Fu Sing 富聲

It was 8pm on a Sunday night and it was so crowded! Being crowded was a good thing but it was overly crowded in my opinion. Just look at the picture, there were more tables then they can fit in the dining room. They sacrificed walking space to fit as many tables as possible, causing serious uncomfortableness to me and many others guests I am sure. I can hear the entire dinner conversations of the family sitting next to me, shoulder to shoulder distance.



Anyhow, after weeks of talking about this place, I can finally come here for dinner. Their food quality is very consistent even during busy hours but other than that, I can only "sigh" ... read on and you will understand. Note: I post the dishes below in the exact order being served.

(1) Pan-fried Bean Curd
Yes, the first dish was not the soup but this pan-fried bean curd. It was alright but without the clear sauce, the bean curd itself was rather tasteless. In any case, this being the first dish being served was not a good start indeed not matter how good it was.



(2) BBQ Pork 和哥义燒
The BBQ pork came almost 10 mins after we have finished the bean curd. It was just plain BBQ Pork and it took them that long to bring it out. This dish is one of the famous items at this place and again the quality was consistent. Although some pieces were too lean, they were still relatively tender. Thumbs up.



(3) Chinese Lettuce with Home-made shrimp paste in hot pot 蝦醬生菜煲
Another famous dish and standard item to order. This time it was too heavy on the shrimp paste but still very good indeed. Compared with the same dish from Victoria City, I prefer the one here because the flavor is generally slightly richer to my liking. The lettuce was crisp and remained every dry throughout the whole time. Very good.



(4) Daily Soup
Almost an hour has passed before the daily soup finally arrived. The worst thing was that it was relatively cool as in already in room temperature! I wonder if it had been waiting on the waiting table for the past 20 mins or so! Why was the soup so orange? I asked several staff and their answer was that it was the carrots that procedured such orange color. humm ... I guess the only possibility was the mixture of grinded carrots.



(5) Braised OX tail in Red Wine 紅酒炆牛尾
This dish is a Michelin starred item. It was indeed very well done. The meat was very tender with rich and thick sauce that complimented each other very well. I like the sticky element of the sauce and of the meat, which meant it has been braised for a long while for those "gluten" texture to come out. Thumbs up! (but again, the serving order was a bit in chaos!)



(6) Crispy Chicken in Salty 脆皮燒雞 (yes, the Salty is placed at the end in the menu)
Another consistent dish from them. Skin very crisp and meat very tender even for the breast area. It came with some sauce but I like it the way it was because the flavor was sufficient already.



(7) Fried Crystal Noodle 干燒粉絲煲
This is another famous item and a must order. I love this dish very much! It is extremely difficult to cook crystal noodles and to make it dry is even harder! They did a very good job here every time and the flavors were just right. One of the main ingredients that gave this dish such a delightful flavors is the coriander. If you heart coriander, you will heart this dish as well! To thumbs up !

Likes:

• Fried Crystal Noodle 干燒粉絲煲 - wonderfully prepared! Dry and tasty!
• Braised OX tail in Red Wine 紅酒炆牛尾 - tender meat and rich sauce which complimented each other especially the sticky / "gluten" texture.
• Chinese Lettuce with Home-made shrimp paste in hot pot 蝦醬生菜煲 - very consistent quality every time, very dry and crisp !

Dislikes:

• Overly crowded (+ noisy)
• Bad kitchen / service management (they should want Hell's Kitchen to learn something from it)

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Fu Sing Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant 富聲魚翅海鮮酒家
1/F, Sunshine Plaza,
No. 353 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
Tel: 2893 0881

Peking Garden @ TST

In celebration of my friend's birthday, the whole group decided to head to Peking Garden @ TST before heading to Salon de Ning for a further celebration. Booked a week in advance and pre-ordered a few special items just in case they are sold out. This particular outlet of Peking Garden is one of the busiest in Hong Kong (especially with tourists) and it was almost full house on this Friday night.

(1) Steamed Pork Dumpling with Supreme Soup (aka Xiao Long Bao)
Xiao Long Bao is like a standard item to order here or at other Shanghainese place. I seriously think the quality of this place has dropped over the years or maybe it is due to the busy hours. However, as I mentioned before, consistency is a key element for any good restaurant and maintain the quality even during busy hour is part of the formula. The xiao long bao being served had a very thick dumpling skin and there was so little soup / juice inside it as well. I think it is likely due to the fact that it has been placed on the steamer to keep warm since early evening since this is such a common items that they might as well pre-cook them.



(2) Quick fried shredded Eel
The serving order was not the most proper but I am okay with it since I am in a relatively good mood and I understand that kitchen management is not easy at all especially during busy hours. As for the quality of this dish, I think it was pretty good, the eel was relatively chewy and the flavors or the sauce was not too rich. If I am not a slight diet right now, I would have ordered some rice or plain steam bun to go with this dish. Not bad at all.



(3) Peking Duck
Another must order/standard item. After a very brief showing of the duck by the staff, it was being sliced somewhere in the far corner. Compared with the last few visits at this place and its Peking duck, the quality tonight was above average. The skin remained relatively crispy throughout rather than being soaky and chewy the last time I tried. However, the dough wraps were a bit too dried and thick as always. Am I asking for too much? hummm ....

(4) Beggar's Chicken (aka Wealthy Chicken)
This was my second time trying this special item, the first time was at Hong Zhou Restaurant. If I were to compared two, I prefer the one at Hong Zhou Restaurant for sure. The chicken being served here was very dry; even the dark meat portion! It was fun watching my friend crack it open with the silver hammer, but the most important is the quality of the chicken inside! Disappointing indeed.



(5) Pan-fried Bean Curd with Shrimp Roe
This dish reminded me of the Agedashi Tofu from Japanese restaurant but with thicker and more salty sauce. It was alright, nothing special about it, very ordinary.

(6) Braised Sea Cucumber with Crispy Rice
I did not try any of this dish because by the time I wanted to try, all of the crispy rice cakes were gone while plenty of the soup / dipping sauce remained. I guess I should have ordered an extra plate of rice cakes or maybe the restaurant should provide more from now on.

(7) Deep Fried Mandarin Fish with Black Vinegar Sauce

Although the dish name refers to black vinegar sauce, we can actually switch the the sweet and sour orange color sauce as an option. We picked to stay with the original sauce. It was very nice. The outer layer of the deep fried fish was very crispy and not too heavy on the batter. The fish meat inside was tender and silky smooth; the deep frying time was just right in my opinion. Together with the slightly sour sauce, it was very appetizing. (but it came near the end of the menu, not a good thing to have an appetizing feeling right?)



(8) Minced Peking duck meat with lettuce cups
The remaining meat from the Peking duck was shredded / minced and cooked into this dish. However, it was extremely salty and there seemed to be no traces of the meat anywhere?? Either the meat was minced very fine (which I doubt) or there were just little meat remained after the slicing (which I doubt again) or they simply used very little of the meat that remained. In any case, it was a very disappointing dish, very disappointing.

Likes:

• Quick fried shredded Eel - very nicely done.
• Deep Fried Mandarin Fish with Black Vinegar Sauce - not much of presentation but very well prepared in general

Dislikes:

• Minced Peking duck meat with lettuce cups - little traces of meat and extremely salty even with the lettuce cups.
• Beggar's Chicken (aka Wealthy Chicken) - meat too dry !
• Xiao Long Bao - skin / outer dough layer too thick and lack of meat juicy / soup inside.

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Peking Garden Restaurant
3/F, Star House,
3 Salisbury Road, TST
Tel: 2735 8211

Crystal Lotus 晶荷軒 @ Disney

After reading KC's review on this place, I cannot help myself but to accept my friend's invitation immediately for a meal in the magical kingdom. It was indeed an effort to travel all the way from Central to the this magic kingdom on a week night, but my anticipation for the food overcame my physical fatigue. The restaurant is located in the Disney Hotel and lotus is its main theme. Several huge lotus shaped chandlers are hanging from the ceiling, all table wares are customized made with its logo and the one thing that really impressed me is the transparent logo on the back of the chair. A very nice touch indeed!





Apparently many of the special items are off the menu and required advance booking. Thanks to my friend, she booked most of those in advance. Unfortunately at the same, it lacks proper English translation for those special dishes, I will have to try my best in doing so. (for those items on the menu, you will find that some have a unique touch of Disney flavor in their English names.)

(1) "Goldie in Lotus Pond" 如魚得水
Just the presentation itself impressed me very much. The two Goldie are fish dumplings. Not only were the two dumplings edible, almost all items on the lotus pond were edible as well. Yes, that includes the green and pink flowers. In terms of taste, I honestly think it was just fair because the skin was very thick likely due to the decoration requirements. But hey, I was too focused on the presentation of it and did not really want to eat it. Well done on the artistic / craftsmanship perspective indeed!



(2) Green Bean Clear Noodle with Lobster and Gold Foil 金箔龍蝦粉皮
Another delicate dish with great presentation. The sauce was spicy but light enough to allow the freshness taste of the lobster to remain. The chilled clear noodle together with shredded cucumbers provided a very refreshing sensation to your taste bud. However, I expected more lobster meat on each severing. Anyhow, a very good dish.



(3) Tasmanian Crab and Pumpkin stuffed in Whole Crab Shell 南瓜焗釀蟹蓋
So good! I rarely start my paragraph with such excited tone but I cannot control myself this time. It was very well done indeed. The minced crab meat together with diced pumpkin bits complemented each other very well. Not only was the presentation great, it tasted very good! The golden crab shape plate (likely custom made) is another very nice touch to the whole presentation.



(4) Steamed Crab Claw in Rice Wine and Stead Egg White Custard
I forgot the name of this dish but it was served together with the crab shell. Instead of the shell, it was the crab claws / clamps. The rice wine flavor was rich and matched very well with the crab meat. O yes, there was plenty of meat as well, plenty indeed! However, the egg white was a bit of a disappointment because it was not as silky smooth as expected. Overall, a two thumbs up dish.



(5) Double-Boiled Conopy and Chicken Soup in Little Coconut 椰皇元貝燉雞
Great presentation once again but the one thing impressed me the most was the little surprise inside the soup. Yes! As you slowly drink your soup, you will find something hiding inside, it is Mickey!! It is a very smart idea. The actually soup was very good as well. Rich in chicken flavors and really gave me a comforting feeling. This soup brought a little smile to my face.



(6) Abalone with fried Rice蠔皇鮑魚炒飯
The abalone was just average but the fried rice was two thumbs up. The cause was thick but very rich in abalone flavor which was a good match with the fried rice as well. If I go next time, I will just order the fried rice by itself.



(7) Crispy Pork Fillets, Chinese Pear, and Osmathus Honey Sauce
Similar to sweet and sour pork but instead of pineapple, it uses Chinese pear instead. It was alright, the pork fillets were crispy enough but the mixture of Osmathus honey sauce was a bit unusual because it was rather light and did not match the meat that well in my opinion.



(8) Sliced Beef Fillets and Young Vegetables in Spicy Sichuan Broth 水煮牛肉
A very spicy but very tasty dish. I am not a spicy person in general but somehow I kept on returning to getting the beef every now and then together with the soup as well. A very addictive dish indeed especially if you are into spicy stuff! Also, very good quality beef, very tender, natural tenderness I may add and not as a result of excessive use of baking soda (based on my picky taste bud.)



(9) Crispy Toffee Duck Breast with Garlic Soy dip
Good stuff again. Heavy on the smoky flavor and tender duck meat. It was good enough on its own without the sauce. Although there were visible layer of fat in between the skin and the meat, you have to eat all of it because the texture would be different otherwise.



(10) Minced Squab and Bamboo Shoots served in fresh Lettuce Cup 生菜片香炒鵪鶉
Very good dish. There seemed to be more meat than lettuce cups so I basically shoved ALOT into my lettuce cup to ensure no meat was going to waste. (I think they can make the lettuce cup bigger!?) The ingredients were diced up pretty fine and the addition of the sunflower seeds provided an extra crispy texture to the meat mixtures. I think there was no need for the extra seafood sauce because it was rich and favorable enough without it. Two thumbs up!



(11) Double-Boiled Whole Chinese Pear topped with Aged Mandarin Peel 陳皮雪梨
A perfect dessert to end this magical meal. When served, the Chinese Pear was still sitting in the sweet warm soup which was rather sweet. The pear itself was very sweet as well but because it was served warm, it was very comforting and satisfying as well. The slightly salty Aged Mandarin Peel was a surprisingly good combination to go with the pear because of the contrasting taste. What impressed me was how the pear was prepared; the inside of the pear was actually hallow without the core and you cannot see until you flip over the pear. A very subtle touch (but I guess it is necessary to take it out because it might add a sour taste to the sweet soup if prepared together.) The dish came with extra honey on the side but I dare not to add more because it would give me a sugar overdose again.

KC's review led me to this magical meal and I wonder when I can experience another magical meal like this one. I certainly hope it is in the very near future. Thank you KC!

Likes:

• Goldie in Lotus Pond - Excellent presentation
• Double-Boiled Canopy and Chicken Soup in Little Coconut 椰皇元貝燉雞 - great soup with great surprises in side!
• Double Boiled Whole Chinese Pear topped with Aged Mandarin Peel 陳皮雪梨 - a perfect dessert to complete the magical meal.
• Great Services
  

Dislikes:

• Abalone with fried Rice蠔皇鮑魚炒飯 - disappointing abalone, great fried rice
• Crispy Pork Fillets, Chinese Pear, and Osmathus Honey Sauce - relatively weak sauce

Avg Spending: Above HKD 500 per person

Crystal Lotus 晶荷軒
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Disney Hotel
Tel: 3510 6000

Kiku Fine Japanese Cuisine 賀菊

Based on my knowledge, Kiku has been around for many years at the same location. It has undergone several renovations to keep up with the market trend as well. On such a rainy day, without the urge to search around for food, I booked a table here for lunch with two friends working nearby. I arrived around 1pm and once you entered the main dining area, the first thing you realize was the amount of loud noises. I think the excessive use of stones and sound-reflective building materials are worsening the echo effect. Fortunately, we were assigned a table inside a private dining room away from the crowds.

(1) Hot Pot Noodles (with inaniwa udon) 鍋燒麵
My friend order this but I did not try any so cannot really comment on it. However, it looked delicious and my friend finished the whole thing. The use of raw beef was another nice touch.



(2) Noodles with Beef (with inaniwa udon) 牛肉麵
Sometimes the more simple the dish is, the better the experience. A simple bowl of beef noodles is a good example in my opinion. Again my other friend ordered this set and I can see how he enjoyed it from his facial expression even after a long and tiring morning work session.



(3) Cold udon with pan-fried chicken steak and sesame sauce 香煎雞排芝麻醬冷烏
As for me, I ordered something more interesting. On top of the udon, those are shredded cucumber with sesame sauce. A very refreshing item to start off with. The udon was very chewy which was very good !! Together with the lightly flavored sesame sauce, it was a great combination. As for the chicken steak, it was fair but honestly I would enjoy the set equally much without it.

Likes:

• Cold Udon
• Nice Decor

Dislikes:

• Noisy main dining area
• Infrequent staff visit in the private dining room

Budget: HKD 100 - 200 per person

Kiku Fine Japanese Cuisine 賀菊日本料理
B/F, The Landmark,
16 Des Voeux Road Central
Tel: 2521 3344

Hanagushi Yakitori 花串

After our happy hour dessert at Sift, it was time for something light! Japanese was the best choice in my opinion. It has been a while since I last had a meal here and my previous two visits were for lunch so I was up for some surprises tonight. The entrance of the place is hiding to the right of the staircase on the first floor and once you entered, expect to be greeted by waiting staff very soon after.



As soon as you turn open the menu, you would soon realize that this place specializes in yakitori. However, since we were here for something light , we opted for less meaty dishes. With the wide selection of items on the menu, I had to order a beer to calm myself down. Yeah, I know, just an excuse, but a darn good excuse right?



(1) Daily Special Fish Soup
The staff highly recommended it when we were ordering and I am glad we trusted her. It was very well prepared with very rich and fresh fish taste in every spoonful. The milky color of the soup was definitely a result of long cooking / preparation time and not of coloring in my opinion. There was a piece of tofu sitting at the bottom of the bowl and it complimented the smoothness of the tofu as well as the silky smooth texture of the soup! Two thumbs up! The only negative thing is that it is a daily special item so try your luck next time.



(2) Yellowtail Sushi
Among the many choices of fish, I selected yellowtail not because I heart this fish in particular but because the staff mentioned about having a daily special of Grilled Yellowtail Head. Daily special usually translate to freshly arrived items with a marked up price tag, so I assumed that yellowtail sushi would be from portion of the freshly arrived fish as well. Not certain if my logic was right but that was exactly what I was thinking when placing the order. However, it was a fair dish only; it was relative fresh in the sense that it likely arrived in the early afternoon or even in the morning kind of fresh. Maybe my logic needs some tweaking ... humm ... (whatever that means ... )



(3) Deep Fried Soft Bean Curd (Agedashi Tofu)
Another favourite dish of mine in any Japanese restaurants. The fried tofu was fair with a light batter on the outer layer and a very soft interior. What I really liked about this dish being served was the sauce and the generous portion of garnishes especially the thinly sliced dried bonito fish flakes. Not bad at all.



(4) Grilled Cod Fish SAKYO Style
The size of the grilled cod provided a very heavy dose of Omega 3 for me! Although it was huge, I finished all of it because it was good. The sauce used was not as rich and strong as I hoped. It was unfortunate that we were there for a light menu so did not order any rice. I could have consumed two bowls of rice with this single dish! Yummy!



(5) Udon soup with Tempura
The udon was not chewy at all and the tempura batter was rather "hard" because it was slightly overcooked in my opinion. Nothing surprising from this bowl of noodle except for the soup which was rather comforting to consume because it was slightly sweet (and hot) but not overly strong with the soy sauce flavor.

Likes:

• Fish Soup - very good ! Strong and Rich in fish taste
• Grilled Cod
• Agedashi Tofu - love the dried Bonito flakes

Dislikes:

• Udon - too soft
• Yellowtail sushi - not as fresh as I hoped due to my faulted logic

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

Hanagushi Yakitori Japanese Restaurant 花串日本料理
1/F., Ho Lee Commercial Bldg.,
17-22 Lan Kwai Fong , Central
Tel: 2521 0868

Sift @ SoHo

I love chocolates very much but I never really believe the so-called belief or myth about how it can cure depression or unhappiness, maybe because I consider myself to be a fairly cheerful person in general most of the time so it never really works on me. What I do believe in is that sweets can put a smile on one's face and I am in need of one. Instead of going for Happy Hour drinks, my friend and I decided to head for some sweets at Sift.



We arrived around 6:30pm and we were the only customers, perfect!! Throughout our stay, we had the rare opportunity to be surrounded by the savoring scents of various desserts and sauces because the staff were busy preparing different items for the after dinner crowds.



(1) Sift Chocolate Cake
Very well done indeed. The mousse-like outer layer with the chocolate fudge cake inside were rich in flavor but not too strong at all. Together with the praline crunch / flakes, the cake combined 3 different textures in every bite. Soft layer, harder fudge cake base and the crunchy flakes, very good indeed. Two thumbs up! The long lost smile was on my face for a short period of time, a moment to treasure indeed.



(2) House Coffee
Coffee from a French press is supposed to be stronger already based on the way it is prepared and served; however the coffee served was very light and weak. It was actually at a bit watery in my opinion. Very disappointing coffee. The only nice touch from this order was the milk which was served warmed. I like my coffee black with some brown sugar but I still think the warmed milk was worth a note.



(3) Sticky Toffee Pudding
The presentation was very nice. Honestly, the so-called pudding was not how I imagined it, it looked more like a sliced loaf of cake. I guess there isn't a defined way of how a pudding should be made as long as it is rich in flavor and high in starch! With that definition in mind the rich toffee sauce together with the warmed pudding tasted very good to my surprise. With a bit of banana ice cream, the texture, flavor and contrast in temperature actually complimented each other very well. Another two thumbs up plus a little smile on my face.

Guess what! Sift has it own blog !!!
Check it out ... http://siftdesserts.blogspot.com/

Likes:

• Great Ambiance (when we were the only table that is)
• Sift Chocolate Cake
• Sticky Toffee Pudding

Dislikes:

• Weak Coffee - disappointing

Avg Spending: Around HKD 100 per person

Sift
G/F, 46 Graham Street,
Soho, Central
Tel: 2530 4288
Website: http://www.siftdesserts.com/
Blog: http://siftdesserts.blogspot.com/