Light Vegetarian Restaurant 普光齋 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

With all the travel restrictions around the world during the pandemic, I have developed a habit of re-discovering some of the nostalgic flavors from my childhood. A few of the old-school snacks I have been searching all over Hong Kong for included a type of sweet rice flour rolls made with sugarcane and a traditional glutinous rice cake often found in a Cantonese-style vegetarian restaurant. These snacks have all but vanished in the last decade and I was on a mission to locate them before its extinction.

Finally, I was able to find these glutinous rice cakes at Light Vegetarian Restaurant (普光齋) , an old-school vegetarian restaurant which first opened its doors in Jordan back in the 1980s.

My mom used to bring me to vegetarian restaurants all the time when I was a kid and these sweet cakes called "貞餅" was so popular back then. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to find them anymore. For the price of just $10, I got 3 pieces of my favorite 貞餅! 

As usual, these glutinous cakes came with two types of sweet fillings, lotus seed paste and red bean paste.

Look at the runny lotus seed paste 😍😍. Absolutely delicious!

Not surprisingly, nobody's making these anymore due to the small profit margin. That's a really sad reality for many of these traditional sweets. I am going to make sure that I have a few more of these before they stop making them at Light Vegetarian Restaurant. In the meantime, if anymore knows where to find my sugarcane rice flour rolls, please drop me a few words here. Thank you!

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$

Address: G/F, New Lucky House, 13 Jordan Road, Jordan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Jordan

Tel: +852 2384-2833

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

Cowboy Noodle Restaurant 牛小子麵館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Two days after little nugget's 8th birthday, we are throwing him a small party inviting some of his best friends over but first a very busy morning for everybody concerned. Little one was off to his grammar class in Jordan while Jelloman and I enjoyed a foot massage session in the area. 

We could just barely squeeze in a quick lunch following this guy's English glass.



Cowboy Noodle Restaurant (牛小子麵館) is a little Chinese restaurant in Jordan serving a beef brisket centric menu that includes brisket with noodle soup, curry rice and more. It's been a while since I last had Chinese-style skirt steak (崩沙腩) so this skirt steak with noodle soup was really a no-brainer.

This came with ultrabeefy flavor and lots of intramuscular fat as usual. The clear broth was pretty decent. It wasn't as salty and peppery as some of the other places. 

Little one seemed to like it here too, although he kept asking about the starting time of his birthday party.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 41 Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Jordan

Tel: +852 2633-0331

Mother Of Pizzas for dinner and the Messi Mess Saga

Little nugget's birthday party is scheduled for tomorrow but we have already planned a small celebration for him 24 hours ahead. First, we are getting together with some of his best friends to watch the Inter Miami FC's open training session.

It's been a while since a sporting event takes Hong Kong as a city by storm like this one. The highly anticipated visit by football star Lionel Messi has made headlines since the start of 2024 and the hype has never really stopped. Although little one knows very little about Mr. Messi, he's still overjoyed to be part of this occasion with all his buddies. 

The Hong Kong Stadium was absolutely packed and the vibe was electrifying. 

The training soon started following a few introductory speeches. 

And finally, Messi himself showed up and mingled a bit with his teammates before joining the open training.

Following the event, our group took off for Mother of Pizzas on the edge of Happy Valley for dinner.

A Pavel Bure jersey at the centre of the dining room. The owner must be a big hockey fan and a Canucks fan like yours truly.

We found the perfect place for the kids, a corner table hidden away from the main dining room. This should keep them from disturbing the other diners. 

Of course, we had to check out some of their signature pizzas. 

Summer of Love 1967 – We asked our server for a pizza closest to a Hawaiian pizza and were told this was it.

The toppings consisted of Mozzarella, San Marzano tomato, Capicolla, Italian sausage, fresh sliced pineapple, and chilli infused honey. Really not bad. The sauce made with San Marzano tomato provided a very nice base to work with. The only strange part was the pineapple which was not its usual juicy self. Instead, it tasted as if it's been dehydrated. 

We were later told that we could do a half-and-half so we could enjoy two flavors for the price of one.

Canadian – Toppings included Mozzarella, San Marzano tomato, pepperoni, Portobello mushroom, and Grana Padano. I thought other than the mushrooms, there was nothing there to really write home about.

Meat de Cavemen – The toppings were very similar to the Summer of Love pizza we had earlier but they have traded the slices of pineapple with pepperoni and red onion. To me, this tasted like a refined version of "Meat Lover" pizza from Pizza Hut.

At this point, we got a surprise treat from one of the parents here as he has secretly ordered this special pizza-shaped birthday cake for little nugget and what a treat it was!

IMO, one of the most instagrammable birthday cakes one could find in Hong Kong for sure!

Birthday Pizza – A nice combination of chocolate chip cookie crust, red velvet cookie, red velvet ganache and white chocolate shavings. I thought very nicely done.

I hope little nugget enjoyed this party; I certainly did! Now time to go home and crash early cuz we still have a full day of activities ahead of it tomorrow. 

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, 13-19 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2891-2221

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