Grindie 研香 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I promised myself I'd come back to Grindie (研香) for their signature pistachio sweet soup after my visit last week but I predicted that the wait would be less than a week.



I was off this afternoon so I figured I should swing by to check this pistachio dessert off my list. What a difference a few hours make! At 8pm, it's impossible to get a table around here but at 5pm, not a single soul!

Pistachio sweet soup (開心果糊) – I came all the way here just for this baby so it better be good...... 

It came with some shaved pistachio on top.

My first impression, the texture was a little grainy as if you can taste the tiny chunks of pistachio in there. It was really rich in pistachio flavor. Pretty nice.

I wasn't sure if a tong yuan with black sesame paste was a good match for the pistachio soup. 

This was like a dream came true. When I was walking over to Grindie, I was a bit worried that I would be told it was all sold out again! But I wasn't going to be denied today. Not today.  

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 7 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2386-8806

Opening Hours: 1:00pm - 11:30pm daily

Grindie 研香 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The second leg of our doubleheader took place just across the street from where we just had our Korean dinner. It was a small Chinese dessert shop called Grindie (研香). Honestly, I have never dined at a restaurant situated on Hau Fook Street since I have moved back to Hong Kong but tonight, we were making it two in a roll.



Like I said, a very small (but clean and modern) place without a lot of space.



Tong yuan in ginger soup (薑茶湯丸) – My friends who have been here before said this place is really good with the old-school stuff like glutinous rice balls (湯丸) and dessert soups (糖水) so this choice was a no-brainer.

Classic ginger soup with glutinous rice balls (very good size). I thought the ginger soup was pretty nice. The filling of the tong yuan wasn't bad too but the wrapper was a little thick for me. Mixed bag.

Black sesame soup with tofu fa (芝麻糊豆腐花) – I always wonder how this dessert works with the contrasting temperature. The warm black sesame soup was really nice and grainy with rich black sesame flavor. But blending with the cold tofu fa on the bottom, I thought they didn't really mesh together well.

One of the signature dessert soup here is their pistachio sweet soup but too bad it was already sold out. I guess a return trip for this baby is a must.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 7 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2386-8806

Opening Hours: 1:00pm - 11:30pm daily

Hoo 韓國包車 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I thought we were done with farewell parties ever (I wish) but another friend announced last month that he would be leaving Hong Kong for good. Although this one didn't exactly come out of left field, it still stung to lose a friend from our regular gatherings. We're going to miss him.

Since some of us are having travel plans around Easter holidays, we decided to bid farewell to him a couple of weeks in advance. I didn't know who ended up getting the task to find the dinner venue but it was a good one by the name of Hoo 韓國包車. My only complaint about this Korean place was that it's on the 22nd floor of what looked like a small commercial building and because of that, the elevator only had enough room for 6 people. So, not surprisingly, the waiting took forever at the ground-floor lobby (with 40+ tenants).

Obviously, one of the selling points of Hoo 韓國包車 was dining under neon lights. (Was I the one male customer in the house?)

Korean Fishcake Hotpot (街頭魚糕串串鍋) – It won't be an authentic Korean meal without something original right? Check this out, our very first dish – Eomuk Tang or Korean fishcake hotpot. It came with two Korean brand instant noodles too. How good was that!?

Kimchi pancake (泡菜煎餅) – Jelloman's favorite. The potato cake was flavored with kimchi so some extra heat. 

Kimchi fried rice (泡菜炒飯) – I thought this was one of the plus dish tonight. 

The fried rice was very authentic and I like the fact that it came with lots of shredded seaweed.

Sweet and spicy fried chicken (甜辣炸雞) – One of the few subpar dishes (others I forgot to photograph since I arrived late) tonight and there were a few of them. Some of the chicken pieces were actually under-cooked and the seasoning, I thought, was a bit more sweet than spicy. The balance just wasn't great.

We had a pretty good time tonight without the kids (Yeah, that's it. The key was without the kids). It felt like we have turned back the clock to our university days cuz most of us haven't dined at such a hip place for years (probably since our kids were born). We joked around claiming that we have absolutely jumped the average age in this place by at least 20%. The jokes and laughter went on throughout the meal to a point where we all decided to grab dessert right after. 

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 22/F, The Lamma Tower, 12-12A Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 9229-5812

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:30pm, 5:30pm - 10:00pm daily

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

Ever since coming back from Osaka last December, I have been trying to cut down on the consumption of sweets (especially pastries) and I have to admit, I have been pretty successful with it so far. But once in a while, I do allow myself with a bit of indulgence. Like today after lunch, I decided to drop by Lady M at Harbour City for some afternoon sweetness.

Mirror Caramel Mousse Cake – I have been wanting to check this off my list for a while now. Covered with a thin layer of shiny caramel glaze, the mirror caramel mousse cake brings together a classic combo made in heaven, caramel and chocolate.

Silky smooth caramel mousse was perfectly matched with rich chocolate mousse with a thin layer of chocolate sponge as the base. The cake itself was very very light so overall, it wasn’t too filling like most caramel or chocolate cakes in the market. I guess not a bad choice for an afternoon tea sweet bite (for those with a sweet tooth). 

Food Rating: 6.3/10
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

Hainan Shaoye 海南少爺 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I have an early appointment to get my tooth implant checked out this morning. After almost an hour’s wait, the consultation turned out lasting only a mere 3 minutes. So, I was back on the streets near lunch hours already. Good thing I was in Harbour City so there were plenty of good food to choose from. 

During the COVID-19 outbreak, there were a ton of my go-to restaurants and cafes which I have stopped visiting for various reasons. After finally paying a visit to Beans yesterday, I decided to head back to another former favorite of mine since I was already wandering around Harbour City – Hainan Shaoye (海南少爺).

Hainan Shaoye instantly caught my attention (and Jelloman’s) when they first opened doors more than a decade ago at Harbour City thanks to their signature char kway teow and fried turnip cake, both very authentically delicious dishes from Malaysia/Singapore. But ever since little nugget was born and eventually entered primary school last year, we have had less time to stroll the malls and subsequently, eating out a lot less than we previously did. I was of course more than happy to be back after all these years.

The longan drink was pretty bland to me, perhaps intentionally since the rest of the dishes were going to be very flavorful.

Char kway teow – This came with all sorts of ingredients including egg, Chinese sausages, strips of fish cakes, shrimps and even throwed in some oil noodles for good measures. But for a dish known to have a balanced mix of savory, sweet and spicy flavors, it really failed to deliver such an authentic taste. In fact, the saltiness of the dish was dominating, with some mild spiciness; that’s about all. Disappointing…..

Stir-fried morning glory – Pretty decent. Gotta love the generous portion (for $28 more).

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I found myself visiting restaurants and cafes that I used to visit a lot during my hay days lately. Perhaps sensing that things are finally back to normal now, I have more urgency to re-visit my past again. Making up for lost time….. 

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 16, G/F, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2110-3533

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 9:30pm daily

Beans The Rambler at Maritime Square (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

It's been a while since I last met up with my favorite cousin for lunch. Ever since I heard about her getting a new job near my office, I have been thinking about taking her out for a quick lunch. And with a quiet day at the office today, the time is right for our catch-up this afternoon.

I picked our lunch venue today, at Beans The Rambler at Maritime Square. It's one of my favorite place for a casual meal and it's one that I miss coming so badly (last time in 2021).

Hot ginger tea with black sugar – A very good way to kick off the meal on a chilly day in March.

French fries with black truffle aioli – The key of course was the black aioli which was so addictive. My cousin and I just couldn't stop dipping our fries in it.

Pan seared salmon fillet – The salmon was seared to near perfection and I like the supporting cast of mashed potato, broccolini and tomatoes. Didn't get the chance to have a closer look at the sauce. It was something fruity, perhaps mango or orange.

We had a really nice talk about life and parenting, and as always, she managed to put big smiles on my face throughout the meal. Little that we knew, it was almost 2pm already. Time to get back to work!

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$

Address: Shop 222, 2/F, Maritime Square II, 33 Tsing King Road, Tsing Yi, NT, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsing Yi

Tel: +852 2690-2222

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

Bakehouse Wanchai (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Last week's visit to J.CO Donuts & Coffee got me all excited about donuts again so right after work today, I decided to swing by Bakehouse to get myself some donuts as my late night snacks tonight.



Chocolate hazelnut doughnut – As usual, the dough was very light and airy. 

I thought the hazelnut and chocolate would be front and center meaning that the chocolate cream in the middle would be hazelnut flavored (hazelnut praline?) but no such luck. It was just chocolate all the way. Would have been perfect (for me) if it's hazelnut praline cream...

Food Rating: 6.9/10
Price: $$$$
Address: G14 Tai Wong Street East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Website: https://bakehouse.hk/

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 9:00pm daily

OPPA Coffee Bar Restaurant (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

Little nugget has been telling me a lot about this Pororo black noodles of late and how much he craves for some. Since I was in Tsim Sha Tsui this afternoon, I thought I swing by Kimberly Street and see if I could get my hands on a few of these Korean black noodles.



While I was strolling around Kimberly Street, widely known as Little Korea (小韓國) of Hong Kong, I decided to pick up some take-away food for lunch. I don't really know any of these Korean restaurants by name. The easiest way to pick out a restaurant was to find one with the most customers inside – OPPA Coffee Bar Restaurant.

Kimchi volcano fried rice (泡菜蛋漿熔岩炒飯) – OPPA touted themselves as the first Korean restaurant to serve "Korean volcano" in town. Too bad the "volcano lava" (a cheesy egg sauce) already became a thick layer of scrambled egg when I got home. Not good!

Korean-style steamed dumplings (韓式蒸餃) – I had to wait a good 20 minutes for these. They were reasonably good but $180 for four pieces of dumplings. That's quite a lot.

Two dishes cost me nearly $400, that's the price tag of my Michelin-starred Roganic a couple of weeks ago. A bit crazy if you ask me.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, 1F Kimberley Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2386-2315

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

J.CO Donuts & Coffee (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

This wasn't initially in my plans but I happened to walk past J.Co Donuts and Coffee on my way to somewhere important this afternoon. 



Checking my records, it's been almost four years since I last paid this Indonesian based doughnut shop a visit so a return trip is long overdue.

Didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted.

We each get one piece......

Yin Yang – One of my favorite donuts here featuring a nice balance of coffee and tea. Just a perfect choice for someone in need of a caffeine fix (albeit coffee flavors much much stronger than tea).

Heaven Berry – I got this for little nugget since he loves his mixed berries. It came with very nice, pillowy texture, a strawberry milk chocolate glaze and hidden underneath it was strawberry cream filling. A strawberry lover's dream!

The biggest reason for me to venture over to Yau Ma Tei was to get my new ping pong racquet. It's been such a long long time since I last played (I think primary school days) but quite recently, I have started playing again thanks to commitment to the parent group from little nugget's primary school. It's a pretty strange feeling picking up that ping pong racquet again, to be honest. Somehow, I'm feeling like a kid all over again. LOL 😆

Food Rating: 5.8/10
Price: $$
Address: Shop 1 and 2, 585 Nathan Road, Righteous Building, Mong Kok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Mong Kok
Tel: +852 2952-2121
Website: www.jcodonuts.com/hk/

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Sat), 9:00am - 9:00pm (Sun)

Hidden 秀殿 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

For two years, I've been itching to go back to Hidden (秀殿), one of my favorite restaurants in town which has been getting it done whenever I craved for some seriously delicious Japanese skewers (串揚). But despite launching a new online booking system late last year, Hidden remains one of the hardest reservation to get and I've been unsuccessful in securing a table since last November. Needless to say, I was getting a little frustrated about it.

Eventually, I decided to ring them up after Chinese New Year asking for the dates that they had the shortest waiting list. That move subsequently paid off and I was finally informed that I got myself a table in early March. Almost four months in the making!

To mark this very special occasion, I decided to recruit Mr. G as my partner in crime tonight as we both enjoy the delicacies from Japan very much.

Potato salad (薯仔沙律) – I love anything with potato in it so naturally, this is a dish that I usually started my meal here with.

Cold tomato (凍蕃茄) – Nothing wrong to start the meal with some clean flavors. I presume these are from Fukuoka.

Ponzu sauce chicken skin (酸汁雞皮) – Mr. G suggested having this dish and what a refreshing starter that was. The ponzu sauce (more like jelly) came with some nice acidity which meshed well with the chicken skin.

Fried chicken wing (炸雞翼) – One of my favorite dishes here and one that I would never get tired of. It was finished off with the homemade sweet soy.

Deep-fried shrimp (蝦) – Speaking of signature dish, here's another one. The shrimp was very meaty and very nice to go with the crispy batter. Not sure if it's considered a shrimp. I think it's more like a prawn to me.

Of course, the highlight came when we popped the head right into our mouth all in one bite.

Rice cake (日本年糕) – I thought this tasted almost like their grilled cheese, texture-wise. Not bad.

Oyster bacon roll (日本蠔煙肉卷) – I had high hope whenever I ordered this dish.

Pretty tasty but I recalled having a even better one from Nishiki Yakitori. That was without the crispy batter of course.

Deep-fried asparagus (蘆筍) – We had a break of action away from the seafood and onto the vegetables. The asparagus tasted pretty nice with the batter around them and the sauce added some umami-rich flavors on top.

Deep-fried lotus root (蓮藕) – A thick-cut lotus root with some crispiness. Not bad.

Scallop salmon roes (帶子三文魚籽) – One of my favorite dishes around here and they tend to serve it up as the final savory dish. This was again very very tasty with the explosion from the salmon roes matching up against the scallop very nicely.

Homemade pudding (自家製香濃布丁) – I remembered I've never had dessert here before bcuz we've always been so stuffed with the skewers. This time around, I had made sure that we've left enough room in our stomach to accommodate it.

The creamy creme brulee like pudding was finished off beautifully with a layer of rich caramel sauce on top, sending us home with a very happy tummy. 

Just super happy to be back after almost two years. I think within our group of friends, there's a real good sense that things are finally back to normal now and we are having all these social gatherings again. 'Normal' life after COVID-19 is officially back.

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Room D, 3/F, Prosperous Commercial Building, 54 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2504-1511

Website: https://hiddencwb.com/

Opening Hours: 6:30pm - 1:00am (Tue - Sun)