Lunch around central

Date of visit: 31^st July  2010

Kau Kee @ Gough Street, Central

On this day I met up with my foodie friend M to try the famed beef brisket at Kau Kee. Service is very quick here so we didn’t really have to wait to be seated, we simply joined another table with random diners.

There are two sizes here, the standard where your beef comes in the same bowl as your noodle, or the large, where your beef comes in a plate, with a bowl of noodle on the side which is ordered separately. We opted for the standard size, but I had trouble deciding once again. What I really wanted was beef + tendon in their signature clear soup with wide-cut noodles, but the waiter wouldn’t budge and said I could have curry tendon only (as a dish too), so I followed M and ordered beef brisket with noodles in clear soup ($27), except she had hor-fun instead.

Beef brisket with wide-cut noodles

Our steamy bowls of noodles and beef came quickly, and I tasted the light-coloured broth first. It was definitely umami, but didn’t have a large amount of MSG that made me react with a pang of thirst like I normally would. [ps msg isn’t bad for you unless you’re allergic to it!] Anyway, we both loved our soup. Kau Kee’s thinly sliced beef brisket was really tender, and M clearly loved it. Perhaps I am used to a different cut – those squares of tender beef brisket are the way to go for me – so I thought it was only so-so. My wide-cut noodles were yum - al dente and not crazy-chewy like the regular thin wonton noodles, but so darn filling I couldn’t finish. M’s hor-fun was also really good. Soft and slippery but not over-cooked at all.

Beef brisket with hor-fun noodles

I do think this place deserves a recommendation, but I have yet to try many other supposedly ‘famous’ joints for beef brisket, such as Wah Jeh’s, or even the not-so famous, just to compare. If only they were more flexible, would’ve loved to try the beef tendons too. Ahwell…. Another time!

Food: ♥♥♥

Service: ♥

Price: $

Kau Kee Beef Brisket

G/F, 21 Gough Street, 

Central, Hong Kong 

Next stop....


 Jaspas @ Soho

We were here for one thing only - dessert! M had raved about their banoffee pie ($65) before and I had to try it, so she kindly agreed, even though I knew she wanted the malteser cheesecake more =P. 

Our pie took ages to come, but I guess they were slicing it, dressing up the plate blahblahblah..... Anyway, when it eventually arrived, I was a happy customer. 

Doesn't look as good (on its own) as Simply Life's aesthetically, but the layers were better proportioned, and definitely leaned more towards the real banoffee pie. This one had a bottom crust of crushed digestive cookies with butter, a layer of caramel (noticeably thicker than the one from Simply Life - much better too), whole bananas, and a layer of Chantilly cream (i.e. sweetened whipped cream). As the cream layer was significantly thinner compared to other banoffee pies I've tried / seen (798 Unit, Simply Life, Portobellos), I thought Jaspas had executed my ideal banoffee pie. Why so much cream anyway? Yes it looks better, but if I wanted to eat cream I'd just buy some cream and whip it up right?!

We were pleased with this dessert, and if you ever get a craving for banoffee pie I'd recommend you head over to Jaspas! =D

Food: ♥♥♥♥

Service: ♥♥

Price: $

Jaspas

G/F, 28-30 Staunton Street, Soho, 

Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2869 0733

(other branches also)