Hong Kong: Ritz Carlton - Cafe 103

I had the pleasure to be at Ritz Carlton Hong Kong for a taste of their chocolate high tea. There was a spectacular view of both the harbour and restaurant below which dazzled my little heart. The place was filled with very elegant decor and gave us a break from all the shopping. Their chocolate high tea I believe is only a holiday special, but they also had a Godiva version which I was unaware of up until the point I made a reservation.

There were a few levels that went from savoury to sweet (although I think I have to say that most of it was just sweet). On the bottom tier, it features vegetable quiche, smoked salmon sandwich, and ham honey mustard bun. The items came in a cute display that resembled window panes.

 

Out of the three "sandwiches" my favourite had to be the salmon sandwich. The ham and honey mustard bun was a bit strange. It reminded me of a Ferrero Rocher shape, but it definitely didn't taste like one. It didn't have much flavour, and I wasn't sure what it was supposed to taste like. The vegetable quiche would have to be my second favourite. It had a too much of a buttery exterior that it crumbled and made it difficult to eat. The smoked salmon on top wasn't the best or anything special, but the taste and softness of the bread was very good.

The second tier consisted of a fois gras macaron, mango chocolate verrine and I believe the last one is pain d'espices with ivory cream. By this tier I was already starting to get full. The decorations were really cute on this one! To be honest I wasn't sure what most of the items were since it was either in French or it seemed like it lacked the ingredient listed. Regardless, the macaron I had was such a disappointment. I had such high expectations, but first of all I did not like the savoury flavour to it. The mango chocolate verrine resembled a mousse. The mango puree was great, but not so much the chocolate.

During high tea, of course we had to order tea as well. My friend ordered their special drink...which was a hot chocolate (more chocolate on top of a chocolate high tea!). If you're a chocolate lover, this would be perfect for you. I ordered an apple oolong tea, though they do have a different name for it. It was an awesome combination because it helped balance out everything that's sweet. It had a hint of apple to it but nicely blended with the oolong.

The brown place mat, napkin and plate really complimented the chocolate theme. It was very cute going against the centre piece. It made the ambiance very settling and comforting.  

By the third tier, we barely were able to have any more chocolate. Nonetheless we decided to at least take a bite of each to experience what the rest of it tasted like. It has the ritz festive sphere, chocolate anise delice, caramel nut chocolate tart, and apple chestnut pave. The ritz festive sphere was basically a Ferrero Rocher on top of a chocolate cookie of some sort. It was way too sweet for me so I only had the exterior of the chocolate sphere. The chocolate anise delice in simpler terms was basically a chocolate cupcake with some cream (I absolutely loved this one!). The texture of the cream was fluffy but was way too sweet for my liking. It seemed like the trend for this tier was hard and dense. The apple chestnut prave, however, was very light and fluffy. 

Usually I do get full from high tea but still manage to finish. This one was unexpectedly very filling. It could be the combination of the sweetness of the chocolate and the carb-filled treats. The total was about $35 per person which to be honest can not be found anywhere in Toronto. The beautiful hotel, along with the very helpful staff made my experience very enjoyable. I would rate this to be 3.7/5 stars. Had we not had gone there for a chocolate high tea, it probably would have received a higher rating.

Han Ba Tang

I got to catch up with one of my old friends at Han Ba Tang tonight and we had the opportunity to try this new restaurant. Embarrassingly, we were more concerned about what everyone else was choosing online rather than knowing what sounds tasty. We were caught in the act by our server (oops!) but he was friendly enough to go through some of his favourites on the menu. It seemed like there were quite a few additions to the menu but since we're new, everything seemed fantastic!

I'm an avid foodie for cuisines such as korean foods, so this was perfect for me. If you're not korean, you really don't have to worry too much because the waiters/waitresses all speak perfect English. Bonus on top of that is that the menu is completely in English as well! There are a variety of age groups that come here, so I wouldn't say it's a place just for the younger generation. They take fusion to a whole nother level. 

Christmas Edition: Bier Markt

One of my favourite holidays has to be Christmas. For years and years I have been waiting to go to a place with great charcuterie selections. Finally I had an excuse to go. Usually this place is pretty packed but perhaps we went a little later so there was barely a line up. Still, it took us a while to be seated but we were greeted with an ear to ear smile from the waitress. It definitely made the waiting a little more bearable. The setting of the restaurant was very bar-like, so if you're looking for an intimate date...this is not the place to go!

Since it is located at shops at Don Mills, the area was very festive and is always a really pretty sight. We sat near the window and had it snowed, it would've been the perfect Christmas view! You can see that there's a blown out candle on the ledge, for whatever reason I thought the smell of the candle was too strong so we set it aside. 

Although there was no line up, you can still see that most of the restaurant was packed with large groups of people celebrating. It has a very pretty interior and also features hundreds of beers! I personally am not a beer lover myself but definitely should try one of the rare beers that you can't find in stores. They have a great selection of beers that you can probably find something that will suite your tastebuds. The menu features beers from Germany, China, Africa, Canada, Italy etc. pretty much any place you can name...they'll have it.

I have only had a bouillabaise a couple times, one of them which consisted of dining at Canoe. To my surprise, for a fraction of the price...this was definitely way more worth it. The soup had lots of seafood flavour and the presentation of the dish was definitely something picture worthy. I believe the yellow cup on the side is mustard and that added a nice touch to the bread slices provided.

I like to be safe, and this is salmon with bok choy and quinoa cakes. For a small person like me, I was not able to finish everything on this plate. Have I not had the charcuterie selections, probably I would've been able to. The salmon was cooked really nicely being crisp on the outside and super tender on the inside. The bok choy was just bok choy, perhaps a little too much oil was used for my liking. What I did forget to take a picture of was the quinoa cakes. Usually I don't prefer quinoa, but this was actually quite tasty! The texture resembled potato cakes with a little more gritty texture to it.

Of course last but not least is the selections of meat. I wish I can name you everything that we ordered but I really only remember what was very tasty. The candied bacon and the proscuitto is DEFINITELY a must try! I thought that candied bacon was going to be a little weird but it had a very strong sweet bacon taste. It was absolutely delicious. The proscuitto is usually something that can never go wrong with either. The rest of the meat was very mediocre but was still a great paring with the bread.

I had a wonderful experience that night, from all the food to the waitress (Shout out to you!). She was very nice about everything and always checked up on us even after she had initially asked us how our food was. There are a lot more other food selections I have yet to try, and I am already counting down the days till I get to come back! 5/5 stars for this one, and it was definitely worth the $120 for the meal.

Hong Kong: Ho Hung Kee

This was my first Michelin star restaurant (one star). Little did I know that restaurants open a lot later than the ones in Toronto. We got there around 10:30 am but it wasn't opened till 11:30 am. Thankfully, this mall has a lot of floors so we were able to walk around in one of the largest book stores down below! It featured a total of 3-4 floors (can't remember the exact number). Anyways, even before it opened there was a line up of people waiting to get in.

 By the time it was 30 minutes after opening, the place was filled and there was already a line of people waiting to be seated. The interior decorations are absolutely fantastic! Featuring the Tiffany blue with gold accent, it was definitely breath taking. The place was also very clean which can sometimes be rare in Hong Kong. Even though it looks very modern they still managed to keep a touch of tradition by adding the lanterns and vases around the restaurant.

I wouldn't say it was a super big restaurant. There probably was a total of 50 tables, which maybe half of them included booths. Even the table legs were exquisite with the gold accent wrapped around. What fascinated me the most was the service. They were not explicitly amazing, but it definitely was very speedy! We probably sat down, ordered and ate all within 40 minutes. Since there were many staff it was very easy to flag someone down when we needed something.

For a small girl like me, it is very important that the portions are smaller. This was it. This was the perfect portion size for me! It may not be to someone who eats a lot, but the small bowl of noodle goes a long way. We ordered 2 items. The first is beef noodles. I have to say, nothing compares to what I've ever had. The beef was very tender and the texture of it was not ridiculously chewy. 

The soup was filled with MSG, but let's be honest here...that's what make most things taste good to begin with! The noodles were soft enough that didn't make me feel like it wasn't going to digest. I have had noodles before where it was extremely chewy that I thought it was just going to sit there in my stomach. Everything down to the veggies was amazing. I didn't finish the soup, but this small bowl of noodle was just perfect for the first meal of the day.

The second dish is a marinated pork lo mein. So what you do is you mix everything together and (optional) eat it with the soup that is provided. Since I already ordered a soup noodle I didn't really bother with the soup provided. Again, the texture and the right tenderness of the noodles was what made it so good! This was a slightly larger portion than the soup noodles but nonetheless it was still amazing.

This is a picture of the ceiling because I found it very fascinating that they covered the whole restaurant with the same swirly design. Ho Hung Kee was a bit more expensive than the restaurant at Shek O, but it was still worth every penny that we spent! The only complaint I might have is for the service to be better. I felt very rushed when eating our food, but other than that I would rate this 4.7/5 stars! Truly one of the must-try restaurants if you ever go to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong: Shek O Happy Garden

Well hello there! It has been a while since I've blogged but due to school and such it's hard to go and explore new restaurants. This post is going to be a little different since I am going to be posting about some Hong Kong restaurants as versus the usual Toronto. I was away for 2 weeks (hence the lack of posting) and really enjoyed my vacation there! When people tell you 2 weeks is not enough to explore the city...it really is NOT enough. I would have to say, my first time being in Asia was definitely a successful one! For the next several days, I will be posting about all the delicious finds that I have come across.

I didn't live anywhere near the city, but rather in Shek O. It was honestly pretty far from everything, including the MTR but it was nice going back to a place that is quiet at night. This was one of the restaurants I went to on the first day of my arrival. I believe most of these restaurants were family owned and/or occasionally opened on the weekends for tourists. Although secluded, the area featured a nice beach (which I will post later on) and a golf course nearby.

Doing it right by eating veggies! The first dish contains a blend of different veggies and some veggies that had a hallow interior. Not sure what it is in English, but it's known as "tong choi" in Chinese. The dishes were a lot bigger than the normal portions in Hong Kong but nonetheless still very delicious.

I'm not usually a fan of curry, but this is a soft shell crab dish. We had pitas that came with it so it balanced out the salty flavour. In the picture it looks like a pile of mess, but I assure you that it was very very good. I would probably say that there was a bit too much sauce to crab ratio but other than that, it was super filling!

 This was some of the menu items that they had in the restaurant. Mostly it was more Malaysian style or some sort of fusion dish. For the price of these dishes, it was a pretty big portion for the same price as if you were to go into the city. You can briefly see the other options on the other side of the menu, but they really do have a variety of options on the menu. This is one of the rarer restaurants in the area that would be open everyday of the week, and even into the late night.

The last item we ordered was beef and chicken skewers. I don't have much to say about this except for the fact that it was tender yet chewy. It wasn't the best item that I had there but it isn't terrible, just nothing special. Skewers can go really wrong sometimes being over cooked or burned, but these were pretty standard. Overall I'd rate this restaurant a 2.5/5 stars. Wasn't exactly the BEST of the best, but it was very moderate. The total came out to be only $24 CAD with tips. With that being said...for 4 items, and pretty much not being able to finish everything? I think that is well worth the price!

Kinton Ramen (New location at Yonge and Sheppard)

Busy school schedule means no time to go out and eat! This expedition was a bit of a random, which hopefully will explain the lack of quality in these shots (it was shot by my Samsung Galaxy S4). I couldn't get a picture of the front of the store since someone was either cleaning it or repainting the sign...either way it was a little bit awkward. This sign is located on the side of the restaurant and has a whole wall dedicated to their logo, the pig. Just like all the other Kintons, the layout was pretty much the same but this one in North York is much smaller than the one in Toronto.

From the picture above, you can see that that is pretty much it for the restaurant. There's a side of chairs on the other side of the wall and a long bench where we sat. Ramen restaurant seatings are usually fairly uncomfortable and very intimate. We shared the table with 2 other groups on either side of us, pretty much hearing the whole conversation.

I ordered the spicy garlic light broth, pork belly, with an extra egg that costed $1.50. The ramen only came with noodles and one piece of meat which I was fairly disappointed. Maybe this is a new menu they are trying, but I don't remember only receiving broth and noodles at the other locations. To add seaweed, corn, or "Extras" costed $1 - not amused Kinton

For a $1.50 egg it was fully cooked and not soft boiled. You may be able to see that it's a bit "moist" but I accidentally dipped it in the soup base before. The egg was very cold and the soup was very hot so the mix was quite interesting. At least the texture of the noodle was ramen-like.

I know I asked for a light broth...but it was very close to tasteless. Usually if I were to eat at home, I don't like intense flavours so it's safe to say that I have a very bland taste bud. The only thing I can taste was the garlic and perhaps a pinch of salt. The pork shoulder was pretty much all fat rather than a good proportion. We waited for about 10 minutes although there was a line up. The waiters/waitresses seemed like they were overworked and tired that every time they spoke to us it seemed like they were trying to catch their breath (poor things).

Still managed to finish the whole bowl...but the spicy garlic broth, might have to rethink about ordering that again. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I will ever go to this location again after having to pay a total of $13 with tax for one bowl. The rating for this restaurant would have to be no more than 0/5 stars. Sorry Kinton, I was pretty hungry too so it would've been easy to satisfy my ramen craving.

Kiku Japanese Cuisine/Destiny's Bubble Tea

 Sushi, again! Another birthday calls for sushi celebration! My dear friend is celebrating her birthday this month and we had the opportunity to go to Kiku to try out their menu. The interior of the restaurant is quite modern. It allows you to feel as if everything inside is new and fresh. The chairs were slightly awkward to sit on, since as you can see in the photo that the ones in the aisle did not have a back rest. What is cool about this restaurant is that they adopted the idea of using an ipad to place your order, so you don't have to flag someone down. 

We didn't have the all you can eat option, but instead ordered a party set. It was the sushi and maki set. It consisted of squid, shrimp, salmon, octopus, red and white tuna, eel, imitation crab, and some other fish near the tip of the boat. We didn't realize that there would be so many sashimi sushi, but we should've paid more attention when the description said 'assorted sushi'. It was an awesome set because it consisted of green dragon and red dragon! 

Although some of us at the table weren't really a fan of the sashimi sushi (such as myself) it wasn't a horrible experience. The squid was my least favourite though, probably because of the texture and slime that came with it. The salmon was my second least favourite, since it came warm. 

 The rest of the sushi was mediocre, nothing great nothing horrible. It's phenomenal to see restaurants serving a la carte options for those who don't have a big appetite. Unfortunately though, it really causes the quality of the sushi to be less than spectacular. I was a bit shocked that there was no sauce on top of the dragon rolls. Usually, those would be my favourite but I wasn't that big of a fan. 

I took a picture of the place set to feature some of the sushi. The plates at the restaurant were a bit dirty, so I'd advise you wipe it down yourself first before enjoying your meal. It was the standard wooden chopsticks, soy sauce in a bottle kind of restaurant. Not sure if I would suggest coming here again for the food, but if they wanted a modern looking restaurant sushi north of the 404...this would be the place! I'm rating this restaurant a 2/5 stars. The total of the bill was about $80 with tips and tax.  

Destiny's is totally unrelated to the sushi restaurant, but we went to the neighboring plaza to grab some cake and dessert. No birthday is complete without cake! Destiny's is one of the popular bubble tea place north of the 404. They have been challenged by other bubble tea cafes recently though. The atmosphere is bright, which allows you to be awake while you sip through the night with your drink. I would not advise you to order a piece of oreo cake if you already had a very filling meal.

 I enjoyed the strawberry shortcake very much and usually is one of my favourites. We also had drinks as well but perhaps I'll make another blog entry about that. The total for this dessert adventure costed us $40 with tips and tax. 

Sariwon Korean BBQ

Sariwon Korean BBQ is located in Thornhill close to K-Town. We got there around 7:30 pm and left closer to 9 pm, whilst there were still many people enjoying their food there! First look at the menu (which I wish I had taken a picture of) was slightly confusing. For their BBQ option, you have to order a minimum of 2 orders.  

 I'm the type of person that likes variety. But being limited to choosing the same type of meat was slightly frustrating. Also on top of that most of the meat was at least $20 and over. I don't exactly want to pay for the same order twice if I am not getting variety. That slightly (sarcasm) disappointed me. We were seated in a corner in another room so it was hard to flag someone down.

When we finally placed our order of pork belly, the waitress laid down the meat for us. One good thing is that there is a fan beneath the grill that sucked the air so when you leave the restaurant you don't have that BBQ smell. Also the rack allowed the fat to drip down to make it slightly healthier unlike Chako's where it was just drowned in fat. 

 The meat wasn't seasoned so they provided us with some type of sauce to dip it in. Also if you preferred the lettuce option instead of rice it seems to be healthier. I enjoyed the experience a lot and the food can probably be rated 3.6/5 but I would not go back solely for the lack of variety. I felt that we were forced to pick specific meat at a decent price...or else it would have been $30+ for one person!  

SMASH Kitchen and Bar

I have been wanting to try this place for a while since it is so close to home. Located in the GTA (Markham) it has been the new buzz for us locals. It definitely isn't a place where you can spot it easily since it is tucked away in the corner. The first feeling when I got in wasn't like a normal restaurant but rather it was just a place where people go to. Usually when I step into the restaurant I feel comfortable and excited but with SMASH I didn't feel that way.

As you can see from the first few pictures, the decor was quite interesting. The light fixtures did intrigue me so I did feel the need to take a couple of snaps. I enjoyed the view of the restaurant closer to the inside but not where most of the action happened since we sat in a booth. It was difficult to see the rest of the restaurant and these were really the only pictures that I could get a decent view of something rather than nothing.

I ordered an [angry] lobster linguine. Even though I was very excited to see what the restaurant had to offer, I was very disappointed. There was a couple of lobster pieces in the pasta but it was severely torn apart and did not have the chewy texture anymore. Not sure how often people order the seafood there but it tasted like it has been frozen for a while. It tasted very much like they defrosted it from the freezer and plated it. The bread had a very rubber texture so I was not a fan of that either. 

 The only other dish that I really got to try was the risotto. The taste was very flavorful although the texture of the rice was debatable. Instead of a soft texture it was almost under-cooked. The mussels were not all fully cooked either but it was definitely better than my linguine. Perhaps we all ordered very similar menu items but I was not impressed with the plating. For the amount we paid for I at least expected something more on the dish. 

Perhaps if we ordered steak or salmon it would have looked more appealing but the rest of the dishes looked pretty similar. Most of them had some sort of red or orange colour in the dish and topped off with some sort of rectangular object, either being a meat or bread. Not 100% sure if I would recommend this to anyone but it was definitely a place to try. I would rate this restaurant probably a 1.8/5 stars. The waitress we had wasn't exactly friendly with us either. Definitely made this evening "extra" special with removing our plates without even asking if we are done.