HONG KONG: My List of Best Souvenirs or "Pasalubong" to Bring Home

HONG KONG: My List of Best Souvenirs 
or "Pasalubong" to Bring Home

SWEETS HOUSE CHA CHA CREAM PUFFS

Why buy in Hong Kong:

You can only find stores serving this delicious cream puffs in Hong Kong.


My tips:

1. Make sure to taste one immediately after you buy it. Nothing beats the experience of tasting it, while the top is slightly crunchy. You lose the crunch on top if you wait till you get home or return to your hotel to eat it.

2. If you plan to bring it home as "pasalubong" or gifts to loved ones when you return to your home country, make sure to buy it on the day of your departure. By experience, the cream puffs last only 3 days at most. The cream becomes slightly sour on the 3rd day.

3. My number 1 favorite is the classic custard cream puff.

The other cream puffs I like:

Matcha cream puff

Chocolate cream puff

Packaging:

Each box can store 6 cream puffs. 

This is the assorted box of cream puffs.

The Store:

Where to Find:
3rd Floor, Harbour City, Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.
On the same floor as City Super
Beside Cooked Deli, the fast food of City Super
Operating Hours: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

This is the 3rd floor of Harbour City

Cha Cha Cream Puffs is beside City Super

Check out Harbour City Floor plan HERE  for location.

Price List

Choices of Cream Puffs

 CHEWY PEANUT CANDY WITH BLACK SESAME BY PASTILERIA KO KEI

Why buy in Hong Kong:

Their products are only available in Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore.

My tip:

Buy at least 4 large packs to get a discount

One large pack is 63 HK$
If you buy four packs, each pack is just 57 HK$, or 6 HK$ off each pack.

Packaging:

The large pack (480g) contains around 20 individually wrapped peanut candies. 

The small pack (280g) contains 4 individually wrapped peanut candies.

This is the large pack

This is what's inside the pack

This is what the black sesame peanut candy looks like

The Store:

Where to Find:

Shop A, Ground Floor, Howard Building
44 Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

View Hong Kong Stationery & Nice Shops in a larger map

MACAU RESTAURANT PORTUGUESE EGG TARTS

My tips:

1. Make sure you eat the egg tart immediately after you buy it. It's the best time to eat it while it's hot. The puff pastry is crunchy and the egg cream in the center is so creamy and soft. When you eat it cold, it still tastes great but the pastry is no longer crunchy and not as creamy.

2. This is great to bring home as gifts for people at home. It lasts long and can be reheated in the toaster to make the pastry crunchy.

Price:

9 HK$

Packaging:

Each box can store 6 egg tarts.

The Store:

Note: There are 2 branches of Macau Restaurant in the same road almost across each other. The bigger restaurant have more egg tarts available.

Where to Find:

The bigger restaurant:

25-27 Lock Road, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong

This is the front of the bigger restaurant along Lock Road

There are usually more egg tarts available in the bigger restaurant

The smaller restaurant:

UG/F, Tsim Sha Tsui Mansion

40-46 Lock Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Mansion

Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

You go down the basement to get to the smaller restaurant

This is the front of the smaller restaurant

 View Hong Kong Stationery & Nice Shops in a larger map

LADUREE MACARONS

Why buy in Hong Kong:

Only few countries in Asia sell Laduree macarons, and one of them is China in Hong Kong. Laduree french bakery is known to be the inventor of the double decker French macaron.

Where to Find:

Shop 3224, Level 3, Gateway Arcade,
Harbour City, Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Check out Harbour City Floor plan HERE  for location.

THE MAP BELOW SHOWS THE SUGGESTED ROUTE
IF YOU PLAN TO BUY THE SOUVENIRS I MENTIONED ABOVE

Start at Macau Restaurant at Lock Road to buy the PORTUGUESE EGG TARTS, then walk to Hankow Road to buy the BLACK SESAME PEANUT CANDY, then walk further to Harbour City where you can buy both the Sweets House CHA CHA CREAM PUFFS and LADUREE MACARONS.

HONG KONG: Dining at BO INNOVATION (2014 and 2015 Awardee of 3 Michelin Stars)

HONG KONG: Dining at BO INNOVATION

(2014 and 2015 Awardee of 3 Michelin Stars) 

To be able to appreciate dining at Bo Innovation, let me give you a brief background on the significance of being awarded 3 Michelin stars, the highest rating to be given to any fine dining restaurant. It's a distinction given to only about a 100 restaurants in the world.

What is the Michelin Guide?

The Michelin Guide is the "international benchmark of fine dining" (Michelin website). Anonymous inspectors dine at these restaurants and evaluate the food based on 5 criteria shown below and then award stars.

Below are more details taken from the Michelin Website: 

GUIDE TO THE STARS

Stars reflect only WHAT IS ON THE PLATE and are determined solely by five criteria:

1. Quality of the ingredients

2. Flair and skill in preparing ingredients and combining flavors

3. Chef’s personality as revealed through the cuisine

4. Value for money

5. Consistency of culinary standards

The stars are NOT AWARDED on the basis of restaurant décor, price of the ingredients or quality of service.

What the Stars Mean

Three stars reward exceptional cuisine where diners eat extremely well, often superbly. Distinctive dishes are precisely executed, using superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.

Two stars denote excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.

One star indicates a very good restaurant in its category, offering cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.

BACKGROUND OF BO INNOVATION

Bo Innovation is a restaurant known for Extreme Chinese cuisine. Alvin Leung, the owner and chef of Bo Innovation, deconstructs traditional Chinese ingredients and makes radical dishes with it. Hence the name Extreme Chinese Cuisine.

Who is Alvin Leung?

Alvin Leung was born in London and raised in Canada. He's an engineer by training who became a chef.

This statement taken from his website perfectly describes what he does to food served in his restaurant:

Alvin's extreme Chinese cuisine is an art form. He does to Chinese food what Picasso did to art - he breaks down traditional Chinese food to it's bare essence and uses it to create new interpretations in modern form."

MY EXPERIENCE DINING AT BO INNOVATION 

THE PRESENTATION

Prior to serving the dish, they  explain what the dish is and show you the traditional Chinese ingredient they used for it so you can compare it with how they transformed it or how they used it differently in the dish.

THE MENU

My total bill is HK$885:
680 + 70 for water = HK$750 + 75 service charge + 60 tip = HK885

THE FOOD

The bread basket

SCALLOP
with
Shanghainese "Jolo", Woba, Sugar Snap Peas, Avocado, Lemon

Translation:
Jolo Sauce: fermented red rice vinegar
Woba: crispy rice

My review:
I love this dish. The scallop is so tender. 
It's hard to describe how flavorful this dish is.

UMAMI
with
Black Truffle, Toro, Harmi Oil, Vermicelli, Rice Noodle

Translation:
Black truffle: mushroom
Toro: Fatty of part of the fish used for sushi
Harmi oil: oil infused with dried baby shrimps

Special instructions:
Pour the harmi oil over the dish then mix it up.

What traditional Chinese ingredient they showed me after serving the dish: 
dried baby shrimps

MOLECULAR
"Xiao Long Bao"
(The signature dish at Bo Innovation)

Translation:
Xiao Long Bao: soup dumpling

Special Instructions:

The waiter instructed me that the best way to enjoy it was to take the whole thing in my mouth and close my eyes so I can fully appreciate all the flavors when I bite it.

My tip: Be careful when you bite it because all the liquids may burst out of your mouth if you don't do it slowly.

An article taken from the Azure website talks about this dish:

"One of his best-known dishes is the Shalong Boa (little dragon), small dumplings that seem to explode in the mouth. "Traditionally, they would be made of a thick crust filled with chopped pork meat, but I decided to use the same ingredients, solidify the liquids and give it the appearance of an egg yolk", explains Leung. The taste is almost the same as that of the original dish, but the presentation and texture are quite different. "

My review:

I love this dish for it's truly unique texture and concept. 

FOIE GRAS
with
"mui choy", preserved Chinese mustard green, granny smith apple, ginger bread

Translation:
mui choy: preserved Chinese mustard green MADE INTO ICE CREAM that you see on the left of the photo
granny smith apple: the green thing at the left of the photo MADE INTO an ice cream

What traditional Chinese ingredient they showed me after serving the dish: 
mui choi

My review:

I love this dish because the foie gras was perfectly seared. When you cut into it, all the juices ooze out of it. Then if you combine it with the mui choy and granny smith ice cream, the foie gras lightens up and becomes a refreshing meal.

MAO TAI
with
hawthorn, lemon grass, passion fruit

Translation:
Mao tai: Chinese liquor made from fermented sorghum

Special instruction:
You drink it from the long spout of the container shown above.

What traditional Chinese ingredient they showed me after serving the dish: 
Mao tai liquor bottle

LANGOUSTINE
with
black truffle, cauliflower risotto, salty duck egg sauce
pickled cauliflower, English mustard foam, duck jus

Translation:
Langoustine: small lobster

PIGEON
with
shitake mushroom cake, sour plum infused pigeon jus, black carrot

COCONUT
with
palm sugar, coconut water, chocolate, pina colada, cherry, pandan

Where is the:

• coconut water? It's the round thing on top
• pandan and chocolate? made into ice cream
• pina colada? it's the white powdery ice in the background  

THE FILIPINO CHEF OF BO INNOVATION

Alvin Leung is not in town, but I got to meet the Filipino chef who was with Alvin Leung ever since he started Bo Innovation in 2005. His name is Daniel Fabay. 

Daniel Fabay has been living in Hong Kong for the past 20 years. He used to be chef at Silahis hotel in the Philippines before he came to Hong Kong. For the past 9 years, he's a chef at Bo Innovation and has been part of what this restaurant achieved for the past few years. 

Daniel Fabay in the kitchen of Bo Innovation

OUTSIDE THE RESTAURANT

INSIDE THE RESTAURANT

Panoramic shot of the layout of the restaurant

HOW TO FIND THE RESTAURANT

Ride the MTR and get off at Wanchai Exit A3. 

When you exit A3, you arrive at Johnston Road.

Turn right and walk along Johnston Road until you see Ship Street on your left side.

This is the sign you see along Johnston Road directing you to Ship Street

This is Ship Street.

Walk along Ship Street until you see the rectangular gray sign seen above.

The sign

Don't go up the stairs.

Use the private lift beside the sign.

This is the private lift along Ship Street
 that goes directly to Bo Innovation

Website: www.boinnovation.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoInnovation?sk=wall

Email: dine@boinnovation.com

Address: Shop 12, 2F, J Residence, 60 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

BELGIUM: What Belgian Chocolates to Taste in Brussels

BELGIUM: What Belgian Chocolates to Taste in Brussels

My brother recently came home from a trip to Brussels. As "pasalubong" he brought home Belgian chocolates to share with us what he experienced and enjoyed during his trip. These are not ordinary Belgian chocolates you see in your local stores. So I'm sharing with you the notable Belgian chocolatier that the tour guide recommended to him. Below I am quoting  his description of each Belgian chocolate he gave us:  

"I gave you three kinds of Belgian chocolates, based on my Brussels trip."

NEUHAUS
(since 1857)

"1) Neuhaus (in red orange box) - According to the guide, Neuhaus is the first one to come up with edible chocolate (because before it was just the cocoa drink). It is the inventor of the PRALINES. So I gave you a box with different kinds of pralines. It is the most commercial of the three boxes, because it is sweeter and has less chocolate percentage. "

Neuhaus Collection Discovery 25 pieces
25 euros

Why buy Neuhaus: To taste the products of the chocolatier who invented the pralines.

Website: 
http://www.neuhaus-online-store.com/chocolate-store-en.htm

Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/neuhaus

Where to find Neuhaus: 
http://www.neuhaus-online-store.com/en/store-locator.htm?cu=euro&or=2853921976

MARY
(since 1919)

"2) Mary (in the white round box) - Mary Delluc is the first female chocolate maker, and the Belgian royal family buys from here. It is known for the TRUFFLES, so I got the truffles. The other two boxes have only one of each kind, but this box has two of each kind."

Assortment of truffles
39 euros

Description of the truffles:

http://www.mary.be/en/the-collection/the-pralines/truffles

Why buy Mary: To taste the products of the chocolatier who supplies truffles to the Royal House of Belgium

Website: 

http://www.mary.be/en/home

Where to find Mary:

http://www.mary.be/en/the-shops

PIERRE MARCOLINI

(since 1995)

"3) Pierre Marcolini (in the black box) - For our guide, this is the best chocolate. It has the highest chocolate percentage, so it is more dark and bitter. Marcolini is known as a GOURMET CHOCOLATE maker, and experiments with unique flavors. It came up with the Earl Grey black tea flavor, among others. Therefore, I suggest that this is for the parents only, since I don't think the tastebuds of the kids will be able to appreciate these yet."

Why buy Pierre Marcolini: To taste how chocolate can be infused with different flavors, hence the description of "gourmet" or luxury chocolates.

Website: 

http://www.marcolini.be/

Facebook page: 

https://fr-fr.facebook.com/PierreMarcolini

Where to find Pierre Marcolini:

http://www.marcolini-eboutique.com/en-gb/contact

MY REVIEW:

I love MARY. I can only describe it as melt-in-your mouth fine chocolate truffles. It is best consumed after it is left to "warm up" in room temperature. Being in a tropical climate like the Philippines, we need to place these fine chocolates inside the refrigerator to prevent it from melting if left in our normal room temperature ranging from 23 to 32 degrees centrigrade.

My children love NEUHAUS. It's easy to love and meets their expectations of what a praline must taste like.

No one in my family liked PIERRE MARCOLINI. It is too "gourmet" for our taste buds and not what we expect of chocolates. But it's nice to be able to taste it, especially the interesting flavors of earl grey infused in the chocolates. However our taste buds are too "amateur" to recognize the different nuances of the unique flavors infused in the chocolates. So we couldn't fully appreciate it.