Bouchon Bistro Francais (中環)

Great Visit. The atmosphere of the place was great and the chocolate pie was amazing. Lunch sets are a great deal. 

Lil' Siam (中環)

Until this visit, I had no idea that there were Thai restaurants in the soho area.  It was my Korean colleague who introduced me to this place. 

Environment & Hygiene:
The big window was perfect for people watching.  The slanted mirror on the wall was interesting, but weird in a way. It was like the whole restaurant was set up for people watching. Haha. The ambiance was quite nice as it wasn't busy at all. It was a quiet and peaceful place. Hygiene was okay. Service: 
Service was okay; nothing special. 

Taste & Value: 
It was nice that even on a saturday, lunch sets were available.  A lunch set included soup, a main and dessert for $98. The 2 of us ordered 2 sets to share. 
1. Clear Pork Soup This soup was like its name. It really was clear in appearance and taste.  It tasted as if they boiled some romaine lettuce in a broth. It was okay because it was not a MSG soup. Ha. 2. Pad Thai This pad thai was delicious. I like that it was wrapped inside a thin layer of egg.  It was a sweeter kind of pad thai, which I quite liked. 3. Tom Yum Goong Fried Rice I have never had tum yum hoong fried rice before, and it seemed attractive, so I decided to try it. It looked nice, but it didn't taste good to me. The rice was really wet, and the chunks of lemongrass made it unpleasant to eat. After a few spoons, I already got sick of the taste. I almost never waste food, but I couldn't finish this. 4. Coconut dessert The coconut flavour was strong and the texture was nice. There were actually chunks of coconut it this. Not a bad dessert at all. Final Verdict:
The pad thai was quite good, and the prices were very reasonable for this area. It is a place that I could visit again. 

優閑法式班戟甜品專門店 (西環)

I remember visiting with family when it first opened, but I didn't get anything because I had a sore throat. We were also the only people there that day for our whole visit. Now, this place is in the top 10 and it was packed with people.  It was very nice to see since you can see the crepes are made seriously, so I'm glad people are appreciating the efforts. 

Environment & Hygiene:
This is a cute little place down a lane between two streets. Be prepared to walk if you want to visit. The walls of the place had some cute paintings, which created a very sweet, warm, homey kind of feeling. Hygiene was good as I saw that gloves were used, and the kitchen area looked just as clean as it first opened. Service:
Service was good. The staff were polite and friendly. 

Taste & Value:
There are savory or sweet crepes, and they come in 2 sizes: half or full. I thought that I would have got a savory one, but I ended up getting a sweet one.  I chose number 5 on the menu, which was a Strawberry Espresso Ice Cream crepe with Chocolate sauce and hazelnuts (Half size $28). I really have to praise this place for using such fresh ingredients. I saw the savory ones that others have ordered, and couldn't believe how green and fresh the lettuce looked.  Not only the savory ones, the sweet ones like mine also used very fresh fruit. The strawberries in mine were perfect. The espresso ice cream too was amazing since it was so strongly flavoured.  Crepes don't really have much taste, but it was soft and tasty in its own way. My cousin got this with bananas last time, which I think I probably would have liked more since the espresso strawberry combination was a little weird for me.  Nonethe less, I enjoyed it. The half size was perfect for an afternoon snack. 

Final Verdict:
Give it a try for good crepes at a very reasonable price. I'm gonna try a savory one next time!

Texas Burger (天后)

I'm determined to try all the burgers in Hong Kong!   Just kidding, I'm not sure it'd be possible...haha

Environment & Hygiene:
Texas Burger! You can't miss the neon sign they have inside. The arrangement of the tables was a little odd, since some parts were so squishy and hard to reach. However, the air- con was just right and the lighting was okay, also, the music that was playing was what you'd hear on a radio in North America.  The paper mat on the table is also the menu. In addition to this menu, there is also a huge colourful above where you order actually; one that I totally missed and didn't see until later.  Hygiene was okay. Taste & Value:
1. Mexican Prawn Burger ($82) + Combo B ($33) 
All combos come with fries, a pickle and coleslaw, but the difference between combo A and B is the drink. A comes with a can of pop, whereas B comes with a 14 oz milkshake.
Seeing that the milkshake Funky Monkey has peanutbutter in it, I had to try it!   This milkshake has vanila Ice Cream, banana, peanutbutter, chocolate syrup, whipping cream, and oreo, so you'd think that it would have lots of taste, but the truth was the total opposite.   It tasted bland and watered down. I was sad that I could barely taste the peanutbutter.  Not long later, the prawn burger arrived. What made this burger Mexican was the guacamole, salsa and Jalapeno I guess. The prawn patty was very crispy, and the poppyseed bun was warm and grilled just enough have a slight crunch.   Texturewise, both were well done. However, the patty was for sure lacking flavours. I couldn't taste the prawn at all.   This burger too was disappointing. The fries were fried nicely, and you could taste the potatoes. I liked them.  The coleslaw was less mouth watering since a citrus dressing was used, which I don't like at all. 2. Double- Cheese Burger ($66) + Combo A ($18) 
This burger was just as handsome looking as the other one.  Following the footsteps of the prawn burger, this burger too was disappointing. Yes, the bun was nice, ingredients were fresh, but the most important part of the burger, which was the patty was awful. The beef patty was dry and rubbery and tasted like wieners. I wouldn't be surprised at all if wieners were blended in for the smoky factor. I'm glad I only had half to finish, because even just half was hard to finish. Service:
Service was good. The staff were attentive, but you could tell that it was a place, which has just opened. 

Final Verdict:
For $100 per person, it was a very reasonably priced dinner since we got beverages and sides. Although the 2 burgers were disappointing, I think I would give some of their other dishes a try. 

Le Moment (中環)

My friend G picked this place to have her birthday dinner. Seeing the reviews of the restaurant, I knew it was gonna be an interesting experience. 

No more than 20 people could be seated at a time, as it is quite a small place. There are some cute drawings on the wall, which added some life and characteristic to the plain white walls. The lights were dim, and the ambiance was chill, or even romantic you could say. Hygiene was okay. 2 of us had arrived first, and there weren't any people in the restaurant, which meant it was only us vs. the host/Sommelier, who just kept on talking and talking and talking. He wasn't pressuring us to try their wine, but he did talk lots about it. He was definitely very passionate about what he does, which is good I think.  

Then, when our friend finally arrived. The wine lover explained to us what was unique about each one of their dishes. The 3 of us each got a dinner set. Since none of us are big drinkers, we didn't order any wine. After a very long and detailed description, we made a choice. I tend to order fish or steak when I'm out so I opted for the salmon, when buddy J chose the steak.  Then, the birthday girl chose the pork rack, since we were told Iowa has the best damn pork in the world.  Each set consists of a salad, soup and main; add $40 for a dessert if you wish. 

Here is what we got:
1. Smoked Salmon Caesar Salad  Do you find that smoked salmon and caesar salads are 2 dishes that pretty much taste the same no matter which restaurant you go to? This is what I think. Nothing too special, but at least I got some greens for the day. 2. Bread & Daily Bisque: Tomato  This was a very cheesy and fresh tomato bisque.  We all quite liked it, but it was rather salty and, we weren't a big fan of the parsley.  The texture of the soup was interesting, which can be noticed from the picture. The bread was very crunchy, so it was a nice contrast when dipped into the soup. 3. Grilled Norwegian Salmon Fillet w/ Capers Creme Reduction ($258)  My little piece of salmon laid quietly beside a bed of potatoes. The potates were creamy, but once again everything was seasoned too heavily, as everything was so salty.  The capers creme reduction was different, but not bad. My salmon was good, but it was a little overcooked and it was so tiny. Since it was such a thin piece, it was probably cooked once it hit the pan.  I was surprised that it was overcooked though, since the dude gave us a long speech on them never overcooking their food. Ha. 4. Grilled US Angus Rib-Eye Steak w/ Cabernet Reduction ($268) The sides were also mashed potatoes with veggies for the steak. Our table faced La Vache, so as we were trying this steak, we couldn't help but to compare the 2 steaks of these 2 different restaurants. We all thought that the one across the street was better. Sorry, didn't mean to compare... 
The cabernet reduction tasted like regualr gravy to me, which is something you also never get to have in Hong Kong, so that was a nice change. 5. Grilled Iowa Berkshire Pork Rack w/ Wild Mushroom Creme ($278) This was one big, thick and fat piece of pork! The meat had some fat to it, and it was still a little pink, so the pork was very tender. I was glad that it didn't have that "pork" taste.  The dish had the best sauce in our opinion; the wine and mushroom were wonderful together. 6. Dessert (+$40) Apple Crumble The reason why my friend chose this place was because of their pear crumble. Unfortunately, it was sold out along with some other desserts, so we chose the apple crumble. We were disappointed, but soon after, this became the highlight of the night.  It was probably one of the best apple crumbled I have had in my life! The topping was warm and crunchy, then the apples were a nice balance of sweetness and acidity. All together with the ice cream, we finished this dessert in minutes. Also, after such a salty main, this sweetness was needed to soothe the tongue. Everything came rather slow, as the chef had to finish all the mains ordered at the restaurant before the dessert could be made. We were there for almost 3 hours. I know fine dining is a slow process, but we really didn't have the patience that night.

Final Verdict:
I'm not one that likes to social too much while I'm eating. I like my personal space, so when the host/ sommelier kept talking, it was just a little too much. We were lucky that a eally large and troublesome table came, so that he spent most of his time attending to them. However, his service was good, as you could really feel his passion. If you like wine, I would suggest this place since "they don't sell what supermarkets and places do", and I'm sure you could have a great chat with the sommelier.  

You might get some surprises from the sommelier...