Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lawry's The Prime Steak (Hong Kong)

33 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong,
Phone: (852) 2907 2218



Background
Lawry's is a traditional US steak house. The decoration is the original North America style. The size is big - big tables, big sofa and big dishes. If you don't want to wait for tables or eat late at 9pm, you better make a reservation in advance. On that day, I saw the model-like model (or artist or? whatever she is) Tse Ting Ting and Jacky Chan's son. Yes, the Hollywood star- Jacky Chan.

Food
Their signature dishes are 4 different sizes of renowned steak.
California Cut - 6 oz.
English Cut - 7 1/2 oz. in three thin slices
Five Crowns Cut - 10 oz.
Henry VIIIth Cut - 20 oz. Bone-in (It is also called Diamond cut)

From left to right: Five Crowns cut & Henry VIIIth cut


It also comes with a bread pudding for us to dip the gravy.

I personally do not recommend ladies to order any side dish as I can barely finish the steak myself.

*Don't try the chicken.... bad!! It tastes like a chicken cooked in soup.

Environment / Service
The environment is very nice and comfortable. The space between each table is more than enough. You won't be able to hear the arguements between a dude and a girl sitting next to you :P

The service is good, however, comparable to Morton's Steak House (Another Americian steak house from Chicago, located in Sheraton Hotel HK). (A review about Morton's will be posted later)

Tips
Book 2-3 days in advance and don't forget to bring your American Express Platnium Card to enjoy 50% off!!!

It usually costs me less than HK$700 for 2 people.


I will be back for dinner!!!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

壽司處今村Sushi Imamura

Hi guys, long time no see!! I gotta say sorry because I didn't have time to try the Brunch Club. I will post the review right after I have tried it.



Address: 銅鑼灣,軒尼詩道523-527號恆和鑽石大廈16樓
16/F, Contential Diamond Plaza, 523-527 Hennessy Road,
Causeway Bay,HK Tel : 28360056 http://www.sushiima.com/



About Imamura

This is a small Japanese restaurant owed by a Japanese Sushi Chief, Imamura-san. He migrated to HK 20 years ago. I have been to this restaurant more than 20 times. Actually, I should say I go there at least once a month. It doesn't have any fancy decorations, however, the space between tables are more than enough. You don't have to worry about eavesdropping!! *You have to book in advance, if not, you may not get your seats (especially weekends)*

Food
There are about 9 lunch sets you can choose which are Tempura, Udon and Sushi. Definitely, you can also choose from a la carte as well, sadly, the price is much higher. One smart choice is Set 2. You can pick 10 pieces of sushi from around 20 choices. The choices change regarding the seasons. The limelight is that uni and toro are also in the list (they're always there)!! I choose it everytime when I am there!!!! Every piece of sushi is fresh, now, I don't go to other local Japanese chain restaurant. One thing I have to point out is that the seaweed around the sushi is a bit soggy. (That's the only thing I don't like)

Set 2:
  • Appetizer (Change weekly)
  • 10 pieces of sushi
  • Miso Soup
  • Steamed egg
  • ice-cream








Service

The service is pretty good. I really don't have much to say, the waitresses are polite!

Price
The price is from $120-$200. It's not that expensive for such a good quality of sushi. My favourite set 2 is about $150.


Restaurant Tips:
I personally believe that the price of the lunch sets are better value than the dinner sets. (ie) For 10 pieces of sushi cost about $150 during lunch. During dinner, they cost about $700 for 10 pieces. Well!! You can say that the quality is better at night. HOWEVER, about $500 more for bit-better quality sushi!! I would say it is not worth it!! If you are willing to pay $700 or more, go to Inagiku at Four Seasons Hotel.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Coming UP next


Brunch Club

http://www.brunch-club.org/locations.php?sID=locations

Ground Floor,
70 Peel Street,
Central, Hong Kong

Hopefully I can try this little cafe this Saturday and will share with you guys again!!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Sift Dessert Bar

中環嘉咸街46號地面

Add: G/F, 46 Graham Street, Central
Tel: (852) 2530 4288
Hrs: Tuesdays to Sundays – 3:00pm to 11:30pm
with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays
when we close at 12:30am

I love desserts!! One good thing about Hong Kong is that there are so many expats here, as a result, varieties of food are available. The sad thing is, there are limited selection of desserts!!! This is a serious problem.

Recently, a friend of mine told me about this dessert bar,
Sift. Sift is a small dessert bar with about 3-4 small tables inside and about 8 seats available at the bar. You can also choose to sit outside. I personally don't think it's a good idea to do that in summer. Immediately, I went there and ordered few plates. Luckily, there were seats for 2 when I arrived. Right after I'd sat down, there were people queuing up.

All about food

Not long after I'd sat down, the waitress put down a menu for me. Out of 9 desserts, I pic
ked
  • Chocolate and strawberry pavlova and
Chocolate and strawberry pavlova, chardonnay gelée
  • Chocolate Fantasie.
Chocolate napoleon, chocolate crème brulée, warm chocolate tart,
chocolate sorbet


Everything was pre-made in advance. The waitress had to put all the little pieces together to make the desserts. (If you have a chance to sit at the bar, you'll be able to see how the waitresses make the desserts.) The waitress took the pavlova out right after we ordered and squeezed some whipped cream and sliced strawberries on top. Besides that, there was a mini cup of champagne jelly. Woowow!!! I can't wait to try !!! They were very delicious!! (Well, maybe you don't agree with me. Please understand that I am in this place where desserts are in deficit.) I finsihed everything in 15 minutes. [I want to go to Sift now].

In the menu, they also serve dessert wine and ice-chocolate. I have only tried 2 kinds of wine as these 2 sell in cups, others have to order the whole bottles. The wine isn't bad at all, it's worth a try. The ice-chocolate comes with the toasted marshmallow. It is toasted until the surface turns brown.

Price


Finally, it's time for the bill. It's HKD$198. Obviously, it's a premium price. You can eat desserts at 5-star hotels too with better seats, maybe a sofa!!! Unfortunately, I have to say that, up to now, I can't find any hotels are serving this type of desserts here!!! What a tragedy!!!!

Service Quality


In order to find out more dessert cafes, I usually research on this. Guess what I find out. There are comments about the poor service quality at Sift. Let me give a fair opinion about this issue. The waitresses aren't showing any rude manner at all, however, they don't smile!! Up to this moment, I have been to Sift for 5 times. I hardly see them smile, even the boss!! Is this a problem? Well, it all depends on you!!


Same question again, will I go there again?

YES, I will.


Any more good dessert bars??? Share it with me!!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

紅雙喜 Double Happiness

Address: 中環士丹頓街48號地下
Telephone : 2549 1862

It's a small Chinese Shanghai cafe. This place was very special, it decorated with all the Double Happiness matchboxes and pingpong balls. After a while, I finally realized the theme of the restaurant is double happiness. Even the washroom is full of double happiness related products!!!!

This restaurant offers Shanghai dumplings and some western food like chocolate warm cake and white wine. Is it a fusion restaurant? Well, I am not sure, decide it yourself when you eat there.

I ordered:


  • dumplings;

  • pork ribs;

  • dan dan noodles;

  • shrimp in wine; and

  • the daily soup tonight (all the food is MSG free!).
I believed the dumplings were the best among all the dishes. The filling was mixed equally with vegetable and pork; I didn't like those with 90% pork and 10% vegetable. The dumplings were juicy and crispy with such a well balanced stuffing.

According to the waitress, the pork ribs is their signature dish, it tasted a little bit too sweet. Other than that, the meat was tender and marinated at a pretty good level.

The dan dan noodles are worth to try. The texture of the noodles is chewy and the soup isn't thick like other generic dan dan noodles. I can finish one bowl myself!! This is the best dan dan noodles I have even had. The noodles doesn't get soaky after putting it aside for a while.

The shrimp in wine and the daily soup were fair. There is no surprise about them. You don’t really have to order the shrimp if you are not a shrimp lover.

We didn’t order any dessert as we went to a dessert bar (Sift, please refer to my review on it) afterwards.

The service was pretty good; the waitress paid attention to us and changed the dishes for us when we needed. They were very polite with smile on their face.

It’s time for the bill. The price was reasonable, it’s around HKD$280 for 4 dishes and 1 soup (enough for 2 persons).

Will I go there again??

YES, definitely will.