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Metropark Hotel Wanchai – Hong Kong, China

We took a trip to Hong Kong and we stayed in Wanchai as we had relatives in this area of Hong Kong. So, we booked a reasonable rate room at the Metropark Hotel. The location of the hotel was very convenient to all amenities, food, MTR and lots more!

We stayed in their Spacious Comfort Room and it was enough room for 2 people! We’ve been/lived in Hong Kong before, so we’re aware that space is limited. The bed we got was large, I’m not sure if it was a King bed or not, but it was wonderful! We go to a hotel to get clean and sleep, so it was nice that the bed was so big and comfortable!

The bathroom wasn’t a bad size, and there were tons of amenities that this hotel gives. The bathroom had a bathtub, with a shower in there. The bathroom amenities was plentiful as well, ranging from your standard shampoo, conditioner and lotions, they have tooth brush, tooth paste, shavers and more!

The desk was nice as there was still room to walk around, but offers space for you to use! A nice thing about this hotel is they offer a handy cellphone which offers coupons, and unlimited talk minutes in Hong Kong as well as internet! It came very handy when you’re lost or trying to find thing. This phone also tracks where you are and tells you if there’s coupons!

Other amenities, the room offers a safe in the room, coffee maker, kettle, mini fridge for their guest! They will replace things that you use, which was really nice! The closet was spacious, which was a great place to store everything! There was also a dehumidifier in the room, which was very useful! The annyoing thing was it turns off itself when it’s full, so I found it was useful to empty the water before you go to bed as some humid nights, it will shut off.

Our overall stay was very nice! The staff was friendly and accommodating as we requested a late check out and they allowed us. The hotel offers a shuttle to/from the airport at a small fee, which was very useful as we didn’t want to figure out which bus stop to get off at in the dark!

Metropark Hong Kong Wanchai

41-49 Hennessy Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong
(852) 2861 1166

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Homemade Steamed Spareribs 排骨

This month, I decided I was going to make one of my favourite dim sum dishes, Steamed Spareribs and I was excited about the way it turned out! It was fall off the bone tender, and still juicy and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 lb spareribs
1 tbsp black bean sauce (or fermented black beans smashed)
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp salt
1-2 cloves minced garlic

First, start by rinsing and drying your meat. I don’t know if it is necessary, but it’s a habit that I have for pork that I bring home from the store. Once you got the meat cleaned and dried, I put it in a steam proof dish where I will get the spare ribs marinated in.

Then, I put all the ingredients together and put some plastic wrap over the spareribs and let it sit for at least an hour in the fridge.

When I’m ready to steam, I prepare my steamer and put the spareribs in and cover without the saran wrap. This will steam for about 45 minutes on medium high.

After 45 minutes or more has elapsed, the spareribs are ready! Becareful as it’s really hot, but the meat will come off the bones nicely and it will be packed with flavour!

We enjoyed ours over rice for this meal and it was pretty tasty! Of course, you can add some green onions to garnish, or put some whole fermented black beans on top! I didn’t do anything and just served and enjoyed!

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Homemade Har Gow (蝦餃)

Something a little different from the usual things I make, we made Har Gow from scratch! It tasted good but definitely doesn’t have the normal har gow look.

Ingredients: (makes about 15)
Skin:
1 1/2 Cup Wheat Starch
2 tbsp tapioca Starch
1 cup boiling water
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Filling:
800 gram of shrimp
2 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tbsp light soy sauce
salt and white pepper to taste

The first thing we do is mix together the tapioca starch and wheat starch with some salt. Once that has mixed in, I drizzled in the oil and started drizzling the boiling water.

Once the dough begins to form into a ball, pull the warm mixture out and knead until it’s putty texture. Mould the dough into a log and put plastic wrap or a wet cloth over it and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, we can prepare the shrimp by chopping the shrimp and marinating it. I used about 800grams of shrimp for my recipe and it was the perfect amount! So, we just chopped and marinated the shrimp.

As the shrimp is marinating, we can prepare the steamer with cutting out vent holes in the parchment paper and setting it into the bamboo steamer.

Now the the dough and the shrimp is ready, we prepare the dough by cutting the log into smaller pieces. Taking a small rolling pin, roll out one of the cylinders of dough. I found an oval shape was actually easier than circular shape. However, I was not successful making the iconic ha gow shape.

Now, we stuff the har gow with about 1 tablespoon of filling, then trying your best to pinch upwards around the shrimp. My dough was a little stiffer than I would like it, so it tore easily. I just pressed down to seal right away. Then, we lined the prepared steamer with these har gows.

This was the interesting part, I wasn’t sure how long to steam these har gows that looks like dumplings. I put it on the steamer for about 10 minutes and it worked well. Everything was cooked and it tasted good too! The skin was relatively translucent, but I think it would be more clear if I got the skin thinner… however, the texture didn’t work properly for me on this try!

Overall, it was a fun meal to make and it was tricky and time consuming. Dim sum isn’t known to be easy but we enjoyed eating this delicious dim sum!

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Bazille (Nordstrom) – Calgary, Alberta

I was doing some shopping one afternoon at Chinook Centre when I felt like stopping for a snack. I happened to be going towards Norstrom, so I went into their restaurant upstairs called Bazille

It wasn’t a big place, but it wasn’t too busy when we went, so it worked out well for us. The place had nice decor and it was really comfortable with tons of natural sunlight! It was an enjoyable afternoon!

We sat down and ordered their Margherita Pizza and it wasn’t as good as I’d hope. It’s a simple pizza, and it wasn’t too great… but, easiest thing can often be put to the test for perfection! The pizza dough was a tad doughy and the cheese wasn’t really melty… so it felt like it was under done in general. It tasted average.

We also go an order of their Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes as I was feeling brave when I had the menu. The crab cake wasn’t good. It left a fishy taste in my mouth, and I didn’t even finish it. I’m not sure what it was, but I didn’t enjoy it, so I left it.

Overall, not too impressed.. although I am aware I ordered things I shouldn’t have from a restaurant like this. I should have stuck to sandwiches and soups and what not, but I do not think I will be back to try more, unless it’s something more “common” for lunch

Bazille Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Bazille

2150 6455 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(587) 291-2010

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3Q Teahouse – Calgary, Alberta

We decided to grab a snack/light dinner one evening and saw a new place called 3Q Teahouse which was recommended by some friends. They told us the owner was actually Taiwanese, so the drinks should be good. There was parking available as the time frame when we went, all the other businesses were closed, or not many opened – which makes it easier!

We ordered our drinks, and I had their Traditional Milk Tea with nothing in it. It wasn’t bad, it was quite decent. It’s not really much different from the milk tea that I’m use to, but neither good or bad is good!

My husband on the other hand ordered Jasmine Green Milk Tea with grass jelly in it. It’s his usual go to drink, so we’ve had it done before and he loves it. Here, I’m not sure what they did, but the drink became thick and slimy. It wasn’t a texture that we like or want to associate it with milk tea. Because of the texture, we couldn’t really decide if we enjoyed the flavours or not.

We ordered some Signauture Popcorn Chicken as one of our favourite snacks is popcorn chicken… it was really good here!

Something kind of different that we ordered was their Fried little buns with Condensed Milk and that was quite a delicious treat. I love condensed milk with regular buns, so with it being little and fried, I was able to eat tons of condensed milk with these buns! I kind of wished they give you an extra dish of condensed milk on the side as they just do a drizzle on the top of the buns. It was good regardless!

As it was our dinner, we ordered some of their rice boxes and we picked Taiwanese 3 Cup Style Chicken which is just chicken with ginger and garlic cooked with rice wine and soy sauce. It’s actually really simple, cheap and delicious!! So, that in mind, you can’t really goof it up! This rice box was pretty awesome!

We also had another rice box combo and this one was the Curry Chicken style one and this one wasn’t as flavourful as you would expect, but nothing wrong with it. They could either cook it a bit longer, or add more flavours to it. But, it was also tasty!

Overall, the food was decent, and most of the drinks was alright. The odd place about here was they have no idea what little bowls for sharing was… we had to ask a few times and they ended up giving us funny little plates. But, regardless, it was a fun night!

3Q Teahouse Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

3Q Teahouse

323 Macleod Trail SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 287-8228