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26.7.10

HK: One Dim Sum

What will a HK trip be without having yum cha?
There are so many places to go for yum cha that you can scratch your head for a good half an hour, just to decide where to go. I wanted to go to Tim Ho Wan - the 1 Michelin star yum cha place - but since it was packed (and granny didn't want to wait) we ended up in One Dim Sum (Shop 1 & 2, G/F, Kenwood Mansion, 15 Playing Field Road, Prince Edward). This place is presumably on par with Tim Ho Wan, according to a recent magazine review.
One Dim Sum (一點心) is a very small and humbly decorated place, so if you don't get there early enough, expect to wait for a while.
We ordered quite a few dim sums and it didn't take long for them to arrive. In no time, we see ourselves eating at an increased pace to make sure that our tiny table could still hold all the dim sums that kept coming. Pretty hectic!
One Dim Sum offers traditional dim sums and here below is what we ordered.
Shrimp Har Gow: Can't go to a yum cha place without ordering this! The skin of the har gow was thin and the prawn filling tasted fresh and juicy.
Beef balls with beancurd skin: i normally don’t order this dish because the taste of coriander is so strong that overpowers the whole dish. Since mom likes this dish, we ended up ordering it anyways. To my surprise, i adored this dish! The balance of beef and coriander flavours were good and the beef balls were very juicy. They usually serve it with worcestershire sauce. I recommend it =)
Steamed Rice Rolls with BBQ Pork and Cha Leung (Yau Tiu wrapped with steamed rice rolls): The ‘skin’ wasn’t really smooth as i expected but the BBQ filling was yummy. The Yau Tiu in the Cha Leung tasted good but it wasn’t very crispy!
Steamed Rice Rolls with BBQ Pork

Cha Leung

TeoChew Dumplings: I never really liked this particular type of dumpling; it's more to do with the texture of the dumpling skin. Since there were only 3 of them, i didn’t eat it. Here is a photo of it (nonetheless):
Deep fried beancurd parcel: the parcels were crispy and golden and the filling was made nicely. Worth trying if you like deep-fried dim sums.
Baked Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Bun): Although the buns were missing the honey glaze on the outside, they still tasted lovely. The BBQ pork filling was nice and saucy, definitely worth a try! Tip: If you are used to the white steamed BBQ pork buns, give this a try!
Pork Ribs and Chicken Feet Rice: I am not a fan of chicken feet but the pork ribs and the rice were superb! The ribs were very nice and juicy (especially with the small soft bones in it!) and the rice tasted awesome after i drizzled the 'special' soya sauce that came with the dish. I really liked this dish and recommend it as well!
Boiled Choy Sum with Soya Sauce: as usual, i love vegetables! yum~
Egg Shatters (蛋散): what a funny name, this is!
Egg shatters 'is a Cantonese dim sum dessert that is made from a dough of eggs, flour, sugar, and lard. The dough is rolled out flat, cut into strips, then twisted and deep fried. Malt syrup (or sometimes honey) is drizzled over the cooled finished product, which is sometimes also sprinkled with coconut flakes.' – this is an little explanation about egg shatters taken from here. These egg shatters were made well and tasted good – it was light, crunchy yet still soft and sweet with a distinct taste of eggs. The honey and the mixture of crushed peanuts & sesame seeds drizzled on it complimented the egg shatters really well.
The last dish to come was the Malaysian Steamed Cake. It was a medium round cake cut into 6 pieces; the cake was super soft, springy and not too sweet *thumbs up for that! Due to my unprofessionalism, we finished the cake before i could take a photo of it! =P

Overall we had a very satisfying lunch and most dishes are worth trying. The best thing? Most dishes are just around the HK$15-20 mark (~AU$2.20-3) which is also considered inexpensive for Hong Kong yum cha standards. It's definitely worth coming back...maybe after i pay a visit to Tin Ho Wan?

19.7.10

HK: Golden Siam Thai Cuisine

First of all, sorry for taking so long to update! I was having some issues with my Internet and i hope i got it fixed. Since my NEW netbook can't run Photoshop, i have installed a similar program called GIMP and it takes a while to do some editing as i am not entirely familiar with its functions (hence the slowness).
Thanks for visiting my blog and being so supportive, i hope to update more often after a week or so without updates. Sorry! *with big, shiny watery eyes
I am currently in Hong Kong and it's been quite hot and humid; i have been able to keep my sanity thanks to the existence of air-con! As for my eating adventures here, it has been going well...i've had Japanese, Yum Cha, Afternoon tea, High tea, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese and heaps more that you will see in the coming posts!
***
As soon as i arrived in Hong Kong, it was dinner time! (how great is that?) We had Thai for dinner because i wanted to eat something refreshing and light! Golden Siam Thai Cuisine (Shop B13, B/F, Citygate Outlets, 20 Tat Tung Road, Lantau, Hong Kong, Tung Chung) is conveniently located near the airport and the outlets - but seriously, they are not cheap and definitely not the place to shop in HK! The restaurant itself is nicely decorated with some statues and art work from Thailand. The waitresses were dressed nicely in Thai clothes and they were polite. For some strange reason, most of them did not understand Cantonese - maybe to add authenticity to the restaurant? 
The good thing about eating out with my family is that i get to try a lot of different dishes without having to stuff myself or packing the leftovers home.
Instead of ordering the normal Green Papaya Salad or the Thai Beef Salad, i chose the Pomelo, Grapefruit and Apple Salad. It tasted refreshing and crunchy, making it perfect for a starter! The Tom Yum King Soup was subtly spicy and packed with seafood but it would have been perfect with a tad bit more of sourness! Yum to the prawns.
Pomelo, Grapefruit & Apple Salad
Tom Yum King Soup
The next to arrive was the Thai Taro Fried Rice. It was yummy and the taro taste was there but the dish overall didn't really taste Thai. It was nice to give it a try instead of ordering the usual Thai Pineapple Fried Rice. 
We ordered some miscellaneous dishes such as the Thai San Choi Bao, which to my surprise, was very spicy and we also ordered a Mussels a la Thai style. The mussels were average (not very fresh!) and i think i liked the stir-fried vegetable dish more. The vegetable is called 椰苗 and if anyone knows its English name, please let me know! (it didn't taste like brussels sprouts, but it did look like a longer version of it)
Thai San Choi Bao
Mussels a la Thai style
Thai Stir-fried vegetable
After finishing our dishes, we were given a bowl of Red Bean Sweet Soup each as complimentary dessert. Overall, the atmosphere and the service was nice and the meal was alright with some highlights.
I love sweet soups and i was so happy to remember that there are a plenty of sweet soup shops waiting for me to try here in HK! It's a HK thing~

Stay tuned, I'll (hopefully) be updating soon!

10.7.10

Little Istanbul

By the time this post is up, i am no longer wrapped up in my thick and black coat but probably wearing a summer-ish dress and enjoying some awesome ice-cream (haven't had that yet! Just had some Thai food for dinner).
I managed to escape the cold and freezing Canberra for a month or so and i am currently enjoying my time in a place where people commonly call it the Shopping Heaven: HONG KONG! My aim is to do some a lot of shopping (hopefully) and to visit as many places as possible and eat all the goodies that are so unique to Hong Kong...and that will include Yum chas, pineapple buns, egg tarts, milk tea and many more! Can't wait~

Before i start posting about my adventures in Hong Kong (and China), here is how i spent my last day in Canberra. We went to Little Istanbul (shop 9b, Tuggeranong Hyperdome, ACT) for lunch and decided to go for the Sovereign Banquet - as it had a bit of everything.
It was a nice day so we sat outside - great for photos! The staff was polite and the service was good. The banquet started not long after we got our Iced Coffee which by the way, was surprisingly nice. It wasn't too sweet and it wasn't overloaded with some dodgy cream!
The banquet started with a selection of dips by the chef and some warm pide bread. We got the following dips: Pancar (beetroot), Havuc (carrot), Humus (chick peas) and Baba Ghanoush (eggplant). My favorite dip was the Havuc and i have to give credits to the Humus! I am not a big fan of Humus but this particular one did not taste 'commercialised' (like the previous ones that i had) and got me eating more than i normally would. We also got two Kabaks which are grated zucchini mixed with fresh herbs - crispy on the outside and nicely soft inside!
Dips and the Kabaks
Dips and the warm pide
Next up was the Chef's choice of pide plus salad. The pide was hot and nice; the filling was simple but delicious.I think we got the Istanbul Pide as it matched the description of such in the a la carte menu - finely minced meat, onions, parsley, capsicum & cheese.
Look at the cheeese!
Our last dish was the Sis Kebab (lamb pieces marinated, seasoned & grilled on a skewer) and Sis Tavuk (chicken pieces marinated, seasoned & grilled on a skewer) served with Pilav (fluffy white rice with pan-fried risoni). The chicken pieces were tender and juicy and to my surprise, i enjoyed the lamb skewer too! It didn't have a strong 'lamby' taste and the meat was tender and soft.
By the end of the banquet, we were very full but satisfied. Great place, great weather, great food, great service...what more can you ask for?

Little Istanbul on Urbanspoon

5.7.10

Pork Barrel Cafe

Pork Barrel Cafe during winter
Pork Barrel Cafe (King George Terrace, Parkes ACT) is located right opposite to the beautiful rose gardens of Parkes' Old Parliament House. The octagon-shaped cafe has windows all around it allowing customers to enjoy their meal while admiring the beautiful surrounds of Canberra in every season. The cafe also has some lovely paintings hanging around its walls which add a bit of colour to the simplistic decors of Pork Barrel Cafe. We decided to go there for our 'girly' lunch since it is a perfect place to have a nice and relaxing long chat!
Pork Barrel Cafe has a very cute logo!
The cafe offers a breakfast menu, a selection of pizzas, salads, sides and daily lunch specials. We decided to go for the pizza special (2-for-1 pizza lunch special on Mondays and Tuesdays) that they are having at the moment and we ended up ordering a medium Bombay Chicken Pizza (Hot and Spicy Tandoori with Spanish Onion and Raita) and a Pommodoro Pizza (Pancetta, Provolone and Semi Dried Tomatoes).
Bombay Chicken Pizza that comes with pappadums
Pommodoro Pizza
The pizzas were quite nice (though the pizza crust was a bit too thick to my liking) and i think we all agreed that the Bombay Chicken was more yummy (yummier?). It is, in fact, N's favorite pizza from Pork Barrel Cafe. For me, serving the Bombay Chicken Pizza with Raita and Pappadums was thumbs up. It feels like you are having Indian food when you dip a piece of pappadum into the tandoori and raita ^^. We were full and satisfied after finishing the pizzas and we had a great time chatting and admiring the beauty of Canberra's winter season.

It's probably my 3rd visit to Pork Barrel Cafe and i can't believe that I've never tried anything from their breakfast menu...definately going there for breakfast on my next visit! Should i go for the 'Rose Garden Recovery Breaky' or the classic 'Eggs Benedict'?


Pork Barrel Cafe on Urbanspoon

1.7.10

Tosolini's - a small afternoon snack...

Went to Tosolini's for a quick catch-up with a friend and at the same time, an 'excuse' to have afternoon tea. We ordered a cappuccino and an Antipasto Misto ($24.50) to share - which consisted of cured meats, dips, marinated vegetables, seafood and bread.
The Antipasto was quite generous containing a variety of different things in it. It had a carrot dip, beetroot dip, smoked salmon, proscuitto, char-grilled chorizo, salt & pepper squid, octopus, marinated slices of eggplants, zucchinis and capsicum. Of course, it was accompanied by some bread. I quite enjoyed the marinated vegetables and also having the proscuitto with some bread and dip. Unfortunately the octopus wasn't fully cooked, so we had to exchange them for some more squid instead. The platter was quite filling and i didn't have to eat much for dinner!
Lastly, a photo of the Cappuccino...i quite like their 'Tosolini's' cup! It's cute~


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