MAD Burger (灣仔)

I have been away from OpenRice for so long!
I have to say it’s a tough time to be opening a restaurant. This place has been around for about a month and a half. The owner/ staff were super friendly though I have to say, which made it a lovely dining experience.

Visited this new burger joint at about 3 pm today with two friends, and we pretty much occupied the whole place as it’s pretty small. It has about 5 stools inside and a standing area outside.


I saw them sanitising the seats and table when the previous customers left. 👍🏻

There are 3 burgers to choose from: beef, pork or veg. They also have a pasta or salads.
Us 3 tried the beef. The set comes with a drink or soup, or you can add $8 for a coffee. You can also add fries and stuff.

This cup of Dirty was surprisingly good for a non coffee shop.

Now for the burger. It was recommended to have the beef at medium well, so we took that advice. The burger was pretty good. It was seasoned perfectly,however it would have been nice if the patty was thicker. The portion of the lettuce was very generous. Although I had pressed down on the burger, I couldn’t fit everything in my mouth in a bite. As you can see, the bun was a little burnt and so were the fries. Luckily, it didn’t really affect the taste.

Final Verdict:
3 of us had ordered the same burger and fries; and all 3 buns were kinda burnt, and so were the fries. As a new place, I think it’s still working on consistency. However, it was a tasty meal served by some friendly people , which makes it a restaurant worth visiting. I would love to go again and try other dishes.

貓之眼 (灣仔)

I was watching a tv show last week that introduced this restaurant, so I took note of it. My cousin works in Wan Chai, so I asked her to join me today. 

I got there at about 1225, and there was already a queue.  Since I was still waiting for my cousin to arrive, I couldn't go in yet, which was very reasonable. The staff gave me 2 order sheets because it was one of those circle your order type of restaurant. The paper was in Chinese only, but there was an English menu on the wall. While waiting for my cousin, the staff approached me and asked me if I would be ordering burgers, and if I were, he'd save some for me because they only do 30 per day. Both my cousin and I wanted the burger, and we so luckily got burger number 28 and 29!  I thought it was a very nice gesture of the restaurant to save orders for people since it was my problem that my party wasn't with me. It was only about 1235-40 when the last burger was sold out, so you really have to go early if you want to try it. 

The interior of the restaurant was very Japanese looking. Small, but cozy. We sat at the table facing the window, which meant the queue.  All those hungry looks we got was hilarious. It was even more awkward that we were eating the burgers that they could no longer get.The food came within a few minutes!  I must say, the staff were all very poilte and pleasant. Here is what we consumed:1. Salad with Sesame Dressing ($20) Lots of restaurants use that particular Japanese brand of sesame dressing available at supermarkets, but not this place!  I'm sure they make their own, because of the aroma and taste! You could really taste the toasted sesame. My gosh, it was so good! The fresh salad only made it better. This was definitely unexpected.2. Burger with Cream Sauce and Omelet Rice ($93) What a beautiful sight this dish was! You knew the golden scrambled eggs in the middle would be delicious just by looking at them, and the truth was the eggs were so light and creamy that each bite was effortless. The sauce on the right was a very concentrated beef sauce that screamed beef! According to them, it is simmered for 3 days to reach such richness. In my opinion, this was the best sauce.  The burger was a thick piece of meat with vegetables mixed in. What a nice way to consume more vegetables.  The burger had a very soft texture, but didn't taste fatty. My first thought was milk was probably added to the meat mixture for such texture. I wasn't able to taste much spices in the burger, not that I needed to because the taste of beef was already very enjoyable. The white sauce on the left was a chicken cream sauce that was made with Japanese 4.3 Milk and cream. Cream sauces are either very heavy or tasteless, but this was the opposite of both! Not only was it light, it was also very flavourful. It went well with the omelet rice. 3. Burger with Tomato Sauce and Omlete Rice ($93) The only difference between this dish and the dish above is the one sauce. Instead of the cream sauce, my cousin chose the tomato sauce with beef short ribs. This was an amazing sauce. The tomato sauce is simmered for 8 hours with onions and carrots. No wonder it was so rich because it absorbed the best of all the ingreidents. The beef was tender, but the star was still the rich tomato sauce. 

Final Verdict:ごちそうさまでした.

Burger Circus (中環)

All I ate today was oatmeal in the morning, so I was ready to consume some calories!  Burger Circus is a train carriage themed diner with a cute name. My sister commented that it felt like we were dinning at a park on picnic tables. The doors were left open, so whenever a bus went by, you heard it; making it quite noisy.    This aspect made it feel like a train.   It wasn't a big place, but it sure did feel like a diner thanks to the retro decor and clothes the staff wore.   The menu was above the bar/counter, and at the table. One side of the menu was a vintage drawing of a circus lady slurping milkshakes, which I really liked!   The staff were an interesting bunch; very chill or one might say lacked interest in what they were doing? Ha, but the service was good. They saw that we were sharing, so gave us plates without us asking. Also, I was being lazy and just wiped my finger tips on my the wet wipe my sis was using, and one staff noticed that and gave us more.  Thanks. Haha. With so many choices of burgers, sides and milkshakes to choose from, it took us a while to decide what to have!   This is what we got when we finally made up our minds:1. Salted Caramel Milkshake ($58) How can one not get a milkshake at a diner! We were being sensible and shared one. It was a good milkshake, but it had a little too much cream on top I feel. The caramel made it extra sweet, so it was nice to have the salted part to penetrate the sweetness. This sugar loaded milkshake was needed for the sodium loaded burger and fries that were to come.   If only they had a peanutbutter flavoured milkshake, I'd visit all the time!  2. The Flame Swallower ($88) The chicken was mairnated in hot sauce,so it was a little spicy. The chicken was very crispy and remained tender and juicy.  The bun was toasted, but so soft! All the ingredients were very fresh!  3. Circus Fries ($38) This was the only side we got. Fries covered in savoury onions and circus sauce was what it was.   Even though the fries were covered in so much sauce, they stayed crunchy!  To me, the circus sauce tasted like something in between thousland island and Mcdonald's big mac sauce, which are basically the same thing I guess.   The sauce made this quite an artery clogging dish. 4. The American Acrobat ($75) We were gonna just get one burger, but you can't really know if a place serves nice burgers until you try a beef hamburger.  This burger was so greasy that it soaked the paper box containing it.  Oh well, my thought at the time was the soaked box means a juicy burger right? Haha...  Again, the ingredients were fresh, the juicy beef patty had a nice grilled taste and was cooked just right with threads of pinkness through it! I liked this burger more than the chicken burger. 

Final Verdict:
I wanna try the onion rings next time! 

No.5 Italian (銅鑼灣)

Having people around who love to eat truely is a blessing! 

With my sister having to work later in the day, we had lunch together at No.5 Italian. It wasn't too busy as we went rather late. We got to sit on the couch, which was very comfy, and good because neither of us had to face the window, which was soooo bright.   The environment would be more comfortable for the eyes if visiting at night, and also with the view of the harbour, more romantic I would say.Lunch sets were a very good deal. For $95, you got an appetizer, main and drink. Each of us ordered a set, and this is what we got:
1. Iced Orange Tea X2 Both of us are afraid of anything orange flavoured, but we didn't want coke so we gave it a try, and to our surprise, it was actually very good. There was only a light hint of orange and the drink wasn't loaded with sugar. There was even fresh slices of orange. It was so refreshing to have with the heavy food we were having. 2. Salad X2 Both of us were not too interested in the daily vegetable soup, so we went for the salad. The salad was very fresh, and the dressing was different. It wasn't your regualr dressing. Also, the warm crunchy bread on the side was nice.  3. Braised Beef Rib Finger I saw this dish on openrice, so I knew I was getting this before I even looked at the menu.   I just really like beef, especially short ribs. The beef was served on a bed of risotto and vegetables. I thought there was a little too much vegetables, but I can't deny that they were cooked nicely and paired well with the tomato based risotto. Now, the beef was just amazing. It was so tender than it melted in your mouth. I loved it.  4. Mixed Mushroom Pizza This was my sister's choice. She always goes for the mushroom item on the menu. I'm so glad she picked this, because it was very good. Although I don't really like thin crusts, this crust was nice. Maybe because I was so drawn by the toppings that I forgot that it was a thin crusted pizza. The pesto sauce looked like a lot, but it was peefect for the pizza. A little oily of course but light and delicious to eat. Even the colours of the pizza was a sight to see. I would have this again!   I liked this more than my beef. Service was good; from the hostess that greeted us to the people who served us. 

Final Verdict:
It is a place that I would visit again! 

They only do lunch sets at lunch time, so anything that is not on the lunch menu, they don't do!

Dazzling Cafe (尖沙咀)

Pink background, black lady figure, a handful of accessories, you know I'm at Dazzling Cafe. Dazzling Cafe is such a girly establishment. The chair I was sitting on had rabbit ears that one would say is cute, but for a non girly girl like me, it was too much to handle.  I thought going at 230-3 would mean a shorter wait, but I was obviously wrong as my friend and I waited for about 40 mins at least for a table.  Once we were in though, there was no wait outside, so maybe going at 4 would have been wiser! Like that other famous Taiwanese Cafe, the staff spoke in Mandarin, but you could speak Cantonese or English to them. Service was okay; nothing special. 

Ordering a drink each was a minimum. Both our drinks were about $50. My friend got a Fruit Tea as usual. The cold fruit tea had real fresh fruit in it, which made it very refreshing. Thumbs up for not using that canned sugary stuff. As for me, I was gonna get a coffee, but ended up getting their special plant looking Milk Tea. What made it look like a plant was the chocolate cookie crumbs on top that looked like mud and the little green leaf on top.  The cookie top surprisingly went well with the milk tea. Although it was quite a sweet drink, it was less sweet than what I was expecting!  Quite cute.  The drinks were better than "the alley" I think. Moving on to the food, we ordered 3 dishes to share! 
1. Mentaiko Spaghetti in a Cream Sauce($92) This is probably a must, right? I thought this dish was pretty tasty. Although the sauce was quite watery, the taste wasn't thanks to the cream? I enjoyed it, but because the sauce was so liquidy, most of it including the mentaiko remained on the plate when you dished out the spaghetti.2.Truffle Fries ($48) Fries, fries , fries! Truffle, truffle, truffle! Two amazing things together, how could this not be good. The fries were super crunchy, and there was a decent amount of truffle?3. Vanila Ice Cream Waffle (about $100 plus the mochi filling) This was a beautiful waffle to look at. If you cut it a certain way, you could even get a heart shape. OMG, so girly.  The waffle had a very chewy texture, and tasted kinda weird I feel. It had a numb kind of aftertaste that I can't really describe. My friend liked this waffle though. She even liked it more than "the alley"'s. Not me though. Final Verdict:
The food was pretty good, but overpriced in my opinion. Plus the long wait, it would be a while before I visit again.