Shoot First Eat Later

456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine at The Venetian Macao

The first time we ate at 456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine was in 2010 and we loved it so much we made sure to eat there again last December.

The restaurant was located at The Venetian’s St. Mark’s Square.

The soup was the only dish we previously ordered.

Green Vegetable & Mandarin Fish Soup MOP$45 per bowl

I ordered the veggies and this was what I chose. I just love beancurd sheet made extra special with mushroom.

braised beancud sheet with assorted mushroom MOP$88

It was a small piece of black pig but it was enough to savour the delicious flavor of the pork.

oven baked spare rib of black pig MOP$38

Sweet ham is my dad’s favorite dish and this one was served with thin slices of pumpkin and gingko biloba nuts.

steamed sliced ham with bun MOP$118

An order of my favorite rice with Chinese sausage & dried meat was for four people but we still ordered it even though there were only three of us. Just look at all the lovely salted pork and duck plus the pork and duck liver sausages. I was in fatty meat heaven.

hot pot rice with Chinese sausage & salted meat HK$70 per person

All the meat was cooked on top of this rice in a clay pot. The fat and flavor from the meat has seeped into the rice.

We had lots and lots of leftovers which I wished I could have brought back to Hong Kong. We did manage to eat all the Chinese sausage (lap cheong). It was another wonderful meal and I highly recommend you try this restaurant when you stay at The Venetian Macao.

456 Modern Shanghai cusine menu

456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine Menu
appetizer, 2, shark’s fin, abalone & dried seafood, 2, soup, 2
hot dish, 2, 3, vegetables, rice & noodles, 2, bun & dumpling,
dessert, 2

456 Modern Shanghai Cuisine
Shop No. 2406 St. Mark’s Square
The Venetian Macao
telephone: +853 2886 6618
website

Choi Heong Yuen & Koi Kei Bakeries Macau

What do you when you stay at The Venetian Macao? You shop!!! With over 600 shops inside the hotel it’s a shopper’s dream.

I hit two popular Portugese style bakeries in the Shoppes Grand Canal. Both stores are very popular with tourists who buy bags and bags of goodies.

Almost everything in the store can be sampled. Just ask. I tried the spicy pork jerky and it was hot!!

pork jerky

Watch out for my post on their Portugese egg tart which I compared with another famous brand.

Portugese egg tarts

Most of their products come in different sizes of packaging if you just want to try something new or buy your usual favorites.

chewy bites

preserved fruit

Phoenix egg rolls are similar to barquillos or crispy crepes. They had several variations of these.

Phoenix egg rolls

I doubt if these pastries contain actual abalone. They were shaped like abalone though.

abalone pastries

mini almond cakes with shredded pork jerky

It was hard choosing from so many delicious looking sweets and these are what I bought. I’ve tried their phoenix egg rolls before and I always buy the one stuffed with shredded pork jerky (pork floss/mahu/ma-song) and wrapped with seaweed. I like the contrast of sweet and salty plus the texture of the pork jerky.

phoenix egg rolls with seaweed & pork jerky

Chewy bites were just that. Chewy confections with flavors like black sesame, dates, coconut, walnut and ginger. It wasn’t too sweet and the flavors and texture were quite interesting.

8 flavors chewy bites

Their almond cookies are a must buy. They had bigger sized cookies but I liked these small bite sized pieces.

one bite black sesame almond cookies

I bought the preserved ginger for my friend.

preserved ginger slice

I didn’t buy anything at Koi Kei Bakery because they had a branch in Hong Kong and their product line were similar to Choi Heong Yuen.

Koi Kei Bakery Macau

Portugese almond nougat

Portugese style walnut cookies

cookies, pineapple pastry

Phoenix egg rolls

almond cookies

Near the West lobby of the Venetian you can find kiosks of these two bakeries across each other. Perfect for last minute purchases.

Both stores carry a limited amount of products and most were the bigger sized packaging. I wanted to buy more bite sized almond cookies but they only sold boxes of big cookies.

Choi Heong Yuen & Koi Kei Bakery at The Venetian Macao

Choi Heong Yuen Bakery
2130a, Level 3 Shoppes Grand Canal
The Venetian Macao
telephone: +853 2882 8303
Opening Hours:
Sunday to Thursday 10:00am – 11:00pm
Friday to Saturday 10:00am – 12:00am
website

Koi Kei Bakery
2402a, Level 3 Shoppes Grand Canal
The Venetian Macao

K106, Level 1
Shoppes Cotai Central
telephone: +853 2893 9227
Opening Hours:
Sunday to Thursday 10:00am – 11:00pm
Friday to Saturday 10:00am – 12:00am
website

Imperial House Dim Sum

Last December we took a short trip to Macao from Hong Kong.

Months before our trip I looked at the rates and room pictures of virtually all the newer hotels in Macao. Sure there were a lot of really nice looking rooms but the sizes were much smaller than Venetian’s Verona suite and the price was even higher. That’s why I booked usual suite that costs less than regular rooms of other hotels. More pictures here.

Since Venetian Macao is a tourist destination in itself with all the shops and restaurants inside the hotel we took most of our meals there. Staying in Venetian made us so lazy to go to the other hotels and restaurants to eat. I vow to try another hotel next time.

I don’t really know what cordycep flowers are but the soup was good and very concentrated.

double boiled cordycep flowers & chicken soup HK$45

I liked that the fried turnip cubes wasn’t oily and it had a nice, even heat to it.

wok-fried turnip cake with XO sauce HK$32

This was the first time I’ve encountered wild rice in my favorite glutinous rice dim sum. It added a nice crunch and a nutty flavor to the dish. It was a really good combination.

wild rice & glutinous rice with conpoy wrapped in lotus leaf H$32

This dish was listed in the same page as the rice flour rolls. The noodles had a different texture from the rice flour (ho fan) noodles. It had more bite which we really liked.

steamed “Chen Chuan” rice sheet noodles with preserved vegetable & shredded pork HK$38

This restaurant really surprised me with their good food. Initially I was scared since I saw club sandwich, burgers, waffles and other continental snacks on their menu. They also had noodles soups and meat dishes for a really wide selection.

Imperial House Dim Sum
Shop 1042 on the casino floor
telephone:+853 8118 9910
website

Open daily from:
Saturday to Monday – 24 hours
Tuesday to Friday – closed from 2:00 am – 10:00 am

Happy Hour at Morton’s Hong Kong

I like beef but I’m not a steak lover. I can’t even finish an order of steak that’s probably why I’ve never eaten at Morton’s The Steakhouse before. I’ve know about their free steak sandwiches during happy hour for years but I’ve never tried it until my friend Tisay invited me last December.

Morton’s is located on the 4th floor of the Sheraton Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The bar area was small and full when I arrived. Tisay had been waiting for me for an hour since I was in the Apple store having my laptop fixed.

They had a pretty good bar menu but we were there for something else.

Bar Bites menu (click to enlarge)

As soon as I saw the drink menu I instantly chose the chocolate mortini.

chocolate mortini HK$60

I loved their chocolate martini because it was icy cold, creamy, chocolatey and strong! 2 glasses later and I felt a definite buzz.

At the bottom of the glass was chocolate sauce that hardened. You can be sure we patiently scraped it with our stirrer. Yum!

As long as you order a drink be it 1 glass or more you can order their free filet mignon sandwiches and eat to your tummy’s desire or until time runs out. You have 2 hours to pig out. Each order is served on a silver platter with 6 small sandwiches.

filet mignon sandwiches

The first sandwich I ate it without the bread on top. The next two sandwiches I doubled up on the meat and added horseradish which I asked for. The steak was pretty good considering there was no sauce or other garnish.

Later on I just ate the steak with even more horseradish. How else can I eat more? Tisay loved the soft buttered rolls so she ate her sandwich like a normal person would.

My abnormal remains.

This was the bar after happy hour. Not so happy anymore.

I highly recommend taking advantage of their low priced drinks and excellent steak sandwiches from 5:00 – 7:00 pm Mondays to Fridays. I will be back!!!!!

Morton’s The Steakhouse
Sheraton Hotel
Fourth Level 20 Nathan Road.
Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon
Hong Kong
telephone: +852 2732 2343
website

Hours of Operation
Bar
Monday – Saturday 5pm – 11pm
Sunday 5pm – 10pm

Dining Room
Monday – Saturday 5:30pm – 11pm
Sunday 5pm – 10pm

More Chuk Yuen Love

We always eat at Chuk Yuen on our first or second day in Hong Kong. It’s my comfort food in Hong Kong and I really needed it after my unsatisfactory meals at Carpaccio and Ginza Bairin the previous day.

When you have lunch at Chuk Yuen they USUALLY offer you FREE hot sugarcane or orange juice.

The next two dishes are only available during winter months. It’s because the richness and oiliness of the Chinese sausage and dried meats are hearty enough for cold weather. That’s how I understand it.

Their version of my favorite glutinous rice with Chinese sausage (lap cheong) and dried meat was one of the best I’ve tried. The rice was soft and not greasy and the flavor was very good. The serving was actually a small one and we managed to eat a couple of spoonfuls each and it was more than enough.

fried glutinous rice with Chinese sausage HK$28

I love anything with Chinese sausage and I’m happy that their sausage wasn’t as fatty as others. One bun had duck liver sausage (pic below) and the other had the regular pork sausage.

steamed Chinese sausage roll bun HK$22

We made an effort to order some dishes we’ve never tried before but it was hard since we all had our favorites.

steamed chicken, fish maw & Yunnan ham roll HK$25

roast goose

Their roast goose was very lean and quite good too.

The dishes without prices are from a Chinese paper menu which my mom orders from so I’m not even sure about the names. They’re all good.

beancurd sheet roll with mushroom

Shanghai wonton in chili & sour sauce HK$28

double boiled chicken soup

Asides from free drinks they also give free fruits for dessert.

We were about to leave when they brought our an additional free dessert made with sweet potatoes. Must be a Christmas treat since I’ve never experienced it before.

sweet potato dessert

dim sum menu (click to enlarge)

On our last day in Hong Kong our last meal was also at Chuk Yuen. That’s how much we love their food. This time my dad’s friend joined us and we let him do the ordering for a change. This meal they didn’t give us juice only dessert.

steamed rice roll with scallop, lily bulb & asparagus HK$28

steamed rice roll with shrimp HK$22

Large pieces of shrimp were inside the rice rolls and nothing else.

The best ham sui kok! Hot, crisp, not oily and good flavor.

ham sui kok

fried beancurd roll

I never ever order this and I gave it a chance. I was right. I still don’t like it.

beef ball in coriander soup HK$17

The pork knuckles were something different all right. It was mostly skin with some tendon. I liked it!

pork knuckle

They really made an effort with presentation.

fried stuffed duck meat with taro HK$25

I ate the little chick’s head off with one bite :D. There was actually a little minced duck meat inside the mashed taro. Not bad at all.

This giant dumpling in hot soup is my dad’s favorite.

steamed s*fin dumpling in soup HK$25

Every time someone asks me for restaurant recommendations in Hong Kong the first name I always say is Chuk Yuen. Do try it and you will not regret it. Whatever you order will be good. I promise. I just have to try their dinner menu next time. I haven’t done that in a while.

Chuk Yuen Seafood Restaurant
Basement, Hong Kong Pacific centre
28 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong
telephone: +852-2722-0633
directions here

Dinner at Ginza Bairin

Jin loves to eat and I arrived in Hong Kong on the same day last December. I arrived in the afternoon while she arrived at night. She wanted me to wait for her to have dinner together. At 9:00 pm!!! After my last meal at Carpaccio hours before I was hungry.

I suggested Ginza Bairin since I heard the franchise is coming to Manila and I wanted to try it out.

Jin arrived at K11 a few minutes before me and she had a hard time finding the restaurant in the basement 1 of the mall. She kept looking at the map and still couldn’t find it. We later learned you had to take the elevator outside the mall to access the restaurant which was the only one in that hidden location.

specialties (click to enlarge)

me and Jin

They had the usual sauces including an additional wasabi dressing which I really liked. They didn’t have the ground sesame seeds like Yabu.

It’s always fun eating with a food blogger since they are patient with the long task of picture taking before eating.

I couldn’t help but compare their menu with Yabu, a totally local restaurant. Their menus were practically the same but Yabu served unlimited shredded cabbage.

rosu katsu set (black pork) HK$168

When the waiter placed the tray of fried pork I could smell the strong almost rancid oil. It wasn’t a good sign. The pork was very, very bland and boring and not even a lot of tonkatsu sauce could save it. We shared this order and yet didn’t finish it. I’m not a tonkatsu expert but Jin said many other restaurants in Hong Kong serve much better tonkatsu. We both agreed Yabu did a better job too.

I think I enjoyed the side order of curry sauce the most.

curry sauce HK$20

assorted seafood katsu set HK$178

The fried fish fillet, oysters and prawns fared better than the pork. This we finished.

fried oyster

I hope the local franchisee of Ginza Bairin do a better job when they open in Manila. Thanks for treating me to dinner Jin!!

Ginza Bairin menu (click to enlarge)

Ginza Bairin
Shop 24 Basement 1, K11 Mall, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
telephone: +852-3122-4128
Opening hours: 12:00~23:00 (LO: 22:30)
website
other locations in Hong Kong here

Afternoon Tea at Carpaccio

Since I stay so close to iSquare in Hong Kong I’ve tried most of the restaurants in the mall some more than three times. I often pass by Carpaccio but have never tried it since I had no desire to eat pasta or pizza in a country with terrific Chinese and Asian cuisine.

When I saw a deal on Groupon HK for Carpaccio’s afternoon tea for HK$99 instead of the regular HK$199 I quickly bought one coupon. I love afternoon tea and I will get to finally try the food of Carpaccio.

The only good thing about the afternoon tea was the Lavazza coffee.

My dad joined us and he had the wild mushroom soup. Instead of being blended smooth they left coarse chunks of mushroom for a uniquely textured soup. It would have been good except that it lacked salt. Lots of salt.

wild mushroom soup

The only thing good was the chocolate dipped strawberries and the mini smoked salmon sandwich. The sausage roll in puff pastry wasn’t too bad either. The rest was bad. The scones were hard and dry and you can see the small amount of jam and cream they served with it. I’m just glad that I didn’t pay for the full amount.

For HK$99 we could each have had a bowl of hot noodle soup or even a feast at Cafe de Coral.

Carpaccio
Shop 307, 3/F iSquare, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀彌敦道63號 iSquare 國際廣場3樓
telephone: +852 2328 5202
website

Philippine Airlines Meals Mnl-Hkg-Mnl December 2012

Here’s the meals I had on Philippine Airlines on my trip to Hong Kong last December.

For lunch to Hong Kong I chose the chicken inasal. It had a nice grilled taste and the marinade was very flavorful and permeated throughout the tender chicken. The rice was peppery.

chicken inasal

PAL uses different suppliers for their desserts on economy class and this was my first time to try the leche flan from Rebekah’s Confectioneries. The leche flan was thick, rich and creamy just the way I love it. Obviously it used all egg yolks. It had a strong toffee flavor and bits on macapuno. It was very sweet but a happy kinda sweet.

leche flan from Rebekah’s Confectioneries

I chose the pork paksiw for my dinner on the flight back to Manila.

pork paksiw

The pork was lean, tender and the sauce was sweet and tangy. Good with plain white rice.

The only problem was that the quail eggs were so sour. It seemed to have absorbed all the vinegar from the sauce of the pork.

The frosted brownie from Goldilocks looked good but trust me it wasn’t. It’s seldom that I leave a chocolate dessert on my plate. This got totally left behind.

Only one short post for today since I’m not feeling well and I’m too preoccupied playing Candy Crush Saga (on iOS and Facebook). Whatever you do DON’T start playing this or else you’ll get addicted like me and my friends. You’ll be saying ‘send me a life’ over and over again. I was able to make this post because I ran out of lives. Ha ha ha.

Deli de San Honore

My friend Debbie and her nephew Chef Jeremy have a new catering business called Deli San Honore. We ordered a Thai dinner from them for our group’s Christmas party.

I don’t think they have full catering service that supplies tables, chairs, etc since they just started but you can order food from them.

mango-catfish salad

I was surprised how good the Pad Thai was. It tasted better than the Pad Thai I’ve eaten in several restaurants.

Pad Thai

The bagoong rice was good too but I told Debbie I liked her atchi’s (Jeremy’s mom) version better which I tried many years ago.

bagoong rice

Yes, the porchetta is not Thai but it was ordered just because we wanted to try it. The skin wasn’t crispy anymore probably because the container was covered with foil. The flavors of the meat was delicious and it didn’t need any sauce anymore.

porchetta

fish in tamarind sauce

My favorite was the satay and I took home the leftovers. 😀

chicken & pork satay

satay sauce

tha-ko

I swear everything was so good it was hard to stop at one plate. Ok I confess I had a second serving of Pad Thai.

Since we all love sweets there were other desserts too. I don’t remember where this cake came from and I didn’t bother asking since it was way too sweet. In short I didn’t like it.

Always present are these suman (sweet sticky rice) that Elisa brought from her hometown of Butuan. They’re the best suman ever!! Perfect texture, rich from coconut milk and just the right amount of sweetness.

suman from Butuan

We paired the suman with fresh, sweet mangoes and had a pseudo Thai dessert.

fresh mangoes

blueberry cheesecake tarts

Gay Vasquez’ sans rival

My gorgeous friends!!!

For Christmas Debbie gave us a baked ham that Jeremy made. I put the glaze myself and baked it for a few minutes.

baked ham

I served this at our family’s New Year’s Eve party and everyone loved it. It’s not salty and very tender. I’ve been eating the leftover ham in between wheat bread with a slather of mustard.

I asked Debbie if Jeremy also makes fresh corned beef and he does! The raw slab of beef brisket in it’s curing liquid and spices arrived in a sealed plastic bag. I simply boiled the corned beef til tender which took about two hours. I also changed the water once midway so it won’t be too salty. We ate it with boiled cabbage, potatoes and carrots.

fresh corned beef

The next day I put the trimmed corned beef in between rye bread and added French mustard for a wonderful lunch.

These are just SOME of the dishes you can order from Deli San Honore:
smoked fish pasta
cold cuts (sausages/local cheese)
herb roasted chicken
baked salmon
chicken lemongrass
mix greens with raspberry vinaigrette
spaghettini with mushroom in truffle cream sauce
roasted turkey (with sausage/chestnut stuffing, sweet potato/gravy/dinner rolls)
seafood paella
mixed greens with pear vinaigrette
penne vodka with sausage
roast beef (half slab approx. 5 kilos) (with au jus/onion marmalade/mashed potato/Yorkshire pudding)
baked salmon (Dijonnaise)
baked fish in black bean ginger sauce (I’ve tried this and it’s sooooo yummy)

Call them if you want to order just a couple of dishes or a whole dinner. I highly recommend the baked ham and fresh corned beef.

Deli de San Honore c/o Jeremy
telephone: 927-8649
cellphone no.: +63939-4710429

De Original Jamaican Pattie Shop

I think I did more eating than shopping when I was in SM Megamall last December doing Christmas shopping for my godchildren. After my dessert at Akiba Cafe and successful purchase at Toy Kingdom I had lunch at my favorite Jamaican Pattie shop.

This was the first shop I’ve been to with a seating area since their branch at the old Greenbelt many years ago. I’ve been buying Jamaican beef patties since they were priced at P25 each. I usually buy them at SM Megamall supermarket or at the fast food area of Vmall.

This store even had fruit shakes and coffee.

I’ve never tried their Pattie Squares. Maybe they’ve stopped making it since it wasn’t even available.

When I go to my usual branches they only have a few varieties available. At this branch they had all the variants including the chicken patties.

They have a very good warmer since my pie was really piping hot.

They have to change their fugly and super uncomfortable seats.

I usually buy their original or beefy mushroom but I’ve recently discovered the spicy pinatubo.

beef pinatubo P45

I love how spicy the beef filling was specially when eaten with the crispy, flaky crust. There was a time I would eat one pie a day for a week. That’s how addicting the pinatubo beef pattie was. It was definitely better if I had my green tea cheesecake after the pie but at least I had the matcha trifle tea to cool down my throat from the spicy beef pattie.

De Original Jamaican Pattie Shop
Basement SM Megamall Building A
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