Sunday, January 28, 2007
Nicholini's = overrated
Type: Italian
Location: 88 Queensway Rd, In the Conrad Hotel, Pacific Place, Central, 2521 3838
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4.25/5
Service: 4.75/5
Expected damage: HKD 800-1000 pp, with appetizer, dessert and drink
Our Menu:
1) Buffalo Mozarella and Tomato salad/Grilled milk-fed veal chop/Apple Tart
2) Grilled sardine Pomelo salad with tartar sauce/Penne with Morel cream sauce
I was lucky enough to go to Nicholini's twice in one week; luckily, it was not on my tab. I had heard a lot about this place from friends and co-workers, and it had the reputation of "best italian in Hong Kong". It let down the first time, but the 2nd time made up for it (did not "more than make up for it").
The first time, the mozarel' and tomato salad was perfect (but I consider it an easy dish to make), but the veal chop was overcooked and came with about one bite of fettucini. The apple tart dessert was nicely presented, with the thin apple slices forming the tart's circular shape - filo pastry with nuts layered the bottom, and it of course came with a scoop of vanilla.
The second time, my grilled sardines salad was very good - the sardines were grilled just the right amount, although I was quite surprised because it looked completely different than the same salad which my coworker had the first time (that time, the sardines looked almost uncooked). The pomelo added some nice flavoring to the salad, and they had some interesting croutons which added the texture.
The cream-sauce penne was good - very heavy, to be expected, a bit salty for my tastes. Overall, it was delicious anyways. The morels, or maybe morels in general, didn't have much flavor.
Every meal comes with a huge sorbet after the starter to cleanse the mouth.
The portions are very stingy, so I left both nights with an unfull stomach - even the one where I had a dessert. My co-workers thought otherwise, but I'm pretty sure I could eat two entrees there.
We sat in the private room the second time, and it is notable that it looked like something out of MTV Cribs...perhaps something from Outkast's house. It is heavy on the velvet - the walls and the table are covered. It's pretty dim, with a few candles on the table. The velvet is actually too long off the table, and prevents you from even crossing your legs; this is quite uncomfortable. The temperature is quite freezing, but that's normal in Hong Kong.
Press Room
Type: Western, with seafood and cheese focus
Location: 108 Hollywood Road Hong Kong, 2525-3454
Ambiance: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 3.75/5
Expected damage: HKD 300 pp, with no drinks
Our Menu:
Soup: Blue crab bisque - a healthy serving, with a dollop of creme fraiche (I think). A tad bit on the salty side
Main: Fish & Chips - 4 Monkfish strips, with seasoned batter and thin-cut french fries. The batter was pretty good, not too thick, but it had a problem sticking to the fish. The total portion filled about 55% of my stomach.
Comments:
- The interior of the restaurant feels like a Wall Street kind of feel, but not as exclusive as some places. It's a single large hall with dark wood flooring and walls.
- They have a small area where they shuck oysters and prepare the other cold seafood, such as crabs. I noticed that their dungeoness crabs were taken out of vacuum-packed plastic wrapping. Not sure if that is good or bad, but it wasn't from a tank.
- The cheese plates looked good, with four pretty good servings of cheese. They also have a huge blackboard listing the wines and cheeses of the day/week.
- Service was fine for us, but looked like they had some issues to work out with other tables. For instance, they brought a cheese plate to a table sans crackers.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
HK Fish and Geckos
- Kowloon side: Mongkok's Goldfish Street (金魚街)
There are a few blocks worth of fish stores (saltwater and freshwater), where you'll find fish cheaper than you ever imagined (vs. US). The stores are usually packed with hobbyists. - Hong Kong side: Tai Koo place's Hong Kong Aquarium Plaza
This is an enclosed building, where you can shop in a quieter and cleaner environment than Mongkok. The prices are pretty much the same, perhaps a tad higher for equipment. The pictures you see below are from this plaza, not Mongkok.
So how cheap is cheap? Just look at the floating styrofoam price of HK$ 15 (US$ 1.92) for the Pearlscale or Auriga Butterfly. You'd pay about 25-35 in a fish store (online it's cheaper by a bit). You see full grown dog-face puffer fish for ~$3-4. As you can also see, they pack the fish in tight, and allow you to catch your fish yourself (so you can choose the one you want). Unfortunately equipment is oftentimes more than the US, for the same brands. However, if you feel like gambling, you can go with the China products.
Here you see how they see those sad Goldfish. Just like clothing on a rack, but they're fish in bags. They also sell 'em this way outdoors in Mongkok. On the bottom right you see the cheap freshwater guppies.
Because the fish are so cheap, I rushed my tank setup which probably resulted in several premature deaths. This is a Heniochus butterfly fish which was doing well in my tank for 2 weeks but then caught ick (I guess it was in its body, since there were no fish in the tank before) and died a nasty death. White dots lead to not eating for 2 days, and then he lost balance and died. His body at the TOD was splotched with red marks, which I'm not sure what disease that is.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
You won't find Texas Hold 'em in Macau
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtf97X6OXGIBJVnQDH0vHz30lygIwcppA16SjtQHtOsMnEBWzqB3-rs9kfaarY_gJac6m7amsnL5-tGWbNdUck7DmFCu2U1v_pHFgbGI2M54VlViqhukJp8uszE_8I6cHl0Y8fk7botIU/s200/Photo-0020.jpg)
Rio: Casino is pretty new, but strangely almost completely empty. The upside was less smoke~ We only played slots there, which were like 2 generations behind what's in the US. Some machines were still dealing in coins, versus the e-ticket type. No Price is Right or Monopoly machines.