208 Duecento Otto, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

I was at this Italian restaurant to celebrate the third birthday of my first cousin, once removed.

We had a large table in their upstairs floor as there were about ten of us. It is a very bright space because of the big glazed window at the front letting a lot of light in. The decor is modern and clean.

Each one of our dining party ordered an item or items for everyone to share and this is how we got on:

I chose gnocchi and salad from their menu. The gnocchi was mixed with a tomato and herb sauce but could have had a bit more flavour. Salad was a basic green one but nice fresh ingredients with a light and tasty dressing. 

My order of Gnocchi and Salad

There was a starter platter as well as a burger ordered by our lunchers, which are shown in the photographs below. The platter had a variety of hams that were nice and a very creamy goats cheese that was tasty as well as quite fattening. I did not try the burger but had a chip which were neatly cut into cuboid shapes.

Burger and Chips

Starter Platter in background

Mushroom pizza is not my favourite variety of pizza but I ate a slice nonetheless. It was served on a wooden board and had different varieties of mushroom and a thin crust so not too filling.


Mushroom Pizza

I also ordered a dessert, which is pictured below left and was an ice cream with some strawberry garnish. This was of vanilla flavour and nothing special about it. My wife ordered the chocolate molten cake which is shown on the right. I had a taste of it and it was nice, not too rich and the molten was not burn-your-tongue hot either.

Dessert

This is a family orientated restaurant as there is a children's playroom on the ground floor so this place is good for families and big parties. The food is fine, if nothing spectacular and is all presented well. Service was friendly but some of the multi-national staff could have better command of English, although they may have been better versed in Italian given the restaurant type we were in? Anyway, a decent time was had; whether I will return shall be seen.

Scores:

Food: 3/5

Presentation: 3/5

Service: 2/5

Setting: 4/5

Total: 12/20

Bill: Approximately HK$400 a head although we were treating some of the party.

I ate: A bit of everything from the above

I drank: Peroni beer and water

I wore: Respectable shirt and jeans.



祥興 (Cheung Hing), Happy Valley, Hong Kong

I am here at breakfast time for an early Lunch Quest (from a short while ago as I have a bit of a backlog). I am in a 'cha chaan teng', literally a tea restaurant that is a few minutes walk from my flat. This local cafe does not have an English name (you can see this from the sign of their unassuming shop front in the photograph below) so the phonetic translation is 'Cheung Hing'.

The shop front

It is a fairly famous restaurant as some photographs of local celebrities and newspaper clippings adorn the walls. I am not sure when it was established but it is likely it has never been refurbished. The furniture is still functional though, but I foresee this place getting a little cramped when it gets busy.

However, there were only a few diners as I walked in so was able to get a table easily to myself. There is no English on the menu, apart from some letters designating set meals. Needless to say I ordered an 'A' meal. In truth I do know some Chinese characters so I sort of knew what I was going to get.

Macaroni & Tea

My order arrived very quickly, with the first component of the meal being macaroni with ham. My drink, which was a tea, came next. The third part of my meal, which is not pictured, was two fried eggs and two slices of bread.

The macaroni was in a clear soup base, probably chicken stock, garnished with shreds of processed ham. The tea was hot and strong and in these type of cafes they are served with evaporated milk, giving it a distinct taste. I can drink it this way but am more accustomed to using standard milk. The eggs were freshly fried over-easy and the bread was soft and white, with the crusts cut off, from which I made an egg sandwich out of.

Overall the food in this place is more than edible, it was served in plastic bowl and plate, but I did get a porcelain tea cup and saucer. It is a cheap, efficient and unassuming cafe and a filling way to start the day.

Total bill: $28, about £2.50

I ate: All the above.

I drank: Tea.

I wore: not pyjamas.

W1 Restaurant, iSquare, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

I have been terribly busy this past month, hence the lack of blogging action. Rest assured I have been eating and for this entry we are on the Kowloon side for some dim sum on a Saturday lunch time, which was partaken some time ago. This restaurant is situated on the 25th floor of the iSquare shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. As we were eating a bit later the lunch time rush must have gone and we were able to be seated straight away.

The menus were on the table already and we ordered the following items.

The Drunken Chicken dish arrived first, it was good with an alcoholic marinade taste that was not too strong. Double boiled soup followed soon after; this was a pork based soup and had a very thin and clean taste.

Drunken Chicken in the background, Double boiled soup in foreground

The photograph below shows most of our order. Five dishes are noted, starting from the top row, left hand side and working right to left then onto the next row (hope that made sense). The noodles were linguine-style and were soup based to give it a good flavour and slightly spicy. The 'Siu Mai' shrimp and pork dumplings were nice, with a scallop placed on top for some variety. The steamed custard buns are a sweet dish were the ones that had a runny filling in them; we left them to cool a bit so that the filling did not burn our mouths. The 'Siu Long Bao' Shanghai dumplings only numbered 3, which was a little disappointing and there was not that much soup in them. The 'Har Gow' prawn dumpling had a nice pastry and prawn filling with courgette for a little crunch.

Most of our order

We also ordered an abalone dish that was served on a light pastry.The abalone was cooked and chewy, with a sauce accompanying it and the pastry was flaky. It worked quite well; like a really posh pie I suppose.

Abalone

The best thing about this restaurant is the view. It's located on the 25th floor and one can see easily across the harbour and onto the island. The food was decent with some dishes better than others, as is the case when eating dim sum. Service was adequate and efficient and tableware was elegant and all nicely presented. Overall a decent restaurant that I will most likely go again if in the area.

The view

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 13/20

Bill: About $300 total, so about 12.50GBP a head.

I ate: all of the above.

I drank: numerous cups of Dragon's Well tea.

I wore: A sweaty t-shirt following my site visit that morning.

Le Beaulieu, Sofitel Legend Metropole, Hanoi

This late lunch quest comes from Hanoi, where my wife and I went to celebrate our first anniversary as a married couple. We dined at Le Beaulieu which is located on the ground floor of the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel, one of the best places to stay in this city.

The restaurant is elegant, without being to opulent and the maitre'd greeted us and led us to our clean and presentable table. It was not full but not completely empty either. Both of us went for the set menus consisting of four courses and this is how we got on.

Table Setting

The starter from my set menu was duck and fig pâté shown below. This was wrapped in a pastry crust and served along with baby leeks that had a mustard dressing. This was a nice looking starter, which could have done with a touch more flavour but quite filling too.

Starter

Tomato Confit

My wife's starter from the set menu was the tomato confit shown above, which had apparently been cooking for eight hours.

The second course was Tiger Prawn with squid. The prawn was meaty and slightly spicy with the squid being nice too. This was accompanied with some peas and peppers adding some crunch to the dish.

Prawn

Lamb was chosen for the main third course. The two pieces of lamb were well cooked to the medium standard that I asked for and was tender and juicy. It was served with a coffee type sauce that was interesting and sat on a bed of sauteed vegetables. A pumpkin puree was served as a side which was a lovely and sweet alternative to mash potatoes.

Lamb

For dessert the option was the Chocolate Burger. This to me was the best dish of the evening by far, good enough to make my wife envious of it (she got a parfait with marinated fruits). This delicious treat had layers of biscuit and crumble with different chocolate flavours mixing excellently.

Chocolate Burger

Le Beaulieu was a lovely place to have an anniversary dinner. The setting could have been slightly dimmer for a more romantic ambience and there were a few families there but these are minor things. Service was friendly and attentive, with a good standard of English (I am not sure how good their French is). As with quality establishments this is not cheap and very expensive in Hanoi terms but a very good restaurant nonetheless.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 17/20

Total Bill: Complimentary, so many thanks to Sofitel Hotel!

I ate: Duck and Figs Pate en croute with Baby Leeks; Grilled Tiger Prawns and Squid with Carrot; Roasted Lamb Rack with Pumpkin Puree; Chocolate Burger.

I drank: Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc, Sparkling Water.

I wore: The anniversary gift of a Rolex GMT Master II watch, from my wife.

Prince, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

It was a public holiday in Hong Kong so I went with my wife to Prince in Lee Gardens shopping centre for a leisurely dim sum lunch.

As the restaurant is located in an upmarket shopping centre the setting is affluent as well, with decent sized and well laid-out tables with nice tableware. We ordered the following dishes as described below.

Spring rolls arrived first and fairly swiftly. These were different in that they were longer and thinner than the standard ones, plus it was served in a wine glass as shown below. The filling was different too in that it had fish meat that was quite tasty, rather than the usual pork and vegetable mix.

Spring Rolls

The picture below has four dishes. Scallop and vegetable dumpling at the top of the shot did not much scallop, disappointingly but overall OK. The egg tarts were the best dish of the lunch; they had really nice pastry and good sweet filling and we saved these treats until the end of our meal. The savoury dumpling was very standard, with a crispy sweet outside and pork based filling. The 'Har gow' had an adequately sized prawn wrapped by a decent pastry on the outside.

Clockwise from top: Scallop & Vegetable Dumpling, Egg Tart, Savoury Dumpling, Har Gow

Another dish we ordered was the Turnip Cake. This fried dish was a little bland to taste but was served with some peppers for a bit of colour.

Turnip Cake

Apart from the Egg Tarts and Spring Roll the rest of the dishes tasted not that much better than other dim sum restaurants that are common place here. Service was fine too.

One last point is the whilst it is a more high-end dim sum restaurant than usual ones, there were no napkins or serviettes that one would probably expect from a tea house trying to differentiate itself from the rest.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 13/20

Total Bill: $284, about £12 a head.

I ate: All of the above.

I drank: Cups of Dragon's Well tea.

Brown, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Last Sunday was Mid-Autumn Festival and taking a break from eating mooncakes, I went to a local restaurant, Brown for some brunch. I had breakfasted that morning but my wife was still on her first meal of the day.

The restaurant was not particularly busy at this time of day so there was not much difficulty in getting a seat, they even have some tables at the back. The decor is, modern and well, brown.

We ordered our food and drinks fairly quickly from their menu. I chose a 'Big Brown Breakfast' to eat and a 'Purple' smoothie to drink.

Our drinks came first, which were freshly made. Mine had cranberry, raspberry and strawberry yoghurt all blended up, giving it the purple colour and the taste was sweet and refreshing. My wife's milkshake was nice too.

My 'Purple' Smoothie to the left, Malteser Milkshake to right

My breakfast arrived afterwards and it contained bacon, sausage, roast potato, tomato, baked beans, white and brown toast slice and two eggs of you choice, which I chose to be fried over-easy. It was also garnished with some salad leaves with a vinaigrette, which was a strange addition but I ate it nonetheless. The egg was cooked as requested; the bacon was flavoursome; so too were the sausages but the were a bit smaller than anticipated; tomato was grilled with herbs and fine and the roast potatoes were probably a posher alternative to hash browns, although I would have preferred the latter. The toast was buttered with the little portion they gave out and that filled me up, along with the baked beans.

My Big Brown Breakfast Order

Brown has the tag line 'Bar Restaurant Lounge', making it a multi tasking eatery. It does fine in the restaurant department served decent fare. Overall it is ok, nothing too special, and service was efficient without being exceptional. Out of convenience I would go again due to its proximity, but would not tell people to make their way over here to eat.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 12/20

Total Bill: $350, about £14 a head.

I ate: Big Brown Breakfast.

I drank: Purple smoothie.

I wore: Sunday jeans and t-shirt.

Palm Court, Ritz Hotel, London

Following on from our visit to the Savoy, my wife and I  went to the Ritz Hotel for another afternoon tea session. This time it was at the even later sitting of 7.30pm, when most people are having their dinner.

The tea is held at their Palm Court on the ground floor. The hall is sizeable but tables are less spaced apart and our table was smaller than the one we had at the Savoy but still comfortable and well laid out. The room was opulently decorated, maybe a bit too garish for my tastes. They only have traditional afternoon tea so my wife and I chose that and I opted for Darjeeling tea to drink.

Table Setting

Sandwiches and pastries were served first on the tray. The sandwiches were in six flavours (Smoked Salmon, Cheese and Chutney, Ham and Mustard, Cucumber, Chicken and Egg Mayonnaise) which were all very pleasant. Similar to the Savoy these were replenished upon request.

Sandwich and pastry tray

The traditional pastries and cakes were served at the same time as the sandwiches and placed on the top tier of the tray. These consisted of chocolate cake, macaron, raspberry tart, vanilla slice. I tried most of these, with the vanilla slice being my favourite.

Following on from the two course were the Scones. These came with two accompaniments of clotted cream and strawberry jam. Again, like the Savoy visit our scones were ok but probably not oven fresh.

Scone with Cream & Jam

Another round of cakes were presented, which we were allowed to choose from. I chose a slice of Lemon Cake (not pictured) and my wife went for the pistachio cake shown below. My cake was fine, light and citrusy without being too sour, which ended the meal nicely.

My Wife's Pistachio Cake

We had also pre-ordered a cake with a message to be placed on top but due to various correspondence dealing with booking arrangements the cake came as plain, unfortunately. Nonetheless, we took this cake home to east as we were too full. This was mango and strawberry with icing and was really nice.

Cake (with no message)

Service varied depending on the waiter. They are all suited nicely in their tailcoats but some could have been slightly more friendlier. They did however not charge us for the cake due to the non message on it.

They had live music in the form of a quartet, playing more background music. The sound was better in the Savoy as they were located further away and to the side of the tea drinkers than in the centre of them.

Having tea at the Ritz was a nice experience, very filling and very popular to the masses (hence our late sitting). Price-wise it compares to the Savoy but to me for service and setting the Savoy was the better of the two afternoon tea heavyweights.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 15/20

Cost: £84 for two of us, no service charge.

I ate: All of the above.

I drank:  A lot of cups of Darjeeling  tea.

I wore: Suit and tie, which is their dress code for gentlemen. Tie by Gieves an Hawkes given from my wife.

Thames Foyer, Savoy Hotel, London

I am still in Europe and in UK's capital, London for some afternoon tea at Thames Foyer of the Savoy Hotel. I was accompanied by my wife, who being the afternoon tea loving type, was very excited in being here.

Being a top hotel, the room where tea was held was in a large hall,  with glass dome ceiling with tables well spread apart and arranged around the centrally placed grand piano (where the pianists played an eclectic mix of songs from different genres). We were shown to our table as we had already made a reservation, which was all set up with the nice crockery and cutlery.

Table Setting

Our waiter was a friendly chap, informing us of the varieties of tea they have on offer and the two different dining options, traditional and high tea. I chose the latter, which has more savoury dishes in lieu of scones and cakes.

The tea was served as a formal meal, with the sandwiches arriving as a first course. these arrived promptly after we ordered. There were five different fillings of Cucumber, Egg Mayonnaise, Chicken, Ham and Mustard and Smoked Salmon. All arranged in a pretty radial formation and formed a good 'starter'. The sandwiches arrived along with the Assam tea I chose. 

Sandwich First Course

After we made inroads into the sandwiches (which were replenished upon request) I was served my second course of Scrambled egg with Salmon. The egg was cooked well and salmon tasted nice after drizzling with lemon juice that came with it. It was also served with some thin slices of toast that I forgot to eat.

Salmon and Scrambled Egg Second Course

My third course was toasted Crumpet, which was accompanied with honey, orange preserve, and strawberry jam. These were more filling than tasty and to me crumpets are more of a breakfast item but they were not bad.

Crumpet Third Course

The last course was a choice of cakes for 'dessert' so I chose the classic Victoria Sponge. This was really lovely and a nice way to  end the tea sitting, of which I had sufficient. The sponge was light and there was a good amount of cream and sweet jam.

Cake Fourth Course

The scones came after the sandwich course for my wife and at our request they brought along the tray for presentation, as shown in the photo below. Below the scones on the bottom tray were the accompaniments of clotted cream, jam and lemon curd. My wife was generous enough to give me one scone, which was OK, but given as it was the end of the day, did not have that freshly baked taste. However, the lemon curd was lovely.

Scones with Jam & Cream

We were both really full and were able to take away the sandwiches and the staff were kind enough to give us extra slices of Victoria Sponge and chocolate cake.

The Savoy is not cheap and my high tea set cost slightly more than the traditional set my wife had, which had more pastries, cakes and scones.  Thinking about it that was probably better value for money considering the effort in making the sweeter items. However the grand hall is a lovely place to spend the (late) afternoon, where the service was very polite, helpful and attentive, the food is good and plentiful, with the standout item being the lemon curd.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Setting: 5/5

Overall: 18/20

Cost: £42.50 for my Afternoon High Tea, plus a 12.5% service charge.

I ate: All of the my Afternoon High Tea set and one Scone.

I drank:  A lot of cups of Assam tea.

I wore: Smart Loake shoes I had not worn for 18 months.

Mark Greenaway, Edinburgh

This entry is located way outside the Hong Kong boundary limits as I am in my home city of Edinburgh. I was also in revered company as I was lunching with LQ's co-founder and the Istanbul's bureau chief. There were four of us in total and making up the quartet was a regular LQ:ED contributor.

The restaurant is located in an Georgian townhouse making the main dining room large and airy.

We all chose from the set lunch menu and for my starter I ordered Mushroom velouté. This was served with one mushroom and single ravioli in a bowl and the velouté poured on top. It was a creamy, bubbly soup that had a very nice flavour, with the mushroom and pasta adding body to the dish.

Mushroom Veloute

The main course I chose was the Pork Belly and mash. The pork was soft, tender and chewy with a crispy and crunchy skin, which sat on a bed of savoy cabbage. There was a sweet sauce to accompany the dish and little apple cubes for garnish. 

Pork Belly

For the dessert I went for the Fish Bowl. This consisted of strawberry, cream, shortbread, jelly and ice cream. It was a decent assortment of those ingredients served in a glass bowl, with the fresh strawberries and cream being enjoyed the most by myself.

Fishbowl Dessert

All dishes were presented beautifully as shown in the photographs. Everything I ordered tasted great, with the velouté being my favourite course that day. Service was very good from the onset, with an attentive waiter and maitre d' serving us. Overall a top quality restaurant that I would thoroughly recommend.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 5/5
Service: 4/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 17/20

Cost: £20 for three courses, which was actually given to us for half the price as the menu was still on trial. However, we were treated by the generous P, thanks very much!

I ate: All of the above.

I drank: Sparkling water.

I wore: Casual top & jeans, a bit scruffy next to the sartorial elegance of LQ co-founder.

Cafe de Coral, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong

I am back in Hong Kong for this lunchquest and visited a local restaurant Cafe de Coral in Saturday. They are a well established chain with a lot of branches around the city, serving fast, local based food competing against other similar chains and foreign firms like McDonald's.

This branch is located in an office building and Saturday lunch was busy, but not as much as it is during the week.

They operate in a fast food style way where you chose your order at the front counter, then make your way to the back of the restaurant to pick up your food at the kitchen counter. I went for a Shanghai spare ribs dish that was served with rice and ordered a Sprite as my drink. My money was taken and I made my way to the queue to collect my order. The queue was not large and there was a slight wait for my food but nothing too long. Quite a few seats were available and I sat myself down to eat.

My Order

The Spare ribs were coated in a crispy batter that was ok but the pork meat could have been seasoned a bit more. To the side of the pork were some fried string beans, which were nice and crunchy. There was also a Smoked egg in the plate, which did not that much of a smoky taste.

To accompany the meat was a bowl of Vegetable Rice with chopped pak choi mixed in with the rice to give it more character and colour.

I do come here to this branch and others quite often as they are dotted around Hong Kong. As they are popular a lot of things are standardised so the meals are very average but good value for money and served at a quick pace. Trays and dishes are plastic but they are clean, along with the setting of the restaurant. So overall, a convenient and decent eatery.

As I write this entry I am in Hong Kong airport waiting for my flight to the UK, where I will soon be in the illustrious company of LQ Editor in Chief, lunching with him!

Scores
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Overall: 12/20

Total Bill: $38, about £3.50

I ate: Shanghai Spare Ribs with Beans, Smoked Egg and Vegetable Rice.

I drank: Sprite.

I wore: Standard weekend Jeans & T-shirt

Ramen Ryuyu, Naha, Okinawa

After all my previous write ups on this Okinawan holiday having been on establishments serving Western cuisine, this one below is a change.

My wife and I stumbled across Ramen Ryuya when walking around Naha town centre and this was our second visit to this noodle restaurant.

The decor inside is traditional Japanese although not old looking. There are basic tables and stools and also a counter by the kitchen that you can sit by.

I ordered a standard bowl of noodles, of the many variants that they have on offer. The friendly staff gave us a Chinese / English menu when they knew we were not locals.

My food arrived fairly quickly after ordering. The hand made noodles where nice with a slight buttery taste to them. The broth was pork based and flavoursome too and there were slices of pork and sprinkling bean sprouts to add some meat and crunch respectively, to the dish, which were good as well. This was all topped off with a sheet of seaweed as shown in the picture below.

My bowl of noodles

After we finished our noodles we were given a small bowl of flavoured ice, on the house. This was a nice, sweet end to the meal consisting of ice crushed into small pieces and a berry flavoured topping.

Complimentary Dessert (and tea towards the top)

A nice touch also were the paper bibs they have available to wear to stop any splashes getting on your clothes.

So this place was quite a find: the food was really good, service was friendly and efficient and it was reasonably priced by Japanese standards.

Scores:
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 13 /20

Total bill: ¥1400, about £7 a head.

I ate: Noodles

I drank: Chilled oolong tea, which was freely available.

I wore: Slightly damp clothes, accompanied with broken umbrellas due to the wind.

McDonald's, Naha, Japan

Having been stranded in Okinawa for a day due to a tropical storm, we had to stay overnight in Naha.

Our hotel tariff did not include breakfast so I decided to go the world famous Golden Arches for an early lunchquest.

The weather was still wet and windy that morning so luckily the restaurant was located nearby and my walk in the storm was not too long.

As I entered they had their menu board of items to choose from, which is pretty standard wherever you are in the world. There was nothing I noticed that seemed like a local variant so I opted for a Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin.

I ordered a meal and chose a hot tea and hash brown. After receiving my order I found a seat, of which there were plenty.

My Breakfast

The bun had the usual paper wrapping and unsurprisingly had a pleasant looking muffin with a sausage and egg filling and cheese slice. The sausage was slightly spicy, egg was thoroughly cooked and muffin was soft. The hash brown was hot and crunchy.

Sausage and Egg McMuffin

I actually ordered a lemon tea and was given a cup of hot water, tea bag and small carton of lemon juice, which was in lieu of real lemon slices. The drink was OK but I would have preferred the actual fruit to have come with it.

I usually have a sausage and egg muffin when breakfasting at McDonalds and this tasted no worse than from other branches around the world. Service and cleanliness was to the usual standard as well. Price wise I reckon this was on a par with UK. So that is another cross-country comparison of this global institute done!

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service:3 /5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 12 /20

Total bill: ¥440, about £3.75

I ate: Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin.

I drank: Lemon tea.

I wore: Slightly rain soaked t-shirt and cargo shorts.

Sesoko Beach, Okinawa, Japan

This was one of the many beaches we visited during the holiday in Okinawa. The sun was shining, sea was clean and marine life was moderately abundant.

There was a beachside restaurant serving fast food items and so I decided to go there for some food. It was the only establishment selling food so there was a long queue that I had to stand in before getting served. However, it meant that I had the time to decide on what to order.

As the menu was in Japanese I used pointing as means of communication and ordered what looked like fish and chips, which seemed like an apt meal to have when by the sea. It turned out to be chicken instead of fish, which was already made and kept warm by the counter so service was instant. I placed ketchup on it and returned to the beach to sit on the sand and share the meal with my wife.

Chicken and Chips

As the chicken had been cooked some time ago, the batter around the chicken pieces had lost its crispiness. The meat was cooked well enough. The chips were a lot tastier with some of the potato skin still on.

My meal did the task of filling me up adequately and that was it. It was not bad, even with plastic packaging and I can think of worse things to do than sitting on the beach in the sun after a morning's snorkelling.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 12 /20

Total bill: ¥600, which is about £5.

I ate: Chicken and chips.

I wore: Swimming shorts, flip flops and not enough sun cream.

Aqua Belle, Intercontinental Hotel, Onna, Okinawa

Konichiwa from Japan, where this entry is part of the greater Hong Kong series. On my birthday we popped into the Intercontinental Hotel Manza Beach Resort for my birthday lunch.

They have a few restaurants and we chose Aqua Belle, which does a western style lunch buffet. It has a well-lit, spacious setting and we got a window seat to have a good view of the sea.

For my first visit to the food counters I went for soup and salad. I poured a Clam Chowder from a machine and accompanied it with a baguette and Hokkaido butter. The soup did tasted like a it was from the sachet though. From the salad counter I picked a variety consisting of a green salad with vinegar dressing; potato salad and pasta salad, which was a better starter.

From top: Salad and Soup

I moved onto main dishes on my next visit and picked Chicken, Risotto and Pork Belly. The pork was actually served from someone standing at a carvery, which I thought was roast beef. However, the pork was nice and tender with salt and chilli tomato sauce to accompany it. The risotto was a little bit too sticky and lumpy but OK to taste and the chicken pieces were well grilled with some kind of spicy, tikka-style marinade. You will also see at the top of the picture below an iced milk tea, which was available from the counters to make for yourself.

Clockwise from 11 o'clock: Chicken, Risotto and Pork

The grilled chicken was that nice that it made another appearance on my third plate of food, which also consisted of pasta, chicken cooked another way and salmon. The pasta had beans mixed in and a cheese type sauce, which overall was a little bland. The fried chicken had a tomato based sauce and was fine. The pan fried salmon steaks were good though.

Clockwise from 11 o'clock: Two types of Chicken, Salmon and Pasta

On my last visit to the counters I chose sweet items. I took a plate of Cookies, Bread and Butter Pudding and Cake, along with a bowl of Watermelon and Dragonfruit. The cookies were crunchy, the bread and butter pudding was sweet and moist but could have done with some custard, the cake was a nice chocolate sponge type but not too sweet and the fruit was refreshing. What is not in shot is a purple coloured, Sweet Potato flavoured ice cream, Mr Whippy style. That was the last item I ate, which filled me up sufficiently.

From Left: Dessert and Fruit

So Aqua Belle does some good and some average Western type dishes. The waiters are friendly and efficient when clearing our plates and topping up our glasses with water and it offers fair value for money, compared to other hotel restaurants in Japan.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5

Overall: 13 /20

Total bill: Free, it was my wife's treat!

I ate: All of the above.

I drank: A self made iced milk tea, water.

I wore: The smile of a birthday boy.

Dragonair, Somewhere over the East China Sea

Hot on the heels of LQ Editor in Chief's lunch on board Turkish Airlines, I am on a Dragonair flight to Okinawa for a short holiday with my wife.

My flight departed at noon so lunch was served soon after take off. There was a choice of fish or pork and I chose the latter.

As I removed the foil lid from the main course I revealed three slices of pork belly, carrot, turnip and Chinese leaf. It was also accompanied with rice. The pork had a decent balance of meat and fat and was nice. I finished off the vegetables but left some of my rice as I had sufficient.

My in flight meal

There was a fruit side dish consisting of watermelon, melon and papaya slices, which brought a good end to my meal.

A bread roll with Lurpak butter was also included in the meal but I could not finish it off.

Apart from the foil lid everything else was in plastic, including the cutlery. However, that did not affect the taste as the lunch was fine enough fare to be served on a 2.5 hour journey. My economy seat was spacious enough and tray table was functional for the class I was in and the service was amiable from the air stewardesses.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5

Overall: 11/20

Total bill: Included in the flight price, which was about £350.

I ate: Pork belly with rice and vegetables, fruit slices and some bread.

I drank: Schweppes ginger ale and a cup of Chinese tea afterwards.

I wore: Jeans and t-shirt holiday wear.

Torigushi, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

We popped into this local Japanese restaurant, on a Sunday afternoon. Not sure if it was because we were having a late lunch but we were the only customers, so it was not hard finding a seat.
We sat down and ordered quickly and I chose from one of their set menus that consisted of several courses, of which the main course was cod.

After ordering we were presented with our Salad starter. Whilst the speed of delivery meant it was pre-prepared, the ingredients of different leaves and cherry tomatoes was fresh and came with a tasty dressing.

Salad and Table Setting

Next came a Miso Soup and a bowl of Steamed Egg. The egg was nice and light with some Shitake mushrooms added in. However, I could not finish the soup as there was too much Miso flavouring that gave it a powdery taste.

Miso Soup left, Steamed Egg right

I was then given two fried dumplings as shown below. They were freshly cooked and piping hot when served, along with a soy sauce -vinegar dip. The pastry exterior was golden and had a slight crunch with the inside was a tasty pork based filling.

Fried Dumpling

My main dish grilled cod arrived as the last course. I was given two slices that were on bed of lettuce, with some mayonnaise for a dip which was all  accompanied with a bowl of plain white rice. The fish was nicely grilled and seasoned so tasted good. The bowl of rice was too much and I could not finish it all off, however.

Grilled Cod Main Course

Whilst the food was decent enough, towards the end of the meal my wife noticed something not quite right. There was a cockroach near her on the floor. We alerted the staff and they did catch and dispose of it but questions must be raised about the restaurant's hygeine, considering it is not a local cafe nor has an open face exposed to the exterior. Therefore overall, Torigushi has good enough food and is of decent value, but cleanliness will be an issue if we think about coming here again.

Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 2/5

Overall: 11/20

Total bill: $208, so about £9 a head

I ate: All of the above, leaving some rice and miso soup behind.

I drank: Ice lemon tea, which was part of the meal.

I wore: Polo shirt and cargo shorts.