Hong Kong Food Trip

Many people would be shocked to hear me say that the food I had during my previous trips to Hong Kong were not very memorable. It’s not only because they know how much I love to eat, but because Hong Kong is a place known for the good eats. So for this year’s trip, my sister and I were determined to experience Hong Kong gastronomically. And I am happy to say that we did just that.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, we checked in at the hotel and made a beeline for the nearby Cafe de Coral. Our stomachs grumbling, we needed food and fast. Cafe de Coral is always a safe choice. With its many selections, and a different menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you won’t run out of choices. The branches of Cafe de Coral I’ve seen are always filled during lunch and dinnertime. But turnover is fast and as is customary in HK, people share tables so finding seats isn’t hard. We were spread out across different tables, which wasn’t conducive to taking pictures of everybody’s food. That, and the fact that we were so hungry we scarfed down our food within minutes, equal no pictures.

Dinner that night was at Pho24 in New Town Plaza, where Snoopy's World is located. The waiting list at Crystal Jade was too long and so we ended up eating at Pho24. (Imagine my surprise when a few months later Crystal Jade would open a branch here in Manila.)

We ordered Beef Brisket and Tendon Pho, Lemongrass Pork Chop, and Vietnamese Pork Chop.

The noodles were served al dente, unlike Pho Hoa's, the Vietnamese restaurant we frequent in Manila. I don’t know if the quality at the Pho24 branch here is the same since I haven’t tried it yet.

The pork chops were good, but I found them nakakaumay.

For lunch the next day, we tried a small noodle place near our hotel. Previous experience with similar places elsewhere in HK has led me to believe that you can't go wrong with them. We had Beef Noodles, Pork Chops, Fishball and Shrimp Dumpling Congee, and Shrimp Dumpling Noodles. The pork chops were good. (Pork chop is a noticably recurring theme in this post.) We even had thirds (not seconds, because the initial order was already two). They were definitely more enjoyable than the ones at Pho24. The congee, however, was bland. When ordering congee in Manila, we always order a fresh egg along with it, and mix it in. Due to a misunderstanding, we were given fried egg instead, cooked sunny-side up style. Since nobody wanted to eat the fried egg, we just mixed it in with the congee anyway, but it did not really add much flavor. The noodles were much better. And I wished I ordered noodles instead of congee.

(Photos of the food at this noodle place courtesy of my sister)

A short distance from our hotel in Nathan Road was Macau Restaurant, which we were amused to find, had 2 other branches located on the same street. Our dinner consisted of Fried Squid, Fried Noodles, Fried Chicken, Honey Glazed Ribs. We didn't realize that almost every dish we chose was fried until after we had ordered. We polished everything quickly, owing to our hunger due to the late hour. The food was ok, though not particularly memorable. I liked the fried noodles best, combining flat and thin noodles, and seafood bits. It was flavorful, and did not have the oily feel like other fried noodles.

Also within the vicinity of Nathan Road was the newer branch of Delicious Kitchen, where we had lunch on our 4th day. Delicious Kitchen, according to my sister's friends, was supposedly the inspiration behind Eat Well! Delicious Kitchen here in Manila. My sister has been raving about Eat Well's pork chop when she first tried it a year ago. After trying it myself, I must say though that I was not wowed. Delicious Kitchen's however, was in a different league altogether. I have to agree with my friend who said that there really is no comparison.

We were intrigued by the Double-boiled Chicken Soup with wanton and unanimously agreed to order it. When the pot arrived and the cover removed, the aroma was so delicious we knew the taste would be even more so. It did not disappoint. The soup had a cloudy hue, lending to the color of the chicken. The taste was pure chicken. It's quite unlike anything I've had before.

The recommended vegetable dish turned out to be an excellent choice. The colors were vibrant, the zucchini had the crunch of really fresh and adequately cooked vegetables, and the beef, tender. It made me see zucchini in a new light.

The Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet was also a winner. The fish was fresh and tender. The veggies in the dish were fresh and crunchy as well. The sweet and sour flavors were well-balanced. Even my sister who doesn't particularly like sweet and sour dishes enjoyed this one. I will surely come back to this restaurant on my next HK trip.

For dinner that night, we tried another restaurant in the Nathan Road area. The place didn't have an English name, or none that I saw in any sign. We had Lemon Chicken, Celery, Suckling Pig, and Roast Goose. I'm not really a fan of Lemon Chicken, but I had a taste just the same. My opinion of the dish didn't change, not that I expected it to. The rest of the dishes were quite enjoyable. In fact, my mom enjoyed the roast goose so much she declared that she would bring a whole roast goose back to the Philippines. On our last day, she went back to the restaurant to get her roast goose, which the entire family promptly feasted on upon our return.

There was one other restaurant I wanted to try before we flew back, and that was Tsui Wah, which seems to be a common recommendation across several local blogs. Luckily, there's a branch within walking distance from our hotel, and we were able to have our last lunch there.

The menu was a mix of Western and Chinese dishes. Lamb chops came with a choice of soup (tomato or creamed something) and drink (coffee or tea), and crispy bun. So did the Grilled Chicken and Scallops. Both entrees were served with rice and veggies. The rice was the Asian touch in an otherwise Western dish. I didn't try the lamb as I don't like lamb meat. But the rest of the group seemed to enjoy it. The grilled chicken and scallops was good too.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice was okay. My sister felt that Sweet Dynasty's was better. I can't say that I can appreciate a good Hainanese Chicken but I agree with her on that. I'm not as fond of it as some people are. Give me so-so hainanese chicken and good ginger sauce and I'll eat it. Some would probably argue that it's because I haven't tasted a truly great hainanese chicken. In my friend's opinion, one place offering such was Wee Nam Kee in Singapore. (Frankly, I was disappointed with the branch that opened here in Manila. But since I wasn't able to taste the one in Singapore, I can't really compare.)

Out of all the dishes we ordered, the Crispy Noodles with Prawns in Szechuan Sauce was my favorite. I have always liked crispy noodles but it's always paired with some salty sauce, never with sweet and spicy flavors. Bringing together crispy noodles and szechuan sauce was something new for me. And I totally loved it, esp. with prawns added to the mix. The peppers, which at first glance looked like prunes, I can do without. This is one dish I would definitely go back to Tsui Wah for.

After this experience, I'm confident we'll be better armed for succeeding HK trips. And I'm sure we'll enjoy the food even more.

When it pays to have a credit card

It’s been said that “Cash is King”. But sometimes settling for the queen isn't so bad. The queen that I speak of is credit cards. Promos are being offered by credit card companies left and right. Today’s consumer is always after the best deal. Here are just some of the best deals I’ve recently enjoyed:

1. Free movie tickets – I’ve watched 9 movies (in cinemas of course) in the past 4 months alone, more movies than I’ve seen in years, thanks to the Free Movie Ticket promo of Citibank. A charge slip worth P1,500 is equivalent to a P100 credit. Combine two (2) P1,500 charge slips and your ticket is literally free.

Promo period: Year-round. For complete promo details, visit the official Citibank site.

2. Free Tall Starbucks drink plus add-on – Present an HSBC charge slip worth P2,000 and get ANY Tall Starbucks drink plus your choice of add-on.

Promo period April 1-June 30, 2010. Complete mechanics here.

Prior to the free Starbucks drink, we also got a FREE Tori Teppanyaki at Tempura when I charged our lunch using my HSBC credit card. That’s 2 freebies for a single swipe. Sweet!

Another reason to make me happy about having an HSBC card was during a purchase at Fully Booked. I presented my default credit card (not HSBC) and was told by the Fully Booked staff that HSBC cardholders get a 5% discount. Pleasant surprise since I hadn't received the promo flyer from HSBC, which arrived a few days later. Special mention to the cashier who informed me about the discount. For other HSBC promos, click here.

3. Free Greenwich food items c/o Metrobank - I know it's a little late because the promotion started in Feb. But the good news is that it's extended until the end of May. So what are these treats Metrobank is giving away?

- FREE Greenwich Beefy Baked Macaroni or Meaty Spaghetti for a Metrobank charge slip worth P2,000

- FREE Greenwich Solo Pizza or Lasagna Supreme for a charge slip worth P3,000

- FREE Greenwich Family Thin Crust Pizza for ACCUMULATED CHARGE SLIPS of at least P10,000

Click this link for more info.

Now wouldn't you agree that having credit cards can be rewarding?

Mooon Cafe SM North Edsa Annex

At my mom's suggestion, we went to SM North Edsa after mass to have dinner at Mooon Cafe. It would be our second time to try the restaurant, which has been open for about 3 months. During the food tasting attended by my parents and sister last December, Mooon Cafe was introduced as a popular restaurant originating from Cebu. Even the furniture and fixtures were shipped from Cebu.

I was able to try the place last January but my blog entry did not materialize. The food was actually not bad, particularly the Gambas ala Luna (left photo) and the Sun Cooler, and the prices were quite affordable, but service was terribly slow.

2 weeks ago, I actually did not feel like going back so soon but the parents thought we should give it another try. They said service must have improved by then. And so we got to the resto at around 730pm. Only 2 other tables were occupied, nothing the number of servers couldn't handle. Or so we thought.

For starters, 3 items were unavailable - pumpkin soup, sun cooler, and apple juice. I ordered sopa con papas (right photo), and told the server "walang chili ah", to which she replied "wala po". The menu indicated the chopped chili ingredient but I thought maybe she meant to confirm my request and let it pass. I ordered the same soup during my first time there and requested that the chili be excluded. When the soup arrived, there was definitely chili, but no corn kernels as it should have. I did not complain since I might not have made my request about the chili clear. I could stand a little bit of heat but I couldn't give any to my nephew.

The server then came with a tray of glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. And to our amazement, started pouring iced tea in the glasses while still in the tray she was balancing with her left hand. We were amazed, not with the difficulty of what she was doing, but with the stupidity of it. Somebody from our group suggested that she put down the tray first, but she just smiled and continued on. Luckily enough, no mishaps occurred.

The Mooon Steak of my sister was so-so, but for only P169, one can't really expect much. My parents liked the taste of the Mexican Baby Back Ribs (P199) but it's a bit on the tough side.

When almost everyone in the table had eaten half their food, 2 orders still had not arrived. We called the attention of a server. My mom pointed out that the group near us, which came in much later than we did, was already eating pizza but ours had not been served. I also followed up my order of beef stroganoff. I was still calm at the time because I placed my order last, being undecided when the others ordered their entrees. The pizza arrived after a considerable waiting period, but my order of beef stroganoff still did not. It had already been 45mins. since I placed the order.

Very much irritated, I asked the server where my order was. She and another server checked the order slip, then checked their ordering system. We could hear them arguing all the way from our table. It became obvious that the order was written down but not punched into the system, hence no order was placed in the kitchen. Losing my patience, I called out "Hindi na-order yung beef stroganoff 'no? Cancel niyo na!"

The supervisor of sorts approached our table to apologize and explain what happened, something we already gathered from the conversation of the servers. But no amount of apology could bring my appetite back and nothing can drag me back to that place again. Thank goodness for the Dairy Queen downstairs, I was able to drown my anger in double cocoa shake.

Mooon Cafe
2nd level Annex
SM North Edsa

Menu:

Italianni's Greenhills

I have been looking forward to another visit to Italianni's since I redeemed a GC using my credit card points. So I invited my friend to have dinner at Italianni's Megamall last weekend. Imagine our shock when we found out that the Megamall branch was no longer there, and in its place stood BDO. We both frequent the mall but we just never noticed it.

Last night, after watching Green Zone with my mom and sister, I suggested eating at Italianni's Greenhills. I was excited to have my favorite salad again. Ever since I had my first taste of Italianni's Sicilian Chicken salad, I always make it a point to order it.

We were pleasantly surprised by the speed at which our order arrived. Our order of Peppered Fish Fillet arrived soon after. Service was off to a good start. Sadly, the whole dining experience was not up to par.

First, there was not enough dressing on the salad. While it's true that it could easily be remedied by extra dressing, it seemed un-Italianni's-like. Make no mistake though, we still enjoyed the salad. But maybe it was a sign of what was to come.

The peppered fish fillet, another favorite of mine, was blander than usual. My sister even felt that it was cooked using "old" oil. For me, it was just okay, but not nearly as good as I expected.

We ordered the Tortellini for our last dish, which we took home almost untouched. There are other tried and tested items in the menu we could have ordered but we went for the "New" item, and ended up disappointed.

Maybe it just was an off night for Italianni's or maybe it's the branch, I don't know. Next time, I'm not taking any chances and sticking with either the Tomas Morato or the Trinoma branch.

Bistro Ravioli

Crossing over from the 2nd floor deparment store to the mall area of SM Mall of Asia, I was surprised to see a new resto by the name of Bistro Ravioli in place of Stars and Stripes. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. I approached the resto staff standing outside the door holding a menu and asked if they just opened recently. I was told that December 6 was their opening date. I asked further if it's the same as the one at Robinsons Galleria. She smiled and said yes. I returned the menu to her, already thinking when I would be able to try it.

I've always wanted to try Ravioli at Robinsons Galleria ever since I read Anton's post at OAP. Galleria, or Galle as we call it, is actually so much nearer my home than MoA, but somehow Ravioli's location at the food court turns me off. Thanks to a couple of bad experiences at the food court dating back a decade.

My chance to try Bistro Ravioli came last Saturday when my brother suddenly wanted to go to MoA. The place looked clean and the interior design was simple and neat. Framed pictures of their food and quotes from famous people adorned the walls. We liked the interior but it did not seem very "bistro-like", or maybe just to our untrained eyes.

For our antipasti, we ordered Foccacia with Spinach Dip (P125). There were 5 big slices of foccacia. The photo shows only 3 because my sister and I were already hungry and forgot to take a photo before getting our share. The dip serving wasn't stingy either. The foccacia was nothing out of the ordinary but the dip was creamy and slightly chewy. For lack of description in their menu, we guessed that the cheese mixed in was mozzarella. It was really, really good. When my brother arrived, he tasted it and then put a large dollop of the dip on his bread. The dip bowl was scraped clean. We forgot to leave some for the bread that came with the ravioli and pasta dishes.

For drinks, my sister had the Lemon Iced Tea while my brother and I had the Red Iced Tea. Each only cost P30. Cheaper than we expected.

After much deliberation, we settled on the Italian Sausage Ravioli (P190). The Spinach Ravioli seemed redundant with our dip. I was hesitant to try the Chicken and Pesto as pesto is not one of my favorite flavors. There wasn't much to choose from so italian sausage it was.

We couldn't believe it when our server said each ravioli dish has about 2 dozen pieces. We were imagining the size of ravioli we've had at different restos. But Bistro Ravioli's version was much smaller after all. We didn't bother counting the pieces, but it seemed to be more or less that number. I popped a bite-sized raviolo into my mouth and savored the taste of the salty sausage combined with the pasta. Then a few more in quick succession. I would prefer to taste more tomato sauce in the mix but it was good nevertheless. We finished the ravioli in no time.

My brother's choice for pizza was Quattro Formaggio (P325), as I had predicted. I wanted the Margherita but I was overruled by the 2. I thought I would just try a slice because I find 4-cheese pizzas too "cheesy", for lack of a better adjective. I was actually pleasantly surprised. The crust, though thin, was flavorful and the 4 cheeses not nakakaumay as I expected. I ended up having two slices.

Our pasta selection was the Molto Meatball (P180) despite our server's recommendation of the Seafood Pasta. The photo just did not seem appetizing. The Puttanesca with Sun-dried Tomatoes on the other hand seemed a bit boring according to my sister. We ended up being disappointed with our order. The dish did not just look like it came from a can of ready-to-eat spaghetti but the pasta tasted like it too. The meatball was so-so. Its only saving grace was the tomato sauce. Even the Pancetta Carbonara of the couple beside us seemed a wiser choice.

Enough of the shoulda, woulda, coulda. I can try other dishes next time, and I think there will definitely be a next time. The food was good and reasonably-priced. The service was not bad, even bordering on paranoid, when we observed one of the waiters go from table to table asking the patrons if all orders had been served :-P Well, they did charge 5% for service.

However, we were sort of hoping to have some soup, which they didn't have. And I feel that the selection was quite limited. Going back to Anton's blog, I noticed a few items not available at the MoA branch such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Shrimp Diablo pasta, Chorizo & Tomato Ravioli, and Ham & Garlic Ravioli. (I probably should have taken a photo of the menu.) I hope they do add to their menu.


Photos courtesy of my sister.

Dezato Mochi Ice Cream

In my post about Dezato Mochi, I mentioned Dezato's offering of mochi ice cream. Before the Christmas break, I headed over to Dezato Cafe to purchase some. There were 6 ice cream flavors to choose from - chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, coffee, mango, and green tea. An order of mochi ice cream, priced at P175, has 6 pieces. It can also be purchased individually at P35. The pricelist at Dezato's multiply site shows P150 for an order of 6, obviously not updated.

I bought 4 orders of mochi ice cream. 2 for the family, and 2 to be given away. Half had 2 pcs. of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry each and the other half had 2 pcs. of vanilla, strawberry, and green tea each, because they had already ran out of chocolate. I hurried home, excited to try one and possibly relive a Dreyer's mochi moment. I tried a piece of chocolate mochi ice cream first upon getting home. It was still frozen, too frozen in fact to be eaten. But my excitement got the better of me and I ended up disappointed. It was like eating chocolate ice cream covered in ice.

My sister chose the strawberry variant, and said it was good. I tried hers, still no moment. She had the chocolate one next and enjoyed it immensely. What had just happened? Did I build up the taste of mochi ice cream in my mind that the actual taste fell short of my expectations? My dad tried it and liked it as well. I'm convinced that I had sabotaged my own enjoyment. I'm suddenly reminded of an episode of How I Met Your Mother entitled Rebound Bro, where Ted was worried that something Stella hadn't had for 5 years would disappoint her because she probably built it up in her mind.

I decided to give it another chance, I bought a dozen after all. This time, I waited patiently for the mochi to thaw a bit. It was better but still not as good as I had hoped. I resolved to forget the Dreyer's moment and just enjoy Dezato's, enjoy the sensation of the cold sticky outer mochi and the flavor of the ice cream inside. The ice cream was typical, probably store bought. But I know better to stay away from green tea next time. It just isn't for everybody.

2 microwaveable containers were emptied after just a day. 1 container supposed to be given away was opened and promptly finished off a few days later. Not so bad for something I didn't think was that good ;-)