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This place is closed now :(
Boohoo. I really loved it :(
I am sure you noticed how rarely I post my dining out adventures, except the ones from abroad. In my blog, I probably look like a true domestic goddess, who always cook tasty treats at home, helping my household saving cents after cents in a fat, pink piggy bank, especially during this economic crisis. But in reality, I dine out rather frequently, I just don't blog about them most of the time.
Why not? Hmm, I do have a few lame (but solid) excuses to back up my lack of dining out posts:
- Crappy pictures -> as seen in this post, sorry about that guys. When it comes to photographing objects in dimly lit environments....I suckkkkk biggg time! The pictures either end up blurry, or so dark-you won't be able to tell the difference between a piece of luscious foie gras or my toes. I need lots of tips on how to shoot in the dark . Helppppp!!!!
- I guess my readers may not like posts of yummy stuff they can only see but won't be able to enjoy/try making at home (since most of my readers aren't from Hong Kong). Is this true? Let me know what you think ;)
- Sometimes it is rather embarrassing to expose that 2 or 4 of us could swipe a table of 8 person meal shiny clean. Ehm ehm...hehe
Anyway.....here's one of my favorite Thai restaurant,
Simply Thai
Silly me ordered a mojito when there are a selection of Thai-inspired modern mocktails and cocktails on the menu. The mojito wasn't that good, but I love their rose-lemon or tamarind soda...very refreshing!
I was seated just by the floor to ceiling glass window on 13th floor, overlooking Mong Kok's busy traffic and Langham Place. It's super cool, but probably not good for those who are afraid of heights.
Waiting for my food....
Normally I am not into anything "modern" or "fusion"...I think of them as pretentious, trying too hard, and most of the time, they don't taste as good as the classics. However, Simply Thai is different. I love their modern and creative versions of Thai food. The food look fantastic, sophisticated, and darn tasty!
I am the kind of person who always order the same things again and again once I knew I like them. However, this time I steered clear off my Simply Thai favorites: pad thai, seafood curry in baked whole pumpkin, rice paper rolls with soft shell crabs, and deep fried eggplants with tamarind dip ^_^
We started with Thai beef salad, which was fabulous! The beef was perfectly cooked, the lemongrass and crispy shallot (ohhh I love crispy shallot) gave a nice combination of texture and the tiny green pieces of chilli surprised you from time to time...I had to reach for my mojito way to often to stay un-drunk. Hehe
Moving on to the lamb chops green curry...the chops were probably the only disappointment of the night. Although they were tender and juicy, there's something in the crust that gives it a bitter (not pleasantly bitter) aftertaste. However, I love everything else about this dish. The chops were served on a bed of spinach, which was cooked to perfection, and a bed of silky and luscious sweet eggplant, and the taste of the green curry was just beautiful.
We wiped the curry clean with these roti pratha. They are definitely not something we see on a Thai menu, but who cares, they are sooo good!
Thai stir fried pork rice noodles with gravy. What can I say...I think they put other noodle countries to shame. The rice noodles were nicely velvety, chewy and perfectly sticky, the gravy was bursting with flavors. It's the ultimate noodley comfort!
...and don't get me started with their desserts....these are the desserts from my previous visit. Their desserts are so creative, most people are probably afraid to order. I was amazed by things like Tom Yum ice cream, which turned out to be fantastic and sweet, not savoury and hot as I would imagine (too bad they are not available anymore, I hope they'll bring it back). But my all time favorite is their sticky banana pudding topped with ice cream. It's a banana pudding with a twist of Thai flavors and we just couldn't get enough of it, we double ordered ^_*
Tasty, beautifully presented modern Thai food at reasonable prices, with nice ambience and good service. No wonder I kept going back ^_^
Simply Thai13/F Langham Place
Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3542 5725
Shop 1104, 11/FL, Food Forum
Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2506 1212
Guess what? I am not done with pumpkin yet. Especially since I still have a quarter of mini pumpkin in the fridge which was threatening to go rotten on me.
So I went ahead and pissed sous chef by baking these savoury goodies. Wait...how did that happen?
It was all because I prioritized baking these goodies in lieu of cooking a pot of rice for dinner.
Oppps, my bad.
Hong Kongers love their bowls of hot and steamy rice...even if they had to eat it with just a few drops of soy sauce, it beats any baked goods I could ever muster. No matter how good and tasty the baked goods were, in sous chef's mind, they will never replace the goodness of that bowl of rice. The absence of rice, made the day so wrong on so many levels for sous chef.
So, imagine hungry sous chef's facial expression of disappointment, frustration and despair upon coming home to face an empty rice cooker. Trust me, it was heart breaking.
I kinda felt bad for the...
Savoury Pumpkin, Cream Cheese and Bacon Baked Goods
...cos they really taste fun-bloody-tastic.
I mean...come on! Look at that pile of rich tasting cream cheese, greasy and crispy bacon, plus fragrant and creamy pumpkin...how could they ever go wrong?
Even the batter looked that good!
Recipe
(yields 8 baked goods)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup mashed pumpkin (chop pumpkin into small cubes, add 2 tbsp of milk, microwave on high for about 8 minutes and mash with a fork)
- a few strips of bacon (chopped and pan fried until slightly browned, keep the oil)
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup of milk
- 1/2 stick of cream cheese (cut into cubes)
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- a few sprinkles of mixed italian herbs (rosemary, oregano and thyme)
Preheat oven to 180C. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, make a well in the middle, add wet ingredients, add pureed pumpkin, add bacon including the oil, set some aside for topping. To ensure even distribution of cream cheese goodness, it is better to add the cream cheese cubes into each cup of batter. Pour a couple tablespoons of batter into muffin tray lined with paper cups or greased ramekins, add cream cheese cubes, top off with more batter, add bacon topping and cream cheese (you could never have enough cream cheese), bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
As expected, sous chef didn't stay pissed for too long...or he might have to live on only bowls of white rice and soy sauce for a longgg longgg time. ^_*
Are you a chocolate person? Hang on a sec! What kind of question is this???!!! Who isn't?
Hmm, actually there are so many non-chocolate people here in Hong Kong. They are the kind of people who would prefer fruity or Chinese sweets than chocolate. But I am not one of them. I don't only love my chocolates so much, errr too much, I went ballistic when they announced that many chocolate products might've been tainted by melamine from Chinese milk products. The idea of having to stop eating chocolate....Arrrgghhh!!!! NOOO!!!!
Living in a world of choices, preference, favoritism and subjectivity, I am guilty of not treating all chocolates equally. Frankly, until recently, I think I have been a chocolate racist. I love, adore and respect only dark chocolate, and like a faithful lover, I don't look at any other chocolates...to me, other chocolates do not exist. Until yesterday, I've overlooked and ignored white chocolates completely for far too long.
It all began when I was thinking of something which could complement pumpkin nicely. My favorite dark chocolate would've killed the beautiful scent and flavor or pumpkin....so I chose a couple of good bars of whiteys, and as I expected, they are perfect for each other, it was like a match made in heaven. The richness of cocoa butter from the white chocolates gave it an extra kick, without killing the flavor or the pumpkin and the spices.
Moist and Rich Pumpkin and White Chocolate Cake
Recipe
- 1/2 cup of mashed pumpkin (I used a quarter of mini pumpkin, removed the seeds, peeled off the skin, chopped it into about 1x1 cm cubes, add a dash of milk, and microwaved it on high for 7 minutes, then mashed them with a fork)
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon (you can adjust according to your taste. I love them, so I used loads)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup flour
- 100 gr white chocolate (chopped into small cubes, or you can use white chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 180C. Mix all ingredients except flour and beat until well blended. Add flour, mix well, fold in white chocolate cubes/chips, bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Submitting this recipe to Wandering Chopsticks' Weekend Wokking, Pumpkin, hosted by Ning of Heart and Hearth.
This is now an equal opportunity kitchen. Chocolates of all colors and shapes are welcome. ^_^
Against all Halloween odds, tonight our celebration doesn’t involve pumpkin, candies or any other spooky-cutey-halloweensy food. We’re going to a Chinese HOT POT joint! Awwww!!!
I stopped by a costume shop yesterday night…and boy! It was a total chaos! All kinds of slutty nun, dirty school girl, naughty nurse, sexy policeman, chubby skeleton, and kinky emperor wannabes were so close to groping each other while trying to grab anything (and anyone) in sight. There were at least 10 languages being shouted to and from every direction and there was almost no more red devil horns head gear by the time I elbowed my way in.
After dodging flailing bloody arms, scary masks, kinky costumes, and neon colored wigs, I got my horns…and the food devil was born…
I was sooo close to wearing the free cut-out mask from yesterday
This dish below has nothing to do with Halloween, but the food devil just loves teriyaki sauce. It is her poison of choice.
Pork Teriyaki Stew & Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar
Recipe
Pork Teriyaki Stew
- 1 lb pork ribs (I had some with soft bone)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
-1 cm ginger, crushed
- teriyaki sauce, pepper, olive oil, hot water
Saute garlic, ginger and onion in hot oil, add ribs, add teriyaki sauce, add hot water, stew for 2-3 hours until the meat’s tender. If you have a pressure cooker...grrrr...I am green with envy!
Roasted Zucchini with Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 zucchini, peeled, sliced into 1 cm thick slices
- 4 cloves of garlic
- balsamic vinegar
- salt, pepper, olive oil
Preheat oven to 200C, arrange zucchini in a tray, scatter garlic, rub some oil, add balsamic vinegar, season, roast until zucchini pieces are a bit charred.
Now, ready or not...here I come!
Halloween is near! Yay! Ehm, I love any excuse to celebrate anything, even if it involves spooky stuff. As always, I had lots of plans for this year’s Halloween…and naturally, none of it gets materialized.
Halloween Costume
What did I have in mind?
Something that reflects me or what I wish to be. So, something cute, girly, cheeky, mischievous, sexy, kinky, food-related, and the spookiness should only happen when exposed to culinary failures, or lack of food/flavor/wit/brain/chocolates, i.e. something like this:
*My illustration, colored by my talented baby sista*
That would be my ideal costumed self: an upgraded version of me, i.e. minus 20 lbs, after numerous sessions of liposuction, major face and full body plastic surgeries, and countless hair extensions, in a super cute, sexy, and kinky cook costume
What will I end up with?
But…due to rarity of such costume, lack of time, dedication and effort to find it, and global economic crisis….I almost decided to go with this good stuff I found in HK Magazine (my HK Bible):
It’s creative, user friendly, one size fits all, flattering for all face and body shapes, and most of all, it is absolutely FREE!
Let’s see if I will really wear it tomorrow (fingers crossed)
Halloween Treats
What did I have in mind?
Loads of things related to pumpkins…such as pumpkin + white chocolate/cinnamon cake/pie/pudding/muffin, pumpkin pasta, pumpkin casserole, pumpkin stir fry, pumpkin sashimi…you name it!
What did I end up with?
However…due to lack of time….I ended up with something horrific:
Apple, Cinnamon & Raisin Oatmeal Muffins
Why horrific? It’s too healthy for my taste, it pretty much scared the shite outta me.
Recipe
(yields 6 muffins)
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup quick cooking oatmeal
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp sugar
- cinnamon powder (up to you, but I use loadsssss)
Wet Ingredients
- ½ cup high calcium milk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (I use peanut oil)
- 1 egg- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 cup apple (diced into small cubes)
- a handful of raisins
Preheat oven to 180C. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, make a well in the middle. Mix wet ingredients except diced apple and raisins, pour into dry ingredients, mix roughly. Fold diced apple and raisins. Pour mixture into muffin tray lined with paper cups until almost full, bake for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I never thought something so healthy could be so tasty :p
I think I could get away with coming to tomorrow’s office gathering as myself, and simply scare off people by eating all the crappy party treats.
Silly me ordered a mojito when there are a selection of Thai-inspired modern mocktails and cocktails on the menu. The mojito wasn't that good, but I love their rose-lemon or tamarind soda...very refreshing!
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