Antidote of DBS

My son goes to this speech therapy session in Central. After his therapy we dropped by the Korean restaurant to eat. We sat at a large table for 6 and soon 3 others joined us. Two young ladies in their 30s and a middle age man later joined them. I love the fact in Hong Kong, you have the proximity with other people and you can listen into other people's conversation. To have a sit at the same table with people you don't know ... "dap toi" ... to share a table.

DBS is one of the major bankers in Hong Kong and the bank is Singapore based. And it is also the least favorite of banks of my dad. And apparently so, even the employees hated their jobs who worked there. According to the above sources, they know a friend who works at DBS. The middle aged man commented that a job at DBS is the last resort when you have no choice of employers and you really need the money or needs to earn an income just for the sake of paying your bills. One of the ladies agreed with him and continued on saying that the friend would place the company on probation rather than the other way around. He works long hours as a creditor, in fact being micro managed and has to produce daily reports of loans he approved and loans he did not approved and why he did what he did and how many cases are in his workload. Every evening from 5pm to730pm, he spent his time crafting reports. Those time would have been better used.

And from a customer point of view, my dad experienced a load of paper to just get an account open. The one reason that he banks there was because they are the easies to have an account open, but after the fact it is a completely different story to get anything done. He wanted to get a new check book since he ran out of checks. And they had him fill out a form as if he is opening another account just to get a new check books. He was so mad and asked the manager why he has to fill out the same information as if to open a new account and the manager reply was it is a formal procedure. But I wondered what they were going to do with the application? And if you have an account with all the same information redone. If you want to add an option to transfer money you have to fill out an application, if you want to add an option to do online banking you will have to fill out an application!?! And then you will have to go to Singapore to sign all your documents in person.

If the employees of your bank give you probation as an employer ... your customers suffer the same wrath! And that is bad for any business.

Imasa at The Pennisula

On the way to the hotel, the taxi driver mentioned from his knowledge about the building and how it is very well built and the stones that was used to built the hotel would last 100 of years. He said it in a tone as a matter of facts that makes it more amusing to listen to him yap. Sometimes I will meet a taxi drivers that loves to talk to their passengers and telling their own life stories and more.

The price of the buffet is HKD 588 per person for buffet dinner plus main course choice of wild boar cutlet wrapped in cheese or grilled scallop paired with grilled giant shrimp. And all you can eat freshly made hand rolled sushi on the order and all you can eat noodle soup with seaweed based broth.

All in all it was great food and great company. We met Auntie G's niece, J, from Canada. She is a practice lawyer our age in family law. She was really fun to talk and she also loves to take photo of food with her Canon point and shot camera which is exactly the same one we got. JP was able to teach her some techniques in taking better photos with that camera. 

This is the entrance to the restaurant. I really love the silhouette of the mountian and the negative spaces with back lit lighting. It is mysterious at the same time sophisticated.

The interior as we walked guided by the hostess to our table.

I started with desserts, because I always leave no room for the sweets.  I got some fruits, sticky rice wrapped with green tea paste and a lovely macaron.

Assortments of freshly made sushi and sashimi. I love salmon sashimi and these were awesome. And of course do not forget to get some paper ginger to wipe your palette each time to really taste each sushi.

Handmade rolls made to order. I ate the salmon roe and cooked eels. Absolutely fabulous.

Round number two of dessert heaven. The mini swiss roll and chocolate box with chocolate pot was as chocolatey as you can get. Those chocolate are dark chocolate and to die for.

The lovely waiter taking care of our table knows Auntie G well. She is treated like a VIP. We have these especially made for us. Tempura kabocha pumpkin and sweet potatoes. These have to eaten when they are hot and crunchy.

We were trying to figure out what this plate is?! It is a side plate of radish for flavoring. And you add this to the soy sauce dipping sauce to enhance the flavor.

The udon noodle! I got to have a bowl. The noodle was chewy and different from any udon I have tried. It wasn't the usual round ones neither. It was like linguine, a flat noodle.

This was my main course.

Golden Bull and a photograph

Tonight we went to dinner at Golden Bull in Harbor City. It is a mini family reunion with my aunt J plus her side of the family. My aunt J usually does all the food ordering since she is like the biggest foodie in the family and we trust her taste in food.

It is a fusion Asian restaurant with mixed of Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. I was surprise that they do not have the typical spring rolls with the semi transparent wrap, but they have fried egg rolls.
My aunt J ordered the fried egg rolls and chicken and beef satay to start. The fried egg rolls are typical and the taste was so so. I thought the chicken and beef satay were excellent. They are soft and the dipping sauce was great with enough peanuts for taste and a bit of spicy to add the kick yet not overwhelming to make me drink more water or tea.

And now do not squirm for deep fried frog legs in butter! This dish is the best dish and the chicken was good too. Even my hubby ate a whole frog leg and he usually will not go for it at all. I am really proud of him for trying new food. We also had noodle with French beef cubes. The beef was very peppery, but tender.

The only disappointment I had was the lobster. The meat was not fresh and the taste was bland.

And the dessert was good. We ordered green jello made of typical gelatin and coconut milk in between each layers.

Overall the food is enjoyable.

Golden cow signage ... I like this simple decor.

Actual name in Chinese.

Yummy satay!

Fried frog legs in butter ... those are so good.

I would skip this lobster dish if I ever go back again.

And talking about family. My aunt J acquired a very old photograph of my great grand father. My grandmother's father from my dad side. He was born in 1882. The original photograph was old and worn and she had the photo retouched.

Cafe Siam at Central and Crave magazine for foodies

We went Thai for lunch today at Cafe Siam located at Central on 40-42 Lyndhurst Terrace. This place is not a stick in the mud. The restaurant with its modern decor make the space crisp and delightful. And the food to match. We ordered quite a lot of food. For starters, we had a papaya salad and a chicken dish with a dollop of mayo and lime on a bed of fried kale. And for main dish we had pad thai noodle hidden underneath a blanket of eggs and fried rice. I am actually very happy with the yummy dishes. So far I must say this place is a fave. And the food comes out hot as in temperature hot! plus spicy hot of course.

Beautifully designed menu cover.

Sample of menu with creative dishes.

Modern interior and cozy feel.

Tri Color with coconut milk and Thai ice tea ... expensive but they are good.

My fave dish is an appetizer chicken with mayo and lime slice paired with fried kale. The fried kale was a really nice touch to the dish. The chicken is a soft wrap and the kale gives the dish the complimented crunchiness.

Main course of fried rice and pad Thai noodle hidden under an egg blanket makes it so mysterious.

I got my first Crave Hong Kong today. I was eying at the magazine for the longest time and finally got a copy of it at the news stands. Issue 15 showcased restaurants from Los Angeles and Santa Monica ... my hometown! I was very thrilled to see that they are writing about food from other places as well as Hong Kong of course. And so many places to try just in Hong Kong and for a foodie like me it is a big plus. I never can go hungry in this place because every block you turn is all about food!

Green Waffle Diner, taxi cab ride and Golden Shrimps

Green Waffle Diner was a disappointment. The food we ordered came out lukewarm and the fries were practically lifeless and cold which is a no nO NO. This is worst than McDs, but paying like 3 times more. We spent HKD 185 for the whole lunch. They did saved themselves on the waffles and HKD 5 scoop of ice cream. But waffles are not hard to make. It is really worth going back because we caught them on a off day?!? I really do hope it was an off day for them.


According to my friend this diner is own by Canadians Chinese ... Canadians known for cooking ... hmm.

Lukewarm beef stew with sous vide egg and bread. I rather have a steaming hot plate.

Sloppy Joes with cold and soggy fries.




At least these are hot.



Regular waffle with chocolate ice cream.

Greenized waffle.

After school, Theo was falling asleep so we decided to take a taxi home. I told the taxi to drop me off at Nathan Road between MTR station Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok so I may pick up my Holoholo shrimps at Mr. Mushroom in the CTMA centre. The cab driver was talkative since he learned that we were not local. And he was telling us about his children in the US studying. He mentioned Foothill and we thought his son was studying in Pasadena at PCC, but then it was up in Los Altos there is a Foothill College. His son is studying psychology and art. He also won some awards for his oil painting in some school in Texas. And his daughter studies in Minnesota.

During the chat, he was ticketed by a cop for being on the yellow crosswalk and on top of that we didn't have our seat belt on. I felt so bad, I gave JP HKD 300.00 to give to him. The cost of the ride was around HKD 150.00 from Central to Kowloon Tong. He was really pissed off and hopefully we covered at least the wrong we did for not putting our seat belts on. He was also saying that this year is his bad luck year ... as in Cantonese "fan tai shui" (犯太岁) so he hopes that this cracking open his piggy bank would save him from disaster "por choi dong joi" (破財擋災). And from google translate: bankruptcy stop disaster.


Tonight, we were invite to dinner by a wonderful family at Yau Yat Cheun Garden City Club (又一村花園俱樂部). The food were excellent. I actually sampled some dishes that I never had before or cooked the way the restaurant did. The dish was called Golden Shrimps and those are deep fried shrimped with a coat of crispy battered on the outside along with salted egg yolk wrapped within. It was absolutely a fab dish. Then we sampled a wide range of Chinese desserts including "ma lai go" (馬來糕) Malay cake which is steamed sponge cake and in a heart shape ... so sweet. I also like "tofu fa" (豆腐花) it is a soft and silky pudding and with a dash of yellow sugar or rock sugar and ginger syrup.

Delicieux Bistro

We wanted to check out Green Waffle, but it was closed yesterday so we ended up next door at Delicieux. It is a hole in the wall restau that serves good lunch sandwiches Vietnamese style called Bánh mì. The sandwiches are made with toasted baguette and cold cut meat filled or veggie filled or combination and spicy. I had the lemongrass pork with all the added ingredients including the spicy. It was so wonderfully filling lunch plus a drink. JP had the deluxe sans spicy plus iced coffee. He didn't like it because it didn't have the pâté spread, instead they put shredded pork. Of course those have to be topped with cilantro. Total comes up to HKD 106.00. A little steep I say for just sandwiches, but I guess located in Central has the added rent cost. And right down Graham was an ongoing wet market that you can go explore after the food.

Hot and toasty lemongrass pork with a kick of spiciness. Chow down and lime soda.

The deluxe has cold cut ham and shredded pork.

Whampoa Garden

We took the kids to Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom to the Jumpin Gym USA (美國冒險樂園). It is located at site 11 Treasure World. We pretty much took a taxi there from Kowloon Tong and it was around HKD 60.00 give or take.

I purchased 10 coupons from www.beecrazy.hk for HKD 75.00 each, according to the deal it is worth $300 which was totally bullcrap. After my calculation it is only worth HKD 25.00 for the token and HKD 80.00 for the ticketed rides. So about HKD 30.00 for the deal difference.

And the silly token rides cost 5 tokens each which was a total rip because if you redeem with the coupons it is worth HKD 2.00 per token and that comes to HKD 10.00 per ride that last for 1 minute. On top of that there was this special event that lasted til 12:30pm and one of my kids couldn't wait for an hour for them to let us in. And she threw a tantrum.

We went to Toys R Us to kill time only to end up spending more money getting the kids toys. At least my little girl enjoyed her piggie bank toy when she got home. And we spend a hour putting together a Mega Blocks spaceship for my boy.

We spent an hour and a half at the amusement park and ended up at The Spaghetti House which I did have some reservation of going in to get a seat. It was either this or the sushi place on the opposite end with a very long line. This was almost 2:00PM and the house was packed, but we didn't wait too long for our seats. I ordered the Tripoline Carbonara with Prawns and Dill and it didn't taste too bad but I think using bacon instead of sliced ham would have tasted way better. Overall it was pretty bland. The cream soup was also quite bland. We also ordered a baked Rigate with ham and it tasted exactly the same as the Tripoline. The fresh squeezed green apple juice was very refreshing. 

The service was great. The manager was very friendly and came by to us on several occasion to check on us. Maybe next year I will buy into their VIP card package.

Okay day at The Peak

After Theo's PT session, we took a taxi up to The Peak. From Carmel School to The Peak is about HKD 52.00. We were so hungry when we got there. I could have fainted if I didn't get my load of starch to start. JP wanted to try New York Fries after reading reviews about it on www.openrice.com.

My review of NYF at The Peak Galleria. I got the Tandoori Chicken Fries with a coke to wash it down with. I was disappointed and rather drink the coke than have another serving of fries. I remind you, I was really hungry. The tandoori flavor wasn't that bad, but the fries was truly disappointing. It could be the oil they uses or the potatoes, but the taste just wasn't right for my taste buds. Then I found out that it was a Canadian franchise and what do they know about fries and named it after New York which was odd.



We later had Haagen-Daz, that was how hungry I was and plus it was hot outside. I had rum raisin on cone and the boys Belgium chocolate on cone. And Haagen-Daz shops are everywhere in Hong Kong. I should get their star club card.

There weren't that many people today, we also went up to the terrace and now we have to pay?! It is HKD 30.00 for adults and HKD 15.00 for kids under 12. The last time I went we didn't pay a dime, but then we were not at the same area. The building expanded, and they even have Bubba Gump and a couple more restaurants taking over the view.



On the way back we took the number 1 mini bus and stopped at Central MTR and took the metro back home. It is actually very convenient. The mini bus stopped at the D1 exit off Central.

Hot day at Central

I took my son to his playgroup / French class today at Les Petits Lascars at 3/F, Wellington Plaza, 56-58 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. He finally made a friend there and having fun. Hopefully this class will prepare him for French International School French section.

After dropping my son off. I headed off to my adventure of browsing around the block. First I headed to IMI or Integrated Medicine Institute at 17/Fl., Kailey Tower, 16 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong. I wanted to get something at the dispensary for my bug bites and those turned into some sort of allergy. I spent HKD 490.00 on creams! And meet Dr. Sonal whom I conversed with via email in regards to Clemmie's SPD. And made an appointment for her next Friday.

Then after that I stopped at Yoppi at the corner of Stanley for some froyo. Probably the most expensive froyo per ounce I ever purchased at HKD 4.50 an ounce. And I payed HKD 43.00 for a cup that is not even half full of froyo. I really like the mango tart and the chewy rice cubes toppings. I am not really sure of about the french vanilla and the classic chocolate cause they tasted artificial. The place itself is small but enough for just a 20 minutes sitting and seeing all the people going in just for tasting with the little taster cups. I think after you had 10 of those you don't really need to buy any froyo just to save you from the heat and some bucks. I don't like loud music and if you like blasting loud music you may love this place even more even if their froyos are not up to par. They only have six flavors to go around so not really much of a choice and a magnetic board next to the machines for you to vote for tomorrow's flavors of the day.

Then I took a walk down and up to Wyndham Street and up the stairs. I took noticed of a sign that said Pottery Studios, but the shop was empty and on the door posted their new address on Hollywood Road. And just so happened I glanced at a signage at the intersection and saw the road sign toward Hollywood Road so I followed the crumbs. And ended up in Hollywood House where the Pottery Studios was housed in their new location. I went up to visit and spoke to Sunny who runs the place and also teaches. I asked for a class schedule. Hopefully to come back and learn how to throw a pottery again in the near future.

Back down from Cochrane Street, then I remembered where I was at ... yeah that was Monday at Gourmet Burger Union. I didn't remember coming across the Nature's Village a hole in the wall shop. I found my favorite brand Hyland's bug bite ointment.

It was too hot and I had to go back to the school to stay away from dehydration.