Sanrio Star Dining @ Langham Place, Hong Kong

Elements 圓方 Hong Kong

My friend Annie took me straight to Elements right after my sad 12-hour plane ride due to typhoon. I left Jakarta at 8 am and arrived in Hong Kong at 8 pm. I was stranded in Ho Chi Minh City for about 4 hours inside the plane.

Elements is a huge shopping mall connected to the airport express station of Kowloon. I guess the reason why it is called Elements is because the mall is divided into five zones that symbolise five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Annie and I had dinner at Cantonese restaurant that has had many branches, including in Shanghai, called 正斗粥麵專家 (Zheng Dou Tasty Congee and Noodle Wonton Soup). This restaurant received “Best of the Best Culinary Award” from Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau since 2008. According to Annie, this restaurant belongs to the same group as the other famous Michelin Star restaurant Ho Hung Kee 何洪記.

Since my tummy wasn’t feeling well, I ordered something warm, Sliced Fish Congee. The bowl size was quite huge, but I managed to clean my bowl. My mum always said that we could get hungry very quickly after eating congee since it contains lots of water. To accompany our congee, the two of us shared Fried You Tiao Wrapped In Rice Rolls. In Indonesia, the you tiao and the rice roll are usually served as different menu, but in Hong Kong, many restaurants combine the two into one dish. I like how the rice roll is thin and transparent, and the you tiao is not too oily. 
The Kailan is very fresh, very green. Indonesian like me cannot live without spicy food, so I was happy that this restaurant has quite spicy chilli. 

There is a Taiwanese restaurant in Elements, but Annie didn’t quite enjoy the food. I like the interior design. 

There was a dog exhibition in the mall. Last time I saw an elephant exhibition in IFC Hong Kong. 

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Bits & Bobs for Caffe The Tha

 

Santorini Aromatherapy Diffuser

Table Tissue Holder

Porridge Oats

Annie recommended me a good porridge oats produced by CitySuper, which tastes very differently from the most commonly seen oat brand, Quaker. Other than oats, there are many varieties of muesli, such as cranberry Delight, Apple & Apricot Muesli, All Fruit Muesli, Swiss Style Muesli, and Fruit Crunch Muesli. 

I divided the 500 gram of porridge oats to three containers; one for Riri, another one for Steven as birthday present and the last one for me. I used the honey container from Jeju Island Korea for Riri’s portion. Maybe Riri can use the oats to make granola bars hihihi…  

Steven eats a big bowl of Quaker oatmeal every morning, so I thought this healthy food would be a very good birthday gift for him. 

I made use of fancy Japanese masking tape tool to print out the cute labels for the oat gifts.

Anpan あんパン by Chef Riri

Anpan is a Japanese term for sweet bread filled with sweet red bean paste (anko). 

Chef Riri took the anpan to another level by adding jasmine tea and sesame. Chef Riri put a generous amount of homemade sweet red bean paste (anko) in each bread. The sweetness level of the anko was just right for me, but some of the red beans were still a little bit hard, maybe they should have been soaked longer or cooked longer. Overall, I love Chef Riri’s anpan, and it saved my tummy after a long flight.

Annie’s Home Sweet Home

Start the day with Five Greens Detox Juice: Green Apple, Green Pepper, Bitter Gourd, Cucumber, and Celery.

Here is the healthy recipe.

Then, warm your tummy with a bowl of oatmeal, topped with raspberry and blueberry.

These simple breakfast felt so special since we could enjoy the view of Kowloon harbour and bridge from the 47th floor apartment, as well as the club house of the apartment complex. The sky is a little bit dark due to typhoon season, but it’s a view that I cannot see in Jakarta.

This is the view when the sky is bright.
The facility in the compound is unbelievable. There is a wall-climbing area.

Mamma Rosy

 

Caprese Salad. I was surprised that someone actually likes this appetizer a lot. I didn’t find it interesting, as it only contains tomato and mozzarella cheese, served with pesto sauce.

Pasta Menu. There are selections of dry and fresh pasta. For dry pasta, you may select the cooking option: “normal” or “al dente”, just like choosing the steak doneness. 

Angel Hair (Capellini) Aglio Olio. I fell in love with this dish, although at first I was scared to see the amount of parmesan cheese topping. 

Risotto Fontina Special with Fontina cheese, champignon mushrooms and black Italian truffle. I think this is the best risotto I’ve eaten. It’s wetter (oilier) than risotto in other Italian restaurants in Jakarta. 

Tangliatelle Carbonara

Pizza Golosa Pork – mozzarella, bacon, chicken, egg, truffle and mushroom cream, parmesan, black pepper, chilli oil. This was recommended by the waitress, and I think it was a good choice. I like the crispy crust. 

Tiramisu – a sweet ending to our big meal  

Interesting Mocktails Menu: “Jokowi Smile“. It is called “Guobernur Smile” on the website.  I picked Oranjeboom Premium Bee since I never drank it before, and I liked it, a little sweet.

I had dinner at with these two pink shirt guys. What a cute couple (the two pink-shirt guys / Riri & Thatha?) Mamma Rosy is located in a two-storey house in Kemang. The dining area is all open air, which saves lots of electricity. According to the website, Mamma Rosy Restaurant was established in 1948 by an Italian family, and it has served for three generations. When I peeked into the kitchen on my way to restroom, I saw European some cooks inside. Maybe this is the reason why all of our orders were served very quickly, which amazed all of us.    

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I think the term “service charge” and “tax1” on the bill is supposed to be the other way around.

Holycow

 

Each set comes with side dishes (choose one each category):

• french fries or mashed potato
• green bean or sautéed spinach and corn

You may pick as many sauces as you want, the choices of sauce:

• Homemade mushroom sauce
• W Sauce
• Buddy’s Special Sauce
• Blackpepper sauce
• Barbeque sauce

 

Mr. Rudy’s choice: NOLAN Tenderloin (200 gr)

Steak doneness: medium well

Side dish: French Fries, sautéed spinach and corn

Sauces: mix

Sky’s choice: Wagyu Rib Eye (200 gr) 

Steak doneness: medium well

Side dish: French Fries, green bean

Sauces: mix

Thatha’s choice: Wagyu Tenderloin (200 gr). I wanted to order Hokubee Beef instead of Wagyu, selected Australian beef with special treatment from Japanese technology, but it was out of stock.

Steak doneness: medium well

Side dish: French Fries (I ordered mashed potato, but the waiter got it switched with Steven’s order), sautéed spinach and corn

Sauces: mix

Steven’s choice: Wagyu Tenderloin (200 gr)

Steak doneness: welldone

Side dish: Mashed Potato (Steven ordered French Fries, but it got switched with my mashed potato), green bean

Sauces: mix

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Bakmi Bintang Gading

 

Bintang Gading is one of legendary noodle shops in Kelapa Gading, originated from Ujung Pandang (Makassar). This place is never empty, and I think it is open 24 hours. 

The Bakso Goreng (Fried Meatball) was still hot, maybe they just finished frying new batch. Each table has 4 pieces. 

The condiments on the table (from left to right): salty soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil. I didn’t know it was sesame oil till I poured some onto my noodle bowl, thinking it was vinegar.  

I didn’t add any chilli since I’m avoiding spicy and acidic food these days.

Bintang Gading offers Ribs and Dimsum menu in addition to standard noodle restaurant menu.   

Gado Gado (no brand)

I was amazed by this gado gado seller located at the side of my office complex, Komplek Gading Bukit Indah. He made the gado gado sauce in big batch, but the sauce is well mixed. However, the seller rejected any customisation. I usually eat gado gado with sauce on the side, but this seller put together the sauce and the vegetables. My cousin requested for non spicy sauce, but this seller said he only made average spicy sauce. After making the sauce for 15 servings, he put the toppings for each serving, starting from cucumber, followed by potato, labu siam, tofu, tempe, kangkung (morning glory) and lastly tauge (bean sprout). The way he distributed each item to each portion was like planting a garden. 

Here are step-by-step pictures of the making of gado gado, 15 portions at once. Bravo!

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Gado Gado Lontong = IDR 8.000