Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe ~ 230411

Met up with Bestie for late dinner on a Saturday 2 weeks ago at Siglap. We headed to Xin Wang Hongkong cafe where we ordered the Black Pepper Pork chop (as bestie was craving for some Western), Pan fried dumplings, Iced Milo, Iced Milk tea & Peanut Butter Toast.

The Black Pepper Pork Chop ($8.90) was quite sizeable. There were 2 pieces of meat, baked beans (my fav), french fries & a sunny side up! Looked really appetizing & inviting! The meat was not that tough as we imagined it to be. The black pepper sauce was not too spicy & overwhelming. Thumbs Up to the sunny side up as the egg yolk was still runny & not overcooked! Fries were rather dry though. Haha, I finished the baked beans since bestie does not take them.

Black Pepper Pork Chop

Next up, we had the Pan Fried Dumplings ($4.90). This tasted very much like the instant ones that can be bought off the shelves from the supermarkets! The skin was not crispy and I was commenting to bestie that these tasted like they just got out from the freezer, yet to thaw & fried (not to perfection though!). There was not much meat inside the dumpling, tasted more like vegetable dumplings instead. Slight disappointment! :(

Pan Fried Dumplings

The Peanut Butter Toast ($4.20) was an after meal dessert (as I was craving for something sweet, keke). Look at how thick the toast was! On the 1st bite, it tasted soft, very "peanut butter taste" & sweet (due to the condensed milk). Overall, the peanut butter was too thick for my liking & to be honest, we had a hard time trying to finish it off & in the end, we gave up! *chuckles*

Peanut Butter Toast

Overall, the food was pretty average (nothing out of the ordinary) & prices reasonable.
They have several outlets all over the island (Apparently, bestie was saying that the one at Marina Square is currently under renovations).

You can check out their website, http://www.xinwang.com.sg/

Tawandang Microbrewery ~ 200411

Hi folks, back to the local food scene (though I have one last HK food posting pending in the pipeline!). Had dinner with my colleagues at Tawandang Microbrewery @ their latest outlet in Suntec City on a Wednesday 2 weeks ago (Oops, this post is so late on this wagon!).

Since there were 6 of us, we ordered the Deep fried Pork Knuckles, Tom yum soup with prawns, Stir fried Morning glory, Grilled Sea bass with salt & Steamed squid (my all time favourites) for sharing. This was my 5th time visiting this restaurant. I still remember the very 1st time was with BBC at Dempsey to celebrate our 7th year anniversary, 2nd was with my colleagues, 3rd was with my family celebrating my dad's birthday (all these at their 1st outlet at Dempsey) & the most recent one was at Suntec with my 3 darlings on 31st Dec 2010 (yes, sort of end of year celebration dinner). Guess you can see how much I like this place.*chuckles*

The Pork Knuckle was crispy on the outside and the meat was tender & juicy! Mr Yeo even commented that "they maintained the same standard throughout"! (Since the last time he had this was like a year ago!) Definitely one of the better Pork knuckles in town! =)

Deep fried Pork Knuckles

Since I am at a microbrewery, how can I miss out on the beer? ;) I ordered a 0.3 litre of Weizen beer. The beer was light & fruity which I liked (guess, most gals would prefer this as compared to the Dunkel beer). Haha, whilst doing research on this posting, I realized that the Weizen beer (5.5 per cent) has the highest alcohol content as compared to the Lager (5 per cent) & Dunkel beer (4.5 per cent)! Interesting find! ;)

Weizen beer

We ordered the Tom Yum soup with prawns (without the coconut juice). I like how the soup was served in a hotpot (since I am a big fan of steamboat). The soup may look harmless but mind you, it was lethal & potent! You have been warned!!! LOL

Tom Yam soup with prawns!

Hehe, you must be wondering do Thai restaurants serve spaghetti?! Nah, this was not spaghetti but stir fried Morning glory (which is a traditional Thai vegetable dish). The Morning glory was crunchy and there was an unique after taste which I like. So far from what I know, this is the only Thai restaurant that serves up this dish! Do give it a try!

Stir fried Morning glory

This was the 1st time that I am having this dish here ~ Grilled seabass with salt. A lovely choice, indeed! The sea bass was fresh and despite the grill, the meat still retained the juiciness and tenderness. It came with a spicy seafood sauce for us to dip the fish. I love how the sauce further enhanced the freshness of the meat! (For those who know me, you would know how picky selective I am on my fishes) (",)

Grilled Sea bass with salt

Woo, just by looking at this peek makes me drools & salivates!!! LOL. This is my MUST order dish ~ Steamed squid when I visit this restaurant! The squid was very fresh (there was even roe in it!) & the homemade lime juice with traditional herbs gave the soup a sourish & spicy taste! Simply appetizing & opened up my tastebuds! *Slurps*

Steamed squids

I can't really remember how much this meal cost (think was approximately $190 after discount?). Right now, they are having a 10 per cent discount off the full bill if you have an OCBC credit card. I would definitely recommend this place for a group gathering or if you simply just love a good Thai meal! FYI, they also have a daily live band which they brought all the way from Thailand! ;)

You can check out their website, http://www.tawandang.com/home.html

添好运 Tim Ho Wan ~ 160411

On our last day, we woke up at 615am with the intention to head out to look for the 3 Michelin starred restaurant, 添好运 Tim Ho Wan (literally translated as "add good luck"). We were all geared & excited about having the dim sum there since there were so many raving reviews & most importantly, it was a Michelin restaurant with very AFFORDABLE prices!!! After walking and asking around, we reached there at about 740am. Haiz, but guess what?! The place was only open for business at 10am! So we could only peeped around & took some photos for remembrance sake! :(

添好运 Tim Ho Wan

We found this interesting notice pasted on the glass outside the shop. It stated that when the place is opened for business at 10am, they will issue 130 numbers to customers and if you were lucky to get one, you have to utilize it before 3pm. Subsequently, at 4pm, they would issue another 60 numbers and these have to be utilized before 9pm! I have read reviews of people who waited 2 hours to get in & now I finally found the answer! The entire place can only sit 28 customers at one seating so you can imagine the arduous waiting & queuing outside! *Amazing*

Rules of this place

I was truly disappointed but then again, I do not think that I have the patience to wait for 2 hours for my food so we decided to head to 稻香超級漁港 (Where we had our dim sum on 1st day) to satisfy our dim sum cravings!!!

Good luck & be sure to get there early to queue folks! ;)

添好运 Tim Ho Wan is located at Shop 8, 2 - 20 Kwong Wa Street, Mongkok.

太平館餐廳 Tai Ping Koon Restaurant ~ 150411

We headed to the restaurant, 太平館餐廳 Tai Ping Koon Restaurant that Bestie recommended for our dinner. This restaurant serves up Western dishes infused with the local taste. It is apparently famous for its Swiss Chicken, Roasted Pigeon & Baked rice stuff! We had a hard time finding this place as it was located in one of the small lanes (which even the locals had trouble finding themselves let alone to direct us!). Haha, however, being the smarties we managed to find the place! Look at the old building that it was in! If without the neon signboard, I doubt it was eye catching at all. FYI, do not underestimate this restaurant! It was established in 1860 & had a long standing history of 150 years & still counting!!! Since it has managed to survive for decades & centuries (almost!), I can't wait to see for myself the quality of food they served! ;)

太平館餐廳 Tai Ping Koon Restaurant

Established since 1860! *WOW*

Look at the Opening hours 

We reached there at around 605pm and the restaurant was pretty empty. However, we saw quite a number of tables with the reservation signs. Luckily we were here early as by the time our food was served, the crowd was slowly streaming in & when we were done an hour later, there was a long queue forming outside! The minute I saw the interior of this place, it reminded me of the Shashlik restaurant in SG (which I wrote sometime back). There was no fanciful decor & the furnishings were kept simple. Even the waiters (hehe, we did not see any waitresses here at all) were of the matured group. Everything seemed so old school here!

Old school right? ;)

Roasted pigeons on the wall ;)

That's how old this restaurant is! 

Since we reckoned the portion would be rather big & we were not too hungry, we ordered a dinner set to share which came with a seafood soup, swiss chicken & baked rice. We were first served with the hot cross bun (yes, still piping hot!) The bun was soft and the outer layer was pretty crispy. We like! :)

Haha favourite hot cross bun ;)

The seafood soup was in a tomato based broth & it was rather rich in taste. There were quite a number of ingredients in there as well for e.g. fish slices, prawns, crab meat (& I mean REAL crab meat) & some shell fish! What I like about the soup was that it was served piping hot & the ingredients used were really fresh & generous!

Seafood soup

This meal took us like an hour (not because we were taking our own sweet time but...rather, we had to wait very long for the food to be served). We waited for at least half an hour before the Swiss chicken came. Hehe, during this time, since we were so restless, we were camera whoring! LOL. The chicken wings were soaked in black sauce & there was 2 broccoli that came along with it as side garnish ;) The smell was so fragrant (guess by the time it was served, our tummies were growling thus that explained why everything looked & smelled good! *chuckled*). I must say that the wait was definitely worthwhile! The chicken meat was juicy & succulent and the black soy sauce has simply gone into the meat (really well marinated!). The Swiss chicken was meant to have a sweet taste so for those of you (like my bestie) who prefer a saltier version, you may not like it that much as I do! ;)

Famous Swiss Chicken

Least we did not have to wait another 30 mins for the baked rice to arrive, it came about 10 mins after we were done with the chicken. The baked rice was not what as I had imagined it to be. I thought it was going to be those creamy sauce type with a thick layer of cheese on top of it. I must say this baked rice turned out to a very PLEASANT surprise! The sauce was yummy & I loved how those tomatoes melted in the mouth! Beneath those tomatoes were....big chunky slices of pork chop (which I forgot to take peek of as we were too engrossed in eating!LOL). Despite the chunkiness of the meat, the pork chops were really tender & retained the juiciness of it! It went very well with the rice, tomatoes & sauce! To be honest, I am not a big fan of baked rice but this one totally won me over! We finished it in no time! *Slurped*

Baked rice!

Woo, I forgot to mention that the set came with a dessert & drink too! The dessert for the day (I presume everyday is the same, haha) was the small piece of old fashioned looking cake! I was commenting to YP that I had these cakes when I was young when there was a happy occasion in the family for e.g. people getting married or newborn's 1st month! Really brought me down memory lane! How nostalgic! Aww.... =)

Old fashioned looking cake!

I loved this hot lemon tea drink! The tea was brewed and the lemon gave it a citrus fragrance & taste. Comforting drink to end off a good hearty meal!

Hot Lemon tea drink

By the time we are done, the restaurant was fully packed! This meal cost us HKD197 (SGD32.30) & we totally enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend you to pay this restaurant a visit if you are looking for good authentic Swiss chicken & lovely baked rice! ;)

We visited the one at 19 -21 Mau Lam Street, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

They have 3 other branches at:

- 40 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon
- 6 Pak Sha Road, Causeway Bay, Hongkong
- 60 Stanley Street, Central, Hongkong

You can also visit their website, http://www.taipingkoon.com/.

澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company ~ 150411

On our 3rd day, we decided to head to 澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company for breakfast. We got to hear of this place from our friendly hotel staff. We only knew that the staff love the scrambled eggs here & told us to try it ourselves! We reached there at about 835am & luckily, there was not much of a queue outside. We waited less than 5 minutes & were ushered in (really typical trait of HK cafes, 茶餐厅 which was fast turnaround time!) The inside of the place was bustling with activities with people eating (obviously), ordering & serving of food. I was truly amazed by the sight & noise! LOL. (This peek was taken after we were done with the meal at 912am & looked at the queue forming!)

澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company

We were ushered to sit at one corner & facing the wall (literally!) The menu was pinned to the wall & we took our picks from there! They serve only 1 type of breakfast set which consisted of the butter toast, scrambled eggs, Macaroni ham in soup & a beverage. All this for HKD26 (SGD4.26). We took this set & ordered another scrambled egg sandwich & a hot milk. =)

Menu

I ordered a hot milk tea which came with the set. The milk tea was fragrant & smooth. A perk me up drink in the morning!

Milk tea

The Macaroni ham in soup was a tad too salty for our liking! But seemed like every table was having this since it came along in the set. Typical breakfast for the locals!

Chicken Macaroni soup

YP ordered the Hot milk & it was very smooth & creamy. Haha, I was commenting to YP that it tasted like those Anlene milk powder drink. If you are a milk lover, you would love this!

Hot Milk

This was what we came for! Scrambled eggs!!! The eggs were light & fluffy & they were really well seasoned! Not too salty & texture was still slightly moist *Thumbs UP* I always feel that to test a chef's culinary skills, all you have to do is to get him to do the simplest dish like fried rice & scrambled eggs! Now I fully understand why the scrambled eggs were a HIT with the locals & tourists likewise (",)

Scrambled eggs set

The Scrambled eggs sandwich was equally tasty. The bread was thick & soft & can you see how generous they were with the eggs fillings inside? Haha, I am drooling along as I am writing this posting! This was really the best scrambled eggs that I have ever eaten!

Scrambled eggs Sandwich

This cost us HKD54 (SGD8.85) which was cheap for such quality scrambled eggs. We were totally sold by the breakfast here! This is definitely a MUST TRY when you are visiting HK! =)

澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company is located at 47 -49 Parkes Street, Jordan (Nearest MTR: Jordan MTR, Exit C2)

镛记酒家 Yung Kee Restaurant ~ 140411

One of the highlights for this trip was to have dinner at the famous 镛记酒家 Yung Kee Restaurant at Wellington Street, Central. The 1st thing when we reached our hotel on the 1st day was to have our hotel phoned them to help us make a dinner reservation for tonight! We initially wanted to have dinner at 7pm but as this restaurant was really famous, the earliest dinner reservation they could take in was at 845pm so we had to settle for that. As we were hungry wanted to be in time for the dinner reservation, we reached Central about 7pm & decided to try our luck. When we reached @ 730pm, the staff mentioned that we could go in & take a seat! YEAH!!! ;)

镛记酒家 Yung Kee Restaurant

These century eggs were an appetizer dish for all guests (keke, of course not FOC). Look at the colour & texture of the eggs! YP & I loved them! The texture of the yolk was slightly runny & creamy. If you love century eggs like I do, you would certainly fall in love with them! These must be the BEST century eggs that I have ever eaten! *Slurped* (We were seriously considering whether they sell this so that we can buy them back home! That's how good it was!)  =)

Century eggs!

Here came the STAR of the night! Famous Roasted goose!!! I must confess that this was my 1st time having roasted goose *blushed* I did not have this 4 years back when I came to HK & bestie was like "WHAT?!" So this time round, this was definitely TOP on my To-do list! LOL. Since this was my 1st time having this dish & there were so many raving reviews, I honestly can't wait to get my hands on this dish! The skin was crispy & when you took a bite, the oil simply oozed out! I found the meat to be rather tough & took quite a while of chewing. By the end of the meal, it got really tiring. Overall, I must admit that I am not really a fan of this.

Roasted Goose

We ordered the Braised beancurd to go along with the rice & meat. A good choice indeed! The beancurd was very soft & the sauce (with mushrooms & carrots) complemented the beancurd. Haha, we were joking that this was a good choice as there were not much chewing required as compared to that of the goose! LOL.

Braised beancurd

This meal was our most hefty one on this trip! In all, it cost....HKD298 (SGD48.85)! If you were to ask me whether it was worth it, I would say "not really" BUT...if you are already in HK, you might as well try the famous Michelin restaurant that is so raved about & haha, least when people ask you whether you have tried Yung Kee, you can happily answer with a "YES"! ;)

镛记酒家 Yung Kee Restaurant is located at 32 - 40 Wellington Street, Central.

Do call (852) 2522 1624 to make reservations to avoid disappointment! ;) 

You can check out their website, http://www.yungkee.com.hk

池記雲吞麵家 Chee Kei Wonton Noodle ~ 140411

Since we had a heavy breakfast & were busy shopping still full, we only had our next meal at 4pm. How can one miss eating the Wanton Mee (Shrimp dumpling noodles) when one is in HK?!!! And so we headed to the famous 池記雲吞麵家 Chee Kei Wonton Noodle at Causeway Bay.

池記雲吞麵家 Chee Kei Wonton Noodle

They offer set menus whereby you can choose either noodles/ congee with your choice of side dishes/ boiled vegetables/ desserts just for HKD42 which is indeed value for $. I vaguely remember if you wanted to have a glass of homemade barley, you can also purchase it for just HKD6 when you order the set.

We ordered 2 sets for sharing. The 1st set was the Wantan mee with Swiss chicken & the 2nd set, Braised beef tendon noodles with boiled vegetables. The portion was not much and there were about 4 wantons (shrimp dumplings) in there. The noodles were springy & not overcooked. The soup retained the freshness and tastiness of the dried shrimps used. As for the dumplings, the skin was soft and the shrimps were fresh! (If you realized, the Wanton noodles here differ from that of SG as they serve theirs in soup & there are no Char siew meat (Barbequed pork meat) or vegetables that come along with it.) For me, I always have this back @ Crystal Jade in SG where I termed it as one of my "comfort food"! =)

Wantan mee

We loved the Swiss chicken as it was simmered till soft and yet the meat was still juicy! The taste was slightly sweeter than the usual braised chicken.

Swiss Chicken

The Braised beef tendon noodles was delicious. The standard of the noodles remained & the soup was rich with beef stock & collagen! Tendons were braised till soft and melted in the mouth! Simply a MUST order for beef tendon lovers! ;)

Braised beef tendon noodles

We had the boiled vegetables (choice of veg: Kai Lan) with Oyster sauce. We realized that when they served the Kai Lan, the leaves were always separated from the stalk & the vegetables always retained the colour of rich green which made it looked so fresh & crisp!

Kai Lan with Oyster sauce

I would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for authentic HK Wanton noodles! Also, if you have room for more, you can try the Crab Congee (which we saw people ordering & looked really yummy)! ;)

池記雲吞麵家 Chee Kei Wonton Noodle is located at 84 Percival Street, Causeway Bay.
They do not have any websites & I have listed some of the other branches as below:

- Langham Place, 4th floor, Mongkok
- Telford Plaza, 33 Wai Yip Street, Kowloon Bay
- Maritime Square, 33 Tsing King Road, Tsing Yi
- 37 Lock Road, Tsim Sha Tsui