Fung Shing Restaurant - Hong Kong

As a make-up wedding banquet for some of my relos on HK who could not make it to our wedding, we ended up eating at Fung Shing Restaurant at Whampoa Gargen.

Our banquet started with a whole roasted suckling pig. The skin was super crispy and crunchy yet not burnt. A ratio of meat, fat and skin. Quite yum :)

Crispy suckling pig

Then there was the prawn toast with salad dressing. It looked simple but tasted alright.

prawn toast

Huge scallops sauteed with broccoli, capsicum and some sort of shell-fish came next. The scallops were most awesome - not overcooked and extremely tasty when swimming in the sauce.

sauteed scallop

There was also dried scallops cooked inside hairy melon and surrounded by "fat choi" (a black stringy vege which tastes super awesome). The 'fat choi' was the best bit of the dish - something you can rarely find in Australia.

dried scallop in hairy melon

In this bowl was crazy amounts of sharks fin. And no - it wasn't just my bowl - it was EVERYONE's bowl. And everyone got TWO bowls. Sharks fin overload no?

sharks fin soup

Abalone was next on the agenda. This was cooked with goose feet and veges. I'm not a fan of abalone... but I do like goose feet. Tasty and saucy... kinda like the same sauce as the dried scallop with winter melon.

abalone and goose feet

The steamed grouper fish came next - seemingly overcooked... but actually cooked pretty well. The meat was tasty and smooth and freshness.

Steamed Grouper fish

Crispy skinned chicken is seemingly a must in all Honky chinese dinners. Every restaurant seems to claim that their crispy skinned chicken is the best... this one... is not. The skin is uncrispified. But I guess that the meat is quite tender.

crispy skinned chicken

To round up the night, there was fried rice and these deep-fried dumplings. The dumplings are meant to be dumped in this soup/stock thing to soggify it a bit. But it's really your choice - whether you want it super crunchy or somewhat soggy.

fried rice

deep fried dumpling

The restaurants famous dessert is this sago pudding creme brulee. Some of my relatives loved it... I found it to be a splatter of sweet goo. No - it was not my type of dessert. The "burnt sugar" bit was not the crunchiness that you normally find in creme brulees which was somewhat disappointing.

sago pudding creme brulee

There was also fruit... but yeh - nothing spectacular.

I guess that all up - the food was good. Heaps of seafood (particularly sharks fin). Funnily enough, banquets tend not include crab or lobster (much to my hubby's disappointment).

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Fung Shing Restaurant
2/F Whampoa Gourmet Place
Site 8, Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom
Tel: (852) 2362 0848

Senzuru Japanese Restaurant - Hong Kong

Our friend's fiance works at Harbour Plaza Metropolis Hotel in the buffet kitchen. Hence, to meet up for dinner one night, we all decided to eat at the Jap restaurant in his hotel once he finishes his shift.

Senzuru provided a tranquil Japanese feel which offered a good range of Jap food - sashimi, sushi, teppanyaki, tempura, yakitori, the whole lot. For this night, as our friend is buddies with the chef, we let the chef decide the menu - and the drink menu.

To start with - a freaking HUGE bottle of sake (1.5L) which got smashed (and hence a 2nd bottle was in order). And did someone get smashed? Yes - someone got smashed.

massive sake bottle (x2)

Foodwise, our appetisers comprised of a seaweed cracker, sweet potato cake (made from sweet potato imported from okinawa), and this seaweed thing in a vinaigrette which was super totally yummy. (sorry I couldn't be more specific, the chef explained it all... but the night was a bit of a blur food-wise).

trio of appetisers

We also had an awesome selection of sashimi - toro, salmon, king fish, snow fish, white fish, super fresh prawns, loads of sea urchin, some clam variety and my favourite - the scallop (which was super sweet, super huge and super tasty). In fact, we went seconds for the huge massive scallops :)

assorted sashimi

There was also a teriyaki fish. Straight translation from chinese is a "silver snow fish"... not sure of it's name in English. But it was cooked soooo well. Extremely tasty, the skin was beautifully caramelised, the fish flaked off the bone and we all dunked it in kewpie mayo... mmm... YUM.

teriyaki fish

Tempura also made an appearance for the night. Mainly prawns, but there was also a good selection of veges (eggplant, baby corn, mushroom, bean, shallot). Perfectly deep fried and crisped up.

tempura prawns and veges

There was also this fish cartilage tempura. This was interesting. It was chewy... yet the meat (or cartilage) itself bought along with it a subtle yet extremely appetising sweetness. Quite amazing. And yes - we smashed the plate :)

tempura cartilage

We also got grilled wagyu beef cubes which came with crispy garlic bits and a bean sprout, carrot, shallot mixture. Not bad - but I think that we were pretty full by now.

grilled beef cubes

One of our friends really wanted chicken wings yakitori style - hence we got those... but I think he was a bit too drunk to appreciate them :P

yakitori

And last but not least, a crowd favourite - the edamame beans. Normal but yum.

Edamame

So the meal was great. The service... well... they were all friends with our chef friend... and hence, they were more like friends rather than waiters/chefs... The price? Discounted much.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32/40

Senzuru Japanese Restaurant
Harbour Plaza Metropolis
7 Metropolis Drive
Hunghom, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel : (852) 3160 6898

Seafood Paradise - Singapore

One of the famous Singaporean dishes is the Chilli Crab. Our last run in Singapore was so short that we missed this awesome dish. This time, we almost missed it too. Almost. Our awesome Singaporean friend suggested that one of the chain of restaurants that do the best Chilli Crab has a branch at the Airport (T2). He also mentioned that this place not only does awesome chilli crab, it does a uniquely amazing creamy butter crab.

Given his suggestions, we ate at Seafood Paradise and asked the waitress if it was possible for two people to finish two crabs. She said that it was do-able. Hence, a wonderfully saucy chilli crab and an amazing creamy butter crab arrived at our table.

The chilli crab came drenched in a thick chilli sauce with egg bits floating throughout. The crab was sweet and fresh. My partner loved it. I preferred my creamy butter crab. This was simply AMAZING! Smooth, creamy, buttery with a hint of chilli and pepper. It was sooo good you simply had to lap up the sauce with the small little super soft deep fried bun.

Chilli Crab

Creamy butter crab

deep fried mantou

This has seriously got to be one of the best crab meals we've had. Having a whole crab each, however, left us a little crabbed out. I don't think we need to eat crab again in a while :)

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31/40

Seafood Paradise
60 Airport Boulevard
#036-059 Level 3 Terminal 2
Singapore Changi Airport
Singapore 819643
Tel: 6214 9655

Bakehouse Garden Korean BBQ - North Strathfield

Default dinner option for us seem to be either Charcoal Chicken (at El Jannah) or barbequed meat of some sort (either Jap or Korean style). Instead of going to Tosung this time, we decided to try something new - Bakehouse Gardens Korean BBQ within the Bakehouse Quarter.

Side dishes were pretty good - broccoli with chili sauce, eggplant, kimchi, pickled chinese cabbage. Good amounts of lettuce were supplied to supplement our barbequed meats.

sides

For this night, we opted for a beef bulgogi hot pot ($40) which was a sweet soup with a heap of beef bulgogi, mushrooms (button and straw), onions, rice cakes, and potato noodles. This was really yummy. The beef was tasty and tender. However, the pot is rather deceiving - it's rather shallow, meaning that everything boils and cooks super quick. Delicious anyhow :)

beef hot pot

We also opted for 2 barbequed meats - marinated beef short rib ($19), and pork belly ($14). OK - so the portions aren't massive, but the meats are absolutely deliciousness!!! My hubby said that the pork belly here is just as good (if not better) than Tosung (whom he'd previously named as the best pork belly in Sydney). That is a BIG call. But not one without reason. It was melt-in-your-mouth tenderness and deliciousness!

Marinated beef short rib - $19

Pork Belly - $14

I have to say, the service here was pretty amazing. At one time, there were THREE waiters surrounding our table putting plates down, swapping plates, cooking our meat. Not only that, the grill was changed like 3-4 times during the course of dinner (where we only really cooked 2 meats). Not a bad place - cheap too! Definitely worth a revisit

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance- 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32/40

Bakehouse Garden Korean BBQ
11 George Street
North Strathfield
NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 8746 0299

Cheeky Chocolate - North Strathfield

Looking for an Adriano Zumbo inspired cake without the normal Adriano Zumbo lines? Look no further than this sophisticatedly frenchy-looking dim-litted chandelier-filled chocolate cafe in North Strathfield.

Cheeky Chocolate only opened in the recent few months but quite often I see it packed full of people when I drive past on a Friday-Sunday night. Not only that, Adriano Zumbo does consultancy work here. Hence, I jumped at the first opportunity to drag my hubby and a few friends to sample the cakes here.

First thing that caught my eye - the glass cabinets filled with awesome looking cakes, macaroons and hand-made chocolates.

Cheeky Chocolate

My hubby was a party pooper and opted for a liquid dessert of chocolate thickshake. He asked for it to be extra thick. It came out only slightly thicker than a milkshake. Unfortunate.

Chocolate thickshake

One of my friends chose the mango cake. This was a square slab with a mango layer center, marshmellowy whiteness enveloped the mango with dusted yellow mango powder all over it. My friend enjoyed it muchly. In my tasting of it, it was an interesting texture, and sweet but not overly so.

Mango cake

Another cake which was ordered was the passion-fruit and white chocolate cheesecake. The top cheesecakey layer was light, the passion-fruit was flavoursome and the white-chocolate third-tier was slighty more dense and a good sweetness. The biscuit crumb base was also deliciousness~

Passion-fruit cheesecake

My eye landed on the chocolate caramel tart. A fantastic chocolate biscuit tart encased gooey fluidy chocolate mixed with caramel. All this was topped with peanut brittle. It was amazing! Rich, dense, chocolatey, heavenly!!!

Chocolate caramel tart

Fantastic desserts in a chillaxy friendly environment? Who wouldn't like it. For those alcoholics - there's cocktails galore here too! Definitely worth many re-visits :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31/40

Cheeky Chocolate
11 George Street
North Strathfield
NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 9764 5966

Bar Biscotti - North Strathfield

We woke up early on a Saturday morning and I was starving! Hence, for convenience sake, we went for breakfast down the road at Bar Biscotti :)

It was a hot day so I decided to order a chocolate thickshake. It was tasty and yummy... but... slightly not thick enough. It was half thick - the bottom was OKish, but the top half was like a milkshake.

Chocolate thickshake

My hubby's cappuccino was also decent ish. Like we thought previously, the reason why the coffee is not as awesome as the ones in Melbourne is due to the milk. Hence, with normal Sydney milk, I guess it was an OK coffee.

Cappuccino

Food-wise, my hubby went for the 'Big Biscotti' ($16.50). This was a pretty huge plate of stuff with 2 eggs (cooked how you like - my hubby went for fried), a huge pile of tiny mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, several sausages, a hash brown and a pile of thinly awesomely toasted bread. My hubby said that the bread was amazing! Everything else was not bad either.

The Big Biscotti

I decided to order my usual - eggs benedict with smoked salmon. Lightly toasted muffins topped with generous servings of baby spinach and smoked salmon slices and poached egg. The poached egg was unfortunately, overcooked. No ooziness. A shame. The hollandaise sauce was tasty though :)

Eggs benedict with smoked salmon

Breakfast was not bad. But when we went to pay the bill, they were like "$88.50 please" which left my hubby and I flaberghasted. "WHAT?!?!". Turns out, they mixed up the tables and put the next table's bill on our tab too~ So I guess that if you're eating here, be sure to check out the bill! :)

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance- 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Bar Biscotti
24 George Street
North Strathfield
NSW, 2137
Tel: (02) 9746 7333

Shoya (2) - Melbourne

My hubby felt like eating barbequed meats - hence, we decided to dine at Shoya - a jap restaurant we'd been to before for an omakase. Shoya has 6 levels of dining - a smokeless Japanese style BBQ level, traditional HORIGOTATSU (jap) style seating, fine dining tables, an executive section with sushi bar, Karaoke rooms and an executive lounge. Since we're barbequing meats, we opted for the "smokeless" jap style BBQ level which didn't have a table available til 9pm.

It was really interesting because the smokelessness of the barbeque was amazing! The only barbeque I've ever been to where I could leave without smelling like a barbeque :) Food-wise, we decided to order a sushi and sashimi set ($65) and 2 barbeque sets ('Gouka Tokusen') ($59) to share between the 3 of us.

The sushi and sashimi moriawase had a good fresh selection of sashimi (king fish, tuna, salmon, white fish) and sushi (tuna rolls, california rolls, squid, clams, scallop, scampi, kingfish, salmon, tuna). All was yummy but.. for $65, it wasn't entirely value for money.

Sushi Sashimi Moriawase - $65

Assortment of sushi and sashimi carefully selected by the chef. A perfect starter to share or for the seafood lover's main.

The barbeque sets came with a seaweed salad, wagyu sashimi, and a mix of meat and seafood barbeque meats. A sweet finish of icecream was also included. The seaweed salad was yummy and fresh with a good amount of vinaigrette. The wagyu been sashimi was also deliciousness! Tasty, beefy, fresh.

seaweed salad and wagyu beef sashimi

On the meat platter, there was rib of Wagyu beef, Wagyu beef sirloin, pork belly, and free range chicken. There was also Ox tongue with spring onions and Wagyu sausage. All the meats were really good. The wagyu was really tender and tasty and the pork belly was yum. The OX tongue was chewy yet delicate and I love all sausages to Wagyu sausages were right up my alley :)
However, portion-wise, I don't think 2 males would be full on the amount of meat served.

selection of meats

On the seafood platter there was prawn, scallop, squid, abalone, and salmon. Again, portions were not plentiful but the scallop and squid were amazingly sweet and deliciousness!

selection of seafood

The seaweed soup was tastiness. Clear looking but full of flavour :) The set also came with a bowl of rice. Guess they have to fill you up somehow as the portions are plentifuless.

seaweed soup

Dessert-wise, my friend went for a chocolate cake. This was chocolate sponge topped with chocolate mousse and a tiny gold flake. It was no where near as yummy as the cake from Ganache... but... it was alright.

chocolate cake

Icecream-wise, my hubby went for green tea, I went for sesame. The green tea was like any other. But the sesame seemed to be a mix of black and white sesame seeds. It was really really packed full of sesame-flavour.

green tea and black sesame icecream

All up, food here is fresh and tasty. Portions are not the most, but... it's quality and not quantity, right? :)

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 6.5
Overall - 29.5/40

Shoya
25 Market Lane,
Melbourne
Tel: (03) 9650 0848