Oolaa

Date of visit: 30th Oct and 22nd Dec 2010

Oolaa @ CentreStage, Soho

Back in November I visited Oolaa with M and B for tea. I remember it was a weekend, because the other patrons were diving into breakfast-y items which looked so mouth-watering I vowed to return for a proper meal.

For tea B and I only managed a cappuccino and for M, a mango crumble. The cappuccino was not bad and the biscotti on the side was a nice touch, though on a more recent experience a latte my friend ordered was very dry, throwing the froth/milk/espresso proportions out of line.

"cappuccino" ($3x)

tall fluff and cocoa powder a nice touch, but not the smoothest froth ever and the drink was pretty mediocre

"mango crumble" ($65)

mangoes, crumble topping, vanilla ice cream, fluff

The mango crumble was quite average, the crumble mixture could've been better - more sweet and buttery and crunchy. The portion was quite small for its price too - my initial thought when it arrived was 'that's it?!'. The ice cream was very average, tasted like... Dreyers.

Anyway, fast forward to a couple months later, I was here for dinner with several friends for an early dinner. We started off with an appetizer of pork belly lollipops.

"Pork Belly Lollipops" ($95)

If the name didn’t sound intriguing enough, allow me to describe how tasty it was. Layers of crispy skin, fat, lean meat, fat then lean mean again, all slathered with a sweet dark glaze which was made of I think primarily hoisin sauce, soy and sugar. The only slight problem was that I thought the lean meat was a little too chewy, not fork tender as I hoped….

A salad was served up next.

 "Pumpkin, Asparagus & Couscous Salad" ($110)

with green pea, chick pea, coriander and a mint yogurt (far back in the pic) 

This dish was very light, and the couscous was perfectly cooked, and seasoned quite well. I also liked the small bits of pumpkin and bell peppers mixed throughout. 

"Lemongrass and Chilli King Prawns" ($195)

with Singapore noodles, sesame honey glazed pak choy. 

There were three prawns slit and grilled, but they lacked in flavour, and was a tad overcooked. The noodles was where all the spice went and after a couple fork fulls there was just too much chilli for A. I agree they could have been more light-handed with the chilli but what disappointed was the lack of other flavours in the noodles apart from spice and pepper, and the overcooked prawns. 

 "Glazed Soy Salmon" ($165) 

with cauliflower mash, grilled vine tomatoes and broccolini. 

The salmon was the star - still pink on the inside and melt-in-your-mouth tender. The glaze was on the sweeter side, but nonetheless good. The cauliflower mash was pretty good too, and a lighter alternative to the commonly served potato mash. 

"Smoores" ($80)

S'mores is an American sweet snack, usually where there is BBQ / camp fires, where a toasted marshmallow gets sandwiched between chocolate and graham crackers. This divine treat was deconstructed a little at Oolaa - so they had a home-made gingery cookie, with house-made marshmallow that was torched, and a chocolate sauce for dipping. However, for the price, what was served was hardly worthy in my opinion...

All in all, pretty good food and very interesting menu. If you forget the outside trash collection site, inside the restaurant will definitely suit most occasions. If you want something casual, there's the cafe on one side. If you're a smoker, there's a terrace for outdoor dining. Otherwise, pick the amber fine dining section with big and small tables, like what we did! 

Food: ♥♥♥-♥♥♥♥

Service: ♥♥♥ 

Price:$$$ 

Oolaa

G/F, Bridges St, CentreStage,

Soho,

Central, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2803 2083

Veggie SF II

Date of visit: 10th December

Veggie SF @ Stanley St

So K and I were back, only this time for lunch. The menu selections only involve sets A-F, with your choice of a drink and soup of the day. Sufficient but not exhilarating. To begin with, we were served our choice of beverage (my cappuccino was surprisingly very enjoyable) and a soup of the day - 'spinach spirulina soup' which was the same kind as my last visit, but tasted significantly different. The soup tasted very much of potato rather than spinach and spirulina like last time, and was only at lukewarm temperature.... if you like potatoes, you will probably enjoy this if it were hot. 

"I Am Fabulous" ($98) 

Beetroot pate topped with cheese, alfafa sprouts, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Side of salad and pumpkin and potato wedges

Since the burger we tried last time was so epic, we both wanted to order it but thought may be should give the lasagna that was sold out last time a go. 

This burger wasn't as great as I remembered. Firstly, the bun was not the shiny brown soft bun we had last time. The filling of beetroot was fortunately, just as good. However, the pumpkin was not sweet this time round, and was too buttery.

 The burger inside

"Union Square" ($98)

Sheets of pasta with assorted vegetables, a layer of melted cheese on top and a dollop their home-made pesto.

This veggie lasagna was not as good as it looked. For me, the pasta sheets were way too over-cooked, the vegetables were over-cooked so they had no more texture, and I really didn't appreciate the addition of potatoes in this lasagna. Starch on starch...not good!! The pasta sauce could've been more heartier and richer rather than so liquidy, and the pesto was slightly too strong....not impressive.

Whilst I liked the Burger and cappuccino, I was disappointed with the lasagna which is usually very delicious if done right, and is not too hard either... Maybe dinner will have better execution overall for their items because of the massive rush during lunch hours? 

Anyway, thank you K for lunch! 

Food: ♥♥- ♥♥♥ 

Service: ♥♥♥ 

Price:$$$

Veggie SF

10/F, Stanley 11, 

No. 11 Stanley St, Central, Hong Kong 

Tel: +852 3902 3902

Tokoro

Date of visit: 22^nd November 2010

Tokoro @ Langham Hotel

For lunch my ma and I went to Tokoro for lunch. I quite like the atmosphere of the left side, with seats by huge windows, and a bar in the middle of the room lined full of different sakes. There was quite a selection of lunch sets on the menu, in addition to their lengthy a la carte items (you can see all this info on their website).

For all lunch sets, a starter of salad and a tiny dish (mushrooms and burdock) was first to arrive. 

"Sashimi rice"

I'm actually struggling to remember what there was. But I remembered the lean tuna, hamachi and sweet shrimp distinctively as they were quite fresh. The ones on the left, which I should have asked about, weren't particularly great. They were a little too rubbery and quite tasteless. 

"pearl rice"

very well cooked, yum!

"miso soup"

"sukiyaki"

sliced beef, poached egg, assorted mushrooms, spinach, konnyaku

the broth was very sweet and salty, very good with the rice, but too strong to drink by itself. the beef was overcooked for me, would have been nice if they had let us cook the beef ourselves, but it was already made when served. the egg was also fully cooked, with the yolk fully set, definitely not what I had hoped, so mum had this one. 

dessert was tiny, we would've rather had a fruit or something. this thumb-sized cake-like dessert was dressed with a little honey, I think it was made of some kind of bean - sort of like the green bean paste (yellow in colour) you get in Chinese glutinous rice dumplings. 

Overall, there was aspects that could've been improved easily. Portions were very generous, and I would've rather seen less fish on sashimi selection, and perhaps some scallops. The beef could've been more tender by cooking it for a lesser amount of time. Nonetheless, fine for a weekday lunch. 

Food:  ♥♥1/2

Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$

Tokoro 

L3, Langham Place Hotel,

555 Shanghai St,

Mongkok, Kowloon,

Hong Kong

Derby Restaurant

Derby Restaurant @ Hong Kong Jockey Club

Back in November, we visited Derby Restaurant for a birthday celebration. They were featuring white truffles on their menu by their new chef Eyck Zimmer... so I was all the more excited.

"wheat baguette"

A waiter came around to let us pick our choice of bread.... out of the four kinds I picked this disappointing and overly chewy baguette.

Amuse bouche - "Pigeon Leg"

Served on top of a red sauce, which was hard to distinguish because of its lack of flavour. Very oily as well. 

First - "Scrambled Eggs" with brioche (photo below) 

white truffles from Alba are in season, so naturally we had some to go with eggs! These were scrambled very well, slightly runny, soft and fluffy with chives. It was very good on top of the brioche toast and would be a perfect base for truffles, except they weren't as pungent or aromatic as I hoped they would be.... a little did not go a long way indeed! 

"scrambled eggs" take 2. 

"toasted brioche" 

"lobster bisque"

with its ravioli (lobster) and tarragon cream

there was way too much alcohol which actually burnt my throat a little. Either the alcohol was simmered long enough to 'burn-off', or just too much was added! Bisque was also very thin and lacked the lobster aroma and flavours...disappointing.

Palate cleanser "cassis sorbet" or "granite"

This, was a well made granite! it achieved its purpose, cold, grape-like and refreshing. Not too sweet nor sour either.

"Butter poached Boston Lobster"

served with peas, carrots, pilaf rice (pictured below), and a 'Sauce Neptune'

The lobster was poached medium well so its meat was still slippery and quite tender nothing like the over-cooked chewy or over-boiled mush you get at buffets and whatnot. 

The butter poached crustacean was, despite its name, not buttery, but sweet, succulent and oh-so-yumm! The 'Sauce Neptune' was really a seafood sauce scented with coriander (not the herb but the spice). 

This dish was one where its accompaniments truly matched the star, from the peas and Indian rice to the coriander-scented seafood sauce. The coriander seeds definitely gave it some Indian flair and was a very enjoyable dish. 

"aromatic pilaf rice"

"curry crusted monk fish"

with pickled melon, sautéed romaine hearts, coconut essence

This fish never made it into our stomachs fully, but was sent back to the kitchen, for good reason. The romaine was interesting but fiarly bland, The coconut essence was actually coconut foam... too light in flavour. The melons were hardly pickled, but just diced and got quite lost in the plate. 

But those weren't the reasons why it failed. It was the 'star', the monkfish, which was chewy, overcooked and the crust was not crispy as the description had promised. It was masked by salt and a little curry spice on the skin part, and was so overcooked it was chew and tough.... whilst monkfish is meaty and firm, it shouldn't be rough, dry and chewy.... after all its known as the 'poor man's lobster'. We were suggested to order something else in place to avoid disappointment.

"pan fried U.S. beef tenderloin"

with horseradish pommes mousseline, baby carrots, kenya beans, sauce bordelaise

This dish was cooked to a perfect medium well, red, but with no trace of blood and incredibly tender... hmm.. i don't think I've had tenderloin this good recently. 

The pommes mousseline aka mash potatoes were incredibly rich and creamy too, though I think a little too thin in consistency? But since potatoes aren't my favourite thing in the the world I shouldn't say more. 

"slow cooked dover sole fillet"

bed of crushed potatoes, shredded cucumbers, oyster beignet, caviar, champagne foam

Sounds like a lot...and it probably was. The fish was again, disappointing but we didn't have the heart to tell the super-nice Manager again. At least it was edible this time...

Sole is meant to be a soft fish which flakes easily when cooked just right, but this was again over cooked and the fillet had even curled upwards. But I mean, at least the fish knife went through the flesh unlike the monkfish above. It was also overdosed on salt, which I still felt when dessert came round. The saving grace of this dish was probably the lovely oyster beignet which made even the non-oyster-eater in me enjoy it. Crispy and yum on its own with the caviar.

"tiramisu birthday cake" 

was complimentary after they found out it was my ma's birthday, but we had no intention to celebrate formally... we were just here for dinner! our guess is that they found an alert when they ran the membership card through their machine? was a good thing most diners had left by now or ma would've been embarrassed..!

anyway, this small gesture was very much appreciated, and the cake itself was actually very decent (but then again HKJC's cakes have always been reasonably good) and very light. 

sliced tiramisu and plated

house-made chocolates as petits fours was very yumm. 

The tiramisu and chocolates were a lovely sweet ending to our dinner....service certainly makes a huge different to a dinner! 

Food: ♥♥- ♥♥♥♥

Service: ♥♥♥♥♥

Price: $$$$$

Derby Bar and Restaurant

Hong Kong Jockey Club

1 Shan Kwong Rd,

Happy Valley, Hong Kong

Guru

Date of visit: 19^th October 2010

Guru Boutique Indian Dining @ Soho 

For a causal dinner I chose Guru for some Indian food. I really like Indian food, though I enjoy it more in Autumn/Winter weathers as chilli and hot weather doesn't go so together well for me... 

Although there are quite a number of Indian restaurants, I wanted to try Guru for their slightly more modernised menu...it just stood slightly above the other places like Tandoor, Ganga Din, and Bombay Dreams, although the latter has recently relocated with a new menu....which calls for a worthy visit some time in the near future!

"sizzling jeera prawn" ($118)

and again.

tiger prawns marinated with cumin, ginger, yogurt and paprika

This arrived sizzling hot on the heated metal plate. Underneath the prawns were some bell pepper and tomatoes that had been sauteéd, and was coated in the same sauce as the prawns. Although this dish was relatively spicy I appreciated the heat and with the help of some naan and icy water I finished it easily. The seasoning was spot on and I couldn't complain... 

"kadai paneer" ($68) 

Sauteéd cottage cheese with bell peppers, garlic, chilli and tomatoes

This gravy was awesome, so light and balanced with sour and heat.... a very good vegetarian option indeed.

"naan" ($25)

Plain leavened bread, arrived warm with crispy base and fluffy top, how I like it. Paired very well with the two mains we ordered. 

service was very accommodating, and there was something about this small and cramped restaurant which I liked....perhaps it was the fact that they provide shisha on their patio, with a nice crowd too?

Food: ♥♥♥1/2
Service: ♥♥♥

Price: $$$

Guru

No.13 Lower Elgin St, Soho

Central, Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2547 9998