Gum "Jeng" X! 御前上茶

Hi guys! I know it's been more than a month since I've updated, but August has been a really busy month and I apologise for that! With registration, orientation days and camps, it's been really hectic! 

Anyway, I'm back with a new post! (yay) The tofu ice cream has hit Hong Kong about a month ago and I'm finally going to give a detailed review on it (I'll try my best)! :) 

Situated in Causeway Bay, this place is actually quite hidden. You'd think that all of the best foods are snuggled tightly in the womb of Causeway Bay, but this isn't the case. You have to walk past Fashion Walk, and then walk about two more streets down, and turn left if I'm not mistaken. Walk to the very end of the street, until you see a park, and there you have it. Gum "Jeng" is on your right, and it's shared with a store called GUMGUMGUM which sells pretty cool stuff. 

Review:

I have to say, the portion is large! For HKD $32, it's not a bad price, but of course I can get cheaper ones in Taiwan. The ice cream had a good balance between icy and creamy - which made it rather refreshing! 

The tofu flavour was very pronounced, and it tasted more like fresh soya mixed with tofu! It's basically a tofu tornado in your mouth once you bite into this ice cream. 

Tofu Ice Cream 豆腐雪糕

Price: 
HKD $32 for cone.

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★☆☆
Value for Money: ★★★★☆
Presentation: ★★★★☆
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

Address:
中文: 銅鑼灣名店坊加寧街8-10號地下
English: G/F, 8-10 Cleveland Street, Causeway Bay 

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Tokyo Secret 味之藝術

Hi guys!

So so so sorry for the late upload/post. I've been super busy at work, and I've been going on many food hunting adventures that it's quite hard to catch a breath! I know I said I'll try uploading a new post once a week, but I guess it has almost been a month... Oops. Nevertheless, I'm really happy I can finally squeeze some time in to blog!

Anyway, you guys have probably heard the new matcha soft serve in town called Tokyo Secret! I know, I know what you're thinking - another soft serve place with the name "Tokyo" in place. But what can I say, perhaps the materials and ingredients really did come from Tokyo!

I heard some mixed reviews about this matcha soft serve. Some said it was good, some said it was bad. Being a curious person, I hopped my way down to Tsim Sha Tsui one rainy night, and gave this a shot... And boy was I glad I tried this! Luckily I didn't listen to my friends, who didn't enjoy this as much. There are reasons why I enjoyed it and they didn't, so STAY TUNED. :)

Review:

I ordered the Matcha Affogato, which came with a free topping of your choice: rose jelly, red beans or tea leaves (not entirely sure what it is). Rich, creamy and refreshing, with a slight hint of bitterness, this matcha soft serve won my heart over! Topped with crumbs, chocolate and coffee sauce (is it coffee? it's brown in colour!), this is definitely a dessert to remember.

People have said that their soft serve wasn't as good as mine, and that's because theirs was very bitter. Tokyo Secret has explained that they served customers the STRONG VERSION of the matcha soft serve. I was lucky to have gotten the LIGHT version of it, so do indicate your preference when you order!

Regardless of the bitterness, I do think that at its soft opening, it's already quite good. Of course, there are areas in need of improvement, such as the fact that the matcha ice cream melts so quickly! By the time they finished sprinkling the toppings and served it to me, the ice cream was already melting. Not exactly impressed when I always take a few shots before I start eating! Despite the melting, which is probably the only issue I found with it, I found this dessert very delectable, and I am definitely coming back to try their new products that they have described to me!

By the way, shoutout to Tokyo Secret for letting me stand inside their store when it started raining cats and dogs! Also, it's very nice how they listen to customers' feedback, and are not offended when people give them developmental comments! A very good way to interact with customers, and it shows that they're willing to improve! Really admire Tokyo Secret for that!

With all of that said, it's a wrap! Get down to Tokyo Secret perhaps, it really is something special. :)

Matcha Affogato with Rose Toppings

Price:
$32 (soft opening price) for Matcha Affogato 

$42 is the original price.

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★★☆

Value for Money: ★★★★☆

Presentation: ★★★★☆
Environment: ★★★☆☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

Address:
中文: 尖沙咀加連威老道52號地下C鋪 

English: Shop C, G/F, 52 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui 

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Via Tokyo

Hi guys! I know I haven't been too consistent with my postings! With the end of the semester, and starting a full-time job, I haven't really gotten much time to breathe! But now it's the weekend and I figured I should post something, and I will definitely try my best to post more often, because I have a ton of food photos and reviews in store!

After what seems like forever, I have FINALLY visited Via Tokyo! When I reached there, a long queue has already formed, and mind you, it was raining that day! The queue was actually for people who wanted to sit in the tiny shop and consume their matcha goodies. However, my friends and I shoved past the crowd so we could order take away. 

We had a hard time picking. Should we try the Uji Matcha cone? Or should we try the Matcha sundaes with mochi balls? With so many choices, and the staff waiting for us to pick our desserts, it was a very tough time for us, as we were placed under the heat and pressure! Finally, we decided to go for the Uji Matcha Smoothie, a summer favourite of many Hong Kongers. Also, this smoothie is only released during the summer, so why not try it before it's gone for the winter right?

Review:

The Uji Matcha Smoothie looked good. It's aesthetic, it looks like a bundle of goodness piled together in a cup. For those matcha monsters out there, I can already see your eyes forming hearts, I mean this is heaven for your eyes right?! 

However, the taste... My expectations were set a bit too high. I have to admit, the smoothie itself was good. With rich matcha taste, very prominent and strong, I really did enjoy the smoothie. Although it was icy, and quite difficult to suck from the straw, you just had to dig your straw really deep, almost to the bottom of the cup, before you can suck anything out. The smoothie was great, and I will reiterate that a million times if I had to.

The soft serve plunked on top of the smoothie, was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe it was our fault for not eating the ice cream first before enjoying the smoothie, or maybe the ice cream just didn't taste that great already. We all ignored the ice cream and just dove right into the smoothie, trying to suck the life out of it. However, by the time we have finished about three quarters of the smoothie, the ice cream melted, and it looked... Disgusting with the smoothie. Most of us didn't have the appetite to finish it because it just looked THAT bad. 

I took a bite of the soft serve, and it was bitter. I expected it to be more rich, creamy and sweeter but turns out it wasn't the case. I have heard people say that the Houjicha flavoured ice cream was better, and perhaps they're right. Maybe the Via Tokyo Matcha soft serve was a bit too overhyped, and my bar was set way too high since often, people had raving reviews about this soft serve. 

I would definitely come back to Via Tokyo. Perhaps, I should try the matcha soft serve on its own and see how that tastes. The Uji Matcha Smoothie was great, just better off without the ice cream. If they could scrape off the ice cream, it would be perfect! 

So from my experience, here is one tip for you if you decide to try the Uji Matcha Smoothie:
1) EAT THE ICE CREAM/SOFT SERVE FIRST.

Yup, that's my only tip. Hope to see some of you guys around various food joints in the future, I'm always down to trying out new foods around Hong Kong! 

Uji Matcha Smoothie

Close up of Uji Matcha Smoothie

Price:
$42 for Uji Matcha Smoothie

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★☆☆
Value for Money: ★★★☆☆
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★☆☆
Overall: ★★★☆☆

Address:
中文: 銅鑼灣禮頓道106-126號禮信大廈地下1A-1B號舖
English: Shop nos. 1A-1B, G/F., Leishun Court, 106-126 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay 

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He She Eat

I'll try my best to post weekly, but sometimes my schedule doesn't permit that! Stressful weeks up ahead and finally, FINALLY, I have time to blog.

So hello guys! I know it's been a while, but I've been juggling a lot of things recently. Anyways, my friend and I went to He She Eat in Causeway Bay. We've been hearing positive reviews about this restaurant so we decided to try it out after our morning lessons on a beautiful Friday. 

The food is quite pricey but what can I say? Since when are college kids never broke? Yeah, that's me right there, being very picky on what to eat so I can save money, but get the most out of the He She Eat experience. You know what I mean?

Review:

My friend and I shared the squid ink linguine, which is just, wow. It did taste a bit salty, and the squid was just a bit weird and way too salty! The squid ink really did make your lips and teeth black, so be sure to wipe your mouth before stepping out of that restaurant! Overall, I have to say this dish is really good. The linguine was chewy and the squid ink really complimented the noodles. The only problem I had with this dish was that the squid was too salty (even for me) but other than that, great dish!

Squid Ink Linguine

Dessert!!! I ate the chocolate waffle, which came with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce and syrup! The waffle was huge and the chocolate ice cream tasted really good - didn't seem to come from Apollo or any sort of local brand. The chocolate sauce was indeed, very chocolatey and it really enhances the taste of the waffle! Ayeeeee, try this if you're a chocoholic!

Chocolate Waffle with Chocolate Ice Cream & Chocolate Syrup

Okay, I didn't try this, but it looks adorable. Green tea fondue cake with tofu ice cream! Matcha lovers have to try this! My friend is a huge matcha lover and she found this dessert "perfect". The lava cake was indeed filled with the matcha filling, and the tofu ice cream didn't have a strong tofu taste, which is good if you don't like tofu. The lava cake is topped with pistachios and matcha powder, so matcha power all the way!!! Overall, I have to say that this dessert sounds very Japanese because matcha and tofu? How much more Japanese can it get?! 

Matcha Fondue Cake with Tofu Ice Cream

Price:

Squid Ink Linguine - $95

Chocolate Waffle - $52

Matcha Fondue Cake - $59

Ratings:

Taste: ★★★★★
Value for Money: ★★★★☆
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

Address:
中文: 銅鑼灣記利佐治街2-10號銅鑼灣地帶2樓201號舖
English: Shop 201, 2/F, Causeway Bay, 2-10 Great George Street, Causeway Bay

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Ocio 窩夫專門店

Hi everyone!

It's been a long time since I have posted and I apologise for that. I've been super busy with university and having work thrown at me so, have to deal with priorities first!

Anyways, I recently visited Ocio again. The first time I went was with my friend in July when she came back from Canada. Last time, we ate dinner and dessert so it was a bit pricey. Recently, I visited again with one of my classmates and we just went for dessert since we were a bit too full for anything.

Nevertheless, it's a good place for desserts, not too pricey and its definitely worth it because the presentation and the taste is SO good. I can just stress on how amazing the desserts taste but of course, it's my preference and some people may find it a bit too sweet or not sweet enough, etc.

Review:

Right, so these are the chocolate crepes with strawberries, served with chocolate ice cream. Can I just say how BOMB these crepes are? The crepes are soft, but not too flimpsy that they break easily. The whole thing is so chocolatey, with chocolate sauce, stuffed with strawberries under the folds of crepes, and the chocolate ice cream? Oh what a perfect combination! In my opinion, it isn't too sweet and I would definitely eat this again because seriously, chocolate overload with strawberries is basically my idea of HEAVEN.

Chocolate Crepes with Strawberries and Chocolate Ice Cream

Next up, we have the chocolate pudding (or lava cake) with vanilla ice cream! I didn't try this one but apparently it tasted good at first, but as you get into it, it just gets too sweet. The vanilla ice cream is good though (as according to my friend), and if you eat the vanilla ice cream with the lava cake, it's basically heaven in your mouth. Seriously.

Chocolate Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

This time I just came for dessert. Their dinner menu was quite expensive and I was short of money so... Dessert comes first! 

Ocio's Desserts

Price:
$50-$100 for desserts, the price varies for the appetizers, main course and dinner sets.

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★★★
Value for Money: ★★★★☆
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

Address:
中文: 旺角廣華街2-20號翠園大廈二期地下5號鋪
English: Shop 5, G/F, Tsui Yuen Mansion, Phase2, 2-20 Kwong Wa Street , Mong Kok 

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Tezukuri No Mise 手作之店

Hey! :)

I'm sure a lot of people love ice cream, and are paying a lot of money for it. With ice cream stores such as iCremeria, Lab Made, and Via Tokyo, it is rather difficult to find ice cream shops that sell cheap and delicious ice cream (McDonald's doesn't count).

No fear, Tezukur No Mise offers cheap AND tasty ice cream! A small cone is $9HKD, and if you can upgrade it to a large cone for $16HKD! Due to its cheap costs, this shop attracts more customers compared to other shops because you can get a large cone for just $16HKD! What a deal! Moreover, this shop sells Japanese ice cream, and everybody knows Japanese ice cream is the bomb.com. ;)

Review:

I didn't try these two flavours as my brother was the one who ate it. He chose the double scoop ice cream, in strawberry and durian flavour. According to my brother, the strawberry ice cream was very good, and the durian ice cream did taste like durian, but it wasn't a strong durian taste. As my family is Singaporean, we expected the durian taste to be very strong. I felt that the presentation of the double scoop cone very good, as it is difficult to 1) have two perfect scoops of ice cream 2) fit one on top of the other without it being lopsided. In my opinion, Tezukuri made it look very nice overall and it definitely doesn't look sloppy.

Strawberry & Durian Double Scoop, Large Cone

So here's my ice cream cone, the smaller one compared to the double scoop. I chose chocolate ice cream (as always), because I'm a huge lover of chocolate. It is my go-to ice cream flavour no matter how light or dark it is, though the darker the better! The presentation of the ice cream was good, it was very round and it fit the cone perfectly.

The chocolate taste was there but not very strong, so to improve it, I suppose the chocolate taste could be stronger. It was creamy, and it had chocolate bits in it! However, the ice cream melts relatively quickly compared to McDonald's ice cream, so I had no choice but to gobble it up. However, this cone is just $9HKD, so what can you expect from ice cream that's so cheap?

Despite what I've said, it is actually pretty good, the ice cream was smooth and it did taste good, though there could be improvements of course. Perhaps, I'll go for the green tea flavour next time, which is said to be one of the more popular ones. Other flavours that are recommended are the mint chocolate, cookies & cream, rum raisin, and peach.

I will definitely be coming back to try the other flavours because it's cheap and it tastes good; I wouldn't mind trying the recommended flavours if they do taste better than the chocolate one (and the chocolate one tastes pretty good already)!

Chocolate Single Scoop, Small Cone

Price:
$9HKD for small cone with single scoop
$16HKD for large cone with double scoops

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★★☆
Value for Money: ★★★★★
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

Address:
中文: 將軍澳坑口東港城1樓1號小食亭 
English: Food Kiosk 1, 1/F, East Point City, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O, N.T.

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Hello Kitty Secret Garden

Hihi! :)

As you can see from the title, I finally visited the Hello Kitty cafe! I have found a Hello Kitty lover who wanted to go as well and so we did after our morning classes ended. 

We reached Tai Hang at about 2 p.m. and there was already a short queue. Thankfully we did not have to wait long - about 10 minutes. I have read reviews where people had to wait for 30 minutes! The cafe is quite small with limited seats, and due to the long queues, customers are only allowed to stay for an hour before being asked to leave. 

The food is quite pricey so be sure to bring enough cash because this cafe will literally eat your wallet. I felt so broke after paying my portion of the bill! It was really difficult to choose as there is a variety of choices available, such as All Day Breakfasts, spaghetti, burgers, salad, soup, appetizers, dessert and drinks! My friend and I settled on the poporn latte, but I decided to try the chocolate tart whilst she tried the strawberry tart. 

Nevertheless, all Hello Kitty lovers should visit this cafe at least once! The cafe is decked with Hello Kitty from the ceiling to the floor, and it's just so cute! 

Review:

I didn't have a bite of the strawberry tart, so I will have to trust my friend's review on this. She found the presentation of the tart very cute, with the strawberries very nicely laid out and the cute Hello Kitty chocolate peeking out from the tip of the mountain-like strawberries. 

She said that the strawberry tart tasted really good, and there was cream with the strawberry mousse. The Hello Kitty chocolate was hollow on the inside and she broke it to pieces. Overall, she didn't say much except that the strawberry tart tasted good and it really did taste like strawberries with cream. xD 

Hello Kitty Strawberry Tart

Next comes the chocolate tart, which was the one I ate! The chocolate tart was surprisingly good. The chocolate (sheets? pieces? thins?) was quite bitter considering it looked pretty dark. However, it was really hard to dig in without the chocolate sheets getting in the way. I had to eat all the chocolate sheets before I could actually take a bite out of the chocolate mousse! Eventually, eating the chocolate sheets got quite messy because I had to carefully remove the embedded chocolate from the mousse and it was just quite annoying. 

Finally, I finished the chocolate sheets and I just dug into the mousse! However, the tart base was hard and needless to say, a chunk of the chocolate tart flew towards me and fell to the floor. Argh!!! Anyways, the mousse was good though, very creamy and had a strong chocolate taste. It's such a pity that the tart base was too hard to cut with the fork because things got super messy in the process of eating and it felt like I was murdering the tart with my fork. 

Although it did taste good, the chocolate sheets just got in the way of eating the tart, and the tart base was really too hard for me to cut so I wouldn't mind trying the other tarts next time. My friend successfully cut a portion of the tart base with no trouble, so I'm wondering if it's just the chocolate tart or just the tart they gave me... I guess that I'll never find out. xD

Hello Kitty Chocolate Tart

Popcorn latte! Yes, they had popcorn latte! It was on the daily special menu so my friend and I decided to try it out. It costs $40 so we were quite disappointed at how pricey it was but decided to give it a shot because it sounded interesting. The latte took quite some time to make so we were slowly enjoying our tart and taking pictures of it while waiting.

Finally the latte came and they had an imprint of Hello Kitty and Daniel on it! They also served the latte with some popcorn on the saucer. The appearance of the drink looked really cute as a whole. However, the latte didn't have any popcorn flavour, it just tasted like normal latte. The popcorn was supposed to be placed in the latte so it will melt and absorb the popcorn flavour. We did that, but it still tasted the same. The only popcorn I tasted was at the very end, when the leftover unmelted popcorn was left. I ate the popcorn and it tasted minty! My friend and I were confused because that would be disguising the real popcorn taste, so it was more like a mint latte instead?

We were disappointed because we were expecting more from the popcorn latte, but we decided to let it slide because "it was our first time" and we "didn't know".

Daily Special - Popcorn Latte

So that's the end of the food review, but here are some pictures of the exterior of the Hello Kitty cafe! It's just too cute to not include with the review. :D

Exterior of Hello Kitty Secret Garden, taken with wide angle lens.

Close up of Hello Kitty holding a coffee cup, so cute!

Waiting area, with a Hello Kitty bicycle and helmet with a plush toy!

Price:
$97 per person // 10% service charge 
$40 - popcorn latte
$48 - tarts & other desserts

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★☆☆
Value for Money: ★★☆☆☆
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★☆☆

Address:
中文: 大坑安庶庇街19號地下
English: G/F, 19 Ormsby Street, Tai Hang

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Golden Hall Dessert 金滿堂甜品

Hello! :)

Dessert is served, and this is one of my favourite places for dessert in Kowloon City. They serve Hong Kong style desserts, such as tong sui (糖水),  jellies and flavoured shaved ice (花冰). I have read reviews where people thought the service was unexceptionally bad, but in my years of experience, they never really had a rotten attitude. I hope that one day, you will consider giving this shop a try because their desserts are really adorable, cheap and just worth it!

Review: 

This is the Maltesers mochi, and there are 8 pieces in a box. It costs $22HKD and it's basically the regular Maltesers wrapped in mochi and then rolled in Maltesers powder. The mochi is chewy and very soft, and the Maltesers just taste like... Maltesers! This is the house special, and everyone who eats there would usually order this dessert. 

Maltesers Mochi 麥提莎懦米糍

Inside the Malteser Mochi. 

This is for strawberry lovers! This dessert consists of strawberries, strawberry jelly, froyo and cornflakes! The jellies do have a strong taste of strawberry, and there is a generous scoop of original froyo. I definitely recommend this dessert, as it tastes very good and the presentation is cute and pink! If you look at the menu, you will see a "超人氣", which means it's very popular among the customers. This dessert costs $28HKD, which is quite a decent price.

Ice Cream Cornflakes & Strawberry with Ainiku 單戀傻小子

Price:
$20-$40HKD, the Chinese desserts are generally more expensive compared to the "Western" or "Taiwanese" desserts.

Ratings:
Taste: ★★★★★
Value for Money: ★★★★★
Presentation: ★★★★★
Environment: ★★★★☆
Overall: ★★★★★

Address:
中文: 九龍城城南道 5, 6, 9號舖
English: Shop 5, 6, 9 Shing Nam Road, Kowloon City

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