Little Bao - Hong Kong

Date of visit: Saturday, 5 April 2014

I'm an aspiring restaurateur. In my dreams my restaurant will be bright, sleek and modern with communal tables. And no, we won't take reservations. The indicator of our popularity will be the long line in front of our door. And yes, I have Momofuku in mind as I describe my dream restaurant.

Apparently there is a new-ish restaurant in town that fits the above descriptions (maybe not sleek part though). In the name of research, I made a visit on a public holiday... Luckily there was no visible line and we got the last table in the second seating after 15 minutes of wait.

Gin & Juice ($78) - cucumber, gin, lime and ginger (left) and "Mac & Cheese" ($108) - steamed rice rolls, metaiko cheese sauce (right). Very refreshing cocktail that helped washing down the overly salty cheesy cheung fun. It didn't taste like mac and cheese, but it was interesting and the cheese crust on top was some yum stuff. Just too salty... 

Pork Belly Bao ($78) - slow-braised pork belly, leek & shiso red onion salad, sesame dressing, hoisin ketchup. I had a bit of the pork belly but I don't know what it tasted like overall... I only know my date really enjoyed it.

Fish Tempura ($78) - fresh market fish, tamarind palm sugar glaze, pickled lemongrass fennel salad. Very fresh fish and very messy to eat as the fish flaked apart...

LB Green Tea Ice-Cream Sandwich ($48) - deep fried bao, green tea ice-cream, condensed milk. Their signature dish! Even if people can't get a table, they will order a green tea ice-cream bao to go.

LB Special: Salty Caramel Ice-Cream Sandwich ($48) - deep fried bao, salt ice-cream, caramel. We thought both ice-cream sandwiches were great, but the salty caramel was slightly better. Salt ice-cream was really salt ice-cream!

Like any other hip restaurant, they gave us stickers. In fact, they gave us three - two dark blue's, one pink... why three though? Anyway, if I don't stick movie tickets / ferry tickets / other memorabilia in my planner, they will be forever lost under the piles of random stuff in my room. This is why this sticker of a weird looking baby is now in my Moleskine.

Rating: 3/5

Food: The food was definitely tasty and interesting, but I feel that I could get the same quality elsewhere for 70% of the price. I'd be happier to pay the full price if the portions were larger. But the restaurant is called Little Bao (飽) after all, maybe we aren't supposed to fill full?

Environment: The restaurant is really small! I must have apologised to the woman sitting beside me and vice versa for more than three times for accidentally hitting each other. I have sensitive ears and the music was slightly too loud for my liking. But it's cool to see that in a quiet part of Staunton Street, so much was going on in a tiny restaurant.

Service: There wasn't much service really... but the staff were all friendly.

Price: $541 for two cocktails, a starter, two baos, two dessert baos and still water. Bear in mind the portions are tiny... Overpriced? Yes, but that's the cost you pay when you want to be hip. Poor students like me are probably better off staying lame.


Little Bao
G/F, 66 Staunton Street
Central
Hong Kong

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Florsflor Eats Ramen (Part I)

(Hello, dear readers! I'm still alive! And extremely happy to discover that I have readers who aren't family / friends whom I have forced into reading my blog! Thank you.)

I was once determined to be a ramen connoisseur of Hong Kong, sampling what the city's noodle houses have to offer in a bowl. To be a true ramen connoisseur, one should be familiar with the Spectrum of Ramen Yumminess. Thanks to Ajisen Ramen, you can get a taste of the bottom of spectrum easily at one of their seventeen outlets scattered around HK. Or can you? Is Ajisen that bad? Let's find out by filling in the rest of the spectrum! Not by going to Ajisen, mind you.



Even though the ramen craze has died down a bit recently, dealing with the aftermath of a full-blown food craze is easier said than done. A brave friend of mine has taken on this challenge and actually made some progress. Before the verdict is out, I guess I have to continue to slurp my non-existent-unless-I-starve-myself-for-12-hours waistline away...


Ichiran 一蘭

Instead of joining long queues, I would normally wait the opening crowds out. So waiting four hours for a bowl of ramen is out of the question for me. I visited Ichiran at 5pm in late December. The wait was about twenty minutes. I didn't wait though, my friends did, thanks!!!

For first-timers, Ichiran recommend the choice of "half" for their Original Red Sauce. I followed suit. It was a mistake because the sauce was the best part and there wasn't enough...

I was hoping to finally find the Holy Grail of ramen, but I was let down. It was tasty and reminded me of Butao, which was surprising because the broth looked lighter. Yet, Butao is cheaper and would fill me up for a whole day. Whereas my bowl at Ichiran came to $99 ($89, + $10 for woodear mushroom) and I went for desserts afterwards.

Rating: 3/5



Kenko Syokuhin Ramen 健康食品拉麵

For better or worse, I have trained my system to reject greasy and overly salty food, which is exactly what ramen is about. If it isn't for the headaches and funny stomach reactions, I'll slurp more often than I do now. For this reason, I'm glad that there's a place that serves "healthy" version of ramen. The broth here was memorably less greasy than the broth at other ramen houses. But was it healthy? Definitely no. I like the ramen here and I think it deserves more attention than it receives.

1st visit: Tonkotsu Ramen with Soy-marinated Egg ($78) - the broth wasn't greasy but the chashu was fatty.

2nd visit: Beauty Set ($80) - came with a bottle of Yakult! I enjoyed the lemon-y herb-y (pesto) taste.

Rating: 4/5



Nagahama No.1 Ramen 長浜No.1拉麵

I work in Central, where the density of ramen houses is almost as high as the density of offices. Nagahama No.1 Ramen is located in Kau U Fong, not the most convenient area to go for lunch if you aren't around the area already. I've been here twice since I started my internship in January and have plans to return. Though it isn't as good as the praises have claimed, the noodles aren't mushy, the chashu is great and the broth is milky. Not to mention I can never resist free pickled spicy beansprouts. Yum.

1st visit: Tonkotsu Ramen ($72) - two kinds of chashu! I'm a sucker for blowtorch charred-siu and good puns.

2nd visit: Tamago Ramen ($82) - some people are crazy about soy-marinated eggs and I'm not one of them. But sometimes the eggs do "complete" a bowl of ramen.

Rating: 4/5



IPPUDO 一風堂

I like IPPUDO because it's consistently good and conveniently located in neighbourhoods that I hang out in. They do great side dishes too! Pork Belly Bun, anyone? It's one of the few ramen houses that charge a 10% service charge, understandable though as it's more like a restaurant. If only the noodles aren't so MSG-laden... down 1 litre of water and you will still feel thirsty.

Special Akamaru Shinaji ($88) - came with free kakuni!

Rating: 4/5



Shugetsu 周月

This place is famous for its home-made thick noodles / infamous for the oiliness of its tsukemen. As mentioned above my stomach does funny things when I consume too much grease, I went for the good old noodle soup. My ramen was slightly salty (even I picked "regular" flavour rather than the 重口味 original level) and there was an obvious alkaline taste... almost like I was eating a bowl of wonton noodles. I had some of my friend's tsukemen. Their thick noodles are chewy and robust, much better than their thinner and straighter friend. But overall the tsukemen was too greasy and salty.

Grilled Kurobuta Pork Belly Ramen ($98) - I like the grilled pork belly and that's it.

Rating: 2/5



Coming Up - Part II: I'm going on a quest to find my favourite bowl of ramen in Hong Kong. On my to-eat list there are more ramen joints than anything else. By visiting places on or not on the list, I believe eventually I'll find the One True Bowl. In the meantime, give me a shout out if you'd like to come with me on my epic journey.


* My culinary hero J. Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats wrote a very interesting and in-depth guide to ramen styles. Even if you're only slightly interested in ramen or think the whole of this food craze is ridiculous, this article will open a new world to you. Very good read!!