdrop, I was in fact not totally satisfied with this $100 burger, especially having to walk 15-min over under the 32 degrees Celsius heat.

Anyhow, we were lucky to find two indoor seats at 1215pm, and I went straight to the queue to make my order. Didn't know why the cashier girl took sooo long to take orders - there's basically only THE burger and THE fries on the food menu. I ordered a $20 canned coke light for my colleague and I opted for the healthier (and cheaper) option of fresh juice in the local shop just around the corner (oops!).

Two original burgers, one order of duck fat fries and a canned pop costed to a total of *ching ching* $240. I would say this is an acceptable price, yet definitely not cheap, for dry-aged beef or so as they claimed on the website. They do have root beer and cherry coke on the menu FYI, at a cost of $30 each, canned.

After 13min or so our food arrived. Burger itself was not big, but to be fair, the meat patty was pretty thick, at least so wide that I wasn't able to bite through the entire deck of burger at one go. And no, this isn't a place to show your proper dining etiquette - they don't have forks so gotta go with your hands!

The bun was grilled but was apparently served at room temperature by the time our order arrived. The beef was juicy, tender and cooked just right, but I felt that the overall burger was lacking flavor so I had to add some hot sauce onto it.

Beef cooked just right

The fattening sauce was generously applied on the bun though and the taste of melted butter was good (how could it not, right?).

Generous fattening sauce (mayo?)

The potato wedges were a little too salty, perhaps that's their way of balancing the lack of flavor of the burger? But, at least the fries were not soggy!

So what's the hype all about? Probably because it's an affordable burger joint in the proximity of Star Street with Caucasian chefs? Been there, done that. Not likely I'll have another go at it although it's conveniently located in my hood.

Venue: The Butchers Club Burger
District: Wanchai
Overall rating:  3 / 5
Cost:  $150 ph - Lunch
Address:  G/F Rialto Building, 2 Landale Street, Wanchai
Link: http://www.butchersclub.com.hk

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

不用等位的銅鑼灣街鋪甜品店 | LeJoy Cafe (樂在甜品)

星期一跟朋友仔吃完飯後路經這間甜品小店，看到裏面不用等位便立刻衝入去。其實除了我們之外就只有一張枱有人，心想。。。在銅鑼灣街鋪可以有那麽小人的嗎？看看餐牌這裡就只有冷的甜品，沒有糖水（其實我也很傳統的）。那最後也只好點個綠茶布丁雪糕，因爲只有這個有我喜歡的mochi湯圓波波。

其實這個綠茶甜品也不錯，因爲不是太甜，只是覺得布丁好像是實了一點。Mochi口感也可以，也滿QQ的。

綠茶雪糕布丁 - 不會太甜

朋友仔就叫了一個芒果棉棉冰和一個超多朱古力的東西。看起來呢個朱古力東東都挺吸引噢嘻嘻。。。

芒果綿綿冰

朱古力東東

在銅鑼灣找不到很多甜品鋪可以叫一個$50甜品便慢慢很chilled的坐一個鐘，最重要是這裡不會太多人，也不會太吵，說人壞話時也不用怕有人會偷聽嘛哈哈。在沒有那麽多人知道這間鋪前可以再多來幾次！

Venue:  樂在甜品 LeJoy Cafe

District: CWB

Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5
Cost: $50 ph
Address:  銅鑼灣駱克道464號地下

*REPOSTED on OpenRice

Chloé Moments Afternoon Tea | Cafe Causette

This limited time only Chloé crossover Mandarin Oriental afternoon tea to me was a reminiscence of the Prêt-à-Portea afternoon tea at The Berkeley's in London. The price here definitely beats the latter though. At only $278 for one or $488 for two, the MO crossover tea set is quite reasonably price I would say, although no, there is no complimentary gift from Chloé as it was marketed, or at least not free unless you make a purchase at the store first...! We did book for the tea session a few weeks in advance.

While I presume afternoon tea sessions are normally for girls to gossip and catch up with each other, the table we got definitely didn't offer the privacy to do so. We were literally sitting right next to the two guys at our neighboring table. Otherwise, the cafe offers quite a bright and comfortable setting with big windows overlooking Statue Square.

The scones arrived first, in a MO tin box. They were fairly decent I would say although they did not arrive hot, or even warm. I usually go for the clotted cream with scones but MO is best known for their rose jam, so I did go splurging on that with my two pastries this time.

Plain and raisin scones with clotted cream and rose jam

The afternoon set came in three tiers - top two were savories and bottom tier was for sweet pastries.

I wouldn't say the food was wow but overall it was a well-spent afternoon at the hotel.

Venue:  Cafe Causette @ Mandarin Oriental HK
District:  Central
Must-try:  Scones with rose jam
Overall rating: 4 / 5
Cost: $260 ph - Afternoon tea
Address:  M/F Mandarin Oriental, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central

*REPOSTED on OpenRice