Cafe La Vita

 *Full disclosure - a very good friend took me here. Place is owned by one of his relatives and they knew we were coming. I tried to pay my share but was not permitted to... A nice way to end 2013.

A bit out of the way and hidden but very close to Yuen Long’s MTR station. Well worth for a relaxing, unfussy night out with friends to get away from the typical HK-expat scene. Pizza was more of a flatbread with lovely balance of sauce, cheese and parma ham. Very thin crust, crispy to the bite matched well with ham, sauce and cheese. Mixed mushroom appetizer was fresh and not too heavily spiced, so flavors and textures of the mushrooms were readily apparent. A strong start to the meal. Piece de resistance was Ribeye steak on a bed of vegetables and a side of mashed potato. Mash tasty but could have been lighter in texture and feel. Steak cooked perfectly medium rare, soft and a delight to eat with accompanying vegetables.

Credit Cards accepted. Closed Wednesdays. Possible to BYO. 

HKD 175 - HKD 300 per person 

Shop 37, G/F, Shun Fung Building 5-7, Fung Yau Street North, Yuen Long 
元朗鳳攸北街5-7號順豐大廈地下37號鋪
2887 5585

Low Lactose Meal

Dinner

Roll/muffin tasted like it looks. Could not eat it. Dry, hard, crusty. Ugh. Worst thing eaten yet on CX. Too bad because main was pretty good. Rice a bit dry, but fish crispy on top and moist enough to the bite and decently spiced, green pea or some sort of mashed potato mix was a lovely accompaniment. Fruit relatively fresh and crisp. One of the much better meals, save for the roll/muffin. Ugh.

Date of travel: 12 February 2014

Flight: CX 312 HKG (Hong Kong) - PEK (Beijing)

Low Fat Low Cholestrol Meal

Dinner  

Pretty basic as expected, not sure what difference is between this and just "low calorie" but if CX says they are different... Flavorless steamed broccoli, dry-ish plain chicken, but moist and easy to eat carrots. Fruit was quite crispy, delicious and ripe. Salad was tasteless but crispy and made nice due to a lime or lime juice being lightly squeezed on it during the preparation stage. Yes I know that’s a lemon on the side, I didn’t squeeze it. Roll the standard multi-grainish thing that is omnipresent in these “healthy” meals. 

Date of travel: 3 January 2014

Flight: CX 631 HKG (Hong Kong) - MAA (Chennai)

Low Calorie Meal

Lunch

Flavorless slices of cool chicken on limp “salad” with a little tomato that was not too bad. Main of baked chicken with eatable bell pepper slices. Rice relatively moist and not bad. Chicken dry, though nice texture (comparatively) due its being baked rather than boiled. Steamed cauliflower and broccoli limp as expected. Roll was a heavier, brown grain thing. Enjoyable. Fruit was heavy on the pineapple and was probably just past its prime (ie. Not rotten but getting there).

Dinner

Second meal was much better. Fish (Salmon?) was moist and nicely cooked and greatly helped by some added salt. Asparagus had some snap. Potatoes soft and complimentary to the rest of the dish. Little carrot garnish on top a nice touch. Dessert of mixed berry compote standard (ie all meals on the flight had it). Tasty enough, and healthy, not too sweet. Would eat again. Fruit ok. Bread similar to previous meal but a little less heavy. Overall, quite enjoyable.

Date of travel:  December 2013

Flight: CX 831 JFK (New York) - HKG (Hong Kong

Chung King BBQ (重庆烧）

A viable (sans bread) alternative to Xinjiang food in Shenzhen. Small local little chain has about 4 or so shops in Prince Edward/Jordan. Dive-y, but has Hoegaarten on tap. Menu a variety of meats, seafood and veggies that are grilled and spiced ("plain/not hot", "little hot" or "hot" - mostly did latter two). Also has a number of Sichuanese dishes that weren't tried. Ordered: lamb kebabs, lamb chops, chicken wings, eggplant, leeks, chives, needle mushrooms and other stuff, I'm sure. Did not order seafood but seemed popular with other customers.

Meats as good as Xinjiang place in Shenzhen. Lamb chops a highlight,  served with mint jelly and perfectly cooked. Juicy. Other meats spiced in Xinjiang style, use of cumin and chili pepper. Eggplant almost as good as in Shenzhen. Tender, use of ample garlic. Other veggies lovely. All we missed was the atmosphere of sitting outside on a sidewalk, listening to Uyger conversation and of course the nang bread that's freshly made. Otherwise a fine alternative and much shorter travel time.

MC/VISA/Cash accepted.

HKD 125 - HKD 200 per person 


230 Fa Yuen Street, Prince Edward
太子花園街230號 
3106 0405

Other branches:
G/F, 22 & 24 Man Ying Street, Jordan
G/F., 2 Tam Kung Road, To Kwa Wan

G/F, 11 Man Yuen Street, Jordan

G/F, 20 Man Ying Street, Jordan

 

Papi in Wanchai - Go for the Tripe

Place emphasizes small plates "tapas style" Italian food. Original location in Elements in Kowloon been covered to death by expat blogs. All have missed out the best dish on the menu...The tripe (pictured, dish to the left). Perfectly cooked, soft, tender, not rubbery or hard. Quality of tomato sauce is something one might find in Italy and salted (with Pecorino cheese) to perfection. A dish very easy to screw up, but executed to perfection. Took me back to my study abroad time in Italy, where my host mom made some of the most incredible Italian food... Other dishes not as good. Lamb meatballs fine but pedestrian, ditto bone marrow. Spaghetti Carbonara slightly over-cooked and sadly over salted. Sausage and onion pizza...components all very nice individually, onion went beautifully with sauce and cheese, though would have liked the crust to be more chewy than crispy. Sadly the sausage, though tasty, just didn't mix well with the rest. A solid pizza if they can use another kind. Too full to have real dessert (others say dessert is the best part of the meal here), had the imported gelato, 3 small scoops (1 each of vanilla, hazelnut and cookies and cream). Former two creamy and light, latter pedestrian.

Warm atmosphere, friendly service, well worth going just to have the tripe with a drink.

MC/Visa/Amex Accepted
Reservations Accepted

HKD 250 - HKD 400 per person 
(440 pp spent, no drinks ordered and we over-ordered by 2 dishes)

Shop R011, Civic Square 
3/F Elements Mall
1 Austin Road
West Kowloon, Hong Kong
2811 2681

26/F QRE Plaza
202 Queens Road East
Wanchai, Hong Kong
6979 9690

www.papi-hk.com

The Big Bite 3 HKD (39 US cent) Wings

Place has been covered by the blogs but not enough people seem to know about Tuesday wing night (usually packed but none of my friends in any circle had heard of it).

Essentially, buy a beer (HKD 50 - HKD 70) and you can get HKD 3/wing, a bargain in this town. Has 5 varying levels of spice , with hottest being "Homicide" Not the spiciest wings ever, but pretty painful to eat. No one in my group (I've gone twice) has eaten more than 1. Took me 10 minutes to get my taste buds back. "Suicide" wings (pictured), the second spiciest, much less spicy and pretty good. "Medium" or 3rd on the list are standard wings, pretty good. Menu also has chili fries, poutine and a variety of burgers and hot dogs neither of which I have tried. Fries pedestrian but offer a decent balance to spicy wings. Beers include Molson and some crafts, like Rogue and North Coast.

Note older post from May 2013 on Champs Sports Bar - what I think are the best wings in HK but expensive at HKD 70-80 for 6 wings.

Cash or Octopus Card only
No Reservations

HKD 80 - HK 150 per person

Shop 4B, G/F Kar Fu Building
196 - 202 Java Road 
North Point, Hong Kong
6979 9690