{Tea diaries}

Whenever I visit the Harvey Nics in London, I always drop by the posh 5F Food Court and the GF accessories section, and could spend absolutely ages wandering round aimlessly. Sadly, for the recently opened HK store, management decided to do away with the food court. It still kept the restaurant though, and the tradition of naming this restaurant by the floor it is located on – which in our case, is the Fourth Floor restaurant and bar. Went with J for birthday celebrations there last week.

Was not particularly impressed with the decoration. The bar was located near the entrance, and extended into an awkwardly long and narrow dining room. Our first feeling was how uncomfortably low the ceiling was, and how multi-color the the floor and the ceiling were. In fact, as you can see, the neon color bulbs would, at an interval, changed from purplish to pinkish, and then back again. For a minute there, we thought we had gone into a lounge bar that was trying to be cool and hip. Perhaps we are too old-fashioned, but we felt a bit dizzy after a while sitting in this ever-changing twilight zone. 

Am a milk tea addict - the Chinese local diner's style, "Chachanteng version" - in general I down at least three to four cups of milk tea a day. This is the full strength original, using condensed milk and black tea brewed with broken egg shells, not the watered down Western version. I generally buy them at meal times, one at breakfast, one at lunch, one in the afternoon and one at dinner. This is the bare minimum. Sometimes when my colleagues order breakfast after I have enjoyed mine, they'd always be kind enough (!) to swing in an extra milk tea for me.

My craving is so bad that on the occasional mornings when I didn't have time to buy my milk tea, I would be grumpy and edgy and whining non-stop to the people sitting around me about the lack of my morning brew. Sometimes they'd get so frustrated or tempted that they'd order a couple to be delivered to the office. 

Around the Wan Chai harbourfront, there used to be a lack of dining venues apart from those restaurants within the hotels, and the arrival of Sanlitun was meant to change all that and create the LKF equivalent buzz for the area. Sadly, the fizz seems to have gone and very rarely do people make a hike out to try out some of the restaurants there. Since we were in the neighbourhood for a performance at the Arts Center, we decided we would revisit the area.



Opting for a more exotic cuisine, we made reservations at a rather new restaurant in Sanlitun, Rico Bistro. It's claim to fame is that Miki, a member of the teen band Cookies, is a part-owner, supposedly she and the other members of the band would somtimes come and help out at the restaurant too. Posters of Miki were plastered around the cashier area, but there was no sight of anyone famous. We only saw two occupied tables, but we were dining early at six thirty. Our Sangria mix was refreshing and full of fruit bits, which made a promising start for the evening. Following the Spanish way, we ordered a number of tapas dish to start, and a big seafood paella as our mains. 

After a lazy lie-in and missing the hotel's sumptious breakfast buffet, we decided to head out to a nearby cafe for our morning expresso. The clear blue sky prompted us to take a walk to the Louvre, along the Tuileries. We walked past many inviting sidewalk cafes but resisted the temptation until we reached the Louvre ~ Le Cafe Marly with its spectacular view of the pyramid is our destination.

Don't know what amount of cajoling T did to secure us a rare last minute sunday lunch booking at Le Jules Verne, which has always been on my Paris restaurant wishlist. Been eager to try out the michelin-starred cooking of Alain Reix (one Michelin *, 16/20 Guide Gault Millau) for some time now. For those showbiz fans, yes, this is also the spot where Tom Cruise proposed to Katie Holmes earlier this year.



Blessed with absolute gorgeous weather, we made our way to Tour Eiffel after a leisurely late morning stroll around Tuillieres and the Louvre. Immediately upon arrival, we noticed the crowds of people queuing to go up the Tour Eiffel. Luckily for us, Le Jules Verne has its own dedicated entrance and private elevator access at the south pillar so saves us the wait. We were greeted by a cheerful hostess upon entrance, who checked our name against the reservations and guided us to the lift lobby.

Source~ http://www.sudoku.com 

Confession time~ yes I am addicted to Sudoku. When I popped by Waterstone's or WHSmith in London, masses of Sudoku related puzzle books were displayed prominantly near the entrance. Apparently it's been all the craze in London for some time. I picked up a few Sudoku handbooks to give to my friends in HK as souvenir and left them at home by mistake. One day when I got home and saw my mom obsessed, and soon after, Sudoku puzzles have appeared in most local newspaper and magazines here too.

Arranged to meet up with an old friend Y for dinner to catch up this past weekend, and late afternoon on the day, was told that our plans are off, because his football team was playing that night. After some back and forth bickering SMSes, we compromised and headed for Dickens Bar in Causeway Bay ~ so that I could have my dinner, while he could watch his football.

Dickens Bar is located in the basement of The Excelsior Hotel, and is an established sports fans' haunt. In addition to live broadcast of sports matches, the place is also well-known for its lunch-time curry buffet (HK$128) and its British foodfare like roast beef and sheperd's pie - aka comfort food.

The news the other day talked about the new Korean teenage hearthrob, Rain, having fun at a "booking club" in Seoul, which reminded me that I have yet to properly document the vibrant Seoul nightscene. So here's a little diversion from the Paris entries and marks the final posting from my May Seoul trip.



Our booking club outing is definitely worth a blog entry in itself. Whenever my (ahem, male) colleagues visited Seoul in the past, they always returned saying how awesome these booking clubs were without going into the details. All I knew was that it was fun and a "guy" thing to do. On my recent visit, I begged my friends to bring me along to check it out. They graciously agreed, even though my presence would cram their style apparently.

As mentioned earlier, was fortunate enough to coincide my rushed London trip with UK's last bank holiday weekend before X'mas, and managed to swing by to Paris for an indulgent long weekend with my travelling buddy T.

Must commend T for her superb ability  in competing for last-minute Eurostar tickets with gazillion Londoners that were trying to escape the moody UK weather. For those unfamiliar with the Eurostar, it operates three classes - Business Premier, Leisure Select, and Standard. Standard is your normal cattle class, while for Business Premier and Leisure Select, you get the same, much more comfortable and spacious seating (see pic). The difference between the latter two is that Business Premier includes a fast track check-in and also access to Eurostar's lounges. Both classes would serve a proper meal during your train journey. Eurostar prices on a steep curve, based on demand and supply. A helpful hint is that the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket is in general. Oh and reserving tics via a travel agent is normally more expensive than booking online by yourself. For our journey to Paris, we decided to splash out on a couple of Leisure Select tickets. (GBP99.5, versus GBP77.5 for the Standard fare on the same train).

We settled in comfortably at the pre-assigned seats and  started rummaging through the complimentary newspaper and magazines while waiting for the train to depart Waterloo. What I particularly liked about the seats is that they can recline backward, allowing us to catch up on some sleep while on the train journey. There is also a large area for keeping your luggages and suitcases, unlike in Standard class, where they are all jam packed near the exits.

As we were on a morning train (departing Waterloo @ 8:12am), instead of the champagne and three-courses, we were provided with a delicious breakfast. In addition to a pastry selection and yoghurt, we were offered a choice of hot breakfast or platter of fruit. This was definitely of a superior standard to the one you get on economy flight journeys. My serving of bacon, mushroom, tomato, rosti and scrambled egg was very tasty and I managed to finished the whole plate even after munching on the tasty croissant. A rich cup of expresso rounded off our meal nicely.

Having returned to London on the Standard class, we both agreed that GBP22 for the extra comfort and freebie meal was a reasonably good deal. Having said that, for the return when checking-in, the value seems less apparent, as Leisure Select was stuck in the same endless and non-moving queue as Standard class, while the Business Premier passenges breezed past. 

Somehow I have always avoided the Grand Hyatt in Taipei in the past- yes, maybe in part due to the superstitious sayings of how it is seemingly haunted (almost everyone I know that had stayed there in the past has a story to tell). Out of convenience and the lack of alternatives, was finally given the reluctant chance to see for myself on my recent hopover to Taipei. The hotel lobby looked impressive - grand and spacious, with a small fountain right in the middle (?) of the hall. Promising, I thought.

My room was, however, a plain letdown – worn down and cramped, with a substandard washroom. I was surprised with the poor upkeeping, especially when compared to Sherwood or Shang, the two alternatives around town. When I complained to my colleagues, who are all frequent visitors to this hotel~ I realized I probably caught the short end of the straw. It seems while the furnishing in their rooms were tired and worn down, it was much more spacious than mine. Guess I have not used my Hyatt Gold Passport frequently enough in the past.

Check out the bare bathroom. Had a glimpse of one of my colleague’s rooms and found the bathroom of a much higher standard, with a proper separate shower cubicle and bathtub. The one I had in my room was an awkward shower head fixed on top of the normal bathtub you have at home.

Only got 40 min in-between meetings to grab a meal, so ordered the fastest room service available on the menu - Taiwanese-style braised pork rice (滷肉飯). This arrived promptly on a nicely laid out platter, with chili soy sauce and preserved veg accompaniments on the side. This was pretty decent, both in terms of appearance and taste, although I'd prefew the hawker stall one any time.

Cuisine Cuisine is operated by the Miramar Group, which counts Tsui Hang Village amongst its portfolio of restaurants. This eatery is meant to be its fine dining crown jewel, located within the up-and-coming IFC complex, posing as a real competitor for the popular Lei Garden.



Situated at a prime location within the IFC complex, Cuisine Cuisine is tastefully decked out with art pieces here and there, with an extremely high ceiling that allowed diners to soak in the full harbour view (although Lumiere has an even better view - see last paragraph).

This past month had been an extremely busy one for me ~ just realised that i'd been out of town for two out of the four weeks, managing to visit four countries in the process... 

Spent a gorgeous long weekend in Paris living the chic Parisienne life, whittling hours away in cafes while sipping on endless cups of expresso, and enjoying amazing haute cuisine at night. 

A quick whirl round the cosmopolitan city of London to catch up with friends and relatives, gobbling on scones and finger sandwiches in the process.

Touched down in Taipei briefly to take in the breathtaking skyline night view of Taipei city at the observation tower of the 101 Tower, which stands as the tallest building in the world.

There's been a buzz of activity in Central recently, with the recent opening of Harvey Nichols (my fave dept store in London) and the boutique MO in The Landmark, and the upcoming launch of Four Seasons Hotel... not forgetting of course, the DisneyLand euphoria. Knowing that there will be plenty of interesting new restaurants to try out in the area soon, we made a little detour to Causeway Bay for Opia, the fine-dining restaurant located in the hip boutique hotel Jia in Causeway Bay.



We liked the stylish and sophisticated feel of the resturant (designed by Andre Fu), and settled down comfortably at the leather upholstered sofabeds quickly. Opia's menu was devised by one of Australia's most celebrated chefs, Teage Ezard, who has won many awards for his cooking at his own namesake back in Melbourne - ezard. His speciality, I read, is "Australian free style cuisine with influences from Asia"~ how interesting. We opted for the a la carte menu instead of the six-course tasting menu, which was priced at HK$500 per head.

Am an avid reader of many Taiwan foodies’ sites, and have been intrigued by the many rave write-ups on this Chef Show Time restaurant I keep reading about. Finally had the opportunity to visit this “must-go” restaurant recently, and I agree that it was indeed a unique dining experience.



The restaurant is located off the busy Tung Hwa South Road in a quiet side street, with an unassuming red brick exterior. The first oddity I noticed was how the tableware was laid out – a pair of chopsticks took the place of the norm fork and knife in a Western restaurant. I found out that this was the chef’s idea to encourage diners to share their food, which to us sounds like an excellent idea. In addition to being able to try out more dishes than normal, it also allow the diners to have more interaction during the meal. Chef Show Time serves more than just a European cuisine, in fact, it offers an unusual combination of Taiwanese-European fusion, which worked way better than it sounds.

Yellow Door in SoHo, along with Xi Yan in Wan Chai, is one of the more established Chinese private kitchens in Hong Kong, and because of its success, the owner, Lau Kin Wai, decided to open a proper restaurant in Tin Hau, called Kin's Kitchen. This may sound like an obscure location, but Tin Hau has now become an up-and-coming food destination. We have sadly seen most of the old moms and pops stores closed down, and are now being replaced by new (and sometimes trendy) restaurants.

Have tried Kin's Kitchen a number of times now (Tin Hau being my natural habitat) and am impressed with its consistently high quality cooking. No wonder it has to adopt the two-shift dining policy (first seating before 6:30, second at 8:00) even in my quiet little neighbourhood.