Sunday, August 8, 2010

Senora @ Ming Yuen

Atmosphere: Classic, Calm and Private. Good place to host casual dinner banquets

Dress code: Casual , smart

Service: Male waiters, great service

Cuisine: Authentic Chinese (Cantonese)

Notes: Payment by Parkview members only.


MING YUEN
Hong Kong Parkview
88 Tai Tam Reservoir Road, Hong Kong
http://www.hongkongparkview.com/dining.php

For my Aunt (Dad's sis) Birthday this year, we decided to have a friendly casual dinner at MING YUEN, the Chinese restaurant located in Parkview, HK. They have private function rooms for different sized groups so it was perfect!

Specialized Menu for the night with the host name printed in the menu.


This is the list of food we had! Which was way too much for us to finish.


Traditional Cold Appetizer


Roasted Suckling Pig with Crispy skin


Cold Cut Beef


Deep Fried Garlic and Tofu dish


Shark's Fin Soup
(Don't eat it if you don't support the idea of killing Sharks!)


A Nice wine


Steamed Fish


Sea Urchin with Chinese Dong Gu and Vegetables


Sea Urchin with Chinese Dong Gu and Vegetables


Spicy-Garlic Dry-Fried Crab


Roasted Chicken with Shrimp Chips


Glutinous rice


Emeen noodles


Happy Birthday to my Aunt!


That was supposed to say "Senora Christina" WHOOPS!


Me, my Aunt and my Sis.


Traditional Chinese Birthday Buns!'


Don't the buns look like BUMS? hahahaha


YUMMY sweet (but fattening...) filling
(It's the same type of filling they use in moon cakes...TASTES HEAVENLY. Almost better than chocolate. ALMOST.

OVERALL:
It is our SAFE authentic Chinese Restaurant that we always go back once in a while because the service, quality and atmosphere is always guaranteed GOOD.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Da, Vodka

Atmosphere: COLD (literally) casual, fun, party for drinks

Dress code: party wear, or casual

Service: too drunk to really care...hahaha just kidding.

Cuisine: didn't eat their food, but I would like to try next time! And it's Russian btw.

Aside from their restaurant section (which I have yet to try), they have a huge freezer room at the front which plays a fun and UNIQUE part in the LKF night/bar scene. We go into the room to order vodka shots at a really cold temperature because that is supposedly how vodka should be served. The only thing to keep you warm in the freezer room is the fur jackets that you can wear before entering. OR if there are no jackets available, just order enough vodka to keep warm!

This was really fun and a great place to get the party started with friends! Who wouldn't want to drink vodka in a freezing room in the middle of a hot HK summer?

But just remember to have a second location, cos there isn't anything more than vodka and cold temperature in the freezer room. So get and go!

Balalaika
M/F, LKF Tower , 55 D' Aguilar Street, Central


Balalaika Drink List of Vodka Shots



CHEERS!


Saturday, July 10, 2010

Bonheur, OUI, INDEED.

Atmosphere: Cozy, French casual, all tables filled, good to bring friends to enjoy food, talk and laughs.

Dress code: casual, wear what you want.

Service: Warm, friendly, casual.

Cuisine: private restaurant, reservations only, set menu with a choices, call beforehand if you want to order something not on the menu, French (for the HK taste palette).

Special Notes: Get dropped off by a taxi, or walk. No parking.

Bonheur
6/F., The Pemberton, 22-26 Bonham Stand, Sheung Wan, HK.
www.bonheur-restaurant.com

My sister Cissy and me
It was our first time at this restaurant and we were not expecting much, just a nice evening out with good friends.


The Bread Basket
Warm, fresh out of the oven. Flavored, soft and with oil. Not your typical French bread but AWESOMELY GOOD.


Beef Carpacio, Sauce Basilic:
If you are able to put raw beef into your mouth. Then this one is a MUST. =)


Seared Scallop Salad with Curried Cream:
Refreshing, and I like scallop sashimi =)

Pan-seared Rougie Foie Gras:
Personally, I am traumatized by pan-seared foie gras. I can only do one bite, anymore and I wouldn't be able to stomach it. But this is one of their signature appetizers and I think it would be a safe choice for those foie gras lovers.


Cream of Mushroom Soup
One of their signature soups (that wasn't on the menu that day) but thanks to "connections" we were able to enjoy it. And gladly we did cos I think this could possibly be one of the BEST mushroom soups I've ever had. And I have a high standard for mushroom soups!


Shrimp Bisque
Tastes like a lobster bisque but with more "shrimp" taste. If you're a lobster bisque lover, it's a safe choice. Otherwise I would imagine it would be a little bowl of nightmare for those shrimp haters.


Lobster with Cheese
Not on the menu, again. Thanks to our well-organized friend who called ahead of time. The chef arranged her favs. This was good but eat it while it's hot, if it gets cold it wouldn't taste too good.

Saffron Risotto with Scampi
Now it really sounds good and of course it was on the top of my "I-want-to-order" list but was also on the top of my "That's-a-large-bowl-of-carb" list. Order it with a group of friends and a spoonful will satisfy the taste buds and also the guilty conscience. I love risotto and I love scampi but together in this dish, they don't make the best of friends.

But we do!
(Balia, Victoria, Cissy, and Yuen)


Grilled U.S. Kuro Buta Pork Rack
This looks really good and as much as I would like to talk about it, I can't. We didn't eat it cos we were stuffed but wanted dessert. So we doggy bagged it and now I think I regret it. Cos it looks better than the lobster!


French Mango Napoleon
Not on the menu again, wow I guess we were really VIPs! Ha ha ha.. j/k.


Fillo Apple Tart with Ice-Cream
REALLY good. Warm, crispy with drizzling cool vanilla ice-cream. I could have licked the plate clean if no one was looking...



FINAL VERDICT: Bonheur, indeed. It was consistently good from beginning to end. And I can't wait to go back to try their other dishes. AND EAT THE ONE THAT I DIDN'T EAT LAST TIME! I also want to bring more friends and family to share my wonderful experience! =) (Just remember to make reservations beforehand)
Bon apetit!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Trying Out New Spanish Restaurant: Fofo (Back in May 2010)

Atmosphere: dim lights, white restaurant, romantic enough for a date, comfortable enough for a friendly evening.

Dress code: smart casual, or whatever you want but keep in mind that it's located in Central district and also close to after-dinner drinks and dancing in LKF

Service: New, unexperienced, under staffed. Needs improvement.

Cuisine: Says it's "Spanish" but the menu is more like fusion: Spanish-influenced.


Fofo Spanish Restaurant
20/F., 2-8 Wellington Street, Central, HK.
www.fofo.hk

(MENU)

(Place setting)

The Bread Basket bread: was the best dish in my opinion and the most memorable. A fresh tomato paste that was a bit salty and juicy was spread on a toasted slice of baguette. Very crunchy and appetizing!


My beautiful mother, enjoying the night and her glass of champagne


Platter of assorted Spanish Ham: Satisfying but not amazing


Second Platter of assorted ham


This was one of my favs. It was dried fish eggs served with macadamia nuts. The dried fish eggs actually remind me of the Taiwanese appetizers. And it tasted much the same except they added a zest of lemon juice, olive oil and herbs which was a nice touch.


Sardines number one

sardines number 2: I remember they were tasty but a bit salty for my liking


Then they served more of the "bread basket bread" but cut into smaller slices. This was really good but- too much! As they served this alongside with almost every dish we ordered, our entire table was overfilled with the "bread basket bread".
- And we are no carb-avores.


DO NOT ORDER THE ABOVE DISH. I don't remember what it was, I still don't know what it is from the picture, and you don't want to know what it is. All it is, is DISAPPOINTING.


The Scallops:
aside from the "bread-basket bread" THIS WAS MY FAV. It was like scallop sashimi served in their secret sauce, served cold. It was juicy, slimy and oh-so-good.
And I forced my cousin to eat it, and she LAHVED it even though she HATES scallops.


JUICY JUMBO SHRIMPS. Another VERY GOOD dish. Order it.


The suckling pigs: Not the best. I remember having better. Much better.


Fish Tar Tar served with a bit of a cold sorbet.
THIS WAS SURPRISINGLY GOOD. Although it might look a bit blob-ish. IT'S GOOD. Just ask my cousin, whom I force feed everything she thinks she doesn't like and ends up LAHVING it. Ha ha.


Risotto with Black Truffle:
It might sound good, it might look good, it's not good. At all.
It was like eating thick rice porridge in creamy yellow sauce, served with over-cooked, thick-as-salami slices of truffles that have no truffle taste.


Lobster Paella:
Unless you're really hungry you should sacrifice your diet to devour a large pan of carb. Otherwise, it's really not worth it.
****

DESSERT TIME!!!!


Crema Catalana?
I think this was the dish but it didn't look like it or taste like it. A bit too milk-like tasting and quite frankly, forgetful.


Churros with Chocolate
As a Churro fan, this was disappointing, but then again where can you really find good churros in HK? So I would say if you haven't tasted the churros at Disneyland L.A. Then you can order it.


THE CHURRO
Eat it while it's hot. (It's better)


THE VANILLA ICE CREAM
Although this was the "side" of the churro dessert, it was actually my favorite part of dessert. Vanilla ice-cream with the dots of vanilla bean visible = THE BEST.
***

FINAL VERDICT: Once is enough, no regrets. Unless I'm really in need of a place to eat in Central and have no reservations or seats elsewhere.