Tag Archives: eating out

Hit The Road restaurant review – the long and winding road…

Posted on October 18, 2013 | 1 comment

Are there any problems in life that aren’t solved by afternoon tea?!

Well, that’s a question I frequently put to the test with my cake partner-in-crime, Mirander! Our afternoon tea sessions usually consist of long periods of chatting, sighing, ranting and crying – mostly on my side, whilst Mirander says, “There, there,” and orders us some more cake.

Having drank a lot of tea and eaten a lot of cake in our time, the likes of Starbucks and Pacific Coffee just don’t cut it anymore. We love uncovering cute little cafés in Hong Kong where we can vent to our heart’s content in delightful surroundings – and our latest discovery is Hit The Road.

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong, Pretty Things

Tagged afternoon tea, afternoon tea hong kong, best cafes in Causeway Bay, best cafes in Hong Kong, best dessert hong kong, café, Causeway Bay, coffee shops in Hong Kong, CWB, dessert, dessert hong kong, eating out, Hit The Road, Hit The Road cafe, Hit The Road Hong Kong, independent cafes Hong Kong, independent coffee shops Hong Kong, review, upstairs cafés, upstairs cafés Hong Kong, where to eat Causeway Bay

Café Corridor restaurant review – cute and cosy in Causeway Bay

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 3 comments

Next stop on Mirander & Rach’s cute café tour of Hong Kong – Café Corridor in Causeway Bay.

Tucked away down a… surprise, surprise… corridor opposite Times Square, Café Corridor is a homely little independent joint that’s become surprisingly well-known and loved despite its positively diminutive size. Its owner, Felix Wong, knows his way around a coffee bean (he also founded two other companies, Coffee Assembly and Barista Academy, to promote HK’s coffee culture) and Café Corridor’s reputation quickly grew, meaning the space is always packed with people looking for a quality caffeine fix.

However, if you’re looking for a coffee review, I’m afraid you’ll have to go elsewhere. I don’t drink the stuff (other than in highly diluted, sweetened, milkified and no longer bearing any resemblance to actual coffee, dung ga fe form) so can’t give you my opinion on that… but I’m happy to tell you about everything else!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged afternoon tea, best cafes in Hong Kong, best dessert hong kong, café, Cafe Corridor, cafes in Causeway Bay, cafes in Hong Kong, Causeway Bay, coffee shops in Hong Kong, CWB, dessert, dessert hong kong, eating out, Food, independent cafes Hong Kong, independent coffee shops Hong Kong, restaurant, review

St Betty restaurant review – the roast of the town

Posted on January 17, 2013 | 10 comments

UPDATE: *Sniff sniff* Sadly, St Betty has now closed. In the meantime, try Sunday roast here instead!

Having recently returned to the UK for the first time in over three years, I can safely say that one of the (very) few things I miss about the place is the food. That’s not to say I don’t love eating out in Hong Kong – and trust me, do I LOVE eating out here and would miss it madly if I were ever dragged kicking and screaming somewhere else – but you just can’t get things like fish and chips, kebabs, Magnums, Penguins, sticky toffee puddings, smoky bacon crisps, Domino’s pizza deliveries, great big whacks of gammon, beef Wellington from the supermarket and the little family-run Italian down the road over here.

However, what you now can get over here is a beautiful top-notch Sunday roast – thanks to the wonderful Shane Osborn, head chef at St Betty.

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged best restaurants in Central, best restaurants in Hong Kong, best roast beef in Hong Kong, best Sunday roast in Hong Kong, Betty's Kitschen, eating out, fine dining, IFC mall, review, Shane Osbourn, St Betty, Sunday roast HK, where to eat in Central, where to eat in IFC, where to get sunday carvery in hong kong, where to get sunday roast in hong kong

TWG Tea Salon & Boutique review – bon appe-tea!

Posted on December 17, 2012 | 2 comments

At afternoon tea, it can be easy to lose focus… cute bite-sized finger sandwiches, scrumptious sweets, and of course, buttery yummy warm fuzzy-inducing scones (with clotted cream, of course). But it is called afternoon TEA for a reason – so who better to bring the focus back on your humble cup of char than TWG Tea!

I was invited for an epic afternoon tea of girlie chats, delicious nibbles, and pot after pot after pot of more tea than you ever thought existed with blogger BFFs Jasmine of Dress Me and Vanessa of All Things Indulgent, plus the lovely Renee from Flare and TWG’s Cathy. And for a truly special afternoon tea, you can’t go far wrong.

TWG started in Singapore and its Hong Kong Tea Salon & Boutique in the IFC mall has a Raffles-esque colonial feel, with rattan furniture, smartly suited and booted staff, and walls lined with iconic vintage-style tins of their signature 1837 blend. Afternoon teas are so ten-a-penny here that it’s lovely to find one that still feels special and a treat, without being in yet another five-star hotel. Time has a habit of standing still in TWG, and in hectic HK, that’s actually kind of a joy.

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged afternoon tea, afternoon tea Central, afternoon tea hong kong, afternoon tea IFC, afternoon tea set hong kong, best afternoon tea hong kong, best dessert hong kong, best macarons hong kong, best tea hong kong, dessert, dessert hong kong, eating out, high tea, high tea hong kong, IFC mall, macarons, macarons hong kong, review, Tea WG, Tea WG HK, Tea WG Hong Kong, TWG Silver Moon tea, TWG Tea, TWG Tea Hong Kong, TWG Tea Salon & Boutique, where to buy tea hong kong, where to eat in IFC

Heirloom Eatery restaurant review – smores, smores, smores (how do you like it…)

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 6 comments

UPDATE: Heirloom Eatery is now known as Corner Kitchen Cafe.

Hong Kong is all about the hype. Be it Hello Kitty toys, Lady Gaga tickets or the latest ‘it-restaurant’, there’s always buzz around something.

One of the coolest, most talked-about restaurants from a while back, is Heirloom Eatery in the also buzzing Sheung Wan side of Hollywood Road. In traditional Rach late to the party style, I didn’t get round to trying it out until a month or so ago – with foodie partner-in-crime Michelle of Chopstixfix and her friend Amy (not a blogger but just as game for taking loads of pics and eating loads of food!).

Heirloom is a quaint little eaterie with lots of quirky design touches. It’s definitely a world away from any of the flashy restaurant group behemoths in Hong Kong and, with its whimsical menus, floral crockery, mismatched furniture and homespun feel, is probably all the better for it. Although the restaurant is on the smaller side, it’s lovely to sit outside watching the world go by on a nice spring day.

The menu is casual and international, with a few key influences – Mexican and Asian (thanks to the heritage of the two founders) – and a few majorly hyped dishes… Dear reader, we tried all of them!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged best tacos in Hong Kong, carnitas, Central, eating out, F&B, Food, heirloom, heirloom eatery, Hollywood Road, international cuisine, Mexican cuisine, photos, restaurant, review, sheung wan, smores

Brasserie De L’ile restaurant review – frites for my sweet…

Posted on February 22, 2012 | 6 comments

UPDATE: Brasserie De L’ile is now closed.

I may have mentioned on just a couple of occasions (like here… and here… and errr… here too) that my boyfriend is a bit of a chip connoisseur. For him, fries are one of the main food groups and golden chip fat probably runs through his veins. So when I heard about a new joint in town, Brasserie de L’ile, that was serving all you can eat fries, I knew it wasn’t a matter of if we would go, but WHEN!

Luckily for Brasserie de L’ile, it is located on Arbuthnot Road – and Central not being one of our frequent hang-outs, I felt slightly less nervous that my boyfriend would manage to put them out of business in just one visit!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged best moules in hong kong, best mussels in hong kong, Brasserie De L'ile, crepes, eating out, F&B, fine dining, fleur de sel, French cuisine, frites, HK, Hong Kong, Moules Mariniere, restaurant, review, salted caramel

Applegreen restaurant review – these are the salad days…

Posted on September 15, 2011 | 6 comments

UPDATE: Sadly, this branch of Applegreen is now closed and there are currently no more locations on HK Island. For the updated list of their restaurants in Hong Kong, see the bottom of this post.

After my post on being a calamari glutton at Grappas, I had a lovely email from a reader demanding (very politely, of course) more posts like that. So hello Kai and may I present another of my regular Hong Kong haunts – Applegreen.

Applegreen’s cuisine is inspired by the café culture of California and its strapline ‘The house of salad’ is the main reason it took me so long to get there! My boyfriend is no particular friend of salad (or anything healthy and non fried potato based) and made disgusted faces every time I attempted to broach a visit to a place boasting salad as its signature dish. Instead, I waited it out until a group dinner with friends, which turned out to be great and where I spotted Cajun Fries (served in a trash can, no less) smiling brightly on the menu. Well, the boyfriend loves Cajun Fries almost as much as he hates salad – and consequently, we have found ourselves there nearly every fortnight ever since!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged Applegreen, best restaurants in Hong Kong, best salad hong kong, Californian cuisine, casual dining in hong kong, Causeway Bay, eating out, F&B, healthy eating, HK, Hong Kong, Mong Kok, photos, reasonably priced restaurants hong kong, restaurant, review, salads, Tsim Sha Tsui, Western cuisine, where to eat in Causeway Bay, where to eat in Mong Kok, where to eat in Tsim Sha Tsui

Grappa’s restaurant review – the Italian job

Posted on August 10, 2011 | 6 comments

I don’t think Grappa’s gets nearly enough love.

Whenever there’s a request for reasonably-priced, good quality pasta or a shout-out for your favourite Italian in Hong Kong, I feel like I’m the only one gunning for Grappa’s! It might not be the newest or hippest Italian restaurant on the block or have a particularly innovative exciting menu, but what it does deliver is efficient service, consistent quality, food that I want to come back for and at prices that don’t make my wallet run away screaming in horror.

For a chain, its branches do vary a lot, both in quality and atmosphere. The one in Central is in a cosy cellar and is one of the best venues for live music from artists that can’t yet sell out arenas but aren’t quite ‘skivy bar in Wan Chai’ material. The one in Quarry Bay has a more business-like vibe and fantastic staff, yet their food tends to range wildly in quality (two years ago, it had a limited menu that barely included any meat; now, they’ve rebranded with a whole new supposedly American-Italian menu). But for me, the one in Pacific Place – a stalwart of the HK dining scene for over 20 years – is where it’s at.

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged Admiralty, best Italian in Hong Kong, best pasta in Hong Kong, eating out, El Grande Concepts, F&B, Food, Grappa's Ristorante, Grappas, HK, Hong Kong, Italian cuisine, Pacific Place, pasta, pizza, restaurant, review

Red Pepper restaurant review – the spice of life

Posted on May 17, 2011 | 4 comments

Ask my boyfriend what his favourite restaurant in Hong Kong is and his answer may well be Red Pepper.

Red Pepper has been a staple of Hong Kong’s dining scene for years. It’s the kind of place that old-timers in HK for flying visits make a point of visiting, the kind of place businessmen take clients for impressive banquets and the kind of place that tourists get told to try. Consequently, some of my local friends shake their heads and complain it’s only for ‘gweilos and expats’, with its Sichuan dishes geared towards Western tastes. Oh well, leave it to the gweilos and expats then, as that means more prawns for us!

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Posted in Food, Hong Kong

Tagged best restaurants in HK, best restaurants in hk to bring visitors, best restaurants in Hong Kong, best restaurants in hong kong to bring tourists, best Sichuan in Hong Kong, Causeway Bay, Chinese banquet, Chinese cuisine, eating out, F&B, fine dining, HK, Hong Kong, Red Pepper, restaurant, review, Sichuan cuisine, sizzling prawns, spicy, Szechuan cuisine, where to eat Causeway Bay

Simplylife Bakery Café restaurant review – a tea set down to a tee

Posted on April 13, 2011 | 2 comments

I’m sure you must be sick of posts starting with ‘another thing I love about Hong Kong’ but ANOTHER thing I love about Hong Kong is the humble tea set. Usually served between 2.30-6pm at upscale restaurants and chan chaan dengs alike, they generally consist of a drink and snack-type main that’s a little lighter than the ones available at lunch – and at around half the price! Obviously, this is because most normal people are beavering away at work but for layabouts like me, living the life of leisure and not seeing daylight before 12pm anyway, it’s a perfect brunch-style compromise! And the tea set at Simplylife Bakery Café is one of the best around.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s nicer than both their lunch and dinner menus! I’ve eaten at Simplylife many times and enjoy their laidback casual café style but, despite an emphasis on quality ingredients, generous portion sizes and decent value, the meals themselves tend to be a bit hit-and-miss. Their European-based cuisine sounds great on paper, with healthy-sounding salads and pastas and hearty but modern meat and veg combinations dominating, yet all too often the food itself is slightly bland and underwhelming. However, their tea set is the tops.

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