Monday, May 9, 2011

My Sushi

Like I said, there are so many yummy things around my area and My Sushi is testament to that. I've been there three times in the past week and still want more! Luckily it's only a minute's walk from where I live so it's pretty easy to satisfy my cravings.

My first time here, I made a life-changing discovery - snowfish. We had initially wanted to order yellowtail but it was sold out for the day and the waitress recommended us try snowfish, or white tuna. I will be forever grateful to her for introducing it to me! It's absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so naturally on my second visit I had to order more.

tuna, salmon, snowfish ($18, $12, $20 for 2pcs)

Their regular tuna pales in comparison and I wouldn't bother with it to be honest. The snowfish seriously is out of this world. And for only $20, I find it quite the steal! The salmon is also really good here - super fresh and great quality. I could not believe it was only $12 - I think that's as cheap as conveyor belt sushi!!

fatty tuna and lobster salad warships ($25, $18 for 2 pcs)

I enjoyed the fatty tuna but didn't try the lobster salad - not a big fan of that semi-sweet mayo dressing they use though my friend seemed to enjoy it immensely.

unagi handroll ($15 for 1pc)

This was the only thing I wasn't pleased with and couldn't bring myself to finish. The sauce of the eel was sickly sweet and overpowering. Made me a bit upset because I really wanted to try their grilled eel don which looks amazing in their photos and had lots of "thumbs up" and smiley faces on the menu..

rainbow roll ($50)

This was okay, though I tend to prefer sushi to rolls (unless they're of the Hatsune type). It had cucumber, crabmeat, and avocado inside, topped with salmon/tuna/scallops and more avocado. Good thing I'm a big fan of avocado! How I miss avocado milkshakes in Boston...

Delicious meal for about $100pp (we ordered ice cream mochi for dessert too). Definitely worth trying if you're in the neighbourhood. I was surprised by how fresh the fish was considering the prices. Really well prepared by the Fujian man behind the counter! And the service is great, particularly as there's no service charge!


They also have delicious rice bowls for really decent prices. I got this salmon & salmon roe ikura-don for only $49 ($45 if you order it without the miso soup). What a steal and perfect for an easy meal at home.


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My Sushi
#23-35 Water Street
Western District

Opens 11:30am - 10:00pm

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Fuel For Studying

I don't know how I would get through exams without all these goodies I've been munching on in the past week or so:

goodies from London :)

My favourite Mcvitie's penguin bars!!! I polished off four of these in less days than that, even while trying to ration! Joke of the day: Why did the 2 penguins jump when they first met? ... To break the ice! Hehe.

(NB: for all you Penguin lovers, I've finally located them in Hong Kong at Oliver's supermarket in Prince's Bldg. Unfortunately, they're like $45 a pack...)

goodies from switzerland :)

this one was absolute heaven.

mandarin easter bunny

I've only allowed myself to pick at the flowers so far. This is much too pretty to eat!!

Courtesy of my amazing mother and her numerous trips around Europe, as well as to Foodie magazine for the bunny! I'm probably the only one who ever bothers entering contests but it works out well for me :)

Post-exam dieting much needed. Er, as well as some Kettle chips to offset all this sweetness...

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Fusion Gourmet

I came to Fusion Gourmet for a light lunch and absolutely fell in love with it. Dad and I were meant to grab a quick bite seeing as I'm in the midst of exams, (I thought we were going to hit up a cha chaan teng), but we ended up here instead and to be honest, I was happy to spend the extra hour or so enjoying delicious food.

Fusion Gourmet is part restaurant, part grocery store, but considering the price of their fresh produce, I'd much rather dine in as their lunch sets are quite good value.

We ordered their portobello mushrooms to share which cost something like $60. Not bad considering if you bought their mushrooms raw in their store it'll already run you $45. The mushrooms came out looking like beef patties (made me crave a mushroom burger!) and were pretty juicy though I probably wouldn't order it again.


I opted for their 'healthy combo set' which was a big salad with soup, and 3 slices of freshly baked bread. Alternatively, you could opt for a big soup with salad - though the size of the bowls are huge and I can't imagine anyone getting through that much soup!

healthy combo set ($78)

I liked the presentation - very simple, clean and fresh. The soup was delicious - it was sweet potato that day and while it wasn't as thick as I expected, the flavour was spot on. I tend to like my soups lighter too, so this was pretty perfect. The salad was one of the best I've had in a while (besides the pesto grilled chicken salad at Oolaa which is huge and divine.) It was basically just mixed greens with delicious proscuitto (and a lot of it!), cherry tomatoes, and bacon bits. But I liked that the sauce wasn't overpowering and you could really taste how fresh everything was. The bread was also freshly baked and a perfect amount for a carb lover like me. I particularly enjoyed the walnut one, dunked in soup or enjoyed with a huge slathering of creamy butter.


My dad opted for the linguine with grilled mixed vegetables and toasted pine nuts, tossed in a pesto sauce. This was also served with a small side salad.

linguine ($128)

I took a couple bites of this and was initially surprised by how warm it was served, though the linguine was cooked al dente with a pleasantly firm texture. Thought it was a bit lacking though, I always prefer my pastas with some kind of meat!

You can add $20 for additional dessert which is always a must when the option is there :)

new york cheesecake

chestnut cake

The chestnut cake was amazing!! It was super creamy, not too heavy, and left me wanting lots more. Also helped that I thought it looked pretty stunning :) I wasn't a huge fan of the cheesecake - though it could be because I ate the chestnut one first and anything would pale in comparison ;)

This meal was absolutely worth the lost studying hours, though I should probably end this review and get back to work!


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Fusion Gourmet
1/F, the Pemberton
22-26 Bonham Strand
Sheung Wan

Monday, May 2, 2011

Ping Kee Thai Restaurant

My first meal out since moving to my new place was a great success! While I am just down the street from my last apartment, there's so much more to eat here and everything so far has been pretty amazing.

Saturday night I stopped by Ping Kee Thai Restaurant, a restaurant that caught my eye since the day I was moving in. There are loads of newspaper clippings and pictures adorning the walls, and the sign looked pretty authentic. It only opens at night, from 6pm - midnight, but it sure gets busy then. Luckily we managed to grab the last free table. A lot of the customers seemed to be regulars living around the area - always a good sign!

The menu is pretty extensive with a long list of BBQ items, rice & noodles, and seafood. Not quite knowing where to start, we solicited the help of the couple to our left (regulars) as everything they had on their table looked absolutely delicious.

First, we ordered a number of their BBQ dishes which were all prepped and grilled in the open kitchen.

whole chicken wing, lobster balls, and grilled scallops ($15, $10, $30)

My favourite were the lobster balls, though next time I think I'll get the cuttlefish ones instead. Not hard to mess up but they had a nice addition of peanut sauce (tasted like satay sauce). The chicken wings were quite good too, though a little too oily for me. I wasn't a big fan of the scallops though. Flavour was there but texture seemed a bit off to me.

chilli minced pork salad $68

This was delicious!! It's pretty spicy (even after asking for it to be less so) but it was dangerously addicting. Each mouthful put a huge smile on my face. The couple told us that this was one of their favourite dishes here and their recommendation was spot on :)

jumbo prawns in 'green' curry $98

Despite loving the previous dish, this was the one that really blew me away. The price was slightly more than on the menu because they said their order of prawns were especially big that day. I think that's a bit of an understatement - the prawns were huge! They were so juicy and cooked perfectly. And the curry was amazing doused in rice. I'd go back again and again for this. Totally worth getting my hands filthy dirty for :)

Super happy and full after the meal. Can't wait to be back again and try their salted fish - almost every table ordered one and the whole fish only costs $78/$98 depending on size!

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Ping Kee Thai Restaurant
155-157, Third Street
Sai Ying Pun
Hong Kong

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The "Pun"

For those living in the Sai Ying Pun area, there have been loads of new restaurants cropping up ever since Island Crest went up. While it's quite exciting to be living in a community where all this new development is happening, it's also sad when you wander around the neighbourhood and see just how many old buildings are being demolished. Sure, they're well past their prime but they can easily be restored rather than torn down and transformed into yet another 60-storey complex. I actually really like the feel of Sai Ying Pun - it's so distinctly local. With the construction of the West Island line and property prices surging, it's sad to think how little of this local character will be preserved.

Earlier in April, the CE approved the draft Sai Ying Pun OZP with a huge chunk of area designated for commercial and high-density residential development. Apparently there are a number of height restrictions to prevent obstructing views and the construction of excessively tall buildings, but considering the size of the buildings I've seen going up recently, I doubt the "restrictions" have any practical effect on bringing about those objectives.

Went off on a bit of a tangent there, but like I said, one of the consequences of all this new development is the increase in the variety of restaurants around the area. The first one I tried was Gourmet Kitchen:

The owner is extremely friendly and always greets me with a smile when he sees me teetering down the street to get to the trams below. This restaurant opened close to 6 months ago and while I always walk past it, I never had the time to try it since they close relatively early (I believe the last order is at 8:30).

We finally made it one night and ordered two dishes:

enoki mushrooms wrapped in beef & rice

I don't remember the exact prices but this dish was really cheap - something like $28? It was pretty yummy, the beef was nice and tender and I always love enoki mushrooms. The beans were a pass though and there was a bit too much sauce, though once you mix it with the rice it's manageable :)

fish fillet, also served with rice and beans

The fish was really yummy and if you notice on the top, it comes with a goreng pisang (fried banana)! So bizarre but made me happy! I think this dish was slightly more expensive but within the $30 region.

We also had two cups of delicious honey lemon tea (I think they use the Korean mix) which helped sooth my stomach after the saucy meal. All in all, a pretty enjoyable meal. The service was great, food came out quick, and there's definitely no complaints about the price.

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The second place I went to is this new Japanese take-out store on 2nd street, right opposite Gourmet Kitchen.

I was curious as to how their business is doing as they just opened up before the Tsunami etc. and I always see their delivery bikes parked round the corner with nowhere to go... However, the night I went the place was actually pretty busy. I guess a lot of people from Island Crest drop by for food and the staff told me that it was really popular with the foreigners.

The prices aren't cheap but the quality was much better than I expected.


I ordered the Kaga set (20 pieces for $198) and an order of their inarizushi (my favourite! 6 pieces for $58). If you order over $100, they'll give you a $10 discount too.

inarizushi wrapped so pretty!

kaga set

unagi, wasabi octopus, and their signature 'salted fatty salmon'

surf clams, sea eel, shrimp, octopus, sea bass

Everything tasted really fresh and they pride themselves on using 100% Japanese rice. I loved that the rice was hot as well :) I particularly enjoyed their shrimp and sea bass. While the salmon was definitely not like anything I've tasted before with sushi, it was quite interesting - almost akin to smoked salmon. Nice and fatty, just like promised - but I do prefer the regular type.

The star though was definitely their inarizushi which I enjoyed immensely.

I definitely want to try their lunch sets which are pretty good value - you can either get 8 pieces of sushi or 3 rice balls (salmon, pickled plum, and dried bonito) for $49, miso soup and drink included. (Forgot to take a picture but their miso soup is amazing!)

I'll be taking more photos of the other restaurants in the neighbourhood - I recently moved down the street so there's a whole bunch of new places to try!

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Gourmet Kitchen
G/f, 1 Second Street
Sai Ying Pun

Sushi Ieyasu
G/F, 4 Second Street
Sai Ying Pun