sleepless tea

had a ice milk tea (hk style) at my favourite neighbourhood restaurant, dong's and could not sleep till 3am that night!

according to a reliable source (M), apparently if the quality of the tea was good, it should not cause any insomnia :o pple who know me well will know that i dont take coffee well. my hand trembles and will get heart palpitations... even the cans of diet coke in my fridge is caffeine free lol :D

not only that, i have also recently discovered that i'm lactose intolerent! its ok here in syd where its easy enough to get soya milk with our usual coffees, teas and chai lattes ;p but overseas it would be quite different.

however the recent trip to hk have proven otherwise... strangely enough consuming the genuine *hk milk tea (obvsiously not made with soy milk), i somehow did not suffer from (a) any side effects of lactose intol or (b) insomnia... hehe and amazingly, there's a corner take away shop (undergrd next to maccas) at the kowloon city-airport station that serves ice milk tea immersed in a bowl of ice! (see abv) apparently as the ice melts, it then does not dilute the tea.. how thoughtful..

happy bd dave~

it was my flatmate dave's BIG _ 0 and we brought him to tetsuyas in syd for a meal.. having heard raving reviews and being known to have a LONG waitlist for a decent table, it had to be good right?

a quick ring to the amex concerige and 2 days later, we got ourselves in!

we had our complimentary welcome drinks.... nice move... and the 13 course degustation started. i find the service over polished and the ambience was otherwise so so.. they seemed to have paid too much attention to the decor of the food rather than the food itself :p not that its not good, but perhaps my palate's not trained for such delicacies lol.

food: clockwise abv: welcome champagne, bread roll, starter: some quail eggs with avocado soupy stuff... scampi tail, king fish sashimi

food: clockwise abv: salmon with crab roe, abalone strips with some pasta bits, octopus ravioli (this one was yummy). mains (i) duck

food: clockwise abv: mains (ii) beef, desert: peach ice cream (not in picture), whithered cherry, more other desert coffee and tea....

of course they have fancier names than what i have written but anyhow, u get the picture. as each dish was served they were briefly described.

knowing that it was my mate dave's bd, they provided complimentary bd cake as well. nice touch....

the only regret was not opting for the matching wine!! but we'll try it again sometime :D

our section leader Michael brought us for a little tour around the kitchen area and other dining rooms after our meals. apparently tetsuyas started as a BYO restaurant but now they have their own cellar.

now they employ about 130 pple and sits about 50 tables a nite. there are about 25 pple working in the kitchen alone. u dont decide on the meals served unless u have special meal requests. menus differ slightly depending on where u r seated in the restaurant and they also have seasonal adjustments.

thanks M for dropping us off and fetching us after.. will promise to bring u next time! :D

burger burger....

on the flight to hk this trip, i got kinda bored watching the blockbuster movies. i switched over to sum tv documentary introducing interesting food places in hk. the abv restuarant in causeway bay was featured. but the funny thing was, they did not mention the name of the restaurant nor its location. i had to google it and locate it on google map. wasnt hard tho...

so what's so special abt this place?

i ordered a softshell crab burger. yup u heard right. its the entire softshell crab in a burger!! and it tasted really good too. other stuff on the menu included conventional burgers like classic, bacon n cheese or cod fish and lobster burgers. price ranged btw 50-188 HKD (for the lobster burger).

after a chat with a friendly staff there (her name is Mina), we found out that they have been ard for approx 2 years. the restaurant is kinda small (seats abt 20) but bright and clean. beer is served onsite and they also have a frequent eater card. if your heart can take it, u'll get a free burger (up to 60 HKD) after u've consumed 10 in 3 mths! :D

u will need to know exactly where it is as it is not visible from the usual shopping areas. 7 carolinehill rd, causeway bay. http://www.burgeroom.com/

go look for it if ur ard the area and enjoy!

best in the world!

what makes food around the world taste different? the air, water, pple making it? sometimes i wonder....

have u ever thought how can a big mac in NYC taste exactly the same as the one in HK for instance. apparently very strict rules on water temperature and imported ingredients etc? if anyone does know, pls kindly enlighten...

no matter where i go, i'll try to have some local asian noodles and they all taste different. although i must say that im not too picky with my food (just as long as it has not turned sour or passed its use by date), i still find the noodles in hk the best...

the noodles in the photo abv is on top of my must-eat list whenever i come to hk. its just a lil noodle shop right opp HMV in tst. go after 2pm for super specials. its 27 HKD for a 2 mixed meat noodle. plus 3 bucks for cold milk tea... yum... cheap and good!

ps. remember to ask for chilli oil and try not to drink the free tea provided.