Tag Archives: HK

Tapas Pizza: Would not tap that

Posted on June 16, 2010 | 3 comments

From the sublime to the ridiculous…

A moment please for the sheer gross-ness of this new pizza from Pizza Hut. No words can do justice…

And yes, those are shrimps and squid you see stuffed in the crusts. Balk.

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The Press Room restaurant review – read all about it!

Posted on June 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

UPDATE: The Press Room is now closed.

Many reviews of The Press Room seem to begin and end with their frites (chips to us Brits). Or should that be FRITES!!! And yes, they are delicious but there’s more to The Press Room than that.

Aiming for a modern European brasserie style, with menus on blackboards and pictures scattered at random on the walls (a random-ness I’m sure took hours to achieve!), it has a nice relaxed atmosphere. For dinner, the lights are dimmed and it’s a rather cosy kind of darkness, even when the place started to get packed around 8pm.

When the boyfriend and I arrived around 7pm, we were the first diners in, meaning our service was second to none. Bread (below right) was served almost immediately and our dishes (all hot, I should mention) arrived within 10 minutes of their being ordered, with mains rolling up almost as soon as we’d polished off our starter.

We both opted for the 2-course menu at $260, where you can choose any starter/soup/dessert from the regular menu, with a choice between lamb, sea bass, skate, pork belly or hanger steak as your main. Go with your significant other, with one of you opting for starter and one for dessert, and (as long as your partner isn’t a total gannet) you effectively get a 3-course menu that, given the quality of the food, is a bit of a bargain.

We started with escargots de bourguignon (snails to us Brits, normally $92; above left, click for enlargement ). At many HK restaurants, these are often cooked to the point of apocalypse and arrive at your table dried-up, shrivelled, rubbery imitations of their former sluggy selves, with some overpowering cheese sauce drenched on top attempting to disguise this fact. Here, they were cooked perfectly, allowing their unique texture and subtle taste to shine through. Garlic butter is the norm for escargots but there was an interesting addition of almonds here that was just as tasty – a shame that there wasn’t the usual bed of mashed potato to mop this scrummy juice up!

We tried to use our bread to soak it up and alas, this was the only disappointing aspect of our meal. My boyfriend (ever the comedian) commented that ‘this bread must have lost its absorbing properties a day ago’; I don’t think the bread was actually stale, just that fancy bread that was never soft to start off with. Not a fan – given that the menu is vaguely Gallic in its feel and the French practically orgasm over the breaking of the bread, I did expect better.

Anyway, onto the mains. Only one word: divine.

For those seeking a few more words, I had the roast pork belly with pomme purée (mash to us Brits), apple sauce and cider jus (sauce to us Brits, $202 ; shown left, click for enlargement). The pork belly was absolutely sublime – stupidly delicious, ridiculously soft and tender and dreamy, with fantastically crispy crackling on top. I hate restaurants that give you one artful drizzle of sauce that isn’t enough to wet your upper lip never mind your whole dish, so I was very pleased at the amount of cider jus, which had just the right amount of tang to bring out even more lush flavours from the pork. One of the best mains I’ve had in HK, no question.

The boyfriend (a chip connoisseur fyi) went for the hanger steak and frites (above right, $248). Again, there was a decent amount of sumptuously rich red wine sauce to complement the beautifully tender and juicy strips of steak. It came on a bed of spinach that my boyfriend, not being one for greenery, largely ignored so I have no idea how that tasted. And, of course, the frites…

They arrive in their own canister, they’re so special. What more can be said about them that hasn’t already been said? Crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, just the right side of salty and with the texture and taste of having come from a quality spud. Chips that have some skin on are always the best kind, aren’t they? You may remember me being similarly cock-a-hoop about the chips at SML – SML, The Press Room and The Pawn are all run by the same group, so I’ve only got to try the latter to confirm that their chips are uniformly good (edit: I have and they were!). What’s more, they’re incredibly more-ish; even though I couldn’t finish my mash, I found my fingers creeping to them far too often! The chip connoisseur was happy too (less happy that I munched my way through so many though!).

We rounded things off with the baked chocolate (above, $78) and quite frankly, I could have put away two of these on my own. I’m not entirely sure what it was – some hybrid between cake, sponge, brownie, fudge and warm chocolate – but it was definitely good. The consistency was wonderfully smooth and light but the hit of richness felt like pure chocolatey goodness and its soft creaminess contrasted well with the crunch of the tuile biscuits. The raspberry sauce was a little too tart for me but the waiter did offer to leave it on the side rather than pouring it over, so it’s my own fault (tbf, it did look prettier)!

A few hints for any prospective diners – the Hollywood Road address may fool you into getting off at Central MTR but it’s actually way closer to Sheung Wan (albeit uphill – work up that appetite!) and pretty easy to find as it’s just a stone’s throw along from Man Mo Temple (even if you have no idea what it looks like beforehand, you really can’t miss it). I also noticed an early-bird dinner offer, which looked amazing value, but even so, try and get there earlier if you want a quieter dinner as it clearly attracts a lot of custom from folk in Central getting straight off work.

I’m practically chomping at the bit to visit again, in case this review leaves you in any doubt. Don’t believe everything you read in the papers but do believe all the good stuff you’ve heard about The Press Room – it offers a quality dining experience. And the FRITES!!! aren’t bad either.

The Press Room, 108 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong, 2525 3444


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Tapeo restaurant review – I’d tap that

Posted on June 14, 2010 | 1 comment

UPDATE: Tapeo is *SOB* now closed.

If I had to name my favourite restaurants in HK, Tapeo would come fairly high in the list. So imagine my excitement on learning that another branch of the tapas joint (run by Concept Creations, who also own Belgian eaterie, Frites) had opened nearer my neck of the woods in Sai Wan Ho, even if I was a little nonplussed at the idea. The Chai Wan side of the Island seems to have an air of unloved cousin about it compared to the high-end, gweilo-filled Central side and Tapeo’s other location is right at the beating heart of the desirable Soho area in Central.

However, once I got there, it made perfect sense. Located next to stunning harbour-side views with some clever tables that are actually windows too, it feels totally fitting for Spanish cuisine – what could be more Mediterranean than a fun casual dinner followed by a stroll along the harbour to walk off those calories after?

The view is better than this picture

In fact, I prefer the Sai Wan Ho Tapeo to the one in Central, where it’s all bar seating (all of about 20 seats – and I’m being generous) and the mood often feels set more to ‘hip bar’ than ‘fine dining’, which is a shame as the food definitely justifies the latter tag. The Sai Wan Ho branch actually has tables (gasp!) and lighting that (heavens above!) actually allows you to see what you’re eating (as well as appreciate the skill that goes into it at the open kitchen). And thanks to those open windows and more generous seating arrangements, it’s an altogether less cramped and more comfortable dining experience than in Central – so take that, Soho!

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Chicago: The Musical @ HKAPA review

Posted on June 1, 2010 | 5 comments

Usually, touring productions are to their West End equivalent what Joey was to Friends, The New Class to Saved By The Bell, Joanie Loves Chaaci to Happy Days – diluted, cheaper, less-good versions of the original. So it’s with relief and joy that I can declare that Lunchbox Productions’ Chicago, playing at the HKAPA’s Lyric Theatre until June 20, is defiantly not a case of the above. This version of Chicago would more than happily stand on its own fishnet-clad legs on a London stage. With added jazz hands, of course.

As always with anything Bob Fosse touched, it’s the choreography that’s the star. The ensemble here are fabulous – sexy, sinuous, slinky and with the perfect Fosse hands. I’ve seen the All That Jazz routine countless times but this may just have been the best yet and they are darkly mesmerising throughout, occasionally to the detriment of the main characters and especially brilliant in the courtroom scenes and the eye-popping acrobatics of Razzle Dazzle. It’s a show in which the ensemble are more than just a chorus line; getting involved in the action with a multitude of bit-parts, they deliver practically as many laughs as the main characters.

In fact, my only criticism – and I really am nit-picking as a seasoned musical-goer – is that there were possibly a few too many laughs (even if poor comic timing means that the cast don’t milk nearly enough from usual standout number, Cell Block Tango). As a show about the cult of celebrity, notoriety and ambition, Kander & Ebb’s writing has much to offer a modern audience yet I felt that this production sometimes took the easy route towards the funny bone. Sharon Millerchip’s Roxie Hart has all the ingredients to be the star of the show – a natural wide-eyed charm, bright vocals and the ability to light up the stage whilst hoofing with the best of them (I particularly enjoyed her rendition of Me And My Baby whilst the ventriloquist’s dummy act in We Both Reached For The Gun never fails to delight) – but I’d have liked to see her rely less on her obvious gift for physical comedy in some of her solos.

Deone Zanotto’s Velma Kelly has a wonderfully brassy voice and brings a suitably brassy edge to her performance but I felt she had more to give on two renowned Fosse workouts, I Can’t Do It Alone and When Velma Takes The Stand. Meanwhile, Craig McLachlan’s (Henry Ramsay of the bad 80s perm on Neighbours) silver-tongued lawyer, Billy Flynn, gets lost to the brilliance of the dancers – a few more charisma classes required – and I didn’t feel all that safe with his vocals, either.

The live orchestra is on-stage throughout and cleverly worked into proceedings (conductor Ben Van Tieden is particularly good value for money) and they bring a real energy to proceedings, garnering some of the biggest cheers of the night – as do D C Harlock’s Mary Sunshine and the empathetically dopey Damien Birmingham, as Roxie’s husband Amos (hopefully not just because he was singing ‘that song off Glee’, Mr Cellophane).

Overall, it’s a tremendous night’s entertainment that barely puts a foot (or note) wrong. Chicago may lack the warmth of other big-event musicals, yet more than makes up for it with a grown-up cold-blooded wit and sense of its own theatricality that makes it unique. As one of the few big international productions to grace HK’s shores, I can think of no better cast to have introduced the pleasures of Fosse to our audience. It delivers that trademark razzle-dazzle in spades. With added jazz hands, of course.

8/10

Lunchbox Productions’ Chicago: The Musical is at the Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts until June 20. Tickets, priced $350-895, available from HK Ticketing, 3128 8288 or online.

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Tongue in cheek?

Posted on May 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

This item neatly encompasses many HK things – strange food flavouring, being in thrall to all things Japanese and an intriguing use of English.

With a craving for Roast Beef Monster Munch and Chargrilled Steak crisps, this was the best I could find: Yamayoshi’s Beef Tongue Salt.

Were these crisps? Were they dried pieces of cow tongue? Was it made from salt derived from beef tongue? And if so, what is salt derived from beef tongue? Presumably it’s a bit of a specialty if it’s been going since 2002.

Looking at the ingredients list left me none the wiser, other than telling me that ‘crustacean’ may be involved in the action too. Which was reassuring.

The cartoon cow looks frankly over all this nonsense.

P.S. They weren’t even that nice. (From Log-On)

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Bliss Spa: A Bliss-full night

Posted on May 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Writing about my lovely experience at Bliss Spa at The W Hotel has been one of those things on my very long to-do list for this blog for a very long time. However, last night, I was treated to An Evening At Bliss (thanks to the lovely folks from Flare Communications and Bliss Spa itself) so I really can’t make excuses any more. So here’s a little rambling about why Bliss is wonderful, with reviews of the two treatments I received (the Blissage75 massage and the Triple Oxygen Facial) to follow…

Why Bliss Spa and The W are a perfect match (even if one likes Grease and one likes Snatch – joke for A*Teens fans only!):

What I love about The W is that although it’s a five-star hotel, it’s not one of the traditional older “institutions” that HK has in abundance. Instead, it’s contemporary luxury with a feeling of individuality to both its design and services (and a few Asian eyebrows were raised at staff wearing Converse!). Similarly, although Bliss is a luxury spa, it’s not of those deathly-quiet ones where you feel like a monk taking holy orders. There’s a sense of fun in addition to the obvious quality on offer and fantastic attention to detail in quirky little touches. Names with a sense of humour, rubber ducks peeking out from every orifice and a Brownie Buffet.

Hang on, did you say Brownie Buffet?!

Yes and it’s amazing as it sounds. There’s a whole buffet full of delectable treats laid on for your gastronomic pleasure, including cheese and crackers, olives, homemade lemonade (delish) and various teas. But it’s obviously all about the brownies, which are actually amongst the best I’ve tasted in HK.

Pic does neither brownies nor view justice - apols

Defiantly un-shop-bought or mass-produced, they’re gooey, chocolatey, fudgey, nutty, melt-in-the-mouth lush. And at Bliss, no mardy therapist will slap away your hand from reaching for your third… or in my case, seventh… brownie. Julie from Bliss told me that in the States, they have cook-offs amongst local bakeries for who produces the brownies for their spas – such a cute idea! They should do some HK variant – daan tart, anyone?!

Other cool things, in no particular order:

  • The highest spa in HK (72nd floor, biatches!) means you get amazing views over HK, especially at night, and thankfully they’ve made huge windows for you to enjoy this (as you can see from the banner picture, which I can take no credit for – it’s from their Facebook). And a definite improvement on the claustrophobic cupboards you often have local facials in here.
  • Relaxation lounges have an iPod dock so you can listen to your own music whilst you wait.
  • The room where you get those messy detox wrap things actually has a shower above the bed where you lie, so you don’t even have to move to get clean. They should clearly install this technology for all beds. But when you do move, you head for these amazing showers that completely immerse you in yummy smells (whilst still getting you clean, obviously). Staff wear flippers. Amazing!
  • All this is very well and good, but at the end of the day, you’re essentially going to be spending your time face down on a bed and all the rubber ducks in the world won’t matter unless Bliss’ treatments (and products) are amazing and genuinely work. Which they do. (Phew!)

Leading us nicely onto…

Alas, I’m such a Bliss junkie, most of the products we tried at the evening I was already familiar with – and with names like FatGirl Slim, how can you resist?! In fact, I think some other bloggers thought I was some Bliss mole planted to indoctrinate them to the ways of Bliss such was my freaky product knowledge (alas, not guilty either). Sadly for my bank account, I did meet some new products and I now have some more stuff on my wish-list:

Steep Clean Pore Purifying Mask – The gorgeous Bastian from Flare totally sold this deep-clean mask to me! A small test of the blackhead-banisher definitely made me want to try it out, if only for the dual-coloured-ness of it (it comes out in two streams of blue and green – like toothpaste – which encourages you to really massage it together on your face)! My pores are so big that small animals probably fall into them when I’m asleep so the claim that 73% of people noticed a reduction in size can only be a good thing.

Didn't know Fu Manchu was a blogger

Poetic Waxing – I watched two girls get waxed with this first-hand and was amazed at the results. No squeals of pain, no watering eyes, no fingernail-indentations in the counter, not even much redness. For a waxing virgin like me, it also looks ridiculously easy to use at home – heat in the microwave, apply, tap to see if ready, peel off, look fab. Plus you can pretend you have a moustache like Peggy did (hat optional). We also got to examine the removed wax complete with hairs – luverly. But solid proof that this works.

Body Butter – I tried a sampler size of their lemon and sage body butter before and loved both the scent and the creamy, dreamy effects. Marcia Kilgore, founder of Bliss, is also responsible for one of my other favourite body butters (Soap & Glory’s The Righteous Butter) so the omens are good.

So overall, a great night (and extra thanks to Bastian from Flare and Julie from Bliss for being super-duper lovely to me). I hope I get invited again, although I clearly need no conversion to the wonders of Bliss and you can expect reviews of some of the other products in my goodie bag sometime soon!

[Banner photo from W Hotel Hong Kong’s website]

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I ♥ Benefit – We Are 5 gift set

Posted on May 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

A shopaholic and her money are never more quickly parted than when the words ‘limited edition’ and ‘exclusive’ appear in press releases. So kudos to Benefit for managing to score on both fronts with their latest gift set, celebrating their fifth birthday of being sold in the fragrant harbour.

Limited to 3000 sets, exclusive to Hong Kong only, the We Are Five gift set includes five Benefit favourites, specially-packaged to look like the HK skyline. Adorable, cute, classy – and a bit of a steal too, retailing for $990 (the retail value of the products bought individually is $1430).

The products are all tried-and-tested bestsellers, with only the inclusion of Woman Seeking Toner raising a few perfectly-arched eyebrows. I thought we’d long ago agreed toners were obsolete in our beauty routines… oh well, maybe it’s a Hong Kong thing. The other products are That Girl Primer, which I have been desperate to switch to after a long and not entirely happy experience with Make Up Forever’s HD seaweed green primer; PosieTint, the petal-pink version of cult cheek-and-lip stain Benetint; the ever-popular Dandelion Blusher and Dr. Feelgood, a sort-of magic balm that I’ve been looking for an excuse to afford ever since a Benefit beautician showed me its many virtues a few years back.

The fact that these cosmetics have been put in pretty limited-edition packaging in a pretty limited-edition box has given rise to a new dilemma that I usually only face with my Collector Edition Barbies – to de-box or not to de-box? Of course, I must de-box (no, I was never contemplating just putting it on a shelf and stroking it lovingly on occasion) but it is killing me a little on the inside. Expect full reviews at a later date!

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Is the juice worth the tweeze?

Posted on May 3, 2010 | 2 comments

How cute are these novelty tweezers?!

These are exactly the sort of pretty little things that I love – and exactly the kind of pretty little things HK offers by the bucket-load!

Only HKD$10 from Ella (a great shop for spending hundreds of bucks on several other pretty cute things too – don’t say you weren’t warned).

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You can’t have your bread buttered both sides…

Posted on April 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

…Except you can at Style2 Restaurant. And it’s garlic butter. And it’s as amazing as that sounds.

Honestly, this may be the best garlic bread I’ve ever tasted. I’m not entirely sure how it’s made – toasted, fried, made by the garlic bread fairies – but it’s delicious and possibly a meal in itself. What I do I know is that I somehow winded up with four on my last visit.

It’s double the thickness of normal toast, meaning it’s golden crispy on the outside yet still soft and fluffy on the inside. And it’s double the deliciousness of normal garlic bread because it has garlic butter on both sides. Yes, you heard right. Why has no-one thought of this genius before?!

It comes free with some set meals, with others you add $6 for a slice or you can order it as a side of 2 slices for $18. But at the moment, for the whole of April, they’re giving it away FREE. I’ve obviously been trying to rack as many visits up as I can (the rest of Style2’s food is good, the atmosphere is nice, the staff are really helpful even though there’s no 10% service charge… and the menu is a Chinglish-spotter’s delight). What’s more, they’re open until 3.30am, meaning I could presumably get my garlic bread fix whenever the urge takes me. And believe me, it’s been taking me rather frequently these days!

UPDATE: Style2 is now closed.

Style2 Restaurant, Shop E F, G/F Tung Po Building, 483-497 King’s Road, North Point, 2811 1515

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Bliss Triple Oxygen Energising Cream moisturiser review

Posted on April 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

As regular readers may know, the day where wonderful PRs sent me a bag full of Bliss bounty was one of the happiest in my life. Having been testing the Triple Oxygen Energising Cream for a good month now, I feel it’s time to make it my very first Beauty Spot and I’m afraid it’s bad news for my loyal Aldi moisturiser.

It’s basically a tub of loveliness. It’s beautifully lightweight (especially advantageous in this muggy HK humidity) and gets absorbs by the skin so easily, it barely needs rubbing in. It smells gorgeous and fresh, without being either overpowering, artificial or medicinal. It comes with some clever-sounding science stuff about how the pairing of oxygen and vitamin C helps cell respiration, collagen synthesis and skin hydration.

But all this is relatively unimportant compared to the bare bones – this stuff works. Rather like the Triple Oxygen Mask (soon to be a Make-Up Miracle – you heard it here first, folks!), it genuinely makes your skin look wonderful. As in lighter, brighter, softer and glowing. Dull skin is banished with all the effectiveness of a fairy godmother; I didn’t actually believe moisturisers could work such relatively instant wonders. Given the recent stresses of my job, this cream is about the only thing saving me from looking like the sleep-deprived energy-depleted dead-girl-walking that I feel (although the matchsticks propping up my eyelids are a bit of a giveaway).

Triple O Cream (not to be confused with the burger joint of the same name) is designed for use both morning and evening, which has pros (no need to buy two creams) and cons (uses up faster). But so far, it looks like one tub might last for at least 6 months, even with such regular use, hence justifying the HKD $420 price tag. It looks like a case of having realised the grass is indeed greener, I’m not sure I could return to the cheaper though perfectly functional astro-turf on the other side (that’s the Aldi moisturiser btw, for those that aren’t fans of an extended metaphor).

So it’s buh-bye sallow stressed complexion, hello radiant revived skin. Not bad work for a thirty-second routine rub of Triple O cream, eh?

P.S. Still waiting on other nice HK PR-types to start sending me free make-up to review; I’m twiddling my thumbs at rachelmread@gmail.com

Edit: Sadly, my prediction of the tub lasting 6 months was a little optimistic. With twice-daily use, I managed to eke it out for about 4 months; the shape of the pot is a little misleading as it’s only a cylinder in the middle filled with the moisturiser, not the outer edges too.

Bliss Triple Oxygen +C Energising Cream, $420, available from Bliss Spa in the W Hotel, Kowloon and counters in FACES (Tsim Sha Tsui) and Lane Crawford (Times Square, Causeway Bay and Pacific Place, Admiralty)

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