Flori Flower & Korean Café

I'm probably the worst person in terms of taking care of one's own body. My iPhone died again (and this time, it didn't even fall into the MTR gap) all by itself, so I had to go back to Apple in Causeway Bay twice in two days to get it fixed. Luckily, it was free of charge, and since I'd bought Apple Care, I just got a new one. Again. That's three new iPhone 6's in the space of slightly more than one year.

After "repairing" my phone on the second day back to Apple, I knew I was already super sick. I hadn't been feeling well for a while and I even had a small bout of fever the night before. But I kept my mouth shut so my parents wouldn't suspect anything because I wanted to go to a nearby café called Flori Flower & Korean Café.

Sickness aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the little gem. It's already been circulated quite a bit on social media, nothing new, but I didn't expect it to actually be opened by a Korean family. They serve traditional Korean snacks with a modern twist and hold flower-cake workshops regularly.

Oh, and after visiting... I fell super sick with the worst case of flu since primary school or something. I was bedridden with a fever, a sore throat, no voice, and plenty of phlegm and snot for more than a week.

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Five out of Five!

If you've been following me for a while, you'd know that I love Outback Steakhouse... long before I even considered becoming a VIP member almost two years ago. Looking back now, I really gotta thank Julian for introducing the place to me in 2013! I've gone there more than numerous times since knowing about it (and it didn't help that one of the branches was located at Kornhill... sadly it closed recently) and even became friendly with the staff. Anyway, my two-year VIP membership is about to expire, and I've only just realised... I missed using all the offers that came with it except the 15% discount each time, LOL.

Every April comes with a free Bloomin' Onions appetiser (not pictured) available for redemption, so before the month ended, I invited my SIS girls to dinner at my favourite restaurant. And finally - five out of five of the us got together! When we met up for Butcher & Baker Café last month, Vikki didn't come, and Jacklyn didn't slow up when Janet came back to Hong Kong. It was so nice to laugh about our lame high school times again.

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Healthy Chicken Opens in Quarry Bay!

Dear Healthy Chicken, please sponsor me. Yours sincerely, your biggest fan.

That's all I really gotta say about my favourite eatery (okay, maybe tied with Outback, which you all know is my ride-or-die restaurant). I've introduced many of my friends to Healthy Chicken and eaten there myself multiple times, but it wasn't always convenient because it's all the way in Central. Well, guess what? They just opened a new branch in Quarry Bay, conveniently close to my home!

The new store looks nicer and is bigger with actual tables (instead of just five seats to a bar table crammed at the side of the Central store). It means I can eat there any time now. This time, I brought my Dad to buy takeaway with me. I'd always wanted to bring him to try their meals because they're big enough for a huge eater like my Dad (and me) and they're not too expensive... sadly they increased the price and the portion of chicken breast they gave me seemed smaller. Sigh.

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Café 8, a Slice of White Heaven

Right after visiting Lifetastic with my Dad, we made our way over to the rooftop of Central Pier No. 8 to have lunch at Café 8. The café is a collaboration between the Hong Kong Maritime Museum and The Nesbitt Centre - but not just any collaboration, it's a social enterprise that provides employment opportunities for the people with learning disabilities.

Apart from allowing members of the society with special needs to interact with the community, the café is also super beautiful. I found out about it by chance the night before - yep, less than 24 hours before I visited. It hasn't got a location tag on Instagram, thank God, which means that it isn't booming with silly food bloggers. It's everything that I've ever dreamed of... white and blue. Nearly died of happiness.

But I honestly didn't need to say so much. The pictures you're about to see basically speak for themselves.

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Lifetastic

A while ago, a café called Lifetastic opened on the Western side of Hong Kong, just outside one of the exits of HKU MTR Station. It's now super hyped up on social media and basically everyone knows about it because of its Signature-Tastic cake, which is basically Sydney's famous strawberry watermelon rose cake. It's the first of its kind to make way to Hong Kong.

I found out about Lifetastic way before it was noticed by all the annoying food bloggers, just like I did with Knead. The only difference was I got the chance to go to Knead before everyone knew about. But by the time I managed find time for Lifetastic, it was already old news. The first time I went, a month ago, was during lunch time on a Friday with Dad. I wanted a picture with its pretty wall, but the café was at its peak period in terms of social media hype, and it was full to the brim even on a weekday so I never got nice pictures. We didn't try their signature cake and instead had a pasta and a salad instead - both were so-so.

I really still wanted that damn picture with the wall, so more than a month later I went back... at 11:30AM on a Thursday, desperately hoping that it was emptier by now. I was right! This time, Dad and I only got drinks since the food really was nothing special and it wasn't cheap too. We quickly took a few pictures, drank up, then left. Efficient.

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My 23rd Birthday: Dinner Buffet at Café Too, Island Shangri-la

After an afternoon at Café Hillywood, Jason and I went shopping in Cotton On (I spent $400 in just half an hour - oops!) then suddenly it was time for my birthday dinner buffet at Café Too at the Island Shangri-la. The decision to celebrate with a buffet, as we did last year for my 22nd birthday, was super last minute. Yep, Jason booked the dinner less than 24 hours before we actually went, haha. I didn't really have a preference for my birthday celebration and honestly I would've been fine with a simple dinner - but hey, since he suggested a buffet, why the hell not?

This was actually my third time having Island Shangri-la's buffet, surprisingly! Though it was my first time trying their dinner offers. My first experience there was for its Christmas Eve lunch buffet in 2013, which was bombass. The second was to celebrate surviving my Architecture degree half a year later, again for their lunch buffet. I honestly think Café Too has the biggest range of choices. They did not disappoint this time too. Much, much better than The Excelsior's buffet (which was probably the worst I've had)!

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Café Hillywood

Guys, I need help: I can read your comments, but I can't reply to them! How do I add one on Blogger? That being said, lets continue.

Before my belated birthday celebration with Jason at night, we spent the first part of our afternoon in Café Hillywood, a newly opened café and event location in Jordan. I knew about it a long time ago, as with all the other places I find, but as usual, I didn't have time to visit until 2-3 weeks into its soft opening. Still quick, but not quick enough. I want to be the first five people on social media to visit a café!

Café Hillywood is opened by the same staff behind Hillywood, its restaurant and bar counterpart in the neighbouring Tsim Sha Tsui. The new café is super spacious as it also holds regular music events and is super chic, with marble tables for the Instagram whores. Can't comment on the food though. Jason and I couldn't eat much since we were going to a buffet later on, so I just had a peppermint tea and he had a tuna sandwich.

Oh, and the last picture was when we passed by another café, Let's Jam, after we left. That photogenic spot was calling for a photo.

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My 23rd Birthday: Verde MAR

I tried Verde MAR a month ago for lunch when I met up with vegan extraordinaire Angie, but we only had the salad, so this time I decided to have my birthday dinner there. I especially wanted to try their chargrilled cactus, and I had the crazy idea to stick my birthday candle on it since I didn't really feel like cake. When I called to make a reservation though, the male manager dismissed me right away, saying that the cactus was "too thin". Well, I wasn't about to give up. I brought my own candles.

The service was terrible. No, it was a mixture. The only female waitress was super, well-mannered and even advised me to stick my candle into the tomato instead of the cactus. Then she lit my candle for me without me having to ask and even offered to help me and my family take a photo. The male manager and the male senior manager (I'm assuming that's who they are)? They were rude as hell, all sour-faced and purposely ignoring me. Probably annoyed I still brought my own candle despite them saying no-can-do. It's not like I'm shitting on your tables or swinging my dick at your other customers, dude.

The food was alright. We ordered the salad, the cactus (which tasted like okra, if you were curious), tacos and a beef stew. It was nothing special, I've never tried Little Burro or Calimex but I'm pretty sure the takeaway options from there just taste the same.

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