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2011-03-21
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How strange my stomach is - sometimes I feel satisfied just by eating a small energy bar but sometimes I still feel empty after gorging in spoonfuls and spoonfuls of food. My capacity for food is as elastic as a rubber bag, i guess. After the really tasty and quick dinner at HKUAA, I felt kinda disoriented as I could not quite believe i had finished eating that early (it was just around 7:45 when we were done). I remembered there is a new dessert place somewhere in LFK and so i suggested having
We arrived at 五代同糖 after a short climb up the slopes of LKF. the place was small and only one table was filled - well, it was barely peak dinner time when we went and that should be normal, i guess. There was a lone waitress in the small store and she cheerfully n politely presented us with the dessert menus. How hearty!
The dessert menu was quite extensive. They have taiwanese 'cotton ice', local 'mix-mix' delicies, the traditional sweet soups and of course, its famous baked desserts. I am a FAN of apple crumble and had the opportunity of actually preparing a batch for some activities at school in early February. For these reasons, I ordered an apple crumble ($38) both out of curiosity of how dessert place prepares the dish and the desire to satisfy my sudden crave for sweet food.
After a relatively short wait of 5-10 minutes(as compared to the usual killing wait for freshly prepared baked desserts), my order arrived. The waitress warned me of the scaldingly hot plate - a prove that it was freshly baked from the oven. The thing looked pretty too, decorated with the mint leave and a stab(not slice) of strawberry, and a light dash of icing sugar. Happily poking my utensils into the crumble, I took a bite of the reddish apple compote - and was SHOCKED (yes, SHOCKED) to taste something of mere room-temperature. And i wasnt even poking the centre of the thing, but just along the fringe of the plate. How could that be? The crumbles on top were all pipping hot and yet 0.5 cm underneath it was just lukewarm. I asked the lady to reheat it for me and she offered to exchange a new one for me, at the price of another 5-10 minutes of wait.The thing i got after the wait felt a litte hotter as there seemed to be more heat wave around it, but as i poked the fork into the centre the metal felt almost the same. It was still lukewarm!!!!!!! But oh well, i had given up on complaining again, for i did not want to spend another minutes waiting. Thus, i just proceed with eating with slight dissatisfaction.
Objectively speaking, the thing tasted good - the crumble was hot(how ironic) and were light and crunchy. They used the big and crumble variety instead of the fine and sandy ones u usually find in bigger hotels-and i prefer this way here. The apple compote was a little scary on appearance (it could be served as a Halloween special dessert) as it was almost pinkish in colour, and looked inedible. It was slightly sour when tasted as the store has given a local twist to the traditional English dessert by replacing the cinnamon and brown sugar with strawberry sauce - an attempt to make it lighter to eat and less spicy to taste. A nice and clever twist i must say, as the dessert has become less of a source of guilt - it sounded quite healthy indeed, with all the fruits and stuff (yes im literally turning a blind eye towards the crumble made of butter and flour on top, god knows how many calorie they carry...but oh WHATEVER)In short - this is something different from the traditional apple crumble, but is as tasty i must say. As the title of this review goes, the inadequacy in the temperature had ruined everything, and I am sure that it would among one of the tastiest desserts i have tried. Had it only been hotter (hot to the extent that smoke comes out from the compote would be something i am after), it would be wonderful. What a pity.
The best apple crumble i have ever tasted is still 糖痴豆's - being both piping hot, varied in texture, appropriately spiced and diced, and baked in a literally buttery and sweet yet hearty pie crust and crumble, the little store near my place had never let me down. They serve the traditional cinnamon variation tho, but still i love it all the same!
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=18042 <-- click for the BEST apple crumble in town!
五代同糖would have been a serious threat to 糖痴豆 had the thing been hotter. Go get a new oven, preheat it for a longer time or simply ask the customers to wait for slightly longer time so as to slowly bake the thing to 100%, are what i suggest the store to improve on. Great services tho!
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