BLT Burger: The Good Glutton

Confession: I am not big on burgers.

There. I said it. It’s not that I despise beef patties sandwiched between two burger buns, it’s just that the burger is not really something I would actively order off a menu. Maybe it’s from living next to an In-n-Out Burger shack for two years back when I was in LA. Maybe.

(BLT Burger)

(It's what's inside that counts...)

Despite my burger ambivalence though, I do appreciate a good burger when I’m fed one. And the ones that BLT Burger churn out are. Good, that is. So so good. And as part of Laurent Tourondel’s empire of deliciousness, why wouldn’t BLT Burger kick ass? I went with the signature BLT ($98)–a large and in charge 7oz 100%Black Angus beef patty, blackened and charred around the edges and still beautifully pinked and juicy in the middle. Topped with big fatty strips of bacon and the “LT” veggies… I chomped away happily on this under the soothing blast of the restaurant’s 80s soundtrack.

(Chocolate-praline layer cake: OMG, I love you)

But if the burger was good, the dessert was killer. Absolutely. The Valrhona chocolate praline layer cake ($58) puts the best things about American gluttony and transforms it into a delectable layer cake. Moist, dark, sweet, sinful. Amazing. There must’ve been a gajillion calories in that hefty slice (and à la mode, no less!) but really, when it’s so beautiful, who gives an eff?

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5 (if you love 80s rock)

BLT BURGER ($$)
Shop 301, Level 3
Ocean Terminal
Tsim Sha Tsui
2730-2338
www.diningconcepts.com.hk

Bitte Bitte: The Virtue of Trying

I had heard the hype about Bitte Bitte before. But, not being a particularly big fan of hotdogs (thanks to too many tasteless, boiled frozen sausages, served dry in a Garden brand hotdog bun during my childhood days), I didn’t think it was something worth noting. That is, until we were told straight up to give this place a try. I figured, as long as I didn’t have to queue up for an hour for a hotdog (à la that RIDICULOUS episode at Pink’s Hotdog, Los Angeles), I’d give Bitte Bitte a shot.

(Alligator MESS!)

We trekked out way behind the Causeway Bay Sogo and found the open-air, shoppe. After perusing the many… and I mean MANY, topping-sausage combinations (six different types of sausages and a myriad of different Japanese-inspired toppings), we settled on the Alligator Bites Dog ($27) with avocado, tomato salsa and mayo.

The dog was actually pretty good. The bun was toasted and was fluffy on the inside. The sausage had a nice taut, pop to it on the first bite, which yielded to a well-seasoned, meaty center. The flavors of the toppings worked well too. Our only complaint though would be that the sausage was pretty much sitting on TOP of the bun, instead of being sandwiched IN it, making the whole thing unbelievably impossible to eat without appearing like the district’s clumsiest and unmannered brute. We had mayo smeared across our faces, bits of avocado dropping all over the table, and a sausage constantly in danger of slipping out of its bun.

(Fries: YUMMMMM)

But to end this on a positive note, the fries are abso-effin’ stellar. So beautifully golden and crisp on the outside, flecked with just the right amount of salt. A bite revealed the fluffiness of the potato.We were so enamored, we asked the staff who their fries suppliers were. They didn’t reveal, of course, answering merely “local suppliers” with an awkward smile. Ah well, at least we tried. And sometimes, trying is the most important part.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 3.75/5
ATMOSPHERE: 2/5

BITTE BITTE ($)
Shop B&C Hoi Tao Court
15 Cannon Street
Causeway Bay
2777-7220

Classified: Ooey Gooey, Oh-so-Lovely

Imagine a vat of cheese. Baked in the oven until the outsides become a wonderful, smoky crust while the innards transform into a mass of warm, ooey, gooey, melty deliciousness. No, you don’t have to imagine it, actually. It’s real.

It’s the Mont’dOr cheese.

We were invited to Classified the Cheese Room to try this winter-weather cheesy special and, oh my, it is luuuuuurvely. The cheese “fondue" was served with cubes of crusty bread, apples (so you can trick yourself into thinking you’re being healthy) and – my personal favorite – sweet potato for happy dunking. And happy dunk we did.

FOOD: 3.75/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

CLASSIFIED THE CHEESE ROOM ($$)
108 Hollywood Road
Sheung Wan
2525-3454

Thai BBQ 2: When Food is Just Right...

Sometimes, you come across something that just makes so much sense in life – something so beautiful, so right – you just start to wonder why you or anyone else has never thought of it before. Such was the case about two months ago.

Not content with our first dinner of a mediocre claypot rice (it was alright but nothing fantastic or blogworthy), we taxi-ed our way out to the food mecca of Kowloon City in search of a spot for “second dinner.” A quick stroll around the block led us to Thai BBQ 2 – a dingy little eatery… the type that has a see-through vinyl door curtain and cheesy Thai soap operas playing in the background. Perfect.

(SO much meat...)

We plunked ourselves down and ordered the very-necessary bottles of beer. And wanting to try something really special, we requested for the Thai style hotpot-grill ($2xx) the restaurant had displayed out front. To elaborate, this genius creation consists of a charcoal-heated barbecue grill, which is raised over a “moat” of hotpot broth. The idea is to cook thin slices of meat on the sloped grill and let the meat juices trickle down into the broth. Sigh… awesome? Quite.

The dainty-cute restaurant lady brought out our platter of meats, which – in all honesty – was probably designed to feed four hungry individuals, as opposed to two already-had-“first-dinner” people. There was a huge portion of beef, pork and chicken – all marinated in a rich-red sauce – along with various pork and cow entrails and beef and fish balls. And let me draw special attention to the grill for a bit, which was brought out, topped with a hunk of beef lard to lubricate the grill and to give the meats an extra aromatic edge when cooking. I was totally in food excitement mode.

(Watch as the meat juices trickle down)

(What love looks like)

We dived right into the meats platter, “ooh-ing” over the tender pork and “aah-ing” over the flavor-soaked beef. So perfect with the beer. And it was a whole new level of amazingness, cooking the basket of greens, enoki mushrooms and vermicelli in the meat-flavor enriched hotpot broth. The vermicelli, in particular, was just beautiful in every way – like little glassy strands that soaked up every ounce of flavor from the soup. All the way through the meal, we kept repeating “hell, I’m so full,” and “crap, I think I’m done.” But the whole thing was so delish, we just kept on eating and eating. We definitely ate more than any decent person should eat, polishing almost the whole meats platter. When the lady came by the clear our plates, she couldn’t help but comment on how impressed she was with how much we managed to finish. Yea, we’re kinda disgusting… but also kinda awesome…

(Proof that we are pigs)

The hotpot-grill plus several beers came in at less than $300 for the two of us. An awesome deal, considering how much food we had. It just all goes to show that when it comes to food, it’s never about the fanciness or the extravagance. Whether you’re eating a slab of foie gras, or something super complicated like uni with cucumber and apple gelee and burnt flour foam… if a simple platter of meats and a few cold beers can make you just as happy and satisfied, then that’s the most important thing. That’s what eating should be about. And thank God for that.

(Dessert after second dinner)

And because we’re absolute pigs, after that big fatty second dinner, what do we do? Head a few streets down to Tei Mou Koon to grab dessert of course! Hong Kong styled double boiled milk ($14) and a small dish of gooey-chewy glutinous rice balls with sugar and chopped peanuts ($10) for a very satisfying food end to a very satisfying food day.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 1/5

THAI BBQ 2 ($$)
17 Nam Kok Road
Kowloon City
2718-6219

FOOD: 3.5/5
SERVICE: 2/5
ATMOSPHERE: 1/5

TEI MOU KOON DESSERT ($)
47 Fuk Lo Tsun Road
Kowloon City
2382-5004

Bowl Burger: When They Won't Shut Up Behind You

(Burger: The road to get to you was painful)

Wednesday lunch place was supposed to be my choice and I suggested checking out that shiny new Chinese joint that just opened up near the office. Was supposed to be a good plan. But all our way down, I had – not one, but TWO annoying voices behind me going:

“Are we there yet?” “Ohmigawd this is SO far.” “Are we walking to the…omg is this the MTR station?!” “How much further is this place?” “Oh great, look at all these people. Now we’re going to have to wait.” “Don’t tell me you’re lost.” “You’re lost aren’t you?”

I was so disconcerted by these two annoying non-shutter-uppers that I lost all sense of direction, my brain only being able to think: “SHADDUP! SHADDUP! SHADDUPPPPP!” but half exhausted by their sea of complaints, I gave in on my search for the new Chinese place and instead, we dove into the shoebox-sized Bowl Burger on Mercer for a bit o’ beef and carbs.

…which reminds me, I haven’t actually had a fast-food beef burger since moving back to Hong Kong (I had one of ‘em Four Seasons burgers a while ago but, good as it was, it’s just really not the same thing). Weird. We placed our orders and obnoxiously hovered over two just-finishing-up diners with our “we’re waiting for your table, so hurry” expressions.

I went with the #2 single patty beef burger set ($42) with drinks and paper bag of fries. I had read before that the burgers here are all handmade using 100% ground US beef, so I was actually pretty excited to give it a try. True enough, the burgers were perfectly juicy with a good bit of bite. Could’ve been grilled just a little more (I like ‘em kinda charred) but still, would have to say that it was a pretty well-rounded burger overall. Good sauce, good flavor, and none of that ridiculous overflow of unnecessary fillings (my burger pet peeve). The burger was a hefty portion too, though nothing that the food champion in me couldn’t down in its entirety.

(Fries: a paper bag of warm deliciousness)

And special mention goes out to their fries. Leaning towards the thick-cut variety, with perfectly, pillowy-soft potato innards and a hot, crunchy, exterior… I loved. Time permitting, I would’ve downed the whole bag…and gotten another. But time did not permit. Next time then…

So yes, the trip down to lunch was annoying. But the food was good. And on the way back, I had an errand to run so I took a separate, SILENT and PEACEFUL route back to the office. So I guess it ended up being still quite a pleasant afternoon.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 1/5

BOWL BURGER ($)
25 Mercer Street
Sheung Wan
3118-0676

Pop Bites: It Took a Benedict to Remind me of You

(Eggs benedict)

One thing I really love about the office is its proximity to SoHo. Most days though, I can’t be bothered to drag my lazy ass into a cab out to that side for lunch but it’s nice that that the option is open should a special occasion call for it. Well, Friday called for just such an occasion.

Originally, we wanted to pop into The Flying Pan but, as half-expected, it was super bopping during lunch hour. No worries, plan B, Pop Bites, had several free tables and chairs. I went with one of their all-day breakfast options of eggs benedict ($78, including coffee/tea), which – for some reason – I haven’t had since moving back to Hong Kong.

Always slightly unique, Pop Bites does their eggs benedict with toasted French baguette bread instead of English muffins. The two slices of crusty bread were topped with a bed of arugula, slices of ham and a perfectly-poached egg each. The yolk was still runny but not so much that it spilled out all over the place in raw messiness. Delish. The bread sopped up all the yolk and the whole thing really worked when combined with the savoriness of the ham and the slight spicy kick of the arugula. My only complaint though was that the eggs were a little on the small side. Well, that is, compared to what they serve in the land-of-ridiculously-big-portions, a.k.a. America.

Food won’t blow you away but it’s more-than-above-par. Plus, the staff are friendly, the prices are reasonable and, most importantly, it’s a great hangout spot. And thanks to the benedict, for reminding me of what a great lunch option I had, just waiting for me with open arms at the edge of SoHo. Oo...and I STILL haven't tried their delicious-looking cakes!

FOOD: 3/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

POP BITES ($$)
3 - 5 Old Bailey St.
Central
Hong Kong
2525-4141