I love Ginseng, I love the taste and the aroma of Ginseng. I drink Ginseng Tea all the time and even use Ginseng infused Shampoo from South Korea. I do not know there is a difference between American Ginseng (花旗參) and Chinese/ Korean Ginseng (人參) until I went for a tasting event hosted by Ginzeng at Check In Taipei. The event was rather educational and I feel lucky to understand different catergories of Ginseng all at once.
It might be common sense for our parents to know about the great properties of American Ginseng but probably not for our generation, at least for me, I am clueless about it. Ginzeng was founded to spread the good benefits of American Ginseng to the public and to make it fun for the younger generation. Ginzeng differentiates itself by replacing ‘zeng’ over ‘seng’, which by 'Zen', they hope to bring a better state of mind with the good benefits of American Ginseng,
Ginzeng (純參) is a local brand where one of the founders came from a family with over 30 years of American Ginseng trading business. Ginseng imports the American Ginseng from Wisconsin, USA, carefully hand picked, graded and sliced by experts in Hong Kong and bottled in Taiwan. Ginzeng is the first and only beverage which literally carries genuine American Ginseng bites in it. Ginzeng is a completely natural and nutritious drink with no addictive added. Each Ginseng is packed with at least a 1000mg of these nutritious American Ginseng, it is also a low sugar and calorie drink with only 5g of sugar and 18kcal.
In case you want to know what is the difference between American Ginseng (花旗參) and Chinese/ Korean Ginseng (人參), I will explain here. Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, American Ginseng and Chinese/ Korean Ginseng both replenish “Qi”, the virtual energy that runs within your body. Yet Chinese/ Korean Ginseng promotes “Yang’, a heating effect, but American Ginseng promotes “Yin”, a cooling effect to the body. American Ginseng would be a better fit for the hectic lifestyle of Hong Kong people because fast food (mostly fried food) and stressful lifestyle often lead to a high level of heat within the body, which in this case American Ginseng’s “Yin”, the cooling effect, can neutralise some of the heat and balance the body to a better state.
So tonight, I will be trying some Ginseng products and some special Ginseng and signature dishes prepared by Check In Taipei. There are currently three Ginseng flavours available, the Original, Rose and Goji Berry. The original Ginzeng was mildly sweet and carries the strongest American ginseng flavour among three and is my favourite. The Rose Ginzeng was a lovely floral one and ends with a mild American Ginseng note. The Goji Berry Ginzeng was lovely as well, added a hint of Goji Berry flavour to the mildly Ginseng flavoured beverage.
To start the tasting, we first had two special American ginseng dishes, Ginzeng Rolls and Fried Ginzeng slices. The two dishes were made with prestigious fresh American Ginseng, not the dried ones, and hence were two precious one of the kind dishes. The Ginzeng Rolls were refreshing with a hint of American Ginseng notes. I have never tasted fresh American ginseng in my life, I didn't know it is crisp in texture, how interesting! The Fried Ginzeng Rolls was interesting but the flavour wasn't too stand out.
Next up is a Ginzeng mocktail Ginzeng Jello paired with Chicken Waffle. This is a perfect pair as the "Yin" can balance out the heat from the fried chicken. The Ginzeng Jello mocktail is composed of original Ginzeng, original Jinzeng Jello and homemade Rosella (洛神花) syrup. I love the jello texture in the drink and the floral sweetest of the Rosella.
The Chicken and Waffle was truly a pleasant surprise! It was a marvellous idea for Check In Taipei to paired the savoury Taiwanese salted fried chicken with sweet pineapple chutney. The sweet and savoury contrast was spot on!
The Mushroom Forest is one of the signature at Check In Taipei. The dish was a mixed mushroom dish infused with truffle. The deep fried Taiwanese French Horn Mushroom was wrapped with crisp crust and juicy inner. Yet overall this was not a wow dish.
The Truffle Toastie was a lovely idea where mozzarella cheese, crisp bacon and a spread of truffle paste were added on a thin slice of toast. Deliciousness in bite size, I am going to make this in my Christmas dinner.
Next we have the Goji Berry Winter Ginzeng to pair with another signature of Check In Taipei, the Fish & Squid. The Goji Berry is a beautiful mocktail made with White Gourd Tea and the Goji Berry Ginzeng as base with a golden drizzle candy garnishment. The White Gourd was directly imported from Tainan, and made into tea inhouse. This is yet another lovely mocktail creation!
The Fish & Squid gave me a shock as I thought it was just fried fish but it was actually deep fried fish and squid cake with strong squid flavour. The fish had a crunchy crust and bouncy inner. The adding of popping roe was nice and fun too.
The signature Ping Pong created much wow on the table with its funky presentation. The ping pong is actually deep fried crispy purple sweet potato stuffed melted mozzarella and gooey mochi. Such a lovely ball to enjoy!!! I could come back many times just for these balls!
It is difficult for me to comment on Hong Kong's Taiwanese Beef Noodles as I haven't yet encountered one that is close to the ones in Taiwan or the ones my Taiwanese auntie makes. The only thing I would praise would be the springy broad noodles and the herby flavoured oozing soft boiled egg.
To wrap up the dinner, we had the Ginzeng Trio again made with fresh American Ginseng. From left to right is a refreshing Ginzeng jello, chocolate glazed fresh American Ginseng and fresh American Ginzeng paired with fig. The fig pairing was a appallable idea, the sweetness of fig totally balanced out the bitterness of American Ginseng!
The final mocktail Rose Roselle was served hot to pair with the trio dessert. This was floral but was a tad overly sweet to me.
The three Ginzeng flavours are all priced at HKD20 each and are available online and in all citysuper in Hong Kong. The three Ginzeng mocktail are available in Check In Taipei now but the American Ginseng dishes were unfortunately not available.
If you are interested at Ginzeng, please also visit their website at http://www.pure-ginzeng.com/ to find out more details and benefits.
It might be common sense for our parents to know about the great properties of American Ginseng but probably not for our generation, at least for me, I am clueless about it. Ginzeng was founded to spread the good benefits of American Ginseng to the public and to make it fun for the younger generation. Ginzeng differentiates itself by replacing ‘zeng’ over ‘seng’, which by 'Zen', they hope to bring a better state of mind with the good benefits of American Ginseng,
Ginzeng (純參) is a local brand where one of the founders came from a family with over 30 years of American Ginseng trading business. Ginseng imports the American Ginseng from Wisconsin, USA, carefully hand picked, graded and sliced by experts in Hong Kong and bottled in Taiwan. Ginzeng is the first and only beverage which literally carries genuine American Ginseng bites in it. Ginzeng is a completely natural and nutritious drink with no addictive added. Each Ginseng is packed with at least a 1000mg of these nutritious American Ginseng, it is also a low sugar and calorie drink with only 5g of sugar and 18kcal.
In case you want to know what is the difference between American Ginseng (花旗參) and Chinese/ Korean Ginseng (人參), I will explain here. Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, American Ginseng and Chinese/ Korean Ginseng both replenish “Qi”, the virtual energy that runs within your body. Yet Chinese/ Korean Ginseng promotes “Yang’, a heating effect, but American Ginseng promotes “Yin”, a cooling effect to the body. American Ginseng would be a better fit for the hectic lifestyle of Hong Kong people because fast food (mostly fried food) and stressful lifestyle often lead to a high level of heat within the body, which in this case American Ginseng’s “Yin”, the cooling effect, can neutralise some of the heat and balance the body to a better state.
So tonight, I will be trying some Ginseng products and some special Ginseng and signature dishes prepared by Check In Taipei. There are currently three Ginseng flavours available, the Original, Rose and Goji Berry. The original Ginzeng was mildly sweet and carries the strongest American ginseng flavour among three and is my favourite. The Rose Ginzeng was a lovely floral one and ends with a mild American Ginseng note. The Goji Berry Ginzeng was lovely as well, added a hint of Goji Berry flavour to the mildly Ginseng flavoured beverage.
To start the tasting, we first had two special American ginseng dishes, Ginzeng Rolls and Fried Ginzeng slices. The two dishes were made with prestigious fresh American Ginseng, not the dried ones, and hence were two precious one of the kind dishes. The Ginzeng Rolls were refreshing with a hint of American Ginseng notes. I have never tasted fresh American ginseng in my life, I didn't know it is crisp in texture, how interesting! The Fried Ginzeng Rolls was interesting but the flavour wasn't too stand out.
Next up is a Ginzeng mocktail Ginzeng Jello paired with Chicken Waffle. This is a perfect pair as the "Yin" can balance out the heat from the fried chicken. The Ginzeng Jello mocktail is composed of original Ginzeng, original Jinzeng Jello and homemade Rosella (洛神花) syrup. I love the jello texture in the drink and the floral sweetest of the Rosella.
The Chicken and Waffle was truly a pleasant surprise! It was a marvellous idea for Check In Taipei to paired the savoury Taiwanese salted fried chicken with sweet pineapple chutney. The sweet and savoury contrast was spot on!
The Mushroom Forest is one of the signature at Check In Taipei. The dish was a mixed mushroom dish infused with truffle. The deep fried Taiwanese French Horn Mushroom was wrapped with crisp crust and juicy inner. Yet overall this was not a wow dish.
The Truffle Toastie was a lovely idea where mozzarella cheese, crisp bacon and a spread of truffle paste were added on a thin slice of toast. Deliciousness in bite size, I am going to make this in my Christmas dinner.
Next we have the Goji Berry Winter Ginzeng to pair with another signature of Check In Taipei, the Fish & Squid. The Goji Berry is a beautiful mocktail made with White Gourd Tea and the Goji Berry Ginzeng as base with a golden drizzle candy garnishment. The White Gourd was directly imported from Tainan, and made into tea inhouse. This is yet another lovely mocktail creation!
The Fish & Squid gave me a shock as I thought it was just fried fish but it was actually deep fried fish and squid cake with strong squid flavour. The fish had a crunchy crust and bouncy inner. The adding of popping roe was nice and fun too.
The signature Ping Pong created much wow on the table with its funky presentation. The ping pong is actually deep fried crispy purple sweet potato stuffed melted mozzarella and gooey mochi. Such a lovely ball to enjoy!!! I could come back many times just for these balls!
It is difficult for me to comment on Hong Kong's Taiwanese Beef Noodles as I haven't yet encountered one that is close to the ones in Taiwan or the ones my Taiwanese auntie makes. The only thing I would praise would be the springy broad noodles and the herby flavoured oozing soft boiled egg.
To wrap up the dinner, we had the Ginzeng Trio again made with fresh American Ginseng. From left to right is a refreshing Ginzeng jello, chocolate glazed fresh American Ginseng and fresh American Ginzeng paired with fig. The fig pairing was a appallable idea, the sweetness of fig totally balanced out the bitterness of American Ginseng!
The final mocktail Rose Roselle was served hot to pair with the trio dessert. This was floral but was a tad overly sweet to me.
The three Ginzeng flavours are all priced at HKD20 each and are available online and in all citysuper in Hong Kong. The three Ginzeng mocktail are available in Check In Taipei now but the American Ginseng dishes were unfortunately not available.
If you are interested at Ginzeng, please also visit their website at http://www.pure-ginzeng.com/ to find out more details and benefits.
Since our corporate events were going to be in the evening, I wanted a cityside view so you can see the lights of the buildings reflecting off into the windows. It was totally worth every penny.
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