Lok Tin Cafe Lai Chi Kok 樂天冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I am meeting up with Jelloman for a few things this afternoon on my day-off. But the first order of business would be a quick lunch at Lok Tin Cafe (樂天冰室). The food here probably isn't worth writing about but why would I care to create a post out of this? Well, it's my first dine-out experience in more than 3 weeks. That's pretty significant. I can't remember anytime in my life that I haven't eaten out that long. Not even during the SARS period.

I wolf my pork chop and sausage down quickly in less than 5 minutes. No, that didn't feel good at all.

As usual, I tried to wash everything down with the iced milk tea. Somehow, everything seemed a little out of sync today. Even, the milk tea didn't taste right. There was way too much milk and not enough tea flavors in it.

Price: $$$

Address: Shop C2B, G/F, Hong Kong Spinners Industrial Building, 808 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok

Tel: +852 6226-0628

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 10:00pm daily

Passion by Gérard Dubois at Langham Place (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I'm still trying to let my "exile from home" sink in a bit but there was no time to rest. I have a mission to set up a temporary office at mom's house, not to mention getting some house supplies for the next couple of weeks. Sounds like mission impossible but such is life these days with the pandemic.

After finishing my shopping spree at the computer mall, I ventured over to Langham Place to get some stuff from the supermarket. It's been a while since I last visited Passion by Gérard Dubois, which used to be one of my favorites in town, so I went up to take a quick look.



For the impact of the pandemic, look no further than the counter right here! It used to be packed with a wide selection of pastries and bread but with the dining restrictions, they are obviously not making as many pastries and bread anymore. How sad!

I got ourselves some sweet treats for tonight.

Passion fruit Mont Blanc – Mom is a sucker for anything with chestnut so any type of Mont Blanc cake is right up her alley. I thought the passion fruit would be a weird match for the marron but obviously not, according to her highest. In fact, mom claimed the passion fruit was pretty "mild" and not as acidic as I originally feared.

Pineapple and Matcha – I had this cute little strawberry-shaped cake (but in yellow color) myself.

I have to admit, pineapple and matcha weren't exactly a match made in heaven. Didn't really think the flavors were working well together. Then again, perhaps it's just me not in a particularly good mood for the enjoyment of food at the moment.

When I am sitting around tonight, I start to realize what "home sweet home" is all about. When your home suddenly got taken away from you for whatever reason, that feeling of frustration and helplessness really stinks!

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 11, Level 4 Langham Place Shopping Mall, 8 Argyle Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Mongkok
Tel: +852 2967-8812
Website: www.passionbygd.com
Opening Hours: 8:30am - 11:00pm (Mon - Fri), 8:30am - 11:30pm (Sat - Sun)

The Great Escape

With the rapidly escalating rate of Covid-19 cases, we should all know a few friends, co-workers or relatives who have been infected by now. And although we understand for a fact that someone close could be next, it does not feel any easier when it actually happens right in front of your very eyes.

So, when our helper's RAT result showed a blurred line next to the "T" column this morning, my hands were sweating a little bit. I tried to stay calm before coming up with the next course of action. A second test with a different brand of test kit. Yeah, that's it. Two solid lines this time. Bingo. 

Contingency measures, business continuity; we have all done it at work before but this is Ground Zero. A place we called home in the last little while.

We packed up and trust me, we did it fast and in no time, we were ready to take off. I initially wanted to stay behind because it's much easier to work from home at the comfort of your home but Jelloman convinced me that it's not safe to stick around. Little nugget, of course, was long gone as he has already left for grandy's house way before we finished with our little conversation.

While Jelloman and little guy left for her parents' house, I decided to take a different route. I have been in close contact with our helper much more than they did. Hell, I just finished milk and toast prepared by her this morning moments before she tested positive. If we are going to do a self-quarantine the proper way, I should be going somewhere else.

I rang mom up telling her what just transpired in the last couple of hours. The first word coming out of her mouth, "Come!".

So, I'm back where I grew up for the foreseeable future. This is truly Ground Zero for me. I can't recall when I looked at this view last time but I bet it was quite a while ago. As a kid, I have always enjoyed standing by the window admiring the view but the noise from the trains (especially ones at 6am-ish) really sucks.

La Patisserie des Idees (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

It's been almost a year since I last visited La Patisserie des Idees now. I have been itching to come back for more and finally, I got the chance to do so this morning following my vaccine appointment in the neighborhood. It was pretty early in the morning so not surprisingly, it was very quiet here at D2 Place.

Melon Duo – I love the fact that they change things up from time to time. This is one of their new creations featuring a very delicate Japanese melon mousse (I think cantaloupe), melon cremeux, and a layer of sponge cake.

Really looking forward to this.....

I thought the melon mousse and cremeux worked really well together. The exciting crunch from the cremeux really gave the dessert some much needed bite and the mango jelly was a clever addition to bring some acidity to the mix, balancing the sweetness of melon perfectly.

Yuzu cheesecake – I had this quite a while back (checking my record, more than 3 years ago). but they have obviously made some modifications to the recipe by taking out the pineapple and citrus to keep it simple.

This is again primarily soft white cheese, but this time only with yuzu cremeux and sponge crumble. Unlike the previous dessert, the texture was pretty one-dimensional despite there were multiple layers of ingredient stacked together. It was like having a rectangular shaped marshmallow and the flavors of cheese hardly registered.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$
Address: Shop 224, 2/F, D2 Place One, 9 Cheung Yee Street, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok
Tel: +852 9282-6827
Website: www.lapatisseriedesidees.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Tue - Fri), 11:00am - 8:30pm (Sat - Sun), 1:00pm - 7:00pm (Tue - Fri)

Cafe 82 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We are doing our weekly visit to Lai Chi Kok Park. It's one of the events we really look forward to these days since we can't visit the malls or dine in. After spending a couple of hours there, we stopped by Cafe 82 in Mei Foo a popular cafe and restaurant that servers creative international food for some take-away food.



Grilled grain-fed pork chop with potatoes, carrots and broccoli – This wasn't bad! The pork was pretty tender and as can be seen in the photo, very meaty. With that, I probably won't need afternoon tea after all.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop A, G/F, Mei Foo Sun Chuen, 2 Nassau Street, Mei Foo, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Mei Foo

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

Pierre Hermé IFC (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

One of the things I miss most during the pandemic is our annual trip to Europe. I particularly miss taking a slow walk along the trendy streets of Paris and 8th arrondissement. There are so much to see there from art galleries, cafes to boutiques and the list goes on.....  

Still remembered how we accidentally ran into L'Occitane x Pierre Hermé, a collaboration between the Picasso of Pastry and L'Occitane on our last trip to Paris. Since I haven't got anything from Pierre Hermé in recent memory, I thought I should swing by IFC for some of their delicious macarons. After all, I had a few coins to spend after attending a funeral early in the morning.

Believe it or not, I am a collector of Pierre Hermé's macaron boxes. I already have a few of them hidden in my drawer. I don't think I needed to be reminded of Les Champs-Élysées again. 

Unlike their outposts in France where you could actually get any number of macarons you like, here in Hong Kong they only offer their macarons in multiples of four.

I had trouble deciding which flavors to get. At the end of the day, I ended up sticking with some of my old favorites – Hazelnut & foie gras, Rose vanilla & clove, Salted-butter caramel and Pistachio praline.

Pistachio praline (Infiniment Praline Pistache) – My all-time favorite from Pierre Hermé. It never disappoints!

Somehow, Pierre Hermé always seems to taste a little better when we're in Paris. That's just how it works! Too bad it's going to be at least another year before we could consider a trip to the City of Light.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 2029 2/F, IFC, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2833-5700

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 7:00pm (Mon - Thu), 10:30am - 7:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Gaddi's 吉地士 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After a pretty good Cantonese lunch at Tin Lung Heen (天龍軒) yesterday, we followed it up with yet another highly anticipated lunch on the fourth day of Chinese New Year, this time a French gourmet lunch at Gaddi's (吉地士). 

It's always nice to be back at Gaddi's. The kitchen here is still helmed by Chef de Cuisine Albin Gobil but Xavier Boyer, Executive sous chef of The Peninsula Hong Kong (and former Chef de Cuisine of Gaddi's) has recently departed for Kaohsiung Taiwan on a new project.

We were again started off with some nice cheese puffs.

Little nugget couldn't stop eating them despite being very busy with his phone. 😆

Compared to the cheese puff, this warm brioche with smoked ham was way better. 

Today's amuse bouche was once again their modern "French onion soup".

The multi-layer onion soup came with braised shallot and onion jelly on the bottom, topped nicely by a flavorful onion foam.

Salmon gravlax, beetroot salad, fresh seaweed, Yarra Valley smoked salmon pearls – First up for me was Scottish salmon gravlax which has been cured with beetroot. It's right up my alley as I'm a sucker for anything with beetroot in it.

The sweetness of the beetroot really brought out the best of the Scottish salmon and it was matched superbly with the crunchy fresh seaweed and smoky salmon pearls. Very nice start. 

Pan-seared foie gras, butternut squash, passion fruit and basil – My self-imposed ban on having pan-seared foie gras was once again lifted for a day (it was lifted a couple of weeks ago at Caprice) because the thick-cut foie gras was way too much to pass up on.

The foie gras was seared to absolute perfection and while I like the sweetness from the butternut squash ravioli, I thought the strong acidity from the passion fruit wasn't something I would like in the mix. 

Atlantic cod loin, spelt risotto, calamari, Iberico chorizo – This was another beautiful dish.

The perfectly poached cod loin, topped with calamari, was served on a pool of delicate shellfish bisque with spelt risotto and diced chorizo. A nice mix of flavors and textures complemented admirably by the umami-rich and tangy sauce.

This guy was still busy.....

Valrhona Guanaja chocolate 70%, caramelized banana, chocolate ice-cream, chantilly cream – No one wanted the chocolate dessert so I decided to take a flyer on it.

The timeless combination of chocolate and caramelized banana never fails! Not surprisingly, the different textures of chocolate from the chocolate ice-cream to wafer, sponge and crumbs meshed well with the caramelized banana hidden on the bottom of the pile.

But I thought Jelloman's choice of Exotic mille-feuilles with pineapple compote, vanilla and coconut sorbet was even better. 

Petite fours were next.

And we all enjoyed a cup of tea following the sweet treats. Everyone looked relaxed and satisfied. 

After the meal, we walked over to Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade to soak up the spectacular views of the harbour.

While this turned out to be another awesome modern French meal for us, there was one single blemish - pacing. Despite the relatively small groups of diners, the kitchen did an awful job with pacing this afternoon. Some dishes were way more than half an hour apart making this simple 3-course journey a long and sometimes boring affair.

Food Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 1/F, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2696-6763
Website: www.peninsula.com/en/hong-kong/hotel-fine-dining/gaddis-french-restaurant
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 7:00pm - 10:30pm (Tue - Sat)

Five Guys Olympian City (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Following lunch at Elements Shopping Mall, we quickly ventured over to Olympian City where Jelloman was supposed to meet her departing colleague. She's returning to her home country, Sweden after almost a decade in Asia. With more than an hour to entertain my little nugget alone, I brought him all around the mall before stopping by the newly opened Five Guys.

It's his favorite place for a frosty milkshake.

Didn't take long for us to finish placing our order. Now, time to wait at the finish line.

At last, his favorite vanilla shake!

I love Five Guys' super thick milkshake too but I would definitely pick peanut butter over vanilla on any given day.

Of course, we needed to find a safe and isolated spot where we could take our masks off temporarily for a sip of our vanilla milkshake. This was soooo gooood!!!

Price: $$$

Address: Shop UG03, UG/F, Olympian City 2, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Olympic

Tel: +852 3616-0493

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

Tin Lung Heen 天龍軒 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

After two relatively quiet days to start off the Year of the Tiger, I am going to ramp up the celebration activities a bit in the next couple of days, starting with lunch at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town, Tin Lung Heen (天龍軒).

I didn't ask for the window seats today and, little one and mom couldn't care less. They both love coming here wherever they sit. The restaurant is currently serving a New Year celebration menu and since I wasn't in the mood to check out the a la carte menu, I was all too happy to take the special menu instead.

Something to whet our appetite before the delicious parade of gourmet food arrives.

First up as always, the dim sum platter but of course they changed it up a bit for the occasion. I didn't get any instructions from our server but I am starting things off from left to right as usual.

Deep-fried bean curd stuffed with scallop and chives (韭菜帶子腐皮卷) – The bean curd roll was really nice and crispy, and the fillings of scallops and chives both a very good match.

Baked air-dried oyster puff with roasted goose (原隻金蠔燒鵝酥) – Mom and little nugget's favorite. Again, really amazing match between the oyster and roasted goose meat, with the crispy puff providing the exclamation point with its crunch.

Pan-fried cake stuffed with wagyu beef and spring onion (青蔥和牛煎餅) – I first thought this was a "throw-in" to make it a nice trio but it turned out to be no slouch. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with the mochi-like texture of the pan-fried cake with the wagyu, spring onion and super tangy sauce all oozing out at the right time from my every bite.

Steamed egg white with scallop and crab meat in crab roe sauce (珊瑚帶子蟹肉蒸蛋白) – The parade continues with another mouthwatering dish featuring steamed egg white topped beautifully with two jumbo-sized scallops, and finished off nicely with a umami-rich crab roe sauce.

The egg white and scallops meshed really well together but what tied everything up so brilliantly was the incredible crab roe sauce providing the dish with a much-needed strong finish.

Braised bird's nest soup with fish maw and conpoy (花膠瑤柱燕窩羹) – I was really hoping to get one of Chef Lau's double-boiled soups today but for Chinese New Year, they have decided to saved it for another day. Trading place with their double-boiled soup was a more premium one. Premium as in the ingredients that included bird's nest and fish maw.

I have never been a huge fan of bird's nest soup but I thought the broth was really heart-warming. Of course, it never hurt to have a ton of fish maw strings and bird's nest in there too.

Stewed wagyu beef cheek with lily bulb in red wine sauce (百合紅酒炆和牛面頰) – Very tender and flavorful. The red wine gravy was the perfect icing on the cake. I thought the lily bulb added some really nice crunch to the mix.

Up until this point, I have not stopped praising the dishes coming out of the kitchen today. But yes, you all knew they couldn't keep this up forever, right?

Fried rice with diced abalone, goose and dried shrimp wrapped in lotus leaf (蝦乾爆粒荷葉飯) – Having been in Cloud Nine all afternoon, we are finally back on "earth". The fried rice wasn't bad but the temperature wasn't right.

I love the large dried shrimp (for presentation) but I would much prefer it to be diced and mixed with the fried rice.

Chilled mango cream with sago and pomelo (香芒楊枝甘露) – The set came with chilled mango cream with sago and pomelo, mom's favorite dessert. Not bad.

Steamed sponge cake with raspberry (紅桑子馬拉盞) – Some small mignardises including the steamed sponge cakes with raspberry. I could hardly take more food at this point.

There's a reason why I keep coming back here time and time again; it's the fact that they never seem to disappoint. I made a little mess for ourselves this afternoon by arriving approximately an hour late but the kitchen did a heck of a job with pacing so we could finish in time just before 1pm. Just amazing work!

Food Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 102/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon
Tel: +852 2263-2270
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/china/hong-kong/dining/tin-lung-heen
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Sat - Sun)