glad to see a new place for lunch besides cantonese dim-sum. we walked in around 11:30 am on a sunday & got the 2nd table in an almost empty room. but within half an hr the tables were filling up fast. tip: they take reservation for all time slots.
this place is new of course, with decent spacing between tables & pleasant decor. now let's get to the food pronto!
"A" rating for these items:
蘿蔔絲酥餅 deep-fried shredded-turnip cake ($30/3), unusually moist filling inside, crispy outside - outstanding!
韭菜花煎餅 deep-fried chive-flower pancake ($30/4), very crispy pancake, with aromatic & tasty chive flowers inside.
"A-" rating to:
霸王小籠包 steamed pork dumpling ($32/4), thin skin, juicy meat inside, almost as good as my highest rating for din tai fung's on canton rd.
千層葱油餅 green onion cake ($25/2), well executed dish all around. but i suspect there is a common wholesale supplier for this item, since it looks & tastes exactly the same from other high-rating northern chinese restaurants.
鎮江肴肉 jellied pork slices ($68), lots of pork meat, not enough jelly surrounding the meat, but flavor & texture are excellent.
"B+" rating to:
紅燒上海獅子頭湯麵(粗) soup noodles (thick) with minced pork balls (lion head) ($48), the pork ball is fantastic yummy & tender, but i cannot praise the noodle. although the 3 kinds of noodles here are advertised as signature items & made by special machinery, i did not find the thick noodle anything in particular. the soup base is light/clear style, with decent seasoning. however overall, this item is quite satisfactory to me.
香椰果仁煎芋餅 pan-fried taro cake with coconuts ($35), this dessert item is kind of like 豆沙鍋餅, except it is filled with taro paste & sprinkled on the outside with shredded coconuts. it is a bit more oily than i like.
finally, "B" rating goes to:
蟹粉生葱牛肉卷 green onion beef roll ($46), good tastes & balanced fillings, but the flour roll was not firmly wrapped around, hence fell apart when cut to provide several servings. it was cooled down when brought to the table.
生煎鍋貼 pan-fried pork dumpling ($32/4), very generic in taste, the dumpling skin is too thick & stiff. can be ignored if you believe me!
人參烏龍茶 ginseng oolong tea ($8/pp), good alternative if you are tired of the usual tea choices. but be forewarned that the ginseng taste is only mild. but the tea itself lasted several rebrewings without losing too much flavor.
the staff is very courteous & efficient. i noticed also that the manager & wait staff coordinated among themselves to serve the customers.
as you can see, king's lodge at this new location has lots of potentials & promises to be a popular lunch alternative in the olympian city neighborhood.
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鎮江肴肉 - 很晶瑩剔透,亦很爽口,夠乾爽,吃完沒有油膩的感覺.
薺菜鮮魚羹 - 薺菜是時令食品,味道不錯,呢個羹啲魚肉偏多,而且味道亦可口.
椰汁燉花膠 - 椰汁味夠濃,花膠亦算多,但花膠食落口時有點怪,因為花膠慣常是用嚟煲湯的.
