Best Take-away Ever.... with La Rotisserie

La Rotisserie

255 Queens Road Central,

Sheung Wan 

+852 6901 5778

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Rating: 7.7/10 

Price: Around 70-80 HKD per person 

Roast Chicken will always be a family thing for me,

   I know that it's not very Korean of me (not to associate with beer and bars) but from the first-ever disastrous burnt roast chicken I ever made (and forced my family to eat) to the finally beautifully roasted and deliciously praised roast chicken I now can make on Christmas, all my memories of roast chicken was with my family.

Even when I went to Paris, and had the BEST roast chicken of my life, I was sitting in a cutest french bistro with the cutest french waiter recommending me wine.. in front of my family!

So it seemed like an obvious choice for dinner when you begin missing your beloved oven and home-cooked meals...

(Source: La Rotiseerie's FB page)

Although looking at their FB page, people are complaining about the long-queues that you have to wait in before getting their foods, I was rather lucky to stumble in on a time when there was no one in front of me! Ah, but look at the photo how can it not lure people to its door-steps when there's that smell and SIGHT of a chicken being roasted like below:

(Source: HK-Asia Magazine)

Plus the place is literally just minutes away from the subway station, which makes the whole taking away to home really easy and convenient!

Above is their new menu (from their website)! As i had planned for dinner with 4-5 people, I ended up getting the Set Meal Package for Four People (whole roast chicken + 4 side dishes) and an extra 1/4 roast chicken, to give a total of (290 HKD) which is a definite steal for a proper night's dinner!

They had a wide range of the side-dishes, but I opted for the choice of 2 portions each of Roast Vegetables and Roast Potatoes. Although the vegetables were delicious I would highly recommend the roast potatoes as a side dish! They were amaaaaazing! 

They quickly wrapped up my dinner in this cute little black box that couldnt quite keep the smell of the roast chicken in! I kept on getting such funny (and hungry) looks from the passengers on the MTR (sorry guys!)

Upon finally arriving home, my friends greeted with extra dishes of rice, chocolate and salads (and even a bottle of rose wine). Feeling rather giddy, i also baked some buns to have a proper feast as shown below! 

THE CHICKEN was AMAAAZING! 

It was not dry at all, and so juicy and rich in flavor! The seasoning was perfect too that we really didn't need any extra sauces to eat the chicken with..

Maybe it was because it was so delicious or the fact that we were starving that day but despite our extra dishes the chicken quickly disappeared!

SO if you're planning to JUST eat the side-dishes and the chicken maybe you should order extra chicken like we did just so you ALL of you can be fully satisfied and leave the dinner table with a big grin and bloated stomach like we did :)

Mini European Holiday at Cafe Loisl

Cafe Loisl

Tai On Terrace, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong (link to map)

Rating: 8.3/10 

Price: Around 30-50 HKD for coffee/tea and 60 HKD for dessert
You know you have found your favorite cafe, when you don't hestiate to take the MTR for 40 minutes, walk up close to 100 steps of stairs for a cup of coffee and maybe a slice of cake.
Although, I do have to admit that Cafe Loisl is much more than cup of coffee (if it was just a coffee i'm craving, there's always Barista Jam with its amazing lattes, beans and what not)...

To me, Cafe Loisl is everything I miss about Europe. 
I had heard about this place for a while, and its alluring tag of 'viennese cafe' in Hong Kong... But it just seemed to good to be true. Could such a place really exist in Hong Kong? 
In Amsterdam, a nice cafe meant sitting outside, enjoying maybe one too many coffees in the sun.. it was about the whole atmosphere, the weather and a lifestyle...

SO there it was, I had expected nothing from Cafe Loisl, but it had given me my secret-european getaway. It was a beautiful cafe, tucked away from the city center.... where we could actually sit outside and fool ourselves into thinking we are on a holiday.

     

The owner had obviously an eye for details..... everything from the tea-sets, the waiter's clean and simple black and white uniform and the wooden chairs... it was just as if it was plucked straight from Vienna and plunged into streets of Hong Kong.

Anyhow after spending ridiculous amount of time looking around, taking photos and being excessively giddy at finding such a place.. .we finally calmed down enough to take a look at the desserts (after ordering coffee too!)

We went for the Applestrudel and Mille-feuille and 3 cups of Wiener Melange (espresso with foamed milk)  :)
I had never tried Mille-feuille and although the Applestrudel was suppose to be the specialty, i loved the Mille-feuille even more! :D 

Having not known what it was... I looked it up in Wikipedia! 

Mille-feuille (French pronunciation: ​[mil fœj], "thousand sheets"),^[1] vanilla slice, custard slice, also known as the Napoleon, is a pastry of French origin.
Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), alternating with two layers of pastry cream (crème pâtissière), but sometimes whipped cream, or jam are substituted. The top pastry layer is dusted with confectioner's sugar, and sometimes cocoa, or pulverized seeds (e.g. roasted almonds). Alternatively the top is glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white (icing) and brown (chocolate) stripes, and combed.

Thousand Sheets.... What a name for a pastry eh? :)
I also loved the Wiener Melange! It was a little bit lighter than piccolo latte but definitely stronger than a latte, and it went perfectly with the desserts! :) It took so much restraint to not go for another cup straight after.

I returned almost days after my first visit here... I just had to show off to a German friend that such a place existed in Hong Kong! Although he was also skeptical at first, we soon found ourselves perfectly content enjoying the sun and indulging in a slice of strawberry cheesecake (AMAZING) with cup of  proper black coffee!

I also took a peak at the Menu.. and fund two MUST try items! Sacher Torte and Currywurst! How long has it been since I had either of those! 

I love love and love this amazing place and I will definitely return again and again, and will extend to this post with all the lovely desserts I will try!
P.S look at this cute logo for the cafe... :D (You can tell i'm completely hooked!)

Spontaneous Yakitori at Yardbird

Yardbird

33-35 BRIDGES STREET

SHEUNG WAN, HONG KONG

Rating: 8.2/10 

Price: Around 400-500 HKD per person (incl. drinks)

I had been dying to go to this restaurant that seemed to be making the top list of almost every HK-restaurant-related blogs! So when my friend suggested we try something 'Asian' just as we were walking through Sheung Wan, I knew this was the chance to drag him to go try Japanese Yakitori.

Convincing him was easy enough, and by the time we walked in (which was actually rather early at 6:00PM) the whole place was already getting quite full with drinks being poured, converstaions already flowing and dinner being served. I loved the atmosphere in the restaurant as well, and the waiters were so friendly guiding us to our table (which is shockingly rare in HK) that I already started secretly loving the place before we even started eating.

I had planned to wow my german friend through my in-depth knowledge of the asian cuisine, but upon seeing the Menu i was just as lost as he is.. we had absolutely NO idea what to order, how much to order and what was even edible! (they had everthing from chicken kidneys to oysters to hearts!)

Just as I was getting slightly panick-y and regretting the on-spot decision to come to Yardbird without really looking into how and what i'll be eating, our incredibly friendly and helpful waiter swept in to recommend and help us plan our dinner for the night...

Following his advice, we started with the Cucumber Salad with Miso Dressing (70HKD) which i have to say was one of the best cucumber salads I have ever had in my life! The miso dressing went perfectly with the fresh cucumbers and the pine nuts, and we ended up eating everything.. down to the last sesame on the plate.

The portions are rather small, so make sure to order a couple! The waiter sugested we order around 2  appetizers, 3 or 4 skewers each, 1-2 main dish and if still hungry (we weren't)... rice or noodle plate!

Our next appetizer was this Sweet Corn Tempura (85 HKD). Although I had no inkling of what it would look like, this puffy corn ball  was the last thing I had expected! And it tasted as good and surprising as it looked!

Oh, they also have an extensive drinks menu with funky sake and sochu (and cocktails) but we stuck to Draft Sapporo Beer .. which was rather disappointing only because they gave it to us in such tiny glass... boo...

Anyhow after a great start to our meal, we were finally ready to eat some Yakitori
As this extremely cute logo of Yardbird, it was all about chicken tonight! :)

Source: Yardbird

Although I did ultimately fail to convince my friend to try out funkier parts of the chicken (oh silly europeans), with the help of our waiter we decided to go for Chicken Breasts, Meatball and Oysters. 

All three were wonderful.... and the chicken was so juicy and succulent that even my friend who was skeptical as to how good skewered chicken could be was won over! The meatball also looked like a huge larvae (but even the resemblance didn't stop us from gobbling it up), the best part was as our waiter lavishly promised was Chicken Oysters.

Now. I have no idea why they are called oysters... In Korean i'm pretty sure it is what we label 'butt-hole'... to which in comparison guess 'oysters' is a better name..
As soon as I saw it I recognized what it was! (but thankfully didn't yell out 'it's the BUTTHOLE!'

My brother and I used to fight over this part of the chicken, as it was the fattiest, juiciest and absolutely best part of the chicken (unless you're one of those diet-frenzy-fat-free people).
AND.... it was MUCH better than how I had remembered it to be. Leaving me with a huuuuuge smile as shown below! :)

Sadly, because a. we were too hungry and b. i was dying to try the food the photos of the 'meatball' and the 'breasts were too blurry, buuut!!! I can vouch for the fact that it is delicious!

And Alas, it was time for our 'main dish' which was called KFC (which can't be anything except...fried chicken...could it?) BUT despite the place being all about chicken, and the obvious connection to FRIED CHICKEN... in Yardbird, KFC stood for Korean Fried Cauliflower (75HKD), which is basically the same dressing and flavoring as what we would put on Fried Chicken back hom in Korea but done on Cauliflower.

And... although I do intensely love chicken, this dish was delectable to a degree that did not leave me missing  the fried chicken in Korea! Plus.. it made me less guilty about eating it than fried chicken too :)

In the end it was a lovely dinner, and although we skipped on getting the rice dish as neither of us were really hungry to begin with,  I think if you come in for a proper dinner you should aim to include one more main dish and maybe a rice dish to share! The total bill came to 300HKD (yardbird has no service charge), i'd guess it would usually be roughly around 200HKD more if you include one or two more dishes and a cocktail!

Although it was a little indulgent, it was totally worth the price and we left the place enthusiastic about our new found interest and amazement in Yakitori and could not wait to return one day for more! Maybe next time (although he insists he won't) will finally get my friend to try out a heart or two.

Healty Vietnamese at Noodlemi

Noodlemi

2 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Rating: 6.8/10 

Price: Around 70-80 HKD 

 I've been quite lazy these last few days and have neglected my promise to myself that i'll blog at least 3 times a week (or was it more?). It's not even the fact that there has been much happening in my life,  if anything i've been constantly fighting boredom and lethargy....but I guess more than anything i didn't really have any drive or motivation to do much...

Anyways! Today is a Monday, and i would've hopefully by the end of today have finished 3 drafted blog posts and started my assignment to find methods of preventing discoloration of canned food. 

Yuck.

BUT before my wasted stint of doing absolutely nothing, I did manage to check out two places I had been dying to go to since last semester in ONE day. One of which was Noodlemi :)

It's proximity near the Sheung Wan station, made it really easy to find and walk to (especially after how hungry we had been) and the food came relatively quickly too!

Plus, right next door was the newly opened K-roll! (mmmm... must venture one day to get my korean food-fix).

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Not that i'm as particular as some of my friends are to MSG free or gluten free food, I did appreciate the fact that there are slowly but surely a growth in healthy food around Hong Kong (or at least people are finally paying attention to what actually goes inside their food!) AND, compared to other 'msg/gluten free-health-oientated' restaurants, this one was suprisingly cheap! 

I also loved their very cute menu with 'Choose mi', 'Bite Mi" and "Wrap Mi" and their relatively small but brightly lit bistro-like interior with the high-chairs and wooden tables :) 

We ordered 3 dishes and decided to share!

After long deliberation, we decided on Raw Beef Pho, Soft Shell Crab Rolls and Fried Fish Noodles!

The Raw Beef Pho wasn't as good as the one at Nha Trang and the Rolls were equally good, but the Fried Fish Noodles were so delicious! :D 

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Although the fresh fish was quite salty and quite heavy, it paired perfectly with the noodles that were only slightly seasoned with vinegar, salt and lemons/lime(?). 

BUT i have to admitt, the best part of the dish was dipping EVERYTHING it in the rich chilli-sauce that reminded me of the 초장 (korean spicy-sweet sauce)... kind of ruins the whole point of light/fresh meal though eh?

Verdict: mmm....so-so?

AT the end of our meal, we all concurred that although we did love the freshness and lightness of the dishes, it wasn't anything spectacular.. definitely not worth the 40minutes mtr ride into town...

However if you're ever near by and in need of a quick and healthy light lunch then this is the place to go! :)

But the best Vietnamese Pho by far is still at Nha Trang (Central) and there's hardly any price difference either!