Oolaa - Italian with fancy ambiance

★★★☆☆

$$$ (with alcohol)

Oolaa is an italian restaurant with both romantic and lively ambiance. The restaurant was huge, sectioned in three area: an intimate dining room on the right, a casual dinning room/bar area on the left and an open pizza kitchen with several bar tables and sofa in the middle. If you are coming with someone special, do make a reservation ahead to secure your table at the more romantic section on the right.

Izumi Curry - Look Does Not Necessarily Equate Taste

★★☆☆☆

$$

Izumi Curry was on my to try list since it was opened in TST Sogo. The hype was huge back then, but I still do not have the urge to go all the way to Tsim Sha Tsui just for a plate of curry. It was until today I that I went and was excited about it.

I was seated on the side brunch even though there are tables available, but it was quite nice since i can face the street view from the window. The menu choice was vast, but it wasn't hard to figure out what I want.

Panash - Tasteless Croissant

☆☆☆☆☆

$

I seldom get breads at Panash, because many breads are too sweet for my liking. I went there recently after work for a quick snack before dinner because I was starving. After I picked a pain au chocolate, I found some croissant looking kind of alright and decided to get it for breakfast sometime. Even though the croissant is airy and light, it did not have any buttery taste. It was also not flaky enough. The croissant tasted so bad that I swear I would not buy it again.

Quartet Cookies 曲奇四重奏 - Best Palmier in HK

★★★★★ 

$

I am going to kick start my 2013 blog post with a short view on my favourite cookie shop - Quartet Cookies. To be exact, it is their buttery and flaky palmier that I am crazy for.

A side story from Quartet Cookies, I want to talk about Jenny's Bakery for a bit. During the Chinese New Year, people (especially people from China) were mad crazy about getting Jenny's Bakery for gifts. Somehow Jenny's Bakery appears to them that it is the best food souvenir to get in Hong Kong. I heard there was a crazy period where there was absolutely no way for people to buy cookies from Jenny's Bakery and that they have made enough money to take a few months off. Anyway, my point was that my family got a few of Quartet palmier as gifts for my relatives.

Happy Lemon - WORST Tea Ever tasted

☆☆☆☆☆

$

Craving for a nice cup of milk tea with black jelly, I passed by Happy Lemon in Kowloon Bay during lunch and decided to grab a cup to go. I was elated to see Happy Lemon offers black jelly and taro balls as option because not many Taiwanese tea shops in Hong Kong have it. 

Champs Bar and Restaurant - The Happy Hour Bar

Price: $$

Cravingness: ★★★☆☆

(Restaurant Tasting)

There was once when I wanted to try every single burger place in Hong Kong, The Champs was on my to try list. The Champs is located at the Charter House, somewhere I wouldn't say is at the heart of Wanchai. It is quite a coincident that it falls into one of my walking route from work, where I spotted its huge poster advertising their burger and know about it's existence.

The Champs is a bar restaurant in American settings. The place is spacious, with an open bar table at the front door and lots of stools and booth seatings further inside.  There is two big TV screens in the middle and at the end of the pub restaurant, playing sports channel that apparently drawing many guys here. The ambiance is quite lively with suitable noise level which is perfect for happy hour and also for big party, which happened to accommodated one the night I went.

[Osaka] Rikuro Ojisan no Mise - Moist & Dense Cheesecake

Price: $
Cravingness: ★★★☆☆1/2

Rikuro cheese cake is a traditional cheesecake shop with more than 50 years of history. It is famous for its spongy cheesy cheese cake (焼きたてチーズケー). If you happens to pass by Rikuro, you will never miss the shop, because there is always a constant queue at the door front.