Tao Tao Ju One Avenue 陶陶居 卓悦中心店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Little nugget has finally survived his exam period, so as a small celebration, we decided to bring him north of the border for an afternoon of unlimited game time.

As usual, we snuck in some dim sum lunch in between to rest our sore hands. Venue? Our favorite dim sum spot in Shenzhen — Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居).

Signature Hong Kong-style milk tea (招牌港式奶茶) (¥10) — Recently, I found that Tao Tao Ju is offering their Hong Kong-style milk tea on Dianping (大眾點評) at a discounted ¥10. Just claim your bottle there, and ask your server to scan the QR code. Save a few bucks for the rest of the meal.

Pan-fried turnip cake (香煎蘿蔔糕) (¥26) — Very nice texture as always. I wouldn’t mind a bit more preserved meat, though.

Sizzling stir-fried lettuce in clay pot (啫啫生菜煲) (¥49) — Yeah, some greens for a more balanced meal.

Barbecued pork "snowballs" (叉燒雪花球) (¥30) — The chewy glutinous rice balls were again attracting some serious attention (at least from little nugget). And no, I wasn’t letting fat boy take my piece.

Stir-fried Yunnan rice with preserved meat (招牌臘味炒雲南熊貓米) (¥58) — A new creation again. If you take away the “panda rice” gimmick, it’s basically fried rice with preserved meat. This one was just so-so. Definitely a dish we could skip next time.

Stir-fried rice rolls with beef briskets (牛腩啫珍珠腸) (¥36) — For some strange reason, this came in a much smaller bowl today, and the portion shrank accordingly. We were all joking that they probably ran out of the “normal” bowl, and that the cleaning lady was working overtime to get these ones cleaned in time.

Tao Tao Ju jumbo prawn dumpling (陶陶居大蝦餃) (¥36) — As always, very, very tasty. I even had the honor of having little nugget’s piece as he was already full. Yeah, it’s a shame this arrived as the last dish.

This guy finally got his unlimited game time today. Let's hope his exam results came back worth of his reward.

 

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address:  Shop L233, East Zone, Level 2 One Avenue, Fuhua Road, Futian, Guangzhou, China

深圳市福田区福华路卓悦中心商场东区L233号铺

Closest Metro Station: Gangxia (岗厦)

Tel: +86 (755) 8299-8870

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 9:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/39/WOi

EN Coffee Causeway Bay (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

It was a great lunch at Roganic. I have always enjoyed my dining experiences there and I think I am already missing this place!

After lunch, I spent some time strolling around the busy streets of Causeway Bay. It’s been a tough few weeks dealing with family matters and trying to resolve conflicts between different family members (including me). I’ve never been a good negotiator, and being the youngest in the family definitely doesn’t help.

While I was enjoying my quiet me time, I decided to add two coffee shops in the area to my agenda. Both are well known for their hand-drip coffee, but I was more interested in their dessert menus this afternoon.

EN Coffee (often stylized as E N) was the second café on my lineup. The moment I stepped onto their mezzanine level, I knew it was special — the place was absolutely buzzing with people of all ages. Their coffee menu includes some high-quality, artisanal specialty coffee options, and they also have enough small bites like sandwiches and a duck wrap to make the visit extra satisfying.

Basque cheesecake — I went straight to dessert with their signature basque cheesecake. It’s known for its soft, runny, almost foamy texture, so it was an easy choice for me.

I really love the fluffy, wobbly texture, but personally I'd like it to be a little more cheesy. 

The temperature was also a little off for me. It was slightly too frosty for me. I like it served closer to room temperature (if that’s possible). This reminded me a lot of the cheesecake from Mr. Cheesecake. Like a dense defrosting custard.

And that’s another basque cheesecake crossed off the list this week. I just hope I can keep up this pace — one basque cheesecake a week!

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: FShop G06, Leighton Centre, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 6628-3034

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

Cannubi Enoteca Cucina K11 Musea (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I’m back at K11 Musea for a quick lunch again this afternoon after a short meeting nearby. After my recent visit to BluHouse not too long ago, I was planning to steer clear of another Italian meal but the moment I stumbled upon Cannubi Enoteca Cucina, I realized I haven’t been back for ages.

This is the casual sister restaurant of Michelin-starred Tuber by Umberto Bombana, serving casual Italian comfort food with high-quality ingredients. I remembered having a really lovely dining experience here a few years ago.

Some piping hot sourdough bread served with olive oil. I barely ate this morning, so by this point I realized I was genuinely starving.

Seared scallops, breadcrumbs, fennel salad — My server insisted there was “nothing special” about these scallops and tried to steer me towards the warm white asparagus, which the chef obviously highly recommended. But sorry, I wanted scallops this afternoon.

And they were pretty nicely done. The two pieces were seared to golden brown colors and complemented well by a simple fennel salad and crispy breadcrumbs.

Alaskan cod, clams, seafood jus — I was torn between a pasta dish and a main (and then, of course, whether to go for meat or seafood?). In the end, I opted for the Alaskan cod in a rich, flavorful seafood jus. 

The cod itself was a little small in portion but I thought it did a wonderful job soaking up the essence of the broth.

I really didn’t like the service from my server this afternoon AT ALL. It felt very old-school, like the kind of experience you might have at some upscale Chinese restaurants.

Once I got settled, he came over and started recommending the most expensive dishes with supplements (such as white asparagus and linguine with Carabinero red prawn). And when I didn’t take his advice, he was clearly not happy about it. He was showing it on his face and never did come back to check up on me again (which was fine with me).

But of course, I wasn't going to let that little incident ruin the rest of my day.

P.S.  I’m not one of those diners who flashes cash — although even the richest mogul in town might still prefer abalone mushrooms to abalone on some days, right?

Food Rating: 6.6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 113A, 1/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2133-4903

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 12:00am daily