Starbucks Hong Kong's Coffee-Infused Craft Beer

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, so I rarely step foot in Starbucks. But when my colleague mentioned that the newly refurbished Starbucks Reserve at ifc mall started serving beer recently, I was intrigued. It was beer on tap, brewed locally in conjunction with the Hitachino folks, and available in a mocha brown ale as well as a caramel macchiato cream ale (the former was much better with its smooth richness). Cool!

To be clear, the Starbucks Reserve in Shanghai has beer too, but it's in a can, and from a different brewery. And I guess Starbucks in the US stopped doing its Evenings program where they mixed beer with a shot of espresso. So this really is a Hong Kong-only thing for now, although the staff mentioned that it will be in Japan and Taiwan soon too, if I heard her correctly.

The Chairman Restaurant in Hong Kong

Just a few doors down from Ronin is a traditional Chinese place called the Chairman, and a rather expensive one at that (18 Kau U Fong, 2555-2202). But lunch prices are more affordable, so we came over, with the best item being those light and crispy "Seven Spices Morel Mushrooms" above. I also liked a rather aromatic tea smoked pigeon as well as a duck confit with its tasty fat. The only thing that I didn't care for was a tofu skin thing, but not because it was bad (if anything, the quality of the ingredients here was what made everything here shine). It's just that the tofu dish seemed like something that one could get at any other Cantonese restaurant around town. In that sense, Duddell's is much more unique, and is still my preferred choice.

Laojiefang Jiangwei Longxiaguan in Shenzhen, China

It seems that this place has been voted one of the top crawfish restaurants in Shenzhen, so we hopped over to a nearby outlet for dinner (39 Hongbao Road, 22655569). They naturally had several variations available, of which the garlic one in the foreground was my least favorite. There were a couple of spicy ones behind it that were much better. That is, assuming that you don't accidentally splatter some of that red chili oil into your eye like I somehow did. Yep, it burned for like ten minutes.

Either way, they had a cool selection of sides, including some kind of pickled lotus stems from Hubei as well as stir-fried mulberry leaves, which normally are a tough plant that silkworms eat but somehow they made it tender and tasty with some century eggs. They also had the option to get a plain bowl of noodles so that you could scoop up some of the leftover chili oil onto it. My tummy feels nice and warm now.

Maxim's Jade Garden in Shenzhen, China

How odd it is to go all the way up to Shenzhen, only to have the local team decide on going to an outlet of Jade Garden, a chain from Hong Kong's Maxim Group. That said, it was picked because the food was of good quality. I particularly loved that light and fluffy fried Bombay duck (which despite how it sounds, is actually a fish).

An Outlet of Lucky Dessert in Hong Kong

This is going to sound very unlike me, but I really wanted some sweet dessert after that dinner. And there was an outlet of Lucky Dessert nearby, so I stopped in to grab those mango rice rolls above. I was surprised to find that they were served cold, but it worked nonetheless, especially with that coconut on the outside.

Tung Po Kitchen in North Point, Hong Kong

After finishing a meeting nearby today, the local team decided to come to the Java Road Market and Cooked Food Centre for a dai pai dong dinner. As we started to go upstairs, it dawned on me that this was the rowdy place that Bourdain went to, drinking beer from porcelain bowls. There were actually several shops up there, but apparently this one was the most famous (99 Java Road, 2880-5224).

We got quite a few things, the best of which was that deep fried grouper behind my bowl of beer above, especially since they didn't drown it in some lame sweet and sour sauce. It was basically naked aside from the scallion and cilantro garnish, and was wonderful. Another highlight was a salted egg soup in a claypot, which was savory with the added bonus of some ginger in there.

It's too bad then that a lot of the items on the menu weren't available today. We also got here a bit too early; apparently if you come here later then the waiters will drink beer with you. That said, apparently this place has become more popular with foreigners lately, perhaps because of the novelty of the beer bowls. Honestly, if they sold them as souvenirs, I would buy one.

A Random Bowl of Beef Ball Noodles in Hong Kong

I needed to refuel quickly before heading to my next meeting today, and so I stopped at this random shop inside an old beat-up shopping center. I had no idea what to order, but the proprietor had suggested this. So I went for it, opting for the spicy option that she dangled. It wasn't exactly something to go nuts over (not that spicy and the meatballs weren't like the coarse Teochew meatballs that I love, even if they were firm), but it did the job of giving me energy for the rest of the afternoon.

The Breakfast A Set at Tsui Wah in Hong Kong

I stopped at an outlet of Tsui Wah this morning to fuel up before meetings, hoping to try their famous baked pork chop rice. But they seemed to be pushing a breakfast menu in the morning, so I went for the A Set at the top of the list, featuring not just what you see above, but also macaroni soup with "shredded squid ham."

Well, I know that this is a typical local breakfast, but this one tasted like cafeteria food, and was quite forgettable. The only thing I cared for was the milk tea, but I'm not much of a caffeine person. I guess I'll have to come at a later hour to try that pork chop rice then.

Alvy's in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

If it weren't for Eater's 15 Hottest New Restaurants List, I never would've known about this pizza place way out in Kennedy Town (8 Holland Street, 2312-2996). And I probably wouldn't have known that the "Ma-La-Di-Da" pizza with "Ma La Tomato" was showered with dried chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns.

But it seemed almost everyone was ordering this. And the dish certainly made sense, as I usually spend so much time sprinkling chili pepper flakes on pizzas that I might as well just load it up with whole chili pepper pods instead. It was basically laziji, but on pizza instead of chicken.

Now, I'm not sure if the pizza ultimately went that well with it though...it almost seemed kinda forced. That said, I happily devoured it (including most of the chili peppers!), especially when washed down with the many beers that they had on tap.

Six's Noodles in Hong Kong

I needed a quick bite before proceeding with work this afternoon, and an outlet of this local wanton noodle shop was conveniently nearby (the sign boasted of being around since 1966 or something). Admittedly, I was too hungry to really pay much attention to how it compared to Mak's, but it did the job with its firm noodles and prawns.

Marugame Udon & Tempura at ION Orchard, Singapore

Another assembly line-style udon and tempura chain from Japan has opened in Singapore (2 Orchard Turn #B4-67, 6732-0687). But it wasn't as good as Tamoya. Everything from the noodles to the broth to the condiments fell a tad short, even if it ultimately was all still edible. To be fair, there were quite a few varieties on the menu that I didn't try, but I'm not getting my hopes up about them.

Steamov (Shishanglao) on New Bridge Road, Singapore

Here's another conveyor belt hot pot place (325 New Bridge Road, 8858-0543). But instead of being all you can eat, they've portioned everything out onto skewers at S$1 (US$0.75) each, and that's on top of the S$5 (US$3.80) pot of soup and a S$10 (US$7.60) plate of sliced meat.

My pickled veggie broth was fine, but it's not like one can expect high quality at a place like this. The condiment selection was rather limited and everything was still short of Shi Li Fang, whose prices aren't that much more expensive than this place. But it was marginally edible.

Actually, the prices added up so quickly that it might have been cheaper to eat at Lajiangshan. In that sense, it wasn't worth it, so I don't think I'll be coming back. Then again, they are open until 4 AM, so who knows, I may end up eating my words after a few drinks one evening.