Sui Xuang, Tianhe, Guangzhou,

On the following day of our trip to Guangzhou, we decided to try this restaurant in the hotel we were staying at out of convenience, as we were checking out and had the rest of the afternoon to spend before heading back to HK.


The Hilton Tianhe is a very nice hotel and Sui Xuang is located on the fifth floor. Fitting with the hotel the restaurant has a very nice setting, as shown in the photograph below.

The Interior

This time we ordered seven items and as a change from the day before, ordered more savouries, so our ratio of savoury to sweet dishes was 5 to 2.

Roasted Chicken Wings; Siu Mai; Chestnut Cake

Here's what we ate.

Roast chicken wings: the skin seemed fried as it was crispy and there was thyme used in the seasoning. It was nice but seemed like a Western dish.


'Siu Mai': this staple of dim sum cuisine was a tasty shrimp and pork meat dumpling, with crab roe topping.


Pan fried water chestnut cake: this was a bit different from the one we ate at Panxi. This one was fried and pleasant enough but not as nice as the one we had the day before.

'Siu Long Bao' dumplings

'Siu Lung Bao': only three dumplings were served, compared to usual four you get in other dim sum restaurants. These were average not as nice as authentic ones in Shanghai. 

Turnip Cake

Turnip cake: a nice pan fried savoury dish that was crisp and not soggy. It had a spicy kick to it due to the XO sauce used as part of the ingredients.

Honey Osmanthus Cake

Honey Osmanthus cake: sweet with a mildly chewy texture and a nice dish  despite it's name. Presented in a cute heart shape.

Vegetable Roll

Steamed mushrooms and vegetable rolls. A little bit bland with the vegetable filling but there was a soy sauce covering it to give it a bit more flavour.

With the restaurant being inside the five star rated Hilton, Sui Xuan is a lovely place to have lunch and I would recommend it. Although I would have to say Panxi had the better food, the food here is reasonably priced for its location, tasty and well presented. 


Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 4/5
Overall: 14/20


Total Bill: 210RMB, about £10 per head.


We ate: All of the above and finished everything.


We drank: Iron Buddha tea again, although normal serving style.


We wore: Casual Sunday clothes, although the interior of the hotel was a lot warmer than the Panxi restaurant from the day before!

Panxi Restaurant, Liwan District, Guangzhou

This is my first entry of the year and this past weekend my wife and I went for a jolly to Guangzhou, formerly Canton (so in 'greater Hong Kong'). On our itinerary was a visit to Panxi Restaurant for a Dim Sum lunch.

The restaurant is located in a large park area and we were sat overlooking a small lake, which was very pleasant.

We initially ordered seven dishes, which are described below. Of these, three were savoury and the rest were sweet dishes.

Our Order (from left, anticlockwise)- Custard Buns, Custard, Har Gow, Water Chestnut Cake, Congee, Taro Cake

Steamed custard buns had a sweet custard filling that was not too runny (there are different levels of 'runniness' of custard with these buns). As a nice twist there was part of an egg yolk flavour in it to give a slight saltiness.

There was more custard in the form of 'Crystal Dumplings' Here the custard consistency is of higher viscosity and it was wrapped in a translucent pastry hence the crystal in the name, which made this dish very nice. What's more was that they were creatively shaped into little birds, shown in the photographs below.

Crystal Dumplings

Close up of Crystal Dumplinges

'Little boat' congee is the literal translation of this savoury dish but the ingredients of this rice porridge was mostly fishmeat and seafood such as squid. It was all tasty with good flavour and the porridge itself had a smooth texture.

Taro cake was another sweet item, which again contained some custard. The sugar coating to the outside adding to the sweetness.

Taro

The Har Gow (prawn dumplings) consisted of a generous pair of prawns wrapped in pastry, although the pastry was a bit thick for my liking. The reason maybe was that they needed to shape the dumplings into rabbits as the photo shows.

Rabbit Shaped 'Har Gow'

Water Chestnut Cake was another sweet dish, although not too sugary. This was a very nice steamed pudding with a chewy texture that the nuts could be tasted.

Latterly we ordered a vegetable dish to balance our meal out, which was 'Sai Yeung Choi'. This was a large bowl of green vegetables boiled in a flavoursome stock.

Vegetable in Soup

As with having dim sum we drank tea with our meal and we chose the Iron Buddha variety. The gimmick in this restaurant is that they serve it 'Kung Fu' style where there's a pot of hot water, pot of tea leaves, serving pot and small cups, whereby you drink the tea in three sips.

Iron Buddha, 'Kung Fu' style serving

Panxi is quite a famous restaurant in Guangzhou and was quite busy on Saturday but we were able to get a seat without too much trouble. The surroundings are nice and the staff were helpful, given that we were 'tourists'. The food was nice and very presentable and the price made it good value.

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

Overall: 14/20

Total bill: 191RMB for two, which is about 10GBP per head.

We ate: all of the above (and had to take some of the sweet dishes away).

We wore: winter garments - it was struggling to hit 10 degrees celsius in Guangzhou!

Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

My visit to Kentucky Fried Chicken happened a few weeks ago but I got sidetracked by going to other restaurants and going on holiday, so I had better post this before the turn of the year.

I went to a branch of KFC that is in the Festival Walk shopping mall. As a global chain they are popular in HK, probably more so then BK, but less than McD, I would say.

Anyway, enough with initials. It was a busy Sunday afternoon so with domestic helpers on their day off there was quite a lot of Indonesian or Filipino being spoken by the other patrons in the restaurant. However there were enough counters to be served quickly.

I ordered from their range the Flava Roast burger. This breaks from the norm of the fried chicken that they traditionally offer and is probably a healthier option. I went for the meal so supplemented my burger with a drink, choosing the localised ice lemon tea and a side dish.

For your side dish you get to choose from a selection instead of the usual fries / chips from its beef burger based competitors. There are at least five options and I went for 'E', Corn on the Cob.

My Order

Everything came wrapped in paper or plastic and laid on the plastic try. This branch has a large number if seats and I was able to find one quite easily but near the door.

Flava Roast Chicken Burger & Bacon

The chicken breast was cold and the bacon slice was not that warm either so maybe this burger had been prepared for a little while and resting away until I purchased it. There was some lettuce and a large slice of tomato. The cheese sauce and mayonnaise dressing tasted OK.

Corn on the Cob was warmer than the burger. It could have done with some butter (which it usually should come with but I forgot to ask).

My drink was cold and refreshing enough.

Ice Lemon Tea

So overall this was not 'finger lickin' good' but it did the job.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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

Overall: 10/20

Bill came to about less than 3GBP.

I ate: Chicken Flava Roast Chicken Burger with Bacon, Corn on the Cob

I drank: Ice Lemon Tea

I wore: Sunday best t-shirt and jeans

Pom Pom Resort, Sabah, Malaysia

I am on my honeymoon now, where we are on Pom Pom Island off the coast of Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia. We are staying at the Pom Pom Resort and are on a full board tariff, which is convenient seeing as the resort is the only one that covers this island. Lunch was our first meal here after arriving here mid morning on Wednesday.

All meals are buffet type and are served in the same restaurant. Their range was quite extensive bit leaned towards oriental tastes, given the ethnicity of the clientele. I chose to serve myself three courses.

My starter consisted of soup and salad. The soup was pak choi, which was good. Thin as expected with Chinese soups, with plenty of the vegetable, as well as small tender pieces of pork. My salad consisted of broccoli, carrot, cucumber, green beans, boiled egg, sweetcorn and lettuce, with a little Thousand Island dressing. All the items were fresh or sufficiently cooked if necessary.

Soup & Salad Starter

For my main I picked Stew beef, fried noodles, chicken 'Cik Kong', spicy squid and potatoes. These five dishes had varying degrees of satisfaction. The beef was well stewed in a Chinese sauce and was accompanied with nice Chinese mushrooms. The noodles and chicken were fine, nothing special. The squid was very spicy indeed. The potatoes were shredded and fried with nuts added to it, which did not work for me.

Main Course

I selected fruit and chocolate Swiss roll as my dessert. The fruit was water melon and dragon-fruit, which were both tasty and refreshing. The Swiss roll were miniature versions of the sponge cake that tasted fine and sweet enough.

Fruit & Cake Dessert

They had two fruit juices on offer and I poured myself a Mango juice, which was OK but not freshly squeezed.

The restaurant is a hexagonal shaped open air building that got rather hot, due to the fans perhaps not being powerful enough. The furniture is fine and basic but probably sourced locally to give it an authentic look. Being a buffet staff do not serve you food but are friendly when showing you your seat and clearing the tables. Overall this place serves you with decent food but this is the only dining choice you have when you are on this island resort.

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

I ate: Pak Choi Soup; garden salad; sweetcorn salad; stew beef; fried noodles; chicken; squid; chocolate Swiss roll; local fruit.

I drank: Mango juice, still water.

I wore: holiday gear and bare feet and there was a no shoes policy in the restaurant.

Tahitian Terrace, Hong Kong Disneyland

I had a day off on Friday so like a couple of grown ups my wife and I went to Disneyland for pretty much the whole day and some of the evening.


After a taking in two rides we decided to find somewhere to eat, of which there is plenty of choice in the park.


We chose Tahitian Terrace, which is in the Adventureland section of the park. It served an array of South and Southeast Asian food.


The park was really busy even though it was a Friday but school holidays have started here so that would be the reason. Nevertheless the queues were not that long in the cafeteria style counters. Depending on the type of cuisine you queue at a different counter. My wife wanted noodles and I went for Indian food.

My Vegetarian Curry

For the Indian food what you do is select three curries out of a choice of six. I chose Daal Tadka, Aloo Jeera and Aloo Mutter (which are shown left to right in the picture above). Rice and roti is served, along with a poppadom. Everything is served in individual compartments in the pre-moulded tray, giving it a very canteen feel about it. You then take your tray to the separate cashier counter to pay for it. As I was buying my wife's noodles as well, the staff were very friendly in offering me help to carry the second tray to the payment counter and to where we were sat.


So after choosing what to have and completing financial transactions we sat down on the food court styled tables and chairs and proceeded to eat. The dining area is just roof-sheltered only so we kind of went al fresco, with little sparrows joining us on the next table (which had yet to be cleared) to pick out any remnants of food for themselves.


The daal had a nice texture and creamy, not too spicy but not that warm either. The potatoes with cumin were nice, soft and coated in a flavoursome sauce. It was probably the spiciest of the three but not too hot. The potatoes and pea curry was fine as well. There was enough rice served with the curries and the roti, which was soft and not too oily, was in hand to soak up the remaining sauce. The spiciest element of the whole meal was the chilli dip for my poppadom. There was a salad  accompaniment of three slices of tomatoes as well, which I finished off also.

My wife's Laksa

My wife chose to have Laksa, which she was not that impressed with as it was not that hot (in the temperature sense) and the noodles should have been a bit thinner, i.e. more vermicelli like than spaghetti. I think lacking temperature in the food could be attributed to us eating slightly later than normal lunching times.


Our food was washed down with Fanta and Ice Lemon tea drinks purchased by the bottle.

Our drinks

Overall Tahitian Terrace does the job and is there to cater for the regional Asian tourists they want to attract. It's not cheap compared to other restaurants of this type in Hong Kong but you are almost held to ransom when you enter this amusement park, as security will check your bags not only for dangerous items but for food as well.


Scores
Food: 2/5
Presentation: 2/5
Service: 4/5
Setting: 4/5 (extra point because it's Disney)


Overall: 12/20


Total bill: $167 for two, about £7 a head (not including park admission).


We ate: Indian Vegetarian Set; Penang Laksa Noodles.


We drank: Fanta and Nestea ice lemon tea.


We wore: standard casual clothes without a hint of Disney branding or accessorising.

Pierre, Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

For this entry, my wife and I went to Pierre at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on Tuesday night to celebrate two months of wedded bliss. This restaurant is on the 25th floor of the hotel and has views overlooking the harbour as well as neighbouring skyscrapers.


Upon entering the restaurant our coats were taken and we were shown to our seats, which were very comfortable corner type ones that had lovely pillows as our back support. Almost immediately a waiter approached us to ask if we wanted any champagne from their selection of six bottles. We declined but went for some cocktails as our aperitifs.

From left: Tuberose and Blood & Sand Cocktails

I chose Blood and Sand as my drink. This comprised of Scotch and vermouth but with the fruit juices it was a refreshing cocktail. My wife had a cutely named Tuberose for her drink, which was Gin based cocktail.


For food I went a la carte and ordered 'Sea' then 'Farm Hen'. There was a little bit of confusion and embarrassment on my part when ordering the food. The menu is split into different headings e.g. Sea, depending in the type of food. Under it are names of various dishes of that type, which I thought were all separate dishes. It turns out that the separate elements form your whole order.

Amuse-bouche, with Bread in the background

Prior to our starters we were served with the amuse-bouche. Small flavoursome bites on an oversized plate to get the tastebuds tingling. From what I recall there was beef carpaccio and duck terrine amongst others. We were also given a separate bread basket each, and there was normal butter and a honey and chilli flavoured one, which the latter had quick a kick to it.

Abalone and Tuna to the side

My starter arrived and it comprised of four dishes. Abalone was the largest serving, which were in delicious, chewy thin slices, almost like mushrooms that was accompanied with bacon and duck liver, with a slice of tuna to the side. The other three dishes have not been captured on film. The second dish was a single Oyster was fresh and the ginger sauce was a nice accompaniment with the small button mushrooms. The third part was a small egg-cup of Crab Meat and Seaweed Jelly, which I thought was a bit bland. Mussel with leek was the fourth dish, which again was a small dish and nice but not remarkable.

Chicken Breast with light curry sauce

The main course was in three parts. Chicken breast (above) was the main part. It had been soaked in wine which to me made it a bit bitter, the curry sauce seemed very light and parsley garnish did not work for me. The Grapefruit salad and chicken portions worked well with each other, but again a small portion. Macaroni was nicest part I thought, with the pasta being well cooked in a creamy mushroom casserole. 

Macaroni

Chicken and Grapefruit Salad

I chose not to go for a dessert so instead I was given Petits Four of which there were five little treats to eat and a spoonful of sorbet to clean the palette. They wrote a nice message on the edge of the to commemorate the occasion.

Petit Four

My wife went for the four course tasting menu. It consisted of Lobster Salad and  Artichoke for the first two courses, and Venison as the main, third course. The fourth course was Grand Dessert, so I sampled some of the four desserts that were on offer, which included a Bailey's mouse with sorbet; wild strawberry jelly, bitter chocolate pudding and the ice cream shown below. All of which were delightful and a lovely way to finish off our meals.

Ice Cream

Service was attentive but discreet enough so as not to disturb us all the time. They described each dish to us when served and lifted the metal spherical covers simultaneously for our main courses, which is something I enjoy watching. When we left they gave us a parting gift in the form of a nice pastry, which was kind of them. The only negative was that they forgot to unravel the napkins and place them on our laps.

Table setting

As with most Michelin starred restaurants (Pierre has two), this place is not cheap and I would say Caprice is still my favourite but overall, this is an excellent fine dining restaurant!


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


Overall: 18/20


Bill: Over £100 a head, including drinks.


I ate: 'Sea', which was 1)Abalone/bacon/roasted duck liver; toast with tuna and tender apricot soaked with Mirin; 2) Plain crab meat, seaweed jelly; 3) Iced oysters in a fresh ginger juice with button mushrooms and 4)Bouchot mussels with leek.

'Farm Hen', which comprised of 1)“Patis” breast of farm hen macerated with fresh herbs and Sauternes wine. Roasted and then served on a creamy curry sauce, slow-simmered endives with avocado; 2)Macaroni pasta and wild mushrooms casserole and 3) Thigh in aspic, thai grapefruit salad with watercress.

I drank: The cocktail noted above and San Pellegrino sparkling water.


I wore: shirt and tie as it was a work day, but accessorised by cufflinks bearing my wife's name.

Cafe 21, Quarry Bay Hong Kong

For this entry, it is another sandwich at the desk. This time I went to Cafe 21, an eatery that is situated close to my office, but slightly hidden away as its on the ground floor of an office building. As you walk in they have shelving on the right that stores the sandwiches and other products, which strangely also includes Chinese vegetables.

I chose from their selection the Smoked Duck Breast and Salad sandwich. I also went for their soup of the day, which was clam chowder. The food was paid for and the soup quickly served and all contents packaged up in a paper takeaway bag with the usual Hong Kong efficiency. All the food came in plain white packaging and this shop even gave me a spoon for my soup (refer to Pret-a-Manger blog for non-appearance of soup intake implement).

Contents of my purchase

The sandwich was fine. Nice pieces of duck breast with standard lettuce and tomato as their salad (not a generous amount, though) in sliced white bread. Mayonnaise was the dressing, which was a nice, light accompaniment.

Smoked Duck Breast Sandwich & Clam Chowder

The Clam Chowder had a nice flavour with chopped onions still in the texture and which also contained actual clams.

Overall this cafe is an inoffensive place serving decent food and is on my usual rota of lunch venues. The food is not as good as Pret but a lot cheaper.

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

Overall: 11/20

Total Bill: HK$28, about 2.50GBP.

I ate: Smoked Duck Breast Sandwich (plus a packet of Barbecue flavoured crisps).

I drank: Clam Chowder.

I wore: Standard shirt & tie for the office.