What happened to Salad King?

A few nights ago, we decided to grab a quick bite at Salad King after work because we figured it was convenient and not too expensive.  I hadn't been to Salad King in a few years and I'd never been to their new location on Yonge St.  Their food turned out to be quite horrible.  I don't remember it tasting that bad before...
Their Phud Thai lacked in colour and their Thai fried rice lacked in taste.  The Tom Yum was pretty watery and didn't have any ingredients in it except for a few slices of button mushrooms.  I looked over at what my neighbors were eating, and their steamed rice looked like it was made with the lowest grade of rice you can find in Canada, probably worst quality than food court rice.  Yes, I realize Salad King is pretty much like food court food, but with the prices they charge, I would've expected a little bit more expedient service.  Took us quite a while to get our food.

 

 

Late Lunch at Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu

I was in the Yonge and Finch area going to get my nails done when I walked by Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu.  I thought the place looked pretty clean and there were plenty of customers in there even though it was way past lunch hour, so I decided to give it a try.  We ordered their bulgogi and bibimbap, and I enjoyed their food very much.  I liked how the tofu soups and bulgogi are served with purple rice in a stone bowl.  Their side dishes were pretty good too.  I was losing faith in the Korean joints at Yonge and Finch when we had a bad experience at one of the restaurants that had really bad service, but I would definitely go back to this place again.

Hairy Crab Meals in Hong Kong

Fall is the season for hairy crabs, and since we were lucky enough to be in Hong Kong during this season, we were able to enjoy this delicacy.  Hairy crabs are characterized by their furry claws and the abundance and rich taste of their crab roe.  During our stay in Hong Kong, we had two hairy crab meals.  The first one was at my favourite Shanghainese restaurant Wu Kong.
For the price of $468 HKD per person, the meal included shark's fin soup with crab roe, one hairy crab, sticky rice with crab roe, stir fried greens, xiao long bao with crab roe, and dessert.  Although everything was in small portions, this was a really filling meal and very delicious.  Notice all the equipment required to crack open the crabs.  It was quite the ordeal and probably took me 30min to eat one crab.

 

 

 

 

Pricey Dim Sum in Hong Kong

When we were in Hong Kong, we visited a couple of high-end dim sum restaurants and both of them have the character dragon in their names.

The first one is Dragon Seal (龍璽) located on Sky101 - the 101th floor of the ICC.  This is a fairly new restaurant by chef Wong Wing Chee, whom you may know as 幟哥 from the TVB food show 為食總司令.  I'm surprised that I couldn't find a website for this restaurant. 

We ordered four pris fixe lunch sets as well as a couple of extra dim sums to be shared amongst the five of us.  I thought the food was pretty tasty and each dim sum was very delicately made.  The fish was very juicy and tender.  And of course, you are paying for the view as well.  However, I was not impressed with the service at all.  One of the managers knocked over one of our tea cups and he didn't even change the saucer which was now filled with tea.  I thought the lunch service was very rushed and I felt pressured to have to eat each dish very quickly.  The meal worked out to be around $2300 HKD or $303 CAD.

Seeing Beijing in 4 Days

I'm finally back from a 3-week trip to Hong Kong.  It was nice to have some extended time off and we took a short trip to Beijing along the way.  With only 4 days, we managed to visit a lot of the famous sights and tried to look for some great eats as well but we weren't always successful in that front.
 After we landed in Beijing, we headed towards the Temple of Heaven, where the emperors from the Ming and Qing Dynasties prayed to heaven for a good harvest.

 

Hello Kitty x One Piece Crossover

If you think the Hello Kitty x McDonaldland crossover was cute, you ain't seen nothing yet! Check out the Hello Kitty x One Piece crossover collection from Sanrio, only available in Japan...boo...sellers on eBay are selling the products for at least double the retail price in Japan.