Chill Vietnam Cuisine and Bar (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The Queen of News is back in town! A few months ago, we already settled on a day to catch up and the only thing left was deciding where to meet.

And last week while I was still in Osaka, we finally nailed down the venue. It was my neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant, Chill Vietnam Cuisine and Bar at D2 Place.

Vietnamese platter (越式拼盤) — This came with chicken wings marinated in lemongrass, Vietnamese-style spring rolls, and rice rolls. We each had a piece of the trio, and it was just a great way to kick things off.

Fried soft shell crab with salt and pepper (椒鹽炒軟殼蟹) — At first, we thought there weren’t many fried soft shell crabs hidden under all that salt and pepper. But after digging in a bit more, we found quite a few of these babies. They were cooked like soft shell crab tempura, with an extra kick from the pepper.

Fried rice noodles with pork neck and bay leaf chili paste (香葉辣椒膏豬頸肉炒河) — We asked our server to tone down the spiciness, but even with that note, it still came with a pretty strong kick. It was still pretty tasty and of course, we love the wok hei from the rice noodles.

A cold drink to cope with the spicy dishes.

It was always nice to see my friend back for the summer. We always seem to have endless topics to talk about, and the best news was hearing that she might actually come back here to work. Hong Kong has lost so many talented people over the years, so it'll be amazing to get some of them back.

Food Rating: 6.1/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 301, 3/F, D2 Place ONE, 9 Cheung Yee Street, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok

Tel: +852 2858-8606

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:00pm daily

Bills Osaka Station (Osaka JAPAN) ★★★★☆

It was supposed to be our afternoon tea session, but we lost a couple of guys to shopping, and another couple simply decided to grab a seat at LUCUA instead of sitting down for food. I guess we all had too much to eat on this trip.



So rather than finding a table for the whole village, it’ll just be me and little nugget.

Our destination was Bills Osaka, a popular all-day dining restaurant that originated in Sydney, Australia, and now has branches across Japan and Seoul. This location is on the 7th floor of LUCUA 1100, which is directly connected to JR Osaka Station.

I always enjoy dining at Bills, especially their breakfast plates. But their modern, chic decor and friendly service also play a huge part in why I keep coming back.

Black sesame and vanilla shake — Velvety and packed with rich vanilla flavor, but a tad too sweet for me.

This guy didn't think so...

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 7/F LUCUA 1100, 3-1-3 Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0001, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Umeda 

Tel: +81 (0)50-3155-1472

Website: https://www.billsjapan.com/jp/locations/osaka-station

Opening Hours: 8:30am - 10:00pm daily

Ben's Cookies Shinsaibashi (Osaka, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

One of the reasons we kept coming back to Shinsaibashi for during our stay in Osaka was the familiarity of the names — everything from Mugi to Tori (麥×鷄) to Krispy Kreme and the next place, Ben’s Cookies.

The cookie display and that sweet, buttery aroma always made it impossible for me to walk past the shop without going in.

In the end, I treated myself to two cookies for my afternoon snacks.

One important fact about enjoying Ben’s Cookies is that you really have to eat them fresh (pretty much true for any freshly baked cookie).

What set these apart from the competitors was the thick, soft, gooey center, packed with large, melting chunks of chocolate. The Double Chocolate cookie was the best way to experience those massive chocolate pieces — because they basically pool inside the cookie.

My other favorite is the White Chocolate cookie, preferably with macadamia nuts. Unfortunately, only the one without the nuts was available this afternoon.

Again, it came with an incredibly light texture and almost too wobbly to hold up.

I thought I made the right choice to enjoy these before meeting up with the team so this way, I didn't have to hide them from little nugget who's a fan of Ben's Cookies too. 😆😆

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 2-2-21 Shinsaibashisuji, Chuo-ku, Osaka, 542-0085 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shinsaibashi 

Tel: +81 (0)6 6755-8875

Website: https://www.benscookies-jp.com/

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 9:00pm daily