Tabibito (上環)

After both working overnight shifts, my friend and I came to Tabibito for lunch, but arrived a bit too early since we had to wait for it to open.   It opens at 1130, not 1100. After wandering at the park across the street, we went in with a few tables already seated. The place was very small, but felt spaceious because it had no doors. Just 1 thing though, when I pulled my chair out, there were ashes or something on it, which was a bit ew...

The foreign server was quite nice, and tried hard to satisfy a customer's need. The reason why my friend wanted to come was of course to have their famous mentaiko pasta! She suggested that we each get one because the portion wasn't too big, so we did. The Mentaiko Pasta ($78) was absolutely delcious!   You can see how generous they were with the mentaiko!   The pasta was al dente, and their choice of pasta was perfect for this kind of sauce, and every bite filled my mouth with fullness. It also was a little spicy, which ignited my appettite. For such quality, the price is actually quite good. It was cheaper and way tastier than THAT Taiwanese cafe's , so I definitely reccomend this! To finish up, we shared a Banana Pancake ($78). It looked pretty, but that was it. The pancake was thick, and turned it to be quite dry. The banana was nicely caramalized, but even that couldn't save the pancake. This $78 was worth it. 

Final Verdict:
I would definitely come again for the mentaiko pasta and try some of their other dishes!

NOM – Not Only Meatballs (中環)

I have always heard how good the meatballs here are, which made me really want to try them! Up the slope, then the staricase brings you to NOM. My friend and I were greeted by a lady and were brought to our table. We were the first table there that afternoon.  Even when a few more tables came in, it remained quite quiet, so it was quite an ideal location for a catch up lunch.  Shortly after we took a seat, the lady came to take our order, but we literally just picked up the menu.  Lunch sets include a starter, main, dessert and coffee/tea for $178. Now here is what we got:0. Complimentary Bread This bread was served on a cool stone plate. The bread was fresh and warm, but the butter was an acquired taste.  I stared at it at first because it was coated in black stuff. Then, I smelt it and it had such a strong scent. I heard that the black stuff was olive, and I have to admit that no matter how many times I have olives, I still hate them. I didn't like the butter at all, and neither did my friend.  1.1 Quinoa with beetroot and baby spinach I had originally chose the smoked sworsfish, but was told that it wasn't available, so I chose the quinoa. I like quinoa a lot but asked them to leave out the goat cheese, because goat cheese is not a cheese I like. The size of the starter was very generous! It was the size of the lunch I used to pack for college!  The salad was good, but it was a simple dish that I think I could have easily made on my own. Also, my grandma makes the best pickled beets so I couldn't help but compare. 1.2 Beans Soup with Gruyere Cheese and black truffle (+$20) My truffle addicted friend ordered this. Again, the portion was huge. There were so many beans that it was scary. There would be no way that a person wouldn't be full after the soup alone, so maybe it was a good thing that the soup was so salty that my friend had to stop at a few spoons. We could taste no truffle, and the best thing was the cheese stick that came with the soup she said. The waitress asked us how the soup was so we told her the truth, our answer seemed to have caught her by surprise, and she didn't quite know how to respond. Oh well....2.1 Spaghetti Meatballs This pasta dish was the better dish of them all. There were 3 giant juicy balls packed with lots of herbs. The tomato sauce was rich and tangy, which was very appetizing. What surprised me the most was that there were strands of meat infused in the sauce, which made it even more flavourful.  This was quite a nice dish. 2.2 Ultimate Lamb Meatball Sandwich This was a photogenic dish.  I was reluctant to try this because of the lamb, but being a foodie I tried it anyways. The meatballs were cooked medium and had that strong lamb taste. The sauce and juicy balls made the soft bun all soggy, which was gross. I was glad that I didn't order this because I didn't really like it. My friend who eats lamb thought that the meatballs were quite good though, so trust her on that. The fries were nice. The colour was very light, so you wouldn't have guessed that they were that crispy. The ketchup on the side was unique. It almost tasted as if it had a floral. taste to it. Ha. It was nice.  3. Nom's Signature Ice Cream Slider and coffee The coffee was your regualr coffee.
These sliders were cute looking. There were lotus chips on the side with icing sugar sprinkled on top. They were interesting and innovative in a way. Not a regular item you would have for dessert. Both my friend and I were disappointed by this dish. The vanila ice cream was good, but the bun was dry, and worst of all, the citrus fruit smeared at the bottom was awfully bitter. The waitress took our dish away before we finished our chips. The service was soso. 

Final Verdict:
I feel like I whined about every dish I had. I really don't know if I went at a wrong time, or their food doesn't match my taste. Although a bit pricey for lunch, you definitely won't leave hungry.  

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!