Green Waffle Diner

This is a WAY overdue post and was an extra glorious meal because it was right after my first marathon! Running the marathon was definitely one of the highlights of this year (if not my life!) and it is honestly hard to describe the feeling of accomplishment and exhilaration when you cross that finish line after running for over 4 hours. I met up with some lovely friends and decided to indulge in some good eats to reward myself.

Green Waffle Diner is a good choice for a casual and hearty meal.We were pretty disappointed that the fried chicken was sold out as I really wanted to try their chicken and waffles. The food was overall very good and I am not going to write a review on each dish. I highly recommend the skillets and the waffles are also good. Their spaghetti bolognese was also delicious, full of a rich meaty sauce and melted cheese! One complaint was that the poached eggs were very overcooked and therefore we were unable to enjoy the gooey creamy uncooked yolk The chicken wings are also sub-par therefore I would skip on those next time.

I definitely would want to return again to try their pandan waffle and their fried chicken!

Steak and Egg Hash Skillet

Eggs Benedict

Spaghetti Bolognese 

Spicy Tomato and Sausage Skillet

Chicken Wings Two Ways (Buffalo and Garlic Parmesan?)

Chocolate Chip Waffle with Strawberry Ice Cream and Fruits

Green Waffle Diner

35-39 Graham Street

Central

Hong Kong

Chez Patrick Deli

I have been to Chez Patrick in Star Street before with T and A before a 007 movie and we all agreed that the food was decent and of high standards. The atmosphere was also welcoming and prices reasonable. I would not say it's an all time favorite but it is definitely a solid choice for quality casual french cuisine. C was visiting me from Bombay and I decided to take her to Stanley. I haven't been to Stanley in AGES and it was crazy to see how different it looks! I still remember going to the Mcdonalds there as a high schooler and just laying down by the rocks during my free periods... really insane to think that that was over 5 years ago.

Stanley Plaza has been revamped and has a much more decent selection of cafes and restaurants now. Chez Patrick was one of them and we decided to have lunch here. The open front restaurant was perfect for the sunny day and the decor was very cute and comfortable. The french manager was friendly and professional and service was swift and attentive.

The bread was not warm but was very yummy. The crust was crunchy and the inside was very soft and chewy. The butter was also well salted and creamy.

Quiche of the Day - Spinach and Potato Quiche
The other classic quiche that was available was quiche with bacon and cream which sounded quite good too but since C didn't eat meat we opted for the quiche of the day. This quiche was also very delicious and probably much lighter than the previous choice. The amount of spinach was quite impressive but the quiche still maintained a lovely level of eggyness and richness. The potato slices were not too heavy either and the crust was flaky and buttery. The salad on the side was also fresh and well dressed in a tangy and sweet balsamic dressing. 

Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Emmental Cheese
This was a special lunch main of the day and it was absolutely luscious. The gnocchi was as fluffy and light as pillows and the mushroom sauce was flavorsome and earthy. We were suspecting that perhaps some sweet potato was used to make the gnocchi as there was a lovely sweetness to the dish that we could not quite put our finger on. The entire pot of goodness was kept steaming hot and each fluffy morsel covered with the mushroom and cheese sauce. This was seriously a dream in a pot. The sweetness was a bit surprising at first but was actually the highlight of the dish which made it shine. 

Steak Tartare with Fries and Side Salad
Mmmm one of my favorite things. I thought it was cute how I got to mix it all up myself much to the dismay of C (she used to be a vegan and now eating seafood and sometimes sausages haha). The fries were done very well and the salad was also a nice refreshing side. I felt that the tartare lacked a kick of flavor but the meat was fresh and of good quality. The presentation was also very appetizing (at least to me and those who love raw meat). Overall this was a decent tartare but maybe a bit more condiments would have made it even better.

YUMMMAYYY

Lunch was delicious and very enjoyable. The Stanley location is much more roomier as compared to the one in Wanchai but I am pleased to know that both restaurants are able to maintain the same high level of quality in food and service. Be sure to check out Chez Patrick!

Chez Patrick Deli

G/F

Shop 05-06

Stanley Plaza

Stanley

Hong Kong

Yonge Piggies

Chi is visiting me from Bombay and I have had so much fun trying to plan the most fun trip ever! My favorite twinnies took me to Yonge Piggies once to try their amazing earl grey milkshake and since Chi loves earl grey I wanted to make sure that she gets to try this. We had breakfast at Classified first and then popped by for a another bite since we did not eat too much at Classified. I have heard mixed reviews about Yonge Piggies so was glad that I finally stopped by to try it. It is located in Sheung Wan which is close enough but also not SO close that I would casually drop by and grab a bite. I feel like it definitely caters to those who live in Sheung Wan as there is very little seating so I doubt people who live elsewhere would purposely take a trip to grab a hot dog. This was the perfect opportunity since I wanted to let Chi walk around and also get small bites from different places. The decor is quite quirky and service was friendly.

Earl Grey Milkshake
Mmmm this is sooooo good. The earl grey flavor is quite strong and the milkshake is creamy and sweet. It is a bit heavy though so I recommend sharing this. 

Cheddar Sausage with Sauteed Onions, Mushrooms, and Cheese
Yonge Piggies uses sausages that are imported from Canada. The sausage had a crispy skin and it was nice and juicy inside. It was nice how you can add as many toppings as you want for free. This was good but nothing spectacular. It actually tasted just like Johnsonville Sausages which you can make yourself (I might even like Johnsonville more..... I LOVE THEM)

Oozey gooey cheesey goodness. 

I think the hotdogs here are decent but I much prefer Brat (which has now closed. UGH). The highlight of this place is definutely their milkshake. I have yet to try their fries but I have not heard raving reviews. I think this is a good spot for people who live in the area to grab a quick bite but not something to be on your must try list. But DO come by for the milkshake if earl grey is your thing!

Yonge Piggies

1 Jervois Street

Sheung Wan

Hong Kong

YUE at City Garden Hotel

I have always complained that my mom isn't adventurous enough with her restaurant selections and will always go back to tried and tested favorites. Every time I suggest a new place she would seem skeptical and question the validity of my suggestion. Recently though, she has been much more keen to venture to new restaurants and have even started proposing restaurant ideas! Maybe this has to do with the fact that my dad bought the Michelin Guide but regardless I am super pleased about this change in attitude!

YUE was a restaurant that my mom suggested and the food was very decent. Certain dishes were a miss but overall it was an enjoyable dim sum experience albeit I do not think we will be making it our regular dim sum spot. YUE is an award winning restaurant and has earned one Michelin star. One of their dim sum platters has one a special award but we actually didn't try it. The BBQ cheung fun was the worst dish as the flour layer was much too thick. Other traditional dim sum dishes were made well, with well textured and thin skin and generous and well flavored fillings.

The standout dishes were the BBQ grilled eel  and the lotus leaf rice. The BBQ eel was charred exquisitely and the meat was juicy and succulent. The honey glaze was also perfectly sweet and was a great balance of sweet and savory. The lotus leaf rice had an incredibly fragrant aroma and each grain of rice was infused with flavor and was the perfect hardness. Although I said that I wouldn't be coming here regularly, I would definitely keep YUE in mind if I am ever craving the delicious eel and rice!

YUE

1/F

City Garden Hotel 

9 City Garden Road

North Point

Hong Kong

Bo Innovation

I am officially done with work in 19 days!!! Then I will have 3 glorious months of summer! Work has been slow to say the least and with the impending arrival of summer I have officially turned into a blob, hence you can all expect a flurry of blog updates :D

Receiving that acceptance letter from Columbia was truly one of the happiest moments of my life and my dear H treated me for lunch at Bo Innovation to celebrate this great milestone :) When H heard that I have never tried Bo Innovation he exclaimed that it was unacceptable since I was such a big foodie... I guess it is a little shocking that I have never been at all. I have always heard about it and have seen pictures of the peculiar cuisine.

Bo Innovation is headed by the "Demon Chef" Alvin Leung who branded his cooking as "X-Treme Chinese Cuisine". The aim of his cooking is to break down traditional Chinese food and reinvents it so that diners experience them in a different and novel way. One of his infamous dishes is a edible condom made out of konjac and kappa to raise awareness on AIDS (not saying condoms are a traditional Chinese dish... but just that he is pretty creative).

There is another less indulgent lunch menu but since we were celebrating we decided to go all out :)!

DEAD GARDEN - morel, caterpillar fungus, green onion, lime
This dish was incredibly similar to the one I had at BCN and it was quite a enjoyable start to the meal. The "mud" was crunchy, strong flavored, and went very well with green foam underneath. The morel mushrooms were also fried to crispy slithers and had a strong earthy flavor. 

SABA - sesame, ponzu cloud, ginger, parfum de Hong Kong
This was definitely my least favorite dish of the meal. The saba (mackerel) was overwhelmingly fishy and pungent and the ponzu cloud was not acidic enough to balance out this unappealing taste. I actually commented that this was terrible while H said it was not THAT bad.

MOLECULAR - "xiao long bao"
This is one of Bo Innovations signature dishes and I can definitely appreciate the creativity and thought that was put into the development of this dish. I love eating xiao long baos and was eager to see what Chef Alvin Leung did to reinvent this dish. When you bite into this, the thin skin pops quite significantly and you feel the rush of the juice flow into your mouth (sounds kind of gross haha), the initial pop may be slightly surprisingly as I initially thought the skin was less taunt so that the mouth feel would be more similar to that of a glutinous rice sweet dumpling. The sensation was quite interesting and worth a try but I do prefer the traditional xiao long bao.

HAR MI - "lo mein", chili, kaniko
H told me that this is his favorite dish whenever he comes here so I was really excited to try. This dish really was quite enjoyable and while it was simple it really let the flavors shine through. The noodles were form and covered with the fragrant sauce. The color was also quite lovely with the bright orange noodles sprinkled with some bright green scallions. You are also given a pot of the "har mi" (dried shrimp) oil with chili in case you felt that the noodles were not seasoned strongly enough. I highly recommend that you add more of this oil as it really does make the dish pop.

COD - saffron miso, sauternes, seaweed
This dish was an ideal example of the perfect interplay of textures and how important it is to get all components of the dish into each bite. The cod was cooked to melt in your mouth perfection and the gelatinous layer on the top provided a smooth texture while the seaweed was light and crunchy. Although the textures worked very well together, the flavor was a bit too one dimensional and was overall quite sweet. H also commented on how the saffron aroma was a tad artificial.

FOIE GRAS - "mui choy"
Yum yum yum the fat greedy child within me is always overjoyed whenever a thick fatty piece of foie is plopped in front of me. For some this piece may be too rich and filling (even I was a tad full) but regardless I still finished all of it. I thought the "mui choy" (pickled vegetable) chip was quite nice as it provided a nice crispy element to the dish. The foie was seared well and had a rich buttery flavor. The ice cream is also mui choy flavored and was much too salty. I think it was a interesting combination but the fattiness of the foie along with the saltiness of the ice cream was a bit too much. It would be better if a lighter ice cream was served. The combination of the hot foie and the cold ice cream was also peculiar/weird, you decide. But regardless of this, I still love foie gras in the end :D

SAGA-GYU BEEF - black truffle, soy, "cheung fun"
YUM, this dish was truly lip smacking good. H and I knowingly looked at each other with very satisfied expressions. The beef was fatty, tender, and flavorful. The truffle cheung fun was also a genius fusion of traditional Chinese cuisine with western flavors. A little heavy yes, but so freaking good. This photo is also ultimate food porn! Thank god this was a small portion or else I would probably become a cow.

DESSERT - lime macaron, chocolate mouse, lemon curd mousse 
It was smart that the desserts were small since we were quite full after this meal. I was initially scared that I won't be full since the first few dishes were small but as the dishes got heavier I realized I would be more than satiated. The lime macaron was sub-par but this is due to personal preference as I don't care for most things lime. The chocolate mousse was yummy and rich with some nice sprinkling of crunchy bits and chocolate balls. Although I did make the annoying comment of how it looks like poop which made H be less than eager to finish his chocolate mousse haha! The best of the three was definitely the lemon curd mousse with a lovely tangy lemon zing and creamy smooth texture. 

The meal was definitely very interesting and I think that everyone should try Bo Innovation at least once. I would not say that taste wise it was mind-blowing as I do enjoy more traditional cooking but I admire his creativity. I think that Bo Innovation is more about the experience and the appreciation of the idea and intention of the dish rather than the actual taste. Some dish were very delicious such as the noodles and the beef. Once again thank you H for such an exciting meal :)

Bo Innovation

J Residence 

60 Johnston Road

Wan Chai

Hong Kong

Sijie Sichuan Dishes 四姐川菜

NEW FAVORITE!!! As you all know I am a spicy food fiend and love to devour hot foods until my entire mouth is numb. I have been wanting to try Sijie for some time now but never got around to gathering people to maximize the ordering system of the restaurant. It is best to go with more people because the amount of cold and main dishes that you can order depends on the number of people in your party. We had 8 people therefore we were allowed to order 5 cold dishes and 7-8 mains. We were also greedy and ordered extra dishes later.

Sijie was located in Wanchai previously an has recently relocated to Causeway Bay. The restaurant is run by Sijie, her husband, and her children. The atmosphere is very homey and welcoming and Sijie ensures that all her customers are well taken cared of. This meal was incredibly enjoyable and I will definitely be returning!

Strangely mesmerizing tossing of noodles...

Sichuan Cold Noodles 四川涼麵 
This massive dish is one of the cold appetizers and it was delicious! The table next to us apparently thought they could handle the heat and ordered extra spicy but then completely failed when they took a couple bites. I saw the waitress take it away quickly because that table could not eat anymore of it. I am quite confident in my fire eating abilities therefore I wanted to get it extra spicy too but our server recommended that we try the normal spice level first since he did not want us to be the same as the other table. The normal spicy was actually not spicy at all! The taste was great though, the noodles were firm and chewy, the seasoning was also enticing. It would just be even more perfect if it was more spicy! Regardless of the lack of spice, I would still gobble up these noodles any day.

Spicy Pork Slices in Garlic Sauce 蒜泥白肉 
The pork slices were not too fatty and had good meat flavor. The sauce was also perfectly flavored yet this was also not spicy enough. At this point we told the waitress to give it their best and spice things up!

Sour and Spicy Cucumber 酸辣青瓜 
This dish was nice and refreshing. The cucumbers were crunchy and juicy and the garlic sauce was robust and complemented the grassy flavor of the cucumber. 

Pig's Ears in Chili Sauce
Pig's ears is not my favorite thing but C loves this type of food (random bits of animals and organs) therefore I made sure to order this for her :) I had one bite of this and although it isn't something I would usually eat the pig's ears had great texture and you can tell that it was prepared well. It was bouncy and soaked up all the flavors of the sauce well. 

Spicy Sliced Beef and Tripe 夫妻肺片 
This was one of the extra dishes that we added on top of our 5 cold appetizers. The beef and tripe were both cooked until tender and slathered with the delicious chili sauce. This was spicier than before. Yay!

Spicy Marinated Chicken 口水雞 
Another solid dish, The chicken was not too fatty and the meat was well seasoned. 

Poached Fish in Hot Chili Oil 水煮魚 
OH MY GOD this was SO good. This was one of the favorite dishes of the night. The thick potato noodles were gloriously chewy and soaked up all the delightful spices and flavors. The fish was sliced to just the perfect thickness and was melt in your mouth tender and smooth. Everything was spot on. I am craving this right now. Yum yum yummm.

Salt and Pepper Prawns 椒盐虾
This dish was fine, it wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly memorable either. The prawns were nice and crunchy but I was more blown away by other dishes. 

SO MUCH FOOD :D!!! Always a happy sight!

Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐  
Solid homey goodness.

Beef in Hot Chili Oil 水煮牛肉
This was another dish that we added to our already over flowing table of food. Heeehehhe. This was also really well made but we did prefer the fish version more! We also opted for the thin noodles since Sijie recommended it. It was very chewy and smooth also but I personally preferred the thicker version.The beef was also tender but nothing beats the fish! And honestly we were quite stuffed at this point. 

Chicken Cartilage with Hot Chilies
This was also another star dish of the night! I loved this dish so much and could not stop eating it. The chicken had just the perfect amount of meat and cartilage, both meaty and crunchy. This was easily the spiciest dish of the night and I absolutely adored it. It was just perfect. Each bite was bursting with numbing flavor and textural contrasts. 

Chug chug chug

Sijie is infamous for her drinking abilities and the boys decided to take on the challenge. She was so incredibly sweet and cheerful and made the dinner so much more fun and enjoyable! Great hospitality :) She took out this intense Chinese liquor for us to drink and beers were also on the house! 

Our entire party left the restaurant smiling and stuffed. The cost is incredibly reasonable as well at $280 per person. The food was delicious and the service was friendly and warm. This is definitely a new favorite of mine! Make sure you bring a good group and be ready to drink and eat the night away!

Sijie is also BYOB!!! Another major plus to an already amazing restaurant :)

Sijie Sichuan Dishes 四姐川菜 
10/F
Bartlock Center
3 Yiu Wa Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong