School Food, Hong Kong

School Food is a Korean restaurant that serves modern and innovated Korean food. There are various branches in Hong Kong and is a perfect place for large group.

We visited the branch in Mong Kok located in MOKO shopping mall. It is hidden in the corner of the 4th floor near Beard Papa. There was no queue when we arrive for dinner and quickly got a table.

The menu is trendy, simple and colourful, which is in traditional Chinese, English and Korean. There was also a separate menu for seasonal dishes.

We tried a variety of the blooming mari which are to represent flower-like rice. Mari combines the concepts of kimbap and roll.

The Seasoned Ham Mari 紳士先生 (HK$65) has to be my favourite which was an indulgent. This warm mari consisted of ham filling and coated in melted cheese wrapped in a layer of egg. I could have had this dish all to myself that made a good comfort food.

The Squid Ink Mari 烏卒卒 (HK$75) had a different texture with tender squid in the centre.

There are a range of snack food including an assorted deep-fried platter 脆味樂園(HK$88)  which is made up of deep-fried sweet corn balls (粟米球), deep-fried topokki (年糕), fries (薯條), salad and pollock roe sauce (鱈魚籽醬).

The deep-fried topokkoi (soft rice cake) was a good alternative to the traditional version which is stir-fried in a spicy Korean sauce. School Food also serves a range of topokkoi dishes from the traditional to fusion options.

There is a variety of noodles on the menu, but we did not get the chance to try. Instead we opted for the rice which are served in hot pan and some of them also come with melting cheese – gorgeous!

We tried the chef choice which was the BBQ Beef Ribs-Barhp with Potato Wedges 韓風牛仔鐵鍋飯 (HK$138). This rice is full of starch as it consisted both rice and potato. But it is so typical of asian style eating who are starch eater.

There are variety of drinks including Chilsung cider (韓國七星雪碧) which is a Korean style sprite that has no alcohol content. The athie (艾菲) are non-alcholic cocktails that are made for sharing. It comes in four different flavours – strawberry, mango, orange and pineapple.

As well as selection of cold drinks, there are hot drinks available including Korean honey yuzu tea 熱柚子蜜 or hot sweet date tea 熱紅棗荼 (HK$28 each).

The portion size at School Food are great for sharing, which makes it suitable to come with families and friends to enjoy a casual meal. If it is just you or dining between two then I would suggest not to order too much. Some of the dishes are actually quite filling then you might think.

(Not Sponsored. Menu and prices are correct at the time of dining)

School Food (Mong Kok)
Unit 453,4/F, MOKO, 193 Prince Edward Road West,
Mong Kok,
Hong Kong

(旺角太子道西193號新世紀廣場4樓453號舖)

http://www.miradining.com/school-food

Starz Kitchen 左麟右李, Hong Kong

Starz Kitchen is opened by two famous Hong Kong singer Alan Tam and Hacken Lee. The restaurant serves traditional Cantonese delicacies such as noodle soup, roast meat, congee.

There are many branches in Hong Kong, with their original branch located in Causeway bay. We visited their Mong Kok branch as we were in the area needing brunch. If you compared to the tradition noodle or congee restaurant in Hong Kong, Starz Kitchen felt more upmarket and modern.

We ordered a two roast meats platter and selected their two signature roasted meats to try – roast pork belly (also known as crispy pork) and BBQ Pork.

It was beautiful to see the roast pork belly with the different layers and the top was crispy but one you could bite in to. The BBQ pork itself was beautiful with it sliced in to thick pieces.

I also tried their lean pork and preserved egg congee which I probably could had shared. The congee had a smooth paste texture and there was a generous amount of shredded pork.

Steamed fried doughnuts rice noodle rolls (Chinese doughnuts wrapped in a rice noodle) was well made as the rice noodle was almost crystal see through. It was a thin layer just enough to wrap around the crispy doughnuts.

For those who is not familiar with Chinese cuisines, in the UK this is commonly found as a dim sum under one of the choices for cheung fun. It is a savoury dish which is typical known to have with congee.

(Not Sponsored. Menu correct at the time of dining)

Starz Kitchen 左麟右李 (Mong Kok branch)
G/F, Sai Yeung Building,
190-194A Sai Yeung Choi Street South,
Mong Kok,
Hong Kong

(旺角西洋菜南街190-194A號西洋大廈地舖)

http://www.starz-kitchen.com

Mr. Iron 熨烤達人, Hong Kong

Mr Iron is a Korean BBQ restaurant in Hong Kong which is located within the Mong Kok area.

The restaurant design feels like you are eating in some underground space. It make it a trendy place to hang out for dinner.

Unlike many Korean BBQ restaurant, the uniqueness about Mr Iron is a cast iron is used to bbq the meat. But not all meat on the menu require the cast iron. There is a symbol to indicate which one requires the cast iron.

We ordered the pork belly (HK$105) which comes in one thick portion. It was one mega piece of meat and one where we had no idea where to start. Lucky the staff was there to help with cooking it.

They started off cooking it with the skin faced down and the cast iron placed on top. After the outside was cooked, it was sliced in to thick chunk and further grilled until the meat was fully cooked. Unlike the usual thinly sliced belly pork you would find at a Korean BBQ, this was more like the Chinese crispy pork with the crispy texture skin.

Although, it looks fun with the cast iron, it did felt unsafe as the flame would go up with the oil dripping off the hot iron. We were so glad the staff was there to give us some helping hand, although they were happy for you to cook it urself.

The restaurant has a drink list which is on a board hanging from the ceiling. It include a range of different flavour of cider. But this is no normal cider that most us would know with the boozy content. Instead cider in Korean term is a soft drink with no alcohol. It is just another fizzy drink.

I thought the drink was cool which tasted like cream soda. It is a drink I recommend to try when visiting Mr. Iron. The bottle is tipped upside down in to a glass . When you drink from the straw you can watch the content of the bottle get less and less.

Overall I thought the food was average and expensive. Apart from the cast iron it was really like another Korean BBQ restaurant. However, it is a cool place to come here with a group of friends. If you have your birthday here, they will play Happy Birthday in Korean.

The queue for a table at Mr Iron can be long at peak time. So I do recommend trying to not go when every one goes.

(Not Sponsored. Menu and prices correct at the time of dining)

Mr. Iron 熨烤達人
G/F,147 Sai Yee Street,
Mong Kok,
Hong Kong

(旺角洗衣街147號地下)

Via Tokyo, Hong Kong

Via Tokyo is a dessert cafe in Hong Kong that serves Japanese desserts. They are most popular for their soft-serve ice cream, especially Matcha (green tea) flavour.

The soft-serve ice cream are served in variety of ways, from just the basic ice cream cone to the traditional Japanese way with fruits, red beans and/or mochi.

I thought the Matcha soft-serve ice cream was nice and creamy with the taste of matcha. But whether it is worth the queue to get in is debatable. Hong Kong is known for queues especially when there is some thing new and in trend.

If you want to try both flavours then you can get it as a swirl with half matcha and vanilla flavour. 

But if you worry about sleepless nights after having green tea for dessert in the evening, then you can just get a basic vanilla soft-serve.

As well as ice cream, Via Tokyo also serves a range of hot and iced tea latte and coffee. This could not be with out the matcha latte.
I went with a few friends after dinner and there was a queue which was expected. We would not had been the only one thinking of dessert. The waiting time was not long for seats of five at this small shop in Causeway Bay.

(Not Sponsored. Menu correct at the time of dining)

Via Tokyo
Shop 1A-1B, G/F, Leishun Court,
106-126 Leighton Road,
Causeway Bay,
Hong Kong

(銅鑼灣禮頓道106-126號禮信大廈地下1A-1B號舖)

https://www.facebook.com/viatokyocafe

Kam’s Roast Goose 甘牌燒鵝, Hong Kong

One of the food that you should have when you are in Hong Kong, is the roasted meat such as roast duck, crispy pork and BBQ pork.

Kam’s roast goose is a 1 michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong. As the name suggest, the restaurant is known for their roast goose. They do serve other roasted meat but if you come here then you will want to have their roast goose.

The roast goose can be ordered on its own in half (HK$270) or whole (HK$520). It can also be ordered with rice and noodle.

I ordered the roast goose leg with noodle in soup 甘牌燒鵝髀瀨粉 (HK$95). The noodle is not the typical thin egg noodle or ho fun, instead it is lai fun (round rice noodle) which is a thick and almost clear. The texture is smiliar to al dente spaghetti.

You can also pair the roast goose with suckling pig on rice 燒鵝乳豬飯 (HK$82) or any other common roast meat. This combination is definetely one classy roast combo rice. Suckling pig is one of the most expensive roast meat and nor is it commonly found on a typical menu.

Kam’s Roast Goose 甘牌燒鵝
G/F, Po Wah Commercial Center,
226 Hennessy Road,
Wan Chai,
Hong Kong

(灣仔軒尼詩道226號寶華商業中心地舖)

http://www.krg.com.hk