豚王 (銅鑼灣)

有留意我的食評的朋友，都應該知道我是豚王的支持者。從豚王銅鑼灣分店開張，一連吃了四天已可知一二。

不過支持不等於盲從附和，我也是會覺得豚王有不足之處，以下這篇文章，就是我對豚王的一點不同看法。赤王是辣味版豚王，現在的這個赤王，和我在中環第一次吃豚王的時候差太遠了。那個時候的赤王，辣得有勁，但不會過辣，辣的來源全靠中間那團辣肉醬，湯底就是豚王那招牌豬骨湯。

現在你看到的這個赤王，除了那辣肉醬外，連那湯底也是赤紅一片，這個辣度已經超乎我所能接受的界限，過辣的味道，完全蓋過了豬骨味，可能嗜辣之徒會很喜歡，但這個赤王已經完全不是我杯茶。以前我較喜歡赤王多於翠王，但現在剛好相反。現在的翠王是明顯地改良了。翠綠的湯底上，灑上了芝士粉，份量比例調整得更好。

以前吃翠王的問題是因為芝士很多，加上豚骨湯後感覺異常肥膩，現在翠綠份量加多，芝士份量減了，肥膩感也減低了。怪不得後來有不少食友也說翠王好吃，原來就是經過改量過。豚王身為拉麵市場的領導者，仍不會固步自封，除了開業的四王外，隨後慢慢加了元氣王、海老王等，都已經是長期供應。

後來還有限定王，供應期只有數週，每天限定20碗，如果食客反應良好，說不定會加進長期餐牌。意大利王是限定王的其中一款，一看名字就知道是意大利風的豚王拉麵，蕃茄豬骨湯底加上了芝士粉，有點像翠王的變奏版。湯上那個大蕃茄，算是豚王過往眾多拉麵中比較特別的設計。

蕃茄味道和豬骨湯還算合拍，蕃茄的比重不會很重，沒有掩蓋掉豬骨的味道，不多不少的芝士粉也有畫龍點睛的功用，但敗筆之處是那豚王引以為傲的秘製辣醬，可說是完全地蓋過了蕃茄的味道，也使得味道有點怪怪。雖誰這秘製辣醬要不要加是你的自由，但我覺得店員最好還是提點一下，或者辣醬另上會較好。對了，豚王又再一次推出半熟蛋，原隻沒有切開，吃的時候一咬開，流心度很高，水準依然。雖然價錢提高了，不過個人覺得還是物有所值的。在微博得知中環豚王某一天推出當日限定的裡豚王，限售三百碗，所以就來碰碰運氣，看看有機會吃到。

原來當日限定的意思，是指豚王這一天不賣別的，只賣裡豚王，就連半熟蛋也欠奉，沒賣的東西在下單紙會完全被刪去。我看到不少食客坐下來才知道今天只有一款，他們是有點失望的。裡豚王是雞和豚的混合，說起雞湯，不禁令人想起打正旗號以雞湯掛帥的鳥華，鳥華的湯是純雞湯，難免會覺得單調；裡豚王的湯底是雞和豚的組合，味道層次上是提高了，情況就有如中國人煲雞湯一樣，加入瘦肉會使湯頭更甜，我相應該是有異曲同功的功效吧。

說回裡豚王，雞湯的味道和豬骨湯結合後很不錯，兩者味道相輔相成。不過和意大利王有著同一問題，就是那秘製辣醬再一次破壞了那平衡感。把辣醬攪勻後，雞湯的味道被完全地蓋過。

後來回家看看拍好的照片，秘製辣醬不是已被刪去了的嗎？如果店方也認為不下會較好，就不要加進去吧！另外，裡豚王的叉燒是有點不同的，用了五花腩的部位，表面經過微烤，小小的一塊既香也肥美，配雞湯效果更佳。到銅鑼灣覆診的這一天，先來豚王醫醫肚。今天的限定王是超元氣王，從名字已得知是元氣王的加強版，名字很「龍珠」，喜歡元氣王的我當然點來試試。

超元氣王賣相很不錯，在原來的元氣王上，依舊的有著那團咖哩肉醬，上面放上芽菜，再灑上咖哩粉。叉燒從豬肉改成牛肉，以配咖哩味來說，牛肉有著完全不同的感覺，和豬肉相比，各有各的優勝之處。

把咖哩肉醬攪勻，咖哩的味道香而不辣，湯底變得很濃很稠，個人覺得已經不能說是「咖哩湯」，而是「咖哩汁」了，好端端的一碗拉麵，變得好像咖哩撈麵，愈吃愈是肥膩，除非你是咖哩的狂熱愛好者，不然我相信很少人會接受得到。對了，豚王也變得愈來愈細心，現在有提供髮束及紙圍巾給食客，也有提供紙巾，以我所見，中環和銅鑼灣兩間店都有主動提供，各位以後就算是大熱天也不用吃得很狼狽了。

最近幾次來豚王，都沒有最開始來豚王時的激情感覺，雖然我是忠實粉絲，但也不是盲目的。就只望豚王不是走火入魔，原本的幾種味道還能保持水準的話，我還是會光顧的。

周月 (中環)

周月在蓮香樓附近。路盲的我在大熱天時幾經辛苦才找到。深色的木為主調，環境舒式，位與位之間很寬敞。幸好冷氣夠勁!

點了招牌沾麵及竹筍。

等了一會麵才到。沒沾汁前試了一口 ......
有麥香及蛋香，但實在太硬! 並不爽口。
武藏的應該較淋 (但不太爽口)。拉麵"秀" 的沾麵較易入口，亦爽口。

蛋唔錯。流心，但味道偏淡。

醬油汁就好吃: 用超過140年愛媛県大洲梶田商店釀製的"生醬油" (即發酵和熟成後沒有經過加熱的醬油)為主的汁。味道不過濃，不嗆喉。甘口清香有餘韻。荵花亦有醒味之用。切碎了的叉燒軟硬適中。有烤過的痕跡。比"來"好食多倍。全靠醬汁我才可成功吃完整碟麵。200g 都好飽肚。多數人應覺得夠。

吃完整碟麵後，店方會提供雞湯。但雞湯並冇特別雞味。除令醬汁淡一點以供飲用外，作用不大。

竹筍應用了韓式小辣粉及豆板醬，偏咸 - ok 而已。

HK$123 (連竹筍及加一)。並不便宜。

對周月的拉麵 (九州系的幼麵) 反而更有興趣。

服務很好。明顯訓練有素。笑容可恭。特別是一位"Gigi"。見我滿頭大汗，立即細心地拿了紙巾及冰水來。

連在旁的男侍應亦低聲用日語對她說"很善良呢!"...

醬油，服務及環境搭救。 如在附近，我可能會一試醬油拉麵。



It was not easy finding this shop for someone who can't read maps properly. I walked from Admiralty to LKF, walked along Yung Kee till I reached the Central escalator. I must have taken a turn to the left too early and ended up at Hollywood Road. The mistake was further aggravated when I realized that I was walking back towards the Fringe Club! At this point, I'm was thinking of an alternative place to have lunch, perhaps Hide-Chan, in which seats are usually available. Suddenly, I thought to myself, "what the heck, just try and find it". After another trek along Wellington Street (street where Yung Kee was located), I finally found it. It's almost next to "Lin Heung Tea House". Quite a long trek indeed!

Once I got inside, I was shown a bar seat. The ambience was good. Nice wood based modern decor, dim and with heavy air-con! Luckily the seats were pretty spaced wide apart and were quite comfortable. So I didn't have to further embarrass myself around other customers as I was sweating like a pig.

Service:

The kind waitress, who was friendly and smiled every time she interacts with customers, I believe called "Gigi" (as printed on the receipt), perhaps noticing that I was still sweating seriously like a dehydrated pig, and frantically wiping the sweat off with a not so absorbent handkerchief, offered some tissues and a glass of ice water. That was supremely welcomed! Good service and thanks again, Gigi さん!)

...Even her male colleague, said silently - or so he thought - to her in Japanese "優しいね" , i.e. how kind of you...... I'm pretty sure he didn't expect two things:

(1) My superhuman listening skills in picking that up - they were about 1.5 meters behind my back with a noisy background.

and

(2) that I understand basic Japanese...

Moral of the story: Don't speak behind people's back.

The same male waiter, I'll call him Mister A, then approached me and politely asked whether I'd like an introduction. After a few seconds thought, I figure, although I'm pretty sure what I'd like to order after having reading all the useful reviews from previous commentators anyway, I'd like to see how the staff would introduce their own products and perhaps learn something new too.

Mister A did a pretty comprehensive introduction of their signature tsuke ramen in a clear and concise manner. I asked him what the tsukemen sauce was made of and was given the not entirely useful answer of "soy sauce and chicken soup". I spared him from introducing the soup ramen on the next page of the menu as the general information printed on the menu was quite sufficient. Anyway, well done and thanks.

Actually, before my second attempt to locate this shop, I wanted to try their Shoyu ramen in soup as I'm not a big fan of tsukemen anyway and their soy sauce seemed to be a really special type of soy sauce in existence for more than 140 years! Σ（ﾟдﾟlll） But after my second attempt to locate this shop at midday in summer, and at the brink of dehydration, I thought (wrongly) that a cold bowl of tsukemen wasn't such a bad idea after all! So that was what I ordered - the tsukemen, their signature ramen. I was gently reminded by Mister A that the traditional style was to have cold noodles with hot sauce. That's what I ordered too.
I chose 200 g noodles. The price of the noodle was the same for 100g, 200g or 300g. I'm quite bad at mathematics so I'm not quite sure what 200g means. I just chose what seemed to be the "default" version.

I also ordered a portion of spicy bamboo shoots just to whet my appetite in the hot and humid weather. The bamboo shoots were not too spicy. It seemed to be marinated with Tou Ban Chang and some Korean Chilli powder. It wasn't too spicy and on the salty side. The spring onions didn't add much to the taste. It was just OK.

Not the noodles:

The house made noodle, apparently made daily by the noodle machine placed right at the entrance with Japanese flour - came after a 8-10 minutes wait, which seemed a bit long considering the fact that one only has to boil the noodle cake a bit as there was no broth with the tsukemen, which I guess should be where all the time and trouble lies.

I tried the noodle without dipping it into the sauce first - bad idea. It had a strong wheat and egg taste to it. The texture was too hard though. Definitely not something which I could just slurp and swallow in one go - unless I want to go straight to a hospital. It's harder that the thick Japanese egg noodle served at "Hide-Chan", which was a lot softer and chewier than here, and also "Menya Musashi" - they also served tsukemen (and appeared to have used the same noodle for their ramen too!) According to the free I-phone application "Kotoba!" , Japanese dictionary which you could download for free (more than 20MB), Tsukemen meant "cold Chinese noodle dipped in sauce". So comparing it with Chinese noodles should be fair: The noodles here looked a bit like "Yau Min" but were much much harder that most "Yau Min" at most Che Jai Mien Stalls. The interesting Yau Min at "Prawn Noodle Shop" was crisp but the noodles here could not be said to be crisp - it seemed not fully cooked. I'd say that it's harder than any "al dente"pasta I've ever tried as well.

200g of noodles was definitely quite filling for me and I suppose most would find it quite sufficient.

I can't say I like it. It's just too hard and felt a bit uncooked.

The egg, however, was quite nice. The york was a bit fluid, which many people like. I'm not too fussed about that.

The soy sauce which saved the day:

The sauce, however, was interesting. It consisted of the special soy sauce imported from Japan. According to my understanding, there are at least five major types of soy sauce in Japan. Must depends on the amount of salted water vs. soy beans vs. wheat and the ratio of water vs. sake in the mixture. Furthermore, it depends on how long the soy sauce was fermented. Some looked and taste like dark soy sauce in Chinese cuisines while some looked similar to red vinegar and had a strong sake taste. So next time you go to a Japanese restaurant, or do your shopping, try comparing different types of soy sauce - they really look and taste very different from each other.

The soy sauce here was on the light side. According to the name card of the shop, they used a "Nama Soy Sauce", i.e. soy sauce which was fermented but not heated and usually used for tsukemen. It won't "hit" you immediately but instead had a very nice aroma and long aftertaste.

Contrary to Hide-Chan, the sauce here was a lot warmer. But I prefer the tsuke men at Hide-Chan ramen instead. It's softer and chewier than here. I also liked the strong bonito broth with bonito chunks there. (Just make sure when you place your order, you ask the chef at Hide-Chan to really warm up the sauce beforehand.)The chopped char siu - perhaps simply shredded pork cubes would be more appropriate - was quite delicious. It's about 70% lean and 30% fat. Those were quite tender and had a nice pork taste. It's chopped so, ideally, that you could eat it more easily. I find it quite hard to have the noodle together with the char siu with my chopsticks anyway. So I ate them separately. Perhaps I should just ask for a spoon instead.

There was also spring onions and some vinegar as well. The whole combination was quite nice. Nevertheless, it felt a little bit like a complex tempura soy sauce. Still, the noodles became softer after dipping it into the sauce and made it "bearable".

You'll be provided with a small bowl of chicken soup after you've finished the noodles. I can't say the chicken soup made much of a difference to the soy sauce mixture other than warming it up. I finished the whole bowl but still couldn't find any trace of chicken taste.The ramen which I saw a couple next to me having appeared to be the Kyushu thin noodle inside the special soy sauce broth. That looked interesting and I wished I'd listened to my gut feeling.

Heavy Weight 300g:

Two ladies came and listened to the explanation provided by another female staff. They also decided to order tsukemen. Regarding the size, the staff suggested that usually, 200g was sufficient for her. After listening to that, the two ladies then said "in that case, perhaps we'll need 300g"

I was trying to wait to see their reactions when they see the 300g noodle. By sitting there, consuming my menma (which was not spicy but actually quite salty. The spring onions did not help it.), after waiting for about 10 minutes, the 300g noodles was still nowhere to be seen. So I left.

Conclusion:

The tsukemen was too hard for my taste. The egg was fine.

The soy sauce with at least 140 years history was really good. The char siu was nice and tender.

The spicy bamboo shoot was just so-so and a bit overpriced.

The bill came down to HK$123. Which I find a bit pricey.

Very good service. Comfy environment.

I'm not interested in their tsukemen anymore unless they have a much softer option.

I might consider coming here again to try out their ramen in soy sauce broth instead, if I managed to find the shop!

P.S.

As the couple who had the ramen left, all the staff said thank you in Japanese twice. Mister A mumbled that the couple did not give any reaction (which was true). But after arranging their chairs, they said thank you to the staff. To be fair, Mister A was very polite throughout the meal. However, if the couple heard it, it might seriously affect their mood and might have backfired against Mister A.

Moral of the story: I've been in the service industry myself before, I suggest leaving complaints against rude customers for your smoke breaks, toilet breaks or lunch breaks. Keep your thoughts to yourself until at least the customers leave. Certainly, the best is to get over such small stuff and chill out!

What's the English name of this shop anyway? "Shu getsu"? (I'm just making this up based on the yet to be established website printed on the namecard.)

黑瀧板蕎麥專門店 (銅鑼灣)

上一次到屯門和無飯夫婦一起晚餐，發現他們是一對不錯的飯腳，因為他們都新開的餐廳都很有興趣去試，聽聞Pokka集團Tonkichi旁邊開了一家蕎麥麵專門店，由於我們都是Tonkichi的粉絲，對於新餐廳頗有期望，是晚就一行四人去試試看。我們預先訂了座位，不過就現場所見，餐廳始終是新開，未見有排隊的人潮。

日本風的裝潢，以卡位為主，天花板上掛著很多白色的圓筒燈，感覺光猛舒適。門口有一間半玻璃房，裡面放了一部由日本購入的製粉機，是用來把蕎麥磨成粉末的，不過似乎只是作展示用途的，因為麵店另外有工場製作蕎麥麵。炸北海道鮮帶子蕎麥麵。一客有三件，帶子用蕎麥麵包著再拿去炸，炸過的蕎麥麵一致覺得味道很像小時候吃的童星點心麵，是有趣多過於好吃，不過裡面的北海道帶子肉厚鮮味，比外層的蕎麥麵更吸引。墊底的部份有和式沙律菜，佐以柚子沙律醋汁，很開胃。DIY日本濃滑豆腐。店員送來一個裝了豆漿的黑色砂鍋，然後在我們面前把一些透明的凝固劑倒進豆漿裡，再放一個timer在旁邊，等了大概七八分鐘吧，timer終於響了，然後就有一位主管級的小姐替我們把豆腐分到小碗子裡。先純吃一羮豆腐，豆味非常濃郁，豆腐挺身，入口很嫰滑。伴豆腐吃的味粉有三款，分別是柚子、芥末和綠茶，三款之中各有各好，柚子味道清新；芥末味道最濃烈但不嗆喉；綠茶就有淡淡的綠茶香，三款之中我比較喜歡柚子味。我看雜誌的時候明明說是DIY的，結果除了最後加調味粉的這個步驟之外，沒有其他是我們自己做的，不過最緊要好吃。 黑蒜油胡麻凍知床蕎麥麵。一開始看到綠色的蕎麥麵我還以為是綠茶口味，原來是加入了昆布和海草製成的。在充分攪拌過之後，滲出陣陣的黑蒜油香，知床蕎麥麵口感富彈性，胡麻和黑蒜油的味道配搭得很好，又香又濃，肉碎帶甜味的，涼涼的蕎麥麵很適合炎熱的夏天吃。日本蜆肉熱更科蕎麥麵。熱湯蕎麥麵有四款，我承認我是被那張照片吸引了才點的，所以上檯的時候我們都有點失望，因為照片是鋪著滿滿的蜆肉，而實物好像少了一半蜆，一點也不澎湃。蜆肉不算飽滿，不夠鮮味，有點淡口，但洗得乾淨，因為一點沙都沒有。更科蕎麥麵製作的時候是用二分麵粉八分蕎麥粉，因為蕎麥粉沒什麼黏性，所以要加入麵粉增加黏性，在這個比例之下，蕎麥麵吃起來有蕎麥香，但同時仍能保持其彈牙Q度，口感較滑，配上熱鰹魚湯，味道不錯。最後一款是稱為最上級的江丹別蕎麥麵，算是蕎麥麵中的名牌。江丹別其實是北海道西部的一個地方，一年中的氣候變化極大，所以在這環境下種的蕎麥質素特別高，而這款蕎麥麵的特點是比較幼和黏。雖然這款麵是最好的，不過似乎沒有得到友人們的歡心，他們嫌蕎麥麵的質感太腍，沒有剛材吃到的更科麵那麼彈牙爽口。 至於我也沒有吃得出這麵到底那裡比其他的厲害，不過我幾喜歡醮著吃的那個鰹魚汁，加入芥末、薑蓉和蔥粒，味道甘甜而鮮，清爽不膩。芝士、露筍和梅子豬肉卷。賣相很吸引，先試一件芝士豬肉卷，外層酥脆，炸漿夠薄而且貼服，吃起上來一點也不覺得油膩。中間的豬肉片是半肥瘦的，有少許肉汁，再配搭著軟身的半溶芝士，真的好好吃，另外的露筍卷和梅子卷同樣具水準，我覺得這家店的炸物水準拍得上Tonkichi，大概是因為同一集團的源故吧，廚師肯定會得到一部份Tonkichi的秘技，可能根本就是由Tonkichi炸好再拿過來的？（推測而已） 套餐附送的前菜煮物，有蒟蒻、冬菇粒、蘿蔔粒和肉碎，帶點甜甜的醬油味，味道不錯。 套餐附送的蜜瓜，很爽脆，未算最熟所以不太甜。 吃完生果之後，有一位店員拿了一個方型的小湯壼來，原來吃完蕎麥麵的鏗魚汁，會加入清湯，然後讓客人把它喝掉。清湯裡面加入了柚子皮，和剛才剩下的鏗魚汁混合成的湯，味道很清爽，不過我不小心咬到那些柚子皮，有點苦。雖然是新開張不久，不過服務質素都不錯，替我們落單的小姐看到我們等了一段時間還沒有食物，主動跟我們解釋今天因為客人比較多，所以出菜會比較慢，已經主動替我們追單了，結果隔了個幾分鐘，蕎麥麵就已經送上來了。在客人還未出口前已經行動，確實會讓客人感到受重視。不過唯一一點要扣分的是我們用信用咭結帳，等了很久都沒有人拿回來讓我們簽名，而收銀處那裡一個人都沒有，所以我們就請一位店員替我們看看，原來我們的帳單跟信用咭就這樣擱在收銀處沒人理會，那麼拿走我們的信用咭的店員到底去了那裡？在無人看管的情況下萬一信用咭被人盜走了怎麼辦？我們也明白是剛開業初期，人手會稍有不足，不過客人交付的東西應該要小心處理。

離開餐廳時，看到門口的食物模型，又令我想起那張餐牌上的蜆肉照片和現實之中那碗蜆肉蕎麥麵，雖然心裡是知道「食物以實物為主」，照片只是參考用的，可是心裡面還是覺得戚戚然。

舞心拉麵 (銅鑼灣)

White Ramen -
After trying this 3 times, I think it is missing Shoyu. A little bit bland. AVOID. 6/10

.Black Ramen -
With a mixture of the normal White Soup with some Stronger Broth and Garlic Oil. This has been amazing everytime I ate it. The noodles have improved from my last post on my blog, and the balance is really good. Some people like the Kotteri style Strong broth noodles more, but for me this is utter perfection and balanced. Encore!!! 9/10

.Niku Rice 肉ご飯-
At $30 this is a bargain. It is quite sweetish and melt in you mouth stuff, with very good bed of rice under and that sauce is amazing stuff. The perfect accompaniment to your ramen bowl and a MUST ORDER. 8/10

.Addition Char Siu.
This is flame grilled first and quite flavourful. Some people not watching out for their cholesterol will say it's not fatty enough. For some others, they appreciate it for its tenderness despite the lack of fat. Very good, thick cut of char siu. In fact, better than the one served in the ramen bowls itself. ~ 8/10

.Bamboo Shoots.
Slightly spicy. These are very good too. Just order some anyway.

.Original Gyoza. Now it has evolved and changed into the below.
.Latest Gyoza dumplings.
I appreciate the shop for improving this formula. Having changed the skin exterior, this is less sticky. But somehow it seems more overly steamed than grilled. I think they could do with LESS WATER when grilling/steaming the gyozas at the same time, see if it fixed the limpy problem. 大阪王將's gyoza beat here hands down easily! 請自己去試試吧! ~ 5/10 AVOID

. Almond Pudding.
A little too soft before. Probably prefer it to be served with more fruits like back in Japan.

. The supporting peripherals are OK only.
Doesn't have enough 風味. In this regard, 豚王 is much better!

.Japanese Chef.
The Black Ramen is perfectly balanced, with the very good Char Siu quality and Egg.
The other items need more improvement. Bet they will become all defensive and won't listen to customers criticism, as is usual in many places. 問下你意見, 其實都係 social 氹下你以為佢會 care. 但有無想過, 我們也有住過日本吃過無數咁多餐. 想同你講嘅, 都只係想大家可以食到最佳的水準, 又可幫到你地賺錢! 大家好話姐.

GETTING THERE!

Mini One (銅鑼灣)

Saw these cute pieces of cheesecake so bought two to try.They are priced by weight.
I did not try their croissants because they looked dry and hard.The cheesecake was light and not heavy.
It had so many different tones in the taste, first I could taste some coconut, next the cheese and then the sweetness.
The size of these cheesecakes are about 6cm x 4cm.

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Price: $7.8
English menu: Yes
Service: OK
Yummy factor: OK
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