Assaggio Trattoria Italiana (Hong Kong)

We all have our stories to tell, be they romantic, humorous or just plain horrific. The point is, similar to food, stories are meant to be told and shared. Located inside the Hong Kong Arts Centre, this Italian Trattoria with views overlooking the harbour is a story of mixed emotions. By day, the dining room is flooded with natural sunlight and by night, the dimly lit atmosphere gives off such a seductive vibe that it’s hard not to imagine yourself as Giacomo Casanova having supper by the window.

Classified (Hong Kong)

I love cheese and that's not a secret for those who frequent my blog. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to Geoff (the man behind Geoff's Twitchen) for inviting me to this Mont d'Or event / gathering at the Classified, an event he single handedly organized. I had a cheesy yet amazing night at Classified (Wan Chai) but there was one thing really disappointed me: I thought we could have one carton of Mont d'Or for each one of us! :) ... Where was I with cheese again? Oh right, I love cheese and Mont d'Or can be considered a beginner's cheese. It is a seasonal soft cheese made from cow's milk. If you are not a fan of cheese at this moment, give Mont d'Or a try and eat with a spoon while watching TV. I am very serious about it! Let the cheese rest under room temperature inside the round wooden box and dig in when it becomes slightly running and creamy!!!!

Limehouse

Want to find a resto great for dating a girl? She wants to try something different yet offer no suggestion? A place that is quiet yet no need to walk so far with her heels? A place that tables are spaced wide enough to give you two enough personal space? A place that allow you to have certain walkable distance to the nearest MTR station after dinner? A location with more than a few crossings which you can make you lame move in garbing her hand while crossing the street? ... Don't worry, I think I have a recommendation for you: it's Limehouse on Ship Street, Wan Chai. Hiding behind the narrow and slightly steep street, you will immediate spot this rather outstanding white structure with several bright spotlights shining in all directions. 

Qiao Tei Chili Crab 橋底辣蟹 (Under the Bridge Spicy Crab)

I am not a spicy person (in many ways I am not), but I am always up for it when it comes to food ventures! This time my cousin K who are still visiting as I type this review, love crab so much that she can do the entire one herself! (I am sure she can!) She isn't the spicy kind of person as well but according to her, chili crab is one of the two spicy food she is willing to eat no matter how spicy or how swollen her lips are after the meal.

The Grill

I actually forgot when I visited, I just remembered it was a cold evening a few days before or after XMAS. The Grill at the Grand Hyatt is one of my favorite buffet venue not for its selection of items because there aren't many, but I quite enjoyed the pool side atmosphere and its focus on grill item. In any case, it was another Boring Meal to be honest.

Xi Yan 囍宴 廚‧藝 (Private Dining)

Among the 4 unique franchise of Xi Yan, this Private Dining outlet acts as the flagship whereby new dishes are to be introduced / experimented first. This franchise was established by Jacky Yu, a designer turned celebrity chef who followed his heart for the love of food. you may see him on various TV food/ cooking related shows.



Anyhow, to be honest, I was expecting the venue to be small and cozy but instead it was fairly spacious capable of hosting a dozen or so tables. With that many tables, the environment and atmosphere is bound to be rather commercial in my opinion. Jacky dropped by to greet the guests that evening but I really doubt that Jacky himself cooked our meal or other diners'.



As a ceramic artist, Jacky Yu must have made all these one of a kind tea cups and chop sticks holder. It was nice, somehow made me want to try applying for ceramic classes as well.




Tonight's meal was a set one with some interesting dishes. It was a nice touch to provide guest with the printed menu in both Chinese and English.



(1) Cold tofu in pickled Sauce 秘製凍豆腐
The presentation was great! Very strong tofu taste and the flavor of the sauce was not too rich as well but it was rather cold in the center, must have been straight out from the fridge not too long ago.



(2) Conpoy shreds with choy-sum 瑤柱絲涼拌油菜花
Another well presented dish. The individual piece looked firm but it was just molded together loosely before serving. I wasn't sure if it was the normal choy-sum we usually get, must have been a variant of it I guess because it carried a very strong flavor similar to that of coriander in my opinion.



(3) Sichuan spicy chicken 金牌口水雞
Wow, that huge chili freaked me out! Good that it was more for decoration only and the whole dish was not as spicy as I expected. It was very good especially with the thousand year preserved eggs addition. The crispy texture of the peanuts went well with the softness / tenderness of the chicken as well as the rice paper sheets.



(4) Stewed thin beef slices with mustard 芥末燈影牛肉
Nice Chinese name for this dish. It was very crispy but the mustard flavor was quite strong! I coughed after the second bite as well. Not bad by any means but they should go light on the mustard in my opinion.



(5) Braised pork belly 雲上東坡醉千層
I was told that this is one of their award winning dishes and it looked interesting indeed. Strips of thinly sliced pork belly were use to wrapped around the preserved vegetables inside. This dish is traditional known to be very fatty due to the use of big fatty pork bellies but the varied technique being applied here was very nice indeed.



Another thumbs up would be the sauce and how it was not greasy and overly rich. The meat and sauce was best to go with some white rice!



(6) Stir fried shrimps with basil 金不換辣酒煮蝦
I love basil! I love shrimps! I kind of lost my manner with this dish by eating one after another until all shrimps were gone and I mixed some sauce with the white rice as well!



(7) Chrysanthemum mandarin fish with lemongrass calamansi sauce 香茅柑桔菊花魚
Looked nice but too starchy and dough-y, cannot really taste the fish or find the fish inside the thick layer of batter. The sauce was rather strong in terms of flavors and smell!



(8) Soaked guavas with dried sour plums 梅孑石榴
I certainly did not expect the dish to turn out to be like this based on Chinese name. It was literally soaked guavas and not something with the use of guavas as ingredients. IT was served chilled and acted more or less as a palette cleanser in my opinion. The sour plum juice carried hints of sweetness which was wonderful indeed.



(9) Chinese turtle soup 養生滋補山瑞湯
The English translation sounded so WRONG! Turtle soup? Anyhow, I don't have a better word for it, please help provide a better word if you can. The soup was heavy and intense on the Chinese herbs, typical with the use of similar ingredients. Not suggested for those who are pregnant.



(10) Stir fried kale with ginger juice and spring onion 薑汁香蔥芥蘭片
While it was an ordinary dish, there was hints of sweetness to the ginger juice which went very well with the very crispy kale.



(11) Dan Dan noodles 招牌擔擔拉麵
One word, spicy! After mixing it thoroughly, spiciness in every bite, but it was the addictive kind of spiciness which I enjoyed!



(12) Fresh lotus seed puree pudding with bird's nest 燕液蓮香露
A very interesting way to play with the dessert by pouring the concentrated bird's nest syrup into the puree. I think it was just a smart way to let guest know that you are getting a lot of bird's nest, no tricks involved. It was alright, nothing outstanding or surprising unfortunately. I guess it was a "fun" dessert in a sense?



Likes:

• Stir fried shrimps with basil 金不換辣酒煮蝦 - moderate spiciness and huge shrimps!
• Braised pork belly 雲上東坡醉千層 - an interesting variation and interpretation of a traditional dish
• Sichuan spicy chicken 金牌口水雞 - love to combination of flavors and textures
  

Dislikes:

• Not as cozy and homely as I hoped for a private kitchen venue
• Chrysanthemum mandarin fish with lemongrass calamansi sauce 香茅柑桔菊花魚 - too starchy and batter was too thick. Flavor of sauce was too strong.
• Stewed thin beef slices with mustard芥末燈影牛肉 - too much mustard, too strong.

Avg Spending: I was invited by my friend to this meal in celebration for her recent Ph.D graduation and the meal was free. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate her once again and thank you for the meal!

Xi Yan 囍宴 廚‧藝 (Private Dining)
3/F, 83 Wanchai Road, Wan Chai
Tel: +852 2575 6966
http://www.xiyan.com.hk/


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Se Wong Sun 蛇王燊 (Sun's Snake Shop)

Christmas without snow I am fine with but I don't like warm Christmas unless you are referring to the warming love we share with each other! The weather is soon to turn cold in Hong Kong and hopefully the Hong Kong Observatory is accurate this time. In order to prepare myself for a cold Christmas, my friend and I ventured into the old neighborhood of Wan Chai for a more exotic and heart warming lunch: snake!



The store front was small with only a dozen or so chairs inside. I am not a person who likes to wait in line so I was already looking around for another restaurant near by that specializes in snake. Fortunately the man behind the counter informed us that we can go ahead with the orders and would be escorted to their secondary dining area across the street. Great! Among the various set lunches, I picked one which I can have as much snake as possible!! Wait! Where were the real snakes??? I came all the way to take some pictures of those snakes?? No snakes were in sight, very disappointed!!



(1) Snake Soup with & without meats
The set came with two soups, one with just the soup and one with snake meats plus other shredded ingredients. I started with the one with the meats and they tasted like chicken too me. The flavors were strong with traces of Chinese herbs. Even the texture of the snake meats was similar to that of chicken in my opinion. It was good, plenty of ingredients in the bowl and it really started to warm up my heart halfway through, perhaps it was the heat from the liquid or the snake meats were doing the trick!



As for the soup without the meat, wow, it was strong and rich! It was the same kind of soup but 3 times stronger!! I still don't understand why there were two soups in one set, there has to be a reason!



(2) Hot Clay Pot Rice with Snake Belly Meats and Fish Maw
It was sizzling when it arrived and the steam coming out of it made the picture taking process very difficult! The combination of snake meats and fish maw was rather interesting but surprisingly pleasant in terms of flavors and textures. Instead of the meaty part of the snake, snake belly was used. It was slightly chewy like fish skins (actually it looked like fish skins to me if I didn't know it was snake) and the same applies to the Fish Maw. A bit more soy sauce would be nice but the slightly marinated snake belly and Chinese mushroom provided sufficient flavors as well. At this point, my body was really warmed up!!

Likes:

• Rich and strong Snake Soup with Snake Meat, really warmed my body!!
• Very interesting combination of snake meats and fish maw.
  

Dislikes:

• Very few brunt rice sticking to the pot, those were the essence of hot clay pot rice!
• Disappointed that I did not get the chance to see those real snakes!!
  

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Se Wong Sun 蛇王燊 (Sun's Snake Shop)
G/F, Fortune Mansion, Cross Street, Wan Chai
Tel: 2891 6639


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1/5 Nuevo

This entry took me a while to write up because (1) I am lazy (2) I am lazy and (3) I am very lazy! I have passed by this establishment way too many times but never really got the chance try it. Since I felt like Spanish Tapas on this evening, why not give this place a try. So what do I think of it? I was 1/5 satisfied with the food but I was 5/5 happy to have a wonderful dining companion with me this special evening! I can go on forever about how much fun this evening and how the both of us took pictures of the food with undivided concentration; but let me get back to the review first. It was to my surprise that the actual dining area was rather small, almost half of the establishment is dedicated to the bar area with about a dozen of tables for diners.



(1) Eggs & onion dips
It was literally eggs and onion dips, how unoriginal! Truly no surprises in my opinion.




(2) Goose liver pies with port wine sauce
We were attracted by the name of this dish and the presentation was interesting enough that we took quite a while to take pictures of it from different directions. However, taste wise we can't even find hints of the goose liver flavors, perhaps overtaken by the rich port wine sauce??




(3) Chorizo sauteed with onions
Too salty, too oily and too chewy! Enough said.



(4) Pata negra iberico ham
Based on my humble knowledge with cured ham, pata negra or Jamón iberico ham (which consists of different variations as well) is of better grade than the slightly varied Jamón serrano. If we were to try, why not try the better grade right? It was to be ordered by the grams and was cut right in front of us.



It was good. Not too salty and very thinly cut. The flavor was very intense as it should be; a great way to stimulate my taste buds before the mains!



(5) Sea-bass, scallops ceviche
Definitely not something we expected; I mean not how we imagined it would look like. It was more like a dip to me, a very lightly flavored dip to be exact. I could not remember how the diced sea-bass and scallops tasted like, likely because there were not surprises.



(6) Seafood paella
Where can I find good paella in HK??? Not here (nor at Hemingway's by the Bay @ Discovery Bay) for sure. It was rather dry but at least it was served in the right paella pan compared with Hemingway's! Plenty of ingredients and flavors were alright, it was the dryness of the whole thing that they really need to work on!



(7) Steak Frites
Looks alright? Yeah, it tasted alright as well. We ordered Medium Rare and it came Medium Rare. Meat was tender enough that we gave it a passing rate. Fries on the other hand, no, it failed because it was rather stale and plain.




(8) baked chocolate cake & caramelized baked apple tart
One word: SWEET! Sorry I mean 2 words: TOO SWEET! Both the baked chocolate cake and caramelized baked apple tarts were way too sweet for my liking. The apple slices in the apple tart seemed to be soaked in sugar for a long while that even with the ice cream the sweetness remained. The sweetness of the apple tart and chocolate cake took over my sense of taste to a point that I thought I would get a sugar overdose!

Likes:

• Pata negra iberico ham - very thinly sliced + flavors were rich and intense, very good.

Dislikes:

• Desserts way too sweet
• Seafood Paella - too dry! I really want to find a great Paella place!
  
• Chorizo sauteed with onions - too salty & too greasy!

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

1/5 Nuevo
9 Star Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: 852 2529 2300
http://www.elite-concepts.com/eatplusdrink.php?id=50


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Wah Lam Noodle Restaurant 華南粉麵茶餐廳

Wan Chai to me is like the Kowloon City of the Hong Kong Island, full of various cuisines and local food establishments. There are many hidden gems in this neighborhood and all you have to do is to explore in the name of good food! Wah Lam Noodle Restaurant 華南粉麵茶餐廳 has been in the neighborhood for while and it is well known for this Fish Balls, Beef Brisket & Beef Entails. Don't expect comfortable seats or great decor because you will find none of the above. What you will find is a homely and down-to-earth environment with a neighborhood joint atmosphere that can be as comforting as an upscale establishment depending on the occasion and your mood at the time. If you are lucky enough you may find one of two diners with one of their legs up on the stool!



I was here on a weeknight, late weeknight to be more exact. After a few drinks over happy hour, all I wanted was something quick and comforting. A warm bowl of noodles would be nice! Not in the mood to think, I pointed to an item with the word Beef Brisket in it. Apparently I ordered flat rice noodle with Beef Brisket, Fish Balls and Beef Balls plus a dish of lettuce and a bottle of coke.



It was as comforting as I expected with a rich and intense soup base. The rice noodle was smooth and slightly chewy as well. Alright, plenty of MSG but a regular dose of MSG would not be that harmful right? The Beef Brisket was very tender and the flavor was as tense and rich as the soup. Thumbs up! The Beef Balls on the other hand was rather ordinary, chewy but no surprises. As for Fish Balls, well not exactly ball because the shape was irregular and more like square I guess, was soft and bouncy. It is rather hard to describe the texture because in Chinese I would use the adjective 爽 but the direct translation to English is "refreshing" which cannot accurately capture the essence of the texture. O yes, and the portion was rather generous as well!



One thing I like to mention is their service. You might not expect much service from such local establishment but there are exceptions. (perhaps I was lucky?) One of the staff politely warned me about how I placed my camera on top of an open stool and suggested me to move it somewhere safer. Thank you indeed!

Likes:

• Soup Base - rich and intense, very comforting
• Beef Brisket - tender and beefy with intense flavors like the soup base
• Fish Balls - soft and "bouncy" (aka 爽 in Chinese)

Dislikes:

• Quite heavy on MSG.... MSG makes me sleepyyyyyy
  
• Quite noisy

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Wah Lam Noodle Restaurant 華南粉麵茶餐廳
G/F & 1/F, 5-11 Thomson Rd, Wan Chai
Tel: 852 2527 2478


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新九記粥麵 (Xin Jiu Ji)

A simple quick meal can sometimes be equally satisfying as a 3 courses meal at a Michelin 2-star restaurant. One of such options which I love is to have good congee and wanton at a local, homely and down-to-earth establishment. After a short chat with a friend in the Wan Chai area, we were both very hungry but wanted to try something fast but yummy of course! I am not so familiar with this area so my friend led the way. My friend visited this place once before and enjoyed the congee very much. I would not comment much about the decor, comfortableness or even atmosphere of this place because there wasn't much. It was fairly clean and that was all I cared at that moment.

The very first thing I noticed was the many POTs of congee on top of electric stoves on many tables, together with some raw ingredients on the side. Apparently this place is famous for its Congee Hot Pot / Fondue! Too bad we were in a hurry, otherwise I would insist on trying for sure!

(1) Pork Liver + Beef Congee
The pork liver was wonderful! Firm but slightly "crisp" / bouncy against the teeth. Rich in flavor as well. The sliced beef was alright, not surprises compared with the wonderful pork liver. Congee wise, it was not as creamy or as thick as I expected (and of which I love!) but it was definitely good above average!

(2) Wanton
I was still very hungry after the congee so I ordered a bowl of wanton! (and so did my friend) It was wonderful! It was not the BIG and STUFFED type, it was the typical size one with chopped shrimps and pork mixtures (plus traces of shrimp roe?). The dough layer / skin was very thin and the wrapping skills resulted with a little "tail" sticking to the wanton. (I think a typical or traditional Wanton have a certain guideline as to the proportion of the dough / skin and it should have a fairly long "tail" to it)

Likes:

• Pork Liver - Fresh good quality pork liver!
• Wanton - nicely prepared / wrapped
  

Dislikes:

• Really packed ! I had to sit with both legs squeeze tightly together!
• Congee not as creamy and thick to my liking.
• MSGGGGGGG ...
  

Avg Spending: Around HKD 100 per person

新九記粥麵 (Xin Jiu Ji)
G/F, No. 9 Tai Wang Tung Street, Wan Chai
Tel: 2865 2827


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