Fu Shing Shark Fin and Seafood Restaurant, Causeway Bay

I went to this restaurant with my wife on a Saturday to have some dim sum, despite its descriptively long (and unethically sounding) name.

It is located in the busy Causeway Bay shopping area and on an upper floor in a commercial building. It is quite big with a lot of tables and not cramped. Tables are clean, crockery is all white and decor is inoffensive, if a little dated.

The Dim Sum dishes are ordered by marking your your choices on the pre-printed paper and handing to the waiters. We handed our completed forms and asked for Iron Buddha tea to drink.

Cha Siu was the first dish to arrive. This barbecued pork was mostly lean as requested to the staff when we ordered, which resulted in an enjoyable starting dish of small pieces of well cooked meat. It came dressed with a sweet sauce to add a bit more flavour.

Cha Siu

Egg tarts were second item to arrive. These were mini ones and were served hot, with the crusty pastry outside and were delicious and sweet overall. I ate one and saved one until later as a pseudo dessert.

Egg Tart

We then received the following four dishes in the bamboo steamers: Spare Ribs; Prawn Dumpling; Shanghai Dumpling and Cantonese Sponge Cake.

Top: Spare Ribs, Bottom: Shanghai Dumpling

The pork Spare Ribs (Pai Gwut) were good meat pieces that were fairly spicy from the black bean marinade with a diced pepper garnish, which made them look a bit prettier. The Shanghai dumplings (Siu Long Bao) had a thick pastry skin, nice pork filling and small amount of tasty soup broth in them. Prawn Dumpling (Har gow) had small, but fine pieces of prawn wrapped in white pastry that was not too sticky. The Sponge Cake (Ma Lai Go) was decent enough but small in size (to what we were expecting) and so the least liked of the dishes we ordered.

Top: Prawn Dumpling; Bottom: Sponge Cake

The Savoury Dumpling (Ham Shui Kok) was the last of our order to arrive. The outer deep fried pastry was more white than the usual golden colour, although it tasted no different to ones I have eaten previously. The filling had some taro paste in it though, which was different but a nice additon to the standard pork-based filling.

Savoury Dumpling

The final dish was Sago with Mango and Pomela, which was free. Sago is sweet dessert soup that is common in this region and this one had some fresh pieces of mango mixed in, along with some strips of pomelo, which gave it a bitter twist. It was a very nice end to our meal.

Complimentary Dessert

The food in this restaurant was good and very satisfying. Service is efficient and quite friendly for this type of local establishment. It is a popular eatery too, judging by the number of patrons when we were there. The surroundings were comfortable so if you are not looking for anything ultra modern this is a good place for a Dim Sum lunch.

Scores
Food: 4/5
Presentation: 3/5

Service: 3/5

Setting: 3/5

Total: 13/20

Bill: HK$388, about GBP£16 a head.

We ate: All of the above.

We drank: Iron Buddha Tea.

I wore: Camper trainers.

Fiat Caffe, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

After visiting the Taco restaurant earlier on in the day, I was here at the Fiat Caffe with my wife in between a wedding ceremony and the evening reception.

This cafe is also a showroom for the Fiat 500 car and several of these automobiles make up the decor. It is not very big and fairly busy but we managed to get a eat without problems. We got a special car seat, which we had to surrender unfortunately during our visit, but more on that later.

We were given a menu and ordered. As this was just an afternoon snack visit we both ordered something light, with a drink to accompany.

Food came first and there was a little break in time before the drinks arrived.

The panini was very good. It was served on a wooden board for some rustic charm. The bread was lightly toasted, the ricotta cheese and egg filling was good and the anchovies gave it a salty twist that worked well. It was also served with a tasty chilled potato salad and tomatoes.

Panini

The tea arrived (finally) with a mug of hot water and and very stylish pyramidal fine-wire mesh tea bag. Milk was served in a little pot.

English Breakfast Tea

My wife ordered blue mussels, which are not pictured. They were very tasty in their wine and onion sauce although the portion was quite small.

Food wise this cafe serves tasty fare but it is expensive. This is exemplified by the fact that they sell the world's most expensive coffee, a whopping £60,000.00! But you do get a Fiat 500 Ferrari edition car with it. So overall not great value for money.

An Expensive Coffee

Also as noted above we were asked to move seats as they forgot that someone had already reserved them. Coupled with the fact that it took longer for our drinks to arrive than the food suggests service could be improved significantly before we think about returning again.

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

Total: 12/20

Bill: HK$245, about GBP£10 a head.

We ate: Cheese, Egg & Anchovy Panini; Mussels with White Wine, Onion & Parsley.

We drank: Earl Grey and English Breakfast Tea.

I wore: A brown suit.

Arima, Admiralty, Hong Kong

The Chinese (or Lunar) New Year period is a time for family gatherings. We had a get-together with my wife's side of the family at Arima, a Japanese restaurant in Admiralty.

This restaurant is in an office building where there are other restaurants in that floor. Most of these were closed with it being the weekend and this place was fairly quiet when we arrived. We had a private room where our seats were placed around the hot plate cooking station. The room overlooked the harbour towards Kowloon, which was quite pleasant (albeit with reclamation works in progress) and made it a bright space.

The View

We had a teppenyaki set where the chef cooked our main courses in front of us. A pre-prepared salad and appetiser were served to us as the chef was preparing his food.

The garden salad, shown below, had mixed leaves and cherry tomatoes with a sesame flavoured dressing, which all made a nice and fresh starter.

Salad

The Appetiser consisted of peas, fish liver and oyster. The Liver was soft and tasty; the lightly battered oyster with mayonnaise was good and peas were just snack like.

Appetiser

King prawn was the first dish to be cooked. These were big prawns at first and quartered when fried and served up on the scallop shaped plate. This was a nice  started to the main courses, with the prawns having a buttery flavour from the seasoning the chef gave it.

King Prawn

Abalone was next, which was quartered as well then fried. It had the usual chewy texture without being sore on the jaw. Quartering it probably helped in the easing the chewing process.

Abalone

The large scallop was halved and after frying was served back in its shell for extra presentation. This was probably the best fried dish of the day; it was seasoned lightly so the flavour and texture was simple was great.

Scallop

Thin slices of beef were then cooked to our liking, for which I had medium. This equates to a few seconds of cooking, then the beef was used to wrap fried garlic and spring onion. The beef was of decent quality and the filling gave the overall dish some more crunch and flavour.

Beef

Miso soup was the standard issue with Japanese meals. It was not bad, served at a decent temperature and contained the usual seaweed and tofu.

Miso Soup

Fried rice was cooked when we were drinking the soup. The chef did well to cook a large amount of rice with the egg, spring onion and ham for ten lunchers and spilt them up evenly.

Fried Rice

The last cooked dish was fried vegetables. The main constituents were bean sprouts and cabbage, with shreds of carrots tossed in as well. It was fine with a decent taste, crunchy and not too oily.

Fried Vegetables

After we finished the mains we were given dessert of fruit and a choice of ice cream, shown in the pictures below. The fruit was really good, the melon was sweet and juicy and the strawberries were large and slightly sour. For the ice cream I chose vanilla flavour and that rounded off the meal nicely.

Fruit Dessert

Ice Cream Dessert

All the food that was cooked in front of us was seasoned basically so it was the ingredients, some of which are very nice, that make the taste. Nothing was bad and it was all very filling by the time we finished. Service was fine but not excellent for the price you pay.

As noted, it is not cheap, which could explain why Arima was quiet the time we visited. Also, as it is in a commercial and government area (the Hong Kong Legislative Council building is next door). It probably has a decent trade during lunchtimes but the meal set we had was a relaxed and expensive lunch, which probably suits overpaid and underworked politicians, but not the option to choose if you want to grab a quick, cheap bite to eat. Therefore one had better go a la carte if you visit but do not have the time or money.

Scores:

Food: 3/5

Presentation: 4/5

Service: 3/5

Setting: 4/5

Total: 14/20

Bill: HK$680 for two, about GBP£35 a head (if including the 10% service charge).

I ate: Teppenyaki Set for two.

I drank: Asahi beer and green tea.

I wore: 7 For All Mankind Jeans.

Taco Chaca, Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Coming home from playing football I was in need to some food. Taco Chaca is only a few streets away from my flat so I popped in here to get a quick takeaway to refuel myself.

It is a newly opened eatery and has a take-away style look to it with a few benches so you can sit in. I was the only customer when I walked in and looked at their extensive menu of American-Mexican items that was above their counter and decided to go for a chicken burrito.

After choosing, money was exchanged and the assistant (of non Americas origin) started cooking. It did not take too long to cook and soon and I wandered back up to my flat to start eating.

The photograph below does not do the burrito much justice as the tortilla covers up all the contents. The flour tortilla was soft and wrapped the Mexican rice, refried beans, onions, small pieces of chicken and sour cream. There was some spice in it too. Although it did not look it when I unwrapped the packaging, the burrito was filling and tasty, with a good mix of flavours.

My Order

Also included in my order there was a little salsa pot, which was nice and chilli sauce dip for extra spice if necessary.

The burrito is a little bit light on the chicken and this basic meal order is a bit more expensive than other nearby restaurants serving local food. However this restaurant is quick, good and something different so worth returning too.

It is also interesting that they have a one dollar surcharge if you are taking away your order, maybe it is for the foil wrapper and plastic bag?

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

Total: 11/20

Bill: HK$63, about GBP£5.

I ate: A Burrito Pollo.

I drank: Nothing.

I wore: A rather sweaty Canterbury Crusaders top