Five Guys K11 Musea (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I had a long wait at the dentist's office so by the time I finished getting my tooth fixed, my family was already finishing up their lunch at K11 Musea.



Poor me had to get myself some take-away food for lunch. Hot dog and shake, sounds good to me!

I was pretty happy with my meal at Five Guys last time so I went back for more this afternoon. Wasn't all that hungry to begin with so an all-beef hot dog and peanut butter shake should be enough to get the job done.



Like their freshly made burgers, these hot dogs also come with unlimited toppings! I ended up getting myself some lettuce, tomato, mayo.....I think that's good enough.



The highlight of the meal is of course the super-fudgy peanut butter shake.



This is like having a really thick Cantonese Peanut Sweet Soup (花生糊)...



Very creamy! My little nugget also got into the act and he wanted his own shake too...



Since the Novel Coronavirus outbreak has started, this guy hasn't been out much except for a couple of outings at the West Kowloon Cultural District and his daily visit to the nearby park. Needless to say, he's all geared up for this rare visit to the mall. 

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 301B-302, 3/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3618-9122
Website: www.fiveguys.com.hk
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Cinnabon (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Cinnabon used to be a pretty big deal when we were studying in Vancouver. The brand started off by a father-and-son team in Seattle back in 1985 (now moved to Georgia) and due to its proximity to Vancouver, we were treated to their delicious cinnamon buns fast and often. It has more than 1,500 stores in more than 50 countries now including Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore.

My buddy, Master c fu absolutely loves their cinnamon buns and after we moved back to Hong Kong, we always wonder why the city didn't have an outlet. Bangkok slowly became our only source for Cinnabon's world famous cinnamon rolls.

We have been hearing about Cinnabon opening in Hong Kong for months and finally, it's happening. Despite the Coronavirus coming on strong the last couple of weeks, it didn't stop the crowd from showing up to get a slice of heaven.



This definitely ain't cheap. Almost 50 bucks for a Caramel PecanBon!



They come in a box like this, like a McDonald Angus Beef burger.



ChocoBon ($42) - A plain cinnamon bun with chocolate. There's a bit of brownie batter there making the soft bun a little more chewy. 



But the whole thing was way too sweet and rich for my liking. Maybe I'm getting older now so I look out for what I eat more these days. And this overly sweet stuff doesn't go into my good books anymore. 



Caramel PecanBon ($46) - This came with smooth caramel frosting and sprinkle of roasted pecans.



I like this one a lot more than the ChocoBon (of cuz it helps that I'm such a caramel freak). It has the same level of sweetness but the pecan helped to balance it out a little.



Surprisingly, it tasted a little like Chinese sweet crispies (馬仔) but without the crispiness.

It was interesting to note that they chose Olympian City over Central or Tsim Sha Tsui for their first-ever outlet. I guess the high-sky rent had a lot to do with it.



Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop G06, G/F, Olympian City 2, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Olympic
Website: www.cinnabon.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm daily

Make that third straight week at West Kowloon Art Park

We're meeting some friends at the West Kowloon Art Park for picnic this afternoon. It's our third week in a roll here and based on how much my little nugget's loving it, I can tell we will be here again for the coming weeks until well, the foreseeable future.



The weather is great today but comparing to the previous two weeks, there's been an uptick in visitors here. The majority of them are with kids and we all know the reason why (cuz we are supposed to stay away from the mall and crowded areas, especially when we're with kids). 



As usual, little guy keeps running around with our kids until his battery runs out...



This is what the government calls "extremely high risks"!!! Social gathering like this should be avoided but then we're all superheros here.....

Address: West Kowloon Cultural District, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2200-0217
Opening Hours: 6:00am - 11:00pm daily

Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel 當文歷餅店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We are going back to Dang Wen Li (當文歷餅店) for the third time this afternoon. As Jelloman and I have expected, it's a much smaller crowd this time around because of the recent Coronavirus outbreak.



For the first time, I got their neon-lit milk pantry all by myself. Time for a few selfies!



We got the Lemon Juice Box and Pineapple Bun out of the way on our last visit but there are still a few others that require our attention today.



Fish Balls (魚蛋) ($68) - Chef Ansel's chewy mochi "fish balls" torched to order until they were caramelized.



This was filled with homemade red bean paste and ice-cream in the middle.



I have to admit, I underestimated these mochi fish balls. They tasted so much better than I thought they would. The glutinous rice-like texture and crispy crust were quite the perfect match with the red bean ice-cream. I love this one~



Egg Roll Egg Tart (蛋卷蛋撻) ($38) - The egg tart with its silky custard centre, was wrapped with a hand-rolled egg roll tuile crust. It actually tasted a bit like a Portuguese custard tart. Not bad but definitely not that special comparing to the other creations.



Har Gow (蝦餃) ($69) - That left us with just two more to go, shrimp dumpling (Har Gow) and pork dumpling (Siu Mai). I was impressed with the remarkably cute presentation of the Har Gow. What a striking resemblance to a real steamed shrimp dumpling!



Concealed inside the "shrimp dumpling" was rose and strawberry jam, paired nicely with a soft and delicate peach mousse. There were also almond biscuit and white chocolate crust there to provide some contrasting texture but I thought it failed to deliver a balance of flavors with the whole thing tilted on the acidic side.



Siu Mai (燒賣) ($69) - Again very lovely presentation. Very detail-oriented as they didn't miss the "crab roes" on top.



The timeless combination of chocolate and pear strikes again! Flourless chocolate biscuit, milk chocolate mousse, chocolate feuilletine crunchies and white chocolate glaze with a pear jelly centre. I won't mind a bit of caramel too but this was almost perfect. In my opinion, a tad better than the Har Gow.



I still hope Chef Ansel would start selling his patented cronut here at some point. Perhaps incorporating some local flavors like chilled sago cream, pomelo and mango (楊枝甘露) and black glutinous rice with coconut milk (椰汁紫米露). That would be nice.



Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OT G63A, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2613-8618
Website: www.dangwenli.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm daily

Shake Shack Elements (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

For the second straight week, we are going back to West Kowloon Cultural District and its Art Park to spend an afternoon without face mask.



The kids are obviously loving it. They have been largely stranded at home these days and a date in the outdoor serves them just fine. My little one also brought his bike with him so he could cruise around the tracks while admiring the amazing harbour view all in one go.



Like little nugget, I came well prepared too. I got myself some take-away food from Shake Shack at the Elements Mall before we walked over to the harbour-side park. I heard it's a brand new opening but timing probably couldn't get any worse. 



SmokeShack ($62) - My second time having the SmokeShack and this was again pretty good. This time, I went with a single-decker so just a single beef patty with cheese, applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry pepper and their patented ShackSauce. My only complaint was the ShackSauce being a little too heavy-handed with spices. I had a hard time tasting the natural flavors of the patty.



Chick'n Shack ($56) - I was madly in love with their Chick'n Shack when I had it last time. The crispy chicken breast was so yummy and it didn't hurt to have crisp lettuce, pickles and creamy buttermilk herb mayo to go along with it.



The only problem - The crispy batter was no longer crispy after the burger sat in the bag for an extra 10 to 15 minutes. This one's on me.



Milk tea shake ($42) - I got myself a cup of milk tea shake as usual. Little nugget also wanted something frosty so I got him a vanilla shake.



Finally, some Me-Time to enjoy my milk tea shake with this unobstructed view of the harbour in the backdrop. That's priceless. 



The talks surrounding my peer groups these days are always about "how long this Coronavirus outbreak would last". As a pessimist, I'm guessing it's only going to get worse but for the time being, I am just going to enjoy my shake while laying on the grass. Hopefully, little nugget doesn't smash his bike all over my body while I'm down and out.







Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 1005-1006, 1/F Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2719-8282
Website: www.shakeshack.com.hk
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily

Flipper's at i.t blue block Hysan Place (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I have a couple of things to handle in Causeway Bay this morning but one thing got held up a bit so suddenly, I got myself an hour of spare time. Without hesitation, I ventured over to Hysan Place to check out Flipper's at I.T. blue block.



I've been here a zillion times before but was never successful in securing a table. Not this time though as the place was only half full in the wake of the epidemic.



They are doing a seasonal souffle pancake featuring pistachio and berry. I'm a sucker for pistachio but pistachio with berry?



To make sure that I won't have direct or close contact with anyone, I got myself a corner table.



This is a very busy dish. Apart from the souffle pancakes, there're also fresh berries, marshmallow, vanilla ice-cream and pistachio cream.



Once I poured the berry sauce in, the marshmallow and vanilla ice-cream disappeared in a hurry leaving just the pistachio cream on top of the pancakes.



Frankly speaking, this was a weird dish for the taste buds. The pistachio cream was overwhelmingly sweet; yet the berry sauce had so much acidity to it. Won't say the balance of flavors was the greatest.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 6/F Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay
Tel: +852 2367-2133
Website: app.ithk.com/sit/itblueblock
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:30pm (Tue - Sun), 12:00am - 12:00am (Mon)

Le Salon De Thé de Joël Robuchon, IFC (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We needed a second dessert for tonight and after getting my first at Lady M, I started circling around a number of dessert places in IFC including Dalloyau but ended up picking Le Salon De Thé de Joël Robuchon at the very end.

Why? Because they have a special Valentine's Day cake (small one) and there's only one left.

Raspberry and white cheese mousse cake ($68) - It doesn't look as nice without the cupid on top but.....

Any heart-shaped dessert would be perfect for Valentine's Day and this was no exception.

You can tell this is very very light.



Underneath the raspberry glaze was delicate and velvety white cheese mousse with a centre of raspberry compote. The balance of sweetness and acidity was right on the money and as expected, it was very light almost like cream cheese.

We have not had dessert from two different places for a long time so it was a nice Valentine's Day surprise for Jelloman. It's not the most exciting Valentine's Day celebration ever but I hope she's happy with the overall arrangement today.



Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop 2045A, 2/F, IFC, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong Station
Tel: +852 2234-7422
Website: www.robuchon.hk/le-salon-de-the-ifc-mall
Opening Hours: 8:00am - 10:00pm daily