bc magazine

Chip In, Wanchai

Sai Kung’s Chip In has opened a second branch on Queen’s Road East, bc went along to check out the fish and chips.

Fish and chips a simple yet iconic meal and sadly it’s impossible to find a good ‘English style’ option in Hong Kong. The best iteration recently was a pop-up called The Chippy three years ago in Chater Garden. There were rumours they were going to open a restaurant here, but as yet it hasn’t materialised.

bc hasn’t visited the Sai Kung outlet, so our comments are limited to the Wanchai branch. Service is polite and efficient, at the moment it’s cash only, with all meals being cooked to order.

The European and Atlantic cod shoals were decimated in the 1980s through over fishing, careful management in the decades since has seen stocks rise and this lovely tasty fish is back on the menu. Chip In serves it’s cod in two sizes small ($48) and large ($75) with a fair sized portion of chips and a side of either ketchup or tartar sauce.

The Atlantic cod comes pre-battered and frozen. The photo below is of the large portion, inside the batter the fish was perhaps 8mm thick – not exactly a ‘large’ piece of fish. The cod was hard, didn’t flake well and lacked flavour. The batter was thin, crisp and evenly cooked.

The chips are also cooked from frozen, some of ours were a little cold in the centre but the real problem was they were so bland and tasteless.

The menu also features calamari, chicken nuggets, bacon or sausage butty all $48 and served with chips.

While Chip In is a take-away / delivery outlet only, there are numerous small seating areas nearby to sit down and eat.

If you’re wanting fish and chips Chip In offers it, and while there’s nothing particularly wrong or bad about what they offer. Sadly it’s bland and not a meal you’re going to shout about to your friends or say I’ll be back for another portion tomorrow – which is more than a little disappointing as good fish chips are delicious.

Chip In Fish and Chip

164 Queens Road East, Wanchai
www.chipin.com.hk
Open: Weekdays 9am-9pm
Weekends 11am-9pm

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

Lai Yuen Cha Chaan Teng

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

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.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Lai-Yuen-Cha-Chaan-Teng-28-June-2017/i-6TpMpGm

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

Queen + Adam Lambert @ AsiaWorld Expo – 28 September, 2016

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Queen-Adam-Lambert-AsiaWorld/i-4t7xmtn

The show must go on as Queen + Adam Lambert entertained almost 10,000 sing-a-long fans at AsiaWorld Expo as the legendary rock group final made it to Hong Kong.

There is no replacing Freddie, as a couple of video clips showed, but Lambert works hard to entertain in what must be the strange job of filling the boots of a man who’s influence dominates the evening. Fans want to hear the classic songs, so he can’t make them his own and yet he’s not singing in a covers band… Tough task, but he makes a pretty good fist of it.

At 2 hours and 15 minutes the show is tight, professional and includes most of the hits. There’s an entertaining drum-off between Roger Taylor and his son, a long solo from Brian May and the two song encore ends with band waving goodbye to the strains of God Save the Queen.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Queen-Adam-Lambert-AsiaWorld/i-M545L7j

If there’s a complaint, beyond the, as usual, very average sound at AsiaWorld Expo, it’s that the show feels very orchestrated and choreographed. It lacked those moments of spontaneity and improvisation that can turn a good/great concert into a truly memorable even legendary one. Still a fun night out and there’ll be a lot of hoarse voices this morning. Thanks Freddie, Roger, Brian for so many great songs that will live forever!

Seven Seas of Rhye
Hammer to Fall
Stone Cold Crazy
Fat Bottom Girls
Don’t Stop Me Now
Killer Queen
Somebody to Love

Love of My Life
It’s a Kind of Magic
Drum Battle
Under Pressure
Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Another One Bites the Dust
I Want It All
Who Wants to Live Forever
The Show Must Go On
Guitar Solo
Tie Your Mother Down
I Want to Break Free
Bohemian Rhapsody
Radio Gaga

encore…
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Queen-Adam-Lambert-AsiaWorld/i-28WgNRc

Photos: Warner Music Hong Kong, tube.hk

Megabites: Mr Greek

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Mr-Greek-Mong-Kok-3-June-2016/n-4Pmznh/i-Hp8NLjX

Amongst the plethora of eateries in Mongkok is the recently opened Mr Greek. The Bute Street outlet is the first Asian restaurant (operated as a franchise) of the popular Canadian chain and offers a wide range of popular Greek and Canadian dishes.

Simple sides and snacks include souvlaki, spanakopita ($35) grilled vegetables ($15), roasted potatoes ($15) and fresh made pita with delicious fresh dips ($15/$19).

The mains are generously sized and include six different variations on the classic Canadian poutine: ‘Bacon Lovers’, ‘Hot Dogging’, Tzatziki, Guacamole and Spicy Feta are all $40. The signature Oh My Gravy ($40) is a piled high plate of chips, of the big fat variety-cooked fluffy in the middle, covered in delicious home-made gravy, mozzarella, cheese curds and feta cheese. It’s a lovely filling plate of carb to enjoy alone or with a friend and perfect washed down with a cold beer (liquor licence coming soon).

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Mr-Greek-Mong-Kok-3-June-2016/n-4Pmznh/i-FPw6Kqz

The selection of stuffed pita includes roast chicken ($45), pulled pork ($45) and the signature Apollo Wrap ($75) which is a pita full of 8oz of fresh beef, salad, fresh Tzatziki dressing and a side of chips. It’s a big fresh mouthful!

For seafood lovers there’s calamari and soft shell crab offered as mains ($100) or taster sizes. And for the salad aficionados there are grilled chicken ($55), grilled salmon ($78) and tangy chickpea ($35).

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. Currently there are no desserts, but these should be coming soon.

It’s not fancy, but it’s tasty, filling and good size portions, what’s not to like! So if you’re in the neighbourhood and looking for a snack or a filling meal then check out Mr Greek.

Mr Greek: 64 Bute Street, Mongkok. Tel: 2866 9308
Opening Hours: Noon-Midnight everyday
www.facebook.com/Mr-Greek-Asia

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Mr-Greek-Mong-Kok-3-June-2016/n-4Pmznh/i-NcRtQzz

Olivia Newton-John @ HKCEC Review – 11 May, 2016

I have to admit before the concert, I wasn’t that familiar with Olivia Newton-John. Sure, Iike everyone I’ve heard of Grease and have listened to some of the songs from the musical which she starred in. However, unlike many of the audience I was not a fan. Olivia Newton-John is just not famous or well known among teenagers today, but music doesn’t have an expiry date and I was curious to hear these famous songs live.

The almost capacity crowd at the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre were treated to a virtuoso performance with ONJ performing a selection of her hits including Xanadu, Physical and Hopelessly Devoted to You mixed in with some iconic covers. Perhaps most surprising was her energy and bright personality unlike many modern artists she turned up on time, appeared to enjoy performing and even cracked some jokes between songs. She belted out her songs with a passion. The audience enthusiastically and happily, if often tunelessly, singing along with her. The vibrant atmosphere was infectious and all too soon goodbyes and thank you’s were being said… After two hours, a standing ovation and cheers of of ‘Encore!’ saw Olivia return to perform one final song Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

A thoroughly enjoyable night out which gave me a new appreciation for songs that “are not my generation”. Live music can do that in a way that sometimes an album heard on headphones can’t. But until next time I need to update my itunes library.

Pillow Fight!

Clutching our pillows as we left Central station, my friend and I were stoked with anticipation as we strode towards Chater Garden. We were about to participate in our first ever large-scale pillow fight! Surrounding us were groups, families and single warriors, some in fancy dress or pyjamas, equipped with an assortment of pillows big and small.

We arrived just in time for as we joined the crowd in the centre of the garden pillows were raised and the countdown started “…4,3,2,1!” WHAM!

I was immediately hit on the head by a large pillow. Turning to see who attacked me I saw a man grinning at me, and quickly took my revenge whacking him with my pillow.

It was quickly apparent that my tiny pillow was not totally effective as either a shield from my attackers or to swat at others. Enveloped in mob of pillow-fighters though speed and nimbleness are key and my $14.90 IKEA special was perfect.

The central melee was surrounded by photographers looking for that perfect shot as anyone in range from costumed superheroes to super enthusiastic nobodies were pummeled with our cushiony weapons.

Impromptu arenas formed as rings of resting fighters and photographers focused on individual pillow contests where dancing children put the moves on and defeated adults, friend battled friend and lovers swatted each to the accompaniment of cheers and whirring motor drives.

Bits of fluff and stuffing were soon flying as pillows succumbed to the battering. Time flies when you’re having this much fun and the hour passed quickly, leaving exhausted and grinning participants comparing their best swings and taking selfies with new friends.

After helping clean up we exited stage left with large smiles and dancing fingers as we shared our enjoyment “You missed out, it was soo much fun”. To whoever started International Pillow Fight Day – what a wonderful idea! We’ll be back with bigger pillows, more friends… but what to wear?

Megabites: Greenhouse

Greenhouse on the 10th floor of Times Square is the latest outlet from the Gaia Group. The menu shares a theme and several dishes with sister restaurants Townhouse in Lan Kwai Fong and Glasshouse in IFC, but the 7000 square foot Greenhouse’s menu is different enough for a separate visit. The bright open plan layout is big enough that, unlike many smaller places, if you want to relax and chat with friends over some bites and drinks you can – without that feeling that the waiter wants you gone…

The main menu is split into 6 sections – small bites, bigger bites, robata bites, garden bites, pizza bites, main bites with a separate sweet bites menu. Prices range from $48 for the small bites to $568 for a 24oz rib eye. The dishes that caught our eye were the bacon wrapped scallops ($52/skewer) and coco-cola prime beef ($58/skewer) robata. Not cheap per skewer, but the portions are large, the beef juicy. The scallops were big and tasty, but the bacon (sadly) was barely noticeable and (sadly again, as a bacon lover) added nothing to the flavour.

The Masaman curry lasagna with roasted mushrooms, chicken and smoked mozerella ($118) – it’s such an eclectic sounding mix that it shouldn’t work. Yet it does, the curry with the melted cheese and pasta, the vegetables and chicken providing textures. Just a delicious dish and one we’ll return for time and again.

The wagyu burger with black truffle mayonnaise ($148) is a big juicy 7oz fine ground wagyu patty served in a sesame seed bun. The patty was evenly cooked, served pink, nicely juicy with a good meaty bite. The bun is fresh and doesn’t disintegrate as the juice seeps down. It would be nice if the dish came with fries, but you can order those on the side ($68) with more black truffle mayonnaise. That makes a burger and fries almost $250 (including the obligatory 10% service charge) which, in any restaurant, is a lot for a burger.

The signature Balinese style fried chicken ($258) was perfectly cooked, the chicken meat moist, while the skin was crispy. The sambal sauce is spicey, and goes nicely with fries as well.

For dessert there are pizza crepes ($98) and the fun ‘candy crush’ ($118), a selection of ice cream, fruit, chocolate and sweets served in a stone mortar and pestle for you to crush and enjoy with friends.

The drinks menu includes all that you’d expect plus a selection of ice green tea lattes ($48). The green bamboo latte is a combination of sugar cane syrup, green tea, Gaia coffee and cream – a nice mix of flavours, the coffee adding a little sharpness to the green tea. There are ‘frozen’ drinks, the Pandan leaves and coconut is combination of fresh Pandan leaves, coconut cream, condensed milk, soft brown sugar and hazelnut topping. The signature milk tea ($48) served in a jug is a little milky for our taste but there’s a lot worse being served around town.

Service is polite and efficient, the dishes bc tried were well cooked, nicely presented and reasonably sized. It’s hard to find fault in Greenhouse – it is, what it is, an enjoyable place to eat out.

Greenhouse
Shop 1004, Shop 1004, Time Square, Causeway Bay. Tel: 2383 4022