Pear Charlotte Healthy Birthday Cake

Pear Charlotte is something new for me.  We usually find mango, strawberries kind of fruits on cakes, but pear is quite rarely used.  May be it is time consuming to poach pears.  The cake shop manager recommended this to me as a healthy cake which is not too sweet, light and delicious.  Though my brothers’ blood sugar levels are at the border of diabetes and my cholesterol (HDL) is very high, we still feel comfortable having it. 

My two brothers and I were born in late June (22, 25, 27).  This year our birthdays happen around Dragon Boat Festival (23).  So we had a family gathering on 24 to celebrate all.

The restaurant served us Chinese style birthday buns free of charge.  But I had a cake coupon from Island Shangri-La (because I’m a member of their Health Club), so I also brought my own birthday cake.  Unlike wine opening, most restaurants in Hong Kong won’t charge cake cutting fee.  They even helped to arrange birthday songs while cutting and serving the cake.  Of course we paid a little more tips as appreciation.

Pear Charlotte

Poached Pear on top and inside ladies fingers

The June Birthday Trio of the Yuen Family - from left to right - 27-25-22

PS:  Enjoying a delicious dessert at the end of a great meal is one of life’s sweetest pleasures. 

But we often feel guilty for indulging in sweet treats. After all, most desserts are filled with sugar, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats, and they pack more calories than the meal itself!

The healthiest desserts are home-made.  There is a book called Guilt-Free Desserts which guides you through better baking.  It was written by Kelley Herring the Founder and CEO of Healing Gourmet, and also the Editor-in-Chief of a four-book series published by McGraw-Hill including: Eat to Fight Cancer, Eat to Beat Diabetes, Eat to Lower Cholesterol and Eat to Boost Fertility.

It will change the way you think of desserts. Even if you don’t decide to buy the book, you should opt in to subscribe it’s free newsletter and get instant access to two free reports Eat Your Way Into Shape: Your Get Fit with Food Guide - including a fat-burning 7-day meal plan!

Hong Kong Food Blog - Healthy Dessert

German Buffet in Wanchai

I love buffet, but good deals are not easy to find.  Some are too expensive, some are not my favourite taste.  German buffet is not too expensive, however the foods are quite good.  I had it couple of years ago and had one recently. 

Don't assume that knuckles and sausages are crown jewels.  On the day of my visit, the dessert and salad bar were doing the best.

Here is the crown jewel of the day - Serradura.  I had never tasted such silky soft lovely serrudura even at Macau top notch Portuguese restaurants.

My top pick of the day - Serradura.  I would really appreciate to have mini cups instead.  But big bowl was ok.  I ended up had several rounds of it.

Something new - German Luncheon Meat.  It was hided inside a loaf of bread.  The chef open it up for me to take a photo.  Of course, I had a slice of it, very yummy, taste really like luncheon meat.  But I thought it should be ham of some kind.

These mini lobsters were sitting on the salad bar along with some very lovely salads and vegetables.  Healthy and nice.

We could also picked our own ingredients and had a dish of cook-to-order spaghetti.  We could chose between spinach noodle and bow noodle; white sauce and tomato sauce.  However the dish size was quite big, we had to share between the two of us.

Here are the knuckles, but not stars of the day.  It was good but for some reason I thought it could be better.  The sour cabbage was however very good.

The sausages really upset me.  I really don't think a German buffet offers only two types of sausages and they were in no way pleasing.  They didn't look good nor taste good - extremely salty.  If you notice the assorted mushrooms and mini eggplants on the right hand side of my dish - those were the stars.  I collected them from the salad bar for several rounds.

The various desserts, jelly candy, serradura, puddings...all are lovely, not to mention the ice creams.

To wrap up the buffet, a cup of coffee/tea was included.  However if you want to have latte or Cappuccino, you would need to pay extra.

King Ludwig Beerhall

G/F, 183 Queen's Road East (tel: 2861-0737)

Weekend Buffet:  HK$189 +10% per person

Buffet starts 12:00

Hong Kong Food Blog - German Buffet

Japanese Buffet

Holiday is a time for me to binge.  Today is the first day of Easter holiday, I kick start my crazy eating by a Japanese buffet lunch.  To be accurate, it's eat all you can at a fixed fee.  The restaurant I go serves lunch buffet on weekends and holidays only.  Here is a summary of my Japanese feast.

Sashimi - there are over 10 types of fishes for us to choose

Beef and Vegetable

The Ox Tongue is my top pick of the day, very delicious.  The teppanyaki beef sheet (top right) simply melt in my mouth, very well done.

 Grilled Mackerel

 Fried Rice and Noodle

 Tampura - prawns, egg plant and pumpkin

 Pan Fried Assorted Mushrooms

 Vegetables and Dumplings in soup

 Soba and Cucumber Salad

 Deep Fried Oyster and Cheese

 The beautiful cheese cake wrapped up our buffet.

Actually I'm not that keen to eat the Hong Kong style Japanese buffet, although it has the advantage of 'cook to order' and the foods are freshly prepared.  However there is one big disadvantage that I don't like.  The food that they brought us are not 100% ordered by us.  At the same time, some of the foods that we order never arrive.  When I eat buffet in Japan, I just go collect food from the table, food type and quantity are fully controlled by me.  In terms of size, the bowl of fried rice was so big. Of course we tried our best to not wasting food, but we were unable to eat a lot after that.   So we ended up ate something we didn't order and missed something that we really love to eat.

After all we are quite happy with the food as they are really yummy, especially the tepanyaki beef and ox tongue.

Kaneda
74-80 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: 2866-1128

Luffet buffet available on Saturday, Sunday and holidays 12:00 - 2:30
HK$158 (US$20.2) (Adult)
HK$128 (US$16.4) (Senior and child)
+10% service charge

Hong Kong Food Blog - Japanese Buffet

5-star Hotel Dining Experience

If you think that dining experience at 5-star hotels are always 5-star, wrong!

I’m a health club member of Island Shangri-la and I swim there almost everyday. I receive some dining coupons recently and thought I should take my friends there because the poolside restaurant environment is really nice. Unfortunately that was the only strength they had. Food and services had no way to impress.

The table I booked was completely empty when we arrived. They offered us another table which had only two settings while I booked for four. We had to wait for 30 minutes to have the table fully set.

The food was unreasonably expensive, comparing to their quality. The $240 sea bass was next to rotten. I assume any professional chef should be able to tell that fish was not fresh enough to be served on any dining table. Pomelo salad, Phad Thai, chicken, spring rolls were just so so. The wanton in Tom Yam soup was not bad but $155 for only 6 wantons was just too expensive.

They didn’t re-fill water though the four of us were completely dry. They also didn’t remove/replace used/empty dishes. Our table was such a mess. Any high street fast food shop in Hong Kong could provide better services. In fact we were the only group of guests that evening, apart from the single gentlemen who enjoyed his cigar more than food. What are the excuses for poor services and poor food?

Pomelo Salad ($180)

Wan Ton in Tom Yam Soup ($155)

Spring Rolls ($85) Thought this is the cheapest on the menu
Chicken in Leaves ($85)Stir Fried Noodle ($165)
Any Thai restaurant in Hong Kong can produce something more delicious than this.The next-to-rotten Sea Bass ($240)
The strong sauce couldn't hide the unfreshness of the fish!Mango with Sticky Rice and Ice Cream
I gave it a 'marginal pass'. One of my guests who was Thai Chinese didn't agree with me. She graded it 'failed'. Perhaps this was the only strength of the restaurant. We oversaw the pool and the Bank of China while eating. As the restaurant was almost empty, I was free to borrow another table to take this photo. As the table we ate was in such a mess.
After all, my Thai Chinese friend said she never eat fishes in Thai restaurants as she's from Bangkok and she knows that Thai chefs are generally no good in cooking fishes. I thought she didn't tell me this out of courtesy while I picked the dishes.

Waterside Terrace

8/F Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong

HK$1,083 (incl. 10% service fee)(US$138.8)

Hong Kong Food Blog - Poor Hotel Food

Discounted Buffet in Hong Kong

Hong Kong restaurants are making excuses to offer discounts, such as early departure discount. I like the idea as I don't mind to go early if I pay less.

Over the Easter Monday, I went on a buffet which usually offers 25% discount before 12:50pm but I ended up had to pay regular price, becasue discounts won't apply on holidays.

Back to the buffet itself, many are attracted by big dishes of shushi, sashimi and the rows of salads and hot dishes. But I always pay attention to minatures. Not only because of the lovely cute utensils, but the little small size portion of food won't fill up my stomach quickly and I can enjoy plenty of these small dishes. Let me introduce a few of them.

What are there in these two 1" pans? On the left is Japanese Egg Tofu. Thought it has been deep fried and seasoned with some Japanese dry fishes and sauces. The other one is half an egg white plus some raisins and a small slice of salmon. Very healthy and delicious.

Here are my collection of dessert minatures
All 1 - 1.5" in diameter

Steam Egg (hot)
Caramel Egg Custard
Pomegranate Moussee with Cream Topping
Serradura (Macau/Portuguese dessert)
Pomelo in Mango Juice

Another 1.5" Serradura

Here is my 1.5" Hamburger. I'm the only guest who can enjoy this, because I made it myself. I'm a person who like to tailor something with ingredients from the buffet table. If they serve sausage, I'll make a hot dog. If they serve sliced bread with an oven, I'll make a club sandwitch. Today I collect a very thin slice of roast beef and made this mini hamburger. Isn't it cute?

Metropark Hotel Wanchai Hongkong
Address: 41-49 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2861 1166
Lunch buffet everyday from 11.45am to 2.30pm
HK$128 (US$16.4)/Adult + 10% service fee
25% early departure discount (before 12:50pm)
10% for one day advance booking
** No discount on Saturday, Sunday and holidays**

Hong Kong Food Blog - Discounted Buffet

Himalaya Restaurant in Hong Kong

Today is the Easter weekend, I've decided to do something special - Himalayan lunch. The Himalaya Restaurant has been around for some time. As it is nearby my home so I notice it. I've tried its buffet before. Today is Saturday, so I go there for a relaxed lunch.

The set lunch is only HK$70 (US$9) and looks attractive. I have no doubt in this restaurant's authenticity. I see all Indian, Nepaleese, Himalayan faces from the chef, waiter, cashier and boss.

If you love spicy food, this is a good place. Before lunch, I try the crunchy bread (I don't know the exact term) with some of the spicy sauce and had my tears running.

My Himalaya Lunch

Menu:
Tandoori Chicken 炭燒雞
Lamb Curry or
Chicken Makhani 咖哩羊肉或咖哩牛油雞
Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables 炒雜菜
Pullao Rice 印度黃飯
Garlic Kulcha 烤蒜蓉餅
One Soft Drink 汽水一杯

Wasn't the Tandoori Chicken a little over cooked? The burnt bits looked quite scary. I ended up had to remove them with my fingers. I liked the Chicken Makhani very much.

The Himalaya Restaurant is quite decently decorated

As usual in any Indian restaurant, my lunch was wrapped up with some sugar or candy. The other looked like some herbs but I didn't try it.

Lunch date: April 23, 2011
Set lunch only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays
Buffet lunch on weekdays
Opening hours: 11.30am - 3pm / 5.30pm - 11pm
Set Lunch: HK$70 (US$9), plus 10% service charge, includes one free drink
Restaurant name: Himalaya Restaurant
Restaurant address: 1/F 22-30 Tai Wong Street East, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Telephone: 852- 2527-5899

Hong Kong Food Blog - Himalaya Lunch

Green Risotto - Hong Kong Style

Meals of more vegetables and less meat are highly recommended nowadays. If you’ve been following my blog, you may know that I’m a health conscious individual who eats generally one meal a day. Green Risotto is how I blend in lots of vegetable and little meat into a very delicious dish. Let me share with you my Hong Kong Chinese style Green Risotto.

If you have the experience cooking risotto, I won’t repeat here. Unlike traditional Italian risotto, I used water instead of stock. I then chopped some green vegetables and Chinese Kam Wah Ham. Kam Wah Ham is a famous produce from Yunnan, China and is widely available in Hong Kong. You may use any other ham or bacon as you wish. As Kam Wah Ham is very rich in taste, I don’t have to use any other seasoning at all.

When you add the last round of water to the risotto, add the chopped ham and keep stirring. When the risotto is cooked, cover for 3 minutes before serving. Now, make use of these 3 minutes, get ready a hot saucepan and heat a little bit of EVO. Stir fry the sliced green vegetables. No need to add salt as the risotto is going to be very tasteful with the Kam Wah Ham. Add the green vegetables to the risotto, mix well and dish up.

Green Risotto

Chopped Vegetables

Chopped Kam Wah Ham

Message from Anna

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Hong Kong Food Blog - Green Risotto