Happy Chocolatey Friday - Chocolate Sorbet from La Maison du Chocolat

My work place's food culture...

From Monday to Thursday, the fridge is overstuffed with homemade lunch boxes.
Generally...
- Who brings lunch boxes? Those who still live with the parents, or those who have dinners at their parents/in law's place
- What's inside the lunch boxes? Healthy Chinese home cooking. Meat, vegetables...with occasional appearance by Mr.Luncheon Meat or Mr.Chicken Rranks
- People start lining their lunch boxes by the microwave from as early as 12:45 (our lunch time is fixed from 1-2 pm), consume their lunch quickly, then have a quick walk around the office, or take a nap

For those who didn't bring lunch boxes, what do they do?
- Join the long, grueling queue at a handful of eateries near our office building
- Take a taxi/tram to Wanchai to join the grueling queue over there :D
- Skip lunch, nap

So that's Monday - Thursday...whatever happened to Friday?
Friday = Happy Dining Out Day
Where coworkers tell their moms/in laws "no need to bring lunch box tomorrow la~" and have (slightly) longer lunches out...probably yum cha.

How about me?
I normally still bring a lunch box on Fridays...and treat myself something nice afterwards.
For today, amazingly, SC suggested that we bought a pot of La Maison du Chocolat's ice cream.
I've said no once (I must've been nuts), but today, I knew better...I said HELL YES!

I went for their Chocolate Sorbet, despite being tempted by other flavors such as Tonka Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, Salted Caramel Ice Cream, or Raspberry Sorbet.

I figured, since it's La Maison du Chocolat, it'd be silly not to order something chocolatey. But since it's so hot out there, I don't think I can handle anything too rich or creamy, so sorbet it is.

It was perfect. Not too sweet, not too rich, not too creamy. It's perfectly light, with just enough sweetness, but still chocolatey and smooth. I find the HK$56 per pot pricing steep, so it is not something I will be having every day.

It was a perfect treat for a busy Friday nonetheless ;)

Happy weekend everyone!

La Maison du Chocolat

Shop 109, 2/F, Prince's Building, 10 Chater Road

Central, Hong Kong
中環遮打道10號太子大廈2樓109號舖

Tel: +852 2801 4122

Bacon, Tomato & Cheddar Steamed Eggs

Ugly delicious?

I didn't mean to cook an ugly dish, in fact...in my mind, when I was planning this dish, it was supposed to be gorgeous...almost chawanmushi-esque...all silky, satiny smooth, glossy goodness. However, thanks to my addiction to chit chatting online...I overcooked it, and it turned this ugly.

I know, I know...overcooked eggs are never sexy, but I was surprised by how forgiving this dish is...despite the appalling appearance, it's still all light, fluffy, creamy, tasty and refreshing at the same time. I will surely try again soon...and next time, I won't be chatting/youtubing/facebooking/twittering, I promise :)

But, you see, never trust an addict ;)

Now, how crazy easy was the dish?
Extremely!
I thought of including the word "easy" in the title of the post, but that'd be ridiculous, as most of you know that I can only make beyond-beginner-almost-idiotic easy dishes.

Recipe
- 4 eggs, beaten (I measured, it's about 200ml)
- equal amount of milk, thus 200ml
- a few slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 tomato, diced
- cheddar cheese, cut into about 1x1x1cm cubes
- salt, pepper, dry mixed herbs, paprika, worcestershire sauce

Feel free to add and substract the ingredients as you wish...replace tomatoes with mushrooms, replace bacon with turkey/ham/sausages...replace herbs with scallion, etc...the sky is your limit!

After chopping and dicing the ingredients, scatter them around a plate and season them, like this...


Mix beaten eggs and milk then pour...


Steam on medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, keep checking...I think I overdid it (chatting online etc) and steamed it for almost 20 minutes huehuehue...


...and done!

Fluffy milky eggs, creamy bits of melted cheddar, refreshing bites of tomatoes, smoky and savory bacon...you know it's gotta be good!

Eat it as is for breakfast, slap in between bread/toasts/English muffins/croissant, or consume it the weird Asian way (I am the weird Asian)...for lunch/dinner...with steamed rice and ABC Indonesian Chilli Sauce ^_^'

Nevertheless. Yum!

Kodok Goreng Mentega - Indonesian "Butter Fried" Frog Legs

Kodok goreng mentega (butter-fried frog legs) is normally served in most Indonesian-Chinese eateries. Do the frog legs really get to be fried in a truckload of butter? Not exactly, it's more stir fried, with just a bit of butter (butter is expensive!), and lots of garlic, onion and sauces, typically soy, sweet soy and Worcestershire sauce. In typical Indonesian Chinese restaurants, you can see various proteins listed under goreng mentega/butter fried, from poultry to seafood, including frog legs.

When I saw these plump little frog legs in the supermarket for HK$33...I immediately grabbed it without thinking. I forgot that SC wouldn't be able (too lazy) to handle the tiny little pieces of meat on tiny little bones...I just thought of myself. Oh wells, I can just peel the meat off for him, right? At least that was the plan :)

Recipe
- about 0.5 lb frog legs (more would be nice ^_^)
- 1 onion, sliced thinly
- 0.5 cm ginger, crushed
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- a sprig of spring onion, cut into long chunks
- olive oil, butter, light soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, a bit of corn starch, a bit of hot water

Marinate frog legs in a bit of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of soy and corn starch while preparing other ingredients. Once done, quickly fry frog legs in hot oil with a teaspoon of butter, set aside, drain excess oil with paper towel. Saute garlic, ginger and onion in olive oil with 1 teaspoon of butter, add sauces (ratio of soy and sweet soy = approximately 1:2), add a bit of hot water if you want more sauce, once you've achieved the desired balance of flavors, add frog legs into the sauce, mix well, do not overcook, add spring onion, serve with steamed rice.

Just like most of my favorite Indonesian dishes, I enjoyed devouring this dish with my bare hands...licking the frog bones, my fingers and the plate in the process. You gotta love all the yummy noises you're bound to make :)

ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Decent Western food in a cooked food market?
Not your average Hong Kong char-chan-teng type soda tenderized marinated meats on a sizzling hot plate? pork chop bun with refried chips and cocktail canned fruits in "salad" sauce?
No wonder I've heard so much about this place.

I've been wanting to try forever, but the place's always fully booked, but finally, I had my chance, and we went all out, almost ordering the whole menu :)

One of my favorite items of the night was the soft shell crab appetizer. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, well seasoned.

We were so hungry that night, these warm and fluffy bread were consumed the minutes they were placed on the table.

Nice touch of herbs...but I wish there was more butter...a tiny chunk was not enough for the four of us ;)

I've never tried a proper bouillabaisse before...

...but this one tasted like a watered down lobster bisque.
It could really use more seasonings...the gorgeous piece of bread on top is a nice touch. If only the soup was tasty enough, it'd be perfect.

My other favorite dish was the linguini carbonara.

The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce was creamy and tasty. We couldn't get enough of it, we ordered another portion :)

The pizza appetizer was alright...but it's nothing memorable.


Our centerpiece of the night was this whole roasted suckling pig, which had to be ordered in advance.

The owner kindly took out the whole pig for photographing purposes, before sending the pig back into the kitchen for more roasting. We were a little worried, our pig looked kinda...small.
But, let's get back to the pig later...

The spring chicken stuffed with goat cheese and spinach looked gorgeous.


However, I found that the inner part of the chicken was a little bit undercooked. Yikes!

Nevertheless, loved the idea, the goat cheese gave the chicken the slap of flavor it needed, it was juicy, and the salad on the side balances the dish perfectly.

The tuna steak was a little dry, flaky and underseasoned, but the sauce was nice.


Now, let's get back to the pig.

Crackling golden crispy skin...with mostly tender, tasty and juicy meat, especially the fatty bits. However, there were still some dry and tough parts...I guess that's the risk of ordering the whole pig, you don't only get the best bits.

We underestimated our pig a little, we had a lot of leftover, I brought home even the brain, which was a very special treat, as it is not easy to find pig's brain served anywhere in Hong Kong these days, despite the belief that the Chinese eat everything :)

PS. If you want a touch of heat, ask for some hot sauce, but handle with care, the hot sauce is really really hot, even for me, and I can handle my heat ;)

We also ordered their paella (that's right, we almost ordered everything on the menu).

Beautiful flavors, meaty and savory from the stock and bacon :D fragrant and fresh from the seafood.

However, the rice was a bit mushy...

...and I was missing the crispy burnt bits at the bottom of paella it was almost...soupy.

To end our meal, we had the dessert platter to share.

The creme brulee was nothing memorable, the chocolate puff was decent, but we've had better from Bread Papa, the mousse...again, nothing special, the black sesame souffle looked gorgeous but it left a weird aftertaste...the best for me was surprisingly...the banofee pie. The caramel was super rich, smoky, sweet with a tinge of saltiness, perfect with cream, chocolate sauce and banana.

We were absolutely stuffed at HK$250 per person (with a few beers, and several portion of pig for lunch boxes for the next day ^_^)

ABC Kitchen
Shop CF7, Food Market, 1 Queen Street, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
上環皇后街1號皇后街熟食市場CF7號檔
Tel: +852 9278 8227

Frites - Delicious Mussels & Fries

Frites.

I used to pronounce this as "frights" but don't. It's "freet" with a silent s, learnt it from our French friend who highly recommended this place.

At the end of this tunnel, you'll find deliciousness.
Promising :)


We went there for the mussels and the fries served with mayo.
That's right.

Fries and mayo (not Miracle Whip. Not that there's anything wrong with miracle whip ^_*), crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, chunky fries with a small pot of slightly salty, tangy and creamy mayo.
Perfection.

I had half a kilo of Mariniere mussels, the mussels were perfectly cook, every little bite is a nice combination of fresh seafood sweetness, savory garlic, and fragrant white wine and herbs. Scoop the sauce with a spoon or mop it clean with a piece of bread...or two?


We also love the pot of Frites House Mussels, I literally couldn't stop myself from slurping the sauce of my friend's pot. Fresh and sweet from the onion and mussels, slighty tangy from the tomatoes, and creamy without being too rich. Yummy!

Half a kilo, easy. Each of us finished our pot clean...

...despite having polished off a bowl of beer sausages, hearty and savory with a touch of sweetness. The perfect small bites to share with a few friends.


Frites
Shop 1& 2, 1st Floor, Queen's Palace, 74 Queen's Road, Central
Hong Kong
中環皇后大道中74號皇后中心1樓
Tel: +852 2179 5179
(About HK$300 per person (with some alcoholic drinks), remember to make booking, the place is super packed!)