Monthly Archives: January 2012

Birthday Celebrations in HK

Hong Kong, Travel Adventures January 29, 2012 Comments: 40

Hello lovely readers ~ First my apologies for being a little slow at posting lately, it was my birthday two days ago and my schedule has been jam-packed with birthday dinners, cakes and lots of love :) Actually I’m still celebrating ~ have a family dinner tonight YAY!

Thank you Mr Bao ;)

I’ve had such a wonderful birthday that I wanted to share with you some of the places we went to :)

Celebrations started at the Ozone Bar on the 118th floor at The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Kowloon, which is currently Hong Kong’s tallest building. It’s supposed to give you really good view of the Victoria Harbour, but unfortunately, when we got there it was really foggy and pouring raining…so we missed out on the good view…but I was with some great friends that made up for it ~

Nice bar :)

Source: Ritz Carlton 
Drinks were approximately $130 HKD to $150HKD which is roughly $15-$20AUD plus 10% service charge :) I got the Sweet Life (Perfect name for me) which is a combination of lychee pineapple juice and tequila ~ loved it! Such a sweet combination ~

Sweet Life $130HKD ($15HKD) + 10% service charge

Then at exactly 12am! Mr Bao asked them to bring out my first birthday cake! I was ecstatic! It was a chocolate banana cake from Awfully Chocolate, a Singaporean cake shop that opened in Hong Kong a year ago ~ I’ve been waiting to try their cakes for such a long time. But never got the chance because you can only get a 6inch cake and not individual pieces from the store near us.

6 inch Chocolate Banana Cake $188HKD ($22AUD)

Please forgive the photo quality, it was really dark in the bar and I didn’t want to use the flash ~

The banana puree ~

It’s basically a 3 layer chocolate cake with banana puree in between the layers and then covered in chocolate ganache :) It was surprisingly light and wasn’t sweet at all! The cake layers were a cross between a sponge and a chiffon, so I think that’s why it was so light ~ Unfortunately, this isn’t my type of chocolate cake, I like chocolate cakes that are dense, rich and full of flavour. Don’t get me wrong, it was still very nice, just not for me :) but I understand why my Asian friends like it, because they don’t really like rich cakes ~ If you’re looking for a lighter chocolate cake, definitely try Awfully Chocolate.

The next day, Mr Bao and I got up extra early because Win Win was taking us to Ocean Park! For those who dont know Ocean Park is the local theme park in Hong Kong and the home of the Pandas’ On On, Kai Kai, Ying Ying and Lok Lok ~ Gifts from the Chinese government.

Because I’m a Hong Kong resident and its my birthday, I get free admission and Mr Bao got a ticket for half price. Tickets are usually $280HKD ($34AUD), however, there are discounts, so before you go check the specials online :)
It’s been ages since we’ve gone to Ocean Park ~ hmmm…not much has changed really…just a lot more people! And there only use to be 2 pandas and now they have 4 ~ I think I’m seriously getting old hahaha I was so scared when going on when of the rides :P  Thanks again Win Win for taking us! So much fun ~

Dinner time! Thanks to good recommendations from Sasa and HK Epicurus, we booked a table at The Press Room in Sheung Wan on the Hong Kong Island. After all that walking at Ocean Park we were hungry and ordered two set dinners for $280HKD ($34AUD), you get to choose a starter, side or entree of your choice and a main dish from 5 choices. This is their menu :)

Mr Bao ordered:

Salmon and Tuna Fish Cake

Salmon and Tuna fish cake as his starter, very nicely made! We particularly liked how the filling was so warm and creamy while the outside was so crisp ~

Lamb Shank

Then Lamb Shank for his main, Mr Bao really enjoyed it, saying it was cooked perfectly, the meat wasn’t too tough and it was a generous portion even for him hahaha :)

I ordered:

Onion Soup with a cheese top ~ DELICIOUS!

The onion soup was fantastic, especially with the cheese topping!!! It’s not the good old puff pastry!!! Instead it’s a good thick layer of cheese that’s slightly melted, simply delectable :) Gonna try doing this to my soups next time ~

Darne of Salmon

Very large piece of salmon! Quite nice :) only down fall were the asparagus which weren’t cooked…it was basically raw >_<

How could I NOT order dessert ~

Pistachio Creme Brulee $68 +10% service charge

Amazing creme brulee ~ love the pistachio flavour and the thick layer of sugar on top! Now I’m trying to replicate this recipe at home hehe will let you know if I succeed :)

That wasn’t enough! Mr Bao got me ANOTHER cake :) YAY! This time it was from Tony Wong a local patisserie, who had previously worked as the executive pastry chef for a 5 star hotel in Hong Kong. I’ve tried their cakes before and thought their mille feuille was quite good, but Mr Bao got me their Devil Coffee cake ~

Devil Cake $320HKD ($40AUD) for 1lb

Don’t worry we shared it with our other friends, and we all thought it was pretty good ~ it’s hard to get a good coffee cake and this was definitely a good coffee mousse cake, but I would’ve preferred a different cake base, it was a little soggy for my liking :)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR CELEBRATING WITH ME AND THE LOVING MESSAGES!

Ozone Bar Ritz Carlton
118/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong,
International Commerce Centre,
1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀柯士甸道西1號環球貿易廣場(ICC)
香港麗思卡爾頓酒店118樓

Awfully Chocolate
Shop G32-G33, K11,
18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館G32-G33舖 

Ocean Park
Ocean Park Rd
Aberdeen, Hong Kong

The Press Room
108 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan
上環荷里活道108號 

Tony Wong Patisserie
74 Fok Lo Tsun Road, Kowloon City
九龍城福佬村道74號

 

Big Apple – Alice Tea Cup

New York City, Reviews, Travel Adventures January 26, 2012 Comments: 23

Hello! Hope you all had a lovely Chinese New Year with family and ate lots of goodies like me ~ But after having Chinese food for 5 days straight 3 meals a day…I think I’m getting a little sick of it… that’s why I’ve decided to continue with my New York City posts :) Today, I wanted to share with you, my lovely at Alice Tea Cup  Chapter 1 in the Upper West Side. Founded by sisters Haley and Lauren Fox in 2001, it has quickly become one of the most whimsical places for both locals and tourists to have tea.

The shop front was small so it's easy to walk past

After having breakfast at the hotel for 3 days…we got a little sick of bagels, eggs and bacon hehe so I randomly did a search on cafes in the Upper West Side because we were going to the American Museum of Natural Historyafterwards. With a bit of luck, I found Alice Tea Cup Chapter 1 only 4 blocks away from the Museum ~ Perfect! So Mr Bao and I quickly put our jackets on and hailed a cab. When we got there it took us a good minute or two to find it because the shop front is pretty small, so it’s pretty easy to walk past and not know it’s there.

People enjoying tea on a Saturday morning~

Mr Bao and I walked in and it was quite busy – being 10am on a Saturday morning there were mums and daughters and people just enjoying a scone by themselves. We were so so so lucky to get a table immediately! I heard another man who walked in 5 minutes after us, that there was a 2 hour wait and if he wanted to make a reservation it’ll have to be 2 weeks in advance! As usual we were both ravenous ~ we quickly looked at the menu and chose what we wanted :)

Smoked Salmon with poached eggs on buttermilk scones $13USD

I was trying to convince Mr Bao to have the afternoon tea set with me…but he wasn’t sold by the idea hahaha he wanted ‘breakfast’, not dainty little sandwiches ~ so he got the smoked salmon with poached eggs on buttermilk scones. I tried it and thought it was pretty good, but nothing too exciting. The buttermilk scone was lovely though! Something different to have than english muffins or a piece of toast. Mr Bao also ordered a pot of peppermint tea which he really liked, while I thought it was a little too peppery for me.

Morning Tea Set with a pot of Tea $22USD

To satisfy my desire to have a 3 tier set, I ordered the morning tea which was served on a 3 tier stand YAY! I think it’s a pretty good deal because for $22, I got a scone of my choice (I got lemon and blueberry), 2 poached eggs and their famous Alice’s vanilla tea infused granola with vanilla yoghurt and a pot of tea of my choice! Not bad eh? :D  I really enjoyed the granola it was so crunchy and sweet! I’m sure a bore…for my pot of tea I just ordered English Breakfast because I’m not really familiar with all the different types of tea they had to offer ~

Lemon and Blueberry scone

But I have to give my hand down to the lemon and blueberry scone! It was probably the most amazing scone I have had for a long long time. I don’t know if it’s because I am a picky scone eater…but I usually find scones to be either too dry or a mouthful of baking soda! But the scones at Alice Tea Cup were P-E-R-F-E-C-T! I was so obsessed with these scones that I bought the Alice Tea Cup cook book ~ you can find it on Amazon for approximately $16 USD. Source: AmazonI was too full if not I would’ve tried all the other goodies they had to offer!

Scones in various flavours - One for $3.5USD

I WANT the Red Velvet cupcake >_<

If you like tea, scones and cake – Alice Tea Cup is a MUST GO when visiting New York City!

Alice's Tea Cup Chapter I on Urbanspoon

They also have 2 more stores Alice Tea Cup Chapter 2 and 3 :)

Happy CNY – Food Galore

Hong Kong January 23, 2012 Comments: 41

Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Hay Fat Choi (恭喜發財) to everyone who celebrates Chinese New Year (CNY)!!!

To be honest, I’m not really a big fan of CNY – there’s just too many traditions and customs we have to follow for instance:

- On the 28th day of the last month (初二十八） you’re supposed to clean the whole house in preparation for the new year
- Anonymous Sis  even bought us some bamboo leaves that we’re supposed to use when we shower to help us wash the ‘bad’ things away
- On the first day of the new year (大年初一）you’re not supposed to wash your hair or throw away any rubbish because if you do you’ll be getting rid of all the good luck ~
- Then the worse is having to scream out four letter phrases to wish your family and relatives a very prosperous New Year e.g. Bu Bu Gao Sheng (步步高升) which means you hope that person will be promoted in the new year ~ It’s particularly difficult for me when I don’t really know the phrases that well >_<

Hope i break my record this year :P

But I do love ONE tradition lol and that would be receiving RED POCKETS or what we call Lay See in Cantonese :) so basically a red envelope with money inside ~ It’s one of my main sources of income!

Another thing I like about CNY is the food! It’s basically a massive Food Galore, where we just spend our time eating all day long! These are some of the dishes we had last night ~

I also adore turnip cakes (蘿白糕）and water chestnut cakes （馬蹄糕) that we eat during CNY ~ my brother-in-law can eat a whole cake by himself!

Love turnip cake ~ Thank Win Win

We also have a slightly strange tradition in my family because we eat Zong Zi (粽子) for CNY, I think it’s because my Dad’s family originated from the Northern side of China and it’s a tradition there. Zong Zi’s are glutinous rice with a filling and then wrapped in bamboo leaves :) Zong zi’s are usually eaten during Dragon Boat Festival  but somehow, it’s been a long standing tradition in my family.

Delicious Zong Zi :)

The zong zi’s we eat at home are  called Jia Hu Zong Zi (嘉湖粽子) these are zong zi’s are amazing, with a piece of pork and salted duck eggs on each side of the zong zi :)

And it’s so rare that we get to eat these zong zi because we have to order them through this special shop and its quite expensive too $34HKD ($4.30AUD) for one little zong zi ~ but it’s so so so worth it! For those in HK I’ve also included the name and number of the place where you can order these zong zi from.

I was wondering do you celebrate CNY? And if you do what are the traditional and special foods you eat? :)

Hope we all have a wonderful DRAGON year!

嘉湖 (Jia Hu) Zong Zi Shop 
石硤尾南山邨南豐樓104號地下
Ph: 2779 1153 

Sugar High – Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

New York City, Reviews, Travel Adventures January 21, 2012 Comments: 23

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome :) Even though I miss NYC  it’s lovely to be back and continue blogging! I was getting an itch and wanted to blog so much when I was there ~

Now to my second post, once again I was really torn between all the fabulous places we visited and I know Mr Bao isn’t going to agree with this, but I decided to my second post will be about the AMAZING caramel apple I bought at – Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in the Jersey Garden Outlets. Very briefly Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is an all American and old-fashioned candy and chocolate store with locations all around America :) good news for those who aren’t in New York ~

Conveniently located near the entrance :)

We got to the Jersey Garden Outlet pretty early, at around 10:15am (they opened at 10am), we didn’t want to waste any shopping time ~ But Rocky Mountain wasn’t open then, so we did our shopping and just before we were going to leave…I quickly dashed into the store to check it out and that was probably one of the best decisions I made throughout the whole trip.

Why? Well prepare yourself! Because I am now going to take you to my heaven :)

Variety of candy and caramel apples!

Sorry if that sounds a little exaggerated, but I’m still reminiscing over the candy apples! Just look at them! All the different types of candy and caramel apples you can think of! There was one covered in mini M&Ms, a Rocky Road one and even an Apple Pie candy apple!

S'mores Caramel Apple $6.95USD

I regret not trying this caramel apple :( just in case you can’t read the description – this was a Granny Smith apple dipped in caramel , then rolled in white confection (I assume icing sugar) then rolled in chocolate chips, mini marshmallows then finished with graham crackers. My mouth is watering SO SO SO badly right now!

Ultimate Apple $6.95USD and Candy Apple $3USD

We were all pretty tired from shopping so I quickly asked the shop assistant (who wasn’t very nice) what their signature apple was and she suggested that ‘Ultimate Apple’ oh boy it was so delectable! It’s basically a Granny Smith apple dipped in caramel sauce, rolled in crushed pecans, then rolled in crushed Oreos and finished off with icing sugar drizzled all over it! It was one of the most PLEASURABLE things I have eaten in such a long time!

I know most of you must think this is sickeningly sweet… but honestly it wasn’t that bad because the tartness of the Granny Smith really balanced it out ~ but then…don’t take my word for it I’m immune to sugar ~

WARNING - Very hard to bite into it ~

I also got the traditional candy apple, be warned though the toffee was really hard and it took me a good minute or two to bite into it :) It was much easier to eat the Ultimate apple because the caramel dipping was still soft when I ate it.

Mr Bao didn’t even try the Ultimate! He said it just too sweet and that it made him sick just looking and thinking about the caramel sauce hahaha

They also have an array of chocolate, barks, chocolate dipped marshmallows in their cabinets ~

Chocolate cabinet

I bought Mr Bao a dark chocolate dipped marshmallow, but unfortunately he said there wasn’t anything special to it. Doesn’t matter, as long as I have my Ultimate Apple I’m happy :) I went a little crazy and had the candy apple for breakfast, hence, I was on a sugar high all day long ~

I very politely demand you find a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory when you go to America next time! You’ll be in heaven like me! And for anyone going to New York definitely go to the Jersey Garden outlets! Mr Bao and I shopped so much, everything was on sale and a bargain to buy!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
Jersey Gardens
651 Kapkowski Road
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Ph: +1 (908) 352-2460 

For other locations please visit their website.

I Heart NYC – Shake Shack

New York City, Reviews, Travel Adventures January 19, 2012 Comments: 25

Hello my lovely readers :) I’m BACK! My short but sweet visit to NYC has finally ended and Mr Bao and I and arrived at 5:30am, I’m still pretty jet lagged so I’m not too sure if it’s today or yesterday . Nonetheless I’m home and feeling quite perplexed because even though it’s nice to be back with family and out of the cold…I wish we had more time to explore the city ~

Times Square ~ 5 min walk from our hotel

In a nutshell, Mr Bao and I had the MOST amazing time in New York! We ate, drank and shopped so much it was crazy! We were basically having 5 meals a day and both came back with 2 full suitcases filled with new clothes, accessories and other bits and pieces that we bought! It was great that our hotel was situated right next to Times Square and only took a quick 5 minute walk for us to get the centre.

View of Manhattan from Brooklyn

Thanks to our Big Apple Greeter Julie (a free touring service) who took us over to Brooklyn, we got the chance to look at Manhattan from the other side and it was stunning! I’ve seen pictures of Manhattan before, but it wasn’t until I saw for myself…that I realised it was so pretty and well organised, with the different areas lying nicely next to each other. The night view from the Empire State building was even better ~

View from the Empire State Building

I have so much that I’d love to share with you :) but after long chat with Mr Bao and little reassurance from Ms Piggy, I decided to dedicate my first NYC post to the one and only ‘SHAKE SHACK‘. So many bloggers have recommended Shake Shackand now I know why ~ although Shake Shack has been well blogged about, I couldn’t think of anything better and more addictive than the Shack burger!

Shake Shack Theatre District location

Not only were we 5 minutes away from Times Square, it was only a 3 minute walk to Shake Shack in the theatre district :) I had originally planned to go to Shake Shack on the first day …but I chose to go to Momofuku Ssam bar first because that was further away :)

So hard to find a table

Eventually on the third day we finally made it to Shake Shack for lunch! When we got there the line was crazily long, yet it was only 11:30am and I didn’t expect it to already be so busy. I got Mr Bao to wait in line, while I was on the hunt for an empty table :) after a good 15 minutes, I finally found us a table by the window and Mr Bao had come back to the table with a cute ‘buzzer’.

Shake Shack Buzzer *cute*

We were famished, the 10 minute wait seemed so much longer… *brrrrr brrrrr brrrrr* the buzzer finally went off YAY!

Double Shack Burger $7USD, Cheeseburger $6.50USD and French Fries $2.65USD

Mr Bao got the Double Shack which is hamburger with two patties and double the cheese, while I got the cheeseburger. I don’t think I can tell you which one was better… because they were both SO DAMN good :)

I swear these are the MOST delicious burgers I have ever had in my whole entire life! I never want to have a burger from Maccas or anywhere else! The patty was so flavoursome and with melted cheese, the right amount of lettuce and tomato I was literally in heaven! Oh and the bun was so light and fluffy :) Usually when I have a burger I tend to pull it apart, but I didn’t have to do that for the Shack burgers! I just wanted to have another one!

Black and white shake $5 USD

Best drink to go with burgers? It’ll have to be a rich, sweet and thick Black and White shake :) which is basically and vanilla and chocolate thick shake!

I don’t want to think about the calories and the consequences of having these burgers because it was ALL worth it!

A MUST MUST MUST when you go to NYC :)

Shake Shack (Theater District) on Urbanspoon

I also want to say a MASSIVE thank you to my dear friends Mary and Kalvin who picked us up from the airport, took us around and made our trip so enjoyable! Miss you guys xox

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