Via Tokyo

After so many posts of main courses and savouries, finally one of my favorite dessert hideout! *drumrolls* Best Green Tea ice cream in town goes to......... Via Tokyo!!!

They have quite a large variety of desserts here. But of course, their best seller is their matcha soft serve ice cream. 

The texture of the matcha ice cream is very smooth and not overly sweet, and has a very strong matcha taste. Yums Yums. But yet, my favorite is the matcha vanilla twist.

The soft serve is very rich in taste, creamy, smooth, VERY YUMMY indeed!

Oh and if you're a big eater or if you cant make up your mind on what to order, you can always opt for the 3 taste ice cream sampler. 

It has all 3 flavors: Matcha, Hojicha and Vanilla accompanied by mochis, red beans and a biscuit stick. 

overall rating: 9/10

P.s. If you don't wanna queue, you can always walk to the counter and order a takeaway! Saves you a lot of time!

Via Tokyo

opening hours: monday to thursday and sunday 11am-1030pm; friday and saturday 11am-11pm

address: Shop nos. 1A-1B, G/F., Leishun Court, 106-126 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣禮頓道106-126號禮信大廈地下1A-1B號舖 (near coffee alley, next to waffills)

Star Cafe 星座冰室

Oooh Yeah! I want to introduce to you fellow readers, my favorite local hidden gem no other than the Star Cafe 星座冰室 ! 

It took me a while looking for this place. It is actually located at a not so strategic location in Tsim Sha Tsui, the building looks really old and pretty dodgy. BUTT, the food, is AMAZING!

The tomato egg noodles 蕃茄撈蛋麵 is LOVEEEEE! The tomato broth is sweet and very appetizing, and the egg, the taste blended in just fine and the texture is just amazing! Very fullfilling, very satisfying, very decently priced! I dont wanna further explain in depth, JUST GO AND TRY THEIR NOODLES! :D

We enjoyed our meal here! 

Overall rating: 9/10

Star Cafe 星座冰室

opening hours: monday to saturday 8am-930pm

address: Shop No. 36, Champagne Court, 16-20 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui  尖沙咀金巴利道16-20號香檳大廈地庫36號舖

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司

Up next, the much discussed Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司. For me, this restaurant is definitely OVERRATED!

As usual, I normally do my homework before I visit any restaurants, the most recommended food as per open rice are their steam milk, steam egg and scrambled egg toast.

This sucks so bad! The texture is not as smooth as the Yee Shun Dairy Company 港澳義順牛奶公司

and no milk taste at all! 

Well, the scrambled egg toast is indeed good. The scrambled egg was smooth and the portion was decent. I am pretty sure they added milk to the scrambled egg thats why the texture is smooth.

On a side note, their service here is really bad and there's normally a queue. To be honest, I would not pay a second visit to this restaurant but for first timers, no harm trying it out, the scrambled egg toast is recommended but for the steam milk, MEHHHHHH!

Overall rating: 5/10
Ambience: 3/10

Australia Dairy Co. 澳洲牛奶公司

opening hours: Monday to Sunday 730am - 11pm; Closed on Thursday

address: G/F, 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan  佐敦白加士街47-49號地下

Coffee Alley 咖啡弄

Introducing one of my favorite cafe in Hong Kong - Coffee Alley 咖啡弄 from Taiwan. Coffee Alley is actually an upstairs cafe originated from Taiwan, it can easily be spotted as you can normally find people queuing at the roadside.

Yup! Not even kidding about the popularity of this cafe. There's not once that I manage to enter without queueing, the shortest queueing time I've experienced is 45 minutes and the longest, 2 hours. Oh and, they don't accept any reservations. So, do prepare to queue if you really want to try it out. So, what's special here?

I am a tea lover so whenever I visit any cafes, I would try their tea there. The fruit tea comes in a jar which could definitely feed up to 3. The tea is well mixed by using a good range of fruits, it tasted just nice, not too sweet not too sour either. Also, it is very refreshing, perfect for a summer drink.

OH YES! WAFFLES! The waffles are thick yet crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, accompanied by strawberries, one scoop of ice cream and another scoop of custard cream. The strawberries are kinda sour but it neutralizes the sweetness of the ice cream and custard, I guess? Well, no doubt the waffles are good but I've actually tasted better (not in HK), its worth trying I guess?

Being Malaysian, how could we not order the curry (which reminds us of home). The curry beef wasn't too spicy, I guess its made to the local's taste? Well, it is pretty good though. The meat was tender and the curry was spiced just right. I personally would prefer it if it is a bit more spicy.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the croissant here! It is also one of their signature dish! Not forgetting to mention, it has only limited servings, first come first serve dish! It is simple, classic and DELICIOUS, no need for much introduction, let the photo do the talking. I dont drink coffee so I cant do much intro on the coffees served here but according to my friends who tagged along, the macchiato is actually pretty well brewed, thumbs up worth a try.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Coffee Alley 咖啡弄
operation hours: 12pm-11pm; 10pm last call for kitchen
address: Room B1-B3, 1/F, Dragon Rise, 9-11 Pennington Street, Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣邊寧頓街9-11號登龍閣1樓B1-B3室

Pizza Express

My friends who knows me well would know that I am actually more of a fan of western and Korean food. So for this post, I am gonna blog about another favorite western restaurant of mine in Hong Kong - PizzaExpress. To start with, Pizza Express is pretty well known in Hong Kong for its pizza (of course) and their many outlets located in the prime areas in Hong Kong.

Here's a collage of some of the foods I've tried in Pizza Express. When you come to Pizza Express, you just have to try their doughballs.

The doughballs are best eaten when it is served hot and fresh out of the oven. Its slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, best when eaten with the Genovese herbs sauce (the green one). I never got bored of this dish and I order it EVERYTIME I visit Pizza Express. Since its named Pizza Express, how could we leave without ordering pizza?!

We ordered the Margherita Prima Pizza (if I'm not mistaken). The crust was really crispy, the tomato sauce and cheese tasted just nice, not too sour, the baking time was just nice.

For salad lovers like me, you simply cant missed out on the grand chicken caesar salad here. The presentation is really nice and I particular love the bread. The chicken may be abit too rough but I guess the freshness of the vegetables made up for it. Overall, its good.

 They also served pretty decent pastas here, I particularly like their gnocchi. The texture is good and its very chewy. However, their desserts aren't as amazing as their main dishes here. I don't recommend you to actually try their desserts here. And as a bonus, eating with an amazing view just makes your food taste extra delicious. They actually have an outlet at Harbour City Mall, TST where you can enjoy your food and the harbour view at the same time.

Well, do make a reservation beforehand though especially if you want the table near the harbour. Or else, be prepared to queue up for at least 2 hours? Oh, and the price, hmm, its a bit pricy but to me I think its worth it. Also, PizzaExpress serves affordable and price worthy lunch set too! The lunch set includes a starter, main course and a drink. If I did not remember wrongly, it only costs about 72hkd-100hkd for the set, which is really worth it!

 More photos: Please look it up online. I actually don't have much foodie photo left eversince I changed my phone and I am stupid enough to actually not back it up. :(

 Overall Rating: 7/10
Ambience: 9/10

PizzaExpress
opening hours: Weekdays 12pm-1030pm; Weekends 11am-1030pm
address: Shop OT G53, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀廣東道17號海港城海運大廈地下OT G53號鋪
(they have other outlets too in causeway bay, stanley market, kowloon tong, taikoo, kwun tong etc.)

Seaview Congee Shop

I was thinking what to start with, and since this is my first blogpost on foodie, I decided to start with my favorite local breakfast place in Hong Kong - Sea View Congee Shop 海景粥店 located in Mongkok. You can later find the detailed address at the end of this post.

This is my MUST ORDER in this shop. It is rare for me to be able to find a perfect 炸兩 (cripsy inside), but here, they did it. The 油條 inside is still crispy even after steaming it. This dish is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, you just have to order it if you happen to visit this restaurant.

Also, not forgetting to mention, their homemade soya bean here is AMAZING, not too sweet and the texture is good! My favorite is to order a piece of 油條 and have it accomapanied by their hot homemade soyabean.

Their congee here is good too. The texture is pretty smooth and the portion is huge! I love to order their 油條 to eat with my congee, its like perfect match. For small eaters, I suggest you share it with another person. However, don't order their fried noodles, its way too dry and its really tasteless. The prices here are considered quite cheap in Hong Kong. Its actually one of the cheap eateries that you could visit if you are looking for cheap and good local food. Also, their 油條 and other fried goods are HUGE.

Overall Rating: 7/10

Sea View Congee Shop 海景粥店
opening hours: 530am - 130am address: G/F, 72 Bute Street, Prince Edward, Mong Kok 旺角太子弼街72號地下