Ken's Chinese Restaurant 南軒中西美食: Chinese-Style Afternoon Tea

Sometimes, I just want to go to a Hong Kong style cafe because they're fast, affordable, yummy, and satisfying. Well, not as fast as the ones in Hong Kong....except there might be a line up for seats in Hong Kong since there's always so many people, everywhere, all the time.

Here, afternoons are usually pretty quiet for restaurants. That's why Ken's Chinese Restaurant has a special offer of 10% off starting at 2:30pm to 5pm. I ordered from their Special Set menu which comes with soup of the day and a drink. I got one of my favourites of all time... 

Baked seafood rice

Yes, that's right - baked seafood rice! Just looked at how nicely it's baked. Now let's dissect it a bit.

baked seafood rice

What's in it? Big shrimps (or are those prawns? I can't tell),  slices of fish and squid, scallops, mushrooms - all covered in melted cheese and creamy sauce. Wow, I think I just made it sound better than it tasted. But you can never go wrong with the baked seafood rice, it's like the complete package for a seafood fan.  

As a lover of thick noodles, I also chose the Shanghai Stir fried noodles. Now this was mostly noodles - it could have definitely use more meat/cabbage. 

Shanghai stir-fried noodles 上海粗炒面

Getting a set meal makes me feel complete. For soup of the day, I got to choose vegetable or creamy soup and I chose the creamy soup. Now it does not look very good and it wasn't. It was kind of watered-down. Optimistically, at least it didn't fill me up before the main dishes came.

Soup of the day - creamy soup

As for drinks, you can choose from the typical list of drinks at a Hong Kong style cafe in cold/hot:  

- Hong Kong style milk tea 港式奶茶

- Hong Kong style coffee

- Hong Kong style half coffee half tea 鴛鴦

- Hong Kong style lemon tea

- Lemon and honey 

- Almond 杏仁霜

- Ovaltine 阿華田

- Horlicks 好立克

... and the list goes on....

Hong Kong style milk tea 

Almond drink 杏仁霜

 I believed the entire bill came to less than $20. I've also heard of their late night dinner with all you can eat congee. In Cantonese, that's probably called "siu yeh" Hahaha. They're opened until 1am - perfect for those night owls! I'd loved to come by here on a late night for "siu yeh" :)

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Creamy Avocado Almost-Pesto Pasta: Simple & Yummy

Creamy Avocado Almost-Pesto Pasta

I love pasta with creamy sauce. I'm constantly trying to make my meals healthier, nutritious, and of course, easier with less prep time, which means that the food would be ready in no time! Now, this dish has all three of those elements plus more (that being extremely satisfying and yummy).

Here's what you'll need (for two):

Pasta for two (any type will be great) - I used spaghetti

A clove of garlic

Avocado

Half a lemon

Basil leaves

Salt & pepper 

Here's what I did: 

1. Boil pasta in salt water. 

2. Dice garlic into very tiny pieces.

diced garlic

3. Mash Avocado with a fork. Mix in garlic, squeeze in lemon juice, and stir in some basil leaves, depending on how much you like. I put in about 2 tablespoons of basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

Creamy avocado sauce

4. Mix avocado sauce with drained pasta. Sprinkle on some lemon zest if you wish.

Enjoy!

This was absolutely guilt-free as avocado is a superfood and contain all the 18 essential amino acids, rich in omega-3, high content of good fats, and the list goes on! So why use cream when you can have creamy avocado pasta? 

Each person is different so tweak the amount of ingredients to your tongue's liking and make yourself happy! =) 

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