Crusader reviews: Yung Kee Restaurant, Hong Kong

Thursday, July 29, 2010

I recently visited Hong Kong and had the chance to dine in Hong Kong Island's famous Yung Kee Restaurant. For all you food enthusiast out there, I am sure this restaurant is no stranger to your food dictionary. But for the benefit of those who have not heard of this restaurant, let me share a little about my amazing discovery.

Last year while attending a little wine and dine session in Ms. Jazz and Crazieapple's mansion (hahaha), I was treated to the best century egg I've ever tasted. I was told that it originated from a restaurant called Yung Kee in Central Hong Kong and that the line was incredibly long just to get the opportunity to buy these eggs. I was sure that I wasn't going to miss visiting this restaurant this time around.

Yung Kee used to be a 'dai pai dong' (hawker stall) selling siu mei before it was converted into a restaurant by Kam Shui-fai in 1942. After moving several times due to the war, Yung Kee finally settled down in its current premises on Wellington Street in 1964. Shortly after that, in 1968, Yung Kee was chosen by Fortune magazine as one of the Top 15 Restaurants in the World, the only Chinese restaurant on the list.

Getting a table on the upper floors of the restaurant is almost impossible without prior booking. Thanks to my girlfriend's mum, we managed to get a table during the busy lunch time. Once you're seated down and opened the menu, you'll soon realise why this is one of the best restaurant in the world. More than 6 pages of awards which includes:

Michelin Guide 1 Star Rating for 2009 and 2010

Miele Guide - Top 20 Asia's restaurant for 08/09 and 09/10

You can view http://www.yungkee.com.hk/award/award-e.html for a list of their awards which spans 4 webpages.

We decided to have a light and simple lunch, tasting only some of their finest trademark dishes which includes:

The famous century eggs with pickled ginger.The eggs are simply just marvelous on its own. This one-of-a-kind egg has a creamy yolk that gives you an unrivaled melting sensation in your mouth,

The Roast Goose. I have to be honest, I'm not really a fan of roast goose but one bite of Yung Kee's roast goose with sweet sauce changes everything. The meat is so tender and the skin is a crispy complement to the succulent meat. The sweet sauce provides a sweet interplay of taste tingling your taste buds.

Some vegetables and tofu.

Wanton noodle soup. Apparently quite a famous dish in Yung Kee as well. Reasonably good.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to pay so I wouldn't be able to tell you how much our meal cost. I wouldn't be surprise that it cost a fair bit more premium when I saw this article on the newspaper the very next day:

Apparently there have been continuing disputes among the sibblings who inherited this restaurant from their father. The eldest brother of the sibblings has applied to the Hong Kong High Court for liquidation of the holding company if the younger brother refused to buy out his stake. This has led to some airing of the company's finances. Sit tight when you hear this. Yung Kee restaurant is worth an estimated $2 billion HKD comprising of $880 million HKD in cold hard cash, $1 billion HKD in property and $127 million HKD in other assets. Yung Kee restaurant makes an average profit of $50 million HKD a year. Not too shabby eh, for a restaurant that started off as a 'dai pai dong'.

As touristy as it may sound, I would definately recommend this restaurant if you are in Hong Kong. Any restaurant that has been in business for almost 70 years, survived 1 world war, countless virus outbreaks and relentless bashing of food critics to end up with a legacy worth $2 billion HKD, is definately worth a try.

Food: 9/10

Service: 7/10

Ambience: 7/10

Overall: 8/10

(I don't normally give an 8. So when I do, you know it's something special worth trying)

Yung Kee Restaurant

32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2522 1624

Fax: (852) 2840 0888

Email: info@yungkee.com.hk

Crazieapple reviews: Rockpool (Melbourne)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Rockpool was always been my favourite place for good steaks. The dry aged grain/grass fed steak sold at reasonable price is not something you need to yearn for.

I'm a student studying in Melbourne, with limited monthly budget, fine dining is not something i can attend to as often as Ms Jazz (who is filthy rich back in KL). So exquisite restaurants like Neil Perry's Rockpool is a rare occassion for me, sometimes to reward myself for my hard *cough* times. hehe

Rockpool Bar & Grill in Melbourne is found in Crowns Casino and has other branches in Sydney. We all know to avoid restaurants in places like casinos for the more obvious reason:

Tourist spots = Overrated + Overpriced food

But Rockpool WILL convert your beliefs!!

Rockpool is extremely spacious and free from many pretentious decorations.
The setting manages to be dimmed and sexy. Dimmed and sexy also means that my photos are not the greatest, so apologies in advance as i have near zero knowledge on how to change my LX3 settings.

Rockpool never failed to hit full house especially on weekend, so be sure to make reservations in advance!!

For starters, we shared:

King Prawns with Goats Cheese Tortellini, Burnt Butter, Raisins and Pine Nuts $32.00

King prawn was so so, but tortellini totally killed the whole dish!! it was full of flour taste, sticky and soggy. This dish was so badly done that we find it hard to justify the two so-called king prawns for a price of $32.

Four Raw Tastes of the Sea $26.00

A selection of 4 different oysters from different places. My favourite was the pacific oysters! You gotta be an oyster lover to actually tell the differences between each of them. Yes, i'm an oyster fanatic who can easily gobble down one dozen of oysters on my own.

My choice of the day (very budget ok.. wanna eat good steak but on tight budget):

Cape grim dry aged 36 month old grass fed- rib eye on the bone aged for 56 days ($58)

This is the second time i've ordered the same thing, as remorseful as i am, i would say, first time was so much more better than this trip. The meat was overdone for a "medium rare" and major parts of the meat surface are burnt!

Everyone knows that eating burnt stuff are cancerous, thus i wasted almost 1/4 of my entire steak to save myself from cancer!!

The texture of the steak was almost as horrible as eating steak from a local hawkers "western food" stall. Rubbery and tough.. It was really disappointing seeing that my first two visits were almost heavenly!! Chef must be having his bad day huh??

Side dishes (that were supposed to compliment our mains, but didn't):

Sauteed Mushrooms ($15)

For some unknown reason, it was sour!! And we really couldn't finish it even though mushrooms are my favourite.. =(

Pink Eye Potato sauteed with butter and rosemary ($10)

Too oily for my liking and i don't wanna be overdosed with carbs!! A dish to avoid for weight watchers..

Desserts:

Apple Tart with Brown Butter Ice Cream ($19)

Possibly the worse apple tart ever, that tasted like Chinese herbs. Even frozen apple tarts from Safeway beats this!

Passionfruit Pavlova ($18)

Epic Fail. Pavlova tasted like sugar-overdosed whipped cream, nowhere near to how a pavlova SHOULD BE.

Pictures don't do justice to my new Alannah Hill Hairband.. It just look like a bunch of waste papers stuck on my head here.. (-.-'')

My experience in Rockpool this time around is a great letdown as compared to my previous visits.

But i truly believe that Rockpool is still one of the best steak place with great potentials!! The next time i go, i'm gonna make sure someone pays for my Blackmore wagyu steak here! hehe

Ratings:

Food: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Attentive waiters are allocated to each of their own tables to ensure full attentions are given to each customers. Now that's an A-plus service!

Ambience:: 7/10

(can't help but eavesdropped the next table's gay conversations, entertaining yet disturbing)

Overall: 6.5/10

(this rating is not consistent as previous visits were way better!!)

Crazieapple reviews (finally!!): A Minor Place (Melbourne)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hi all, i'm BACK!!!I apologize for my long hiatus from Augustdiners. The last 2 months has been pretty hectic filled with semester exams and my winter break back in KL. Winter break means carefree and im on the loose, so by right i should be updating more right?? hehe i blame Jess for misplacing the memory card reader back at home, so it's (entirely) not my fault for being lazy ok! hehe

Excuses aside, i'm back here promising more ~~fine~~ (sorry, no money for fine food) good food to all Augustdiners readers!! *fingers crossed* teehee (don't i ALWAYS say that??)

Yet another breakfast place to introduce to fellow early birds.. As u already know, there will ALWAYS be a valid reason to get me out of bed before 12pm. So my reason today was to bring Cookie baby for her grooming appointment.

While waiting for princess, we googled up the nearest famous breakkie place and was sold by a cafe that goes by the name- A Minor Place.

I always have a bias perception that shabby home-firnedly looking breakfast place are bound to be good!!

This place has a reputation of having attendants with stinky attitude cool and "indie", hippie customers.

Cladded in my combat boots and wayfarers, i was TOTALLY fitting in!!. Haha As if!! I felt a tad bit intimidated by those weird judgmental glares when walking into the confined little shed filled with locals, we were possibly the only asians, as though we were overtaking their turf.

Idiosyncratic and cosy shopfront, milk-crate seats, communal tables.. that's all we need to whip up an excellent breakfast spot!!

The entire cafe is not bigger than 2 of your average living room, making it super busy and amplified with chatty buzz at peak hour!!

Loving those shades that hides my hungover face and 4-hours-of-sleep eyes

Ordered an Affogato for a change (Cafe Latte being my regular) but was thoroughly disappointed. The coffee had this unpleasant acidity and sour sensation that was impossible to swallow.

It's either they over-roasted the beans or served us with stale beans?? I might not be a good enough coffee fanatic to judge but this is DEFINITELY not something drinkable!! So i requested for a change.

The second glass came in half the portion of the first one. But, equally bad.

I gave up and stuck to tap water in the end.. So much for all that favourable review on the coffee. Now now.. What went wrong???

Shin yee's Hot Choc wasn't half bad.

A Minor Place's menu was almost as normal as your next door cafe with a little in-house special.

My choice and i should really smack myself for trying to be different:

Bullseye bagel – toasted bagel with grilled ham, spicy relish, rocket& a poached egg (9.5aud)

Bagel was stone-cold-hard, i hated rockets, poached egg was overly done.. One word: HORRIBLE!!! One would expect so much more after reading all that praise-worthy reviews.

Bad food + bad coffee + early morning = Bad mood

Shin yee's choice from lunch menu:

Chicken Sandwich- organic free range chicken w mayonnaise, swiss cheese, onion chutney & rocket on wholegrain (11aud)

Freshly baked pastries and cookies for quickies .

Didn't manage to order those recommended by the reviews on the net.

Though i've had my first bad experience here, i wouldn't mind giving it another try the next time i bring Cookie for another grooming session. And let's crossed our fingers that they don't serve sour coffee next time around.

A Minor Place

103 Albion St, Brunswick

03 9384 3131

Ms. Jazz ON LEAVE

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Hi guys! I'll be away for awhile, and will be back with more food goodies from S-H-A-N-G-H-A-I!! I'm packing 2 memory cards so we'll be sure to have loads and loads of gastronomic pictures coming up soon.

In the meantime, lets just hope that Crazieapple gets out of her laziness and actually blog about something soon. Perhaps within this century? *roll eyes* =D

Catch up soon! xoxo

Ms. Jazz Reviews (since crazieapple never does :P) on Lafite @ Shangri-la Hotel

Monday, July 19, 2010

You'll be glad to know that Lafite recently renovated their menu, and doubled their choices since their last one. You are now looking at about 50+ choices. We were shown to the only private room overlooking the garden that seats about 10 of us. Might as well, since we were one pretty noisy bunch. :)

For such a reputable & established restaurant, Lafite food does not quite meet the mark. "Overrated" quoted Crazieapple. I myself also have some reservations, while everything seem to be executed fairly, we were perhaps expecting something a great deal more. Food presentation that shows creativity fails in showing the same in taste. Nevertheless it was a good place for a celebration for it was PK's birthday. (and if you like upscale price, friendly service, and impeccable interior- Lafite would be a good choice)

The staff thoughtfully decorated the table with fresh rose petals and lighted the candles upon our arrival.

Lobster Soup (RM38) with black truffle and green peas. Creamy content where everything was being pureed (no lobster pieces here), satisfying but definitely not the best.

Braised mushroom Soup (RM28) sauteed mushroom and garlic chips. The girls commented that Silverspoon served better ones. *grins* but then i think they are just bias here.

Roasted duck consomme (RM30) duck broth, duck confit, duck liver ravioli, roasted duck breast, fine vegetables. Basically all things duck can be found here, that really resembles our chinese ABC soup =P

Cappucino of curry and lemongrass (RM35) with king tiger prawn, pumpkin, coriander.

While it is unusual find this in a posh restaurant like this, we're glad that this is in the menu.

The soup has an exquisite taste, creamy curry content that is not spicy but rather slightly sweet with strong lemongrass aftertaste. Either u like it or hate it.

Lift up the glass and the soup will flow from the bottom, what a creative presentation!

Pan seared Perigold foie gras (RM60) celery root puree, spiced bread, almond sauce, apricot almond chutney. Tastewise is just OK, quite forgettable

Delightful presentations with all the colours. Seared yellow fin tuna and marinated salmon (RM75) Guacamole, cannelloni of watercress, and salmon mousse, sour cream and caviar.

Sweet Sour Onion Tart (RM36) with sweet onion, onion marmalade, truffle emulsion, shaved black truffle, spring onions. Sometimes simple is often the best. A gourmet tart that was a satisfying eat.

Australian Wagyu beef tenderloin (RM160) with herb pomme puree, seared foie gras, bone marrow, shaved black truffle, bearnaise sauce. Pretty in presentation, meat could be slightly more tender and flavourful though. The ones served taste slightly bland, and foie gras was beyond petite. Overall, this is good if it's a RM100 steak. But it's not. One word: over-priced.

But then again, most main dishes there range average of RM140, like the butter poached lobster with corn fed organic spring chicken. Atlantic lobster with roasted chicken, fine carrots, shitake, asparagus, enoki mushroom, corn, peanut curry sauce.

A chef recommendation, Australian Wagyu beef short ribs (RM75) is slow cooked, served with basil gnocchi, green beans, whipped horseradish and beef sauce.

Grilled black angus rib eye steak (RM150) with slow cooked cherry tomatoes, french beans, semolina dumpling, and rosemary sauce.

Pan seared Dover sole (RM140) with sauteed young spinach, crispy brioche, yuzu miso sauce, candied black olives, lemon confit, tomato marmalade. The grannie finds it too salty (self-preference perhaps? but she's not a fussy eater) and if she sent it back to the kitchen to re-cook, that's really got to be something wrong with it.

Victoria saltbush farm lamb (RM120) Grilled lamb rack and braised lamb, couscous, young artichoke, fine ratatouille, balsamic glazed cherry tomatoes. Again, i ask myself, with such small piece of lamb rack, does it really worth the price?

Foie gras fat poached salmon fillet (RM65) cheapest dish in the menu, but possibly one of the better ones. Served with squid ink risotto, chive sauce, creamy king oyster mushroom ragout, bitter orange compote. It was a very nice combination.