Fufa Life 孵化生活 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I’m meeting up with my favorite cousin for dinner tonight. This was supposed to be part of my birthday celebration, but it kept getting postponed a couple of times for various reasons.

My cousin was the one in charge of finding our dinner venue tonight, and she kept it close to her chest until last night when she finally pinged me with the address. To my surprise, it was a cafe/restaurant in my neighborhood called Fufa Life (孵化生活) that I've never heard of.

Hidden on the 1st floor of a commercial building, Fufa Life is a western-style café with a small food menu focused on salads, pasta and meat dishes. I was curious how she ended up finding this place and was told that she's been here a few times with her co-workers.

Carbonara ($188) — I’ve had a little too much celebration over the past few weeks, so we decided not to order too much food tonight. We kicked things off with a simple carbonara that was done right. The spaghetti was definitely al dente, and the sauce was clinging to the noodles perfectly. I also liked that the sauce was more savory than eggy — something a lot of local places get wrong and make overly egg-like.

Spanish suckling pig ($288) — We saw their suckling pig from the neighboring table and simply couldn't resist.

The meat here was really tender and juicy, while the crispy skin featured a blistered, crackling exterior that shattered like glass upon the first bite. Pretty nice.

It’s been a while since I last saw my cousin, so we ended up talking nonstop all night long. Little did we know, all of the other guests had already left and we were the only two left in the whole place. Needless to say, we decided we should meet and catch up more frequently in the future.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 2, 1/F, Sing Shun Centre, 495 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok

Tel: +852 9552-8199

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

Bakehouse Bakery & Restaurant Shatin (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I have a few business errands to take care of in Tai Po today, and I’m meeting up with the team for car pooling at the New Town Plaza Shopping Centre (沙田新城市廣場). With a bit of spare time left, I thought I’d pop over to Bakehouse to grab a small treat.

One of these days, I really need to sit down for a proper meal here but for now, I’ll settle for a chocolate hazelnut doughnut ($42). This was incredibly pillowy, and the generous portion of chocolate hazelnut custard left me totally stuffed well after our lunch hours. It was sooo good!

I have to admit, I hate going to this vendor’s place. A visit once a year is my absolute maximum tolerable limit. 

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 247, 2/F, New Town Plaza Phase I, 18-19 Sha Tin Centre Street, Shatin, Hong Kong

Closest Train Station: Shatin

Website: https://www.bakehouse.hk/locations#Shatin

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 9:00pm (Mon - Thu), 8:00am - 9:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Taste Four Taste 嚐 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We enjoyed a pretty leisurely afternoon today. After a light lunch at home, we ventured over to The Hong Kong Palace Museum (香港故宮文化博物館) in the West Kowloon Cultural District, for the "Ancient Egypt Unveiled" exhibition (古埃及文明大展). It was a lot of fun.

By 4:00pm, everyone was starting to feel a little hungry, so we walked back to Elements Shopping Mall for afternoon tea at Taste Four Taste (嚐).

Taste Four Taste has been my go-to place before my day trips to Shenzhen, thanks to how walkable it is from the rapid train station. I have never come with little nugget before so it was nice to formally introduce him to this place. 

Stir-fried noodles with barbecued pork (乾炒叉燒麵) ($132) — My favorite dish and it once again had that reasonably good wok hei (鑊氣).

Steamed rice noodle rolls with blended sauce (混醬腸粉) ($30) — I remember having this when I was a kid. Back then, it used to come on a metal plate, with the same kind of paper underneath the steamed rice rolls and mixed sauces. Of course, it came straight out of the steamer and was hot enough to burn my tongue. I always enjoy it for that nostalgic feeling.

I asked this guy if he enjoyed the exhibition and he reluctantly said yes. 

I have to agree that the small collection here really wasn’t comparable to the one we saw at the Louvre Museum back in 2024.

I hope little guy still remembers that one. We had a great time there with Madame Taekwondo.

Food Rating: 6.6/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 1005-1006, 1/F, Fire Zone, ELEMENTS, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Kowloon

Tel: +852 2433-7711

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