Empire State of Mind

Am back in Hong Kong after two weeks in the Big Apple, and the first thing I was grateful for is Hong Kong's super efficient airport. From the gate to the Airport Express took just 15 minutes, including waiting for luggage. Flying to and within the US is just such a drag these days. Having said that, New York City still has a great vibe. As the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song goes:

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York, New York, New York

There is plenty of inspiration to be had in New York. While I was in town, I celebrated Hannah Seligson's book launch, was mesmerized by Anish Kapoor's Memory at Guggenheim, saw two hilarious plays (The Understudy and Present Laughter), and got to take a yoga class with Baron Baptiste who will actually be teaching in Hong Kong next weekend at Pure TST.

Baptiste's class did not disappoint. It was a killer. He enjoyed telling us to just "be" as he ran us through a 15-minute series of core exercises and made us hold poses for countless breaths. While I still enjoyed Jules' classes at Jivamukti, I was introduced to Marco's classes at Pure East by JGK with a warning the class would likely piss me off because he likes to have his students hold poses. I ended up going to four classes by Marco. It was not until the last class, when Marco spent the entire class telling us ad nauseum to "inhale into the upper lung, exhale from the mula bandha (pelvic floor) to get rid of what you don't need from the root", did I finally manage to cruise through his class without wanting to curse him.

Noël Coward's Present Laughter, just opened on Broadway last night to rave reviews with Victor Garber (aka ALIAS' Jack Bristow) in the starring role. Coward's play is about a narcissistic actor and the drama he manages to stir up with more than one woman who has "lost/forgotten my latch key". There's plenty of wit to fuel 2.5 hours of jovial laughs, and Dodge's luscious Art Deco set is eye candy (the grain on the wood paneling is all hand-painted!). The play runs until 21 March at the American Airlines Theatre.

As for restaurants, I re-visited many of my usual haunts: Via Quadronno (sadly, the one in HK just does not compare), Candle Cafe, La Esquina. But my favourite meal was probably the post-yoga falafel and baklava lunch at Hummus Kitchen, while the most memorable was evening post-flight nibbles at Rock Center Cafe the day before the tree was to come down. The food and drink were nothing spectacular, but the view of the skating rink made for a very warm, festive welcome to the city.

August Wrap-Up: Vancouver, Hamptons, New York City, Phoenix, Oxford, Geneva, Hong Kong

Summer holidays are great. For the past few years, I've had the luxury of being able to take off from typhoon-riddled Hong Kong in search of blue skies, cooler climes or even snow as I did last year.

This year, my travels took me around the world to see family and friends, as well as giving me the luxury of time to read three books cover-to-cover in three weeks -- Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, Paolo Giordano's The Solitude of Prime Numbers and Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes. Plane rides are great for reading books, and I can often remember when I read them by flipping through and finding the flight ticket stubs that I used as a bookmark (I managed to read Nocturnes on the round-trip London-Geneva flights). In fact, the books themselves are often a reminder of the places I've been. I picked up Rand's tome of a novel at a bookstore in Vancouver's Yaletown. The other two I picked up in Oxford's Blackwell's bookstore. When I wandered into the bookstore, I had no intention of buying any books. I had only wandered in to browse their rare books collection and buy a milk shake from the in-store Caffe Nero. Along the way, after two weeks of travel, I had already picked up seven books. And books are heavy! I also managed to start, but not finish, two other books: Geoff Dyer's Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It and Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth. But back in Hong Kong now, I have yet to finish either.

In between pages, I had time to enjoy wonderful weather, fun conversation and delightful places. Here are some highlights:

Vancouver -- I walked past a hot dog stand on Marinaside Crescent (across the street from Provence) and couldn't resist trying their TexMex hot dog (complete with tortilla chips stuck in the bun along with the jalapeno cheddar cheese hot dog). While waiting for my hot dog to get cooked, I learned from the owner that one cannot just set-up a hot dog stand anywhere one pleases. There's a actually a lottery and he managed to win three locations. Operating a hot dog stand is not an easy job. He's up at 6am in the morning prepping enough food for three stands and doesn't get home till midnight. He enjoys it much better than drilling for oil in Calgary though. I could see why. It was a beautiful, summer day in Vancouver and strollers, roller-bladers, pram-pushing parents would stop by either for a hot dog or an ice cream cone or sandwich and have it served up with a view of the marina in Falls Creek.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

Hamptons:
1. Wifi-enabled Hamptons Jitney (even if it did mean standing on a street corner at 7:50am by myself in front of a building with signs for "Body by Berle" and "Hooters") followed by lunch at Lobster Roll in Amagansett, building a sand castle at Wainscott beach, shopping in East Hampton and practicing yoga behind Rodney Yee in Colleen Saidman Yee's 8am class at Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbour the following morning. During class, she read out a quote that sticks in my head: "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." As I write this, Edward Kennedy's funeral has just taken place and his life exemplifies this so well.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

New York City:
Candle 79 -- Surprisingly tasty vegetarian restaurant. I was told that outside of August, when most New Yorkers (or at least Upper Eastsiders) are holidaying in the Hamptons, it is very difficult to get a reservation. I understand why now, because it's not easy to serve a vegetarian menu that doesn't sound or taste like you are depriving yourself of some essential joys in life.
The Standard Hotel -- Andre Balazs' new hotel in Meatpacking. Grab a drink underneath the High Line or enjoy the views of the hotel from the High Line.
The High Line -- I'm impressed that a project like this got funded. An old railway line along the Meatpacking waterfront all the way up to Penn Station got a makeover by landscape architects Field Operations and structural support from architects Diller+Scofidio. I was walking the High Line with PC, who has been asked to consult the Norman Foster team that's working on the West Kowloon Cultural District. I, of course, complained that property developers in Hong Kong don't have the combination of civic-mindedness and foresight to contribute to a city-owned project such as this. Barry Diller and his wife Diane von Furstenberg are co-chairs of the High Line Trust. The building up from The Standard Hotel is being developed by von Furstenberg and Diller's Frank Gehry-designed IAC building is just off the High Line. Contributing to the beautification and preservation of heritage in the neighborhood simply makes good business sense. Be sure to enjoy the view in the mini amphi above 10th Avenue at 16th Street.

Phoenix -- I had dinner at the Wrigley Mansion for the first time, even though I've spent many years living there. Built by Wrigley of chewing gum fame, the mansion is now owned by Hormel of Spam fame. The place is quite a museum: I was intrigued by a telephone switchboard and amused by a very kitschy bathroom with red velvet and gold print wallpaper.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

Oxford -- I always imagined the hallowed halls of academia to be tranquil, almost monastic, places. But Oxford in summer is a tourist/summer student zoo. Having said that, I managed to escape the hubub by staying at Old Parsonage Hotel and going for a run along Thames Path, where I found the quiet little village of Iffley.

From Little Cream Life: Random photos

From Little Cream Life: Random photos

Geneva -- I was in-and-out of this town within 24 hours. But I left with the sense that I had spent those hours in a sort-of lalaland, a little enclave where everyone seems to live the most charming of lives.

Back in Hong Kong, I've been playing around with my little flip HD video camera. I'd bought it back in April, but only now decided to put it to use. I'm hopeless at shooting, and have no patience for editing. For practice, I took it along to some of the past Luxury Week's fashion shows, but didn't manage to shoot any good footage. I fared a little better last night at Courtney Act's performance at Sevva. Act (or Shane Jenek when not in drag) was a semi-finalist in Australian Idol in 2003.

Hopefully, I'll get the hang of telling stories with moving images and really start to have some fun with it.

First Starbucks x G.O.D. 冰室 (bing sutt)!

I am a pineapple bun nut. It is one of my few credible claims to "being local". And I love Starbucks (not really for their coffee, but for the brand). And my BFFs are the founders of G.O.D. Roll all that into one and this is what I get on 13 Duddell Street (T: +852 2523 5685) -- a crisp, coffee-flavoured pineapple bun served in an ironic take on Hong Kong's old-fashioned coffee shop as interpreted by G.O.D. within an American coffee chain pretending to be local (hmmm...seems to describe me):

The coffee-flavoured pineapple buns and cocktail buns are only sold in this shop.

It's quite an amazing thing that Starbucks in Hong Kong (kudos to Maxim's) has managed to break-free (if only for just one shop for now...) of the cookie-cutter corporate Starbucks image.

I hope this is a sign of things to come for Starbucks (could this be the coffee chain version of HSBC's global-local claim); it's just what they need to bring some buzz back to their brand.

Pigeon Feast at Shatin's Lung Wah Hotel

In the four years I lived in Tai Po, I had never visited Lung Wah Hotel; I hadn't even heard of it. I was disappointed when Yucca de Lac was torn down. But the food and service at Yucca de Lac was never worth the visit. Rather, it was the poorly-maintained grounds, it's refusal to change, that gave Yucca de Lac its al fresco dining charm. That and imagining what it must have been like in its glory days when my parents and grandparents frequented the place.


So when I arrived at the Lung Wah Hotel and saw its dated premises and old-school, chaotic service, I was delighted by the kitchiness of the whole place. According to the website, it really used to be a hotel. It would be a dream project to restore the place to its former glory. I think it would make a great boutique retreat, both for locals as well as visitors looking to experience a different side of Hong Kong. The place has so much character that you take the shouting, screaming waiters who don't care that your food still hasn't arrived an hour after you've placed your order as part of the Lung Wah's charm. It was as though the waiters were arguing with each other and guests just to put on a show, like the noodle-making performances at Peking Garden. And then there's the peacock (would be nicer if it were free to wander the grounds as opposed to being locked up in a cage). Where else in Hong Kong can one find a peacock?


The pigeon really is the house specialty; it's the only dish that arrives within 15 minutes of placing the order. Everything else arrives at the kitchen and wait staff's leisure, and the portions are more on the small side (though we were a group of 10). It's places like Lung Wah that distinguish Hong Kong's dining scene, not the safe choices of our Michelin-starred restaurants. There should be more places like this, and not just in the New Territories.

24 Hours in Beijing: A Conversion Tour

Hotel Côté Cour -- A tranquil and stylish, 14-room conversion of a hutong just minutes away from the bustling Wangfujing shopping district. The room I stayed in is larger than Aman's and has a tub! And there's free wifi.

China Club -- China Club members can book one of the eight rooms (four large suites, four smaller suites) also converted from a hutong near the Forbidden City area. Outside, standing in the courtyard, the building is overshadowed by surrounding tall, modern office buildings, but inside, the interiors have been beautifully done in a style that reflects the site, its history and of course its Shanghai Tang pedigree.

Aman @ Summer Palace -- Service staff are impeccably trained (something that a friend had complained about when staying there over their soft-opening during the Olympics). The site is to die for, right next to the Summer Palace (it was where guests waiting for an audience with Empress Cixi would stay) with a direct passage into the Summer Palace grounds. The rooms, however, were a major disappointment. The design of the rooms, with its monochromatic, cream and brown colour scheme was uninspired. Rooms feel cramped (bathrooms don't even have room for a bath tub!) and suites lack the wow factor that mine do its palace connection justice. Cloistered underground are a cinema, beauty salon, gym, pilates studio, squash courts and spa. I imagine it would be more an appealing retreat to Beijingers than tourists staying at the Aman who would have plenty to experience in and around Beijing.

Legation Quarter -- A conversion of buildings that used to be the American Legation dating by to the early 1900s. This collection of western-style buildings have been converted to house swanky F&B outlets by chefs such as Daniel Boulud from NYC and Claudio Sadler from Milan. Hong Kong's own Aqua Group has 2 restaurants and 2 bars. Zen and The Meat Co. are soon to open.

798 Space -- Warehouse conversion into vibrant collection of art spaces & galleries, coffee shops and boutiques.

New York Faves

1. Enid's, Brooklyn -- I spent an afternoon in Brooklyn after a lunch at DB Bistro. The steak sandwich was more memorable than the signature DB burger stuffed with foie gras and braised ribs. And it was only 1/8th the price! Next time, I'm going to have to have the pulled pork sandwich. Their banana rum cake is also delish.
2. A yoga class by Jules Febre @ Jivamukti -- a student:teacher ratio of 4:3!
3. Shopping for cold weather running gear -- Running Company (their latest shop on 63rd & 3rd, having taken over the shop that used to be Really Cool Foods). They let you try their running shoes on a treadmill that also videos your stride.
4. Equus -- An intriguing take on the struggle to find meaning in life. Daniel Radcliffe bares all, but it's Richard Griffiths who gets under your skin.

Phoenix/Scottsdale Faves

Some faves from my recent trip:
1. Brunch at La Grand Orange Grocery -- Great crepes, havana latte (latte using condensed milk instead of regular milk) and Tammie Coe cupcakes.
2. Sprinkles cupcakes
3. Roka Akor -- For the Asian food fix. From the same group as Roka and Zuma in Hong Kong and London. But Roka Akor to Hong Kong's Roka in Pacific Place.
4. Poolside @ W Scottsdale -- Great place for drinks
5. Hike Camelback Mountain to burn off all the food and drink

Chat with Jim Spear, co-founder of China Countryside Hotels

The Grameen Foundation field trip has been a boon in more ways than one. On the trip, I met JS and JH. JS, from Beijing, told me about her country home by the Great Wall that also gets let to visitors. I was immediately interested to find out more about the project in Mutianyu Village. As promised, when she got back to Beijing, I got an email from last week with links to China Countryside Hotels, founded by husband-and-wife team Jim Spear and Tang Liang. As for JH, we instantly hit it off when we found out our common interests in developing a social enterprise combining good design, sustainable development and luxury travel. That's how JH and I ended up on an hour-long skype conference chat at 7am this morning with Jim to learn more about his sustainable tourism projects in and around Mutianyu village in addition to setting up luxury guesthouses such The Pavilion:
The Schoolhouse, a restaurant and glass-blowing workshop in a renovated schoolhouse
The Roadhouse, a restaurant
Xiaolumian, a farmhouse restaurant serving noodles


LCL: i'm always looking out for cool places in china like mutianyu, wishing there were more
JS (Jim Spear): Actually, we're just starting out on these village enterprises though I have had a weekend home in Mutianyu (mty) for 15 years

LCL: before we start, let's do brief intros...JH?
JH: i've always been deeply interested in the field of development, and i guess part of that interest stems from having grown up all over the world, thus having this incessant traveller's itch

and the more places i experience (either as a resident or as a traveller) the more i become interested in issues of sustainable development -- preservation of the uniqueness of 'local' whilst benefitting from the advantages of the global, i guess

it was quite by chance that i got to join the grameen foundation sichuan trip, which was a very inspiring trip in many respects
LCL: JH is echoing all my sentiments
JH: and dialogues, experiences, personal reflections etc. that came out of that trip in a way articulated a lot of the ideas that were already floating around in my head, and then i read what you established with the mutianyu project, which seems to be the materialization of everything in a very real way!

two of my passions, travelling and design, that desire to do my bit for the collective, and that dilemma of trying to compromise between the luxury world and the awareness of the real world etc.

so i've always been interested in ways of bridging and bringing together sort of non-profit and for-profit businesses together

LCL: JH is speaking for me as well...and she's doing a great job at it. So Jim, your turn...
JS: we're just taking little steps -- far from perfect. but i think we're on the right track re: sustainability in the village context: local people, local companies, local food, homemade, existing footprints, sensitivity to environment. I am delighted to have the chance to chat with both of you.

i have been living here 23 years -- from the usa -- where i was a phd student at berkeley
LCL: phd in?
JS: political economy re: china/japan but i didn't finish thesis, i took a consulting job in Beijing because i wanted to be where the action was

[consulting on] early jvs in a variety of industries and high tech sales, i started my own trding company that eventually morphed into a wine importer (ASC) and later I worked for many years in the medical field for a NASDAQ company

when i was getting close to 50 and my kids were in college i had a mid-life crisis and chucked everything to move out to our weekend house in mutianyu

JH: haha
LCL: hahaha...jungha and i joke that we are in third-life crisis...hahaha
JH: i was about to say that, haha
LCL: and no regrets?
JS: yeah, haha...life is too short to spend on regrets. of course i have no regrets. i feel i am one of the luckiest people in the world. i have now designed and built 19 houses, made new friends, helped our village, time of my life

when i moved out to the village and re-did my own house a friend asked me to build him a house and the housing part started there. about the same time the mayor sat me down and said: look spear, in case you hadn't noticed, we're having a hard time, you're a rich american and you should give something back, after all we let you live in our village and you should make an investment here to help us

LCL: first Q...how did you pull off buying your first house to begin with? i assume it's not that straight-forward with deeds and stuff
JS: absolutely right. actually we lease peasant residence plots with existing houses on them. not purchase as in freehold.
JH & LCL (at the same time): how long is the lease?
JS: this is also complicated. ranging from 10 to 50 years
LCL: only 10 years??!! and then lease WITH property converts back?
JS: sure, if you don't put a lot into the house it can make sense. we use short term leases for staff housing, for example. the real houses i have done range from 100-900 sqm

market prices have increased dramatically as we have created the demand. so shorter lease costs less money. clients amortize lease improvement over life of lease. not necessarily a good financial investment. BUT that depends. and one client told me recently their mty house was their best invesment (in light of the crisis)

JH: and the range (10-50 yrs) depends on what qualification? and as a foreigner, is it still possible without a local connection somehow to still qualify for a long lease?
JS: period of lease not dependent on citizenship. actual law may limit real estate leases to 20 years. but we have a lot of lawyers who have helped us write what seem to be enforceable leases for longer periods.

LCL: being near the great wall, which is protected...are the laws stricter for such developments as well as building/renovation permits?
JS: it's very complicated and highly political. regulation -- many, many and sometimes competing authorties. this stifles creativity and leads to other issues. i am not against development, just want to help channel it in sustaianble ways that preserve real communities. LCL: were u aware of all the red tape before you started?
JS: red tape? haha. i have been doing business here for decades. my little stuff in the village every bit as complictaed as anything i ever did

LCL: what do you think of Commune?
JS: Commune is very interesting but not for me. I find the houses plopped there - starchitect syndrome. they failed as an enterprise and very poor service/business model. and then brought in kempinski. last time i stayed there was last month. great spa. poor room. they more or less copied the houses to get to 380 rooms. a walled valley. no connection to community. it makes me cry. but there is room in the market for them as well as us.

lots of our customers have been to virtually every five-star hotel and resort. they literally ache for something real

LCL: yes, absolutely...i prefer your model. so you started off helping other people find and build their dream country home by the Great Wall, and then added the F&B and craft components to the village, and now i see you are starting inns?
JS: we have 6 rental houses www.chinacountrysidehotels.com and 3 or 4 more about to come on line. inns -- we have 2 under construction

LCL: what is the cost of buying, say 50-year lease
JS: location key. in mty and nearby yingbeigou a peasant house as is for 30 years now runs about rmb 450-900k

if you go a few km away can get an existing ouse for rmb 150-200k and even less as you go more distant in the hills

LCL: wow! you've added lots of value!
JS: yes -- the peasants now sit on a previously worthless asset. they take the money to start businesses, educate their kids, provide better old age living, etc

JH: are you looking to expand the model onto other parts of china? or continue expanding this region?
JS: i am very intrerested in first expanding in other nearby villages. but i do think that in areas 1-3 hours from major cities in china and perhaps eleswhere this is replicable

remote is harder -- have you seen naked retreats 3 hours from shangai?
LCL: no! wow, i'm soo glad i'm having this conversation...keep finding out more!
JS: naked retreats took missionary houses from pre-liberation and made them into nice weekend places. issue is (to me) maybe not focused on helping community today.

LCL: just one last question...your businesses are set up as businesses, correct?
JS: yes -- for profit businesses. to me that is part of being sustainable. we have been approached by 1 person who is starting a social investment fund to loan funds or take equity in for-profit businesses that have a commitment to sustainable social development

LCL: thank you so much for your time...i'm going to chew on our conversation a little bit
JH: thanks so much for letting me in on your conversation! and you have a very inspiring life! we drool at what you have achieved!
JS: i enjoyed meeting you via this chat, have a great day!
LCL: have a great weekend in the country! ahhh...that clean, crisp air
JS: i will!

Autumn in Paris

The first signs of autumn were visible on Avenue Montaigne as I was walking to L'Astrance for lunch last Thursday. It was my last day of the month-long trip that took me from Hong Kong to New York, Buenos Aires, the lakeside slopes of Bariloche, the polo fields of Cordoba, an elegant estancia in the Pampas, a steamboat in Monte Carlo and now culminating in a lunch at a Michelin one star restaurant -- L'Astrance.

Skyping with BDL, I had typed on my last morning in Paris: "I love, love, love Paris".
To which he enquired, "did you get lucky?"
I replied, "Scoring a reservation at L'Astrance was very lucky!"

I have been trying to get a table at l'Astrance each time I've been in Paris, since the days before Pascal Barbot was awarded a Michelin star. On this trip, I called up a couple days before my arrival in Paris and asked for a table for 3. None was available during my entire stay. Finally, I asked for a table just for one. And that's how I managed to get a table at L'Astrance on my last day in Paris, for the last meal of my month-long trip.

Suffice it to say, the 5+ course lunch was phenomenal. The "+" represents all the little surprises they sneak in before, during and after your meal). There was one particular "+" that was especially memorable. With each course, the waiters would present the dish and give a brief explanation. But for this particular bowl of frothy cream with a dollop of vanilla ice cream in its midst, the waiter coyly placed it in front of me and said with a mischievous smile, "I don't know what this is." When he came back to collect the bowl, he asked, "So what do you think it is?". I shrugged and guessed that it was something with almonds. It had reminded me of the Chinese dessert of almond soup, except it was creamier in colour and a bit airy in texture. He smiled, shook his head and said, "I'll give you another chance." I finished off a second bowl. This time, without the vanilla ice cream. And still, it tasted like almonds to me or at least some kind of nut pureed with cream, because there was a fine graininess to the creamy froth. I won't ruin the surprise here, but I was really, really shocked when he told me what I had been eating. Totally unexpected, but once he said it, it made perfect sense.

All the other dishes were more easily identifiable, but no less spectacular in taste. There was foie gras, beans, langoustine, turbot, duck and a sampler of four desserts (my favourite was the lemongrass and chili sorbet). Alexander the sommelier, who tasted and spit out everything before he served it, served me a glass of 2005 pinot noir from Anne Gros. By the end of the meal, I was ready to roll out of the restaurant.

I rushed back to finish packing. I left with a sadness that comes from leaving family or friends after a particularly wonderful stay and not knowing when you'll see them again. As the taxi pulled into CDG, it suddenly started to pour. How apt, I thought. Time flies, seasons change. How quickly a month passes by. On my travels, I've experienced a year of seasons -- winter in Bariloche, spring in the Pampas, summer in New York and signs of autumn in Paris. I've felt a year condensed into a month.

Now I'm back in Hong Kong catching up on my blog, back to this city's stifling heat and haze, yet still pining for the wonderful walks along Paris' sun-drenched cobblestoned pavements, the smell and the crunch of the baguettes washed down with cups of cafe creme. I was in the midst of writing about polo when I got a call from DT wanting a Paris update since he's heading there tomorrow. Of course, I mentioned l'Astrance. But when I got off the phone and back to my post on Cordoba, all I could think of was all the things I'm missing in Paris. So here's my list, in no particular order:
1. Falafels from Chez Marianne in Marais on the corner of rue des Rosiers and rue Hospitalier St Gervais
2. Matcha macarons from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki (actually, I'm missing real Japanese matcha). Everyone loves macarons from Laduree, but I can't get over their dowdy packaging.
3. Breizh Cafe's crispy gallette rolls smeared with a healthy spread of seaweed butter.
4. Baguettes slathered with French salted butter with a spoonful of artisanal honey. In this instance, it had been brought back by a friend from her recent visit to Michel Gros.
5. Crossing the bridges of the Seine by moonlight.
6. Walking everywhere and having it be a pleasant experience. On one particular day, I managed to clock up a half marathon worth of walking! A lot of Parisians swear by velib, the cool bicycle service. There are velib bicycle stations all around town, but I was a bit too intimidated by Parisian drivers to try.

When I left, I was still looking for a patisserie that made caramel au sel eclairs. The Fauchon in Shinjuku's Takashimaya had served them, and they're one of their best-sellers, but I was on a quest to find one from a more neighborhood patisserie. I found all other flavours from the usual chocolate and cafe to strawberry and even green tea at Sadaharu Aoki, but I never did find my caramel au sel. But, as I consoled a friend who will soon be moving from Paris to Shanghai, Paris will always be here. So there's always next time!

Buenos Aires Hotel 2: Faena Hotel + Universe

Faena Hotel + Universe, Puerto Madero
I have to admit, I was not keen on staying here. I've gotten a bit disenchanted with the whole Philippe-Starck-designed hotel where design trumps comfort and uppity models-in-waiting trump service. Before the trip, I had not planned on staying here at all, preferring to stay in the Palermo district. But a last-minute itinerary change meant that we had to return to Buenos Aires a day early from Bariloche, which meant an extra hotel night. Since I was planning on checking out the hotel's el Bistro for dinner, I ended up booking Faena more out of convenience than a real desire to experience it.

I was in for a pleasant surprise! For once, a Philippe Starck hotel has delivered on its promise of service. Upon confirming my reservation, I received an email from Augusto, my experience manager. At first, I thought this was just a form email, more form than substance. But when I landed at Jorge Newbury to find a taxi queue that snaked for ages and was hardly moving, Augusto came to the rescue by sending a car and driver.

On arrival at the hotel, we were greeted by a group of good-looking porters at the door. It was already past 9pm and our dinner reservation at el Bistro was for 9pm. Augusto confirmed that it would be fine to dine later in the evening at 10pm as well as confirming my tango lesson and spa appointment for the next day. I finally showed up to dinner at 10:30pm. It was too late to order the tasting menu, but the a la carte items were delicious. I was curious to try el Bistro after I learned that the chef had trained under el Bulli's Ferran Adria. I found the dishes a lot less gimmicky than I would expect of an Adria-disciple, which is not necessarily a bad thing. My favourite was the capeletti stuffed with stewed lamb with mint air (i.e. that famous foam!), mustard and pickled carrots. The berries dessert was memorable, it came presented in a berry icicle bowl.

fuzzy iPhone photo of el Bistro dining room

To be honest, though, my most memorable Faena dining experience happened at breakfast in el Mercado. It was the first place in Buenos Aires and Bariloche where someone knew what skim milk was! Finally, I managed to get a latte with skim milk. And I learned that in Spanish, skim milk is leche decremada. When I thanked the waitress for the Spanish lesson, she replied: "Whenever you like, I'm here from 8 to 5."

My first skim milk latte in Argentina @ el Mercado

I thoroughly enjoyed my tango lesson with M&F, even if I did find it a bit tough. F kept reminding me: "Tango is very easy for the woman. All she has to do is relax and feel where the man is leading her, no need to think! Even if she makes a mistake, he'll figure out how to fix it."

The gym was very well-equipped (I went for a run on the treadmill) and the spa was wonderful as well. I enjoyed a steam in the hammam after a very relaxing massage.

I pretty much cocooned myself in the Faena Universe for a whole day and it was a very pleasant experience. When I wasn't in the spa, I was working from my room where there was a very spacious desk, and the wifi was free.

There's a desk behind the bed and a bathroom (w/o bath tub) behind the lush, red curtains.

Beautiful Bariloche

"You can't always get what you want...," but as the Stones song goes, "if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need." That was the case in Bariloche.

For several summers, EO and I had been talking about skiing in Bariloche. Each summer, as August neared, our plans for one reason or another would have to be cancelled. Finally, we made it to Bariloche last Sunday. By Sunday afternoon, we were on the slopes of Cerro Catedral with M, EO's snowboard instructor. We went up the first six-person chairlift and found conditions much more promising than at the base, where the weather was mild and the snow hardly visible on the ground. Coming off the second chairlift at the top, EO fell funny on his knee. He was in pain, so he and M took the chairlift back down while I skied back down. That, in itself, was quite the adventure. I learned that there is always a good reason why pistes are closed. And when they are, it's best not to tempt fate by going down them. Despite the ski that turned into a hike in ski boots, complete with a wade across a bubbling brook, I made it back down to the base to find EO in the clinic getting his knee X-rayed. Fortunately, nothing was broken. It's very reassuring to have doctors be able to communicate to you in your own language and to see that ibuprofen is ibuprofen here as well.

So I only managed to ski for 2 hours during my whole time in Bariloche. What did I end up doing for the remaining 3 days? I was staying at the blissful Aldebaran. It was like being at home, warm and comfortable. I never locked my room door, left my laptop in the TV room whenever I went out for lunches and dinner. The rest of the time, I'd be sitting on the sofa or in the breakfast room writing on my laptop (yes, there was wifi). I finally managed to finish something I had avoided for way too long. It had been my goal to complete it on this trip. And finally, I had the perfect opportunity and the most beautiful setting in which to do it. Now I can enjoy the second half of my trip without the spectre of it hanging over my head.

Aldebaran is a wonderful place. Sure there's Llao Llao, which is the grande dame (and feels like it too) of Bariloche and Design Suites, which aims to be the cool kid on the block. But Aldebaran, built 2 years ago by ET, a retired lawyer, is hospitable beyond words, offering the experience of your very own secluded retreat. One night, unable to get a DVD to play the English audio track at 11pm, the receptionist on duty actually called back another member of staff, who had just gone home, to help. And she had to get up early the next morning to go to modelling school and come to work afterwards. All the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly in that casual, almost familial way.




Design Suites

Llao Llao


I had lunch at Pire-Hue (the only ski-in, ski-out luxury lodge at the base of Cerro Caterdral), Design Suites and Llao Llao and dinner at El Patacon. All the meals were competent, but none particularly memorable. In fact, menus seemed quite similar. Quite a few menus featured pumpkin soup, mushroom risotto, trout with ratatouille and, the most interesting item of all, chicken chop suey! But there was always one thing on the menu that I would always look forward to -- dulce de leche. This pancake filled with dulce de leche at El Patacon was one of my faves in Bariloche:

My search for the best dulce de leche dessert continues in Buenos Aires and Cordoba...

Seoul: Full of Hospitality

Seoul has never been high on my cities list. For roughly the same flying time, I could be in Tokyo. But when EO asked if I'd like to meet Korean artists Kim Joon and Nancy Lang, my interest in making a trip to Seoul was finally piqued. Even then, because of countless people's accounts, I was not that enthusiastic about the city itself, so I only stayed for a couple nights last week. Turns out, Seoul exceeded my expectations.

The first thing that struck me on arrival in Incheon, as I was looking for the SK Telecom counter, was Baskin Robbins. It kind of gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling of familiarity, even though it's been decades since I last had a Baskin Robbins ice cream (their bubble gum ice cream used to be my favourite). But the superficial sense of familiarity fades quickly in Seoul. Basically, it's the moment you hop in a taxi and try to go somewhere. It seems South Korea and Japan have a similar addressing system, where numbers are used to determine the "coordinates" of a building within an area. The problem is, nobody (aside from the people actually occupying the building) knows where the building is just by looking at the address.

I had a list of places I wanted to check out, complete with addresses and phone numbers. It took Grand Hyatt concierge nearly half an hour just to mark the rough, not exact, locations of 10 Corso Como, Boon the Shop, Spa Lei and a Korean BBQ restaurant in Sinsa-dong on a map. There seems to be a general lack of knowledge on the concierge desk. Turns out, 10 Corso Como and Boon the Shop are just a block or so away from each other in Cheongdam-dong.

Finally, armed with printed maps, I hit 10 Corso Como first. The Seoul outpost of this Milan concept store opened early this year. Those who have visited both say that the Seoul shop is better. It’s a beautifully-designed and conceived shop. Their fashion sections are a little more limited because Boon the Shop already owns the distribution for many of the major brands, but it's mix of coffee table books, fashion accessories, design furniture, exhibition space make it a great place to wander around. The cafe serves great paninis and lattes as well.


I got my first taste of Seoul hospitality when IL suggested I call her if I wanted to visit Boon the Shop. She wanted me to meet her friend IK who is the creative director for the shops, so I called IL while I was still in 10 Corso Como. I had wanted to meet IK for info on the retail scene in Seoul. She called me back to say that IK was in a meeting (I did end up meeting him the next day over coffee at 10 Corso Como when I learned that the two shops are actually distant cousins. 10 Corso Como is owned by a textile subsidiary of Samsung Corp. Shinsegae, which owns Boon the Shop among other things, used to be a part of Samsung. And because BTS owns most of the coveted labels, 10CC ends up having to buy from BTS.), but he had arranged for JH, one of the buyers to show me around. I fully expected IK to be busy, but I did not expect for him to arrange for someone else to play shop guide, especially on a drab, rainy day. JH picked me up from the 10 Corso Como's cafe. First, we walked to Boon the Shop Men, which was just around the corner, to have a quick look and pick up umbrellas. The 3-storey men's shop carries casualwear (Libertine, Comme des Garcons, DSquared, etc.) as well as suits in an cosy space.

Boon the Shop Men

Boon the Shop Women

The women's shop is much grander with its vaulted entrance lobby. I was very excited to see, hanging from the lobby ceiling, a charcoal spiral staircase installation by Bahk Seon Ghi, the artist I had most wanted to meet on this trip, but who, unfortunately, was in Europe.

The Bahk lobby installation.
You can't really see it here, but it is a spiral staircase out of individual pieces of charcoal.

Before she left me, JH had suggested I check out nearby Space Mue, another multi-brand fashion shop (Chloe, Balanciaga etc.). Of course, I had no idea where Space Mue was. So as I exited BTS, I walked into Vecchia e Nuovo (a branch of the same coffee shop in Westin Chosun, which is also owned by Shinsegae), a cute little cafe to ask for directions. The manager replied that she didn't know the shop, but that if I waited she would look it up on the internet. As I was waiting, I couldn't help but try their green tea cupcake. The cake part was very nice, but the icing was a tad too sweet. The manager gave me directions to the Gucci shop and then told me to ask the staff at Gucci for better directions; as Space Mue was nearby. As I was leaving, she even gave me a green tea cookie. Truly impressive service! But that wasn't to be an isolated incidence.

The green tea cupcake that I just had to try. Next time, I might go for the chocolate though.

I never did find Space Mue. I made it as far as Gucci, but the shop was already closed. After a bit more wandering around, it was time to look for the dinner venue. I hopped in a cab and handed the map to the driver. The driver looked at the map and said it didn't make any sense so I ended up calling the restaurant. I got dropped off and was pointed down a lane. Of course, I couldn't find the restaurant. I stopped off at a Family Mart, a bar, a shop, getting a little closer each step of the way. Finally, I ran into a guy who actually walked me to the correct lane.

IL had picked the restaurant; Sanbong Harogui (산봉 하로구이; 657-17 Sinsa-dong; +82 2 5462229) was her favourite Korean BBQ restaurant. RK, host of Talk Around on Arirang and who was instrumental in setting up the meet with Kim Joon and Nancy Lang (she's his co-host on Talk Around), explained that the restaurant was more like an izakaya where people go for drinks and then order some BBQ dishes as a snack. But we managed to make a very satisfying meal out of it while RK tried to teach me hangul (Korean alphabet). It's a great feeling when you can finally make some sense out of squiggles that previously meant nothing. The beef dishes were wonderful, but my favourite was the dumplings (mandu 만두). At one point, RK looked at my plate and exclaimed with a shocked look, "You ate both of them?!" Well, he was the one who put the two tennis-ball-sized dumplings on my plate in the first place. And they were delicious!

Real charcoal makes the meat even tastier!

After dinner, we were off to meet relatively recent newlyweds JP and MC for some Champagne in Garosu-gil, a really cool street to hangout with lots of little wine bars, cafes, boutiques etc. Of course, I had to ask them for their favourite restaurants. Here's their list (I didn't get a chance to try any of them, but definitely on my list for the next visit):
1. Tani in Cheongdam-dong, behind the Prada shop
2. Episode in Sinsa-dong on the northeast side of Dosan Park (the lanes along the eastern and southern sides of the park are lined with cute, little shops, restaurants and cafes. Hermes has a store here and, according to IK, it is a must see as their gallery space usually has interesting exhibitions).
3. Miss Park in Cheongdam-dong
4. Hashi behind Prince Hotel
5. Seasons in Cheongdam-dong

On my last morning, I decided to have breakfast at The Shilla before popping over to the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art. And what greets me as soon as I walk into the lobby? Another Bahk Seon Ghi installation! This time, it's made of out crystal. I had the perfect breakfast for a cold, rainy day -- a very refreshing drink of ginseng with milk and honey and a bowl of wonton noodles.

New York: Sunday in the Country

Woke up to a glorious blue sky Sunday morning. After a 10K run around Central Park at 8am when a biathalon race was already in progress, AP, AL and I headed "upstate". The drive out of Manhattan through the Hudson Valley was great. Playing in the car was Bossa n' Stones (as the title suggests, Bossa Nova covers of Rolling Stones tunes). AP and AL started singing along: "you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find, you get what you need". The song has quite a hook and it stuck with us through the rest of the day. What we all needed on this beautiful Sunday, was a bit of fresh air and a fresh perspective.


For the past few days, AP and I had been combing through the densely packed art fairs of Pulse, Bridge and Scope looking for emerging artists to include in the next Little Cream Book project. AP is an art consultant, so she does it for a living. In fact, she had just finished her rounds at the Dubai art fairs. Though I enjoy art, I was feeling a bit arted-out. So I wasn't exactly dying to go see more art all the way out in Beacon, but was lured by the promise of a nice meal at Blue Hill Stone Barns to tag along. As it turned out, dia: Beacon was just the fresh perspective I needed to see art through fresh eyes again. It's a contemporary art space with a collection of stunning works by iconic artists from the 60s onwards. All the pieces are brilliantly displayed in the converted paper factory. There is an incredible amount of natural light streaming into the galleries through 34,000 square feet of skylights. On this sunny day, all the artworks were bathed in sunlight. It's worth the hour-plus journey just to experience the gallery space. I sat in the Gerhard Richter 6 Gray Mirrors room meditating on my reflection. Equally meditative were Robert Ryman's white-on-white rooms and Agnes Martin's rooms filled with her rationally, straight-lined abstracts, also in shades of white and gray. But for me, the most uplifting experience was walking through the four Richard Serra sculptures. It would have been nice to have these set on an expansive grass lawn, look up from the expanse of towering spiral steel curves to see cloudless, blue skies, but the effect was not lost inside the gallery. This was art as its best, like walking into a vaulted Gothic cathedral -- moving, contemplative and transformative. It was the perfect antidote to the art supermarkets in which I had been immersed.


Next stop was Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Years ago, when I first had lunch at Per Se, I had asked one of the waiters what other restaurants were worth trying. Top of his list had been Blue Hill at Stone Barns (they also have a restaurant in Manhattan, but the Stone Barns experience is worth the journey). But because it's outside of Manhattan, several trips went by and I still hadn't made it to Blue Hill. Finally, I was going. I expected to have a nice Sunday brunch, but we arrived quite late in the afternoon. So we decided to stay for an early dinner at 5pm. We hadn't made any reservations in the restaurant, but the bar serves the same menu so we got seats at the bar. Stone Barns is a working farm and we had a bit of time to wander around the grounds. We were a trio of touristy city slickers snapping away at sheep, chicken, pigs and the beautiful surroundings.


When we finally sat down at the bar sipping their signature cocktails of elderflower royale (elderflower liquer and sparkling white wine) and blood orange martini, we were expecting a meal from fresh farm produce, simple and good. We got much more than simple and good. It was simple, elegant and a sheer delight for the taste buds. But what made it even better was having the company of Tomas Jacobsen who joined us at the bar. He's a Danish chef who was between restaurant stints in his native Copenhagen and decided to use the time off for an unpaid apprenticeship at Per Se. It's so much fun listening to chefs talk about food. They have such a passion for it. So for the next four hours, as we ogled his very, very special chef's tasting menu, sometimes even sampling bits off his plate, we grilled him about food, being a chef and his favourite restaurants. We were watching him taste everything with the deepest of concentration and waiting for his pronouncements.

Dishes in front of other people, especially when they are chefs and get special treatment, always seem tastier!

Chip envy got the better of us, so Tomas graciously shared one of his potato chips with a sage leaf with us. He also got to taste beetroot, squash and parsnip chips. Best potato chip ever!

He has sat through a 27-course meal at Per Se, but all the courses he was being served up were still delighting him. We got a different version of the chef's tasting menu, all excellent. I have never been one for eggs. I neither like nor dislike them, they just generally don't move me. Yet the morning's egg they served up with fresh farm greens and a thin slice of crispy cheek bacon was an egg like not other. The runny yolk was deliciously full of flavour. The slice of Berkshire pork belly was a little piece of heaven. The handmade pasta made from nearby harvest of spelt was a delight. All the dishes were beautifully presented.

This morning's egg with a thin slice of cheek bacon on top.

Berkshire pork belly & loin

Of course, I had to ask Tomas for his restaurant recommendations for Copenhagen. He highly recommended Noma (where he previously worked), a 2-Michelin star restaurant that highlights Nordic produce and culinary traditions. The chef at Noma had previously worked at French Laundry and el bulli. He leaves New York City today to head back to a job at the soon-to-open Nimb, which he describes as modern Danish. Asked for his favourite non-fine dining restaurant in NYC, he suggested Degustation (239 East 5th Street, T: +1 212 979 1012), where it's "a funny mixture of everything that inspires him (the chef)".

How Do We Give Our Heart Wings?

This post is dedicated to BDL since he was the one who posed the question that is the title of today's post. I was skyping him good morning and asking if he'd recovered from his recent relapse of stomach flu. He replied with a :-| followed by, "bored, tired, uninspired" and the question: How do we give our heart wings? It was a weighty question for a Tuesday morning before I'd even finished my morning Starbucks. I wasn't quite sure what the answer was, but thought it might make an interesting post and made a mental note to come up with a list.

A couple hours later, the answer was right before me:



I don't know what it is about cupcakes, but seeing them always puts a smile on my face; they're just so much fun! These cupcakes were all done up in cheery, Easter Spring pastels. And they were delicious too. I've had many a cupcakes where the cake was just a bit too crumbly and dry or the frosting tooth-decayingly sweet, but Babycakes' cupcakes were just right. The light, vanilla buttercream frosting was the right amount of sweetness and the chocolate cake was moist. Since I had the mini version, I didn't even feel guilty about indulging.

Babycakes only opened for business 10 or so weeks ago. Their current shop and bakery is in Ap Lei Chau, but hopefully they will soon open near my office in Delay No Mall. Founder Lachlan Campbell quit his investment banking job last April, learned the art of cupcake baking from a 66-year-old woman in Oregon and officially became Chief Cupcake Officer late last year. He said he had always wanted to start a business that was related to kids since he has two kids of his own. And kids love cupcakes. Women too, he added, to which I can attest.

So to answer BDL's question, there are lots of things that give my heart wings. On this particular day, it happened to be a cute, little cupcake served up with another story of a man living his dream.

Tokyo Update

Mount Fuji in the distance.

It took me days to finally get into the habit of standing on the left side of an escalator in Tokyo, must have been going up and down all 15 floors of Takashimaya that finally got it to stick. Back in Hong Kong, I found myself, once again, standing on the wrong side of the escalator, Tokyo left instead of Hong Kong right. Funny how the mind adapts.

The tastebuds too have adapted. Every once in a great while, I have a meal that just blows me away and reminds me what really good food is about. There was the tempura at Kyoto's Tenyu that made me realize Hong Kong tempura is like the chop suey version of Chinese food. So I've stopped eating tempura. But for me, the mark of a really good chef is one that gets me liking something that I had previously disliked. Alain Passard turned an ordinary quail's egg into a moment of ecstasy. Thomas Keller got me excited about pea soup. This trip, it was sushi chef Nakamura-san who took my bar for sushi and raised it the height of a Shinjuku skyscraper. Nakamura-san used to work at Kyubei in Ginza before opening up his own shop. Kanesada is a small, little sushi restaurant in an alley around the corner from Tokyo Midtown's orangé bar/restaurant. I knew I would be in for a treat when MH told me it was H-san's pick.

Nakamura-san with a huge scallop, which he served up in thin, Ruffle-like, slices.

I rarely like lean, red tuna, but the pieces of akami that Nakamura-san served up along side the chu-toro and o-toro blew me away. The flavourful meat just melted in my mouth. Normally, I'm not a fan of clam either, but the pieces that were served up were unbelievably sweet. The highlight, however, was the abalone. Nakamura only had one abalone left and he had saved it especially for H-san. Although he showed us the abalone early on in the evening, it was not served until H-san arrived. It was absolutely delicious, freshly sweet and crunchy in texture.

I followed up this wonderful sushi meal with a meal at Chiaki in Tsukiji fish market. Owner Ogawa Koichi actually has a popular manga loosely-based on his life as a fish wholesaler. This summer, there will also be a movie.

Ogawa-san checking out one of the Macbook Airs.

It reminded me a bit of the Pike Place Fish phenomenon. The dinner was organized by HH who happened to be in town from SF (it was another one of those facebook moments). For me, it was more memorable for the company (a lot of Sony, google, Apple-related people as well as the author of a popular self-help book on saying the right things to different people), because the special of the day happened to be oysters. And unfortunately, I am seriously allergic to oysters. What sashimi and cooked fish I did have was delicious though. Throughout dinner, I had been fairly quiet, struggling to decipher bits of Japanese conversations that were happening around me. The moment the gadgets came out, eye.fi and Sony Rolly, conversation became easier. But the real communication breakthrough moment came when "Chicken Little" (so named because he bears an uncanny resemblance to the animated movie character by the same name) pulled out a brown Inter-Office envelope from his bag. He didn't even have to open the envelope for me to let out a squeal of delight, "Air!" Mac-love, it seems, is a universal language.

Playing with food...and Air: it's as thin as one of my fave white chocolate cookie sandwiches from Hokkaido!

Speaking of love, I was a bit beffudled by the signs advertising "White Day" on 14 March. Was this the Japanese version of Valentine's Day, I asked MM. If Valentine's Day is a Hallmark conspiracy, explained MM, then White Day is the snack industry's conspiracy. In Japan, girls give guys snacks on Valentine's Day. A month later, on White Day, guys are supposed to return the favour in double. Imagine receiving two dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts!


It never ceases to amuse me to see the long line for Krispy Kreme doughnuts each morning.


Schultz should consider re-vamping Starbucks stores around the world along the lines of its Tokyo stores. The Japanese are so good at packaging, even the recycling bins have a certain aesthetic.




Other great meals in Tokyo:
Morimoto XEX for teppanyaki -- Very subtle entrance signage.

Morimoto's signature Toro & caviar appetizer

Matsugen for soba -- E recommended an off-the-menu crabmeat soba salad, which was worthy of a second helping. They have outposts in Honolulu and NYC.
Takashimaya Food Hall -- Can never get enough of this place. It's a study of how beautiful packaging makes everything look so appetizing.