Gourmet NO Paradise?

I believe the recent hot topic should be the incident of oil fish (Lepidocybium Flavobrunneum) is being touted and sold as cod fish.

My family eats fish almost every day. However, since the industrial dye - malachite green was found in eel and some kind of fish, we stopped to buy frozen fish fillets such as cod fish. We were not aware till the next day after the report about oil fish is being sold, my big brother found oil on his pants, and noted it was not caused by fish oil capsule. But we are lucky enough. Unlike other people, we did not have diarrhea or being embarrassed due to excessive secretion of oil from the body. We are lucky not to have our Dai-guai fed with the fish fillet. Otherwise ishe would not have diarrhea like that poor doggie but gone to heaven.

We had nothing to eat in 2006 since food scare over vegetable, fruit, seafood, poultry, egg, etc. were contaminated with suspect toxic and chemicals. Just as we think everything is back to normal in 2007, supermarket giant ParknShop has been accused of labeling oil fish as cod fish that caused excessive secretion of oil. Oh God! We else can we eat? How come Hong Kong has become 'Gourmet No Paradise'?

Who else can we trust?

My wish of 2007 is no SARS, bird flu, dengue fever, Norwalk virus can threat us, and we Hong Kong people can have something Good to eat.

My Japanese Pen-Pal came to Hong Kong (1)

In the afternoon of Saturday 6th Jan 2007, I received an email from my Japanese Pen-pal Kaori, who is currently working in Sri Lanka. She is coming to Hong Kong, she is already on the plane! It is really thrilling! In the evening I received her call that she was staying in a guesthouse at Chung King Building. How did she find these guesthouses?

After confirmed with Kaori the meeting place (Tsim Sha Tsui MTR A1 entrance) and time (noon) of next day, I started my planning. Kaori is different from other Japanese girls I know, she is not crazy about LV, Gucci, Burberry, etc. On the contrary, she loves to visit historical places, temples and churches, to see real life of various cultures.

Therefore, after we met up the next day, I firstly took them to lunch. I planned to take them to Canton restaurant for our wan ton and tea with milk, but H wanted to have tea at Chinese restaurant and Kaori wanted something not greasy, so we went to Kung Tak Lam at One Peking Road for lunch. The table was opposite to the sea, the view could be the best if there was no smog. Kaori and H ordered Sichuan noodles with peppery sauce, Shanghai cold wan ton, Shanghai dumplings (in steaming basket), fried green onion pancake, steamed barbecued pork bun and egg tart with puff pastry crust. The Sichuan noodles was with peanut sauce instead of peppery sauce (vegetarian does not eat spicy food), so I who do not eat spicy food can have it; cold wan ton was nothing like Cantonese wan ton and was not tasty; the stuffing for dumplings was so loose… then I remembered the stuffing was not pork but vegetable; egg tart with puff pastry crust, well, I never liked eating the puff pastry crust; fried green onion pancake was not greasy, what it used seemed not green onion (vegetarian does not eat green onion), but it was still tasty; steamed barbecued pork bun is always my favourite, it was small and delicious.

The quality of the lunch was average. 5 dishes of dim sum, 1 noodle plus 3 tea cost almost $200, but luckily, I presented my HSBC credit card which gave us a discount of 15% off, so the net payment was $166. This lunch was not cheap yet. Probably we ate with the sea? The food of Ka Choi Seafood Restaurant located at Sam Shing Estate where my family and I normally go are tastier. 4 to 5 dishes of dim sum for 3 with tea only cost $50 to $60.

Charlie Brown Café

I went to a Charlie Brown Café one evening for my friends' gathering. I had been longed for visiting there since I knew its existence, because I am a fans of SNOOPY. You can see how excited I was.

It is a chic and lovely café with French windows, comfortable sofa, decorated with characters of PEANUTS everywhere: Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt, Peppermint Patty, Linus Van Pelt, Marcie, Sally Brown, Woodstock, etc., and my all time favourite SNOOPY! The Pilot Snoopy is undoubtedly the smartest. We can also watch the Snoopy cartoons playing continuously at the middle of the café.

Though it is a café, there are not many choices. Well, we still have ordered some drinks:-
Charlie Mocha – its introduction mentioned 'double espresso' that made me gave up but my friend said it was much better then the 'S-bucks';
Linus Latte – I was attracted by its mug on the menu but it came out a paper cup. Well, there was nothing special except it kept me awake from sleep till after 5am.

Besides, these were the food we ordered:-
Carbonara – clams, mushroom and cheese with fettuccine, quite okay;
Rye bread with chicken salad – came out White bread… didn't the cashier knows English?
Charlie's Pasta Pizza – it was special, but wrapped spaghetti inside was not a good idea… too tough and hard, difficult to be cut by knife;
Charlie's Drumsticks – small but tasty, served with potato and apple salad

Also desserts:-
Charlie's Angels – looked at the presentation, we thought it was same as the soft and layered cake (probably Angle Cake) we had in the UK, but it was far from it, we were so disappointed;
Charlie's Waffle – molded with 4 characters, but I can only remember Charlie Brown and Snoopy, 'oh sorry Snoopy, I have to cut you and eat you…'
There are a few types of merchandise of Snoopy and Woodstock such as mugs, plush toys, badges and key rings at the shop, but I did not buy any… I had to stay away, otherwise I would have gone crazy.

It was a nice visit and I think I will visit there again, just have a cup of cappuccino and sandwiches~ and enjoy sitting with Snoopy.

Originally posted at http://gertie-yunis.blogspirit.com/ on 21st Dec, 2006