Monthly Archives: October 2014

Rummin’ Tings restaurant review – love that ting you do

rummin tings hong kong jerk chicken

“Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, it’s bobsled time!”

Me shoehorning this Cool Runnings reference into a review isn’t a sign that Hong Kong’s first bobsled-themed restaurant has opened (alas!), but that its first Caribbean-Jamaican themed bar and restaurant has arrived instead – Rummin’ Tings in Central. OK, it’s a pretty tenuous connection, but what piece of writing wasn’t improved with a spurious Cool Runnings reference, eh? (And it’s about the only thing I can say with a passable Jamaican accent.)

rummin tings hong kong

Located by the escalator on Hollywood Road, Rummin’ Tings has some legit cool credentials behind it; it’s founded by two sets of brothers, Harsh and Rohit Roopchand (who brought NYC it-resto Fatty Crab to HK) and Manoj and Manesh Chelleram (the hip party and event planners behind The Edge), whilst its gorgeous beach shack-style décor is courtesy of Candace Campos (whose similarly inspired interiors can be found at Fatty Crab, BEP and Tate).

As you know, I don’t drink, so Rummin’ Tings “yo ho ho and a bottle of rum” sensibilities are rather lost on me. What I can get behind, however, is some bang tidy Caribbean street food servings that are way superior to most bar bites in town. The portions are designed for sharing – small but not ant-sized and reasonably priced too – meaning you can get your fair share of different tings to try without breaking either the bank or your gut in the process.

rummin tings hong kong conch salad

Continue reading

Clinique Quickliner For Eyes Intense in Intense Clove, Intense Truffle and Intense Peridot review

clinique quickliners intense truffle intense clove intense peridot

#BeautyBloggerProblems – having such a mega stash of make-up hidden away that you forget what products you even own in the first place!

Back in 2012, I reviewed Clinique’s Quickliner For Eyes Intense eyeliners… loved them… then promptly forgot all about them in favour of my usual Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil and Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner combination. But one day recently, when I couldn’t be bothered to faff with my eyeliner brush or go crazy with colour (funnily enough, the exact circumstances I predicted myself using them in my Quickliner review – well done me!), I spotted them sitting forlornly in my eyeliner tub – and remembered exactly why I fell in love with them in the first place. They’re so easy to use! The colour is so intense! They’re great for sensitive eyes!

clinique quickliners for eyes intense

… Which is how I found myself in Clinique buying another three Quickliner For Eyes Intense pencils – this time in Intense Clove, Intense Truffle and Intense Peridot. And I found myself smitten all over again, like a grown woman surfing Friends Reunited only to fall back in love with her teenage crush.

Continue reading

Dessert of the day: let’s twist again… the Churros Twist, that is!

churros twist hong kong

UPDATE: Churros Twist is now closed.

Time for another trip down dessert lane – and this time it’s by way of Spain and Australia (errr… the scenic route?) with Churros Twist.

Churros Twist is a small takeaway dessert shop in Wan Chai that offers freshly-cooked Spanish churros paired with Australian frozen yoghurt or vanilla soft-serve ice-cream, which is then sprinkled and drizzled with toppings and sauces of your choice. Since churros are not only desserts but deep-fried desserts, you can see why a trip here was nothing short of a necessity.

Continue reading

Essentials by Cinci handmade soaps review – land of soap and glory!

ec soaps hong kong

For me, soap is something old people use. It sits on your soap-dish for ages looking unattractively scummy, it doesn’t lather up properly and it leaves you feeling almost too squeakily clean. Suffice to say, I’m a shower gel girl all the way.

However, bringing the humble soap into the 21st century is Essentials By Cinci EC Soap. The brainchild of qualified Chinese medicine practitioner Cinci Leung, these soaps are handmade in Hong Kong from all-natural ingredients – and look absolutely gorgeous to boot.

essentials by cinci hong kong

Before you start imagining Leung as some wizened bearded old man concocting noxious-smelling brews in a ye olde style apothecary, let me tell you that she’s actually a bright young woman with a more modern approach to Chinese medicine – a philosophy which is totally reflected in the Essentials by Cinci soaps themselves.

Leung explained to me that many shower gels are formulated with ingredients that end up stripping off your skin’s natural oils as well as the dirt and sweat we want rid of. Her soaps are much milder and have been created to both cleanse and moisturise – sudsational stuff!

handmade soaps hong kong essentials by cinci

Continue reading

Dazzling Café restaurant review – the toast of the town

dazzling cafe hong kong

You learn something new every day… and in the case of the day where Mirander and I visited Dazzling Café, it was how to eat a piece of the toast the size of your face.

Giant bricks of toast filled with yet more baby cubes of toast sound like a strange carb-loaded monster from Dr Atkins’ worst nightmares, but these bread-head desserts have become a bona fide “thing” in Hong Kong, alongside the recent influx of cutesy Taiwanese cafés with queues almost as long at the restaurants’ daily bread orders.

dazzling cafe hk

Dazzling Café – the latest Taiwanese café import to hit Hong Kong, hot on the heels of Coffee Alley and Teawood except with a much cushier location in Tsim Sha Tsui’s The One mall – definitely delivers on the cute factor. Eggshell blue walls, chairs with bunny ears, waitresses dressed as French maids, a logo featuring lace, baby pink AND pearls… it all feels like you’ve entered a real-life doll’s house.

dazzling cafe hong kong caramel honey toast

Continue reading