La Parrilla Steakhouse (中環)

As it was an anniversary, we decided to go out for something nice. La Parilla Steakhouse was the choice as it was all about steak and we just love steak.

Located across the street from Tai Kwun, the restaurant is very large and spacious.
Menu is in English only. It's concise and to the point. The staff explained they served beef from Argentina that has been aged for one month. Famous for being one of the best beef breeders in the world, we wanted to try a bit of everything. All the items are shareable portion sizes.At the start, they give you a loaf of bread. Crusty with a good tearability, this was a good piece of bread. You can dip it in olive oil but I always like to just dip it with any sauce that will come with our food. It was also good on it's own which is how I often eat bread.They have a few epanadas to choose from including a taster set of all of them but we just wanted one. Carne Epanada ($75) as it was filled with minced Argentinian beef. It was big enough to share between us and came with a very spicy salsa.The pastry was flakey and soft. It was filled to the brim with a very savory mince.The other starter we chose Bone Marrow ($108) because I love bone marrow.  Seasoned with herbs and served with crunchy toasted bread, this was really moorish. The oils from the marrow just dripped away, making a wonderful oily mess.
For mains, we choose two. The first was Grilled Octopus Tentacles ($298). The octopus was soft and tender. It was plated on a bed of eggplant mash that was the best thing on the plate  and  a bit of grilled sweet potato. All was balanced by a spicy hit of chimichurri.As we were here for steak, we ordered a Rib Eye ($418). Cooked to a perfect medium, the steak was juicy and moist. It was served on a hot sizzling iron plate for further searing. The steak wasn't over seasoned and did rely on the dipping sauces that accompanied it.It came with six dipping sauces: garlic aioli, BBQ sauce , mustard.Salsa, chimichurri and gremolata.We ended with dessert of Flan Casero ($88). The dessert was rich and creamy. Sweet yet not too sweet it was overpowering. The berries accompanying gave it a good acidic balance.

A good steakhouse in the middle of Central. And it appeared to be popular as it became full very quickly. Good thing we made a reservation! A nice way to celebrate an anniversary.

大龍燒鵝餐廳小廚 (中環)

Central seems to have a lot of Hong Kong style roast meat restaurants as it's fast, cheap and filling. Perfect for those that are rushing  back to work. 大龍燒鵝餐廳小廚 (no English name) is one such place. And it was busy even at 3 in the afternoon.
 
When we were there, they had the afternoon tea set menu available. Menu is in English and Chinese. There is no 10% service charge and you pay on your way out. Along with roast meat sets, they also offer cha chaan teng items. But everyone was ordering the roast meat.  Sets come with a drink. We decided to choose two roast meats with noodles for $45.
Boyfriend ordered roast pork belly with char siu. A piece of choi sum was included. This was served separately on a plate to ensure the pork belly skin would remain crispy. It was ok and not too salty. The char was a bit dry.I had the soysauce chicken with char siu. This was placed on top of my noodles. The noodles were over cooked and too soft. The chicken was mostly bones. There was hardly any meat. But at least my char siu was not as dry and had a bit of fat included.

Food was fairly average.  I've had better. But at least it was cheap and it is very busy. Obviously perfect for those rushing back to work during lunch hour.

甘甘好蔗 (旺角)

This corner shop always seems to be different every time we walk by. This time the space is taken over by Sweet & Sweet. A takeaway drink shop that focuses on sugarcane. In Taiwan, it's one of my favorite forms of bubble tea so I was eager to give this a try.


Menu is in Chinese only. There is no English and no 10% service charge as it's takeaway only. When we were there, they had a promotional for buy one get one free if you follow their  social media page. Always willing to sell our souls, boyfriend and I went with the deal.


Boyfriend had a Pandan Coconut ($32). A lot of coconut milk was provided with a hint of pandan. A pandan leaf was also stuck inside to hopefully infuse it further.
I had the sugarcane green tea ($28). The sugarcane wasn't as sweet as the one I had in Taiwan but then here they use green sugar cane as opposed to black sugar cane in Taiwan. The black variety is usually sweeter. But otherwise, it was refreshing. There was a hint of tea flavour but not much as the sugarcane was more prominent. 


Fairly decent and a healthy alternative to the usual bubble tea places. The staff was also very friendly and said they squeezed their own sugarcane juice. So, I might be back.

TREEHOUSE (銅鑼灣)

A new  vegan restaurant opened in Causeway Bay and as it was nearby, I decided to give it a try. I'm always up for a non-meat alternative day. Originally from Central, this place offers more than just salads. They have wraps, pizzas and burgers.


Ordering is done by using their ordering machines. Water and other items are self service and you bring your trays (where you also separate your trash) here.

Menu is in English only. There is no 10% service charge as they consider it fast food. They will call your number when ready.


I decided on the Forest Burger ($98) with $60 combo upgrade. For combos you can choose soup and drink or sweet potato fries, salad and drink. I chose the fries and salad.

The Forest burger is a beet and roast mushroom patty. There was lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers, red onions with a eggplant caviar on the top and garlic sauce on the bottom. All was sandwiched between a toasted sourdough bun. This was really messy good. The patty was juicy. The bun was soft and held together. I loved the roasted peppers combined with the rich eggplant caviar.

The sweet potato fries were really large chunks. I would have considered them more like wedges. They were that thick in size. Very crispy exterior. They came with a creamy garlic sauce for dipping.

The side of salad was larger than expected. I thought it would be small! Very fresh mixed greens where I also found kale! Well dressed with a simple vinaigrette.

A few pickles were also found on the side. They were the sweet variety which I do like more than the sour ones.

For my drink, I chose a lemonade. Lots of lemon with a generous addition of mint. Very good lemonade and not those sad lemon with soda water I get in a lot of places.A bit expensive but then you get a lot of food. I was very full when I left.  A good option for a meal when I need a veggie fix. I"ll have to try their wraps and I noticed there was pho. Curious about that one?

반찬앤쿡 Banchan and Cook (東涌)

Hello Kitty makes me travel far! When I heard that only Citygate's Banchan and Cook location was doing a Hello Kitty themed menu, I wanted to go. But it was far from where I live. VERY FAR. So, I put it aside until one day boyfriend said ... I heard Citygate was doing a Hello Kitty theme, did you want to go? OH YAH! YOU BET! And I know exactly where we will have dinner!

That is how we ended up at Banchan and Cook. The restaurant had Hello Kitty in the front.They also have a few seats outside with a picture of Hello Kitty on the wall.Inside the restaurant had various pictures of Hello Kitty in her cooking gear.The tables also had her face as well!The menu was specially designed. There was a mirror on one side so you can photograph yourself with her.The limited time menu has three items only. We ordered everything except the drink as they had run out of ingredients that day.   They also ran out of the tote bag as well.We ordered only the Hello Kitty items to share between us. The  Fried Chicken Omurice with Dragon Fruit Sauce ($152) really looked like what was shown on the menu. That I'm impressed with. The chicken was good, Crispy skin and juicy meat. But the dragon fruit sauce was strange and clumpy. Hello Kitty's head was hard and tasted more like sushi rice. It was filled with bits of pickles making it seem more like an onigiri. The egg was fluffy but not seasoned. Underneath was some fried rice. A side of undressed salad but at least the greens were fresh. This was also cold. I think everything was pre-made as it it came out very quickly.Apple Pie and Croffle ($122) was the other item. The plate had her bow sprinkled on it with matcha powder. The croffle was chewy and cold. Most likely been there for a while. But the apple pie was fantastic. A lovely crumbly base. The apples were sweet and generous with cinnamon and nutmeg. A couple of shortbread cookies shaped like Hello Kitty and her bow were used as decoration with sweet fluffy whipped cream underneath. I loved the apple sauce as well. Lotus cookie crumbs lay on the side.

The omurice was not that good but at least it looked pretty. The dessert was good. The place was nicely decorated with Hello Kitty everywhere. I guess I expected the food not to be too good so my expectations were low. At least they looked like the menu. That's all one can ask for?