Hest88

Wait a minute. We're talking about two different beasts here. This is very different from the HK-style Western dinner plates, like macaroni with ham and oxtail over rice, I think.

Ugh, well nearly each answer I gave negated the previous. I'm not sure what that says about me!

So sad. And it's happening all around the world. What I loved about HK was how even in mall food courts you could get great noodles and other Asian fare. My sister and I wished we could import HK food courts to the U.S.! As to currency conversion, I think the exchange rate is such that you can still get a decent approximation of U.S. dollars by dividing the HK dollars by 8.

Had no interest in going there either, but I thought the place was packed all the time? I wonder what happened.

Thanks GG. I remember that article, but it's good to have my memory refreshed. Still, I'd like a *real* menu. Hey, maybe you can volunteer to be the webmaster for all of these restaurants? Which reminds me. I know have another decision to make, but maybe I'll start another thread...

So annoying. I've seen so many high-end restaurant websites that still are under construction when the restaurant opens. I was just checking out the website for Antidote, the new Sausalito restaurant, and same thing! Geez, if you're going to put money into a website, use it properly!

Thanks for the great reviews! I feel very lucky to be living in this area and it's always nice to hear the outsider perspective.

I'm wrestling with this myself right now. I've never been one to really crave grain products, so find that if I'm cooking for myself or my husband it's basically meat and veggies only. However, my doctor wants me to get a lot more fiber in my diet and the only thing that really helps is something like a bowl of oatmeal every morning, followed by lots of psyllium. My heaps of cooked veggies just don't cut it. I'd love to switch back to a near no-grain diet, but I don't know how. Also, where are you getting your B vitamins from? I can't seem to find a better substitute for them other than grains. I've just taken supplements but I wonder what you do.

Fresh chicken tastes really, really different. The first time I had it in Hong Kong, after a childhood of U.S. supermarket chicken, I could not get it down without gagging. It tasted too much like "meat" to me.

I don't find it hard at all. Thick dishwashing gloves, hot water at full heat, and lots of detergent shaken through the tubes. I figure that the water is at a high enough temperature to kill the bacteria and the detergent cleans the rest. There isn't usually a problem with sticking, except with the grinder holes, and a sharp smack on the side of the sink usually releases the rest of the stuck-on meat.

Olive oil for stir-frying most things. Butter (unsalted always) for baking, sauteeing mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, and throwing on steak. Sesame oil for stir-frying asparagus, drizzling on boiled watercress, and sundry Asian dishes.

Yep, I hate it when the tail is left on in stews, soups, even saucy pastas. If I'm in restaurant, that just guarantees I'll have to cut off and waste that last bit so I don't look uncouth smearing my fingers in sauce!

Hm. That's the way I make it as well. To be honest, I don't think I can come up with a way to make kale without salt that I would consider tasty. Do you have to eliminate salt? Can't you judiciously sprinkle it on?

We keep trying to go, but the line is too line. I just don't like breakfast food for breakfast well enough to tolerate such a long wait. If only more places served breakfast for dinner!

I love Venus, probably because I'm not big on sweet stuff for breakfast. We've been going to Crepevine in Rockridge as our local brunch place. Better than the Rockridge Cafe and without the wait of Rick and Ann's or Mama Royal's. I don't know when Crepevine started doing real food (as opposed to just crepes) but they have good scrambles and pancakes, etc. Cash only, though, unless they've changed.

I'm one of those prissy eaters. I usually cut it off the cob so I don't get stuff in between my teeth. I've also been known to twist off and eat the kernels one by one. Yes, every so often I do eat it the normal way, but only when I'm in restaurants and have no choice, or if I'm being particularly lazy at home!

Wait. I'm really confused. Are you guys washing your chicken with detergent? I never rinse my meat (unless there's something weird clinging to it) for the same reason I wouldn't just wash my hands sans soap and expect them to be any cleaner than when I started. OTOH, I couldn't imagine scrubbing my meat with Dawn either!

I ate a lot of these in college. $99, filling, yet flavorful. They actually still taste good to me, basically because of the top and bottom crusts. Mmmm. I don't care if they don't have a lot of stuff in the filling, because I really only care about the crusts!

Also, don't forget the rent factor. You've gotta sell a lotta pies to break even in many metropolitan and upscale suburban areas. The sad thing is, the ones that seem to thrive are increasingly found only in upscale areas and they're accompanied by upscale prices. The inexpensive mom and pops just can't make rent and if they tried to sell their goods are higher prices they'd be competing directly with the supermarkets. And of course, it's not just bakeries; small independent shops of all kinds are being forced out of densely populated areas

Thanks Poots and Cxt. I didn't realize it was *that* short of a distance. A 10-12 minute walk is nothing! I won't agonize so much about hotel proximity then.

I wasn't sure if my experience is relevant, since I went for lunch over a year ago and don't remember much. For what it's worth, I found the food lovely (I had a lobster salad, but I can't remember what else; my aunt had something pork-related and a regular salad. I also can't remember the desserts) but the portions, even with the amuse, quite skimpy. I don't know whether it was just because it was lunch or whether it was simply due to our poor entree choices. I had taken my aunt to Hawthorn Lane a few weeks prior for lunch and we were quite stuffed at the end of it. My other experiences with this tier of restaurant has always been for dinner, so again I was unsure if my dinner experience would have been different. When I mentioned to a friend of mine that I had gone away hungry, she rolled her eyes and said it was the same at breakfast.

Shelora, I'd love your opinions of less upscale Victoria and surrounding restaurants as well. We're going to be up at Sooke Harbour House in October, and between eating there and probably Brio once, we're definitely going to need some downscale ideas! Last time when we were up there we were on the other side (Malahat) so stopped merrily at some of the towns in the area and just popped into places when in Victoria. (I wonder if that downtown sushi place we went to last time is still there?) I get the impression, though, that the area around Sooke is less populated than the area north of Malahat.

I've added chipotle to chicken-based soups for years.

Jook Toast Ginger ale (per the pediatrician) Boiled beef soup (basically ground beef cooked in lots of water until it was brothy enough to drink) And lots of horrible Chinese herbal concoctions. I still like the first four (even the boiled beef soup!), but I haven't gotten any more fond of the last one.

Thanks for the great review. I've been thinking that my parents might enjoy this place, so it's nice to hear from someone who's actually eaten there. ITA with the name, though. Whose bad idea was that?