Thursday, May 12, 2011

Streats Hong Kong Cafe (Liang Court) - pt I

**First and foremost, I would like to apologise for the less-agreeable picture quality. The interior of the restaurant is a wee bit dark, plus the incandescent lighting used is on the slightly dim side.

If you have recognised my photography style by now, maybe you can spot which one of the pics were taken by yours truly and which one was taken by my bro, who helped out when I had my hands full with my toddler's antics.**
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Late on that Mother's Day afternoon, we were supposed to fetch my brother after he was done coaching some little swimmers in one of the swanky condos at Robertson Walk.

Weeks before he had told me of his discovery: A Halal Hong Kong restaurant at Liang Court. I assumed it to be Streats Hong Kong Cafe, as it recently got Halal-certified and told him that they have a branch at Downtown East, some 5 mins from my home.

However, he insisted that the place had some Chinese name so I guess it's another restaurant that recently got Halal-certified. Hmm...

So why wasn't I surprised when the place is INDEED Streats Hong Kong Cafe?! Pfft.

Thankfully, the branch here has a more 'chic' and 'posh' look so it seem suited for this special occasion. There's the lounge corner with the cushy armchairs, the dark wood veneer for the dining furniture, the similarly dark walls and dim, intimate lighting (photography nightmare!!).

Ok, moving on to the food…


Ice Lime Tea cooler - $3.50

This somehow come across like some Oriental-Italian soda because this drink is actually carbonated. Fizzy ice-tea with lime…? Bring it on, I say! Great for the scorching hot weather nowadays.

And as you can see, this drink is served in a medium-sized carafe. Good for sharing!


Lychee Aloe Green Tea - $3.80

I was surprised when my mum ordered a cold drink, for a change. I figured it out when the drink arrived and saw that there were also some wolfberries floating on that drink.

Maybe that's why. She loves those shrivelled-up, red berries. She always refer to them as 'Lycii', a lesser know scientfic name for the fruit which is otherwise known as Goji Berry.

Another drink that's great for the mercilessly hot weather. If green tea isn't enough, there are aloe vera bits and sweet (canned) lychee as well.


Iced milk Coffee - $3.00

My friend had recommend that I try their milk tea but I don't know why but I feel like having coffee instead.

My dad had the hot HK milk coffee ($2.00).

As soon as we took a sip of our respective drinks, I looked up to see my dad smiling. I can't help smiling myself. The coffee is done just the way we like it. Dark, rich, slightly bitter with a hint of mocha. Love it!


BBQ Chicken Pastry - $3.00

We had initially ordered the 'Siew Mai' and Fried HK Dumplings (potstickers). But they actually ran out of those. I almost ordered the egg-tarts but they cut me to it; to declare that unavailable too. Dismayed, we simply chose these 2 dim sum items.

I really don't recommend this one. This had been really dry. And I can hardly detect a hint of the BBQ chicken inside. Eugh!


Wanton w/ Chili Sauce - $4.50

Each wonton is generously filled with minced chicken and shrimp, not unlike a siew mai. However, siew mai is steamed while these dumplings are boiled.

The chili sauce that these dumplings sat in are more vinegary (sour) than I had expected. Not that it is a turn-off, it's just that I'm not use that that kinda' taste. Not yet, anyway.


Crispy Coriander Wings - $5.20

I had pretty high expectations when I ordered this dish. I can't help it when I saw the name of the dish in the menu.

As soon as the dish arrived, the sight of it alone already surpassed half of my initial expectations. Look at those crispy bits! There's an obvious *crunch* upon biting and the crispy batter seem to be somewhat spiced but I'm not sure if it's coriander.

Will surely order this dish again in the future.


Six Treasures - $7.80

My dad had initially requested this dish for himself (I think he wanted to eat it like some salad) but he was later convinced into getting for himself some soupy noddles.

And we forgot to cancel this order.

So we end up having a plate of lonesome veggies that doesn't really complement the individual mains that we got for ourselves. So we take bits of them veggies every now and then. It helps they they weren't over-cooked and still retain some crunch.

I was wondering about the name of this dish (the Cantonese has this habit of naming dishes after proverbs/idioms) so I sought to count the various 'elements/treasures' in the dish. There's 'bok choy', lotus root, carrot, broccoli, button mushroom & 'enoki' mushroom. Six different ingredients, alright.


Deep-fried Crispy Brinjal w/ chicken floss - $6.80

Now this dish is awesome! As a lover of everything eggplant/brinjal, I was curious as to how this dish is prepared.

Pieces of cut brinjal are dipped in slightly spiced batter and fried, tempura-style. Then they're topped with diced bell-peppers and onions before some chicken floss are generously heaped on top.

I love, love, love this dish! Even my bro got curious and tried. He can't stop himself from having more after that. And he supposedly despise brinjal so much that he never eat them. He got the cheek to remark, "So this is how brinjal taste like?" Hmmph!

Another dish that's worth ordering again. Maybe to be eaten with rice?

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I think I'll just stop here for now. I still have another 6 pics or so. Will save them for the next post.

So here we have the beverages and starters/appetisers. Next up will be our individual mains and desserts!

Look out for part II then!

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