Philadelphia: Wedge&Fig + Monk's Cafe

On our second day at Philly, we chose Wedge&Fig to brunch at because of the cute name and they had the normal brunch menu along with BYOB. The cafe was small but they have seatings in the garden which we were instantly interested in.

The garden looked really realistic and made me feel like I was in the rain forest, the floor was made of pebbles too.

We ordered our food and had our waitress opened our bottle of wine. They also provided an ice jacket for our bottle which was pretty neat since a lot of places just give you an ice bucket - boring.

The Strawberry Stuffed French Toast came in quite a big portion, our friend SS wasn't able to finish it and had to wrap up the rest. It was good and not too sweet which I liked but I can't imagine having it again later when it's all soggy.

Knowing how J is, he ordered the Bacon-Lattice Mac + Cheese Pie. Looks insanely unhealthy. Bacon was really good though and surprisingly it wasn't really a big dish. The pie part didn't seem to really work so bacon mac + cheese would've been a lot better by itself.

I had the Eggs NOLA; I like eggs benedict but you have to make it right. What's special about this was the cornbread instead of your average English muffin. The cornbread was a thick cut which makes it a bit soggy to eat. Didn't exactly enjoy it too much because even the sauce was a bit lacking in flavor, I needed salt.

Most likely I wouldn't be coming back because everything felt average and even below that, but one thing, the waitress was really nice.

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The next morning we went to Monk's Cafe. I initially wanted to come here for dinner but SS was like we haven't tried it out this visit to Philly yet so let's just go there before heading back to NYC.

The restaurant was completely empty when we went for lunch. It was quite dim inside with no lights, the only light that we saw was coming from the outside.

They have a huge variety of beer. So this would be a heavenly place for beer lovers.

Started off with some Frog Legs, they were lightly fried and then covered in a light buffalo sauce. Really good, very meaty. If you never had frog, they're very similar to chicken but a little chewier than usual. These would be great beer food.

SS got the Monk's Duck Salad, amazing. Duck was cooked extremely well, meat was tender and soft and the salad had a nice vinaigrette dressing that was really appetizing. Wish I had the whole plate to myself.

J was hungry so he ordered the Rib Cap Steak that came with grilled vegetables and mashed potatoes. This is a hungry man's food! Steak was good but could've been better, the cut was a bit tough but nonetheless enjoyable.

I ordered the Provence Mussels because I've been craving. This was a bit disappointing. I specifically wanted this pot because of the amount of vegetables that's in it, from mushrooms to peppers to celery to leeks and garlic, but it was the parsley and cream that made me ultimately want it. The broth was weak and light which I did not like. I wish it was thicker and heavier in taste because my mussels were lacking flavor. The mussels were also small.

The Pomme Frites came with the mussels and they were ok, the bourbon mayo dipping sauce was a bit bland. We all got full in the end regardless. I can definitely be satisfied with just the frogs and duck salad.

Wedge + Fig
160 N 3rd St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(267) 603-3090

Monk's Cafe
264 S 16th St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
(215) 545-7005

Philadelphia: Oyster House + Jamonera

I was on a month of hiatus because I went skydiving in the beginning of August, I needed time to recover -joking, it was fun and since then I gathered so many food pictures that I was thinking of how to blog them. Enough procrastination.

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It was J's birthday and he wanted something mellow, nothing big, relaxing yet new. I saw Oyster House on Yelp as I was doing my usual browsing. The happy hour instantly caught my eyes and I knew that J would appreciate it.

We went early, since HH is 5-7pm on weekdays and 9-11pm on weekends. We dressed up for the occasion and let me tell you, walking in Philly with heels was a bit challenging. Our friend SS was having a hard time also, since she was also worrying about her dress...

HH only happens at the bar. We wasted no time and ordered 3 dozens once we sat down. The oysters comes out a dozen at a time regardless of the amount you order, but they come out quick. You can see the shuckers shuck away behind the bar and they do a quick and clean job, don't forget to show some love to them.

Oysters of the night were Watch House and they were delicious. With oysters you need to try one by itself and then the rest (if you like) with some vinegar and cocktail sauce and a bit of lemon juice, it'll help those that don't like the briney oceanic taste and brings the oysters to a more refreshing level.

Oyster crackers were sitting there in front of us, tempted, I tried one and it was the hardest and driest piece of cracker ever. You definitely need to place those in soup, eating by itself is just wrong.

I personally really like clams, that night they had these huge Cherrystone ones. J can see it in my eyes that I wanted. They looked beautiful. J and SS agreed they never had clams that were this good. No briney or harsh icky seafood taste, but instead was really fresh and easy to eat. As for myself, I enjoyed it either way.

We basically pre-gamed here and headed to Jamonera afterwards but literally came back the following night. It was that good! They had the same oysters and clams. But this time, the waiters/waitresses told us they over ordered a bunch of lobsters and determined to get rid of them (since they close on Sundays) are offering the lobster roll and grilled lobster for less.

The Split Grilled Whole Maine Lobster was excellent. Buttery and tender, it was like a lobster galore.

The best of the night was definitely the Lobster Roll - New England Style. I never actually like the New England style much just because of how much mayo is put on but this rendition was just perfect. Chunks of lobster and the mayo did not taste overpowering, plus the roll was buttered and toasted! I can't believe I would have to go back to Philly just to get this...

Oyster House is a must visit if you love seafood, and you bet I'll be returning if I'm in Philly.

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Right after, we walked (big mistake) to Jamonera to have some tapas and drinks. The inside was dim and had that really nice wine bar vibe but since we didn't have a reservation, they asked if we want to sit outside. We didn't mind since it was really nice out, the only bad thing was that birthday boy keeps getting bug bites.

Started out with drinks. They were on the weaker side and nothing much to rave about, I did expected more from Jamonera. Should've really stuck with wine...

We ordered 3 small plates to share since we already had 3 dozen oysters in our stomach.

The Crispy Cana de Cabra was actually really good. I never thought I would like goat cheese. The fried goat cheese was creamy and crunchy which was really appetizing, for you non-cheese lovers, this can be a start. The Thai basil dressing was excellent, the only best dish we had here.

I should've known that the Charcuteria wasn't up to my expectations when I saw the photos on Yelp but I totally forgot and ordered it. The meats were really "meh" and have no salty kick or spice to it, kind of boring.

Finally, the Grilled Spanish Octopus looks and sounds amazing but they overcooked it! I was shaking my head as I took the first bite, I love octopus but this was a bit on the forceful side to eat. Plus, I'm not sure if this dish was suppose to be served cold...oiy.

I saw good things about Jamonera but I definitely didn't have that experience.

Oyster House
1516 Samson St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215)567-7683

Jamonera
105 S 13th St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215)922-6061

Hong Kong: Kam Wah's Cafe

On our last full day in Hong Kong, J and I had to Google a cafe to get some pineapple bun (nothing about it was pineapple - just a name). Lo and behold, we found Kam Wah's Cafe aka 金華冰廳. It wasn't far where we were staying so we decided to head over for some afternoon tea.

The place was packed inside, but service was moving quickly. They have a lot of specials posted all over the walls and waiters yelling back and forth, now that's service for ya.

There's an extensive menu right in front of you if you care to take a look. Tucked right into the table is pretty much everything they offer. Sorry guys, no English here...maybe a Chinese friend can come in handy now or you can ask the waiter or even point around and order what other people are eating.

I wanted to get some noodles but with the things that we ordered, there's definitely no room for that. Plus, we were sharing a table booth with 2 other girls...awkward.

J had the Iced Lemon and Honey (凍檸蜜).

While I had the Iced Milk Tea (凍奶茶). If I have the chance, I'll always order the milk tea at a cafe/restaurant in Hong Kong.

Tis the Pineapple Bun w/ Butter (菠蘿油). We had the Mexican Bun (墨西哥包) first, but apparently I never took a photo of it because now I remember that we just devour that sucker because it was insanely good. Fresh and fluffy and sweet, lord I want one nowww! The Pineapple Bun was a bit more bland and the butter didn't seem to add any flavor, maybe salted butter would be better?

Ahhh the Egg Tart (蛋撻), these things have to be fresh to taste good. It was already room temperature by the time we got to it, wish it was a bit more sweet but the flaky crust is good.

Last but not least, the Hong Kong Style French Toast (西多士). Let's be honest here, nothing will ever beat the french toast I had in Stanley - that was the best of the best and I would definitely want that as one of the last things I eat on earth. This toast was just average and I needed to add syrup which was no bueno already.

Experience was great. Service was fast just like how it's suppose to be. I want more Mexican Buns now.

Hong Kong: Tofu Dessert

What's better than having Tofu Fa in Hong Kong? Nothing! It's its own origin and is authentic as it can get. After a fulfilling meal at a dai pai dong (previous post in HK), J and I were up for some dessert. Cheap and delicious dessert.

Grandma's Tofu (亞婆豆腐花) isn't your sit-down-and-eat place but a quick 1-2-3 bam kind of place. Quite popular for their tofu fa aka 豆腐花 and other things like herbal drinks.

A good bowl of tofu fa is light and silky with the right amount of sugared syrup in it. A bowl here is $7HKD if you eat it on the spot; $9HKD if you decide to take-out, charging you an extra $2HKD for the take-out container.

J and I wanted it right there, fresh and cold. By the way, you have the option of hot or cold. We chose cold since it was hot in HK even during the late night. The interesting part I thought (which I didn't take a photo of), is this orange powder they have. I thought it was some Hi-C orange flavor thing but it was just orange powdered sugar, weird. But it was great! Really fun to eat and it looked so pretty. Yes, I'm easily amused by strange miniscule things.

So, forget about the sit-down really sweet dessert. Get something light, quick, and cheap for a change. Cost us less than $1USD for that bowl...haha.

Hong Kong: roast pigeon, fish collar, and mystery part of chicken

Edit: After much research and with a fantastic memory, I found out the name of this restaurant. It's called Golden City Kitchen aka 金城小廚.

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This is what happens when I don't log what I ate when I'm on vacation. I have no idea what I ate and where I ate it. At least I can look back and pay myself on the back knowing I ate something so entirely delicious.

It was a long walk from the MTR (their version of our MTA), like a really long walk. When J said it was far, I was like brushing it off and thinking we can do this measly walking, but it was farrr.

But, it was worth it.

Been ordering bottles of beer everywhere we go for dinner. Blue Girl wasn't as great as YanJing but still good (it's because they didn't have YanJing here and Blue Girl sounded cool). Hong Kong's beer is pretty light, is this why I see them drinking a 6-pack in their dramas like it's nothing?

Ok, challenging part here. I know this is from a chicken, heck I'm sure you can tell that it's some part of a chicken. Thing is, J and I have no idea what part! But it was really tasty, served cold with cucumbers and had a wasabi flavored dipping sauce. So odd but yet so good. The mystery part of the chicken was chewy and had a bite to it, almost like chicken feet.

Speaking of chicken feet, here they are. We didn't order them but it came as an appetizer? I think I only had one, they were the same consistency as the mystery part above but require a lot more work to eat.

One of main reason to visit HK, and a must get/eat would be the Roast Pigeon. Small delectable bird, if made correctly would probably be the best bird you'll ever have. The skin is crispy with chunks of meat, flavored perfectly like any roast item. I can eat this all by myself and works great with beer. Only good when fresh, give it time and the skin starts getting wrinkly and chewy.

Last but not least and surprisingly good, salt and pepper fish collar. Packed with plenty of meat and the portions are huge. Our stomachs definitely shrank because we got extremely full after the meal. Good thing we decided to walk back to the MTR (tried getting a taxi but none were in sight and those that were, were already occupied, plus no bus).

I would come here again but the walking sort of puts it off. But if I'm ever in HK again, most likely come back because I need to get the name and address of this place...oh and the roast pigeon hehe.

Hong Kong: Snakes and Frogs

One of the more exotic meals I had in Hong Kong consisted of snakes and frogs. This is what I'm talking about. I know Asian countries eat animals that aren't considered "normal" in the states and it's so hard to find places like that back in the U.S.

Somehow, J wandered the streets of Hong Kong (prior to my arrival) and found this little shop. Really small, maybe about 6 seats? and definitely not for the queasy and OCD clean types.

The menu is in Chinese, not one bit of English at all. If you speak Cantonese then you're saved but for the unlucky ones that don't speak Cantonese, you have to wish and pray that a English-speaking HK-er is there to help translate.

Each meal was different. There's an A, B, C, and D meal, each consisting of different dishes. Although each meal does have a soup and a pot of casserole full of rice and meat.

We ordered the B meal which had the snake clear soup, snake thick soup, and a frog casserole in a clay pot.

The clear soup was very flavorful, also very hot! You don't taste anything snake-y about it. I mean, if no one told you they used snake to make the broth, you wouldn't even know.

I really enjoyed the thick soup. There was a lot of ingredients and had the consistency of hot and sour soup.

There was a lot of snake meat in the soup. Tasted bland and chewy, almost like chicken when you boil it down to make soup. All the flavor was in the thick broth, add some wood-ear mushrooms, preserved mustard cabbage and probably a lot of MSG and this was quite amazing.

Lastly, the frog rice casserole in a clay pot. Rice was really good, it had that dryness to it where the grains don't stick to each other (yes, that's how you know it was made correctly). Smother the whole thing in soy sauce and we had a perfectly cheap meal that fed 2 people.

So, there's nothing creepy, disgusting or gross about it. You just have to have an open-mind and be willing to try it. After all, everything is food...circle of life!

They had turtle also, wondered how that would've tasted...

Hong Kong: Fung Shing's cheap breakfast

While breakfast in Hong Kong is pretty cheap in itself, I mean you can step out and have a bowl of something for less than $5USD, whether it's the street vendor or at a cafe shop.

J took me to a restaurant (yes a real restaurant with servers and pretty clothed tables) for breakfast. We caught the breakfast deal a few minutes away from the lunch (lunch=more expensive). The special, which everyone comes to Fung Shing ( 鳳城酒家) for, is a bowl of congee which is rice porridge and a plate of rice noodle rolls for $15.80HKD. That's roughly around $2.25USD which is insanely cheap.

The size were quite decent also. You would get completely full from both items. J and I shared since we wanted to leave room in our tummy for more food later.

The congee consisted of corn and minced pork (玉米猪肉碎粥). I'm not fond of corn in my soup or congee, but in anything else I guess I'm ok with. We came here twice and the first time we had the congee, it was a lot saltier than the second. J came 3 times, his second time (which was with me) was the only time it was salty...how lucky of me.

The beef rice noodle rolls (牛肉腸粉) were delicious. So soft with a slight chewiness to it, plus it had minced beef in the center. I would order this alone, and multiple plates of it.

Lastly, I decided to order something extra. The skin was good and the filling was just mediocre. It's like a lettuce and shrimp dumpling (生菜蝦餃), tasted a lot better if I used the soy sauce from the rice noodle.

It's a great place to visit considering the deal you get for breakfast, the only sacrifice you have to make is waking up early.

Hong Kong: Amo Eno

Being in Hong Kong, J doesn't want to miss out on anything retro or "new." He somehow found a place inside a mall that offers touch screen for wine. Amo Eno, nestled in a mall in Central Hong Kong. A mall where all the high-end brands are. It's ok, we're just here for the food and booze.

I love the look and feel of this wine bar. They also sell different wine glasses and wine jars.

Ginormous touch screen to play with. You can choose your wine through here and even learn about them. I can literally sit here all day playing on that.

They also had these really good bacon toast. Went really well with sipping wine. Plus, it was refillable.

One of the great things about Amo Eno is the different amounts of wine you can get in a glass, your choice of sip, taste or glass. What's even better is they run on a membership card, a card which you pay a yearly subscription to and come whenever you want, put that card in the slot of which wine you want and get charged on the card. You can even get up and walk around with a glass and start pressing around and the machine will automatically distill the amount you chose, whether it be a sip, taste or glass.

The card is only for HK residents. J and I were bummed out. We hope that NYC is able to open up something like this for their NYC residents because truly, this is a genius idea.

Besides the endless amount of wine we drank, we ordered Cajun Crusted Shrimp Poppers with Brandy Lime Dip, a delicious side I might add.

If you like wine bars like we do and also something new and exciting, Amo Eno should be on your to-go list when you're in HK.

Hong Kong: Seafood by the water

What's better than relaxing by the water and having seafood?

That's pretty ideal. J and I went to Sai Kung (西貢) for the seafood because they apparently have the freshest kind. There's a whole strip of restaurants along the water but we went to Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant (洪記海鮮酒家) because J went there before and said it was good.

We went on a weekday and it was quite empty. J told me when he came with his relatives it was packed and you can barely walk. Waiting for a table can take anywhere from 15-45 minutes.

I actually wanted the experience of choosing my own seafood. It was tough since the workers don't really pay you much attention (unless you're a different color skin) but I manage to get some seafood for the table. After choosing what you want, they then bring it to the kitchen and a waiter comes and ask you how you would like it done. Pretty neat.

If you don't want the hassle of going up to where the tanks of seafood are, they do have a set prix fixe menu of 5+ dishes for you to enjoy, depending on your group size.

Starting it off, we ordered a bottle of Yanjing Beer. I have to say, it was one of the few beers I actually enjoy. Lighter than the usual beer and didn't have that bitterness to it.

The Blood Cockles came first. I had this in Vietnam, and I wanted J to try it. When I saw it here I knew I had to get it for him. The cockles were just boiled and given a vinegar dipping sauce. These seashells are the only one I've encountered that doesn't open when they're cooked, so you just have to open them up to slurp at them.

One of the main reason for coming to Sai Kung, for their Mantis Shrimp aka pissing shrimp (瀨尿蝦). I chose the ones with the roe and boy, was it packed with roe! Sauteed with salt and pepper is the way to go with these suckers!

Lastly I got us a whole fish. Finally, we can devour a whole fish on our own without our friends/relatives going in first.

Beautiful flesh. There's just something about Cantonese style cooking with fish that makes it so dam good. They just steam it but they do it correctly. If you steam it too long, it would be overcook and if too little, rare. Plus, I love the sauce - a light soy. Yum.

Eating seafood in any Asian countries is a must, so don't ever pass up on that opportunity.