San Hou Lei 新好利美食餅店

Finally, we had arrived in Macau after an hour of ride from Hong Kong Ferry Terminal via TurboJet Ferry. Passing by San Hou Lei 新好利美食饼店 and seeing the amount of lunch crowd, we joined in and manage to get few tables for ourselves.

San Hou Lei 新好利美食餅店

Interior was abit run down and reminds me of the coffeeshop we had in the 80s and early 90s. Eating area was rather spacious and occupying 2 shop spaces.

Environment

We don't have much opportunity to drink soft drinks from these reusable glass bottles and this experience is part of the joy of travelling to country like this. As the standards of living improved in Singapore and people are quite particular about hygiene we don't get to see such old bottles in F & B anymore.

Coca Cola

I have not seen Schweppes in glass bottle before and this was interesting.

Schweppes

This chinese style wok fried rice dish is popular in many chinese restaurants throughout the world and ingredients vary from place to place. It consist of mixed vegetables, lettuce, egg and chicken cooked under wok fire to obtain such aroma.

Fried Rice 杨州炒饭 - 32 HKD

Since they were well known for their egg tarts, we bought a few types egg tarts to share among ourselves. They were freshly baked and hot from the oven. We ordered portugese style, bird nest and normal egg tarts.

Tarts Ordered

At least something special over here! Ever tried of bird nest tarts? We ordered some out of curiosity but none taste any close to drinking the real bird nest.

Bird Nest Tart

Portuguese style egg tarts were good. the layers of flaky buttery crust and the fillings with some part burnt were all the characteristics of how one Portuguese egg tart should look like.How to skip getting fat over these Macanese treats?

Portuguese Egg Tarts

The plate looked rather familiar back in Singapore I thought and I recalled it was used by one of the Thai Restaurant. Black Pepper Beef rice was nothing unusual and in fact look typical in Asian Cuisine with ingredients like yellow onions, chilli, spring onions and beef slices cooked altogether with black pepper sauce.

Black Pepper Beef Rice 黑胡椒牛肉饭 - 34 HKD 

Here's at least some decent noodles with something we had all along through out the trip, Pork Chop. Just meat in noodle soup, simple and fuss free dish.

Pork Chop Noodles 猪扒面 - 26 HKD

Having too much pork chop lately, one of us was game was their beef noodles and went ahead ordering a combination with Wantons. Besides having pork chop in their noodle, another common Asian chinese dish is Beef Sirloin Noodles.

Wanton and Beef Sirloin Noodles 云吞牛腩面 - 37

Pork Chop Bun was ordinary an do not have any wow factor. The slab of Pork Chop was rather oily and has a good portion of fats.

Pork Chop Bun 猪扒包 - HKD 25

Such combination of food items may seem so common among the Hong Kee and Macanese, however as a Singaporean myself I would say my Wanton Noodle has kind of downgraded to instant noodle topped with a few Wantons and presentation looked kind of miserable. Nevertheless, the MSG soup and simplicity is already good enough to fill my stomach.

Wanton Noodles 云吞公仔面 - 32 HKD

San Hou Lei 新好利美食餅店
Location: 氹仔舊城區地堡街13-14號

Hôtel Mimosa - Paris

In order to minimized the cost of our Europe travel, we have tried to save more on our accommodation as we shared the same sentiments that we were mostly out throughout the day and only back for a sleep in the night thus spending too much on luxurious hotel is out of the picture. Having been to Paris twice, the hotels which I used to stay were cramped and came with old school furnishing. Shops, restaurants and bars are found around the hotel and which Galeries Lafayette is just 1.8km away.

Streets near Hotel

Hotel Mimosa is in the heart of Paris, a good walkable 600 metres from Place de La Republique and 200 metres from Grands Boulevards. The hotel offers a modern furnished guest rooms and most importantly a free Wi-Fi internet access. They also have flat screen TV, electric kettle and wardrobe.

Bedroom

Private bathroom comes with a shower, hairdryer and toiletries were provided. We were very happy as it was very spacious.

Room with toilet

Theme color is black and modernly equipped with shower-heads and anti slip flooring.

Toilet Interior

Breakfast is optional and can be purchased upon check-in. The breakfast area is an open space, modernly designed with faux rocks walls, just beside the check in counter.

Breakfast Area

Our stay was pleasant with friendly services. Like most of the hotel in Europe, there isn't an elevator provided for small scale hotel thus carrying up big luggage along the steep stairways maybe a challenge for some.

Entrance to Stairways

Overall, though it might be little outside of the tourist area, it is still walkable distance within the Metro and Hard Rock Cafe Paris. Throughout the nights stay, area was quite safe and was not rowdy.

Hôtel Mimosa
Location: 16, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010 Paris, France

Cafe Wilder

If you are visiting Christina, you may want to have your lunch somewhere nearby in the estate at Cafe Wilder. In the rain while we were finding other places for our late lunch, we ended up in Cafe Wilder after several fail attempts in locating the place that we wanted to go.

Cafe Wilder

Immediately we feel warm as we entered the place and temperature was a vast different from the outside. We took off our coat and hanged it on the stand as suggested by the servers. Interior was simple and wasn't too lavish in its furnishings as flooring was plain in its cement screed.

Interior

Lunch Menu

Beating the cold rainy weather, I finally get down with a cup of hot Chocolate to keep myself warm. I was quite thirsty during then and had finished it even before the food was served.

Hot Chocolate

I remember it tasted like Ribena with slice of lime but in its warm temperature. It wasn't a bad idea to have beverage like this in the cold.

Beverage

While in Denmark, you have to try Smørrebrød or they call it Open Sandwiches. In any case it puzzles you, its actually consist of a buttered rye bread, dense and dark brown in color with toppings like cheese, cold cut pieces of meat or fish.

Comparing to Singapore currency, Danish Krone is about 5:1. Even though it might be something small in size that we are eating, living expenses in Denmark is incomparable to Singapore.

Since its my first Open Sandwich, I'm pretty impress by its medium roasted tenderness beri beri duck chest served with cheese, sprouts and shredded red cabbages.

Duck Breast - Kr 89

 Perhaps you might say I have not get enough of herring from Amsterdam but right now in Denmark, Cafe Wilder had it served fried. These home made fried herring from Sagen topped with capers, dill and red onions. It got really different taste when Herring was served in Raw as compared to fried and even such simple bites were make so scrumptious. I like the part where thin slices of apple gave a crunchy touch to it.

Fried Herring - Kr 79

 Beside Open Sandwiches, Wilderburger had caught us. 200g of beef from Himmerland was sandwiched in between the organic brioche bun with tomato, bacon, cheese, salad, red onion and pickles.

Burger

This course was served with fries as side with dipping sauce like chilli mayonnise and ketchup.

Wilder Burger - Kr 149

To be frank, I'm not really a fan of Smørrebrød (Open Sandwiches) but it was a really good experience to have in Copenhagen. Overall, service was good with friendly staff around making us felt comfortable. 


Cafe Wilder
Location: Cafe WilderWildersgade 56 1408 København K Denmark Christianshavn

Hard Rock Cafe - Paris

Visiting Hard Rock Cafe has been in my itineraries for most of my trips. Marking my 3rd Visit to Paris Hard Rock Cafe, I was surprise when my dining partner decided that we should settle our dinner there since we were buying the collectibles.

Hard Rock Cafe

Securities in Paris had been tightened after various terrorists events and that applies to crowded area like shopping malls, restaurants and even Cafe like Hard Rock.Though its

Dining Area

Just right after we enter the Cafe, you will be able to find the Rock Shop on the right.

Merchandise

Like most of the Hard Rock Cafe, the accent of their English is not far away from our understanding. The friendly service make us feel very comfortable.

Menu

Good blend of orange, mango and pineapple juice infused with Bacardi Superior Rum, Bacardi Dark Rum, Disaronno AMaretto and grenadine, served with orange and maraschino cherry.  A really good mix of tropical fruits living up to its name.

Hurricane - €12,90

Another item under their Comfortably Rum Menu. Pina Colada is a frozen concoction of Bacardi Superior Rum and pina colada mix.

Pina Colada - €10,90

Worrying that the European size dishes were too much for our stomach to contain, we decided to share a combo meal between ourselves. There is a choice of duo or trio combo with a difference of 0.30 difference. Combo is a perfect choice for people who want to have more variety as it gave you a choice of ribs, chicken or pulled pork.

Hickory-Smoked Barbecue Combo - € 20,95

Having tried Hard Rock Cafe Food from different countries, we were quite comfortable with its quality and service. The Smoke House menu is awesome with signature fork-tender meat marinated. These baby back ribs were rubbed with their signature seasonings and basted with hickory barbecue sauce, most importantly these baby back ribs meat fell off the bone easily.

Fried Onions on Ribs

Sticking onto the Hickory Barbecue sauce will be the delicious fried onion that got me hooked.

Fried Onion

Striking a balance with the meaty meal, we order Salads topping up the combo meal. The romaine lettuce was tossed in their homemade Caesar dressing, topped with grilled chicken breast, croutons and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Caesar Salad

What I like best is their variety of homemade dressings, ranging from ranch, honey, mustard, Caesar, blue cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, lite Italian and oil & vinegar. It just make having salad a never boring dish!

Caesar Salad and the Choice of Sauce.

As far as visiting Hard Rock Cafe is concerned, I was not only impressed by the level of service they had rendered in Paris but also the rest of the outlets I have been to Internationally. Servers were very fluent in English and were good in recommending the dishes to us which make us feel as good as home.

Hard Rock Cafe Paris
Location: 14 Boulevard Montmartre, 75009 Paris, France

Majesty Chinese Restaurant 金御海鮮酒家

Having Hong Kong Dim Sim in one of the local recommended places without being too touristy is something I have always wish for. Skipping the over commercialized and publicized tourist recommended Dim Sum Places, we headed to Majesty Chinese Restaurant with the recommendation by my pal's local relative.

Being a tourist in Hong Kong, we took a Escalator up the building and only to find out that Majesty Chinese Restaurant is only accessible by the lift on the entrance level.

Lobby of Majesty Chinese Restaurant

While the building where Majesty Chinese Restaurant is housed is still quiet as most of the shops were still having the shutters down and not yet open for the day, I was shocked when I entered into the restaurant. The entire place was bustling with locals and were full house in one of the section.

Environment

Environment was furnished just like any typical Chinese style restaurant,  spaciously planned with grand red carpet and plushy chairs accompanied by white table cloth. This style would probably fit in time from the 70s to early 90s in Singapore.

Service crews were smartly attired and was seen busy as ever running from tables to tables. However ordering was made easier with menu chit. Just indicate the amount we would like to order and raise our hands frantically to grab the attention from the crews.

Menu

As they served the dishes, they will stamp the price of the dish on the card and wait for these stamps to accumulate and it will give a total of what we had spent at the end of the meal.

Tea

Initially, these plain rice rolls were served in their unappetizing form, lacking the usual gloss and moisture from their translucent rolls.

Rice Rolls 黄沙猪潤肠

Not long after the rolls were served, we managed to grab hold of the soy sauce that elevated the presentation to something more stomach grabbing. At least now we would not go plain without some salty taste. In fact the soy sauce played a very important role giving it a finishing touch, adding the water content to the dish making it smoother for consumption.

Rice Rolls with Sauce

Fish Porridge is one of their recommendation. Straight forward dish in plain gluey form. Shredded ginger was added to reduce fishy taste.

Fish Porridge 生滚鱼片粥 

Another porridge that we had ordered was century egg with pork porridge. Comparing to the fish porridge, it has more flavours due to the ingredients used. Anyway both taste as good!

Century Egg with Pork Porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥

Looking at the tray of fluffy Cantonese Char Siew Bao, they were hot yet tempting.

Char Siew Bao 蜜汁叉烧包

Sweet savoury char siew fillings were all as expected. Don't expect entire fillings consist of lean meat. In fact a good proportion of fats and meat are definitely what makes a Char Siew Bao.

Char Siew Fillings

Prawn Dumplings to dip into the given salad sauce. Serving was hot and not too oily.

Salad Prawn Dumplings 沙律炸虾饺

I was excited when I saw these fried vegetables and meat buns available on the menu as it is not very often to see such item for order in our local dim sum place. They looked abit oily on the outside with handful of sesame seeds topped the bun.

Fried Vegetables & Meat Bun - 生煎菜肉包

However, it was the exterior that was seen oily a bit but if you were to peel open, the fillings were not too greasy.

Fillings

The carrot cake had my appetite, the soft and pan fried pieces were packed with aroma and hold the traditional taste of fried carrot cake with the use of yummy chinese sausage and had a textural taste with the shredded carrot.

Carrot Cake 香煎萝卜糕

While we will all expect Custard Buns to let out its powerful weapon once we bite on it but right here, it seems like there isn't such "kick" in the practice. They looked more humble. Hehe.

Golden Custard Buns 黄金流沙包

No sudden burst of oozing runny custard out of the baos but their fillings ratio to the bun was simply perfect. Fillings were not too sweet or too powdery and it was surprisingly good.

Custard Filling

Shapes of the fried wantons looked too similar to the silver in the olden days. Wanton was very crispy and you can literally hear the crunching sound as you bite them down.

Fried Wanton 鲜虾炸云台

Filling up the stomach with some glutinous rice. This little dish had ingredients like chinese sausage bits found among the rice with charred peanuts that gave a substantial amount of fragrance to it. Shreds of egg can also be found in there.

Glutinous Rice 腊味糯米饭

"Har Kau" or Fresh Prawn Dumplings are always the staples in dim sum. However the style did not really fit us. We will prefer the transulent skin to be thinner as this is too thick to our liking. Other than its exterior, I would say the prawns as the fillings were springy enough.

Fresh Prawn Dumplings 金御鲜虾饺

With roes topping the 4 Siew Mais in the tray, what I like about these Siew Mai were that they lend a very chewy bite and they don't have the kind of strong meat taste as compared back to what I had in Singapore.

Siew Mai 蟹子烧卖皇

All in all, it was a good experience to observe and enjoy the local culture in having breakfast. For pricing of food, its worth the money well spend and absolutely cheaper as compared to those tourist guides recommendations in the mall.

Majesty Chinese Restaurant 金御海鮮酒家 
Location: 3/F Wu Sang House, 655 Nathan Road, Mong Kok