Sing La 星怡 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

My half day of work on Chinese New Year's Eve is finally drawing to a close. Now, I can celebrate a bit with my little one. For weeks, we have not been eating out but Jelloman hinted that if we could find a place with very little people, we could lift the ban for our pre New Year celebration.

I figured iSQUARE would be pretty quiet and for the most part, that was the case (except the New Year Bazaar that was taking place in the atrium). I have heard of this new Singaporean restaurant called Sing La (星怡) there and since both Jelloman and I are huge Asian food junkies (for different reasons), I decided to take them over for an early dinner at 5:30pm. As expected, we were the only guests in the house!

Teh Tarik – The Malaysian pulled tea was a little on the light side.

Grilled satay – Their turnip cake was all sold out so this was our second choice for starter. I am normally more addicted to chicken satay but I thought the pork satay was equally good today. The chef was slightly heavy-handed with the spices but we were fine with that except for little one.

Beef Rendang rice – We haven't had these for a long time. 

I love having beef rendang with steamed rice. It's such a good match. The beef was pretty tender (though not melt in the mouth type like Monsoon's), and the curry, coconut all right on the spot. It was great to re-visit this dish again.

Stir-fried Malay shrimp noodles – I was pretty tempted to check this dish out. I am not a fan of laksa type of Asian-style noodle soup but stir-fried noodles with a spice kick were definitely right up my alley.

This was very tasty. The oil noodles really meshed well with the tangy sauce and egg omelette, and the fact that there were loads of ingredients there (mainly seafood like shrimps, squid, scallop etc.) certainly didn't hurt.

Butter kaya toast – Of course, we weren't leaving without having one of these. In my opinion, this was the weakest link of the meal. The kaya was supposed to be infused with pandan but there was no sign of it at all.

Now, it's time to go home and get ready for Chinese New Year!

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 303, 3/F, iSQUARE, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2117-1300

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

On Lee Noodle Shop 安利魚蛋粉麵 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We were down but not out after our 5-hour hiking trip to Cape D'Aguilar (鶴咀). Since we only had a couple of sandwiches and rice rolls under our belt, visiting On Lee Noodle Shop (安利魚蛋粉麵) on our way home was a pretty easy decision for all parties concerned.

Founded back in 1966, On Lee Noodle Shop is one of the most popular eateries on Shau Kei Wan Main Street East (筲箕灣東大街), which is otherwise known as the "eat street" of Shau Kei Wan.

Following a short wait outside, we were finally escorted into the restaurant.

I knew exactly what to order this afternoon, stir noodles with braised beef brisket (柱侯牛腩撈麵) and a glass of iced milk tea to wash it down.

The silky smooth milk tea was very creamy. Solid start!

Now, time to turn my attention to the stir noodles with braised beef brisket. While their sliced beef brisket with stir flat noodles (切腩撈粗) is hands-down the signature dish here (along with their noodle soup with fish balls), I was looking for something far more flavorful this afternoon and I thought my prayers were answered. 

The beef briskets were really tender and full of flavors while the thin noodles with sweet soy and what I thought was shrimp roes provided the perfect match. Perhaps I was too hungry but this was the best meal I had this month by a country mile! 

Little nugget had their noodle soup with fish balls and judging by his facial expression, he was really enjoying it!!!

Food Rating: 6.7/10

Price: $$$

Address: 22 Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Shau Kei Wan

Tel: +852 2513-8398

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm (Fri - Wed)

Spending a day in Cape D'Aguilar (鶴咀)

My Chinese New Year holidays officially kick off this weekend. I first thought we were going to start slow but obviously, Jelloman had a slightly different agenda. Last night, I learned about today's hiking trip to Cape D'Aguilar (鶴咀). It's little nugget's second visit this week and for yours truly, the very first time.

We took Bus#9 (Shek O 石澳) from Shau Kei Wan (筲箕灣) MTR station and got off the Cape D'Aguilar Road stop. There were only a few souls left at this point as most people opted to get off earlier at Dragon's Back (龍脊) instead.

It didn't take long for us to find the first breathtaking scene overlooking what I thought was Stanley on the other side with Shek O Quarry (石澳石礦場) right underneath us.

The second scenic point we came across was a spot called Hok Tsui Rock River (鶴咀石河), I think that's what it's called in English. Little nugget was curious of how the weird-looking rocks got there in the first place.

After a relatively short hike, we finally arrived in Hok Tsui Village (鶴咀村) and quite possibly the only cafe around called Shun Kee Store (信記士多). But none of us was adventurous enough to take off our masks for a quick meal.

We walked past the one and only school in the village which is now deserted. Some of us was joking that there might still be "people" around here.

While the famous Hok Tsui lighthouse was a little out of reach for some of our kids, we managed to find this less-popular tower. We believed decades ago, it's probably there to house a soldier or two, who was stationed as guards to prevent a surprise attack.

More scenic walk when we turned the corner towards the eastern end of Shek O.

Some interesting looking trees along the way.....

After about an hour, we arrived at the midway point of our hike, the transmitting station.

We found some wild life here, a wild boar walking around looking for food. 

As the wild boar wasn't hostile at all, little nugget and his friend decided to check it out up close and personal.

Following a short rest, we gathered ourselves and continued with our hike. Another 10 minutes have passed us by before the rocky coastline of Cape D'Aguilar was finally within our sight.

We couldn't wait to get down to sea level to soak up the vibe.

As it was part of the Marine Reserve, this area is really well preserved.

Amazing~

We decided to camp here for a quick snack and some selfies with the incredible rock formation in the backdrop.

Little guy finally got his wish of running around the coastline left and right.

The skeleton of the mysterious whale just off the beach.

Of course, we won't miss the Crab Hole (蟹洞), one of the most instagrammable attractions in Cape D'Aguilar for the world. Luckily, the waves today weren't particularly strong so we were able to stand in front of the hole for a few photos together.

Just behind the HKU The Swire Institute of Marine Science building was this sweeping view of the sea off the coastal cliff. 

As usual, the hike back felt a lot easier and faster. We didn't break a sweat on the way back.

It was such a beautiful scene at sunset. 

This guy was still very energetic after the 5-hour hiking experience (though he secretly told me that it will be a very long time before attempting another visit to Cape D'Aguilar again).

We were glad to spend the afternoon with a former high school classmate of Jelloman and her family at one of the top hiking destinations in town. They are some of the most down-to-earth and easy-going people we have ever met and the fact that they were living in the same tower as us just made our families even closer. But we got some sad news today. We found out that they will be leaving Hong Kong for good in a few months. Another farewell. Little one would be absolutely crushed when he found out that one of his best friends is leaving town. 💔💔

The Baker & The Bottleman (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

The Baker & The Bottleman, the modern bakery and wine bar brought to us by Chef Simon Rogan of Michelin starred Roganic, officially debuts last week and while I was in the neighborhood this afternoon, I decided to drop in for a quick look.

The interior of The Baker & The Bottleman instantly reminds me of another modern bakery just a stone's throw away by the name of Bakehouse, which has slowly captured the hearts of many of us with ties to the Wanchai area.

The Baker & The Bottleman doesn't have a stand-out signature item like Bakehouse has in its sourdough egg tarts but they do offer a fine selection of bakery items including chocolate cream doughnuts and more.

Chocolate cream doughnut – Very spongy on the outside.



I do like the texture of these doughnuts.

A perfect chocolate cream custard in my opinion should be filled with creamy chocolate custard and if I was to cut it in half like this, the chocolate ganache should be oozing out like lava from a volcano. But in this case, it wasn't.

Almond Swirl – Very flaky and to me, much better than the doughnut.

I can breathe the vibrant Chinese New Year atmosphere in the air. Let's hope the bad guys called Delta and Omicron won't ruin the mood.

Food Rating: 5.8/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop G14 & G15, G/F, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 2817-8383

Website: https://thebakerandthebottleman.hk/

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm (Tue - Sun)

Lady M Harbour City (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

What a difference a week made! Last week at pretty much the same time on a weekday, there were over 100 people lining up here for Lady M's delicious pastries but today, it's completely different story.



After failing on my mission to spend some of our expiring coupons last week, I decided to come back again to get unfinished business done.....



 .....to get my purple yam mille crêpes!!! 😋

Purple Yam Mille Crêpes – No less than 20 layers of purple yam flavored crêpes each layered with whipped cream and velvety paste made with purple yam. The cake itself was finished off with purple yam crumbles and snow sugar on top.

The cake was really heavy in purple yam flavor, perhaps a little too rich in my opinion (and one-dimensional).

Gâteau Nuage – Little nugget's favorite cheesecake in town (and Main Street Deli's as well). It wasn't called a “cloud cake” (in French) for nothing. Very nice balance of richness and fluffiness. We always enjoy the cinnamon graham cracker crust tremendously and the sweetened sour cream provided the perfect finishing touch to cut through the richness.

When I was done, I went over to Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel (當文歷餅店) for a quick look and as expected, also completely empty.

It was nice to get a day off from work once in a while. I am a big fan of slow living but it's such a luxury in Hong Kong.

I definitely won't mind enjoying sitting here to admire this view all day (perhaps with a sip of coffee).

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop OT 215K, 2/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2873-2356
Website: www.ladymhk.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 7:00pm daily