Lucky Star 池記幸運星 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

This aging thing is really catching up to me the last couple of years and I am not at all happy about it (who would?). And it's not just the psychological side that's difficult to deal with; the physical side of aging is actually the one that's giving me more worrying signs of late.

After turning down my doctor's request for nearly 3 years, I finally gave in. The good thing was, I only needed to spend one night at the hospital and by noon time, I was already given the green light to check myself out. Since I haven't eaten for more than 12 hours, I thought it's time to fill the tank at one of my favorite local restaurants, Lucky Star (池記幸運星), which was just a 5-minute walk from the hospital (of cuz I was walking really fast).



I was feeling a little woozy after not having anything to eat for more than 15 hours (plus the medication I took); so the moment I saw these landed on my table, I jumped all over them. Yeah, I could use all of that caffeine to get me thru the afternoon.

A freshly baked pineapple bun with a thick slab of butter. A must around here. Of course after spending a night at the hospital, I felt a little guilty just looking at the size of that butter; so I voluntarily took half of it off to feel better about it. Yeah baby, this was so good. 

I thought I ordered the breakfast "bread set" so didn't realize there was the noodle with marinated beef and fried egg that came along with it. On a typical day, it would be too much for my first meal of the day but I guess not today.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 1-3 Pak Sha Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2886-1683

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 11:00pm daily

Baba Nyonya Restaurant 峇峇娘惹 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

These days, we are all desperate for a good laksa or kaya toast thanks to our addiction to Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus (捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳). We knew we couldn't go there everyday so we figured we have to find ourselves alternatives.

Baba Nyonya Restaurant (峇峇娘惹), a Malaysian Asian restaurant chain, has 5 different locations in the city. This one located at Amoy Plaza was the one we decided to visit over the weekend.

Teh tarik (南洋奶茶) – No surprise that we were starting things off with an iced Malay pulled tea. A pretty nice start. 

Noodle soup with lemongrass chicken wings (香茅雞翼雞湯河粉) – Little nugget was starving and he got his wish of a warm bowl of noodle soup. Came with his beloved chicken wings too.

Beef Rendang (巴東牛肉飯) – It's been a while since I last had Beef Rendang. This was just OK but the beef was a bit tough; and that's always bad news.

Char kway teow with prawns (蝦球炒貴刁) – I was surprised to find an authentic Penang-style char kway teow here. It looked (and tasted) as if the dish has been sitting on the wok for a while but the flavors were all there. Very authentic. Just the temperature wasn't right (and definitely not made to order).

Pandan kaya butter toast (斑蘭咖央鮮油多士) – Jelloman was always the one with attention to details. She immediately spotted that the kaya butter toast came with no butter and we had to send it back.

We have very high standard for our kaya toast and I'm afraid these just won't make the cut. Not nearly enough.

I thought the flavors were more or less right on so I won't blame it on the authenticity; just that the ingredients weren't the best ones from the market and the execution was slightly off (i.e. that lukewarm char kway teow). It might not be such a bad choice if we are really really desperate. 

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$

Address: Shop G234-237, G/F, Phase 1, Amoy Plaza, 77 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Bay

Tel: +852 3467-7894

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 11:00pm daily

Kai Kai Dessert 佳佳甜品 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

There were a number of restaurants that I was unable to visit during the pandemic 😷. Not that they were closed or anything but I thought I should avoid as much as possible due to various reasons. Kai Kai Dessert (佳佳甜品) was one of them (and you could add Australian Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 to that list too) but with things looking much under control these days, I’m letting my guard down a little.

This place used to be so full of tourists and locals: but now just some die-hard local fans left. It will take a while to have our tourists back.

I am getting my favorite black sesame soup (芝麻糊), wait or their delicate walnut soup (核桃糊). Well, I am too lazy to pick so let’s get a blend of both sweet soup 😋.

The black sesame soup was really creamy and nutty (with some bitterness), and there was the extra nuttiness from the walnut soup. Perfect harmony!

I have said this before, the bite-sized sweet dumplings here really rock! Look at the filling underneath the paper-thin wrapper, it was bursting with the intense flavors from the black sesame paste. So nice~

I remembered this being a little cheaper but it's now a whopping $40, enough to buy a decent lunch in Jordan.

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: 29 Ning Po Street, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Jordan
Tel: +852 2384-3862
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:30am daily

Glory Cafe Mongkok 光榮冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

When it comes to cha chaan teng (local tea restaurant), I'm a pretty old school guy. I don't really need a ton of variety. I'm okay going to the same place (as long as they have a good pantyhose milk tea) and the location is convenient enough with decent hyigene. 

So all these years (or months) that I've heard of Glory Cafe (光榮冰室), I have never bothered to check them out of my list. I knew they've got a branch in Mongkok pretty near my physio. And since I have another 50 something odds of cha chaan tengs I needed to visit before reaching my self-imposed target of 100 in 2021, I figured I should give them at least a try.

The first test passed in flying colors. The iced pantyhose milk tea was a little stronger than what I've preferred but it's milky enough that there's a good balance. 

Not exactly the greatest presentation. I could see the wheels were about to fall off from here.

I was given the little package of seasoning powder along with the sesame oil so I could do it on my own. Fair play as the waiting staff were all busy taking care of things left and right. I am sure the same goes for the kitchen staff too (I thought the grilled chicken chop was pretty slick.). 

Food Rating: 3/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 12-13, G/F, Hung Wai Building, 3-5 Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Mong Kok

Tel: +852 2511-1177

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 2:00am daily

Carbone (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I have been feeling a little nostalgic these days and I'm having a hard time getting some of these restaurants, old favorites of mine off my mind. So, I figured perhaps it's time to do a tour on some of the forgotten restaurants this month. Carbone is really not on top of that list but it's definitely on my top 20 and the fact that I haven't visited them since 2015 prompted me to start my tour with them.

Carbone is still one of the most popular restaurants in Central despite the pandemic. The Italian-American restaurant remains buzzing in late afternoon and I was just happy to find myself a table near the restaurant entrance (without advance booking).

Salami – Some welcoming bites from the kitchen, first some salami.

Not bad.

Garlic bread – Really crunchy with an extra kick of spiciness.

Fettuccine with porcini, Pecorino, Nepitella – There was a little drama when I was placing my order this afternoon. I was curious why I wasn't offered the "Set lunch menu" so I raised this to my server's attention (trust me, I was very polite when I asked). But the response, at least the tone of it, was really rude. I still recalled my server raising her voice and said it as if it's a teacher scolding her student, "Sir, the set menu is meant for party of two...". Maybe that was the house rule but last time I checked, I wasn't working for Carbone so it should come as no surprise that I didn't know this by heart. I was obviously offended by her attitude but I didn't let that get to me and affect my mood (I'm going to enjoy my afternoon off no matter what). So, I smiled and replied, "Is that so? I wasn't aware of that..." and I went on ordering this, fettuccine with porcini, Pecorino and Nepitella.

Did I mention they have some of the best pasta dishes around town? I was going to order their signature rigatoni with vodka but with my mildly sore throat, I thought that wasn't a very good idea. Instead, I got this, handmade fettuccine tossed with porcini mushroom and a very light sauce made with Nepitella. It was almost perfect. The pasta could've been a little more al dente but this was more than decent.

New York Lemon Cheesecake – This was the reason I came here in the first place, their signature New York style lemon cheesecake.

It was so creamy and silky smooth. The layer of lemon curd on top provided a very nice, zesty finish. I know $228 is not a small price for a slice of cheesecake but it's certainly an itch worth scratching off despite the heavy price tag.

Finally, some almond cookies to finish the meal off. I could taste some chocolate in there but no almond.

When people talk about Carbone, we always hear words like "small portions" and "expensive" but they've never got any bad rep about their poor service. It was really unfortunate today that one single server ruined the entire dining experience.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 9/F, 33 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Tel: +852 2593-2593

Website: www.carbone.com.hk 

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm (Mon - Sat), 6:00pm - 12:00am (Mon - Sun)

ATUM Restaurant and Dessert Bar (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I am taking the afternoon off to meet with mom and little nugget for something important this afternoon (more on that later) but first I needed to visit Tsim Sha Tsui for a few things including a quick lunch at ATUM. 

I have made no secret of my admiration for ATUM and its brand of modern European cuisine. It's unpretentious and pretty easy on the wallet. Two really important factors for a successful restaurant if you ask me.

Today's lunch started off with a creamy beetroot and tomato soup. Did I mention I'm a sucker for beets?

Soup was followed immediately by this creamy risotto topped with Korean kimchi, radish and dried chili strings. 

When the menu said "pork belly", I was expecting a thick slab of grilled fatty pork served on top of the risotto but I was thrown with a curveball here. Just some shredded pork belly in the middle of the risotto, with diced celery and carrot. 

And yes, there was something important that I needed to do with mom and little guy in late afternoon. Six years ago today, dad passed away peacefully a few moments before midnight. To me, he’s always been this philosopher that I struggle to understand. The language and context he talked about sounded like he’s from another world, an old world light years away from the modern world we live in (my son will likely think that way one day as well, I now realize).

Not surprisingly, he’s not the most popular figure among our family circle. He had always been seen as this stern and old-fashioned guy (and he was) by relatives and friends. I really wanted to change that so at his funeral, I gave a little speech about him shedding some light from a son’s perspective. He was more than a father for me I told everyone. He was my table tennis coach, my personal Chinese doctor (a self-taught one) when I needed one and my masseur. He’s a bit of everything for me. 

I hope one day I will be a bit of everything for my little nugget too.

Dad, I hope you find peace and happiness in a different dimension.

That's little guy and mom walking in front of me on our way to see dad. Little one kept telling us that he wasn't going to weep today, not in front of grandpa. I told him it's good to be a brave kid but it's alright to cry sometimes. 

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 101B, 1/F, K11 Art Mall, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui / Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3586-1959
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 11:00pm daily

Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus 捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After going to the "Summer Aqua Kids Carnival" in Wanchai, everyone was dehydrated, beat up and water-soaked, so the plan was to go home and take a quick shower before getting out again for dinner. But I was missing my Teh tarik and kaya toast too much and obviously, I wanted them now! 



Some of us have never been to Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus (捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳) before. Of course, we were just here a couple of weeks ago and that's why we knew all about their menu.

I needed this Malay pulled tea about 2 hours ago. Served iced cold as usual.

Kaya butter toast (鮮牛油咖央多士) – It was already 6:30pm so it's not exactly tea time but that wasn't going to stop me from enjoying a slice or two of these kaya butter toast. The toast was oozing with these greenish kaya jam made with pandan and coconut. Very addictive as usual. Fortunately, we had dinner in mind so we didn't have to fight over the remaining pieces.

Bagus Bak Kut Teh (捌哥肉骨茶) – I haven't had this for years. If my memory serves me correctly, my last sip of Bak Kut Teh was in KL. That was some years ago.

This herbal broth was really intense and rich flavored. Just look at the color. The aroma suggested a blend of meat (pork) and medicine with a small touch of spiciness (star anise).

I ordered pork belly (三層肉) to go along with my broth. Very tender and full of flavors thanks to the aromatic broth.

Nasi Lemak Nyonya Kari Ayam (辣死你嗎配娘惹咖喱雞肉) – Jelloman got her adventurous self back today and she ordered the restaurant's signature Nasi Lemak Nyonya Kari Ayam. Just by looking at the Chinese translation and you knew it came with some extra spiciness. 

Chicken legs cooked with Nasi lemak. Sambal bawang, peanuts, cucumber, ikan bilis (fishy), potato, and boiled egg. I hope I didn't miss any ingredients. The rice was pandan flavored and thus the green color. I had a crack at this with my pork belly (as seen above) and I wasn't sure if I did like it. It's very spicy as suggested by the name of the dish, and you won't notice that extra spiciness until it reached your throat!

Otak-Otak (愛他愛她) – Grilled fish cake made of ground fish meat and mixed with tapioca starch and spices. It was beautifully wrapped under with these banana leaves for the extra fragrance. Once again, it's a little too spicy for me. I love hot and spicy food but somehow not today.

Ipoh chicken ho fun (怡保雞絲河粉) – For little one, it was his favorite noodle soup with the usual suspects of prawns, chicken, fish cake and bean curd. The clear broth was chicken soup which I suspected was infused with white curry but turned out, it wasn't. 

Some of us who have lived in Singapore for a few years were fascinated by the authenticity of some of these dishes. I have never been a citizen of the lion city myself but I guess having two former bosses from Malaysia and Singapore counts. I can tell I'm slowly falling in love with this place, especially its pulled tea and kaya toast. And I certainly won't be surprised if I would be writing another experience here, perhaps as early as next week.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 188 Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sham Shui Po

Tel: +852 2253-6911

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

Kanzan Menya 神山麵屋 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Last week, I had the pleasure of running into not one but two new ramen shops in Tsim Sha Tsui but I was in such a hurry that I didn't get to try any of them out. I'm thinking tonight is the night.

I didn't do my background check on tonight's dinner venue, Kanzan Menya (神山麵屋) until I sat down in front of the counter table. It turns out to be a direct import from Tokyo best known for its tsukemen, or dipping noodles.



Their signature dish is this "Mount Fuji" shaped tsukemen served with their secret recipe broth.

Namesake Kanzan Ramen served with slow-cooked barbecued pork belly.

The same Kanzan Ramen but this one with marinated pork (shoulder?).

Two more choices for those who are too lazy to do dipping noodles - Tomato ramen and Shoyu (soy sauce based) ramen.

The chefs are cooking up a storm in front of my watchful eyes.

I am having their signature Kanzan Tsukemen with marinated pork shoulder. This looks amazing! I can smell the aromatic broth from miles away.

The house special broth made with pork bones and dried bonito (likely more dried dish in there) was so sweet and well-balanced.

No question it would work well with the flat noodles and marinated pork.

Look at the beautiful char marks on the pork adding some smokiness to the mix. There was a nice symphony of flavors there thanks to the fresh chives, red miso and onion on top. 

Of course, one of the challenges of eating tsukemen (at least for me) is that you have to eat a little faster before the broth cools off. Trying to beat the clock is never easy for a slow noodle slurper like me!

I was mighty impressed with this secret recipe broth. We all know it's made with pork bones and dried fish but it's so perfectly balanced that neither side is really dominating the other.

The soft-boiled egg was perfect.

I have to save the best for last, my smoky pork shoulder. Very very tender. It's a little bit on the fat side but I think we can all tolerate it once in a while. 

I have to admit, I wasn't a fan of tsukemen to begin with but this meal could very well be the game changer that would change my perspective on dipping noodles forever. I like the price tag too ($88), finally a nice bowl of Japanese ramen under 100 bucks! And this is a direct import from Tokyo...

Food Rating: 5.8/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F Shop A&K and B, Sands Bldg, 12 Peking Road,, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2332-0383

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