How Much Could A Girl Eat? Lunch Buffet at The Place - Langham Place Hotel, Mong Kok

I love impromptu meals, no planning, no looking up and down openrice.com and no struggling with bookings.
This was one of them. We just walked by, didn't think too much about whether or not the food is good etc (it's Langham Place hotel, they have a restaurant with stars and stuff, how bad could it be?), tried our luck to get seats, and we did.

Looking through the photoes, I was just amazed at how much I could eat. I was still eating long after my dining companion threw in his towel. I finished most things in below photos, just leaving bits of dessert which I thought weren't worthy of space in my already overstuffed stomach.

It was pretty scary.

I am not gonna explain every bit of food I've tried. They're what you normally find in most buffet lines...they're...in Hong Kong term "OK nice" ^_^

I love Chinglish.

They actually put up a sign beside the Chinese food section, stating that the Chinese food came from their Michelin starred Ming Court restaurant.

 Love the sauteed mushrooms.

Soy sauce chicken was absolutely delicious. The char siew isn't my favorite in Hong Kong, but it is certainly different. There's a hint of fragrance in its sweetness, almost vanilla-ish.

I added some cheese, bacon bits and croutons from the Caesar salad station to my pasta. HAHAHA.

The chef must've thought I was crazy. 

Maybe I am.

Overcooked lamb, which is almost expected of a buffet line if it's not ala minute.

 

 Cute little desserts with a waffle station...

 I love how tiny they are, and quite a few of them are lovely. Not bad.

I know sometimes I love quantity and selection over quality.

Guilty as charged ^_^

Ended the meal with coffee, absolutely stuffed!

The Place - Langham Place Hotel

4/F, Langham Place Hotel, 555 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 3552 3200

Da Dolce Gelato Italiano's Yummy Tiramisu

Da Dolce is kinda famous for its pistachio gelato, which is so delicious, I'd feel rather stupid not getting it, even when I was tempted to get something else. Normally I'd get pistachio plus something nutty or chocolatey...dark chocolate, hazelnut, straciatella, etc.
But today, I wasn't in the mood for pistachio. I couldn't think of anything else, until I saw that the tiramisu container was almost empty.
Hmm, it's gotta be good, right?
I asked for a taste, and was sold.
It tasted light (perfect for today's warm weather), not overly creamy, plenty of deliciousness soaked spongy bits, with just the right amount of sweetness. Love it.

Do share your delicious weekend finds, please :)

PS. Baby Marcus has a longgg way to go before he could have a chance to get on Huggies Bus.
If you're on Facebook and you wanna help clicking a couple of Like buttons for baby Marcus, we'd really really appreciate it.
Here are the links:
1. Like Huggies HK's page
2. Like Baby Marcus' photo

Hong Kong Street Snack - Cheong Fun & Siu Mai

I wish I had this plate of steamy goodness for breakfast this morning...

...silky smooth rolled rice sheets (cheong fun) and wonderfully chewy siu mai, drenched in soy sauce, peanut sauce and sweet sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

It doesn't have to be from any famous shop, the cheong fun doesn't have to be hand rolled...I'd still LOVE!
If you're in Hong Kong, you've surely tried this? If you haven't, please go to any street snack stall/shop near you. Buddies abroad, do you have this in your area?

Baked Cheesy Pumpkin, Chicken, Mussels & Rice with Bacon Bits

This is why I like dumping stuff into my oven.

Uh huh!

It all started with one leftover small Japanese pumpkin.
It'd be lonely in the oven, so I added a chicken leg fillet I had in my fridge.
Then I saw a pack of mussels, already defrosted.
Ah, join the fun please...
...and why stop there?
Some bits of bacon won't hurt, right?

Recipe
- 1 small Japanese pumpkin, peeled, cut into similarly sized chunks
- 2 Chicken leg fillet with skin cut into 2 or 4 chunks (too bad I only had one, it wasn't enough)
- Some mussels (if you have fresh, still in shell, nice...but you gotta clean them. Mine aren't as nice but they were already clean, ready for dumping)
- 3 slices of bacon, cut into bits
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed, don't need to peel
- 4 shallot, peeled, cut into chunks
- Butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, rosemary
- Cooked rice
- Cheeses (I used grated mozzarella and parmesan)

Preheat oven to 250C while preparing ingredients. Place pumpkin chunks, chicken (skin side up), garlic, onion, and bacon bits in a baking dish. Add olive oil, dots of butter, salt, pepper and sugar (season generously), mix well with your hands until everything's coated with some oil and butter, and seasoned well. Bake until chicken skin's golden and pumpkin chunks are tender. Add mussels about 5 minutes before done.

This could already be a delicious dinner, but if you're mad like me (or you have some spare cheese to melt...), you can go further...

Butter a baking dish, or small pretty "le creuset inspired, made in China" individual baking dishes like me, add cooked rice, add various bits of the baked dish, top with cheese and bake until the cheeses melt and golden.


Uh huh! Uh huh!

Ahem, sorry for being pushy, obnoxious and shameless...but...
Remember my adorable son (as his mom, I am highly biased, but I think he is pretty cute)?

He still needs more vote for Huggies HK photo contest.
If you haven't voted but you want to, here are the links:
1. Like this page: http://www.facebook.com/HuggiesHK
2. Like his picture here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=179319918779117&set=a.179319748779134.44752.175747015803074&theater

Thanks so so so so so muchhhh for your support and have a yummy weekend!

Mie Soa with Oyster Sauce Grilled Chicken, Shrimps, Napa Cabbage & Shimeji Mushrooms

I am not a big fan of beehoon (bihun/mai fan/rice noodle), but I am a huge fan of mie soa (min sin), it looks like beehon, but it is more...stretchy and softer. My mom doesn't really cook, but she makes really good simple mie soa with silk squash and a bit of broth. She always made me that dish when I get sick. I am not sick, but I miss the dish and decided to make a version of it with ingredients that I had in my fridge.


Recipe
Oyster Sauce Grilled Chicken
- 1/2 - 1 chicken leg fillet per person
- Oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, oil
Preheat oven to 250C, rub the chicken fillet with oyster sauce, sugar, and pepper generously, add a dash of oil and rub well. Grill until the skin is golden brown and the meat is nicely cooked, set aside while preparing other ingredients


Broth
- 1 box of chicken stock (if you had homemade chicken stock, it'd be fantastic!)
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- a cup of shimeji mushrooms
- a cup of napa cabbage, chopped
- a cup of shrimps (optional, I added this just because I had it in my fridge)
- a bit of oil, pepper, sugar
Saute garlic with a bit of hot oil, add napa cabbage, add mushrooms, add chicken stock, bring to boil, add pepper and sugar if you wish, add shrimps only at the last step and only until it's just opaque.


Mie Soa
- allow 1/2 to 1 piece of mie soa per person
- Boiling water, salt
Dip mie soa into a pot of boiling water with salt on stove top, just until it's softened, shock with cold water if not consumed immediately. Place mie soa into bowls, add broth, mushrooms, veggie, shrimps and sliced grilled chicken and...


...slurp!

Campaigning for Baby Marcus to win a photo contest to have his photo printed on Hong Kong Huggies Bus has helped SC and I take our minds off SC being in a hospital etc...
Thanks so much for all your support, guys. Greatly appreciate it!
If you haven't voted and you want to, here are the handy links:
First, click LIKE on this page:
Huggies HK Page
and then click LIKE on Baby Marcus' picture:
Baby Marcus' Photo

Thanks againnnn, we don't want Baby Marcus to miss the bus, don't we? ^_^

HELP Desperate & Shameless Mama...

Guys, I know you don't like to like stuff, but could you please please please....
1. LIKE Huggies HK Page> 
http://www.facebook.com/HuggiesHK 

and then 

2. LIKE Baby Marcus's photo>
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=179319918779117&set=a.179319748779134.44752.175747015803074&theater



...even if you don't like, so that Baby Marcus won't end up with no LIKE?
With a gadzillion thanks from Desperate & Shameless MAMA ^_^

Chocolate Chips and Cheese Muffins - Muffin Coklat Keju

A classic Indonesian flavor combo that I always miss. I love the use of cheeses in baked goods, and tried incorporating them in these easy muffins. They aren't perfect. When used in Indonesian baked goods such as buns, which are normally consumed in room temperature, the cheese would be in a form of small savory bits (not melted) which bring out the best of the chocolate (and/or banana) flavor it's paired with. I aimed for having some gooey, melted cheese, at least when the muffins were freshly baked, but I think I did it wrong. If I wanted some gooey stuff, I should've added a chunk of cheese (and chocolate) in the middle instead of stirring grated cheeses into the batter. Oh wells, I'll try again next time.

The flavors aren't too bad, I did achieve that savory-sweet thing I wanted.

Recipe
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 handfuls of grated cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)
- Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C, mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix wet ingredients (except cheese and chocolate chips) in another bowl, make a well in the dry ingredient mixture, pour wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add a handful of grated cheeses. Pour batter into muffin tray lined with paper cups until half full, add grated cheeses & chocolate chips, top with more batter, add more cheeses and chocolate chips on top. Serve hot.

Food Styling at Its Best? Prawn Salad from Queen's Cafe, Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

This dish cracked me up.

It's a giant prawn or fish or whatever creature...

...made of prawns, veggies and salad dressing ^_^


I especially love the parsley...is that a "nose"?

You like?

Oh the flavor, it was...well...ok la? Not too bad, typical Hong Kong style salad with "salad sauce" (i.e. sweet mayo) but I don't think I'd order it again ^_^

Queen's Cafe
Shop 18, L1, Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2265 8288

Lazy Weekend Breakfast

My breakfast today...Garden's honey & egg sliced bread...


...with a slice of "cheese" and blackcurrant jam, and a cup of coffee.

My first time trying blackcurrant jam ^_^
Hope you're enjoying your weekend~!

Roast Pork, BBQ Pork, Roast Duck & Milk Tea from Tai Hing

The char siu from Tai Hing used to be my favorite. I used to order char siu + char siu for my double roast set meal. The roasted suckling pig? It's always sold out, it's mad!

But in my last visit, I experienced dry & tough char siu. Luckily we also ordered some roast pork, which was absolutely delicious, crispy crackling top, with tender, melt in your mouth meaty and fatty bits.


The roast duck's nice, again, too bad we had a char siu bad day. Maybe it was too late at night...normally we could always count on Tai Hing. Hope it was just a one off...


My favorite drink, the iced milk tea, or iced milk coffee, the ice is on the outside, so our drink stays intense!

Hope you'll always have good char siu days.
If you wanna try this one... Tai Hing Roast

Food Porn - Soft Serve, Green Tea, Red Bean, Sugar

Here's some food porn for ya.

Some sweet goodness from Azabu Sabo.
Have a delicious weekend, y'all!

Quite A Disappointing Lunch at Whisk, The Mira, Hong Kong

I'm going to start this post with a super clichéd sentence which must have been used by everybody, in probably more than 943,349 posts. Here we go...
I've heard so many good things about this place, I finally went ahead to try it.
Heheheh.

The place felt young and chic, we were the only customers arriving at 12 for lunch, (we always eat early) and I was surprised that the place stayed empty throughout our meal. I was even more surprised to find out that having the whole restaurant to ourselves didn't feel so comfortable/intimate/romantic/pleasant at all. I felt too...conspicuous. It felt weird.

Anyway...here's the food.

The bread...baguette and foccacia. They arrived warm, served with butter or olive oil/balsamic vinegar.

The foccacia was fluffy and soft, almost bun-like...and I didn't realize this when I was there, but now, looking at the photograph, the shape of the two bread is cracking me up.
Oppps.
Ha ha ha!


The tuna tartar with sesame, soya and cambridge sauce was...hmm...ok. Subtly flavored, presumably to showcase the succulence of the tuna. An OK, not a wow.

Maybe because I was also having this...

...poached egg with serrano, mushroom and shaoxing wine. This is like a slap on the face. A good slap. Bold and rich savory flavors to go with the perfectly poached egg. I like my things super salty well seasoned, so I love love love this dish.


The roasted lamb rumb with white beans and tomato ragout was...disappointing? The lamb was undercooked (?) to the point where I was struggling hard trying to cut some tendony bits, I've failed to enjoy this dish.


The grilled angus beef strip loin with potato wedges and Bearnaise sauce was again...ok. Served medium rare (we weren't asked how we wanted it done, maybe fearing that some customer would say "very well done" or "burnt to oblivion"?), it was ok, not particularly well seasoned, but the sauce saved it, it was creamy and flavorful. The potato wedges were too crunchy for me, I like mine crispy on the outside but soft on the inside (maybe I should go to fast food restaurants?).

I started to wonder why was I disappointed? Have I started being too picky? Am I not able to appreciate good food? Do I fancy playing food critic who slams down perfectly good dishes? Trust me, I do not want that. I never claim that I am a food expert or anything, I know nothing about food really, I just want to enjoy them.

Hmm, maybe I just ordered all the wrong dishes? I dunno, but if it's on the menu, it's gotta be good, right?

Anyway, after our main course, this thing was presented to us, and we could sense our server's pride when they placed this on our table...

...and we could understand why. This toothpick holder is really a show stopper. Push the metal guy down, and a tiny compartment would open, he'd grab a toothpick with precision before gingerly lifting it up in the air for your convenient usage...in public. Heh? Yep, Hong Kong is China's SAR, thus people pick their teeth in public, under a napkin, hopefully.
Heheh.

For dessert...

...I picked pineapple sorbet, and I was, again, absolutely disappointed. Our server failed to inform me that I could pick three different flavors of sorbet, so I ended up with this tall pile of pineapple sorbet, which was a bit too sour for my taste. Having this sorbet in winter just felt...unsuitable, but I guess I could only blame myself for ordering it T_T


The panna cotta with strawberry compote was, again, OK. Smooth, creamy, but nothing memorable. It was ordinary.


I know you're sick of seeing the word "OK" already, but the coffee was...OK ^_^'

The petit four served with the coffee though, was really nice.

I love the cream puff (second from left) in particular, sweet and crunchy on the outside, with creamy delicious custard in it. That, and the poached egg were my favorite from the lunch.

The three course lunch set was priced at HK$218 + service charge, very reasonable.
Since I was so disappointed, I might go back again to try their other dishes, just in case it was just my problem.

Whisk
5/F, The Mira, 118 Nathan Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2315 5999

Chicken & Shrimp Balls FAIL

Another FAIL.
I've been missing bakso goreng (fried pork & shrimp balls) from my hometown so much, I tried to recreate it, but it didn't work out. I've tried twice, and I've failed both attempts miserably.
Mine turned out too...fluffy. They resemble mini fritters more than the dense and slightly chewy fried balls with chunky bits.
Argh!

This is what I've done:
- 1 chicken thigh fillet
- a cup of shrimps
- a chunk of jicama (bengkoang)
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 shallot
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp corn flour
- 1 tsp baking powder (I dunno why I added this? Maybe this is the thing that makes the balls too fluffy?)
- salt, pepper, sugar, oyster sauce
- 1 egg
- a bit of oil (I dunno why I added this too)
I minced and mixed everything in food processor, not too fine, leaving some chunky bits, scoop a bit of the mixture at a time using two teaspoon and deep fry in hot oil.

The taste was ok, but let's face it, the above flavors could hardly go wrong. But the texture...it's just...not it!
Clearly I must have done something really wrong. What did I do to ruin it?

Does anyone have good bakso goreng recipe? Do share. Please, pretty please? T_T

I'm desperate.

White Chocolate & Raspberry Limited Edition Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream

Living in Hong Kong for a while has its effects on me.
Many Hong Kongers are crazy about anything "Limited Edition" and despite not being a big fan of white chocolate, raspberry, nor Haagen-Dasz (!!!), I grabbed this tub and brought it home.

Was it because of the "Limited Edition" label? or was it because I thought the flavors might work well together? or my hands just itched to get something from the ice cream section and Dreyer's chocolate cake wasn't there?

Yes, yes, and yes.
Was it any good?

Sweet and creamy white chocolate bits with tangy raspberry...not bad.

In fact...

...I think this could be my new favorite Haagen-Dazs flavor.

It's available in most Hong Kong supermarket.
I often keep a tub in my freezer for "emergencies". I know it doesn't cure heartache, but still.
^_^

Love - Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's day.
Despite having nothing planned tonight, no fancy dinner, no carefully planned home cooked meal, not even an impromptu one...it made me think of love.

Today, SC didn't buy me no flowers, no chocolates, no branded goods, but he has done a lot to support me and my exhibitionist antics of blogging.

Normally, he's really careful with how we spend money (Regardless of whose money it is. His money, my money, is our money), but he encouraged me to get a DSLR, pushed me to upgrade to a better camera or lenses if necessary, never flinched at the expensive meals I dragged him to try (despite truly loving Cafe de Coral, Fairwood and Ajisen Ramen), taught me (a huge idiot and a slow learner) basic photoshop tricks to improve my photos, never complained about food getting cold as every dish get photographed from every possible angle, doesn't get embarrassed when I did my weird poses photographing food in public, doesn't mind being posted in my blog in various stupid poses...

...always willing to hold food in position for a longggg time while waiting for 29,876 shots to be fired...


...or hold a slurping pose...


...or hold a stretchy string of cheese off a pizza cone...


...went to dine with me despite swollen gums from recent wisdom tooth extraction...

...ordered and ate a whole fish despite his pure hatred towards anything with bones...

...joined super long queues under the rain, in humid summer heat to try "famous" eateries...


...and generally SUFFERED...a lot...

....all for me to get my money shots.

Now, all of the above, I think, is LOVE.
^_^

SC, there is no word to express my gratitude for all your support.
This blog is what it is today because of you.
Happy Valentine's Day.