Jewels that dance: Loving Hongkong May2015 Part 1

Finally a mid year hiatus to the land of foodie!

Directions to Mini Hotel Causeway Bay

About 8-10mins away from the MTR

Alight at Causeway Bay MTR station Exit F. After walking up the stairs, there will be a massive Forever 21. Turn right upon seeing it and look out for the Tai Hing purple signboard. Keep to your left and walk straight all the way. You would pass a Honeymoon Guest house on your left.

At the road junction, turn left upon seeing Lee Garden Road sign. There will be a huge Lee Garden sign on your left. Walk a couple more and look out for the Hackett London building opp the road. Cross the road on your right and walk in. Mini Hotel is located a stone's throw away from Hackett London.

Vintage pictures and huge mirrors cover the walkways of the hotel.

It was a check in to one of the prettiest vintage little hotel lobby that I have ever set my eyes on.

It's like a walk into a museum of vintage furniture and furnishings. Nothing short of a feast for the eyes.

White victorian settings the walkway covered with carpets and monochrome photos.

For I moment it feels like I was in Europe!

Like most of the hotels with a budget friendly tags, the rooms are pretty small. (Ours is the smart queen room).The bed frame covers the entire width of the room. But thankfully for the clever use of mirrors, my claustrophobia fear didn't surface. The luggage can also be stored beneath the bed to allow more walking space.

A really cute ceiling fan that reminds me of the aeroplane propeller. If it's one thing I love about this hotel, it definitely will have to be the renovation/furniture.

The washroom is really tiny and the washing basin sits outside of it.

The room was booked via Hotelclub.

Honestly love this website. It's like Agoda but you get awarded with rebates with every booking and you get to offset it against your next one. The rebates are valid for more than a year, unlike Agoda's reward points, which I never seem to be able to accumulate and redeem.

After my accumulated rebates of about 6SGD and 15% promo code, the bill was 264.70SGD for 2 nights, i.e ~ 130SGD per night.

It's rather reasonable for the nice decoration and wonderful location. Really love how it's located at Causewaybay where shopping malls and streets are still bustling with activity even till 11-12PM on the weekends! (Perhaps it's due to the Labourday long weekend)

One of the perks of this hotel is that they offer the guests a Handy phone with complimentary calls and 3G data during your stay here at no charge. Approach the reception to get one for your trip.

It's much busier compared to the hotel located at Yau Ma Tei during our previous trip.

Read here

A platter of 4 meat.

Dinner was around the area at Tai Hing, one of my favourite places in HK. Read more from our previous trip here. Photos are abit cramped up here as the seat opposite us was taken and we didn't want to affect people's meal that much, so a quick snap before attacking the food.

Heaps of meat spotted at the counter. Truly wanted to order the biggest portion because everything looked sooo good. But our tummies 不争气 ):

It was quite embarrassing as I was trying to zoom in for the above shot and the chef saw it. I think he noticed me hovering my camera from across the table trying to shoot it for some time. Eventually he brought out the plate and before serving it to the customer, asked with a broad smile if I wanted to shoot it. But I was so caught offguard and embarrassed I chickened out and said no. #soembarrasing

But I wished I hadn't say no. It was such a mountain full of delish meat.

Started the next morning with my little monkey.

Decked in the Lola dress and Agatha Clutch from TDJ, I had fun trying to incorporate the #stylenanda vibes with the baseball cap and white oxfords. What do you think?(:

Tackling the 2nd on the list of our must-eat dishes, Dim Sum, we settled on the Lin Hueng Tea House after reading a couple of reviews online. A traditional dim set place visited by mainly older locals and handfuls of tourists, we thought it would be an interesting experience.

It was quite a feat getting to this place. We had some help using the GPS from the Handyphone. At the some time, it caused quite abit of hindrance as the one we had seemed to be laggy and couldn't track our location properly. Remember to always look out for the street names and check our location.

It's like a subtle declaration of war when the Dim sum lady pushed out the stacks of piping hot dimsum (from the left of the kitchen) as everyone rushed towards the trolley.

After some observation, it seems that majority of the 'soldiers' rushing to the warfront were all tourists. Most of the locals sat calming at their seats. We realised subsequently that there will be another trolley of dim sum pushed out (from the right of the kitchen).

Although the food that comes out maybe different, but it's easier to get one. Be decisive when it's your turn to select your dish or be prepared to be berated by the dim sum lady.

Some of our war trophies. The dish on the right is actually carrot cake. Pretty interested as it's like a mashed up version with the outrightly soft texture.

Overall verdict:

It's about 30SGD for 9 dishes. But it wasn't really worth the special trip for this place. Dim sum was alright only. It was kind of crazy having to hover around tables to get yourself seats. We reached about 11am thinking it would be less busy, but we were wrong. (Perhaps also due to labourday long weekend). There will be nobody to allocate seats, so make sure you are very aware of the surroundings and gestures to go for the most likely people who seem like they are leaving. I was lucky enough to get 2 slots for the bf and I at the table of elderly local. But those who tried to get seats at our table after that failed terribly. It seemed like the locals were just hogging seats for their Khakis/friends who will join them later. One even hid the chair under the table when their friend left so that they have more space for themselves.

Would definitely recommend Yi Dian Xin，一点心 which I tried 2-3 years ago.

Queue can be horridfully long but hey, you get to sit down and order instead of rushing to snatch the dishes.

A little tip for Yi Dian Xin，一点心. Reach some time before it's opening hours and queue. It would save you so much time compared to being in the queue.

Heading to the Goldfish street for the bf's fish fix.

Fulfilling more items from our must-eat list, it was a table of favourites for our tea break from one of the tea houses along Goldfish street.

I particular liked the friendly uncle from this eatery, because, he commented beautiful and told the boyfriend, Good taste while looking at me.

Haha, what better way than to have free praises over milk tea and buns.

#notshy

Located at the basement of Argyle center, it was an energy boost before more shopping here. Can't forget the awesome sauce and garlic mix.

More direction and photos from the previous trip here

Claypot for dinner, as requested by the bf as he passed by this place along Temple street during the previous trip last year and made a point to head back here.