XTC | Gelato In Summer

What could be better than having nice icy gelato in summer? I had always wanted to try XTC everytime I take ferry, and this time, I finally had it.

I tried about four to five flavours in one go and found their gelato wasn't as good as I thought they were. Nothing that I tasted made me had the emotional impulse to get it at once. Finally I tried XTC chocolate and found it pretty okay. Since I went all the way into the shop and tried those flavours, I figured I should at least get a scoop.

Kit Kat | Raspberry & Passion Fruit

One of the reasons that makes me love Japan is the wide variety of snack flavour they have got! Despite the seasonal flavour all around the year, there are still quite a range of flavour available in the counter. Where as in hong kong, you could only find the original or dark kitkat in normal convenient stores and supermarkets.

I think I have bought at least 5 different flavours in Japan, 5 unique special ones and this raspberry and passion fruit was one of them. Unwrapped the chocolate bar and gave it a snift, I smelt this strong and rich aroma of raspberry chocolate. The taste was full of raspberry and had a full milk chocolate taste. It kind of gave an alcohol taste too, but in a good way, like the wine in tiramisu. The box contained two packs and I finished both one after another again. Sucha fatty :(

Glico Pocky | Apple Yogurt

This was another pretty box of Pocky after the Mixed Berry one. This box also contained 4 individual packs of biscuit sticks in the box. On each pocket's wrapper printed patterns of cute red apples.

The Apple Yogurt Pocky had a nice sweet and sour apple yogurt aroma which its aroma was way stronger than the Mixed Berry Pocky, but equally nice. Each biscuit stick was coated with a cream white coating on it. It was mildly sweet with a sour taste, like a yogurt and had a great apple taste. Each individual pack again contained only 5 biscuit sticks, which was not enough to satisfy my sweet tongue..

PRODUCT INFORMATION
Price	--
Net Weight	52g
Manufactured by	Glico, Japan
Calories	67kcal	Per 1 Pack
Protein	0.8g
Total Fat	3.4g
Carbohydrates	8.4g
Sodium	19mg

Balalaika | Clap, Clap! Shashlik, Clap!

First day of trying to get back into shape, my friend dated me to the Ice Bar which she heard the dinning was good. Very well, I guess my dieting plan was destined to fail at the beginning. I had not dine in Balalaika before, I usually go drinking in the Icebar, plus I had never tried Russian food before, so I was quite excited about it.

We had no idea what is good in Russian cuisine, so we kept flipping the pages until I saw a set dinner offered by Bank of China. It was a seemingly big dinner set for one with 3 appetisers, 1 soup and 1 main course, only at a price of $225.(Original price was $450) It was quite a bargin as a single main course costs around $180 already! We ordered a Blinis atop of the set dinner so I could stick with my diet plan.(Not really.)

Kabaya - Okinawa Kokutou Pretzel

I thought this biscuit sticks was one of Glico’s Product, but it was from a company called Kabaya. I bought this pack of pretzel in Sogo as it said it was an Okinawa’s special Edition, in Brown Sugar Flavour.

Japanese people loved to use brown sugar in many occasions, in cooking, added to tea to give a better taste or as a snack itself. There was a dieting book which use brown sugar as the main ingredient in her diet plan.

Upon unwrapping the packet, I could smell a mild scent of brown sugar, a very familiar aroma as I have myself tried that brown sugar dieting as well lol. The biscuit stick contained a strong taste of brown sugar, but was not sweet at all. The biscuit sticks were equally moreish as many other nice biscuit sticks I had before, so even though they came with 2 packs in a box, I finished them all in one seating.

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Menya Kotaro | The Worst Tempura Ever

Last time I walked past Causeway Bay Plaza I, I saw this new pasta restaurant. Today I paid a visit there and found out it wasn't selling pastas but Japanese noodles! Oh well, I wasn't paying much attention to its name when I passed by last time.

Menya Kotaro's interior set up looked like a fast food restaurant which customers have to pick their own seats, but in fact you will be served and have to wait for a seating under the tickets system. The restaurant was pretty small, so tables were all set against each other and there weren't much personal space.

祥發茶餐小廚 | Amazing Chicken Leg in Swiss Sauce

Date back  to mid July, my friends brought me to this Cha Chaan Teng before heading to horse racing. I was kind of surprise they will dine before horse racing, which they usually wouldn't. Anyway, I was late after work so they asked me to them in Cheung Fak which located behind Times Square.

Getting my way to Yiu Wah Street, I was confused about the location of the Cha Chaan Teng. I called my friend to pick me up. I was surprised when he brought me in front of a FULLY closed gate, and squeezed himself through a tiny door in the middle of gate, and there I went into the Cheung Fak. Later I knew, they closed at 830pm, so I probably was the couple last customers of the night.

The menu was horrible long and the words were so packed that it was quite difficult to chose what to order. My friend suggested a set which had noodles and everything with it.

聰嫂私房甜品 | Not As Good As Before

After the dinner at Saikung, we drove to Hang Hau for dessert. After Aunt Chung opened her branch store in here, I used to come here a lot back when I was still in Uni. I love their sago a lot, so tonight was a good time to pay a visit.

We arrived just in time, so we did not need to wait for a seating. The restaurant was squashed and noisy as usual. After seated for a minute, the waitress approached and asked what we want already! I still hadn't had my menu opened!

Glico Pocky - Mix Berry

This pretty box of Pocky contained 4 individual small packs of pockets in the box. On wrappers of each individual pockets printed patterns of cute strawberries and other berries.

The Mix Berry Pocky had a great berry aroma but the intensity was less than the apple yogurt one. Each biscult stick was beautifully coated with a baby pink coating with bits of strawberry pink spots on it. It had a strong taste of berry fruits and was mildly sweet with a sour taste, like a yogurt. Each individual  pack contained only 5 biscuit sticks which was very moreish and simply not enough for the crave.

4 mini individual packs of pocky with cute patterns on the wrapper.

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Coco Ichibanya in Hong Kong!

A week or so after my Japan trip, I suddenly found Coco Ichibanya's name appeared on Openrice.com! I immediately clicked into the link and read a few reviews before ensuring it was the same Coco Ichibanya that I had in Japan. Since I had this sudden mood in trying my mum's new car out, I suggested driving there for lunch.

We parked our car in APM, and went a long way through the MTR to find out we could literally walked to the Crocodile Center through APM. By the time we arrived, there wasn't a lot of people in Coco Ichibanya, (which was already 4pm.) so there was no queue outside the restaurant. The setting was a bit different from the ones in Japan. I guess it was because the restaurants in Kwun Tong was more spaceous, so bar seating which could be found in most Coco Ichibanya Japan, was unnecessary . The colour theme was still the same vivid yellow and black. The menu was also exactly the same as the one in Japan, except every word is now in a more familar language, Chinese and English.

Häagen-Dazs Summer Drinks'10

Price: $

Cravingness: ★★★☆☆1/2

The Häagen-Dazs had two new summer drinks this summer, a hawaiian flavour or mixed berry flavour. Häagen-Dazs is also doing a free upgrade promotion, so your regular drink would go large automatically. The blue hawaiian's colour was rather scary so I sticked with the mixed berry smoothies.

I checked how the drink was made when the staff went to prepare the shake. She poured in some milk in the mixer, then scooped strawberry and raspberry ice-cream into the machine and finally dropped some frozen strawberries in and mixed the whole thing up. It was similar to what I usually made, but I use a cheaper version of Ice-cream which is Dreyers.

Sabah!Sabah!

After the comic expo, I went over to Jeffey Road to try Katong Laksa Prawn Mee which I have been longing for a while. Unfortunately it was already closed when I arrived the road at around 930pm. So we headed to Sabah instead.

The restaurant was not the fanciest around the area. It had a lousy LED light hanging outside the restaurant, but the indoor setting was quite cosy. The kitchen was an open one, so you could check how the chief master the techniques of pancake making.