Kansai Japanese Restaurent

I love buffets..I remember that it was a monthly ritual for my family in the good old days when we siblings were mere kids and we trotted off to a different hotel to try out their buffets. Love it!

Alas~ trying to maintain a healthy weight nowadays does not permit the frequent patronage of buffets. Not to mention the more $$$ prices here compared to back home.

Being a Jap cuisine fan, there is a restaurant along Hunter street that started offering buffets for their dinners. It's not that easy to find. You have to walk down some steps at the Wynyard station entrance on Hunter street before it reveals the restaurant to you. It can get quite busy on the weekends so it is a good idea to book.

We opted for the AUD25 all you can eat buffet which encompasses 2 different katsu and teriyaki, Nigiri sushi, hand made rolls and a delightful selection of special concoctions. The party at the table eagerly ordered one of each.

First came the beef teriyaki. Tender and juicy, it slides down your throat with ease.

Next came the chicken katsu. Fried just right without the meat being soaked with oil. The batter light and crunchy.

Next came the Specials. Starting from the left, we have "Crunch". This is carrot, cucumber and cream cheese filling. Deep fried in Katsu style. The crunchy outer layering adds a different dimension in terms of texture and coupled with the cream cheese, amazing. This is my favourite.

Moving on is the "Dragon Roll". Avocado and deep fried prawn filling, topped with eel, tobiki and kansai eel sauce. Yum~

Next came the "Volcano". Crabmeat, cucumber and avocado filling, topped with baked salmon, tobiko, spicy sauce and mayonnaise. This is quite similar to the one at Kobe Jones. This isn't my thing but other parties on the table wolfed them down quickly, which I will take it to mean that they like it.

Lastly is the "Italian". Same filling as the Volcano, but topped with grilled mozzarella cheese, spicy sauce and mayonnaise.

We couldn't get enough and ordered another round.

Hand made rolls were next. We ordered soft shell crab, scampi and tempura scallop and prawn tempura.

We couldn't eat anymore but the few rare ones managed to still sneak in some Nigiri sushi.

This is definitely worth the money. I actually preferred the specials over some of the ones from Kobe Jones. Well worth visiting again.

Total Score ~ 20.5/25
[Taste - 8(10) , Presentation - 4 (5), Service - 4 (5), Value for Money - 4.5 (5)]

Location:

Kansai Japanese Restaurant

Hunter Connection

Level Basement, Shop B1, 7-13 Hunter Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Tel : 9231 5544

Continue Reading ...

Lee Woo Yuen 梨和园

On my last day in HK, my sis and I decided to try out this BBQ buffet place. It's called "Lee Woo Yuen". We went for the "afternoon tea" (下午茶) option which is from 2-5pm from what I can remember. Their main branch is in the Kowloon area but we went to the second branch which is along Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay. Their "afternoon tea" costs only HKD28.

You don't get to BBQ the meats and stuff but you can have all you can eat at their cooked food section.



These were the only pictures that I managed to take without being obvious and having people staring at me.

Their "afternoon tea" option is really a good deal. You get tons of food such as noodles, fried rice, sausages, chicken cooked in herbs, meatballs, sushi, fried fish and lots lots more. On top of that, there are a few different kinds of soup and dessert soup.

One of the ones that I tried was really good, it had ginseng in it.

Onwards to fruits and cakes and also "tau fu fa" (豆腐花) which you get to scoop out of the big bamboo pot yourself. We left with out stomachs really really full.

As I said again, the food is reasonably good, dessert was great and only HKD28 which is less than AUD5.

I only wished that I didn't only discover this on the last day as I would have gone a lot more times.

Total Score ~ 20/25
[Taste - 8.5 (10) , Presentation - 3 (5), Service - 3.5 (5), Value for Money - 5 (5)]

Continue Reading ...