Labels: birthdays, food, friends, hong kong, macau, travel, videos

written at 15:27 0 comments

Labels: food, hong kong, travel

written at 23:26 0 comments

School has officially started and I'm somewhat all-over-the-place right now when it comes to getting back in the momentum of studying. But, it's week 01 so I figured I can afford to bum around for a while more, ha-ha. Went for a brief getaway to Hong Kong a week before school resumed, just to unwind a little before the madness settles in. Overjoyed to be able to finally eat all the good Hong Kong food I've been missing since 2012, but even more delighted to have discovered some new gems during this trip.

Today's entry features Little Bao, a fusion cafe of sorts, that cleverly marries flavours of both eastern and western cuisines. If you read my blog or follow me on social media, you'll know that I'm a huge cafe-junkie. This place definitely passed the hipster test, ha-ha. It's only opened for dinner so go early to avoid long queues. I read online that the place fills up by 7pm. However, being the typical Singaporeans that we are, we showed up at 5.50pm, 10 minutes before they opened. This is when being kiasu works to our advantage - there was already a queue forming outside the cafe!

Just a heads up, so you won't be too shocked when you visit the place, it's a ridiculously tiny establishment. There are ZERO table top seats, only counter seats. So be prepared to eat your dinner on bar stools, shoulder to shoulder with the person/people next to you. The friendly and efficient staff makes the dining experience a little better though, and don't worry if you can't speak Cantonese (or Mandarin), they're fluent in English.


(1) LB Fries - roasted tomato sambal, kewpie mayo, cilantro. [HKD$68] 
(2) "Mac & Cheese" - steamed rice rolls, mentaiko cheese sauce. [HKD$128]

We ordered 2 sides, instead of the recommended 4, because let's face it, the prices aren't exactly broke-student-friendly. I say recommended because the waiter emphasised that the 'baos' we ordered as our mains would be small and potentially not filling enough. Overall, I'd skip the fries if you're really trying to save money. While they were good, they weren't any spectacular. Their take on "Mac & Cheese" however is a MUST BUY. It's basically Chee Cheong Fan (or steamed rice rolls) with mentaiko cheese sauce. Anything with Mentaiko AND Cheese, I'm SOLD.


(1) Chicken Bao - french running chicken, black vinegar glaze, szechuan mayo, napa cabbage coleslaw. 
(2) Spciy Fried Chicken Bao - fresh running chicken, chilli garlic, blackbean mayo, scallion coleslaw. 
(3) Fish Tempura Bao - fresh market fish, tamarind palm sugar glaze, pickled lemongrass fennel salad. 
(4) Pork Belly Bao - slow braised pork belly, leek & shiso red onion salad, sesame dressing, hoisin ketchup.  
*All HKD$78

There are a total of 5 'baos' to order from the menu and since there were 4 of us, we decided to order 1 each (skipping the vegetarian option). The chicken and fish tempura options were alright I guess. Again, I wouldn't recommend ordering them if you're on a tighter budget. Instead, go straight for the pork belly or spicy fried chicken options. Personally, my favourite is the pork belly (hence, it got it's own featured photo, ha-ha). The meat just melts in your mouth and the toppings and dressing all complement each other very well, making for a orgasmic party in your mouth.


(1) LB Ice Cream Bao - green team ice cream, condensed milk. [HKD$48] 
(2) LB Ice Cream Bao - salt ice cream, caramel. [HKD$48]

Of course, we had to end off our meal with their desserts. The only have 2 options, so we got BOTH. NO REGRETS, even though they are probably a 1000 calories each. The 'baos' are deep fried and a block of ice cream is wedged in between, drizzled with either condensed milk or caramel. Definitely worth sacrificing your diet for.


I know I have a whole bunch of back-logged entries to write about (especially my OCSP trip). But blogging is more time consuming that you would think, ha-ha. Will post sporadically about stuff I've done over my summer break if I have the time or feel like procrastinating when it comes to school work, but no promises, LOL (again, not like anyone really reads this space).

Labels: food, friends, hong kong, travel

written at 15:07 0 comments

Some of the things I'm wearing: Black Leather Jacket (TOPMAN), Brown Dr. Marten Boots, Teal Skinny Pants (Rockstar), Grey Knit Pullover (ASOS), Red Aztec Print Pullover (F21 Men), Maroon Checkered Shirt (H&M).

Labels: hong kong, lookbook, photo entry, travel

written at 20:07 0 comments

Life for me right now is so boring that I've nothing remotely interesting to blog about. My weekdays are super routine - go to school, go home, eat, sleep, study. Weekends - go out, eat, go home/go party. My BLGF asked me on FB today "What's 'in' in SG right now?" because he feels out of the loop with things. Sad to say, I didn't know what to reply him besides the recently opened Aquarium at RWS. Part of me just wants to travel really badly, even for just a short trip, so that I can break the monotony that's already settling in after 4 weeks of school.

Glad to report that I'M GOING FOR EXCHANGE this summer! Granted it's only a summer exchange, but it's still ONE WHOLE MONTH in CANADA! Plus, the plan is to travel the West Coast of USA once I'm done with my summer term. USA and CANADA, 2 countries that I've never been to before; am lactating with excitement right now.

Anyway, enough rambling. Will update more about my exchange after I've attended the up-coming info-session. On to interesting sights of my Hong Kong trip back in December 2012. I'm only going to include places that I find special or breath taking or both. Everything else (random rubbish photos that I took) won't be included for the sake of not making this entry crazy long.













That's about it for interesting sights of my Hong Kong trip. Do check out my Part01 and Part02 entries about Hong Kong food :) Will do one final entry about my #ootd(s) in Hong Kong soon.

Labels: hong kong, travel

written at 21:48 0 comments

Okay, so this is a continuation from the previous HK food post. Damn, looking through all the pictures of food is so torturous. I can feel my stomach juices churning and it's making me want to go bad to HK again really badly :( But sighs, am still studying so I've no income to finance all my travel dreams and plans. Am also sort of, kind of planning to visit Japan during summer break next year, but that's KIV for now. Gosh, Japan's going to be damn freaking expensive. I may have to re-think this trip. Anyway, back to the Hong Kong delights :)


I just had a mini food-orgasm. This is the famous Yung Kee Restaurant that is renowned for it's roasted goose meat. I don't know why I kept referring to it as duck meat in mandarin when I was there. It tastes a wee bit like duck, but without the rusty, iron, blood taste. OMG, I can remember just closing my eyes and soaking in the moment as I put that piece of drum meat into my mouth and felt it melt on my tongue.

We also gave their century eggs a try because word on the street is that it's one of their more popular dishes. The century egg is very interesting. I've never seen one with such a clear egg white and such a runny yolk. I'm guessing it may be due to a different form of preserving the egg? Not too sure. Either way, it was nice and light on the palette, unlike some other century eggs I've had, and the slivers of pink pickled ginger went nicely with this side dish.

The real gem that we happened to chance upon was the char siew rice. OMG, it was out-of-this-world good! You have to visit the restaurant between 1400H-1700H on any given day. They'll have a tea time special that allows you to order either a plate or a bowl of char siew rice. Normally, you'll have to order the char siew and rice separately, which costs a whole lot more. Now I understand why people who've been to HK complain about SG's char siew. I don't think I've ever been this happy from eating char siew, ha-ha.


Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop, supposedly a 2 Michelin star place, serves the tiniest portion of noodles I had on the trip. It's pricey for a place that looks nothing like a restaurant. We tried out their speciality - plain noodles with oyster sauce and what looks like shrimp powder but is actually shrimp eggs. The dish with just noodles alone costs more than the wanton mee, so I'm guessing those must be some pretty expensive shrimp eggs. It's good; very unique tasting. I expected it to taste like the powdered dried shrimp we have back here in SG, but the eggs are less salty and pack a nice umami taste. Umami, something I learnt on the trip, is apparently the fifth flavor (after sweet, salty, sour and bitter) discovered by the Japanese. It's the kind of sweetness you get from seafood, like prawns and crabs and lobster. The wantons are really good too. Reminded me of CP wanton, which are amazing, despite how commercialised they are, lol.


勝香園, best street side food I had on the trip. I know it looks very unimpressive - macaroni in tomato soup with hot dog, pork chop and a boiled egg - but don't be fooled by it's appearance. This simple fare is very appetising. It's also very popular, there was actually a queue, for street food! It's very hearty and value for money and is something I would totally eat every day because it is THAT good.


Last place that I'll be covering for the food portion of my Hong Kong trip. Hui Lau Shan or 許留山, it's like KOI or Gong Cha in SG. But what's special and different about this place is that instead of different variations of milk tea or green/red/oolong tea, their drinks differ with mango juices :D I mean, who doesn't like mango right? Literally drank this every day I was there, EVERY DAY. It's roughly the same price as a bubble tea in SG. What I really like is that you can actually taste the fruit chunks, so it's not like it's made from some sort of flavouring/colouring crap. I guess you can fool yourself into thinking that at least this is healthier than drinking bubble tea every day? LOL.

Yup, that just about wraps up the food portion of HK :) We actually ate a whole lot more than what I've included in my entries. However, those that I've not included are either bad or merely only above average and hence not really worth mentioning. HK is indeed a food paradise. As much as I prefer the shopping and people in Taiwan, I must admit that in terms of food, HK wins. There's just more character to the food in HK as compared to fried chicken cutlets, 滷肉飯 or 炸酱面. Will definitely travel back there one day to eat all these again.

Labels: food, hong kong, travel

written at 03:45 0 comments