BLT Burger

BLT Burger
Location: Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Date of Visit: 17th August 2012

>> I've been talking, yearning and wanting to try this joint ever since I laid my eyes on it. The crowd and the queue are the turn off factors that causes every attempt to try this place ended up in failure.

In order to be able to make it this time around, I made an effort to wake up early to walk to Harbour City on my recent trip. I had a partner-in-crime on this trip and the both of us have motives. Karen; aunt Tsai's niece, and myself knew what we wanted from this place. Burgers! Bacon! Milkshakes! and whole lot of Onion Rings! By the time we arrive, it was 11am but they weren't ready for us. We took a walk for a while before we return.

It's a weekday, the day after Typhoon Kai-Tak scratched through the shores of Hong Kong, there were no signs of a huge crowd appearing on that day. Hong Kong are still in the midst of having streams of tourists from the mainland due to summer break holidays, it's expected that there will be a massive flock of tourists in the coming into the area. I was worried that many of those mainland chinese would come and queue.

We were salivating while we decide from the menu. As she ordered a combo set of BLT Burger, Fries and Strawberry Milkshake, I had to break my order into bits and pieces. I can't eat beef (and I was jeered by this 18 year old for not knowing what I am missing out on), I had to settle for an order of Buffalo Chicken Burger, a basket of Onion Rings and A&W Rootbeer soda. The wait for our orders to come was long, cruel and an agonizing one.

We did not have breakfast earlier as we've anticipated that this is going to be a terrorizing lunch for our stomach, we left it empty so that we can just savour this to the max. 20 minutes or so, our orders arrived. My god! We just sat there and admired the glistening look of that towering burger and the Onion Rings looked absolutely crispy and inviting. We looked like a bunch of psychopaths as we went on a photo shooting frenzy over our meal.

As we finally sink our teeth into the burgers, the first bite was... Orgasmic! Juicy and tender chicken meat followed by a hint of hot barberque sauce and the saltiness of the bacon. By the time I made my 10th bite, I was doubting if I can even possibly finish! In the end, I managed to finish my portion but Karen struggled all the way. She surrendered the fries for the sake of finishing her milkshake. The meal damages are about HKD400++ but it was worth it. It's priceless to see Karen looking for Eno after that. Lols!

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Al Molo

Al Molo Ristorante Italiano
Location: Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Date of Visit: 22nd January 2012

>> It's Chinese New Year eve and most shops will be closed before evening arrives. So, finding food may be a problem in the next couple of days.

The family wishes to go to this BLT Burger place nearby but with the queue so long, we gave up on the idea and stop by here instead. Al Molo serves up Italian food on a very high note and the food is absolutely delicious. I was skeptical of this place at first when I was at the entrance, thinking that it is just one of those not too bad Italian restaurants that would charge its patrons expensively because where this restaurant is located.

Step right in... and oh boy! Was I ever wrong about this place! People say to never judge the book by it's cover and I shall not do that again as long as I am in Hong Kong. This restaurant is located in the prime area of Harbour City, with a view overlooking Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. Whether you are there for lunch or dinner, if you are seated close to the windows, you are in for a magnificent view.

This lunch time experience was indeed a pleasurable one as we're there for a pre-Chinese New Year family reunion lunch. The ambience around the restaurant was very pleasant because there weren't too many patrons when we arrived. Best of all, there's not much mainland chinese in the restaurant. Those roughneck chinks can be loud and noisy, definitely will spoil every moment of it if there's a handful of them at that time.

The family made a few main course orders and some wine to go with the meal, that was basically it. We were pampered early on by its freshly made Italian bread that's crispy on the outside and fluffy yet still warm on the inside. Serve it up with a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar... it couldn't get any better. Our bottle of Marqués De Riscal Roble Tempranillo 2008 arrived soon after and a toast for a very good year ahead.

One by one, the lunch is being served to us starting with Gambero - grilled king prawns, mustard greens, kabocha squash, polenta cream and preserved lemon. Next comes Casarecci - semolina pasta, clams, squid and spicy tomato; this tomato paste pasta tastes absolutely gorgeous with a hint of spicyness in it's sauce! Spigola - wild seabass, artichokes, roasted peppers, black rice and pine nuts; arrived after (as seen on the left).

Mom's order of Risotto - acquarello risotto, wild mushrooms and parmigiano; came before the last dish was served which would be my order of Salsiccia - pork sausage, brocolli rabe and smoked mozarella. After getting a taste on a variety of dishes that is being ordered, my view on Italian food has taken a setback where most of the Italian food that I've tasted so far in Malaysia cannot out match what is being plated at Al Molo. I might have over-rated this place, but it is still one of the best Italian restaurants that I've ever been.

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Agnès b. Café

Agnès b. Café LPG
Location: K11, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Date of Visit: 21st January 2012

>> Despite how many visits that I have made to Hong Kong for the past years, I have never failed to visit this little café that is situated nearby my father's home everytime.

This café serves yummylicious cakes and speciality coffee from 10am to 10pm every single day. What I can really say about this place would be the ambience of the café that really is comfortable, cozy and it's French!! The food and drinks in this little café are indeed to die for... but all greatness comes down to a very hefty price. This is because it is a French based café where all it's product except for its cakes, are eventually imported.

This is not your average Starbucks or Cha Time place to have your afternoon break or hang out with buddies everyday. It's one of the high end coffee places that not many locals would stop over for a cuppa when there's so many cheaper options from it's local chinese restaurants where a cup of coffee costs for about HKD$8 compared to a cup of freshly brewed coffee here for HKD$30. How much would a Latte cost? You do the math.

Whenever I walk by, I find myself standing in front of the café, questioning myself if I should stop by and have a bite on those delicious cakes that's on display. I may not be a big fan of coffee, this place still offers hot chocolate that's to die for. Although this little café has other chains around Hong Kong, this one gives me a special vibe that draws me to come back. Crowd wise, it's always best to visit before 3pm if you want to have a place to sit.

Any later, you might have to stand and wait for seats which would be merely impossible to wait if you are rushing to head off somewhere else after. What does that LPG at the back stands for? LPG or known as Le Pain Grille mainly serves French-style cuisine. However, this is only a café, so it only serves French desserts. It's merchandise includes pralines, truffles, macarons,confectioneries and seasonal merchandise that is packed in seasonal designed cans.

The design of its merchandise looks very classy and elegant, perfect as holiday gifts or a travel gift for someone special. Again, Agnès b. merchandise can be expensive, just like its coffee. Overall, it is a café worthy of a visit if you are in Hong Kong. If you are looking for a place to relax and unwind, this would be the right place to do so. Very highly recommended and as for myself, I would want visit it again soon... I hope.

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The Return

It has been a long while since I last posted a blog here on blogger. I've totally given up on the fact that I do not garner enough readers or perhaps no one actually take my blogs seriously enough the last time I set it up. From what I can recall, I've developed 3 blogs previously and none of it ever successfully flourished. I hated my previous blog designs because there's none that suits the mood of the blog I've wanted. There's also the fact that there's too much work to do on the blog; alignment, colouring, the header title, those HTML adjustments. Then there's no feedback on my work. What many  have done is to come in, give it a read, admire those pictures and left. No constructive feedbacks... what-so-ever. There are people who would step in, asking me to take those posts or pictures down because it's not suitable to be revealed. It's upsetting! Very much depressing! And thus I finally decided call an end to all these blogging madness.... for a very long period of time while at it (the last posting I actually made was on 17th August 2010).

I may not have been a socialite... can't blame myself for that as it's my nature. I admit that I am not like that all-time-blogger-freak Timothy Tiah who flourished endlessly through his business of blogging. I am not like Kim Kardashian who shows off her life on tv that everyone wants a piece of. I am just a "Regular Joe".... an individual that loved to share what I felt that's beautiful and memorable moments that I've personally experienced. I've taken my blog to the books for the past 2 years and I've seen myself falling behind the blogging technology. Many of the blogs that I used to read has faltered and left unattended when I revisited. It used to be the hype... everyone wants to have a piece of this blogging thing. Now what's really left in the blogging world is just a blanket of words that has no owners. Who gives a damn anymore what I have wrote in the past? We have facebook where everyone posts what they do every single minute of their life! Some even call blogging as "old school".

Whether old school or not... I've decided yet again to have another go with the blogging biz. I should treat this as a past time rather than a commitment which I used to do so. Let me have a go... and let's see where this will end. My name is Jason Yan, and this will be the story of my life.

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