Yuet Heung Restaurant 悅香飯店, Wanchai, Hong Kong

This restaurant has been very famous for its "Chicken soaked in dried scallop/dried shrimp soup" (香妃鷄). Tried this about 15 years ago, but got annoyed with their services or I should say no services. So at my recent visit, their services maintained the same. When I entered the place, the receptionist used her finger to point to upstairs. The waiters are for sure on the same level of silence. Ordered their signature chicken. A bit disappointed with the chicken having been soaked in the soup a bit too long. Tured out a bit salty and the meat a bit rough. HK$145 for half portion is a bit expensive to me, considering this quality. So the kai lan stir fried with semi-sun dried squid is pretty good. The sweet and sour pork is also in a right method of cooking. Yes, the method is but the technique isn't. They used the pickled baby onion 喬頭 and this is the classic one. However, it's a bit too sweet and the final deep frying isn't right to have it dry enough. After the meal, I asked if they have a dessert menu. A rough "no" was given. So this rough answer does go with their rough chicken texture. Very consistent. I guess I'll wait for another 15 years to try my next visit. :)

The Feast, Hotel The East, Taikooshing, Hong Kong.

Had a nice semi buffet at the Feast (cafe of Hotel Feast). The oyster bar still serves oysters freshly opened to your order. I had 9 of them. Veggie are selected, on your choice of various fine olive oil, balsamic and pesto...etc. dressing. A wide array of cold dishes and desserts (superb tiramisu and dark choco cake). Aromatic breads (tomato bread and cheese wheat cracker) and melty parma ham and other cold cut. Main course - New Zealand rib eye steak is nicely grilled. With DBS AE co-branded black card or Compass platinum card, a 20% is given. So the net is HK$310 on Friday to Sunday and HK$270 on weekdays. What can you say? However, if you prefer a buffet offering a big steamed fish, BBQ station and Alaskan crab legs...etc., this is not the place.

Macro view to your skin - Beauty by Fujifilm Central HK

When the shop was first opened half year ago, some noise was aroused, but only at the photography level. I did ask the shop's staff to make sure it's the camera's brand. Yes, it is and it claimed it used its photography and the most recently abused term "nano" technology to apply for skin care product especially in collagen and aging improvements. Interesting. I wonder if they would use the film's material to produce skin care. So film!

Eating little at Harbour Chiu Chow Restaurant Wanchai HK

Ordered 3 small orders and 1 regular one at Harbour Chiu Chow Restaurant.

1. Mouth watering chicken HK$48. Quite a nice one and not so hot and spicy.

2. Bitter gourd with dried shrimp HK$28. I like bitter gourd or Chinese squash to go with dried shrimp. When it was served, I immediately noticed it's not with any oil. It turned out pretty nice though. Very good to go with the rice.

3. Hair Tail fish 牙帶魚 HK$28. Supposed at just HK$28, this kind of Chiu Chow small dishes should be prepared already, but this one was freshly made to order. Very nice pan frying and not oily at all. I miss this fish for a long time. My grand ma often got this one, but her "low heat cooking" made it not crispy somehow. She claimed this fish is good for eyes and liver.

4. Lo Hon Veggie stir fried HK$58. Very nice stir frying and it's not salty nor with heavy oyster sauce. Though I don't like bamboo shoot, when it is stir fried with various mushroom, it gives a very nice aroma to the veggie. So giving too much oyster sauce for dishes with bamboo shoot would just destroy this magical effect. The chef made it very right for this stir fried dish.

The Restaurant, Pavilions Phuket

Not just the roller coaster ride happened with Maxim's and others, but also it got here with this restaurant. It was not that good 3 months ago, but it turned out it had changed a lot.

1. Lime juice/Strawberry passion fruit mix. Pretty good and not too sweet.

2. Beef Carpaccio (THB400). Fine cheese and fresh rocket leaves to go with the thin sliced raw beef.

3. Duck leg confit celery salad (THB330). It's a very nice confit and the celery freshness lifts the aroma.

4. King prawn and scallop in green curry (THB550). Very fresh big prawns and scallops soaked in a nice green curry.

Ocean View Pool Villa, Pavilions Phuket

The below photos are for the comparison between 2 villas. Apparently the view is 90% the same, except the tree. The left is 2 more villas on the right one, not next to each other. Check photo no. 4. See that tree. It's the tree in photo no. 1. This tree is on the left front of the villa in between the below 2. In just 3 months, this tree has grown more green leaves. The local people told that (same as most other Phuket's resort people told), Phuket has been getting more rain in the dry season but then some very sunny weather in the rainy season. Pretty soon Phuket would no longer be in any rainy or dry season. That also means all other places on Earth would experience some unexpected weather. While all of us are paying the attention to global warming, we also need to consider the Earth's axis being shifted from the 2 big quakes of 2004 and 2 weeks ago. That would probably result in the shifting of the wind pattern.

In-room dining at Pavilions Phuket

Pavilions Phuket and Aleenta Phang Nga (Phuket) are the resorts I would revisit. Pavilions Phuket is now under the chain group Relais and Chateaux. Besides, the Guest Relations Manager is from Grasse (the town famous for fragrance near Cannes, Southern France). Naturally I tended to try some French cuisine for the in-room dining.

1. Endive salad with balsamic vinegar and white truffle oil - THB320. Very selected endive (baby ones) gave a charismatic junior bitter flavour. The dressing is not overwhelming but good enough to bring it to taste. I took 3 breads with this one.

2. Avocado and tuna tartare THB330. Quite a nice tartare and when you mix them in your mouth, the melty silky texture of avocado and the slightly spiced chopped tuna match so well.

3. Grilled pork in baquette THB350. Pretty good and the french fried was deep fried well.

Busy shadows, lonely Central, HK

Got in a maze of shadow and light.

Crystal Jade Wanchai HK

Crystal Jade in Tai Yau Mall Wanchai seldom disappoints me. Tried 2 new dishes I haven't tried before. They are:

1. Thin sliced pork with garlic hot sauce 蒜泥白肉 (HK$52). Nice hot sauce and very thin sliced pork to go with it. Most of all the chilled carrot, cucumber and celery gives the fresh sweetness to balance the hot and strong flavour of the sauce and the meat melty texture. Chewy and melty!

2. Pan fried beef bun 牛肉燒餅 (HK$25). Crispy outside and juicy inside. Recommended to try.

Power to reach 200 feet away - the incredible animal, spider.

Used my macro lens to shoot this tiny spider (about 1cm wide). After a few shots, it came to be standing up to check on my lens (about 1 foot something away). After the last shot (photo 3 - check the thread on its 2 front legs), it disappeared from my view finder. I spent a minute to check where it went. Then I found out it was hanging on its thread stuck to my lens. Luckily I could find it out earlier since I had no idea if it's poisonous or not. Immediately I took it off my lens. If I calculate its size as 1cm and it can emit its thread to over 1 foot away (1 foot is equil. to 30cm, i.e. 30 times). If we take it as a human standard for a 6 feet high body, that means 6x30 feet = 180 feet.

I used to think the movie Spider man is a bit exaggerating, but I am wrong, and in fact the movie is a bit understating the power of the spider.

My cooking - 去濕水 detoxifying sweet soup

Posted a few days ago on my home made UFO. I went to the market for getting some winter melon (I guess it's imported from Thailand since it's not the season here) and a pack of the Chinese herbs for making this soup to clear up the accumulated unwanted elements in my body, especially eating some heavy seafood and meat or fruits/veggie, like mango, eggplant and pumpkin...etc.

1. the ingredients - top left is the lotus pouch that I played it as UFO, but this one is a bit pressed.

2. Winter melon. Normally I would get one Chinese catty (about 22 ounces or 0.625 kilo.). Rinse everything well. Put the ingredients except the melon and beans in a "soup boiling" bag. Then put that bag and winter melon in the pot when the water is cool. When it gets to boil, put the beans and barley (this way it can avoid the beans and barley getting sticky on the pot's bottom and therefore got burnt. Then boil it at low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours. Take out the bag. Put some cane sugar bar to taste. BTW, cane sugar bar is good for clearing up the toxic stuff in our body. If you suspect you have a slight food poisoning or having some skin allergy, drink some hot water with cane sugar bar melt in it.

3. Done. Eat the melon and beans too if possible. *remarks you would feel like having more water out of your body after taking this soup and that's normal.

Flowers at 8am, one sunny morning.