Picnic @ Greenwich Park

I am not trying to show off or anything for putting up pictures of my picnic at one of the Royal Parks of UK, the Greenwich Park on one sunny afternoon with cheese and wine; all I wanted is to show the importance of work life balance and how one can achieve it if really wanted to. I have to admit that it is quite difficult to do that in Hong Kong, to have a nice relaxing picnic for the following major reasons: (1) many (or most) parks in Hong Kong restrict visitors from stepping onto the grass, not to mention about sitting on them, (2) most parks in Hong Kong do not allow dogs and (3) Where are the parks anyhow? parks that are big enough to have picnic under the Sunday with fresh air and cushion like grass fields?? I continue to question the logic behind the points I mentioned regarding Hong Kong's Parks but no luck so far unfortunately.

Borough Market and Monmouth Coffee (London)

Just a word of caution, if you intend to visit a restaurants in the Borough Market in London (or other dine-in establishments around the city), please avoid going between 11am and noon because many simply tell you to come back sharp at noon when they reopen for lunch. That was exactly what happened to us! Well, I guess that was good time to walk around the Borough Market, for some coffee and for some snacks before breakfast / lunch!

Carluccio's (London)

With so many other choices, why did I pick Carluccio's? Well, very simple. We were hungry and it was close to where we stayed, that was the reason. If you pay attention when you walk around the city, you will find that Carluccio's is a rather large chain restaurant!!! My past experiences with chained restaurants in Hong Kong or other countries were not something worth noting but this one in London, I may return not necessarily for its so-called food quality but for its convenience. Don't get my wrong, both my visits (brunch and lunch on two separately occasions) were ... alright, unexciting and boring to be exact, but with its convenience, setting, atmosphere (which is more fitted for a casual yet rush meal), occasional visits may happen.

PAUL (London)

Sorry for the delay in updating new entries, I am currently in London and I am still experiencing a bit of jet lag for some odd reasons even after two days! So I will post a short post for now and will update more during this weekend. We stayed near Canary Wharf which is not exactly a tourist location but more of a financial district I suppose. Since I took a red-eyed flight out of Hong Kong to London, it was 6am London time when I arrived. I was hungry as always but I had to wait for my brother to come meet up with us. What can be the best solution? Find snacks!!! I spotted PAUL the bakery from far away while walking around. Instead of ordering a croissant or sandwich, the HUGE Chocolate Macaron got my undivided attention. It was huge and overly sweet to be honestly but I needed sugar, I needed food! .... MORE FOOD TO COME!!! (Did I already gain weight!?)

Whisk - Sunday Brunch

Sumptuous is often the word being used to describe Sunday Brunches and I could not agree more. I enjoy Sunday Brunches because I believe that after a week long work week, we all deserve a little break during the weekend, to enjoy good food with great company. Here at Whisk, they started offering Sunday Brunch recently with free-flowing Louis Roederer champagne as well. Unfortunately, unlikes other hotel establishments, there is not option to opt-out the champagne if I recall correctly. I have been to the Whisk a few times before but mostly for dinner and I enjoyed my stay the last few times. My favorites include the Suckling Pig (Signature dish) and the Apple Crisp (at least the original version being served in the baking pan, they have changed the serving methods and portion recently unfortunately)

Spam Party

Some like to call it Canned Food Party, I prefer to call it SPAM PARTY! The whole point of this party was to prepare snacks and food using only canned food. Most of the items included Spam / Luncheon Meat so Spam Party is perfect! I would like to take this opportunity to extend thanks to Mochachocolata Rita for preparing most of the items, details of the relevant recipes can be found ~~ HERE ~~~. You can check out Gastronomous Anonymous' version HERE as well.

Serendipity

Life is full of surprises and meeting Jin was indeed a pleasant surprise! Our friendship started with our love of food and we chatted online talking about nothing but food for many late nights! If you think that was amazing, I think it is time to share how I met Jin in person for the first time. In her recent entry on her blog, www.jinlovestoeat.com, she "revealed" our amazing encounter! Let me post a snippet here ...

“Are you Jin?”

Frites - Belgium on Tap

Funny story. I ordered this Kwak beer because I found the name quite interesting on the menu and that was it. Apparently there is a story behind the name of this beer and how it was being served in this special funnel / glass. Half way through drinking from this funnel, the beer will start to flow through the narrow bottle neck with increased pressure pushing from the back towards the smaller opening, creating a crackling "quack quack" noise. Not only would it create such an unique noise, the liquid would start to flow in an accelerated pace without notice. If you aren't careful, prepare to wet your shirt! (unless your mouth is big enough to cover the whole opening while I seriously doubt!) How much truth is behind the story I am not certain but it did make the "quack" noise and I did wet my shirt! Argh ...

ABC Kitchen (Revisited)

My first visit to ABC Kitchen was a couple of months ago but on a different capacity. You can check out my first review here. This time around I finally got the chance to order the entire Roasted Suckling Pig since we have 6 people. Pictures will follow later. As mentioned before ABC Kitchen stands for A Better Cooking kitchen which offers a range of Continental cuisines including French, Italian and a bit or Portuguese.  Yeah, it is a mix of everything. Compared with m first visit, one thing I noticed was their menu which was updated quite a bit with a slightly increase in price. I guess that's normal for being popular. And they no long have set dinners, at least on the night we were there.

Duecento Otto 208

When I first steped into Duecento Otto 208, I truly thought I was at the scene of Sex and the City, at a restaurant somewhere in New York city. Why? Well, the decor was hip and trendy with beautifully decorated wall-tiles, but the key was the people, the crowds that were present at 7pm on a weeknights. For the brief stay I was there, the place was frequented by model like females and males as well. I mean many of the girls were either in 4" heels and ultra tight pencil skirts or 3" heels and really short skirts! As for guys, many were in tight jeans and pointy leather shoes with tight shirts that somehow lost the few top buttons. Were these good distractions elements for the rustic atmosphere? It is really up to your personal preferences and mood perhaps?