Category: megabites

Christmas Pizza Anyone?

Looking for something different this festive season? Perhaps Pizza Express’ Christmas menu which includes two festive pizzas and a range of themed dishes might interest you.

The seasonal a la carte menu features a baked cheese melt starter ($65), a turkey Caesar salad ($128), Farfalle con Tacchino ($133, turkey pasta with a white cream sauce) and Pumpkin Cannelloni ($138) – this is ok, the pureed pumpkin, spinach and cheese filling is tasty but it perhaps could have been delicious if the pumpkin had been in chunks to give the filling some texture and substance.

There are two festive pizza: Tacchinao Rosmarino ($153) – a thin crust pizza topped with turkey, cranberry and sweet peppadew sauce, pancetta, mozzarella, tomato sauce, a sprinkle of rosemary and pine nuts.  The Cicciolo e Fontina ($153) features pork, pork shin, fontina, mozzarella, Parmesan with caramelized onions, garlic oil, béchamel sauce and thyme served on a thin crust pizza.

Strange sounding combinations they may seem, but they’re both not bad.  The turkey one, perhaps a little sweet to eat a full pizza yourself. But Pizza Express allows mixing and matching so we sampled a half/half combination which was delicious.

Dessert options are Apple Tortino ($88, a baked apple, cinnamon  and puff pasty combination topped with vanilla gelato) and a Snowy Date Pudding ($88) which is rather nice. The warm pudding in a sauce of honey yoghurt and raspberry coulis topped with vanilla gelato.

The festive menu is available at all Pizza Express outlets until 1 January, 2018

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Christmas-Menu-Tasting-Pizza-Express-Wanchai-9-December-2017/i-cx5Ntpc

Anniversary Specials: Pizza Express, UberEATS

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Everyone loves a birthday or anniversary and restaurants are no exception. Here are two local outlets that have tempting offers this month.

Pizza Express

PizzaExpress is celebrating its anniversary this month and looking to share it with everyone via two special offers. From now until 30 November 2017 arrive after 8pm from Monday to Friday and spend over $250 to get a 30% discount (except Hong Kong International Airport, Times Square, New Town Plaza and Ocean Terminal outlets).

Customers with a birthday in October or November can get a plate of baked dough balls for free by simply saying “Happy Birthday” to the reception staff and showing their Hong Kong Identity card.

There are also several new menu items featuring a variety of “Superfoods” including Cook Off 2 winner Sophia Cheng’s vegetarian Beyond Chicken and Kale Pesto Pizza – which if you ask, can usually be made with real chicken as well.

UberEATS

Food delivery company UberEATS celebrates it’s first anniversary locally with a couple of discount codes on it’s app/website. www.ubereats.com/hong_kong/

From 23-27 October, log on between 12-2pm and if you find the flash promo code in the top banner get $50 off your next order.

Until 29 October enjoy free delivery from selected outlets by entering the promo code HKONEYEAR before checkout.

Savoury Roast Beef Rib at Lawry’s

Lawry’s The Prime Rib is California’s interpretation of an olde English restaurant. With starched waiters uniforms, deep plush red velvet chairs, restrained elegance and quality US roast beef rib carved from a service cart at the table… It’s survived and thrived over the last 80 years because it offers a refined dining experience, so much so that such vapid ‘celebrities’ as the Kardashian’s have dined there.

Locally Lawry’s The Prime Rib is celebrating 11 years in the SAR with a “Round the World Savoury Journey” menu ($688) which offers six different sauces from various Lawry’s around the world – Beef au Jus (US); black pepper sauce (Hong Kong): wasabi soy sauce (Japan); Korean red chilli sauce; Singapore curry sauce: Taiwanese sesame soy sauce – to enjoy with your delicious slab of 10oz roasted prime rib.

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The savoury (because Lawry’s is American they spell it savory on the menu) starts with a trifecta of seafood: oyster with salmon roe and lemon vodka foam; scallop with black truffle salt and a shrimp with a tasty mango salsa. The 10oz wet aged roasted prime beef rib is served with mashed potatoes and gravy and a massive Yorkshire pudding.

Available side dishes include creamed spinach or corn ($55 each) and a sizzling skillet of mixed mushrooms ($85). If you have room for dessert there blueberry hotcake with maple syrup. To enhance your world journey experience there are six cocktails paired to the sauces.

The Round the World Anniversary menu, $688 for two courses, $738 for three courses, is available in addition to the regular and weekend brunch menus until the end of November, there’s 10% service charge.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Lawrys-Prime-Rib-Hutchison-House-17-October-2017/i-9FHNWN2

Lawry’s The Prime Rib
2/F, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, Central. Tel: 2907 2218
www.lawrys.com.hk

All You Can Eat Wagyu Set Dinner Launch @ Carlo Riva – 3 October, 2017

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Carlo Riva in Wanchai launched it’s month long ‘All You Can Eat Australian M9 Wagyu Dinner Set’ promotion with a celebration lunch on 3 October featuring a plethora of beautiful women and lots of delicious steak.

Until 31 October enjoy the All You Can Eat Australian M9 Wagyu Dinner Set with buffet style appetiser, salad and dessert for $288 weekdays and $328 at weekends – book via whatsapp 6681 1967.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images

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Porker, Simple Food Done Well

It’s easy to walk past the entrance to Porker the new tonkatsu (Japanese cutlet bar) on Wellington Street and if you enjoy and appreciate pork and sake that’d be a mistake. The nondescript stairs wind down to a small friendly room adorned with playing card wallpaper – porker/poker – and some fine food.

As with beef, the Japanese will claim you’ve never had pork until you’ve eaten Japanese pork. There are designer pork farms across several prefectures which produce amazingly tender juicy pork weaved with tasty fat. Porker uses Sangenton 30 day aged pork from the Kagoshima prefecture shipped vacuum sealed, so never frozen, to preserve the flavour.

The menu features a range of teishoku (set meals) available throughout the day and a selection of appetisers and a la carte dishes which are only available in the evening. The signature dish is the Porker set ($200) which combines two of the restaurants best sellers deep fried breaded aged pork sirloin (120g) and tenderloin (50g) served with Japanese rice, soup, pickles and cabbage.

Even though it’s been deep fried, there’s almost no oil residue or oily taste and the breadcrumbs are lovely and crispy, the thick cut pork remains juicy and moist throughout. The sirloin has tasty fatty edge and good flavour. The tenderloin, served light pink is juicy, soo soft and tender that it’s melt in the mouth delicious.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Porker-Central-30-August-2017/i-rpbPKs7

The Minced Meat Cutlet with tomato sauce ($80) features minced pork with melted cheese in the center, breaded and deep fried and then served with a tangy tomato sauce which has just the right sharpness to cut through the oils. Delicious.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Porker-Central-30-August-2017/i-FLhMGN9

I’m not a great fan of eating pork entrails, the taste and texture just never really does it for me. But there’s pork entrails and Japanese pork entrails… The Pork Giblets Stew ($70) has a miso base with the entrails stewed until soft and tender. It’s full of flavour and offers a nice contrast to all the fried offerings.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Porker-Central-30-August-2017/i-HLCvsSr

Unexpectedly the Tenderloin Cutlet Sandwich (2pc, $70) is a little disappointing – that sounds a bit harsh and perhaps it is – the thick cut tenderloin was a little dry and for a sandwich the portion size isn’t visually impressive. Perhaps we had expectations for this dish, whereas for the others we didn’t. It still tastes pretty good though, although overshadowed by the other dishes. It’s offered as a 4pc take out option at lunch time ($140) and you’d want four pieces to feel full.

There’s a single page playing card drinks menu with a range of sake, wine and shochu chosen to pair well with the food offerings. Currently Porker has no desert menu.

We haven’t extensively sampled tonkatsu style restaurants around town, so can’t offer a comparison against other offerings. Porker offers good sized portions of very tasty and well cooked pork which won’t leave you feeling hungry at for what in Central are reasonable prices. It’s simple food, done well.

Porker is the sister restaurant to the Japanese beef centric 298 Nikuya Room (Central) and 298 Nikuya Kitchen (TST).

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Porker-Central-30-August-2017/i-c4X5MVj

Porker
55 Wellington Street, Central. Tel: 6706 5298
Opening hours: Noon-2:30pm, 6-11pm
10% Service charge

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Porker-Central-30-August-2017/i-BRhQbSL

Crafted Tea Salon – Flamingo Bloom

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Coffee has been flavour of the month locally for years now with numerous coffee chains and single shops offering from an averagely awful to a boutique cup of java. Flamingo Bloom a new tea salon in Central obviously aspires to establish a chain of outlets offering floral teas.

The owners creative branding of flamingos and pink ‘n’ blue colours is targeted heavily towards the ladies but it’s all done quite nicely and makes a welcome change to the drab browns of our local java outlets.

What about the tea? Flamingo Bloom uses four base tea flavours Jasmine Tips Green, Honey Orchid Black, Highland Oolong and Chrysanthemum Pu’er and brews using full leaves to get a better flavour and they’re pretty solid beverages. Everyone has a different preference for how long they like their tea to steep, but the flavours here are good.

On top of the basic teas you can add a wide range of flavours including fresh fruits, salted milk cap – a mix of fresh milk, whipped cream, cheese powder and sea salt – and boba pearls. With most available in hot (500ml) and cold (650ml) options. The choice is wide and prices range from $23 upwards and likely it’ll take a few visits or sharing with friends to find your favourite.

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Each drink is prepared to order and the back area resembles a cocktail bar with servers blending and shaking. A lot of thought has obviously gone into the drinks and there are some nice little touches: the ice is blended into the drink so with a cold drink you get a consistent taste rather than a continually diluted one as the ice melts. A little beetroot has been added to the milk to give a pink colour.

Iced Drink Update: this was during the first week and how their tea crafter explained it to bc, but on recent visits the drinks are just like normal iced drinks with ice-cubes – which is a shame.

All good so far, but there are a few niggles. Flamingo Bloom’s is looking for a healthy and refreshing image, unfortunately what’s not made clear on the menu and in the drink ingredients list is that unless you specifically ask for no sugar, each drink has a large, and we mean large, amount of sugar syrup added to it. Most of the flavour combinations shouldn’t need it – but the sugar hit as with fizzy and sports drinks is the unseen addictive hit.

The owners have carefully thought about drink presentation, yet have gone with a thick opaque plastic cup which hides the attractiveness of the drink. And with all the plastic and straws being handed out it would be nice to see FB aggressively pushing recycling.

Flamingo Bloom is a vibrant new tea salon with lots of tasty teas – our current favourite is the salted milk cap Pu’er – remember to hold the sugar if you want a healthy drink. Just because a drink comes with a straw doesn’t mean it’s best enjoyed through the straw. Many of FB’s drinks are best enjoyed from the top down, rather than bottom up.

Flamingo Bloom
50B Stanley Street, Central. Tel: 2483 1778. 11am-9pm
www.flamingo-bloom.com

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Crafted-Teas-Flamingo-Bloom-5-July-2017/i-R38kzhk

Mr Greek Moves to Soho

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Mr-Greek-27-June-2017/i-zNQTmPj

Originally it opened in Mongkok, but Mr Greek has upped sticks and moved to Graham Street in Soho where the first Asian restaurant (operated as a franchise) of the this popular Canadian chain offers a wide range of Greek and Canadian dishes.

Simple sides and snacks include souvlaki, spanakopita, grilled vegetables, roasted potatoes and pita with delicious fresh dips.

The mains are generously sized and include several variations on the classic Canadian poutine ($50/$55). It might not look attractive to those searching for beautiful dishes for facebook/instagram but the enjoyment of poutine is in the eating. A piled high plate of chips, of the big fat variety-cooked fluffy in the middle, covered in delicious home-made gravy, and melted mozzarella.

It’s a lovely filling plate of carb to enjoy alone or with a friend and perfect washed down with a cold beer (byo). If we have a slight complaint it’s that there wasn’t enough gravy and it would be better served in bowl.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Mr-Greek-27-June-2017/i-zqc5tRm

The moussaka is minced lamb with layers of potatoes and aubergines topped with melted cheese and makes a nice change from similar Italian dishes.

There’s a selection of stuffed pita known in Greece as gyros, which are pita bread stuffed full of meat, salad, dressing and at Mr Greek chips. It’s a big fresh mouthful!

For seafood lovers there’s octopus, calamari offered as mains or taster sizes. And for salad aficionados there are a range of crisp flavourful salads to enjoy.

All the ingredients are freshly prepared on the premises or imported from Greece and portions are large enough that you really can share with your friends. There’s a selection of attractive looking desserts but we didn’t try any.

It’s not fancy and the poorly designed Chinglish menu does the restaurant no favours. But the food is tasty, filling with good sized portions at reasonable prices for Soho, so what’s not to like!

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Mr-Greek-27-June-2017/i-vjgwRpL

Mr Greek: 51A, Graham Street, Central. Tel: 2352 3336
Opening Hours: noon-midnight everyday
www.facebook.com/Mr-Greek-Asia

Lai Yuen Cha Chaan Teng

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Almost everyone over a certain age remembers Lai Yuen, yet today it’s a brand in search of an identity and a product. The recent carnivals at Central Harbourfront in 2015 and Asiaworld Expo last year were a dose of nostalgia brought to life. But Hong Kong has two amusement parks today and even with 60 million tourists a year there’s not economic room for another. So what now? Earlier this month Lai Yuen open it’s first cha chaan teng style restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. bc went along for a lai cha.

Cha chaan teng’s are such an integral part of Hong Kong life, can they be ‘modernised’ and ‘branded’ – the answer is a qualified yes. Surprisingly the dishes we tasted at Lai Yuen were pretty good. The menu is extensive and full of traditional dishes and drinks.

The lai cha milk tea ($21) has body and flavour and is nicely smooth, as is the ‘yuan yang’ ($21) both strangely are served in plastic mugs. There’s a fun unique twist to the signature Fresh Pineapple Ice ($31) you’re also given the pineapple so you can ‘squeeze’ more juice yourself. Rather clever, especially in today’s selfie taking world.

The portions sizes are good, the signature Lai Yuen chicken drumstick ($48) is massive, a full meal in itself. The Dino curries have a good range of flavours from the mild Japanese, served with a Pork cutlet ($72) to the slow cooked beef brisket ($78) which has a nice ‘bite’ to it without being overpowering.

Dinos instant noodles with bacon, kimchee and cheese sauce ($64) has four good sized slices of bacon, a fairly dense cheese sauce and again is very filling. The addition of kimchee might seem a little odd, but the sharpness cuts through the denseness of the cheese noodles – if you want it to.

One of the signature dishes is Roasted Whole Chicken With Glutinous Rice ($158). It looks good was tasty and filling, although the chicken was a little dry, but not something you’d instantly return to buy unlike some of the other menu items.

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A staple of any cha chaan teng is ‘French toast’ and Lai Yuen’s is pretty good. Offering a variety of options including a caramel version ($30, $36 with soft boiled egg) for those who find the traditional version too sweet. The bread is big, cut reasonably thick but the egg dip and frying lacked that little quality that takes a dish from good to memorable and must return for.

And the place itself… Well that’s where Lai Yeun is a little strange. For a brand so identified with entertainment there’s strangely little atmosphere. Cha chaan teng’s, like amusement parks, are vibrant energetic places but Lai Yuen isn’t – despite the merry-go-round style lighting and horses hanging from the ceiling. It’s hard to say exactly why, but pondering on it I think it was the grey/green walls. It’s such a drab colour and seems to suck the energy and life from place.

A strange colour choice, certainly not a brand building or a colour to establish an identity on. Which is a shame, because the food and drinks are good, portion sizes are filling meal sizes – no eating here and leaving hungry – and prices very reasonable for 2017. There’s not many places in TST where you can get eat better for the price.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Lai-Yuen-Cha-Chaan-Teng-28-June-2017/i-cMfxZVR

Lai Yuen
12-16 Granville Road, TST, Tel: 3598 3088
www.laiyuenrestaurants.com
Opening Hours: 10am-11pm