Super Lucky Cha Chaan Teng at OCT 大喜翻吃喝公司 歡樂海岸店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

We are doing a quick day trip to Shenzhen with three other families just a day after coming back from France. Jet lag? What jet lag. This is a bit crazy but such is life for most Hongkongers as we all try to work and play hard at the same time.

The plan is to spend the entire day at OCT Harbour (歡樂海岸), which is almost directly connected to Shenzhen Bay Park subway station (深圳灣公園站). Almost.

We were a bit early so not surprisingly, the park was nearly empty.

I didn’t have much to eat all morning so I tried to get others to agree with me that we should grab a quick bite first and luckily, they were all on board! This brought us to Super Lucky Cha Chaan Teng (大喜翻吃喝公司) near the very edge of the park (entrance side).

The teddy bear milk tea is everywhere in SZ these days.

I had a toasted sandwich with luncheon meat and scrambled eggs. This was quite decent and really in par with what I normally got in Hong Kong.

Little nugget had the wonton noodle soup.

Less successful was the barbecued pork belly served on rice.

We will have dinner at 6 so in all likelihood, we won’t have time for another meal as the kids are all raring to go and play at a couple of the playhouses here. Time to get the towel, water bottle and extra clothes ready….

Food Rating: 4.1/10

Price: ¥¥

Address: B2 1-1, 8 Baishi Road East, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China

深圳南山区白石路东8号欢乐海岸曲水湾 2 负 1-1

Closest Metro Station: Shenzhen Bay Park (深圳灣公園)

Tel: +86 13613046895

Opening Hours: 9:30am - 10:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/c8/0PBi

Choubo Kissaten World Trade Center 喫茶ちょうぼ 世貿中心 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After a long flight back from Paris, I would normally just spend the rest of the day unwinding and chilling out at home but with Guan Gong (關公) in town and leaving tomorrow, I decided to venture out to Causeway Bay to see my long-time friend who hasn't been back to Hong Kong in four years.



I am picking our meeting spot this afternoon and Choubo Kissaten (喫茶ちょうぼ) at World Trade Center (世貿中心) immediately came to mind since it was pretty close to where my friend was staying.

I haven't had much success with yōshoku dining  (洋食) these days. Hopefully, Choubo Kissaten will provide a more pleasant and enjoyable experience.

My purple sweet potato milk was a little bland today but after all those French pastries I had in the past two weeks, a lower sugar content wasn't a bad idea.

I just realized that I haven't eaten all day, so I treated myself to a small carbonara with assorted mushrooms. This was a little too cheesy for me but I like the fact that the spaghetti was nicely coated in the creamy sauce.

It was nice to see my good friend from high school and university again. These days, we have been talking about parenthood and work and in a few years, we might just find ourselves discussing about our retirement plans. Time really flies!

Food Rating: 4.7/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 8, 4/F, World Trade Center, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2608-1833

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

PIA at Ibis Paris CDG Airport (Tremblay-en-France, FRANCE) ★★☆☆☆

I need to let this sink in a little bit, the idea of leaving France and back home. Anyways, here we are back in Paris for the last night of the trip. Funny that this airport hotel was the first reservation I made and the rest of the things just fell into the right places.



Given the substantial size of this hotel, it appears that it needed more than just two restaurants.

PIA is a canteen-style restaurant serving simple Italian food like pizza and pasta. We had to wait for more than 30 minutes for our table but there wasn't many places open at this late hour.

Spaghetti carbonara was a little bland albeit cheesy enough. Not that anyone was paying attention this late. Everyone including yours truly was trying to get this over with.

The Parma pizza featured a tomato sauce base topped with mozzarella, Parma ham, tomatoes, Parmesan and rocket.

I was pleasantly surprised how fast this arrived on the table with the rest of our order.

We had way too many French desserts on this trip so perhaps an Italian tiramisu for a change of pace.

It was time to get a good night's sleep to prepare ourselves for our long flight home tomorrow. I hope I still remember where I live.....😆😆😆

Food Rating: 3.9/10

Price: €€€

Address: 3 Rue de Bruxelles Roissypôle, 93290 Tremblay-en-France, France

Tel: +33 (0)1 4919-1964

Website: www.accorhotels.com/fr/hotel-1404-ibis-paris-cdg-airport/index.shtml

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:00pm (Mon - Fri), 7:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Sun)

Joe & The Juice at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (Nice, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

The drop-off of our rental car took much less time than anticipated leaving us with ample time before our flight to Paris is ready to take off.

I didn't eat a lot during lunch so I was feeling a little hungry but unfortunately, there wasn't much available at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport when it came to food options. Joe & The Juice, being one of those few options, quickly caught my eyes.  A health juice chain that originated in Denmark, the fast food joint is best known for its fresh juices, smoothies and healthy food options.

Joe's Club – Their version of clubhouse sandwich was made with this crispy flatbread.

Between the flatbread, there were diced chicken, avocado, tomato and a vegan pesto sauce. Pretty tasty (largely because of the bread).

Avo Shake – These guys were famous for their fresh juices and milkshakes so of course, not ordering one would be uncivilized. This one was made with avocado, banana and vanilla milk. Apparently, it was heavily flavored with banana and vanilla but there was no sign of avocado.

Like I said, the drop-off was very efficient and I wasn't charged with not filling up my tank completely. Yeah, I did a good job this time.

This is a very small aircraft. Little nugget was wondering why we didn't have a tunnel directly connecting to the aircraft.

We are going to miss the South of France. 

Price: €€€

Address: Terminal 1, Rue Costes et Bellonte, 06206 Nice, France

Tel: +33 (0)1 5920-0488

Website: www.joejuice.com

Opening Hours: 5:00am - 9:00pm (Tue - Thu, Sat), 5:00am - 10:00pm (Fri, Sun - Mon) 

Rosana (Cannes, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

We didn't have a lot of time to spend in Cannes. Only a few hours last night and despite we woke up early this morning, it was already lunch hour when I began checking my watch. 



This was when we stumbled upon Rosana, a Californian-style restaurant in the heart of the city's touristy district. We had a choice to simply eat at the airport but an American-style all day menu was too good to pass after a run of French food the past two weeks.



Judging by the décor, this place likely turns into a bar at night.

None of us expressed the feeling that they were hungry so just a few small dishes to share among us.

Calamari (€?) – Always a crowd pleaser. The thin batter was a pretty nice touch and so was the hint of lemon.

Fish and chips (€21) – For a main dish, small pieces of breaded cod fish fillets certainly looked a bit small in portion but thankfully, we had the French fries to go with them.

French fries – These were kind of like the shoestring fries we used to have in Vancouver. 

Spicy rigatoni alla vodka and straciatella (€20) – I love rigatoni tossed with creamy tomato sauce and vodka! This also came with chilli, parmesan and fresh basil.

Clubhouse sandwich (€?) – Jelloman had a lot of salad on this trip but today, she opted for a small clubhouse with lettuce, tomato and bacon.

Time is almost up, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a fun couple of weeks exploring the South of France but time to get behind the wheels and drive down to Nice for our flight back to Paris.

Food Rating: 5.8/10

Price: €€€

Address: 13 Rue des Belges, 06400 Cannes, France

Tel: +33 (0)4 9338-8860

Website: www.rosanacannes.com

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 12:00am (Mon - Sat)

Nivà Gelateria Tradizionale (Cannes, FRANCE) ★★★★☆

During this trip, we have revisited some of the restaurants and cafés we enjoyed back in 2016 and the latest to join the party is Nivà Gelateria Tradizionale, an Italian artisanal gelateria with branches in Turin and Lisbon.



They have a nice selection of freshly made gelatos especially their fruity flavors (think peach, strawberry, mango, banana, red fruits...).

But I like their nutty flavors even more!

This is by far the hottest day we have endured on this journey in the South of France. The weather reports confirmed that it was 37 degrees around noon today. Not surprisingly, my gelato was already melting the moment I stepped outside the gelato shop.

Really happy to share that little nugget thoroughly enjoyed his super-creamy coconut and vanilla gelato (6 Euros). I treated myself to two scoops as well. Personally, I found the ricotta with fig flavor a tad better than the nougat, although both were exceptionally impressive. Probably the best gelato we had on this trip. 

It's been 8 years since our last visit. I hope we don't need another 8 years before we set foot on Cannes again. 

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: €€€

Address: 75 Rue Félix Faure, 06400 Cannes, France

Tel: +33 (0)9 5113-8734

Website: www.nivagelato.com/gelaterie/

Opening Hours:  9:30am - 12:30am (Sun - Thu), 9:30am - 1:00am (Fri - Sat)

Hyde Beach Mondrian Hotel (Cannes, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

Tonight, I saw a bit of sadness in everybody's eyes. Our 2-week journey was about to come to a close and we have finally arrived at Cannes, our last destination tonight.



After exploring a number of locations in the city including a walk up and down Cannes' iconic red carpet, we reached Croisette Beach, a private beach situated along the renowned Promenade de la Croisette in Cannes.

We ended up spending our last official dinner here at Hyde Beach, a restaurant and bar directly facing the beach.

While it would be nice to be seated near the beach.....

........we elected to sit at a quiet corner to reflect on our trip.

Caesar salad – Did my memory serve me correctly or did Jelloman really order so many Caesar salad on this journey? As usual, the romaine lettuce was topped with free-range chicken fillets, organic soft-boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, parmesan shavings and croutons.

Prawns – I had these prawns grilled with black garlic and chili pepper. Very flavorful and came with nice charred marks. I didn't have much mashed potatoes on this trip so I gladly ordered one to go with my prawns.

Octopus alla Luciana, Zibibbo grape Elixir – Little one had the iconic Neapolitan dish made with tender octopus as a simple stew, complemented nicely with gently cooked Zibibbo grapes and a side dish of tomato-sauce spaghetti. 

None of us was really paying much attention to the meal tonight as we were all busy going through the photos on our iPhone. All these memories from the past two weeks and lots to cherish about.

Not sure if this guy can still remember that he has walked on this popular beach in Cannes in a few years' time.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: €€€€

Address: 45 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes, France

Tel: +33 (0)4 9338-1957

Website: https://mondrianhotels.com/cannes/dining/hyde-beach/

Opening Hours: 9:30am - 12:00am daily (summer months only)

Le Fournil de Mimi (Aix-en-Provence, FRANCE) ★★★☆☆

This morning, I was sent out early to get all of us some freshly made bread for breakfast. There were only a handful of options within walking distance according to our friend, Google Map but mysteriously, I bumped into Le Fournil de Mimi while on my way to another bakery shop.

This is great! Save me at least 5 minutes and they have gotten everything we need here from baguette to croissant and pain au chocolate.

I wanted something sweet and they had a pastry corner with the usual chocolate tarts and eclairs readily available.

The choux pastry of this chocolate eclair wasn't the best I have experienced on this trip but it was serviceable.



Little nugget had the plain croissant.

Well, we have another highly anticipated lunch in Cassis, a charming little coastal town located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, just a 45-minute drive from where we are staying. Stay tuned.

Food Rating: 4.4/10

Price: €€

Address: 135 Boulevard Ferdinand de Lesseps, 13090 Aix-en-Provence, France

Opening Hours: 6:00am - 8:00pm (Mon - Sat), 6:00am - 1:00pm (Sun)