Time Square Food Court - Korean Counter

The other day I had to run to Causeway Bay at lunch to grab something so I decided to take the opportunity to buy lunch nearby as it should be cheaper than Central. Yes, aren’t you glad I am talking about Causeway Bay again?

Anyway, I was in Times Square so I went down to the food court and found a Korean counter run by Lee Fa Yuen and found this <----. For $10 more you can go for the set which just means you get a drink as well, so I opted for the a la cart since I’ve got drinks in the office already.

I really liked this bowl because it had a good amount of spinach (covered by the seaweed), beef and kimchi. The best part was there was a bit of japchae as well so I didn't have to decide between rice or noodles. The next time you are in Times Square and don’t know where to go… I strongly recommend you trying this place!

Location: Time Square

Website: NA

樂心冰室 Glee Cafe

Stepping outside of Central is awesome, and I would like to introduce you to a new area called Causeway Bay. OOoooOoo0000OOoo… Alright, I’m just being sarcastic. About the new area part of course. Stepping outside of Central is always awesome.

I walk by Jardine Street a couple times a week, and when I am in a rush I like to grab food from here because it tends to be less crowded than the rest of CWB and the food is “local priced”. Glee Cafe is not the healthiest option but it has the typical cha tsan tang macaroni in soup + hot drink + scrambled eggs/ham/toast menu ($40). Unlike typical cha tsan tangs though, this place is relatively clean and newly renovated. The seating isn’t too crowded so it actually has room for me to put my big backpack. Though this place looks more modern, do not expect service to be great. The cashier looks like she wants to stab me every time I am paying her. Oh well, she never actually stabbed me so it’s all good. Speaking of dangerous things though, a couple months ago a part of this street actually collapsed after a guy walked by and he actually got injured falling into the hole. True story.

This is my “usual” there, loaded with white pepper and I always ask for chili oil. I’m also super happy that they have almond tea since I don’t really like having HK style coffee or tea with my meals.

Conclusion: This is one of my favorite cha tsan tangs in Hong Kong. Not the cheapest but at least you don’t have to eat with your arms stuck to your sides. Try it.

Location: G/F, 54-58 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay

Website: NA

Kale

In the final week of April all I want to do is recover. I’ve had the cold, the flu and severe stomach aches most of the month so I’m doing my best to get back to 100% asap. Food choices obviously would make a huge impact on this process, so this week I’ve been opting for healthier options for lunch.

 

Lifestyle Asia had an article on healthy lunch options in this link earlier, so I’ve decided to go ahead and give Kale a try today as I’m really not a fan of the salad places near my office. http://www.lifestyleasia.com/hk/en/dining/eat/feature/nourish-5-healthy-lunch-spots-hong-kong/

 

After about 10 minutes I found Kale in a building that’s quite old near the Gateway Supermarket (actually I’m not sure if it’s still there). Sitting on the 13^th floor this place is quite nice considering it’s located in such an old building. I nervously decided to go for the salad instead of the mini sliders because I had more confidence that the couscous salad would fill me up more than the sliders. I was nervous because I haven’t been a fan of couscous so wasn't sure if I’d end up hating my lunch. For $65 you get a pretty decent sized salad, and you can choose to get everything on their salad board. I hate beetroot so I got everything but that.

 

Conclusion: To my surprise the couscous actually tasted pretty good and I didn't hate my lunch. Was a little disappointed though that they don't pack the box as tightly as they do at Open Kitchen or Simply Life. I was worried that the portion wouldn't fill me up until I saw that they gave me a lot of pumpkin. As a result, I think I was actually fine for the rest of the day. Wing Lok Street might sound really far away, but it’s actually just around 10 minutes from IFC One. I’d recommend you giving this a try if you are looking for something different but still healthy and doesn’t make a dent in your wallet.  

 

Location: Rm 1301, 13/F, Cheung’s Building, 1-3 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan

Website: http://www.kale.com.hk/

Flaming Frango + Godiva

I came across this restaurant on either Sassy or another food site featuring new restaurants. This is definitely not a cheap cheap restaurant but looked interesting because their main dish is something called piri piri chicken – something I have no idea what it is. It sounded interesting enough though so my friend and I decided to go give it a try.

It’s all the way on Staunton Street by Feather Boa (btw, has that place finally shutdown yet?), so it was quite a trek especially in the hot weather. We were sat on a high table and was told there is no set menu, however they had a promotion where upon ordering a main from 2 specified sections you get a soup and a non-alcoholic drink. My friend used to live in London and she said the place reminded her of Nando so she was quite happy we went to give this place a try. We got the chicken thigh, and for sides we got the mashed potato, Frango rice, seasonal roasted veggies and “shoestring” fries.  

 

This is what I thought of the food…
Mushroom Soup: Was ok, my friend didn't seem to like it though because it was sour.
Piri piri chicken: I liked the taste as it was slightly spicy and went well with the coriander sauce and spicy sauce. Problem is whatever chicken they were using was too small and it was obvious that we were gonna be hungry afterwards.
Mashed potato: Was fine but I don’t like how they had chunks of potato in it (I know some people like that).
Shoestring fries: Er, they weren’t really shoestring fries… but nonetheless still quite tasty so I liked it.
Frango rice: Subtly flavored. I liked it but my friend did not.
Seasonal veggies: Our least favorite of the sides as it was extremely uncooked and hard.



Conclusion: My friend and I agree that the good wasn't bad but not sure if we would go back since the portions aren’t exactly big for people from Europe and Canada (we eat, a lot). Our meal ended up being around $150 which was reasonable, but then again not so reasonable since we weren’t full. In fact we had to go to Godiva for a soft serve afterwards to satisfy the rest of our appetites. Thoughts on the Godiva soft serve? Well I had to try it since it’s been seducing me for weeks with all the ads around IFC. $45 isn’t super outrageous considering the brand, but let’s just say I still prefer the cheaper Nestle or whatever ice cream cones from convenience stores and super markets.

Flaming Frango
Location: 36 Staunton St, Central
Website: NA

Godiva

Location: IFC
Website: http://www.godiva.com.hk/

新香園 Sun Heung Yuen

Awesome, a local place again! This is also located in Tit Hong Lane in Central, and probably the last restaurant from this alley I will talk about since I have no intentions of visiting Danish Bakery (I can't justify paying over $50 at a local cha tsan tang in an alley).

I believe this place is famous for its Hong Kong style milk tea and the satay beef. Can't remember which day this was but I wasn't feeling particularly hungry so I wanted to get something tasty and soupy. Satay beef on anything is one of my favorite foods so I opted for the satay beef on macaroni that particular day.

If you are the type who doesn't like the thick satay sauce then you might like this place. I was expecting it to be a really thick layer of satay sauce with beef over my macaroni, but it turns out it's the very runny soupy type. Though the taste was on the light side, I quite liked it because I was having a crappy no appetite day. It was good acting as the bit of fuel to keep me going until the end of the day.

I'll probably be back one day to try the milk tea. In the meantime, check this out when you are also having a crappy no appetite day.

Website: NA
Location: Tit Hong Lane

Open Kitchen

There’s been some FB post on people finding cockroaches in their food from Canteen/Maxim lately. I think I’ve been super lucky since I’ve never found anything like this, not even at all the ghetto local places I’ve been to.

Canteen at Prince’s Building used to be one of my favorite spots at my old job since I found the price and quality to be quite fair. Now that I don’t work in that area anymore I don’t really go there anymore. There’s an Open Kitchen near where I work, but I try my best not to go there since I find it pricey and boring. Oh, and Open Kitchen is basically Simply Life, which is part of Maxim Group.

Last Thursday though… was different. I was in a rush to go back to work so I just ran down to Open Kitchen to grab something quick. For $75 you get to choose 3 Asian dishes on top of white rice.

Although I try not to go there, whenever I am there I see the reason why it’s always so packed. Even though $75 is quite a bit, they have a good variety of dishes to choose from (healthy and non-healthy). I like that there are a number of veggie dishes to choose from, so you can make it as healthy as you want your lunch to be.

This day, I chose Chinese cabbage, beef brisket with radish and sweet and sour pork. I really like their sweet and sour pork because it’s so crispy and tasty. The beef was ok but I was more drawn to the radish. Veggies are veggies so not much to say on that. Same goes for the rice.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a go-to lunch spot even if you are in the area, since if you walk an extra 5 minutes you can get something cheaper. But on days when you need every minute you can squeeze out of your day this is a good choice.

Location: IFC
Website: http://www.simplylife.com.hk/open-kitchen/

Danish Bakery - Central

It's been a while so there are a couple of restaurants I wanted to talk about. First... let's talk about Danish Bakery.
 
If you've worked/lived/roamed frequently in Causeway Bay you may know about this “bakery” that is infamous for their fried chicken thighs. I’ve tried it once but honestly I don’t get what all the buzz is about. I guess the reason why people like Danish Bakery so much is more for sentimental reasons – this place has been around for over 40 years. Given the cheap price, I imagine a lot of kids probably grew up eating from this place.

Anyway, today I am not reviewing Danish Bakery in Causeway Bay, I’m talking about the new shop in Central with the same name. I’m not entirely sure it’s by the same owner, but judging from the news clippings posted on the walls by the entrance it should be the same.

Unlike the CWB location, this place is much nicer, and is actually a proper restaurants with seats… and I guess that’s how they are justifying the much higher cost of >$30 for breakfast and >$50 for lunch. I get that it’s Central and rent is much higher, but then what about the restaurants next to it in the same alley? They aren’t as nicely renovated but the costs are much more reasonable. When I saw the new location and the prices, I just thought to myself… gee, someone is extremely ambitious.

Anyway, so onto the food. So in a previous post I mentioned that I would likely not try this place out given its outrageous pricing, but that day I caved because well, I really wanted a hot dog. Like, really really wanted a hot dog. There is Wing Lok Yuen, but it’s just too far away for me. So yeah I gave this place a try.

For $55 I got a macaroni in soup with scrambled eggs and bacon on top, a double weinered hot dog, and a hot drink. I quite liked the macaroni in soup, but was not a fan of the hot dog at all. I asked for no cheese and with ketchup, and yes, they left out the cheese, but they put mayonnaise in it!! To top it off, it’s not even the normal Miracle Whip, but it’s a weird mayo that’s slightly clear... with the consistency of what looks like… ok, this is a food blog so I will keep it clean. But anyway, I am sure you get the jist of what I am saying.

Conclusion is I probably won’t revisit unless I get another extreme hot dog craving.

Location: Tit Hong Lane

Website: NA

Taku

Brunch used to be a big thing for me until another one of my interests started taking up my weekends. Since I want Saturday to be sleep in day and Sunday to be activity day, there really is no day for brunch on a normal week unless it's brunch for a special occasion. In any case, since this week we get a massive 5 day super duper long weekend, I accepted a colleague's invite to brunch at Taku on Saturday.

The last time I went to Taku was quite late at night and friends and I were craving yakimono in Central. I thought it was ok but recall the price being quite steep (well either it really was expensive day or I was having a Grinch day). In any case, this time I thought the brunch was a really good deal since it was $308 (+10%) which includes all you can eat sashimi, rolls, yakimono, fried food, noodles, dessert and alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks (beer, sangria, soft drinks).

The food came really fast at the beginning and kinda tapered off towards the end, perhaps because it was a quiet day and they were expecting to end earlier and didn't prep extra food. Other than that small hiccup I would say I enjoyed the overall experience.

In comparison to Zuma which is I think more than double the price, I would prefer coming here since I actually find the food more fresh as it's "made to order" rather than a buffet style like Zuma. I've never been a fan of champagne (except for the times when I was drunk and demanded a glass of champagne for god knows what reason), so the Zuma brunch appeals to me even less. The thing that does appeal to me about Zuma actually has nothing to do with the food - it's the natural daylight. Taku is a bit dark if you are sitting further inside the restaurant. When I think of the perfect brunch, I'm thinking of a bright sunny happy day, probably because I feel like if I'm waking up early on a weekend to go out and eat, there really should be a lot of sunlight.

Anyway, for around $350 I would recommend you trying this place out. I really think it's a good deal.

Website: http://www.taku.com.hk/
Location: 35 Elgin Street, SoHo, Central

Viet Baguette & Kitchen

Xandir is on a never ending quest to save his boyfriend, while I am on a never ending quest to find a decent (in terms of quality and quantity) Viet baguette, aka banh mi in Hong Kong. In case you haven't read the post on Bee Two, it was a total disappointment as nothing about that baguette tasted like a banh mi. Well maybe the bread tasted right, but that's about it.

I saw Viet Baguette & Kitchen a week or 2 ago when I was walking out of IFC One and heading towards the escalator. They have a huge red sign up across the street on the left hand side that caught my attention, and I made a mental note to visit the place for lunch some time soon. Finally I gave this place a try last week as my plans to go to Sunday's Grocery failed.

Located in the Nexxus Building, this is a proper full on (pho) restaurant with a take out area for quick bites like baguettes, salads and juices. I think they have 4 kinds of baguettes to choose from and I went with the traditional pork one. Price wise it was $58 and about 2/3's the size of the baguettes in Edmonton, so I would consider that to be quite expensive. In case the baguette wasn't going to fill me up (which it did in the end), I also got a small salad from Pret.











Surprisingly, the sandwich kept me full until the end of the day so I didn't end up having my salad. Taste wise, they've checked the list below:

• pate
• cilantro
• fatty pork with skin
• chili pepper/jalapeño
• cucumber
• pickled carrots
• Vietnamese salami

I recall reading somewhere that Maggie sauce is supposed to be an essential ingredient as well. Never actually knew that since I thought Maggie was more of a Honger sauce. In any case... the point is these baguettes do not have Maggie sauce so it tastes slightly bland. As someone who is trying to lower salt intake this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially since the baguette still tastes good.

Overall, I would say that $58 dollars is not bad for the taste and size (though it wouldn't hurt if they came in bigger sizes).

Location: Ground floor of Nexxus Building
Website: NA

The other problem is the crumbs aftermath...

Pololi

I've been struggling to find places to write about lately as I ran out of local places that I haven't talked about. The (unstated) goal of this blog was to introduce people to more cheap local food places, but today I will talk about something not cheap and not local because I think it's a pretty good deal for the quality and quantity of the food.

When I walked in a young lady was extremely friendly and asked if I've been there before or if I've tried Hawaiian food. Honestly the first things that come to mind when people say Hawaii is number 1, my favorite type of pizza, Hawaiian, and second, Lilo and Stitch. Anyway, I said no, and then she proceeded to give me a tasting of all their different flavors of tuna. I think there were like 10-12 of them so don't ask me what all the flavors are because I can barely even remember what I got today. The ones that I do remember are a spicy one, a spicy mayo, spicy avocado, ginger, "HK" flavor (pretty interesting actually and really did taste very Hong Kong because of the spices they used). They have a lot of non-spicy ones too but I only remembered the spicy ones since I like spice. If you are not a tuna fan, they also have a Korean style octopus thing (I did not like it). They may have some other vegetarian options as well but I was obviously not vegetarian so she didn't bother to introduce those to me. By the time I was done tasting all of them I was already slightly full.

She didn't really ask if I wanted the big one for $90 or the smaller option for $60, but I guess it was obvious to her that I could eat and gave me the bigger option. She takes out a pretty big box and asks me what I want as the "base". You can do all rice (white/brown), all salad (only one choice) or half half. I always want to try everything so I opted for the half half with brown rice. They only have one salad dressing but it worked in my favor as I like balsamic vinegar and love honey Dijon. On the tuna side you also get 2 choices, so I went with the first spicy one I tried and the spicy mayo.

To be very honest, $90 is quite steep for lunch, but the fact that the tuna really does taste good (fyi, I love spicy tuna), is fresh and you get a lot of it, I can justify the price tag (unlike TaKorea where it's $90 for one wrap). I can imagine on a hotter summer day or for a lot of girls here the smaller option for $60 would be enough as well. Tuna is protein and... protein is supposed to fill you up right? If you really think about it, this is only $5 more than what I usually get at Mana. It's nice to change healthy things up every now and then as well.

Location: 35-39 Graham Street
Website: http://www.pololikai.com/

斗記燒味之家 Dau Ji Roast Expert

Can't remember if this was my second or third visit to this place. Anyway, the first time I was here I was definitely not impressed. Though this was a couple years ago when they first opened in Central, I still remember that the BBQ pork I had was very salty and costs the same if not more than Canteen in Prince's Building (literally 5 minutes away from my old office and tastes much better).

While I still had doubts about this place, their lunch deals appealed to me since it was really cheap. It was $32 for a single dish on rice, and they had my favorite beef briskets with turnip as one of the options. I decided to give it a try and got the veggies as well ($18 - a little pricey in my opinion).

I didn't have to wait for long (since all the dishes are pre-made), and when I got the food I was a little shocked - the box was huge. When I was back in the office at my desk, I opened my lunch box and thought, um, where should I start? In any case, after a little over an hour I finally finished the food. I quite liked the beef briskets as it wasn't too chewy, and the turnip was very tasty. I usually love sauce but didn't enjoy it this time because it was very starchy in a bad way. I saved all my drowning pieces of beef and turnip and put them on my rice, leaving a large pool of sauce behind. The veggies - well it's pretty standard, but then it tasted a bit funky. I'm guessing they cooked it in goose broth or something so there's that... gamey goosey taste to it.

In conclusion I liked my lunch even though it was ginormous (maybe I can be one of those girls who ask for "less rice"). Just kinda funny that I do not recommended their BBQ stuff... Regarding the veggies, I would rather go to Nam Kee to get them if I wasn't in a rush. Cheaper ($12) and tastes better.

Location: No. 15-25 Chiu Lung Street, Central
Website: NA

勝香園 Sing Heung Yuen

I really don't know if this should be considered Central or Sheung Wan, hence it gets 2 labels on the location.

I've always liked tomato soup, so I've always liked Sing Heung Yuen. The reason why I don't visit it much though is because it's outdoors so no AC and it's always packed so you gotta wait in the heat for a seat (basically pre-heating yourself for the actual heat once you start eating the hot food). Anyway, I've been having a very bad appetite lately so I decided to grab some take out from this place last week.

I was greedy so I tried the beef, pork chop and egg on macaroni in tomato soup this time. I don't usually get pork chop but was glad I gave it a try this time because it actually turned out to be quite tasty. The tomato soup was still quite good, but it tasted more Campbell this time. I wonder if my taste buds changed or if they changed... or if I just don't remember the taste of it anymore since it's been so long since my last visit.

In conclusion, I think this is still a pretty cool place to try out if you are looking for a more local and sweating your face off experience. Of course if you don't want a heat stroke mid meal you can always get it to go (add an extra fiddy cent to get the soup in a separate bowl for less sogginess) and eat it in your office. If pork chop, beef, eggs, macaroni isn't your thing, don't worry because they have many other weird things you can choose instead on the menu. The soup though I think is pretty much fixed since it's their signature... so... if you don't like tomatoes... I guess don't come here.

Location: No. 2 Mee Lun Street (across from Kau Kee Beef Briskets)
Website: NA

新興美食 Sun Hing Fast Food

This is a very very local place that I quite like going to because it's fast (food is mostly pre-made), cheap (under $40 for their lunch deals), and has a big menu (they even have a separate Thai menu).

My favorite Thai chicken feet salad

Every day, they usually have around 10 or so lunch deals which ranges from baked spaghetti to beef curry on rice or random Chinese dishes on rice, and includes a hot drink or their daily Chinese soup. If you can't find anything you like on the lunch deals, you can also check out their other menu which includes fried noodles, fried rice, soup noodles, baked rice, and a small but interesting Thai menu.

Given that I'm quite local and that the there's a wide variety to choose from for the lunch deals (keep in mind I usually go for lunch early), I can usually find something I like on that menu (by the way, it's right outside so you don't even need to walk in to decide). My personal favorites are their sweet and sour pork on rice or the beef curry on rice. On the a la cart menu, my favorite has got to be their Thai chicken feet salad. it's only $30 and they give you a freaking full box of it. It tastes so good and makes me so happy. I introduced it to my friend and she sometimes brings it home for her husband too (yes I am talking about you, S), as he too is a Thai chicken feet salad fan.


One of my ex-colleagues commented on this place before and said that it wasn't that hygienic, but I personally haven't found any issues with it. Their kitchen is basically open, so you can see everything that goes on in there while you are waiting for your food. So far I haven't seen anything crazy that turned my appetite off . I've also seen expats coming into this place (though rare like unicorns) before too so I really don't think it can be that bad.

In summary, I really think this is a great place to get takeout food (I wouldn't want to eat there since the place is so small, I don't know how people do it) for those days where you just want to eat alone at your desk and read Yahoo news (which is most days for me).

Location: No. 9 Chiu Lung Street
Website: NA



I like this dish even though it looks kinda gross

越僑 Vietnamese Fast Food

This restaurant is at the end of Tit Hong Lane and caught my attention as I was hoping it would be a good replacement for cheap Vietnamese food (since I am no longer close to Pearl on Wo On Lane).

 

This is how I feel about this "new" place in comparison to Pearl. 

 

Price range: Vietnamese Fast Food is at around $43 for a soup noodle, where as Pearl is around the $27 mark which is significantly cheaper... so Pearl for teh win here.

 

Taste: I didn't actually get the noodle soup as it wasn't in the daily special so I got the cold vermicelli instead with spring roll and pork. As long as the fish sauce is right, it's not too easy to go wrong with this dish, so I would say it's about the same. However, the spring roll at Vietnamese Fast Food definitely does not taste as good as the ones at Pearl... so I guess Pearl for teh win again here.

 

Location: This is where it beats Pearl because it's significantly closer to people who work at IFC One. A lot of people who work in IFC don't seem to like to leave the mall because they don't really know what else is out there, so even if the taste and price doesn't match up to Pearl, it's still a new choice OUTSIDE of the mall without having to walk 15 minutes to.

 

In conclusion: I walk fast and in fact don't mind walking, so I will stick with Pearl.

 

Location: No. 12 Tit Hong Lane

Website: NA

 

 

Disclaimer: the veggies were not from this place,
but were from Fook Moon Yuen next door for just $12.



TaKorea

I noticed this sitting on Wellington Street last Saturday morning (proud moment for me to be in Central on a Saturday morning) where a tea place used to be. Although the entrance is on the ground floor of Wellington Street, the store itself is actually in a basement which is closer to Pottinger Street. When you are walking into the restaurant you will think to yourself, oh dang, that's a hell lot of stairs. Don't worry, there is another exit in there that doesn't require you walking up a bajillion steps of stairs when you are done eating and in a food coma.

Though not a fan of Korean entertainment, I am a fan of Korean food, so naturally I was excited to see a new Korean fast food looking place in Central. Mentally I put this on my to try list and on my calendar for Tuesday lunch and tada, I made it there (with 2 other colleagues).

To be honest I cheated and looked at their online reviews before going and was quite disappointed that their price range is very similar to K-Roll. I've been reluctant to try K-Roll because I find it too pricey and don't really like Korean style sushi. In any case, I've been bored of my usuals for lunch so was determined to give this a try despite the price tag. We got there around 12 and was going to get it to go but then decided to stay since there were still quite a bit of seats.

The menu is super simple, basically, you pick one of each of the following:

• The base: rice, burrito or taco (comes in 3 small tacos)
• The "meat": beef, pork, chicken or eggplant
• add traditional kimchi or butter kimchi for an additional $10

Their "side" menu includes a fried chicken salad, kimchi fries, sweet potato fries, and something else that I cannot recall. As you can see... there really aren't that many choices, and the cheapest dish (the sweet potato fries) was $40. Not exactly fast food priced...



Taco flavored kisses

We got the beef burrito, chicken burrito and chicken taco. I went with the burrito as I saw online that it contains rice so I knew it would fill me up. We went baller and I added the butter kimchi instead as I've never tried it before. You can choose between no spice, regular spice and Korean spice (which is the spiciest). We skimped on the drinks because we wanted to get some Chinese herbal tea down the street after instead, and our bill totaled to $90 each.

Our food took around 10-15 minutes to arrive which was reasonable. My burrito actually tasted like a bowl of bibimbap with fried chicken wrapped in a burrito blanket. It was quite interesting but nothing life-changing... Plus bibimbap is not my thing. My favorite Korean dish is the japchae, and I think it would be so dope if they had they wrapped this in a burrito or in a taco and slap it on their menu. Bam, FUSION!

After the lunch the 3 of us were wondering how long they can survive for. The logic being that given it's setup as a casual eating place, the prices don't actually match up and the place isn't exactly obvious so not that many people may notice it. My colleague also doesn't think that people will actually go there for dinner.

The burrito

To be honest, Mana down the street is in the same price range (just under $100 for a full wrap), however their selling point is healthy, vegan, and glutten free food. While my colleagues are pessimistic about this place's future and I myself will likely not return (high price tag and not healthy enough), I think they have potential to become the next K-Roll.

Location: 55 Wellington St, Central
Website: NA

Bee Two French Baguette & Coffee

No, I will definitely not go back for their "banh mi"s because they really aren't banh mis. Out of all the banh mis I've tried in Hong Kong, this has got to be the worst of my experiences.

This place supposedly relocated to Central from Prince Edward, and now that I think of it I think I've walked past it before when it was still in Kowloon. In Central, this place sits on a corner near the Kau Yu Fong Lan Kwai Fong Hotel. Banh mis are the only sandwiches I enjoy eating so I am always on a quest to find them in Hong Kong.

This place has lunch sets for $54 which includes a (small) "banh mi", a (small) salad and a drink (lemon tea, lemon water or milk tea). I was pretty excited as I took the food out of the paper bag until I took a bite out of the sandwich. The shreds of carrots were way too sweet, the meat was like... honey ham or something... there's no pork liver pate spread... no Maggie... no jalapeno slices (ok this last one they warned me, but I didn't think they would just put some chili oil in as the "spice" that I requested for). FYI, I still have a look of disgust and hunger as I am typing this as it brings back the terrible memories.

I'm guessing their pasta or other normal sandwiches would be better, but please don't go for the "traditional banh mi"....


Location: G/F, 166 Wellington Street (near Kau Yu Fong)
Website: NA

福祿壽健康素食 Fook Luk Sau Vegetarian Restaurant

Disclaimer: I did not get vegetarian today because of green Monday. Just stumbled upon this spot when I was on my way to my Crab dinner (post on that later) last Friday. Also, please do not mistaken this as the trendier, more hipster, more baller 福祿壽. That one is Fu Lu Shou (Mandarin pronunciation) and this one is Fook Luk Sau (Cantonese pronunciation).

Master Liu Yut 了一法師 once talked about just aiming to have a vegetarian meal once a day (not breakfast) would already be a good deed versus not trying to have any vegetarian meals at all. Anyway, it's also a good way to switch up your lunch options every now and then. Is it a healthy option? I know I have that as a label, but I don't really know how healthy this is just because there is no meat. I mean... other things such as salt, sugar, carbs, starch etc etc also contribute to an unhealthy diet. Anyway, your call whether or not you find this healthy!

This place reminds me of another vegetarian place that I only had the pleasure of trying once as it shut down days after I went there. It was called 开心素食 Happy Vegetarian, and was also in Central near Pottinger Street. The style is pretty much exactly the same, you get rice and a choice of 2-3 dishes on top of it ($22 for 2 dishes, no soup or $26 for 3 dishes plus soup). If you dine in it's around $30 since you'd be taking up space and I hear you would get unlimited rice.

Today I went with the following, 

• Brown and white rice as the base: given the price, please do not expect a load of brown rice in the mix. Also unlike regular local lunch boxes, the rice only takes up about a quarter of the box.
• "Duck" w/ plum sauce: got 2 pieces, quite tasty and perhaps a little too spicy.
• "Lamb" with tofu curd and turnip/radish: creepy, the lamb really did taste a bit... lamb-ish. Tofu curd was standard, turnip/radish was standard and would have been a little bit more cooked.
• Bitter melon and "beef" scrambled eggs: probably my favorite out of the 3 since I finished it last. Not a fan of the imitation beef but can't really taste it if you eat it with the eggs so it's alright. The egg is scrambled the very Chinese way where it's slightly uncooked (err but what about avian flu...). The melon wasn't too bitter so it's right up my alley.
• Some Chinese melon soup (the daily): UGH! I was expecting some tasty MSG soup but no! it really is vegetarian!! Absolutely tasteless so I'm sorry but you've got to go... down the drain. I won't waste food next time and just let them know that I will skip the soup.

This place is very close to where I work, I was able to get there and back within 20 minutes (fast service since they are just scooping premade food into a lunch box). I would definitely go back since this adds to my lunch options, but I got to make sure I collect enough hot sauce packets to my stash since it makes a huge difference when added to the dishes.

I'm not sure how comfortable you are going there without a Cantonese speaker, but you may be able to figure out what to get without speaking Chinese as they show the dishes behind a glass case with numbers beside it, so you just order by telling the lady what number you want and whether you want noodles or rice (go with the rice. I don't think the noodles will be that good).

Random Chinese blurb that doesn't have anything to do with the restaurant that I can only say in Chinese: 偶爾不殺生去吃素當然是好的，但是如果你心腸不好，或者不吃素的時候瘋狂的吃肉，又或者你經常的浪費食物，我覺得你吃多少素都很難抵消你的罪業。每個人不多不少都會有罪過的時候，但是希望你吃素或做善事的時候是誠心地去做，而不是為了某種回報。

Location: No. 8 Tit Hong Lane (enter through Jubilee Street)
Website: NA

Ozawa 小澤

Had a whole post drafted for California Vintage but deleted the whole thing after going there on Monday. Their lunch sets are now so generic that there is no longer a point in going there, for me at least. Sigh, I guess that's the thing about Hong Kong, things change, FAST. If you know about a good lunch deal, you got to write about it before it's morphed into another generic piece of ______!

With that said, I would like to introduce Ozawa to you before it turns... sour. This is a small Japanese restaurant on Graham Street next to The Globe and Chilli Fagara, introduced to me by one of my colleagues. They have a really good lunch deal which is $100 for your choice of 3 sashimi on rice / rolls / sushi / tempura / gyoza etc etc. There are probably close to 30 things you can choose from so it's one of those places where you can keep going back to until you discover your magical combo that works best for you.

Given the price, you can imagine that there won't be things like uni or toro on the menu, but then again if you are on this blog I'd sure hope those aren't the things you are looking for at LUNCH. Save your baller moments for other times... Anyway, for $100, I think their sashimi is quite fresh (I'm pretending I know what that really means). I have no standards so maybe this would be a better point of reference - my colleagues find their sashimi quite fresh, so for $100 it really is a steal.

I have yet to discover my magical combo, but I think I really like the following:

• diced sashimi on rice (like... chirashi?)
• spicy salmon roll
• minced salmon with spring onion on rice

I've tried the following as well which were not bad:

• unagi on rice
• unagi/cucumber rolls
• spicy scallop on rice
• scallop sushi
• tempura

I must stress that you will HAVE to book a table in advance, because this place is very very small. So small that they can only have one server working, which is why you can imagine how (not) happy she is manning all these tables at once. She is quite rude but can be ok after you get used to it =D At night time I am thinking their menu would be pricier, but I have no idea how much pricier so... go for it if you would like.

Spicy scallop, minced salmon with spring onion and diced sashimi on rice, oh and a miso soup! It might look small but trust me, 3 bowls of rice will fill you up even if it's just a small bowl! You even get a small scoop of ice cream (flavor changes every... day I think). So far I think sesame was their best flavor.

Website: NA
Location: Shop C, G/F, 49 Graham Street, Central









Shugetsu 周月

I 've never been a fan of soupy ramen, though I love almost any other kind of soupy noodles. I am talking about actual ramen and not instant noodles. It irritates me when people call instant noodles ramen. Dude, stop trying to "class it up", it's just gong zai mien. Anyway, it's something about the texture that I don't like. Japanese and Shanghainese ramen both have that consistency. Anyway, so naturally when S suggested Shugetsu to me I was like fo realz? Ok fine, I will try it, since even though I am not a super fan of ramen, it's not like I am allergic to it or hate it.

Anyway, with skepticism we got there and luckily we got a seat. S explained that this is not a soup ramen, but a "dip" ramen, where the ramen is served dry on the side and you have to dip it into the sauce to eat.

When you order this, they will ask you a couple of questions which has no affect on the cost.

1. how many grams of noodles would you like? 100 / 200 / 300
2. would you like your noodles cold or hot?
3. would you like the sauce (soup) to be light or strong in flavor?
4. would you like the sauce (soup) to be less greasy?

My answers:

1. 200 grams. I have tried 300 grams before but it was just way too much. Even for me.
2. cold - I think this makes the noodles more chewy which is how I like it
3. strong - I've never tried the light
4. less greasy... which is already quite greasy. Plus why would anyone want extra grease? Doesn't add to the flavor

I never thought I would like ramen but Shugetsu sealed the deal for me. I guess the reason is because their ramen is more like udon than ramen, and I love udon. There is just the sufficient amount of pork in the sauce, and of course don't forget the egg on the noodles. Price used to be $85, but today they finally jacked it up to $97! Oh well, I still really like them so I will let this slide.

A lot of people think I am a foodie, but really I am starting to think that S is the real foodie. I can't recall any one of her recommendations disappointing me. The cheese and the chocolate chip cookies from Mark and Spencers, the croissants from Urban Bakery, Shugetsu. S - you've got excellent taste.

Location: Gough Street by the Kau Kee Beef Briskets.
Website: http://www.shugetsu.com.hk/

Dan Dan - Soul Food from Sichuan

Did you know that soul food means bla-I mean "African American" food? Anyway, I am not American so I don't know. This place caught my attention because I like spice (in case it wasn't already obvious from my previous posts). It looked interesting but the cartoon logo kinda put me off because it seemed... how do I say it... less legit? Like it won't really be authentic in my opinion. In any case, I ended up trying it on one of my solo lunch days after talking about it for so long.

I got there around 12pm to beat the rush and it was a good choice as it started filling up pretty soon after. Got the Classic Dan Dan Noodle set with seaweed and the tea. I think I got the regular spice and it was ok, but I could see how it can be quite spicy for some people.

• Classic Dan Dan Pull Noodles ($55): I liked the taste but can go for the spiciest (extra spice) next time. Please try to dine in instead or take out because it actually tastes much better there as they don't separate the soup when you get it to go.
• Tofu slices ($30): I was really looking forward to it as it was raved about on several reviews that I came across. I love peanut sauce but their sauce was too thick that it was basically gooey. I think if the sauce was thinner, less sweet, more spicy, it would be fantastic.
• Seaweed side dish (came w/meal): didn't enjoy the taste
• The tea (came w/meal): nothing special to be honest. I don't get why people were raving about it on their reviews

In summary.... I don't think the set (~$70) is really worth it because the side dish is very small and the drink is very normal. I would rather get an a la carte menu and try another side dish (I really want to try the pork ear slices) and just drink something when I am back in the office (where I have an awesome selection of free drinks).

Location: 181 Queen's Road Central,  Grand Millennium Plaza (near the Jenny's Bakery)
Website: http://www.dandanhk.com/