The Frank: Gourmet sausages? I doubt it...

Shop Info:
The Frank
Near footbridge to central direction, Queensway Plaza, Admiralty, Hong Kong

The Frank (& yo mama) is the latest opening at the newly renovated Queensway Plaza and is a shop which I have eagerly anticipated ever since its boards went up.  Renovations took forever and it missed its promised August opening.  Fortunately it finally opened in this second week of September and I promptly went to get a bite.

This new restaurant shares the same shop space with Yo mama, the now rather well known frozen yoghurt chain.  Seats are available if you want to dine in.  The majority of the counter space is occupied by the extensive selection of ingredients for your froyo and the section for making hot dogs is surprisingly small.

Unfortunately, just like it missed its opening date, its quality missed what it claimed (gourmet sausages?  Nah).  I ordered the double cheese dog (cheddar sausage, mozzarella, ketchup, mustard) expecting a really quite cheesy lunch, but that was not to be.  The photo below says a lot, but let me illustrate a bit more:

Looks like a cheap hot dog, tastes only of ketchup.

1)  The bread was dry, only slightly toasted / grilled and tasted old.

2)  The sausage was lukewarm after a brief walk back to office, and it wasn’t hot enough to even partially melt the “mozzarella” in the hot dog.

3)  The cheddar sausage tasted just like… an enlarged version of the cheese sausages you bring to BBQ.

4)  The “mozzarella” was strange.  It did make me pause and check the menu to see whether it’s actually mozzarella.  Shredded like cheddar (how do you shred a proper mozzarella ball?) and sprinkled on the sausage the cheese did not contribute to the flavor at all and was completely overwhelmed by the ketchup and mustard.  Even when eaten alone, which I deliberately did, it was completely tasteless.

5)  There was way too much (cheap, squeezy) ketchup and mustard, which flavours dominated.  All I tasted was the ketchup.

See the "mozzarella"...

Frankly, at this price ($35 for the hotdog, +$10 for drinks) I really wouldn’t expect much of the food, and I do understand that there is always an Admiralty / Central premium which jacks the price up.  But think about this:  for about the same price I can get a McDonald set plus an apple pie (not that I’d want to…), or a (not very good) BBQ pork rice at Hokkaido Dairy Farm Restaurant, or a wide range of options at Fairwood / Café de Coral.  The rather philosophical question is:  Why would I want to pay this price to get a dog which is of similar quality but only half fills my stomach?

I couldn’t find an answer to that. 

But of course, this is a new shop, and they might be ramping up and smoothing things out.  I’ll withhold any recommendation for now (although that might be obvious!), but the only reasons I find to try the Frank again may be to sample their sausages or in hope that they’ve improved.  This will be updated when that happens.

Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant: Long queue here? DAFUQ?

Shop info:
Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant
Shop D1, G/F, Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Road, Admiralty

Various dates, lunch
~$50 per head

This is a restaurant that I fail to comprehend.  Like Bentopia downstairs, I looked forward to the opening of this place, tried it in its first few days of business, liked it, and eventually not returning as quality deteriorated.  YET, countless office workers queue along the bridge connecting Queensway Plaza and Far East Centre, sometimes stretching all the way across, for a takeaway cha siu rice with fried egg.  Baffling.

THE ENVIRONMENT

There frankly isn't much of an environment to speak of.  The dining area is tiny compared to the large office population that frequents this restaurant and it is near impossible to find a seat despite fast turnover time.  A row of high table seats faces a busy path along the shop front (yes, you'd be watching and watched by the office lunch crowd as you eat) and more normal tables lies behind.  Decor was bright and rather comfortable but completely ruined by the proximity to the crowd.

This is a place where you'd at most like to have a quick lunch during its busy hours and not to linger any longer than necessary.

THE SERVICE

There isn't much service to talk about, and what would you expect - this is a busy cha chaan teng.  That said, the ordering process is strange and perplexing, which does deserve some mention.

At most restaurants, when you what to take away your food, you tell the cashier guy / girl that it's a takeaway after you place the order.  Here, you must tell them before the order - a rather awkward habit that takes time to get used to.  Then, you must wait.  As the staffing and kitchen space afforded by this restaurant is not sufficient to cope with such a large lunch crowd, you can be sure as hell that the wait would be long and uncomfortable.  What else would you expect, blocking the path on one of the busier routes in Admiralty?

Then there is the "I don't give a damn, bugger off" attitude by the staff.  I once had to stand there and wait without a number and with my order hanging in the air - because the cashier girl made a mistake with my order and couldn't be asked to fix it, and instead continued to serve others when I was told to wait.  On another occasion, breakfast service was cancelled since the key holding staff couldn't get up to get to work.  How brilliant is that?

THE FOOD

Back when I still visit Hokkaido Dairy Farm, the only real option for lunch was the "Otaru" BBQ Pork Rice.  Now for those unwilling to read my bickering on this so-called BBQ pork:  It's crap.  Period.

To begin with, I do not understand how "Otaru" is a pile of poorly made chaa siu - it is not Japanese style chaa siu.  Obviously, the owners of the restaurant chain wants to make their products sound Japanese so they can charge more for exoticness, or maybe it was intended as a suggestion for quality which it somply doesn't have.  The meat itself is consistently tough and chewy across a few visits, as demonstrated by the photo below.

Tough.

Then, as suggested by the use of sauce on the chaa siu, the meat itself was rather tasteless.  So bad, actually, that the restaurant has to add flavour via the overpowering and salty sauce.

A mess.

Worse still, the chopping up of the chaa siu was horrid.  Usually in siu mei shops the chaa siu can be reassembled into a whole piece and are laid down accordingly.  Not here.  The "Otaru" chaa siu always seems to have been butchered with an unbelievably blunt hatchet, ran over by a truck then with the remaining pieced picked back up to serve.  Although it's probably not, it always felt like it is made up of leftover bits and pieces.

Poorly made scrambled egg.

Oh, and did I say that you can order it with scrambled egg?  If you do, there could be two outcomes:  1) they'd still give you a fried egg despite what they input into their system, as shown in first photo below, or 2) you'd get a scrambled egg that hasn't been properly mixed - with white bits in it.  More often than not the surface would be overcooked despite having a "flowing" core.  It's obvious that the chef wasn't putting much effort...

Scrambled-turned-fried egg.  Note that the receipt says scrambled!

At $39 plus at least 15 minutes of wait, this is by no means cheap.  The now closed siu mei shop used to serve a far superior chaa siu rice at much lower price.  Oh, and if you come after 12 noon, the queue would be so long that it'd be more like a 30 min wait.

So I couldn't help but ask... what are these people queueing for?  The fun of it?

CONCLUSION

On price alone, not expensive, but if waiting time and quality is taken into consideration, a ripoff.  Even if it is worth the $39 price tag, which I don't think it is, it is not worth the wait.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (2/5)  "Otaru" chaa siu is quite bad.
SERVICE:  (2/5)  not much service to speak of.
ENVIRONMENT:  (2/5)  Uncomfortable...
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (2/5)  Don't bother.  Not worth the wait.

Pizzazaza: zazazazazazazazazazazazaza!!

Shop info:
Pizzazaza
G/F, 7 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang
Tel:  2881 8287

15 August 2012, dinner
$180 per head

This was, actually, part three to Locust Tunghok and I's dinner in Tai Hang on this hot and humid day.  For no logical reason whatsoever, we decided to start our even with a rather expensive yet disappointing yakitori dinner with Sapporo beer at a nearby new-ish restaurant called Ikki (一輝日本料理), followed by a scoop of smooth and rich chocolate ice-cream at the recently opened Lab Made.  We locusts were still hungry (trust me, we smartly refrained from ordering much on our first round at that yakitori place) and we happened to see this new pizzeria, so in we went.

Pizzazaza (previously known as MIST Pizzeria) was the new opening by the ex-boss of the ramen shop MIST in Causeway Bay of Michelin 1-star fame.  The starred restaurant was unfortunately closed following shareholder disputes between the Hong Kong owner and the Japanese advisor (please correct if I’m mistaken on this) and the Hong Kong owner invested to open three new shops in Causeway Bay / Tin Hau.  Pizzazaza was the first to come, followed with the just opened Rasupermen (ramen, of course.  Priced lower than MIST) at Hysan Square and the soon-to-be-launched Sawadelight at MIST’s old place.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Pizzazaza, rather unlike MIST ramen, is a casual diner located on Wun Sha Street, at the shop where “Little White House” used to be.  Perhaps to show its break from MIST’s rather serious, carefully choreographed and poker faced style, the name of the restaurant was recently changed to Pizzazaza.  So recent, that the store-front still says MIST Pizzeria!

The inside of the store is of a relaxing white.  Space between tables are understandably limited due to the very narrow store front but dining here doesn’t feel particularly claustrophobic thanks to the high ceiling and the light coloured walls.  Various artworks are hung on the walls and the yellow hued window into the kitchen showcases a collection of pans and other kitchen tools.

What I liked most, though, was the menu which is shaped like a pizza!

THE SERVICE
I was very impressed by the wait-staff here.  Not only are they very aware of what they serve, they were also aware of what ingredients are used, how the food taste and good combinations.  The waitress who took our order, for instance, suggested the bread basket to go with the slow cooked egg with wild mushrooms, and described the different flavours of the three types of beer they serve.  Another waitress told us what ingredients are used in their impressive looking mountain like Rucola pizza and how it’s constructed.  Yet another waitress taught us how best to eat the slow cooked egg and pointed out every ingredients in the dish.  This is the kind of knowledge we come to expect of Michelin starred restaurant staff, but unheard of at a casual pizzeria!

It was actually more than that.  I actually felt that they are genuinely proud of the food they serve, have probably tried most of them and is happy to tell customers about them.  Hell, they were more enthusiastic and genuine than the waiters who served us at Robuchon a Galera / au Dome in Macau.

THE FOOD
Obviously, good environment and friendly helpful staff is not enough to get me excited for a pizzeria.  The food need to match.  And the food was certainly decent.  Here we go…

Having had a tiny half pant Sapporo between us locusts, we did not plan to have more beer here… yet the waitress suggested their special beers, named Pizzazaza, Sawadelight and Rasupermen respectively.  I was pretty sure that these weren’t going to be house brewed (that would be asking a bit much, right?).  These were actually re-labelled bottled beer.  The one we ordered (Pizzazaza a.k.a. Weizen) was from the Kiuchi Brewery in Naka-shi of the Ibaraki prefecture in Japan.  As the waitress suggested, there was a slight banana-like flavour to the beer, which was light and refreshing.

To our surprise, the ($5 per portion) bread basket came with olive oil & vinegar, pesto and a spicy tomato puree.  The three items seems brought in but I liked the “inflated” grissini-thing.

Slow cooked egg with wild mushrooms, potato puree and black truffle sauce ($108)

We at this as suggested, mixing the potato, egg, truffle, mushroom and the spinach puree on the side and dipping with the inflated grissini.  Egg was nicely cooked, mushroom well sautéed, potato puree smooth and generous scoop of black truffle sauce.  Couldn’t be bad, really!  Yum!

Pizza Margherita ($158)

Buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes & basil

Pizza was nice too – the thin crust was dry and not soggy with a wheat-y flavour especially on the rim.  The mozzarella was richer than the usual tasteless crap we find on Margheritas from a lot of “pizza restaurants” in town and the cherry tomatoes were fresh and retained that nice natural sweetness to it.  We were actually pondering, when we ordered, that why this Margherita is $40 richer than the Quattro formaggi pizza as usually it’s the other way round.  This is well worth the price!

CONCLUSION
I like this pizzeria.  I like the pizza, the slow cooked egg, the beer, the staff’s enthusiasm and the happy dining ambiance of the place.  If you look at price, at $180 per head this was in the same price range as the nearby Piccolo pizzeria (which, IMHO, despite having a nice wood-fired oven was not as good as its sister shop in Kennedy Town).  Recommended!

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (4/5)  
SERVICE:  (4.5/5)  very good service
ENVIRONMENT:  (4/5)  Nice and relaxing.  Slightly crowded though.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (4.5/5)  Recommended.  It’s not perfect, but for this price?  Must try!

Nico's Spuntino Bar + Restaurant: Oil overflow

Shop info:
Nico’s Spuntino Bar + Restaurant
G/F, 49 Elgin Street, Central

13 August 2012, dinner
$325 per head

Quite a few years ago when I started eating around, this shop at the junction of Elgin Street and next to Bouchon Bistro Francaise was a Fat Angelo’s, where I’ve had quite a few fun-filled meals with friends.  Food, though, was mediocre at best.  Then a year or so ago the Fat Angelo disappeared and was replaced by Popup @ Elgin, a casual diner whose food Locust Tunghok and I disliked.

Recently, though, that popup restaurant was finally replaced by a proper Italian restaurant and bar called Nico’s.  With new décor and a new menu, Locust Tunghok and I decided to give it a try.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Kudos to the management and / or the designer, the dining room of Nico’s was actually quite a comfortable place to be.  Lighting was sufficiently bright that you can see properly, unlike its predecessor(s) were it was so dim that taking photo was impossible, yet not eye-stingingly bright.  The seats were comfortable and large but given their size make the place feel quite crowded, especially when full.  That said, the high ceiling does provide a sense of spaciousness which helps dealing with that.  Hygiene was good, but the dusty shelves next to the table does suggest more cleaning is needed.

Located on Elgin street the outer portion of the restaurant was mostly taken up by the bar and the dining area is located to the inside of the store.  Interestingly, and similar to its predecessors, to get to the toilets diners need to exit via a back door, navigate a small but largely unlit outdoor area, before they can relieve themselves…

THE SERVICE
Staff were friendly and courteous but can be more attentive, as we found it difficult to get their attention to check the bill.  Some may find their playful way of serving unprofessional, but for me, for a casual diner like Nico's, it felt just right.

THE FOOD
I'd put this up front - the food at Nico's is not bad at all.  In fact, the other locust and I quite enjoyed our dinner here.  That said, there is one unifying theme uniting almost all dishes:  they were all quite oily.  It's not the kind of "oh I want to eat healthily and a drop of oil is too much" oily.  Given that us locusts could gobble up a nice piece of "gold coin chicken" and still want more, that would not have been any problems had it been kindergarten-grade oiliness.  No... every dish was genuinely oily, as we shall see...

Before the oil, though, we shouldn't forget the beer.  Us locusts have almost made it a habit that if we were to dine at a bar, we might as well have the beer too.  Usually, I'd go for the Stella draught, as we did here... until after we ordered and the waiter came back apologetically to tell us that they ran out.  No luck this time, so Locust Tunghok settled for her Hoegaarden, and I got my Kroenenbourg Blanc.

Kronenbourg has been my favourite beer ever since I got used to it during my M.Sc.days in UK.  Back in Hong Kong, however, this beer is difficult to find, especially if you want draught.  This is my first time trying Blanc, and as usual, I like its crisp, light taste, although the Blanc has a peachy, almost orangey flavour to it.

Still... they ran out of draught Stella...

Caciocavallo Silano in Carrozza (region:  Calabria) $98

Crispy fried, fresh cow's milk cheese, on a bed of fried leeks

Behold the oiliness!

Let the oiliness begin.

Interestingly, with some googling (and after seeing Locust Tunghok's post here), Caciocavallo Silano happens to be a D.O.P. product, protected and can only be made in designated areas in Southern Italy.  Interesting how they do not advertise the D.O.P. status on their menu - if the food is good I guess nobody really cares!  The batter was light, thin and crisp when served, and the cheese has a certain stringiness to it, but not too much.  Flavour was strong and somewhat salty.  Very nice!

The fried leeks on top... I guess defeats the English name of the dish:  it's fried leeks on cheese, not the other way round!  In any case, I didn't care much for the leeks.  Yes they were done nicely, surprisingly dry but the leeks themselves were a bit too "old" for me.

Now the problem:  look at that puddle of oil in the second photo above... enough said.

Mamma Assunta's Pulled Pizza (Region:  Campania) $118

When the pizza was served we were speechless.  It was way bigger than we expected.  Yet it was good enough that we almost finished the whole thing.  Oiliness, of course, was again a problem.  Every slice was dripping oil, which I guess was a combination of excessive olive oil added and oil from the pork sausages?  That aside, flavour was nice and well balanced.

Porceddu (Region:  Sardinia Island)  $188

Crispy-roasted Suckling Pig served with Honey Gravy

Mash potato as a side dish to the Porceddu

The proceddu was only mediocre, at least for me.  The fat under the rather crispy skin was way too thick and uncomfortable to eat.  The meat itself was somewhat bland, and when we guessed that the gravy would help with the flavour, it really didn't.  The gravy was quite weak as well.  Very stark contrast when compared with the oily but delicious fried cheese and the pizza!

The mash, however, was decent.  Just like the other dishes, the chef has been rather generous with his butter.  As a result, the mash was rich and flavoursome.  Personally I would prefer a silkier mash and perhaps even more butter in it, but as it is, I'd still take it any time!

Tiramisu $58

Classic combination fresh egg sabayon, espresso coffee, Savoiardi biscuits, chocolate in an hermetic glass jar

We wanted to end the meal with a nice tiramisu, but unfortunately, we were let down by this Tiramisu-in-a-jar.  Gimmicks aside, the sabayon (why not just mascarpone?) was stiff and jelly-like.  The biscuits were dry as hell, and defenitely not soaked in espresso.  I had no idea where the chocolate went, apart from the chocolate powder.  I can see it as a layer on top, but couldn't taste it at all.  The whole thing was so dry that we only manage to finish half.  What a waste!  If I had to pick a worst dish of the meal, this would be the one.  Shouldn't have ordered.

CONCLUSION
This quasi-new restaurant shows potential to be a good one.  If you look past the oiliness and the failed dessert, dinner at Nico's was actually very enjoyable.  The ambiance of the place makes for a relaxed meal.  Yet work needs to be done with the dishes themselves.  Oil should be better controlled, at least the diner shouldn't be seeing puddles of oil on their plates!

Judged alone, Nico's is a nice place for a meal with friends, but with Posto Pubblico nearby... hmm... 

Oh, and I like how they advertise the region a dish is from on the menu... 

Summary (rated 1-5):

FOOD:  (3/5)  Flavour was good, but very oily... need better execution!
SERVICE:  (3/5)  
ENVIRONMENT:  (3.5/5)  Somewhat crowded, but relaxing.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  Dragged down by the food that needs fine tuning!

Shugetsu (麵鮮醬油房 周月): Very, VERY, salty...

Shop info:
Shugetsu (麵鮮醬油房 周月)
G/F, 5 Gough Street, Central

15 May 2012 and 28 July 2012, Lunch
~$110 per head

I like ramen.  Or to put it better, I like good ramen, especially after trying Menya Musashi at Shinjuku (not Kwun Tong, thank you) a few years ago, where I first tried Tsukemen, the “dipping” ramen which the broth is served separately from the noodles.  Strangely, even with the proliferation of swine-based broth ramen in Hong Kong in the past year or so, choices are still limited when it comes to tsukemen.  Maybe it’s the owners tendency to follow established trends, or maybe it’s demand driving the new shops to the swine broth – the limited variety in ramen shops in Hong Kong is rather disappointing.

It is therefore a joy to learn from the pages of fellow bloggers the opening of a new tsukemen shop on Gough Street.  I first visited on an extremely rainy day in May and subsequently with the other locust in July.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Located on Gough Street near the (in?)famous 9 Kee and “Win Fragrant Garden”, Shugetsu is surely in good company.  After entering via the sliding door so appropriate for shops with limited space, the chefs can be seen working the quasi-open kitchen to the right and a rather narrow dining room is directly in front.  Having been seated twice at the wall-facing seats near the entrance, I can only tell that as far as I saw most seats are of these wall-facing type – inevitable given they use half the width of the shop to showcase their ramen-making process!

That aside, the setting is that of a casual quick meal eatery.  Everything is where you need it, and seating is reasonably comfortable but not of the type that you can spend any significant amount of time chilling out here – good for their turnover for sure!

THE SERVICE
Given the small floor space of the shop, the staff is reasonably attentive.  That said, on my first visit they have mistaken my 200g tsukemen order as 300g.  No price difference but the result was a significant amount of leftover ramen which I simply couldn’t finish.  I did, later, hear the guys sitting next to me discuss why their 300g tsukemen is smaller than my 200g though…

THE FOOD
On both visits I had their signature tsukemen with extra egg.  The first was 200-turned-300g and the second time 100g, as lunch-part-two.  The egg was slightly more cooked than I’d like on the first visit but almost perfect on the second visit – with a yolk that is not flowingly runny but maintains a jelly-like texture.  From the colouration one can tell that these are better flavoured than the almost all white versions at some lesser ramen shops!  Very nice.

First visit

Second visit - much better!

Tsukemen - 300g

Tsukemen - 100g

The tsukemen itself is thicker than the usual we have at other ramen shops and was cooked just right.  Its thickness, however, does make it feel somewhat more filling than others.  Served on a bamboo mat to drain off excess water.

Extremely salty and sour broth

Some say the broth makes or breaks a bowl of ramen, and it is certainly the case here.  Unfortunately, in this case it wasn’t for the better.  Whatever heritage they have in the soy sauce they use, and however famous their recipe is, it was consistent across my two visits:  consistently sour and salty.  These two flavours are so strong and so overwhelming that one couldn’t taste any other flavour other than its saltiness and sourness.  The pork?  Very salty.  The marinated bamboo shoots?  Very salty.  What’s the point of a carefully made broth if it’s so salty that the customer couldn’t taste anything else?

This broth was miles from the one with the tsukemen I had at Shinjuku.  That one was full bodied, well balanced with every flavour playing its role.  This one was like an orchestra with a dozen trumpets and a dozen trombones – you couldn’t hear anything else!

CONCLUSION
I haven’t tried their ramen with scallops, or the normal ramen with broth.  Their signature tsukemen, however, was ruined by the broth.  Way too salty, come on.  I’m definitely not the first to comment such, and likely won’t be the last.  Maybe this is their traditional taste, but why, then, was the one at Shinjuku so much better?

For me, unless they better balance their flavours, I won’t be returning.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (3/5)  Egg was good, ramen OK, ruined by extremely salty broth
SERVICE:  (3/5)  
ENVIRONMENT:  (3/5)  
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  May be worth trying… once?

Further reading:  have a look at Locust Tunghok's review!