My Second-ever football game at Kai Tak Stadium

Thanks to our good friends, for the second year in a row, we’ve been given tickets to a live football match at Kai Tak Stadium. This time around, the seats were even better.

Tonight’s match was a duel between Chelsea and Juventus. I only knew a handful of players from both squads, and honestly for me, it wasn’t really about the teams or the scoreline. It was about the incredible atmosphere. Sitting 10 rows up from the pitch, surrounded by 40,000+ others, the whole experience was electric.

I’ve never watched a football game this close. The only thing I’ve experienced which was remotely similar was attending ice hockey games — something I’ve done quite a few times. But this was different. At this distance, the game seemed to move in slow motion. You don’t get those wide, TV-style angles, but you do get to see the players’ reactions up close and their subtle movements, and the tension you can’t quite capture on screen. 

I guess that’s why these tickets cost so much.

Little nugget was my companion tonight, and he was super hyped. He started off a little nervous — no idea why, because he wasn’t the one on the pitch battling for the possession of the ball. So why the butterflies? 

But once the game got going, he was fully into it.

As a world-class city, Hong Kong deserves a world-class sporting facility like Kai Tak.

Fine Foods (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It’s been a while since I last visited Fine Foods at the Royal Garden Hotel in East Tsim Sha Tsui. After getting my ramen fix at Nadaman, I thought the popular cake shop would be a convenient stop before heading home to get some work done.

I spotted some familiar creations from my previous visits years ago, but I made it clear to myself that I wanted to try some new flavors this afternoon.

Rose, watermelon, strawberry & Earl Grey ($68) — It isn’t the first time a cake shop has attempted the idea of a rose–watermelon–strawberry cake without following the mold of the patented Black Star recipe, and it won’t be the last.

The varying textures of the rose, watermelon, and strawberry weren’t bad, and the introduction of Earl Grey tea was a nice touch. However, the design — everything hidden inside a chocolate hemisphere (meant to be half of a watermelon) — made the dessert much less enjoyable to eat. 

Even with my best attempt to break the chocolate crust apart, the watermelon slice still got in the way.

Pandan mango sticky rice ($64) — Much better than the previous dessert.

It had all the elements of a solid Thai-style mango sticky rice: mango, glutinous rice with a mochi-like chew, and the pandan sponge neatly combining everything into a pillowy cake. While the execution wasn’t exactly perfect, the balance of flavors and the mix of textures were enough to excite even the ordinary palate.

This was definitely a long overdue visit. While I still enjoy the consistently stable quality of Fine Foods’ pastries, a few smaller French patisseries—such as Finesse Patisserie, Relive Patisserie, among others have already quietly overtaken Fine Foods on my short list.

Food Rating: 6.4/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Lobby Level, The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2733-2045
Website: theroyalgardenhotel.com.hk/index.asp

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily

Ramen Ginza Onodera Pop-Up at Nadaman (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Ramen Ginza Onodera (麺 銀座おのでら) is an acclaimed ramen brand from Tokyo’s Onodera Group, celebrated for its French-influenced approach to traditional Japanese ramen. Their menus are conceptualized by Executive Chef Keiichi Terada. They’ve just recently launched an exclusive 5-month collaboration, running from July 31 through the end of the year at Nadaman (灘萬日本料理) Kowloon Shangri-La (九龍香格里拉).

The pop-up is hosted in one of Nadaman’s newly renovated private dining rooms, which has been transformed into a sleek, dedicated ramen haven.

The restaurant prepares signature recipes on-site using noodles and a complex chicken broth that’s shipped directly from Japan.

Their ramen is offered in Shoyu (soy sauce), Shio (salt), and spicy broth styles. Each bowl is generously topped with slow-cooked pork chashu (煙豚肉叉燒), tender roasted duck chashu (燒鴨叉燒), and an ajitama egg. Lately I’ve been especially hooked on shoyu ramen, so I knew exactly what I wanted — Special Soy Sauce Ramen ($148).

The broth was surprisingly light in volume, yet still rich and packed with deep poultry flavor.

True to its French fine-dining lineage, each bowl is served with a small side of homemade herb butter. Diners are told to enjoy the clean, pure flavor of the broth first then sink the herb butter into the soup midway through. That creates a richer, creamier transformation without losing the essence of the original base.

The bamboo shoot was thick-cut and juicy.

The seasoned soft-boiled egg was spot on, and even the presentation looked perfect.

The smoked pork char siu (煙豚肉叉燒) was tender, and slightly chewy in a good way with subtle smokiness

The grilled duck char siu (燒鴨叉燒) was succulent with a deep gamey duck flavor. It tasted a little better than the pork char siu but that's coming from a grilled duck lover.

My only complaint was the noodles: they didn’t absorb the broth’s essence as well as I expected.

I didn't get the chance to try their truffle pork wontons and mini charsiu rice bowl, both of which are supposed to be famous. I guess those will have to be my next mission.

Food Rating: 6.6/10

Price: $$$

Address: Nadaman Japanese Restaurant, Kowloon Shangri-La, Lower Level II, 64 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2733-8751

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm daily