Category: megabites

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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Emack & Bolio’s Fake Off Customers

By 4:30pm today’s hundreds of eager customers were lined up in the stifling heat outside Emack & Bolio’s store on Cochrane Street. Why, because on the 19 June Emack & Bolio’s sent out a press release and announced in their social media channels two hours of Free Ice Cream!

The exact wording of the press release was:
Free Ice Cream for Summer Solstice… celebrate the start of summer with a free scoop of your favourite Emack & Bolio’s ice cream!!! Just visit any of our stores between 5-7pm on Wednesday 21 June, and follow us on FB or IG.
Only one per customer, our decision is final.

Yet hundreds of customers left angry and frustrated because it wasn’t a 2 hour promotion as announced and advertised, it was a 200 scoop promotion. A fact the company didn’t bother to mention in it’s desperate desire for publicity.

This is not the the first time the company has hosted this type of giveaway but obviously they subscribe to the trump pr playbook of telling lies and using fake facts to get publicity no matter the cost or inconvenience to others.

By 6pm the branch staff were outright lying to customers who turned up saying social media had got it wrong. Social media spread the Free ice-cream promotion correctly, Emack & Bolio’s just failed to honour the offer as announced. Adding the extra condition once the promotion had gone viral. Sadly consumers have little recourse to duplicitous companies like this other than to take their business elsewhere.

Portuguese Speaking Countries Promotion @ Club Lusitano – 14 June, 2017

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Portuguese Speaking Countries Promotion @ Club Lusitano organised by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) to raise awareness of food products from across the lusophone world. Many of which can be found at the Portuguese-speaking Countries (PSCs) Food Products Exhibition Centre in Macau.
Click on any photo for the full gallery

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Pizza Express Cook Off 2

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Pizza Express have opened a new outlet at Empire Centre in TST East. The ground floor restaurant is also one the five participating in Pizza Express Cook Off 2. A vegetarian palate buster between Wan Veggie Mom’s Christine Cheng and PE’s Product Development Manager Sophia Cheung using vegetarian ‘fake’ meat.

Christine’s creation Beyond Burger Beef & Fig Pizza ($138) is a beautiful looking vibrant purple as she used beetroot sauce instead of the traditional tomato. Topped with buffalo mozzarella, ricotta cheese and crumbled marinated Beyond burger beef. The beetroot sauce was a little too salty but the combination of fig, beetroot and cheese on a thin crust was good. The fake burger meat added little beyond texture and the pizza would have been just as nice without it.

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Sophia chose a rectangular shape for her Beyond Chicken & Kale Pesto Pizza ($138) which was loaded with fake chicken, ricotta cheese, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, kale chips with a pesto sauce. There was little to no ‘chicken’ taste from the fake meat, but the pizza was full of texture and flavour.

Both chef’s have created interesting visually attractive and tasty pizzas that offer something new and different from Pizza Express’ regular menu. The vegetarian ‘meat’ did little for either pizza, and personally I would love to taste both with real meat. You can try the ladies Cook Off pizzas, and vote for your favourite, from 13 June at these Pizza Express outlets: Empire Centre, Wing Fung Street, Wellington Street, Mira Place and Airport.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-W9ttTM4