Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Kool Korean Cuisine


Food and travel guest blogger hkLifestyleGeek gives us her next scoop on restaurants around town and travel tips. Contact her at hklifestylegeek@hkfashiongeek.com

Buffet lovers should definitely check out Cafe Kool on the mezzanine floor of the Kowloon Shangri-La with its buffet extravaganza -- just at the entrance alone there is an array of tempting desserts to get your mouth watering. And towards the back there are six cooking stations as well as an area for cold appetisers that includes seafood, sashimi and a salad bar so extravaganza is definitely the word to describe the feast that is on offer.And until March 27, fans of Korean food should head there to check out pretty authentic dishes prepared by three Korean chefs for either lunch or dinner. The culinary trio are from the Korean Food Institute of the Sook-Myung Women's University so the dishes are not only tasty, but nutritional too.



The appetisers are a really good start to the meal. There's the traditional cabbage kimchi that isn't too fire-hot spicy, as well as ones made with turnips cut into perfect cubes. I like kimchi, but not when I have to drink gallons of water, but these dishes were so good that I got a second helping. Japchae, or Korean sweet potato noodles with vegetables, mushrooms and bits of beef were good too, hardly greasy.


For mains, again there's lots of choice, from bi bim bop, or mixed vegetables with rice that thankfully came in a small portion topped with bits of cooked beef that you mix together before eating. The braised short ribs were excellent too, very juicy and they simmered with carrots and turnips. There are also different types of noodles you can try in soup-based dishes prepared fresh at the Asian kitchen section.

The soups are also good -- the one with generous helpings of kelp was very nutritious in a light beef broth, while another one called "fairy hotpot" is made to order and is served in special mini silverware hotpot and is kept warm with a tea light underneath. It's mainly prepared for special occasions and you can see why. Inside the pot are uniformly sliced pieces of mushroom, fried egg with chives, fried egg whites and fish paste with walnuts.


Finally -- if your stomach isn't full by now, there are some Korean desserts to try, such as the half-moon rice cake, glutinous rice with dates and chestnuts and a rainbow rice cake that tasted more savoury than sweet.

If those don't satisfy your sweet tooth, then have a selection of the small cakes, spear marshmallows and pineapple cubes on a stick and drizzle them under the chocolate fountain, or try a selection of ice creams and sorbets -- the black sesame ice cream is delish.

Prices are a bit complicated, depending on which day you go. For lunch, Monday to Friday it's HK$238, Sat, HK$288 and Sun HK$298. For dinner, Mon-Wed is HK$438, Thu HK468, and HK$488 from Fri-Sun and public holidays.

Cafe Kool
M/F, Kowloon Shangri-La
64 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui East
2733 8753.

Cafe Koo

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