Vero - The chocolate liquor night

Adventure to Vero Chocolate. Indeed an adventure as I still could not figure out the "right" way to Fenwick Pier without jay-crossing the highway, lol.

Apart from Venezula 70% Cocoa drink with dazzling cocoa beads, apple thyme; honey mustards seasonal chocolates, opera etc...they have the chocolat bar lounge!!!

Every thursday night is the Ladies night to enjoy ranges of dessert wines / cocktail / wines made with chocolate. Imagine you have a series of Sauternes, Tokaj, Muscat...and you just wanna find a cozy place for...no corkage fee with chocolates to company the treasure. Here's the choice.

With 500ft outdoor private lounge with seaview or 2000ft indoor lounge in front of the chocolate sculpture production desk, fancy enough to get my attention.

Vero Chocolate
1F Fenwick Pier, Kiing Lung Street, Wanchai ,Hong Kong
Tel: 25595882Sun - Mon: 10am - 830pm
Tue - Sat: 10am - midnight

Cheesecake Baking (old post)

Cyan came over to my home begging to bake the cheesecake for her potential boyfriend (well, eventually he is her boyfriend now, congratulations~)

Rushing home at 10pm (sourcing the raw materials at around 9), we start patting and stirring the mixture here and there in the first 30 mins. Imagine two little office gals, with all the office wear, all the mix were stick on the shirt, on face, stuck in the tiny narrow kitchen.

One thing that I was still being teased about is that we have this laptop open on stove to refer to the recipe.

We even forgot to pre-heat the oven~~~

Finally as you can see, this is the nicely done blueberry cheesecake.

Next step: It's for Cyan to do the finale -- the presentation of the cake~

A night with chiu chou cuisine

To put forth, food matching is quite a difficult task for chinese dining, owing to its cultural difference. 正宗潮洲菜 has loads of gorgeous cuisine: fresh fish, sweet sour pork, bayleaf chicken, lo shui goose platter, satay beef & gai laan... all displayed simultaneously on the table. Unlike western cuisine, which you can match 1 dish with 1 wine, in fact it's quite impossible for
us to enjoy 1 wine with all food...


Below are the wines provided by an uncle generously for the meal:


Mount Mary Yarra Valley Pinor Noir 2004
- pinky red colour
- kerosene, plum,blackberries
- quite lengthy, strong tannin but spreads quickly in mouth
- breathe for more than an hour and still feel that it needs further breathing
- looks young and can still age for quite a while



Chateau Beausejour St. Emillion 2000

- Typical St. Emillion merlot flavour
- easy drinking, balance palate, perfect drinking wine
- not french lengthy wine, but thick and dark
- blackberries flavour, plus hint of pencil lead
It's not those very outstanding kinda unique wine, yet from its structure and the complicity of wine, it would definitely be at the high rank, now wondering if it's the 'obvious' intention of the winemaker to achieve higher score in RP rating? (93 points)

Seafood Maniac

Everything begins with the huge crab shopping at mini boat wet market in Sai Kung.

The fainted crabs took a long route: across the harbour, into the underground... and ended their lives in Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant in Sheung Wan.

Forgot to bring my camera along...could only have the photos with such a low resolution, well...

Hospitable uncle & aunt brought along 2 bottles: 1 champagne, 1 Riesling (oh...my favourite!!!)

Here comes the list...

Appetizer

Champagne: Moet & Channdon

Babylon Shell dipped with wasabi

Bubbles with Babylon Shell, a fresh matching. though the champagne doesn't seem to match with the babylon shell, the champagne ignite the freshness of the babylon shell, yum~

Little pig leg soaked in chinese wine

Little pig leg is finely made, with hint of chinese wine and the fat swirl in the mouth. I'd love to have this every day, given that I will be gaining 10lbs more...keke...

Main Dish

Steamed crab in egg-white with chinese home-town wine (shao xing jiu)

I love the companying sauce, which is red vinegar with sesame oil, springled with chopped onion, perfect match with the juicy crab meat, turning a sole dish to a rice matching dish~

By then, I already concentrating on defeating my favourite crab...ignoring all other dishes and wine...until...something even more tempting to come...

Steamed Rat Face Garoupa

Indescribable. Self-explainatory from the picture itself, right?

Soft fish meat, detached itself from the fish bone even without tearing it apart, it doesn't seem that I have chewed before it slided to my throat. It has its own sweetness. Until now I can tell the difference between Wedding steamed fish and Excellent steamed fish...

Fried chicken

We call a nice chicken to be a juicy, fat, white, smooth white meat, in fact all can be found in this dish tonight.

Together having a harmonious match with the Riesling.

This Riesling has a very green smell, like green pepper. Comparing to typical Riesling, it is rather light and less sweet.

It ends with a crispy taste, which would not dominate the strong-flavoured food like chinese dishes but delight the dish with a fresh ending note. Good buy from New Zealand, Otago.

Dessert is impressive:

Birthday Bun: Baking smell and chewy bun (I've brought 1 home as breakfast tomorrow)

Red bean soup: Biggest and softest red bean with terrific sweetness

Wonderful dinner~

Treasure Lake Seafood Restaurant
Address: 1-3/F, Mandarin Building, 35 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan

Tel No: 2854 9388

Haut Brion & Amaroni - Celebrate big wine with big family

Uncle & Aunt are inviting our family for a super family dinner, where my dad contributes his one of the valuable wine - Haut Brion as a compliment to their hard culinery work.

First: The Oyster with Japanese 大吟釀, taste so like vodka mixed with 浙江紹興酒, one of my hometown chinese wine, apart from it has less medicine taste in it. You really can't tell how much alcohol in it, especially when the taste is dominated by the lemon & wasabi filled creamy oysters.

Followed by Aunt's oven baked salmon with mexican mango salsa. Fat salmon, oil burst out from the oven...the mango salsa surprisingly is a perfect match of it, in which till today my mom still urge my dad to make one for her~

Third: Beef stew with fettucine & french bread, cope with Haut Brion 1994.

This Haut Brion has already been aired for over 2 hours, still in the decanter. Nevertheless, when put in mouth, still have a feeling of potential of further oxidation, so leave it for another half an hour, where the prune and apricot flavour hinges are out of our palate. Wonderful and harmonious , well balanced wine, yet the body is not too heavy that I am a bit confused whether it can be that impressive to be under the top 5 grand cru wine. Perhaps it's the vintage that matters.

Fourth: Chocolate Fondue with fresh strawberries, grapes with brie, blue and smoked cheese, companied by Amaroni.

Amaroni is a super fruity wine. Once you smell it, a huge punch of fruit platter is bombing towards your nostril. The complexity of the fruit would be plum, then tropical fruit, ending with green apple note, it tastes with clarity of 3 steps in fruits before the aftertaste bounce back, so complex. All I can say is...Fruit bomb. Merry well with cheese, a good compliment with fruits, or I shall say, fruit doesn't make a difference afterall as you have already enjoyed it in the wine :P, but the sweetness is competible with the chocolate fondue, which is a bonus.

Wonderful meal, wonderful wine. Nice chat, best combination of wine, ppl & food.

香港傳統早餐之一 (Old)

今早，本是跟媽媽相約好去街市買神秘早餐，可是，聰明的爸爸跟我...都懶床去了...

所以，媽媽不動聲色，自己到街市買早餐，還給我們Display早餐在露台外...噢...夢寐以求的早上呀~

一大開，原來是 白粥、豬腸粉、炒麵、炸油條!!!
有個露台在家多好，呆在家也可多一點戶外活動，還是香港文化之旅呢~

掃街

掃街，絕對是旺角獨有的名詞。就正如我在銅鑼灣篤兩串魚蛋，我會叫篤魚蛋，並不是掃街。

這個名詞的關鍵在於多。

以下便是兩星期前我與媽媽掃街所攝...

這些都是近期熱門話題的...

1. 外賣點心店

2. $7 滑漏豆腐花

3. 台灣棉冰

4. 台灣麵線

5. 輕便飲品

每半年，便會有一些新的小食林立，形成一條又一條的長龍，難怪旅客呆望數秒，然後拿著相機狂閃，原來真是一個香港獨有的...奇景~

公司零食角排行榜

我的Working corner...自從我來了之後，可能是位置比較便利，於是都貢獻他們的手信、零食到我的desk 上share，漸漸就演變成大眾的snack corner 了...

縱使大家多肚餓，人不到盡頭絕不會飢不擇食，故此，想在這再個統計:

請大家做一個投票，回覆這個post的時候，請為下列的零食preference進行頭5位的排列（其他零食也可）：

1. 薯片
2. 乾生果片
3. classic 餅乾 (lemon夾心)
4. classic 餅乾 (芝麻)
5. ritz
6. chips ahoy
7. squares
8. chocolate
9. chocolate chips
10. chewing gum
11. chewable sweets
12. hard sweets
13. 肉鬆
14. pretz
15. 小蛋糕
16. 魷魚絲

那我會買些供給同事吃呀

可怕的是，當我在google search 有甚麼零食排行榜的時候竟讓發現這個，爆驚訝:
http://www.xooob.com/157907.htm

天呀，真的嗎?

King Ludwig

在尖沙咀頗為隱蔽的角落，卻藏著這間甚有風味的德國地道食店。食品與啤酒跟我上年在munich 時吃的很相似，不同的是它的beer list 比munich 的還長得多呢，wheat 的beer 、barley 的beer、black beer，林林種種，有香港waitress 替我講解，所以比一般更美味呢~

那個鵝肝醬麵包跟鹹豬手是必吃!!!~

魚、蝦、蟹

魚、蝦、蟹，3大最受歡迎海鮮

在我家裡都可以吃到~

別怕，海鮮們，你們死得很光榮呢~

小籠包與我

到翡翠拉麵小籠包一吃.

當然逃不過點拉麵與小籠包的命運。

在該店的餐桌紙上, 印有小籠包之由來...

Xiao Lung Bao == "Steamed Pork Dumpling" --> Steamed pork!!! 那顯然是我呢~ 再看...

皮薄饀靚 --> 正正是我呢~

多汁熱吃 --> 我可與這個扯不上關係呀...夏天焗到出汗算不算?

但由外表的描述來看，我確實與小籠包如出一轍，最精要是那個字 "DUMP"-Ling...

有被Dump 的危機，可是我卻又叫好叫座... 一樣呢!!!

所以 小籠包=我 ^.^

記住，我的重點是...物以罕為貴，要珍惜見我的時候呢~ 回味無窮啊~

喚，明顯，1時多打的Blog，是illogical的，我在說甚麼呀...

英雄大會

星期五將是中學同學之英雄大會 -- 即大閘蟹之夜是也~~

小lor 將之預備少量 (...很難訂下少量的確實量度) 中國酒伴之...
包括: 紹興酒 (家鄉煮食用...) 、狀元紅、五糧液、雙蒸、高樑...

由於被花果山美猴王叮囑千萬別帶紅白酒，是日將不會有洋酒供應。偷運者，斬......大閘蟹

但小lor 亦對於大閘蟹貨源有疑問，現與鴻星海鮮酒家價格相比 ($298 有兩皇一后)，望大會提供之膳食價格更相宜，可供各路英雄品嚐品嚐，與酒量之切磋切磋...

Cup Noodles

源於日本，為配合都市人急促的生活節奏，即食麵以3分鐘熱水加熱之湯麵成為眾人家中必備。

為了提供更多口味予市民，即食麵製造商研製濃縮的肉如豬肉、雞肉、海鮮等，令Collectors 以儲即食麵為嗜好。

有日本節目更訪問一日本即食麵癡，他家裡活像即食麵便利店般，儲存了過70款即食麵待用，每天3餐都在吃即食麵，簡直視之為精神食糧! 其後，電視台跟他做了個blind tasting，矇著他的眼，要他憑 1. 氣味 2. 味道 分辨5種市面上罕見的即食麵。

結果他不論第1 及第2 項都能全中，還可清楚講出牌子及推出市面的年月份，巔峰之境界...

所以昨晚當我拿出從沖繩帶回來的沖繩麵，邊說著這訪問之時，媽媽立刻從櫃內拿出第二個杯麵...刻上自己的名字 ^^:

Peninsula High Tea

跟朋友仔享用期待以久的HIGH TEA - 半島HIGH TEA.

以前經過，看見那條卷到不能動的蛇餅...以為book 檯便ok, 怎料...只有room guest 先可以book, 其餘的都只有排隊。乖乖的我們只有跟著排吧。都只排了30分鐘就可入座~ high tea 2-7pm, 我們3點多已可入坐，他們吃得真快 (後來證明了，真的，身邊的檯翻了兩次，我們仍坐在這裡...hehe)

一個fix tea set 和精選tea。朋友跟我選了mango & peach tea. 都很香，但喝下去卻沒有了果味，奇怪...

三層的tea set, 看上去蠻吸引，但仔細看一下，都只是很普通的sandwich 跟chocolate，都是想充饑和甜漏你...可沒甚驚喜。

人家說scone 是最好的，大概是太多人的關係吧，所以很乾身，應是先前焗好再翻熱的...

反而是後補的TIRAMISU結我驚喜! Mascarpone cheese 夾著Pistachio 很香口，口感也軟軟的，不錯，是日本Style 的製法 (可能是剛從日本回來的原故 :p )

最後是$220 per head，比想像中覺得不值，也算是一種經驗吧。

出來的時候，人龍還是很長...

Cha Chan Tang 茶餐廳

香港獨特的文化 - 茶餐廳.

呷一口甘香濃滑的奶茶，再嚼一口冰火菠蘿油...說不出的爽~

香港人在異地，最掛念的都會是茶餐廳。外國人來香港也會被我們的茶餐廳文化吸引。

甚麼翠華、蘭芳園、永樂園、康年、檀島...林立之多，跟 7-eleven 不遑多讓.

隨著時代變遷，食物由一般的奶茶、鴛鴦、蛋撻、西多士，至今時今日的鴛鴦檸樂 (鹹檸+檸檬) 、Fibre 好立克、兒童鴛鴦(好立克+阿華田)、豬排撈丁等等種類繁多，目不暇給，聽說澳洲牛奶公司的lunch set只有多士、蛋、跟丁都也可有三四十款組合，不會吃膩。 (其實...我這個星期的LUNCH都在茶餐廳渡過 :P)

食TEA亦是返工人士每天提神之方法，茶餐廳侍應早餐跟午餐忙著在餐廳裡工作，一到下午時間，也就忙著接FAX ORDER 然後送外賣到各大公司。侍應雖忙著，記性之好，無人能及，有個在筲簊灣某茶餐廳的侍應可以默記兩張大檯 共二十四人的order, 並奉上食物時絕無錯漏，想必我也要到茶餐廳做一會，加強記憶力了。

茶餐廳文化相信會永遠留在香港，不會成為上海街、女人街的唐樓們面臨清拆的危機。

First Post

剛剛去完日本關西+沖繩，一行兩人，實在太relax, 太hea啦. 除o左食, 都係食, 感受好多日本o既文化同氣息, esp. 當日本人問我地路o既時候... ^^:

等我recap 一o下我地o既achievements啦～


食: 地道拉麵、餃子館、馬肉刺身、雞泡魚刺身、神戶&石垣牛柳、shabu shabu、沖繩料理、大
阪燒、溫泉料理、蟹腳、八爪魚丸...等等...

玩: 4個沙灘、世界最大o既aquarium、駕車 (oh, 我是新牌仔...)、浮潛、kayaking、清水寺、心齋橋、有馬溫泉、杯麵館...

gag: 太多啦...每一日都有d 爛到跌晒落地o既gag...不便透露...

當然, 照o左好多相放o左上flickr同facebook 同大家share 啦~

第一個post 已經咁多食玩hea o既原素...o黎緊我o既post都離唔開呢個路線ga la...