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

When we set off on a trek towards Kopitiam Bagus.Bagus (捌哥.捌哥特色馬拉茶啡廳) in Sham Shui Po, we had no idea if we were just having tea or early dinner. It was 5pm in the afternoon so it's in a bit of a tough territory.

Regardless of tea or dinner, this would be part of the agenda. I quickly got it out of the way, my favorite kaya toast (咖吔牛油多) in the city. The fragrant pandan-infused kaya jam and thick slab of frozen butter, I don't call this the best kaya toast in town for nothing.

And I got myself some iced pulled tea to wash it down.

Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah (馬拉炸雞脾椰醬飯) – Deep-fried chicken leg with coconut milk rice and a bunch of goodies including curried potatoes, cucumber, hard-boiled egg, peanuts and anchovies.

Look at the size of that chicken leg!!! 😮 (the batter was a little on the hard side)...

Ipoh Chicken with bean sprouts and fresh chives (怡保芽菜雞)– Something for little nugget. He always loves his chicken although we had to make sure that he didn't get any bean sprouts or chives to go with it.

This guy obviously enjoyed the meal. In fact, he had two glasses of the iced winter melon tea all by himself!

And he tried to hide behind the tiny little piece of tissue paper without success.

Frankly, the chicken and coconut milk rice were both average at best but the kaya toast (one with butter) and pulled tea always had enough to lure me back.

Food Rating: 6/10

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

Modern China Restaurant 金滿庭京川滬菜館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Ever since little nugget started his choir lessons a few months ago, we've been wearing out the dining scene of Tai Kok Tsui, or most specifically, Olympian City (‎奧海城) which is just a short 5-minute walk away. Not surprisingly, we were already running out of places to dine so I decided to go back to one of our old favorites, Modern China Restaurant (金滿庭京川滬菜館) today.

Jelloman and I used to come here all the time when we were dating. A lot has changed over the years (including its ownership?) but it was nice to come back for nostalgia's sake.

Xiao Long Bao (小籠包) – Arguably the most popular dish on the food menu here.

As usual, plenty of soup inside the wrapper. Delicious!

Dumplings in chili oil (紅油抄手) – At this point in time, I just realized the terrible mistake I have made when orders were placed. Way too many dishes with dumplings! This was a little more spicy than usual.

Fried noodles Shanghai-style (上海粗炒) – Pretty good "wok hei'.

Chicken and wonton with soup in casserole (砂鍋餛飩雞) – I decided to introduce this dish to little nugget because it came with two of his favorites, soup and wonton!

The portion was pretty generous today with more than eight bowls of wonton soup of this size.

This guy absolutely loves it~

Now the question is, does he still have room for the fried noodles?

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop UG068, Olympian City II,18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Olympic

Tel: +852 2910-1000

Opening Hours: 11:45am - 4:30pm, 5:45pm - 11:00pm daily

Lady M Festival Walk (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I finally managed to decide what to do on my day-off this afternoon. After exploring the neighborhood in Shek Kip Mei which also included a late lunch at NMNL, I got re-acquainted with the old streets of Tai Hang Tong (大坑東), an area I should know pretty well from my primary school days in Hong Kong. That was when I got a ping from Jelloman saying that she wanted a cheesecake as tonight's late night snack. Although she claimed she wasn't particularly picky about where I got her cheesecake, I wasn't going to pick one up from Aroma for her. Instead, I decided to venture over to Festival Walk, which was just a station from where I was when I got the memo. 

I've already set my sight on getting our dessert from Lady M. The question is what...

Apart from the cheesecake, I also had other pastries in mind for my own. The new Hojicha mille crêpe cake got some consideration but I ended up going a different direction (more on that later).

Gâteau Nuage – Lady'M's “cloud cake” is one of my little nugget's favorite and I know Jelloman is a fan too. The old-fashioned cinnamon-kissed graham cracker crust always meshes well with the thick layer of airy cheese, and the thin layer of sweetened sour cream provided the perfect icing on the cake.

Green Apple Mousse Cake – Like I said earlier, I was going to get the new Hojicha mille crêpe cake but I changed my mind at the very last minute. This was just too cute for me to pass up. Another new creation from Lady M, this green apple mousse cake is a limited-time-only offering in the summer.

One of the lightest mousse cake I've seen in recent memory, it features a fruity and refreshing green apple jelly, placed on top of a layer of mascarpone cream cake and green apple mousse. And there is the small crumble on the bottom for some interesting bite. I'm happy that I have picked this one over the Hojicha mille crêpes (which is just another mille crêpes cake).

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Unit UG-22, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Tong

Tel: +852 2869-1368

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 9:00pm daily

No Milkshake No Life Shek Kip Mei (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I'm having a routine day-off today. Nothing special on my agenda, no special lunch lined up. I am just going to take it easy; perhaps take in little nugget's swimming class in the morning.

After a more-hectic-than-expected morning that included some playing time with little one in the pool and a bit of office work done, it was time for lunch but wait.....it was almost 3pm already when I started changing!

Just before lunch, I decided to take a slow walk around the neighborhood that little one will be attending primary school starting in September. I also planned a quick lunch at No Milkshake No Life (NMNL) which is just a short stroll from the school. Like NMNL's flagship in Sai Wan, this branch in Shek Kip Mei is also located on a hilly slope. 

Surprisingly at 3:30pm, the diner was still at full capacity so I had to wait a bit for my table.

Serious industrial vibe here but they have put in some plants to make it more relaxing.

A meal at NMNL is of course not complete without a milkshake. I thought they used to have some funky flavors (of milkshakes) here before but not anymore. Instead, it was the usual suspects like chocolate, banana, Oreo, matcha and peanut butter. I ended up getting this Oreo shake which had the perfect velvety texture and I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't make it too sweet.

Looking forward to this.....

NMNL's Wagyu cheese and egg burger – Wagyu beef patty, caramelized onion, fried egg, lettuce, cheese and house-made sauce, served with fries. No tomato.

This was pretty tasty. The sunny-side-up egg worked well with the patty (which wasn't over-seasoned like most places). The house-made sauce was a mayo that wasn't too cheesy or overpowering (think gluey BBQ sauce); which otherwise would make the burger way too heavy.

The only mistake.....what happened to my fries? I hate having tacos and somehow they swapped my fries with taco without giving me a heads-up (no fries today?). That was disappointing. 

I have a feeling that I will be back pretty soon because of how close this to little guy's primary school. And I bet he would love to get his hands on one of NMNL's frosty shakes himself.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop G01, G/F Mei Kwai House, Shek Kip Mei estate, Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Shek Kip Mei

Tel: +852 9816-3818

Website: www.nomilkshakenolife.com

Opening Hours: 10:00am -6:00pm (Tue - Sun)

Beefbar (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Opened back in 2015, Beefbar Hong Kong is part of a well-established high-end steakhouse network which originated from Monte Carlo, Monaco. I narrowly missed out on a chance to dine there at their flagship restaurant in Monte Carlo in 2016 and little that I knew it would take me another 6 years to finally have my first meal at a Beefbar establishment. 

I have always been more of seafood lover than meat lover my whole life so this explained why I haven't been here all this time.

But I was craving for some premium beef this afternoon.

The bread was just average but it's more than enough to get the job done for someone who's been stuck at the dental office for nearly two hours.

Seabass tartare, edamame, yuzu broth – The sweetness of the incredibly silky seabass tartare was matched nicely by some sharp acidity from the yuzu broth and finger lime.

And there was the crunch from the edamame and watermelon chips for some extra bite.

Grilled Kagoshima striploin – I'm not leaving this place without some quality meat.

The mashed potato was so buttery but I had to avoid having too much of it since I'll be seeing my cardiologist in about a month!

The striploin was succulent and tender with minimal seasoning.

Very lovely charring on the outside while keeping a very tender texture in the middle. 

The charring outside provided the meat with some delicious smoky flavor. 

There was an extra miso dip served on the side in case I needed some rich flavors to go with my meat. Thanks but no thanks! When it comes to beef, I'm a purist so just some sea salt will do the trick for me.

Dessert was a simple tiramisu but since I already had enough sweets over the course of the weekend, I gladly said no and went straight for the bill instead.

This was a pretty nice first impression from Beefbar. I'm definitely interested in coming back again, hopefully for a multi-course meal.

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 2/F, Club Lusitano, 16 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Tel: +852 2110-8853

Website: https://beefbar.com/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm daily

Fung Lum 楓林小館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I have been longing for some traditional Canto food all month so when I coincidentally ran into Fung Lum (楓林小館) in West Tsuen Wan tonight, I was totally over the moon. Fung Lum who has been in business for nearly 60 years, is best known for their traditional Canto dishes and of course their pigeons. In 2017, they closed down their half-decade long operation in Shatin for good but only to re-surface again in Wanchai and Tsuen Wan in recent years. Despite my love for local Cantonese food, I have never had a meal there in my whole life so I am really looking forward to dinner here tonight. 

Fung Lam deep-fried cream custard (楓林炸鮮奶) – One of the top picks here for appetizers. With many of the city's old stalwarts closing down amidst the pandemic, only a few in town are still offering this old good dish. Warm milk custard inside a crispy batter, what's there not to like about this all-time favorite appetizer of mine? Yum~

Deep-fried braised spring pigeon (招牌紅燒乳鴿皇) – The house specialty here and it definitely didn't disappoint. When it comes to deep-fried spring pigeon, the focus will always be on the crispy skin and it was spot on. And I like the fact that the seasoning wasn't over the top like a lot of other places.

Stir-fried lettuce pot (啫啫唐生菜煲) – Always love anything that arrives in a sizzling hot clay pot.

Sweet and sour beef tenderloin (中式牛仔柳) – Little nugget has never had "Chinese-style" beef tenderloin before so I thought it's about time we introduced it to him. This tasted exactly like what it was supposed to.....and perfect to go with our steamed rice.

I thought we might have room for some dessert here tonight but everyone had a long day (starting with the kayaking in Sai Kung) already so we figured it's time to head home and get some rest. 

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 615-620, 6/F, Tsuen Wan Plaza, 4-30 Tai Pa Street, Tsuen Wan, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsuen Wan West

Tel: +852 2322-3338

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri), 10:00am - 10:00pm (Sat - Sun) 

Sai Kung Beach Club 西貢海灣吧 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Everyone has been talking about the recent heat wave and record-breaking temperature this week. And of course, the danger of getting a heat stroke while staying outdoor for a prolonged period of time. So, the timing couldn't get any worse when Jelloman announced that we were going to have our kayaking tour with a dozen other families at Sai Kung's Sha Ha Beach (沙下灘) this weekend.

To her defense, the tour has been delayed a few times since May due to rain and other adverse weather conditions; and it doesn't look like the weather will cool off any time soon. But it doesn't mean it gets any easier to put the swimsuit on and expose yourself to the sun for 4 straight hours.

We were not the first to get here; but there's a chance we'll be the first to leave!

Here we go!

Little nugget was still having a great time making fun of my gear at this point but things would begin to turn sour in about half an hour. Before we know it, his lips started to turn pale and he was having a difficult time of it. At that time, we knew we had to go back. Our coach also felt the same way and unfortunately for our teammates, they were all dragged back along with us.

Finally, feeling better when he arrived at the beach again. Back to square one.

After a short rest, everyone got back to their respective boat and started their motion back to where we all started but fearing that little one couldn't make it, we decided to stay at the nearby Sai Kung Beach Club (西貢海灣吧) for brunch instead.



This is a breakfast spot in the morning and music bar at night.



We sat by the window so we could cheer our teammates on while having a drink or two to cool ourselves off.

We got little one a glass of apple juice to give him some energy back.



Traditional fish n chips – This came in very nice golden brown color. Nice pillowy texture but we had to watch out for the bones (albeit small ones)!



Barbecued chicken wings – Had to wait a good 20 minutes but it looked (and smelt) like it's worth the wait.

There were two servings of this; first there were the grilled chicken wings on the right and then wings stuffed with mushroom and cheese on the left. Pretty tasty (especially the crispy skin!) and we all thought what a nice hidden gem they've got here next to the beach in Sai Kung!

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: 9 Sha Ha Village, Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: N/A

Tel: +852 2792-1600

Website: www.skbeach.com.hk

Opening Hours: 12:30pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri), 12:00pm - 10:00pm (Sat), 11:00am - 10:00pm (Sun)