On 102/F

Flying high buffet on 103F, Cafe 103, Ritz Carlton Hong Kong

Have been longing for coming back to Ritz Carlton after it went up so high on 103 floors of ICC in Kowloon West. Priority is for the food and second for the view. After the meal, these aren't what I hoped for. First the view is a bit too high and distant that the view looks like what we see from the plane. The food shouldn't be of Ritz Carlton's standard to me. However, if the price (HK$280+) is counted into consideration, that should be fine. I would nonetheless hope they increase the price by 30-40% more so as to give some decent food to its fans.

First the seafood is too bland, like they soaked in the water for a long time. Cheap Parma ham (so chewy and salty), veggie a bit rotten, the bread is so so. The better part is that they have some pretty good dessert that made up for the disappointing hot food. After the meal, I ordered my long missed Ritz Carlton cappuccino, but this last item totally destroyed my impression of this once of my most favourite hotel. Too dry and not aromatic. Besides, they forgot a nice cinnamon stick to stir in the aroma.

*check photo 2/10. Very strange setting to have their Italian restaurant Tosca on a lower floor like that - the people on the upper floor (cafe) can view so clearly of what they are eating and my business friend even told me it's not good for ladies, especially for this kind of classy restaurant where ladies would dress up some low cut.

The wall in you, taken in Jordan MTR platform

普光齋 Po Kwong vegetarian shop, Jordan Road Kowloon HK

Though I often suggest avoiding some processed vegetarian food like artificial meat and some fried stuff, I couldn't resist trying the deep fried taro fish (photo 1) and the vegetarian platter - made of various deep fried bean curd food (photo 2). This time the shop didn't make the taro fish right as it was already deep fried and wasn't too crispy on the outside. 3. However, the pan fried turnip cake made it up and it's even better than those with Chinese sausage. The other dim sum were average. *I noticed a monk inside the restaurant. He chewed a bowl of plain rice over an hour. That reminded me of how the Buddhism taught about chewing food for a long time to appreciate the food, or be thankful for the food. This way we put it in practice for our thanks to the food given, instead of speaking out loud for thanking for the food while wasting the food or abusing it (i.e. cooking it so wrongly).

Nathan Road from Kimberly Road to Jordan Road, Kowloon HK

The section of Nathan Road from Kimberly Road to Hillwood Road is the quietest and pretty intrigue to me. It's like a mini jungle when we walk past it. At the junction of Austin Road, there it goes the glamourous neon light towards the very end.

新滬點 New Shanghai dim sum, Jordan Kowloon

Remember Cherikoff 車厘哥夫 and Siu Lon Bao again? What's about with Shanghai food shown below. It's just this Shanghai restaurant taking the place of where the old Cherikoof was near Hillwood Road in between TST and Jordan. My trying of this restaurant is also part of my old time memory with this bakery cafe. Back to the food of this new restaurant:

1. Shred chicken in sesame sauce HK$42. The sauce is a bit heavy but the chicken meat and the Shanghai flat noodle is pretty nice.

2. Siu Lon Bao in 3 flavour HK$36. Apparently the one with chili is a spicy hot one. Not bad.

3. Preserved veggie pork noodle soup HK$36. The noodle is pretty nice.

4. Lion head (deep fried meat ball stewed in thick soy sauce) HK$58. This one is quite surprising to me since some black vinegar was put to balance the heavy taste. The meat ball is pretty nice and aromatic. *once again, even this restaurant's Siu Lon Bao is more standard and appealing.

四餸一湯 白飯任裝/ 佐敦醉瓊樓 Tsui King Lau, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong

四餸一湯 白飯任裝 - not meant for free rice but a phrase for telling people to get more

rice from the delicious dishes. There were many Tsui King Lau back in the 70's/80's

and I was told the one at Hong Kong Mansion (the big mansion on the triangular area

off Sogo to the west, Fashion Plaza (was Daimaru) to the north and Hennessy Rd (tram

way) to the south) was the original one. Later on that one closed and various Tsui King

Lau carried on with Hakka cuisine with the renowed chicken baked in raw salt, five belly

pork stewed with preserved veggie...etc. So I got to try this one at Jordan which has been

over 30 years.

1. the classic table setting. 2. the menu. Suggested set is the 4 dishes plus one soup at HK$268 including a half chicken ($90). The other dishes are at around $50-68, and soup at $60.

3. Look at this nostalgic red chair. 4. This is the renowned chicken baked in raw salt. Pretty good!

3. pork stewed with preserved veggie. A nice one and it's not that salty and heavier taste. So it may not be very original but good for any health conscious people. 4. Nice steamed rice.

5. stir fried veggie. 6. minced pork stuffed in tofu on veggie. This tofu is a bit too overcooked and very oily.

7. Carrot and pork soup - so so. In conclusion, I would prefer Wanchai Tsui King Lau. 8. See ths uncle and I believe he must have spent all his time in this restaurant.

9. See this restaurant still practise the traditional way of bill order.

10. even more nostalgic. 11. the shop outside. BTW, there were quite a lot of Thai tourists in this restaurant.