Saturday, September 4, 2010

What the Locals Love - Beppu Ekimae

Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
I've tried this place once a long time ago, and I only remember that I wasn't impressed.
Seeing how mad the queue in front of this place every time I passed by, I started to wonder if I have to give casual Japanese food resto another chance.

Judging from the mad queue, it can't be
that bad, right? The locals love it, will I?
Let's see ;)
Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
The Beef Shoulder with Spicy Peppercorn Jigoku Ramen. The soup is pretty interesting, a combination of pork bone soup base with Sichuan-esque hot ma lak flavors. Not bad. The few pieces of beef, although tender, they tasted a little too...corn starchy? As for the ramen, it was ok when it arrived, we wished we consumed it quickly as the ramen lost its chewiness a little too quickly.

Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
The
Spicy Assorted Meat with Cold Ramen...the "assorted meat" includes slices of sweet omelette, slices of ham, and a piece of imitation crab meat :S The spicy sauce was neither spicy nor flavorful. I am not a big fan of this dish :(

Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
The
stuffed chicken wings...in terms of textures, the dish wasn't that bad. Crispy on the outside, with fragrant stuffing of spring onions and crunchy chicken gristle. In terms of flavors, the dish could use a lot more seasoning, the sauce it was served with didn't help much either.


Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
The
crispy tofu, which was served swimming in a pool of oil (ugh), had nice textures. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. However, again, the dish was flavorless. I may not have a sophisticated palate, but this was rather hard to accept. We had to dip these pieces of tofu in soy sauce to make the it more bearable.

Beppu Ekimae - Tsing Yi - Hong Kong
The drink on promo was
Iced Green Tea with Red Bean. It's nice, not too sweet, perfectly creamy and the best part is...buy one get one free :)

At the end of the meal, our server knocked over a bottle of soy sauce, spilling soy sauce on SC's iPhone, left leg and foot. His sandal was thoroughly soaked in soy sauce. The service team apologized repeatedly and helped him wiping his sandal clean with wet tissues. Since they were apologetic and the phone was ok, we were fine with it. They also gave us a 10% discount...the bill came up to HK$195 (after 10% discount) for the meal.

Overall, the meal isn't exactly an experience I'd like to repeat any time soon.
I have to remind myself that long queue =/= value for money =/= good food.
Maybe only when I'm desperate for ramen and there's no other choice.
:S

6 comments:

Jackie said...

What a shame - it looks pretty good! But then that's my lesson, eh? What looks good does not necessarily equal tasting good.

Jax x

Little Corner of Mine said...

Guess your first opinion of this place was justified. The picture of the first beef ramen looks good.

Joanne said...

I love how you describe everything as "not that bad". That's pretty telling, I think.

EatTravelEat said...

Aiya, soy sauce on iPhone and SC's leg and foot! How weird that would happen! Hope the iPhone doesn't still smell like soy sauce LOL. :)

I think what's really wrong with the place is just the description...they make you feel like it will be better than what it really is! Agree with the pool of oil...I simply dislike that!

Cooking Gallery said...

I am sorry that you're disappointed by the food, the pictures look good though (but well, I know they can deceive your eyes).

Unknown said...

its a shame it wasnt great... the photos of the food looks pretty good!
i guess looks can be deceiving? glad to hear that SC's phone is ok! i would have been seriously annoyed!