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

Café&Meal MUJI (Lee Theatre Plaza), Hong Kong

Each time when I am in Hong Kong, I can never find the oppotunity to try Muji’s cafe. But as we were shopping in Muji and had time before dinner we decided to stop by for a tea break.

Muji’s cafe concept is to use seasonal ingredients to produce healthy deli. It indeed look healthy when I was looking through what they serve.

I wanted to try their deli set which includes rice and drink, but as we were having dinner shortly I had to give it a miss. Instead we ordered a slice of Green Tea cheesecake which I thought was bland in taste. The green tea was not really strong in flavour which I was expecting.

However, this cheesecake does not discourage me from wanting to return and try their deli set.

The cafe is very Muji style with all the cutlery, cups and teapot being Muji product, which you can buy at the store.

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

Café&Meal MUJI (Lee Theatre Plaza)
3/F Lee Theatre Plaza,
99 Percival Street,
Causeway Bay

(銅鑼灣波斯富街99號利舞臺廣場3樓)

Mochi Cafe 萬豚屋, Hong Kong

Mochi Cafe is located in Tsim Sha Tsui and specialise in eating Udon soup that is served in a hot stone bowl.

You place your order by marking it on an order form and handing it to the staff. The order form is written in Chinese. So if you don’t know how to read Chinese characters then you probably want to take a local with you who can.

There are variety of udon which the menu is titled as handmade udon. I ordered their black sesame pork udon soup, where the pork chop is coated in a black sesame instead of a normal batter coating. The pork chop was tender with a slight crispy outside with the taste of black sesame.

It was good that the pork came separate from the udon soup, otherwise it would had been a soggy and over-cooked pork chop. The udon soup itself was piping hot and the broth was full of flavour.

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

Mochi Cafe 萬豚屋
G/F, 19-23 Hart Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀赫德道19-23號地舖

Watami Japanese Casual Restaurant (和民)

Watami now seems so local to me since I have been there numbers of time. It is a restaurant I seem to dine when I visit Hong Kong. Each visit never seem to bored me because I always seem to find something different to try on their menu.

It is a Japanese fusion franchise restaurant that has various branches in Hong Kong. The atmosphere of each restaurant is the same throughout which gives you a modern casual feel. It is a great place to eat with friends or just for a casual dinner since the price is reasonable.

They have a large range of dishes you can choose from salads, sushi, rice, noodle, desserts and snacks etc. It’s what I love about Watami it make it a place to go with a group of friends and order a range of dishes to share.

My favourite is the Sukiyaki that comes with thinly sliced beef, carrots, spring onions, Chinese leaf, fresh Chinese mushroom, enoki mushroom, tofu and an egg. 

Deep Fried Scallops & Tofu was like fish cake, which was garnish with some spring onions and served with minced ginger.

The baked scallops with butter was served on a sizzling pan so the scallops got over cooked while we were more busy eating the other  dishes that had arrived on our table.

Although it is a Japanese cuisine restaurant the menu had what I feel is more Korean inspiration, such as the garlic and butter seafood stone pot rice.

There are a range of desserts that Watami also served. I had the milk pudding which was disappointing as it tasted nice but the actual pudding looks like it had not set. If it had then it look like it was melting.

Although the milk pudding was disappointing, the chocolate tiramisu is recommended instead. It was a nice cream pudding that was full of flavours.

http://www.watami.com.hk/

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin (銀座梅林) – Tsim Sha Tsui

One evening in Hong Kong we felt like Japanese breaded pork, so went to Tonkatsu Ginza Barin. There are many branches in Hong Kong and we decided to go to the one in K11 Art Mall located in Tsim Sha Tsui.

It took us a while to find the restaurant since it was located in a hidden area of K11. When we did there was a short waiting time which was not a surprise as it was dinner time.

We went for one of the katsu set meal, where you have in various choice from pork, fish, eel, prawns and a mixed seafood. Each one served with miso soup, pickle and limited refills of rice and lettuce.

As the restaurant specialised in pork we went for their recommended set meal. So we choice the Hire Katsu Set ($148.00) which is deep-fried pork fillet.

 Also the Rosu Katsu Set ($138.00) which is the deep fried pork lion. Compare to the deep-fried pork fillet, I actually prefered the lion. But both pork was tender and beautiful fried.

To enjoy the best of Tonkatsu Ginza Barin breaded pork you have to add some Tonkatsu sauce with it. This is apparently a sauce that has a blend of spices, apples and vegetable that is special to the restaurant. It indeed is a great sauce which just bring a different side to a breaded pork.

On each table as well as Tonkatsu sauce, there is also sesame dressing and wasabi dressing. The sesame dressing is a great combination with the lettuce.

For the two set meal our bill came to 315.00 hk dollars which includes service charge. We did not call any extra drinks since we got complimentary tea with our meal.

(Prices correct at the time of dining)

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin (銀座梅林) – Tsim Sha Tsui branch
Shop B124, K11, Hiranand House,
18 Hanoi Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui,
Hong Kong

(尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館B124舖)

http://www.ginzabairin.com.hk