Lamma-zine #31 - July 2004

Ads for Restaurants, Bars, Food & Misc.:

Follow-up: New section!

No big changes in the local dining & drinking scene this month, besides some good times for the bars during the recent Euro 2004 football. Fountainhead even repainted their bar (left).

After the big success of the 1st wine tasting in the Deli Lamma, they've organised another one recently (Thu, June 17), together with their wine merchant Vinoasis (see above).

Two quick restaurant reviews by yours truly: Lambcombe and the new Honey Bee:

Review - Lamcombe Restaurant:

I've been visiting the Lambcombe Restaurant with a group of American MBA students recently, playing one of the local hosts, showing them how to eat the more "exotic" dishes, like scallops or minced pork wrapped in lettuce leaves.

It was a grand feast of impressive size & variety, all the Lamcombe's signature seafood dishes were served, fully justifying their well-deserved reputation as the very best Chinese restaurant in Yung Shue Wan. Attentive service, seaview terrace, a cool night, fantastic food...

But what was most surprising was how few of our American guests actually appreciated the food, some not even trying most of the dishes because they looked unfamiliar. Not appreciating the feast laid out in front of them (see above), making disparaging remarks, not being adventurous in trying something new or "strange" to them, just a few daring to try new things, it was quite disheartening & disappointing.

Well, we put the copious leftovers into "doggy bags" for us hosts, as we definitely didn't want to let this kind of delicious, tasty, high-class food go to waste.

Review - Honey Bee:

The new dessert place opposite Thai Thai has been open for a few months now. "Open" is a relative term in their case, though, as I still couldn't figure out their infrequent & irregular opening hours: occasionally on weekday evenings, most of weekend afternoons, but not late in the evenings. It's rare to see them open when walking past the nice-looking little shop with just four tables and still no name sign above the door or on the menus.

Strangely, the prices on the extensive Chinese menu and the blackboards all seem much lower than the few dishes described in English. Only the most expensive dishes seem to be listed in English...

Because the place is so tiny and decorated in glass/stone/chrome, it's very noisy and echoing if there are any other guests. But it's usually almost empty. One of the only 4 tables was totally blocked by a massive mountain bike belonging to one of the staff.

Lamma-Por disliked the ambience of the place so much that she refused to order anything. My chocolate pudding with banana and runny whipped cream (pictured below) was definitely not worth the ca. $25 they charged for it. It also took a very long time to arrive. Obviously made from cheapo pudding powder, it tasted more like artificially flavoured jello than real pudding.

This place is still running on the usual temporary half-year restaurant license. We'll see if they'll make the additional substantial investment to upgrade their facilities to get a full license. This place is a missed opportunity. I was really looking forward for YSW finally getting a decent dessert place. The wait continues...

Restaurant review by bbChris - singer/guitarist, Thinking Out Loud - attending a 10-people birthday party:

The ambience of the place is top-notch. The decoration is superb with all the wood and the colours are warm. Lighting is nice and dim. Music - good!

There are three floors to Life, the ground floor has two tables next to the Delicatessen which sells tasty snacks.

They also sell organic soya milk and some produce, including Rooibush tea.

First floor and roof garden are bigger dining areas. We sat on the roof garden which was very pleasant as we were celebrating a birthday party. For a Monday night, the restaurant was packed out.

The food received a variety of reviews: 'soup was original' - 'Life platter was tasty and would go back for more' - 'deeply average; dry Falafel burger, no dressing on salad' - 'more veggies & quinoa needed for Ground Nut Stew' - 'daal was fabulous'

The service was like 'a home away from home' reminiscent of the Bookworm. One person didn't get their food at all. (quoted as saying "Pity I couldn't say "shame about the food"). Apples weren't available, drinks were forgotten.

It was an added bonus that for some they had fine organic sparkling wine to distract them.

The biggest problem turned out to be the payment. We had requested separate bills at the beginning but at payment time we were told quite aggressively that the system was unable to separate our bills so as one person said "I liked the juicy beanburger & really liked the chips & I liked what my wife had to say about it. But I didn't like the maths at the end."

Overall, the menu is great, we love the fact that 10% of the bill goes towards charity, we love having the choice of organic juices or wine - Life just needs to improve its service and it would be an outstanding restaurant.

P.S.: The salads are different to Woodworm!

Bobsy wasn't there when we were there.

P.S. 2: I was the only vegan (80% of the time!) and 100% veggie. I think there was one other vegetarian (although I denote a vegetarian as someone who doesn't eat meat/fish/chicken, but has dairy). I would say 7 of the 10 (3 don't live on Lamma) are regular/occasional guests of the Bookworm.

(photo above by bbChris,
all other photos by Lamma-Gung)

Review by Lamma-Gung:

Great location, just besides the mid-levels escalator (ride it up to Soho, till you see the 2-floor-high banner on the left).

Their organic house wine, a fruity, crisp Chardonnay with a zingy, sharp aftertaste goes well with most of their dishes. Lamma-Por quite enjoyed her Chinese stir-fried veggies, even though it took a bit of convincing for this hard-core anti-vegetarian to join me! In general, the food is fine, but the often slow & forgetful service really needs some improvement and more in-house training.

Many dishes look very "organic", meaning different from the slicker presentation of other places, but they actually taste great. There was a delicious sauce on my beans dish, binding all the many ingredients together, very mildly spiced, but a bit too mild for my taste. Plain organic rice & boiled pak choi: nothing special.

But the Life house salad with hummus and really dark crusty bread, baked on the premises, was simply fantastic, the best salad I've had in a very long time. Take out some fantastic breads, cakes, salads & fair-trade coffees!

All-in-all a pleasant-but-mixed experience with considerable novelty value. We'll be back as soon as I want to afford another $200 for a late lunch for 2 (1 dish per person, no drinks) or an organic beer at $68...

Alternatively, I might take advantage of the much lower prices and the 20% discount offered in the Bookworm Café all summer!

Finally, why, oh why is this feature story headlined "Oh, Mr Bobsy, You Are Naughty"?

Click here for one more photo gallery of the opening party on June 19, containing one more Harry cartoon, and it'll all become clear like organic pea soup!

Tin Hau, the most colourful, photogenic festival of the year on Lamma!

Lion dances staged, paper offerings burnt, exciting Dragonboats raced, sampan rowing contested, Chinese opera performed...

Lots of photographers were out in force, taking some great shots. You'll find a few of my own photos below, plus a lot more from 3 other photographers:

Dragonboating	Tin Hau temple	Chinese opera
Official Court Artist	Official Court Artist	Official Court Artist
Scott Fink
Andrew Shields
Lamma-Gung	Lamma-Gung	Lamma-Gung