Explore Hong Kong with me #9-帶大家到灣仔吃泰國菜和玫瑰意大利雪糕”🌹 🍹Authentic Thai restaurant and Rose Gelato in Wan Chai

Hi Steemit friends,

Happy Friday! 🌞 As you may remember, I introduced a couple local street food stores with you last time. Thank you for your support and comments. :) Today I would like to explore Wan Chai, Givrés and Samsen, a popular Thai restaurant with you. Let begin with Samsen~ Samsen aims to serve authentic Thai Street Food with a menu focus on noodles and street food. It is run by Adam Cliff, the formerly chef at Chachawan, another popular Thai restaurant located in Sheung Wan.

Steemit的朋友大家好，週五快樂！🌞上次帶大家去尖沙咀「掃街」，收到很多朋友留言，謝謝大家的支持和鼓勵。今天想帶大家探索灣仔，人氣泰國麵店-「泰麵」和玫瑰花瓣雪糕-「Givre」。我們先從「泰麵」開始吧~ 泰麵是一間主打正宗泰國麵和路邊小食的餐廳，由Adam Cliff—「Chachawan」前主廚主導，由於位於上環的「Chachawan」很受歡迎，所以泰麵一開幕已成為熱門餐廳，我也是聽了好幾位朋友熱烈推薦，所以決定一嘗這家熱門的泰國餐廳。

Samsen is located around 8 minutes walk from Wan Chai station Exit A3. When you arrive, you will find Hong Kong Iconic "Blue House", which is listed as Grade I historic building located right next to it.

從灣仔地鐵站A3出口步行約8分鐘，我們便到達「泰麵」。它的旁邊是著名的古蹟「藍屋」，被列為香港一級歷史建築。

Blue house- The Blue House is a four-storey balcony-type building built in the 1920s. It shows architectural characteristics of both Chinese and Western styles. I guess you can tell it named from its blue color painted on its external walls.

「藍屋」在1920年落成，是一幢超過70年的戰前建築。樓高四層，是香港少數仍保有陽台的唐樓，因外牆漆上鮮豔的藍色而命名，從它的外觀，你可以知道它揉合了中西建築風格，象徵著香港的歷史和社區發展。

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We arrived at the restaurant around 7:00 but there is a long queue waiting to be seat. My friend and I decided to walk around as the receptionist told us it's going to be an hour wait. We decided to walk around in Lee Tung Street that only 5 minutes walk from the restaurant. If you want to avoid the wait, it's better check in before 6:00 as the queue start to form after 6pm and it doesn't take booking.

我們大概7:00左右到達餐廳，已經有不少人在門口等候，帶位員告訴我，等候時間大概是一小時，我們可以到附近的利東街逛逛。它們是不接受訂位，所以不想排隊等候入座的朋友，建議6:00前過來喔。

Despite the size of the dining area, with only 35-seat dining area, the restaurant is brightly lit and the high ceiling, somehow make it seem much bigger than it actually is. The restaurant is in vintage decor with unfinished concrete wall and tattered posters. The most special decor is the lion head hanging on the wall which add some uniqueness to the restaurant.

餐廳的裝潢很懷舊又帶點熱帶風味，店鋪分為上下兩層，這種間隔特色讓我想起「下鋪上居」一些家庭式經營的老舖，一樓是店面，而二樓則是住家。泰麵只有35個座位用餐區，但挑高的樓底和充足光線，令狹少的店面感覺寛敞很多。而裝飾方面，為了營造懷舊的感覺，店𥚃擺放了不少有歷史感的家具，廣告貼紙和小雜貨，而最吸晴應該是一個掛在牆上的舞獅頭。

The eye catching lion head.

Open Kitchen. Some dishes and desserts are made before your eyes~

餐廳有著開放式廚房，透過街頭的大片玻璃窗可以看到師傅在做芒果糯米飯。

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Let's see what we order today~ 我們來看看今天點了什麼

While waiting to be seated, I ordered a young cococnut. (HKD $44) They have a large range of choices for drinks, fresh fruit juices, bottled beer, fizzy drinks, iced tea, coffee and wines.

入座前我先點了個椰青，它們飲品種類很多元化，有用新鮮水果調制而成的奶昔，奶茶，咖啡，啤酒葡萄酒供客人選擇。

Starter 小食

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Fried marinated pork collar with a tomato chili dip(HKD $68)- The pork collar is perfectly fried, crispy yet tender. I love the tomato chili sauce with a varying flavours, spicy, sweet and sour that add a complexity of flavour to the pork collar.

炸豬頸肉配辣蕃茄醬（HKD$68）-豬頸肉炸得酥脆,配上它們特制的辣蕃茄醬一起吃，很不錯。

Noodles 麵食

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Wagyu beef boat noodles( HK$ 128)- A signature and most-talk-about dish of Samsen. The rich and deeply flavored soup coated with thin rice noodles and the strips of wagyu beef, braied beef chucks, meat balls taste very fresh and delicious. Pork rinds is added on top to add texture to this dish.

和牛船麵 (HKD$128)- 餐廳的招牌菜，湯頭濃郁，聽說是用牛肉和豬血熬製多個小時而成的，細細的冬粉盡收湯底的濃香，即使沒有拌著湯吃麵，也很有味道，店家還加了炸豬皮增加口感，整體來說，是一道很有風味的船麵，但用澳洲和牛來取代普通薄切牛肉好像有點多此一舉，因為濃香湯頭蓋過了不少和牛本身的肉香，如果有普通牛肉的選擇而價錢較低，我會選擇普通牛肉。

Phat Thai noodles (HK$ 118)- I enjoy the chewy texture of the rice noodles with plenty of sweet oyster sauce mixed in. It's a traditional thai dish that you can find in the small side streets of Bangkok.

Phat Thai noodles (HK$ 118)是一道傳統的泰國炒河，有點像中國的炒牛河，我很喜歡這道菜河粉的口感，很滑：P

Desserts 甜品

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Pandanus coconut dumplings in warm coconut cream (HKD$52)- The dumplings are filled with crushed nuts and shredded coconut and they taste so good with the coconut cream sauce~

混入班蘭葉的麵團包著椰糖和椰絲，浸在加了海鹽的椰奶，椰香味十足，十分推薦給喜歡椰子口味的朋友。

Young coconut ice cream topped with toasted peanuts, shaved coconut meat and sweetcorn. Highly recommended!!

這客用椰殼盛著的椰子雪糕很好吃，配以炒香的花生粒，甜粟和鮮刮椰肉，風味十足。

So was it worth lining up for?

My answer is definitely yes :P If you are looking for authentic thai food in Hong Kong, I would recommend Samsen to you although it is a bit pricy.

那麼值得排隊嗎？
我的答案肯定是值得：P如果你正在尋找在香港的正宗泰國美食，我會推薦Samsen給你，雖然它價格有點貴。

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2. Lee Tung Street 利東街

While waiting to be seated, we walk to the Lee Tung Street located just 5 minutes walk from the restaurant. Lee Tung Street is also known as Wedding Card Street which was renowned for its small businesses which published and manufactured wedding cards and related items. After redeveloping, it became a controversial area with different restaurants and cafes and given a new name "Avenue Walk"/ "Lee Tung Avenue".

等待入座時，我們步行到距離餐廳大概5分鐘的利東街。利東街，也有人稱它為喜帖街因昔日聚集了很多印刷店，以印刷喜帖著名。舊有的唐樓和印刷店已因市區重建計劃而拆缷，改建後的利東街走歐陸風情，放了不少雕塑和花草，吸引了不少特色的食肆進駐，而 Givrés是其中的一份子。

Givrés

Givrés is an artisan gelato cafe originated in London which focus on Gelato Roses and high quality Artisan Coffee. Most gelatarias have the same menu options – order by the scoop, but the gelato from Givrés is sculpted to look like a rose. The delicate "petals" are scooped using a special spatula and then layer onto a waffle cone inside-out form into an incredible blooming rose. And, with 14 different options available like vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, as well as some special options lavender, rose and Earl Grey- it's hard for girls resist such beautiful "Rose".

Givres的品牌概念源於英國倫敦，主打手工咖啡和瘋魔歐洲的玫瑰花瓣Gelato。雪糕店有14款由意大利生產商於香港新鮮制作，除了經典的香草，巧克力和草莓，更有其他獨特味道，薰衣草，玫瑰和伯爵茶味等，客人可以自由配搭自己喜歡的玫瑰花雪糕，我想無論那個年紀的女性都會被這朵"玫瑰"所吸引吧?Givre亦推出了雪糕玫瑰咖啡，也是一款人氣產品，咖啡配雪糕，又是另一種風味

Visually stunning Gelato Rose and Floating Rose.

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Samsen 泰麵

Address 地址 : G/F, 68 Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai
Business hours 營業時間: Mon-Sat 12:00-14:30 & 18:30-23:00

Givrés

Address地址: G38, G/F, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai
Business hours 營業時間: Mon-Fri 08:00-19:00
Sat-Sun 08:00-20:00

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