BLT Burger (銅鑼灣)

Burger joints have been popping up everywhere in Hong Kong in the past couple of years. I have tried them all and have been unimpressed. Having walked past BLT Burger countless of times, I decided that it was finally time to give BLT Burger's a try and the benefit of the doubt. Every time I saunter by, the restaurant is empty and hollow. The place has great character, there is a typical American diner bar and nostalgic diner pictures on the wall. The seating is spacious, comfortable, and the environment is very cosy. We were seated immediately in a booth (since there was only one other dining patron) by the very amicable waiter. We perused the menu, placed our order, and our beverages were served immediately after.
Your typical classic burger that looks great just from the ingredients. A beautiful red juicy tomato, a leafy green piece of lettuce and then an over zealous amount of mayonaise and mustard on the top of the bun. The patty was cooked well, and there was no cheese with the burger. However, it was just good, it was not brilliant. A good warm and toasty burger. I think this burger would have been better without the egg.
This burger was more sophisticated in its ingredients and flavours. The mushrooms were soft and complemented the caramelised onions well. The onions were not overcooked and soggy. These still had a crunch and were sweet; that is a sign of well cooked onions. What really put this burger over the top was the blue cheese. It melded perfectly with the patty and the experience was overwhelmingly good. The egg this time added a good level of moisture and the yolk went great with the cheese. This is a unique burger, and I recommend that you try it, but its not for the faint hearted.
Crunchy, delectable, perfectly fried golden goodness. These are the specific words I choose to describe these crispy delights. Presented in a beautiful simple metal pot. The colour was alluring, and that smell of greasy delicious just wafting through the air, I was thoroughly impressed. One bite and I was sold. The chili was more powerful than I thought though, but it added a very fine kick. These are an absolute must have, with or without ketchup.
Being unique and different in todays creative world is difficult. I thought this cute little addition to the burger added a very personalised touch to the burger. A simple wooden rarity of meat indicator got me all excited to taste the burger. As always it is the little things that count.

Portobello (中環)

As I was strolling through the quiet streets of Soho looking for a place to enjoy some happy hour drinks with friends, I noticed an assortment of cakes in a little cafe across the street. I moved closer and was enthralled by the vast selection before me. It was decided, drinks were out, and it was time to sample cake and sip coffee.

Stepping inside this fine little establishment, I was transported to everyday tea time in London. The decor gave the place a warm, rustic feel that is so common of most pubs in England. Simple British emblazoned pillows lined the couches within the cafe. The quaint size also added a local atmosphere and it gave you a feeling that you really found somewhere special; somewhere to relax and have light hearted conversation undisturbed by the trouble of the world. We placed our orders for two Portobello Specials (a choice of any cake plus a regular tea/coffee) and waited patiently.
Carrot cake is a classic, it is either loved or hated. My friends and I all sided on the side of love, but even a classic can go terribly wrong. I used my fork to stab off a thin slice of cake. The frosting was extremely hard like a brick and required a lot of pressure to crack through to the "spongy" interior. Usually, carrot cake is soft,moist and fluffy, but not this one. It was soggy and dense, and a childhood memory of playing with play dough creeped into my mind. It might as well have just been called a cake, as it was lacking in carrot flavour completely. Lets just say I was beyond disappointed.
Having experienced the quality of the first cake, I was skeptical about even trying the second one. However, I have always been one who believed in second chances and forming judgment before a thorough examination. This next cake was nothing but short of perfection. A beautiful, perfectly cooked, golden brown crust provided the foundation to this masterpiece. A very generous portion of toffee that was not excessively sweet was placed on top. It was sheer genius to incorporate the banana into this cake too; a perfect little combination. This is an absolute must have.
What goes really good with cake, is a really good cup of coffee. This was a good cup of coffee. The coffee was rich, and full of flavour. The union of the coffee and the toffee cake was harmonious and perfect. My only complaint was that it could have been hotter and the cup that it was served in was very small.

The service:
Slow and inattentive does not even begin to describe the service. We were only given one menu, and when we requested another one, there was an unacceptable rolling of the eyes. It took more than 20 minutes for two slices of cake and three cups of coffee to be made and brought to our table. Again, when we asked for three glasses of water, we had to ask two more times before something as simple as tap water was provided. The place was not particularly busy either, so I was very surprised and disappointed.

The Portobello Special is great value, and the place does have quite a rustic charm that is captivating to the soul. However the decorations and sense of being back in London is not enough to bring me back again for more.

桃花源小廚 (上環)

Tim's Kitchen is a decent sized fancy Chinese restaurant in Sheung Wan. The decor is very modern for a Chinese restaurant, and I noticed that a lot of foreigners came here to dine. I especially liked all the modern wooden decor on the window sills as this added a traditional element to the atmosphere. There are two levels to the restaurant and the top floor is much more spacious than the bottom floor. I came here to celebrate my dad's birthday and his sister's birthday. We all wanted to try something new, and we settled on giving this place a whirl. We were greeted by very friendly staff who showed us to our table on the upper level. We were immediately asked what tea we would like and left to peruse the menu. I also brought two cakes, and the waiter offered nicely to store them for me. Once everyone was here, we proceeded to order from the large, yet carefully planned menu.
I think that this style of egg requires an acquired taste. The colour at first may be a bit off putting, but I find it very intriguing. These eggs were prepared beautifully. To get the best experience from this appetizer, you should eat it together with the ginger that is provided. I must commend this egg further, for it was superb. Normally, when you eat this egg, there is a very strong aftertaste or smell of ammonia, however this egg did not have this aroma. Furthermore, the liquified egg yolk was made exquisitely and tasted very sweet, but was not overwhelming. All the flavours melted harmoniously in your mouth. My dad also commented that this was a very high quality egg, one of the best he had ever had.
This looked really good when it arrived. I love to add fried garlic, or just garlic in general to anything. The egg plant was succulent, however I believe that the thousand island dressing was excessive and covered the delicate flavour of the egg plant. Less sauce would have been ideal.
Lately, I have been eating a lot of tofu. This tofu dish was served piping hot and was presented beautifully. It was very smooth and large. The soya sauce was just right to balance this dish perfectly. A definite must try.
The char siu was not fatty at all, which is always appreciated. The sauce was great, however I believed the portion could have been larger for the price that they charged. It was overall a very high quality barbecued pork that went really well with the rice. I also really enjoy the fried nuts that were embedded into this dish.
I think snake is also an acquired taste. I tried a spoonful of my dads and found the snake skin to be very rough. The ingredients in the soup were plentiful and there was definitely a very full flavour to the soup. The others who had this dish commented that it was very tasty and not too salty.
I always use this dish as a benchmark dish to compare with other Chinese restaurants. Personally, I found their to be too few pineapples. Moreover, the pork itself was very fat. However, that being said, the sauce was just the right thickness, and the peppers were cooked beautifully. The sauce was not the extremely red, which made it look better in a photo. This is my dads favourite food, and he commented that it was good, but he has definitely had better.
The dish was beautifully presented. This photo shows how I plated the dish on my own plate. At first I thought it was just a taro puff, which was cooked and fried beautifully, although it was a little bit salty. However, when I took my second bite, I noticed a very thin layer of crispy duck skin on the bottom of the puff. The combination was good, but the duck was very fatty. Despite that, I found the flavours complemented each other well and tasted great.
I am very picky about this dish. However, it gets a perfect five smileys. Their were many ingredients, including sufficient lap sausage, which was not too fatty. The dish was served piping hot, and the rice was nice and soft. Although after one spin around the lazy susan the dish had cooled down and the rice on the bottom became hard. That being said, the dish itself was not too oily, which is the real determining factor for me. A definite must try, although I believe you have to pre-order this dish in advance.

I had a great time with my family celebrating the birthday of two important people in my life. The food was good, atmosphere was good, and service was excellent. Even though its a bit out of the centre of the city, I will be coming back to try more of this restaurant's fine Chinese cuisine.

The air conditioning is very cold, so do bring a sweater or light jacket.

鮨辰日本料理 (大坑)

I was a little bit worried about coming here having read reviews for this restaurant. However, I was coming here with my Aunt, who has never gone wrong.

I want to state at the outset that I agree that this place is exceedingly overpriced. However, if you ignore the value, the food is really good. I will write the rest of this review solely on the quality of the food.

We arrived promptly at 6:45pm and were seated immediately. My overall impression of the place was that it was very small and intimate. The lighting was excellent, which made me very happy, allowing me to take good photos. There was a sushi bar, and three other tables. I later learned that there were more tables in the back. We were seated at a table for four, but they added an extra chair for the fifth person. The waiter gave us menus, but did not really give us time to really peruse it. She started suggesting the fish of the day, and all the specials. Normally, this would really tick me off, but she was extremely friendly. My Aunt was not in the mood to choose, so we specified a couple things we really wanted to try, and then let the waiter help us suggest a myriad of other dishes. The waiter also tried to push us to buy alcoholic drinks, however when we politely declined, she just smiled politely back. After a couple of minutes, our food started to arrive.

shredded carrots and cabbage

This was a tiny appetizer, but very potent and delicious. I really enjoyed the simplicity of this dish and the little kick of spice was very refreshing.
The sashimi was very fresh. The taro was amazing, it literally melted in my mouth. I loved that some were sliced thickly and others were sliced thinly, this catered to everyones taste. The salmon was scrumptious and very fatty. Sashimi of the highest quality.

frozen salad with peanut dressing

The frozen salad leaves were a neat touch. The tomato was fresh and the peanut sauce was good. There was nothing else really special to say.

snail

I am not a big fan of snail, but this was nice and juicy. The snail was very fresh and there was no dirt in the shell which was excellent.
I am a huge fan of scallops. Normally, I really love scallop raw, but this one was cooked thoroughly and perfectly. It was really large, probably one of the largest ones I have ever had. The scallop and the seaweed combination was lovely. It was served piping hot and presented beautifully.
Super fresh, super sweet, super delicious. The portion was large and also presented beautifully. My only problem was that it was served warm. I think that it would have been great if it was served cold with a chilled spoon or fork for an extra touch of class.
This dish was an assortment of the monthly specials and fresh catches of the day. It was so fresh, and every piece melted in your mouth. There were four different sauces that accompanied all the different fishes. The presentation was excellent and the variety of colours was enchanting.
At first, this just looked like an ordinary sea bass. I love a good salted fish, and this was a really good salted fish. It was very fresh and very succulent. The salt really added an extra dimension to the whole experience. The fish meat was juicy, tender, and soft, like a really good piece of steak. I would highly recommend this dish, although it took almost 45 minutes to prepare. It was piping hot when it served and once again presented beautifully.
The uni came from Hokkaido and was orgasmically good. It was really big and the colour was inviting. It melted in your mouth and left a sensational after taste in your mouth. Each piece is charged separately, but worth every dollar.
The soba was very tender. The soup was not over seasoned. The shrimp tempura was excellent; the shrimp was huge and cooked beautifully. My favourite part was the sweet potato tempura. It was large and very floury. Absolutely delicious and the portion was ideal.

eel rice

The portion and presentation was great. The eel was not over sauced and the japanese sushi rice was great.
The presentation was impeccable. The colours complemented the dishes perfectly. The tofu was fried perfectly. The actual tofu was very smooth and soft. It was amazing. The sour mild sauce also added so much to this dish. We had to order another round of this dish, it was this good.

green tea ice cream

Just ordinary good old ice cream. A great way to finish the meal.

The waiters were very friendly throughout the entire course of the meal. They kept refilling our tea and changing our plates in an orderly manner. When the bill came, I was shocked by the price, but I'll have to admit the food was amazing. I hope this review will reinstate the good status of this restaurant, which has received a slew of poor reviews. Unfortunately, I won't be coming back in the immediate future, but definitely in the distant future.

You have to book in advance if you want to come here in the weekend. The sushi chefs are also very friendly. When we left, everyone waved, said good bye and made eye contact with me.

一風堂 (金鐘)

One of my friends has been raving about this place. I thought that it was time to come here and give it a try. Noodles are one of my absolute favourite foods, so I was very much looking forward to this lunch. Lets just say that I was not disappointed. We were greeted by a nice waiter, who politely asked us how many of us were dining. We were then lead to our table and allowed to peruse the menu. The overall atmosphere of the place is very warm. There is sufficient lighting which is perfect for us reviewers to take good photos. I especially liked how the place felt very packed, yet spacious at the same time. Meaning that the restaurant was very full, and the place was operating at full capacity, but it does not feel cramped at all. We then proceeded to glance over the menu. I think a menu plays a vital part to a restaurants success. I would give this menu special mention. First of all it has very good photos for all of its main noodle dishes. The layout is easy to follow, and the colour scheme is not distracting. Each item of food is accompanied with a well detailed account of the dish. This I believe is excellent because it really allows you to thoroughly decided what you want to eat. The descriptions are tailored to make you hungry and this is very good. They also offer a special seasonal menu, which also caught my eye in terms of its construction and appeal.

After perusing the menu, we ordered our food. The waiter who took our order was very friendly and gave us additional comments about which dish he recommended. For example he explained to us that we could add an extra egg if we wanted at an additional cost. Moreover, he even explained that we could specify how we wanted our noodles to be cooked. They could be softer, normal, or even harder, which I thought was very thoughtful of him to provide us with these options to make our meal more pleasant. We placed our orders and about 10 minutes later the first bowl of hot noodles arrived. The waiter announced the dish very quickly in a mumbled tone, and we did not comprehend what he was saying. He then repeated himself, but we still did not know which dish he was referring to. We then proceeded to open the menu and asked him to point to which one it was. He did, but as he placed the bowl down, he rolled his eyes. I thought that this was very unprofessional and immediately left me with a very sour impression of the restaurant. However, the smell of the noodles quickly changed my opinion.
This was the most expensive noodle on the menu and rightly so. It comes with an egg that is raw on the inside, seaweed, sliced pork and spring onions. The dish was served piping hot, which is always a good sign. I wished that they shredded the seaweed so that I could have spread it throughout the soup. The egg was cooked beautifully and when I broke the egg white the yolk came streaming out in a never ending river of rich goodness. I ordered the noodles to be cooked normally and they were very tender and delicious. The meat was good and very lean. My friend thought the soup was very good, but personally I found the seasoning a bit overdone. It was very hot and full of flavour though.
This was a more simple noodle. The noodles are very thin and it is served with lean slices of pork. My friend especially liked the fresh soybean sprouts and spring onions. She ordered the noodles to be cooked normally too, and found them to very smooth. The soup was hot and had less flavour than the previous dish. The amount of noodles is very filling. You can also order extra noodles at an additional costs if you are still hungry.
This dish was the special dish of the month. It looked very appealing from the menu. This time the noodles were very thick. The were much more chewy than the other ones and had a nice texture to them too. There is a very heavy miso flavour to the soup that is served on the side. The noodles come with minced pork and a spicy sauce. My friend asked if they could not add the spicy sauce to the noodles directly, and they happily complied and put the sauce on the side in a separate bowl. The concept of this dish is that you mix a little bit of the soup and the spicy sauce with the noodles and minced pork to get a very special combination and flavour. The menu says "Every delicious mouthful of the unique flavoured Spicy Tsukemen brings your taste buds a whole new experience that you'll never forget." I would have to agree with this wholeheartedly. This dish is a must try, and my friend has already said she will come back for more and more. The only complaint was that the soup was not as hot as it should have been.

Overall, a great lunch. The only disappointment was the very rude waiter. However, this was remedied by a very friendly waiter who kept checking on us, and asking how we were finding everything. We greatly appreciated this. Moreover, this waiter found my water bottle which I had accidentally left on the table and ran out to find me after I had left the restaurant. This is what I call good service. I was internally grateful. I will definitely be coming back very soon to try the many other noodle dishes this fine establishment has to offer.

This restaurant gets very busy from 12:00-13:30 as this is peak lunch hour rush in Admiralty. However, if you come before 11:50, you will definitely have a seat. I would suggest coming earlier (if you are not working) as the table wait time during lunch hour can be up to 45 minutes.