Monday, September 29, 2014

Taking A Short Break


I have never talked about politics here on this website and won't be starting now. However, in light of the situation in Hong Kong right now, it doesn't feel quite appropriate to put up our usual content so instead I will be taking a short break this week. Stay safe.

Virginia

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Friday, September 26, 2014

Bag Lady: Louis Vuitton Chain Louise

Loving the longer iteration of the Louis Vuitton Chain Louise this season but not too sure about the blatant logo placement. Thoughts?

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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Fekkai Hair Fragrance Mist


I'm looking forward to checking out the Fekkai Hair Fragrance Mist which has just launched in Asia and is available at Joyce Beauty. There's something about spraying a mist on hair that gives it a shiny sheen and finish while also smelling absolutely yummy. Of the three scents, I'm most intrigued by the Creme Vanille scent which embodies vanilla and sandalwood. The other two comprises the frizz fighting Rose Fraiche and Citron et Menthe which claims to be able to tame flyaways.

Available for HK$300 at Joyce Beauty.

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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Longchamp Friends and Family Sale

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Scandal Collection for The Limited


I don't know about you but I was in love with Olivia Pope's wardrobe on Scandal yet realistically I wouldn't be able to afford her outfits given that it was lots of Armani, McQueen, Ferragamo, Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren etc. So I was quite excited to hear that The Limited was launching a Scandal Collection. Sidenote, I had COMPLETELY forgotten about The Limited as a brand and just hearing about it brought back fond memories of college. Anyway, I digress, the collection is created by Kerry Washington, the show's costume designer Lyn Paolo and VP of Design at The Limited, Elliot Staples and it doesn't disappoint. While not as uber luxurious as what you see on TV, the photos of the clothing looks darn pretty and they've even thrown in shades of pink which I don't recall Oliva wearing much of. The collection launches today online and in stores so now I just need to figure a way of how to smuggle some of these jackets to HK. (I'm not even going to bother with pants given that I am a dinky short Asian but those jackets! Maybe, just maybe I would be able to carry it off?) The challenge of course is how to sort this out as I'm on a month long Europe trip at the moment and currently in Dubrovnik!

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Monday, September 22, 2014

Review: Lazy Hog


About a month ago, we visited Lazy Hog, a new American Tapas joint that is near Yard Bird on Bridges Street in Soho. We visited on a Tuesday evening where the small restaurant that has two separate sides was completely empty leading to a rather awkward situation where the staff could hear our every word and when we were dissecting the food asking what we thought of each item and wondering what something was, the staff would interject to give us 'helpful' comments. The food was ok however we did feel a bit strange when the carrot salad was pushed upon us on three separate occasions, as an introduction to the menu, after we had ordered and oddly enough, before the last dish came out, someone from the kitchen came out again and asked if we would reconsider as we had three fried dishes. It was at that point we were like, we want fatty fried food damnit, give it to us!


We started with the Pig ears nachos. It was easily the fav dish of the night. Perfect with a beer. Unfortunately, while we were there, the resto didn't have a booze license yet and we had this with water. (Oddly enough, they didn't even seem to have a regular drinks menu and tap water was all that was on offer.)


Next up was Hush puppies, a sweet corn coquette. A corn mush oozes out when you cut into it. I wish they had kernels inside along with the mush. Would have been more interesting texture-wise and kicked the corn flavour up a notch. Not bad but not great either.


This was the Hog nuggets, slow cooked pork shoulder with beet ketchup. The beet ketchup was quite interesting, not as much tang as with regular ketchup. I tend to like my pulled pork oozing with sauce so found this to be a bit dry for my taste.


Dessert was the St Louis gooey bar with horchata. The bar could have a slightly heavier taste of cinnamon but was enjoyable nonetheless. We had a glass of horchata (milky rice drink) to dip the bar into. Nice ode to cookies and milk.

Dinner for two came to $674 for the above four dishes and we only had tap water given the lack of drinks offering.
Lazy Hog
29-31 Bridges Street Sheung Wan
Tel: 2858 1321

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Friday, September 19, 2014

Ferragamo Warehouse Sale

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Bag Lady: Dolce&Gabbana Miss Monica


Loving the clasp for the Miss Monica, so named for movie icon Monica Bellucci. Box-style handbags are growing on me even though I normally go for soft fluffy leather bags which allows me to put everything under the sun into the bag.

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Thursday, September 18, 2014

Michelle Williams for Louis Vuitton

This is the third time Michelle Williams is the ambassador for Louis Vuitton and she looks absolutely stunning as usual. Jen from Dawson's Creek sure has grown up well.

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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Tiny Hamster vs Kobayashi in Hot Dog Contest

Tiny Hamster is starting to become a bona fide star in the food eating world. After having his gourmet buritos and birthday party with friend Tiny Hedgehog, he is now back with another video tackling hot dog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi, who won the Nathan's hot dog eating contest six years in a row. Who wins? Check it out above.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Beauty Notes: Coconut Oil Hair Mask


I've been intrigued by coconut oil for a couple years now since my mom touted the benefits of oil pulling and then inevitably stopped with the practice after she got bored leaving us with jars of coconut oil at home. Then I received Jax Coco's new coconut oil reminding me of the oil we have at home and I decided to investigate what beauty fixes I can try with our copious stash.

Conveniently, my hair was feeling icky and frizzled after having been out in the sun and I was over at my parents place without my supply of hair masks so I decided to do a coconut oil hair treatment. Using a couple tablespoons of coconut oil, I slowly worked it into my hair. I then braided my hair up and plopped a shower cap over the hair. I read that it's best to have the oil in the hair for a minimum of two hours and it can feasibly be left overnight. I decided to give the overnight route a go. The next morning, it took a couple rinses (and actually another one in the evening) to get most of the oil out of my hair but I was in love with how soft my hair was as a result. So if you have any coconut oil lying around and your hair is in need of some love, definitely give it a go.

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Monday, September 15, 2014

Review: Gordan Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen & Bar


I headed over to Bread Street Kitchen & Bar a couple weeks ago during its soft opening to check out the food with a friend who was keen to see how it fares compared to Jamie's Italian Kitchen. If I had to describe it in a one liner, it would be thus: Bread Street heard complaints about slow service at Jamie's and said hell no, we won't get the same complaints and overcompensated.

We ordered an appetizer and two mains for sharing and we were done with the meal within 50 minutes of sitting down. What ended up happening was that we had to deliberately order desserts one after another to ensure that the sorbet won't melt. After the meal, we were given a questionnaire to fill out and one of the questions was along the lines of "Did the server come up to you and ask how the food was within two minutes or two bites of the dish being served?" My immediate thought was to chuckle but then I started wondering if waiters are now actually observing how many bites of food I've had and felt a little creeped out.

I apologise in advance for the photos but the lighting was super red and I ended up quickly snapping photos as soon as I spied a waiter walking pass the red lamp so as to minimise the red glare yet it's still not ideal. Unfortunately, with dessert, I could only get horrible photos so I'm not going to post them.


Onto the food itself. We started with the heritage tomatoes (as they call heirloom tomatoes in the UK), burrata, pesto and shallots. Can’t really go wrong with this combination. The only fault was a rogue underripe tomato that was rock solid hard.


Steamed snapper, braised leeks, clams, sea vegetables, shellfish dressing. The fish was cooked nicely and was a nice mouthful when combined with the sea vegetables but lacked flavour by itself leading us to wonder if the fish was frozen. Didn’t notice clams in the dish at all and only saw that the dish has it now that I am copying from my notes.


Bread Street Kitchen short rib burger with Monterey Jack cheese and spicy Siracha mayo. Decent burger, however as mentioned, service was so fast that by the time we got to the burger, it was stone cold which was a pity.

Finally, for dessert, we ordered the pineapple carpaccio which was nicely refreshing but was essentially sliced pineapples with sorbet and the banana sticky toffee pudding which was gooey and went well with my coffee.

Dinner for two (an appetizer, two mains, two desserts, two bottles of water and one coffee) came to $936. Bread Street Kitchen & Bar officially opens on Sept 18 and Gordan will be making an appearance for the opening.

Bread Street Kitchen & Bar
M/F, LKF Tower
Central
Tel: 22301800 or email Reservations@diningconcepts.com.

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Friday, September 12, 2014

VIVIENNE TAM Staff & Friends Sale

Quote Staff Code “P201419T” to enjoy extra 10% OFF!

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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Louboutin Nails: Pop or Drop?




By now we all surely know that Christian Louboutin has launched nail colours... those of us beauty junkies, that is. I'm not sure who is investing in these, at $400+ a pop, but they're obviously a fun addition to the shoe business, rather than a key driver of revenue. (Although that may change, as the footwear brand is working on a second-phase beauty launch. Mum's the word on what exactly that involves, however...)

With everyone in the world converting to soft gel, I wonder when brands are going to start adapting and offering long-wear soft-gel formulas in lieu of the typical chippable stuff.

There's no denying, though, that those who choose the wipe-off formulas get lots more variety in terms of hues. The Louboutin Pop series is just one example. And all those covetable Chanel shades, and the Deborah Lippmans, and the fun Ciate finishes. For now! The Shellac revolution will continue, if you ask me.

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MAC The Simpsons Collection


Remember how we talked about The Simpsons taking over everything this year because it's the 25th anniversary of the show? The collection debuts on the 13th and it's got some bright bold colours for this four-fingered yellow clan collaboration.

Looks include That Trillion Dollar Look Quad, comprising four vibrant eyeshadow colors in Apple Squishee (bright green), Lisa’s Spikes (brilliant yellow), Two Dozen and One Greyhounds (dirty olive green), and Chalkboard Dreams (dark charcoal); Marge’s Extra Ingredients Quad which has Harpooned Heart (light pink), Sexy PB & J (purple), Beehive Blue (Marge’s signature hair color), and Vivacious Vacuum Cleaner Bag (deep navy); lashes; tinted lipglass (one in yellow of course), powdered blush and nail stickers.

Available Sept 13th, 2014 at MAC Elements Concept Store

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Monday, September 8, 2014

Review: Gaggan, Bangkok


We had reviewed Gaggan's a la carte menu on a previous trip to Bangkok and when I knew that I was going to head over to Bangkok again, I immediately made a booking to try the tasting menu. It's a good thing that the tasting menu was what I had in mind as it turns out since my last visit, dinner now comprises only tasting menus and you can no longer order a la carte. We went for the Taste of Gaggan menu which had 10 courses and we decided to order a bottle of prosecco to go along with the meal. Dinner came to approximately HK$900 a head. The food, like last time, didn't disappoint although there were a couple dishes which we didn't like too much.


First up were Street Eats from India, clockwise from top left, spiced nuts in an edible plastic bag (made from rice paper and tastes just like those mix nuts at karaoke bars), potato 2-some crispy and liquid (crunchy and yummy), chocolate pani puri (our favourite of the four, the white chocolate with tamarind water went together very well) and yogurt chaat.


The second course should have been a freshly shucked oyster but we weren’t fans of oysters so asked for something different. This was a potato pani puri with coriander water in a syringe for us to inject. Was a nice biteful!


3rd course, Sandwich. Foie gras mousse, onion water baguette, onion chutney and hazelnut candy. The baguettes were like little poofs of air and the hazelnut combined with foie gras was a great combo.


Down To Earth, summer vegetables, asparagus, morels, mushrooms, artichokes with 62 degree egg yolk and truffle chilli. Essentially a fancy mushroom soup with an insanely fragrant flavour and the egg yolk was a pleasant surprise to bit into and have it gush in the mouth as the soup runs down the throat. We also loved the presentation and the rock bowl kept the soup nice and hot. Yums


6th course, Keema Pav, minced lamb curry with tomato dehydrated bread and chutney. Lovely texture with a kick of spice. Awesome bao.


Gunpowder, fiery spiced Thai sea bass, curry leaf powder, basmati rice porridge, tamarind sugar. Least favourite of the courses. Fish was not fiery at all. In fact it was super weak sauced. The porridge gave the impression of glue. Meh.


British National Dish, home-style chicken tikka masala with naan. The name gave us a chuckle and the dish was just as good as I remembered but they gave us garlic naan this time. Can’t compare to the truffle naan that I had last time but way too full to even order it!


Poor Man’s Porridge, jasmine rice ice cream, pistachio gel, rose room freshener, almond and flower glass. Wasn’t able to smell the rose scent due to allergies but the ice cream was ok. I find that the desserts aren’t as tasty as the rest of the dishes so it was a good thing that there were only two.


Last course, Masala Chai, Indian spiced black milk tea jujube jelly. Strong taste of chai and the crunch gave it a nice texture.

For those of you who want to try out Chef Gaggan's food but can't make it to Bangkok, this September 22 to 24, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental is hosting the chef for its pop-up restaurant at the Tian and Di function rooms for three nights where you can try his nine-course menu with wine-pairing priced at HKD2,288 per person +10%. For dinner reservations, call +852 2132 0066.

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Friday, September 5, 2014

Flashback Friday: Noxema



This ad was on the back of every teen magazine back in the day. How come such a basic product could have such a high advertising budget? A question that I never asked back then, obviously. I bought it, though. My face BELONGS to Noxzema. Noxzema OWNS MY FACE, BITCH. I wanted curly brown hair and perfect poreless skin. And Noxzema could ostensibly help me achieve one of them. Does this face wash still exist? It smelled kind of funny, and had the ugliest packaging, and I guess it worked at cleaning your face but few face cleansers don't work, right? So I can't imagine it's lasted till today, but I hope it did, because I hope all those advertising dollars went to some use.

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Bag Lady: Lamat The Dark Antigona Bag


I stumbled upon this Serbian designer when my friend received one of his bags as a birthday present earlier last month. Did some research and discovered his Dark Antigona Bag which I adore! It's like the lovechild of the Givenchy Pandora and Nightingale. Not too sure if this bag is available for retail here in HK but other bags from Lamat can be found at Audrey et Auguste Millinery & Accessories at G78, 5 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay.

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Thursday, September 4, 2014

Paul Smith x Anglepoise Type75 Lamp

Looking for something to spice up your office desk while you burn the midnight oil? Check out the new Paul Smith x Anglepoise Type75 table lamp. Chic with a splash of the iconic Paul Smith colour scheme, this lamp might just be the thing to cheer you up. Priced at HK$2,000 and available for pre-order now.

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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Tai O Day Trip


Tai O has been a place I've been meaning to go since I came home to HK and yet never got around to it in the past ten years. Now that I'm on sabbatical, I'm determined to make up for lost time and realise that I've totally been missing out. Situated in Lantau Island, Tai O is one of the few fishing villages left in HK and boasts of having no 7/11 or McD in its vicinity. It's also where you go to see the endangered white dolphins. It's such a picturesque place that my friend and I had a blast wandering around eating and taking photos.

While there, be sure to get the egg waffle from the super cool dude in the shades as well as check out Cafe Solo where you can sit by the river and enjoy coffee. Other yummy foods include super big curry fish balls, silken tofu dessert, botargo, grilled octopus and a range of other local delicacies that you don't really see out on HK island anymore like Maltose crackers (sidenote, took me forever to find out what it's called in English as I only really know what it is in Cantonese.)

Given that it's a fishing village, there are tons of dried seafood for sale as well as Tai O's famed shrimp paste so be sure to grab some if you're a fan.

Check out photos and directions on how to get there after the cut.















How to get there:
From Central, take the ferry to Mui Wo (the slow ferry takes about an hour while the fast one is about half the time) and take the Number 1 bus which is right across from the ferry pier(about 45 minutes.)

Alternatively, you can take the train to Tung Chung and get out where Citygate is and then take the Number 11 bus which is also about a 45 minute ride.

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Beauty Editors Buy: Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF15


You can pretty much file all lip balms into two categories: works and doesn't work. Fresh's Sugar Lip Treatment works. I know what you're thinking -- so does Chapstick, and it's a damn lot cheaper, too. Yes, that's true. But as someone who suffers from chronic dry lips, sometimes you need something that's a little more conditioning, that doesn't just prevent windburn and rough lips but also heals them and nurtures them. And this is that. It also comes in a bunch of other tints, which are nice but sometimes difficult to apply (the Berry imparts a deep violet pigment that inevitable melts all over your mouth and outside the lines) so I stick with the original, which is what's found in many a beauty editor's handbag for on-the-go application.

For a little bit of colour, though, I've found that the brand's recently launched Sugar Lip Shine is the most moisturising lip gloss EVER, and I am a staunch lip gloss hater. It, too, is making its way into make-up kits around town...



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The Incredibles as directed by Christopher Nolan


Can't believe it's been ten years since The Incredibles came out! Now that they are finally making a sequel (seriously, Cars 2 before The Incredibles 2?), I'm wondering if they will tell us what Jack Jack has been up to all these years. While no official trailer has come out yet, there is this trailer of the old movie that's been reimagined as a Christopher Nolan movie a la Dark Knight from one awesome redditor. Definitely moodier and grittier and I kinda want to watch it. Is it too late to champion Christopher Nolan as the upcoming sequel director?

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Monday, September 1, 2014

Review: Carbone

It's at times like this that I'm grateful that I try to instagram my food posts close to when I do the tastings as I visited Carbone on the second day it opened and I had completely forgotten to do a review of it until just now when I've had a bit too many yummy meals in between and it's been almost a month since we went. I do recall however, the vibe of the resto being very old school (music playlist comprises Calendar Girl, Hey Mr Postman, Only You etc). Sadly enough, I somehow know all the songs leading my friend to comment that I'm secretly a super old lady which I don't deny. Here at the restaurant, it's the staff (namely Louie Carbone, Mario's cousin) that makes it work rather than the food itself which was not bad but tend to be on the pricey side. Each of the dishes are quite large though and are totally shareable.


We started with the US prosciutto, 24 month aged Parmesan with super buttery garlic bread.


Moved on to Octopus pizzaiolo which was nicely charred and tender with a spicy kick.


Then we had the Fusilli Vito which was highly recommended but we felt there was a tad too much pancetta in the dish and the saltiness masked the uni taste. There was also a ton of spring onion which further robbed the uni flavour. Pity.


Double lamb chops with potato Louie on the side. Louie described the potatoes as having “lots and lots and lots of duck fat and it’s on me if you don’t like it. Also I served it to vegetarians and they said it was the best veggies they’ve ever had.” At our looks of horror, he went “just kidding”. The potatoes did lived up to the hype and the lamb chops (from Colorado) were super tender. In fact, even though we were approaching food coma, we kept nibbling away at the potatoes.


We finished the meal off with a banana flambé for us served with ice cream and rum soaked banana bread and a couple glases of grappa. The lovely thing about Carbone is that they pride themselves on table side service and making a show of things (harking back to the older days in line with the music and decor choices.) As mentioned previously, Louie took great care of us and totally gives the restaurant its vibe. Judging by the instagram feeds of my fellow foodie friends, they seem to agree.

Carbone: 9/F LKF Tower, 33 Wydnham Street. +852 2593 2593

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