The Perfect Cuppa

A&D invited me to venture over to Kowloon side for dinner last night at Aspasia (remember Chez Roland? it's the same Chef Roland Schuller here on the first floor of Luxe Manor Hotel). Had a delightful meal that was definitely worth the cross-harbour trek. It was great meeting two other Ds (an amazing coincidence that all three guys at one table had the same first name), where the chatter jumped from Obama & McCain to the merits of Tasmanian black truffle to funny examples of CSIS's ultra-secretiveness and other interesting defense tidbits to which a Jane's subscriber might be privy. While I found the spook talk fascinating, what really inspired me was the story of a business co-founded by Canadian D's brother -- Transcend Coffee in Edmonton.

Oddly enough, the conversation started off about the evils of caffeine since A has given up coffee for more than a year and I had gone without a drop of coffee for nearly a month from when I started my detox. While I've wisened up to the fact that caffeine and sugar are the main culprit for morning sluggishness, afternoon bouts of sleepiness and general energy dips throughout the day, I love the taste and the experience of drinking a well made espresso or latté or cappucino to truly give it up for good. Off the detox, I now limit my coffee intake to less than one a day and I never start the morning with coffee (now, a cup of hot water and lemon juice is the first thing I ingest).

Listening to Canadian D describe his brother's passion for coffee -- finding the best beans, profiling and creating the perfect customised blend for individual clients -- made me lament the fact that Starbucks has lost all that. Starbucks was always a choice of convenience and familiarity rather than the choice made out of love. As D tells it, Transcend has created their own unique brand of perfectionist coffee culture, to the point of telling customers whenever they feel they are incapable of delivering the best, that they have developed a bit of a Canada-wide cult following despite having only one physical store in Edmonton. D's brother, A, is actually the company's "Chief of Culture". They're constantly concocting new coffee blends and drink creations. Reading their blog, I wondered how their business can grow and still keep its passion for and culture of perfection (i.e. when you grow from roasting 50,000 lbs of beans per year to 500,000 lbs per year, or 1 neighborhood store to national or even multi-national chain, culture often gives way to efficency).

About to hop on a plane to sunny Vancouver, and I'm already pining for a latté from cito espresso.

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.

Old Town Scottsdale Refreshed

It's been fours years since I was last in Scottsdale. Back then, Scottsdale Fashion Square and Biltmore Fashion Park were the two main hang-outs, with Biltmore having the higher end shops. Since then, the area south of Cambelback (i.e. the Nordstrom side of the mall) is being developed into the Waterfront, a mix of residential, retail and office space. I used to remember Stetson Drive, Fifth and Sixth Avenues as being uninteresting for its overabundance of shops selling cowboy boots, southwestern turquoise and silver, chunky belt buckle and jewelery among other cheesy Southwestern souvenir shops. That area is now undergoing quite a transformation, part of which is the new SouthBridge development, which does not take in any chain stores as its retail tenants. Whereas once "irrelevant" might have been the word used to describe the scene along those streets, now people use the words "trendy" and "glam" to describe the area and its much younger clientele.

I spent a couple hours one afternoon strolling around the area. The highlight of my walk was a stop in g2 Gallery, where I came across the intricately-zen works of Kaoru Mansour (collages on a celadon-crackle background) and the whimsically-sureal works of Patrick LoCicero.


Also worthy of mention:
Fine's Cellar -- An absolute godsend after nearly a week of drinking Starbucks' watered-like coffee (The Starbucks experience, for some strange reason, is so much better in Asia; at least there is the smell of coffee when walking into a Hong Kong Starbucks. I was glad to hear that Howard Schultz is taking the reins once again as CEO after seeing its share price take a nose dive in 2007.). I had tried The Coffee Bean and Coffee Plantation, which were marginally better. But it was the Caffé Mokarabia in Fine's Cellar that put the smile back on my caffeine-addicted face. And from the name, they also have a very fine wine cellar.
Lululemon -- Even though I'm spending a considerable amount of time in Vancouver, the hometown of Lululemon, I couldn't resist walking into the store since it was right behind Fine's Cellar. The store only opened three weeks ago, but they have a wide selection of styles. I didn't have time to check out any yoga studios this time around, but the Lululemon staff suggested I try At One Yoga.
Rejuvenation -- Just across the street from Fine's Cellar is this rather chic-looking Thai massage and private yoga/mat pilates center.
The Mix @ SouthBridge -- A collection of independent fashion and lifestyle boutiques including a beautiful floral design studio, Angelic Grove.

Delay No Mall is Delayed No More!

"What a difference a day made, 24 little hours...," sings Dinah Washington as I sit here tapping away on my keyboard. This is the song, I would like to dedicate to the G.O.D. team that transformed Delay No Mall in 24 little hours. After lunch yesterday, BL walked AW and I through what seemed like a war zone -- racks were empty, contractors were still finishing up construction work everywhere, unopened cartons of stock were stacked up in every direction:



By noon today, Delay No Mall soft opened for business. It's still not yet entirely open, but what's up-and-running is looking like a very attractive teaser of what's to come:





For the non-Cantonese speakers reading this blog, here's a little Canto lesson: Delay No More, on which Delay No Mall is based, is the transliteration of a very rude phrase having to do with someone's mother. Canto lesson no. 2: Never greet a Canto-speaker, especially a woman, with "Ciao!" and "Hi!" used in sequence, no matter how cosmopolitan you think you might sound.

Delay No Mall
68 Yee Wo Street
(across the street from JIA Hotel)
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
T: +852 2577 6988

Walking Tour Guide On Your Mobile Phone

It's always fun meeting other entrepreneurs; I just love listening to the how-it-all-started stories. Today I had lunch with Stefan White, one of the founders of Mobile Adventures that produces Walk The Talk mobile phone walking tour guides for Hong Kong and Macau. Last week, I had been searching for audio guide service providers for an upcoming project. I had loved the audio/video guide for Tate Modern's Gilbert & George exhibition, but that involved passing out handhelds. Then I remembered that the Matthew Barney exhibition at SF MoMA last summer had visitors dialing into the exhibition's audio guide with mobile phones. So I googled "museum audio guide provider" expecting to find a lot of overseas companies. But to my surprise, the first company to come up on the search was Hong Kong-based Mobile Adventures. And when I clicked in, I just knew I had heard of the company before. So I dashed off an email to the founders and after a few back-and-forth emails, SW, to my great relief, solved the mystery of how I had first heard of them last year. The connection was NL (we also found out we had a couple more tenuous links). I remember having thought it was a cool concept then, but hadn't really followed up by checking out the company's websites. But this time around, with a few clicks, I realized that Mobile Adventures would be able to deliver the solution that we were looking for. Now that the content-delivery system has been found, I just need to get cracking on the more time-consuming content creation side of things.

On another note, I ventured to Kowloon Bay to check out the newly-opened DIY shop B&Q (kind of the UK-equivalent of Home Depot) at the very new MegaBox shopping mall (the mall only just opened on 1 June, so a lot of shops still aren't ready yet). Not that I'm much of a DIY person (Ran into MP & CH though, who had spent nearly 4 hours there. And MP ended up buying a trunk-load full of things like power drills so that he could rehinge his doors!), but I found it fun walking around Megabox's three floors of home-improvement shops (aside from B&Q, there was also Australia's Spotlight among other smaller stores). MegaBox was quite clever to bring home improvement into a mainstream mall. Up to now, Hong Kong's fixer-uppers had to deal with the hassle and heat of walking shop-to-shop along Morrison Hill Road for lighting fixtures or Lockhart Road for everything else. Now, it's all to be found under one air-conditioned roof, even though it might be considered a bit out-of-the-way for some. But that's the definition of destination shopping. And there's the added attraction of MOS Burger!

New York City Update

The highlight of my New York trip was seeing Voyage, part one of Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia trilogy with Ethan Hawke playing Michael Bukanin and Billy Crudup playing Vissarion Belinsky, just two of the lead characters. Tom Stoppard is by far my favourite playwright. His plays are brilliant not just because he manages to entertain, but also because he manages to dilute the mosts complicated of subject matters to a something easily digested by the average audience member with the utmost wit and humour (a great example is Hapgood where quantum physics is made entertaining when set in the context of an entertaining spy comedy). In the Coast of Utopia, the heady subject matter is Russian literature, philosophy and politics (or rather, the people behind them) during 19th century Tsarist Russia. As with most of Stoppard's plays, the topics are presented with a light touch and trademark quirky sense of humour. Can't wait to see Shipwreck and Salvage.

Aside from the play, I also had a lovely dinner at MH's neighborhood restaurant, Daniel (the lounge is much more casual and laid-back than the main dining room with the food being just as delicious), a meeting in Philadelphia with Anthropologie's home buyer and a breakfast meeting with an editor at Knopf at Four Seasons Hotel (love their breakfasts). And here I'd like to dispel the myth that editor's don't have the time of day for mere plebes like me. SW, who is the editor for such luminaries as Joan Didion, is one of the most generous people I've met in any industry. She's been a great person to chat to and gain a deeper understanding of the publishing industry. I had a pretty packed schedule, but I still managed to squeeze in a morning yoga class at Some Like It Hot, where I ran into the soon-to-be wed JK. Had wanted to check out the new Bowery Hotel (Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson's new hotel since Maritime) and Waverly Inn (Goode and MacPherson own that this too along with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter), but didn't have time since I was staying with MH uptown. There's always next time!

I also had a surprisingly quick and pleasant visit to dermatologist Dr Marc Grossman. I highly recommended him (actually he had been highly-recommended to me from PT's aunt). I'm one of these people who dreads seeing any kind of doctor or dentist and Dr Grossman had a manner that put me at ease from the get-go. The wait in his office actually created more anxiety than the actual examination. It took him all of 3 minutes (perhaps even less) to evaporate all my melanoma fears. The rest of the time was just spent chatting and taking my medical history since it was my first visit. I suppose I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, but with so many friends diagnosed with some form of cancer over the past couple of years, one can never be too cautious.

Well, now I'm back in Hong Kong with piles of work ahead of me, which means I'm staying put until Easter.

London Update

Spent the weekend in London and the last few days in NYC.

In London, I ate mainly British food in Chelsea's Gastropubs (since I was staying at EH's just around the corner from Sloane Square) at The Ebury, Galvin for Sunday Brunch, Tom's Kitchen and breakfast at the very cool and recently-opened Napket (loved their slogan, "Snob Food", their selection of bread loaves of which I had a slice of the fig, rocket and cheddar loaf, as well as the iPod minis at the table with personal headsets so you can choose your own music). Saw the Gilbert & George Major Exhibition at Tate Modern, which was excellent, especially the audio guide with video clips of Gilbert & George discussing their art. It made a lot of sense to see this show in London, which places their artworks in the context in which they were created. I had a coffee at Sloane Square Hotel's Brasserie. If I hadn't been staying with EH, I might have checked out Sloane Square Hotel, which just opened last October and is in a fabulous location without London's fabulously high rates (online rates until the end of Feb 2007 started from GBP125). All this aside, one of the things I love most about travelling is catching up with old friends and the opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people. In London, through AL, I met the Chairman of Farlows, an old English fishing and field sports shop, and the COO of San Francisco-based brand consultancy The 2M Group. One never know where chance meetings might lead...

Week In Cortina

The view from Rifugio Lagazuoi

In London for the weekend. Here's a recap of the week in Cortina:
Stayed at Parc Hotel Victoria where staff were constantly sulky and grouchy (with the exception of the guy who manned reception overnight). One of the Chinese guys in our group was told by a hotel staff escorting another guest to get out of the lift, because "the lift is only for hotel guests". Breakfast was not much to write about (Hotel Ulli in Zuers gets my vote for best ski breakfast buffet spread). The junior suite was very junior (Euro310 per night including half board). We were all wishing we could have gotten a room at Hotel La Perla in Corvara as originally planned.

Skied Dolomiti Superski: Cortina, Lagazuoi, Sella Ronda (green route), Arabba/Marmolada, Alta Badia. My favourite run is Lagazuoi with a stop at Rifugio Scotoni. It has the most stunning scenery and it's a leisurely intermediate run that most skiers can do. Had blue skied throughout the week, but skied mostly on man-made snow.

Rifugio Scotoni

Skied with: Franco & Marcello, our two fun-loving, James Bond look-alike ski instructor/guides (Franco looks like Sean Connery and Marcello looks like Daniel Craig) from Scuola Sci Dolomiti Cortina. They even drive like James Bond!

Dined at (just my faves are listed here):
Baita Pie' Tofana (lunch, +39 0436 4258) -- the ginger ice cream in a crispy orange waffle bowl is scrumptuous
La Perla (lunch, +39 0436 4681) -- everything was great and make sure you go on a tour of the theatrical wine cellar
El Brite de Larieto (lunch, +39 368 7008083) -- the best bombardino (you can't get ones with espresso on the slopes!)
Leone e Anna (dinner, +39 0436 2768) -- spaghetti with dried fish roe is delish!
Snowmobile+Sledging Rifugio dinner -- sledging by moonlight is quite the experience. Franco & Marcello even brought a bottle of grappa for us all to drink before our adrenaline rush of a descent down. Can't remember the name of the rifugio (but you'll find a list of the various options here), but there was a delicious pancake dessert that was sort of like fried drizzled egg batter.

Shopped: Amidst our group, the most popular shops were Franz Kraler (Corso Italia 107, +39 0436 3197) for the luxurious Loro Piano and Kiton cashmere and Peak Performance (Via XXIX Maggio 3, +39 0436 866958) for the ski wear, in particular the jeans ski pants. And of course the Cooperativa for just about everything else.

24 Hours in Rome: Daphne Inn, TAD, Pantheon

By the Spanish Steps looking down Via del Babuino. What a beautiful day!

Catching up on my posts here:

It turned out to be a beautiful day (15 February) in Rome. When I checked into Daphne Inn Trevi, it was pouring. By the time, I had freshened up and headed out, the rain had stopped. By lunch time, the skies were blue.

It was a lazy laid-back day in Rome. I walked by Spanish Steps en route to checking out TAD, a trendy lifestyle store complete with hairdresser and cafe, and CM's family company Fabriano, a beautiful stationery shop a few shops down from TAD on Via del Babuino.

Just follow the McD signs on your sightseeing tour of Rome. There seems to be one at every major sight. No Starbucks in sight though. But who needs Starbucks when you've got the best espresso in the world.

My favourite view of the Pantheon. Wish I could lie on my back and bathe under the oculus' light.

From Spanish Steps, I walked down via Condotti to the Pantheon. It's the only ancient building (dating back to 125AD) from the first semester of my History of Art survey class that I like and really wanted to visit (I didn't really start paying attention until second semester when Prof Gridley McKim-Smith and Prof Steven Z. Levine, my two favourite professors, surveyed Baroque up to Contemporary). Its concrete-cast dome, with its open oculus, is mesmerising in both its beauty and its structure. CM had told me I should visit while it was still raining (because the oculus in the dome lets rain in, creating a very special atmosphere), but the rain had stopped by the time I got there.

After long nap, went to dinner at 9:30pm at Ristorante Matricianella (Via del Leone, 4; T: +39 6 6832100) with CM and her English-speaking friends. Dinner conversation was very lively and engaging, jumping from urban planning to Fascist Italians to ancient Venetian families that don't speak Italian (they speak their own dialiect) to Dante to Edward Said to Mickey Mouse (apparently, the drawings are outsourced to some town in Italy) etc. A great evening with great food, ending with a limoncello.

Daphne Inn is a B&B with very helpful staff. There's no elevator in the building, but Carl and Chris both helped me with my three pieces of luggage (difficult to pack light when one needs to pack for skiing and work meetings). I had a comfortable room with free wi-fi access, although I did have to share a bathroom. But then again, it was only Euro72 including breakfast (10% off the normal rate of Euro80 for paying in cash) and the location was perfect, right by Barberini and 5 minute's walk from the Spanish Steps.

24 Hours in Taipei: Les Suites Da-An, Shintori, ppaper

Was in Taipei this weekend to check out the Grand View exhibition at the National Palace Museum that just re-opened in December after a major renovation. The renovation was a bit of a disappointment (the exhibition spaces still feel cramped), but the Northern Sung dynasty calligraphy and Ju Ware bowls and vases were incredible. These pieces were some of the most valuable treasures from the Imperial collections. I was very impressed with the beauty and perfection of the Ju Wares (It actually made me lament how Chinese manufacturing's reputation has gone downhill in the last 1,000 years. Where has all that pride and appreciation for perfection and beauty gone?). Only 70-odd complete pieces left in the world and the NPM has 21 of them. It's the first time, in a long time, that these pieces have been shown. But of all the works, it was the calligraphy that really moved me. There's a lot of beauty and sophistication in Chinese characters. In the pieces on display, there was a feeling of soulfulness, and even a sense of freedom, in the calligraphy that seems rarely expressed in contemporary Chinese culture. Grand View runs until 25 March 2007. But due to the fragility of certain pieces, there will be a rotation of 12 of the 76 works on 8 February 2007.

I stayed at Les Suites Da-An, which is great value for money. I booked a Corner Suite for around USD180 inclusive a great buffet breakfast spread. The location is also very convenient, within walking distance to the 24-hour (the great thing about Taipei is that so many things are open 24 hours!) Eslite Bookshop, which has the most awesome international magazine selection I've ever seen. I found copies of Arizona Foothills (I grew up in Arizona, so there was a moment of nostagia) for sale, imagine that! Anyway, back to Les Suites. The coolest thing there was the mobile phone provided in each room. Basically, if someone calls you in your room and you're not there, the call will get forwarded to that mobile phone. The phone also has the front desk on speed dial, at no charge! So not only is it a very reasonably-priced hotel with all the in-room amenities of a 5-star hotel including in-room fax machine and separate bathtub and shower (well, at least in the Corner Suite), they also provide a convenient way to save on your mobile roaming charges.

The most complete set of working desk accessories I've seen in a boutique hotel and even many luxury 5-star hotels -- stapler, razor, ruler, paper clips, adapter etc.

The handy mobile

The gym, while very simply equipped with a rack of free weights and three cardio machines, was very comfortable and had complimentary bottled water and towels on hand.


It's these little touches (like fresh flowers and fruits in the rooms and daily weather cards on the breakfast tables) that make Les Suites a great boutique hotel. Was having lunch with EC and he suggested I check out Ambience Hotel next time, but don't think the location is as good as Da-An and on first glance, the decor tries a bit too hard.

As per PW's recommendation, I had a great Japanese dinner at Shintori (B1, No. 80, Section 1 Jian-Guo Road, Taipei; T: +886 2 25017000). Had kaiseki+shabu shabu+sushi+sashimi. The fish was incredibly fresh. They have a lot of private rooms that accommodate two to many diners. But I like being at the sushi counter; it's always fun to chat with the sushi chef.

On Sunday, had a great breakfast with Kat at N.Y. Bagels Cafe within walking distance of the hotel before heading to Museum of Tomorrow, a contemporary art project organized by ppaper (Kat is the editor of the magazine and we had just gotten a mention in issue no. 36 of the magazine). The current exhibition is an interactive installation entitled "theFLOWmarket" by Danish designer Mads Hagstrom of theFLOWinstitute. It's interactive, because visitors can buy the products that promote sustainable growth in theFLOWmarket. It's a cool concept and the Museum of Tomorrow is a great temporary exhibition space. There's a cafe and ppaper has a small shop on site (ppaper's permanent shop is at 1/F, No. 2, Lane 26, Section 2 Zhongshan N Road, Taipei 104; T: +886 2 25681779).


theFLOWmarket runs until 28 February 2007. The next exhibition, Happy Living, runs from 22 March to 17 May 2007. Entrance is free and the Museum of Tomorrow is open 24 hours.





Other shops of interest:
Booday (No. 18-1, Lane 25, Nanjing West Road, Taipei 103; T: +886 2 2552 5552) -- Shop and simple cafe opened by designers. Sells mostly funky design T-shirts and accessories, leaning more towards the girlie side.

The One (No. 30, Section 2 Zhongshan N Road, Taipei 104; T: +886 2 25363050) -- Ceramics and a nice afternoon tea spot.
Mister Donut (various locations, check website) -- This Japanese donut chain serves up a variation of donuts that are less sweet than Krispy Kreme's. Love their slightly chewy Pon De Rings!
and soon to open in March is agnes b.'s travel concept store, maison sur l'eau...

Chocolate Fondue Fiesta

Every year, around this time, I go ga-ga for fondue. It used to be...well, it sort of still is...a tradition that I have cheese fondue for my birthday. I prefer having it at home, as opposed to stuffy Chesa at Peninsula. There's something about fondue that makes it happy party food, even more so than shabu shabu, Chinese hot pot or other communal-cooking variations. It's probably just because it reminds me of skiing.

I just got Chocolate Unlimited's email flyer about their Fondue au Chocolat range of handy, in-a-microwaveable-jar, chocolate fondues. It's easy:
1. Select from 10 flavours or select them all (I want to try Dark 70% Cocoa, Dark & Rum, Dark & Ginger and Dark & Amaretto)
2. Zap it in the microwave for 2 minutes
3. Voila! Enjoy with fresh strawberries, biscuits, dried fruits, nuts, pretzels, ridged potato chips...whatever you fancy. It stays liquid for 45 minutes, but chances are it'll all be gone before then.

I want to have a chocolate fondue tasting/James Bond card game (DY's designed a brilliant deck of James Bond theme cards, 210 cards in all covering 21 Bond movies and 10 suits ranging from "The Fling", "The Gadget", "The Car" etc. There are different ways to play the cards, one of the ways is to play it like Go Fish!) evening. All that sugar will keep us up playing till morning, I'm sure. Maybe I'll bring it to Cortina over Chinese New Year. Just in case there's no snow. Pleeeaaasse let it snow, let it dump, let it dump!!!

Fondue au Chocolat @ Chocolate Unlimited
2/F Exclusivities
1 Duddell Street
Central, Hong Kong
T: +852 2526 7992

Bunny Talk: Nabaztag

I refrained from posting on this cool little bunny last month so that my brother wouldn't find out prematurely what his Christmas present was. I fell in love with the bunny at Kapok when I was meeting Arnault Castel to see if he would be interested in distributing Little Cream Book in Asia since his company already distributes Moleskine notebooks and soon their city notebooks (more on these cool create-your-own-guidebook notebooks later).


I found Nabaztag, the smartest little bunny, sitting on the shelf at Kapok. At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. But then Arnault elaborated on his (or her, depending on your preference) many talents. Aside from being able to read you your emails, update you on stock prices in your portfolio or tell you the latest scores for your favourite sports teams, what I love about the smart, little bunny is that it's a great way to communicate. I just sent my first message to my brother's bunny yesterday. And then I sent another two. And I was notified that he listened to each of my messages an average of three times. Basically, here's how it works. My brother first has to give his bunny a name and then registers its existence on nabaztag.com. He then tells me the bunny's name. I go to nabaztag.com, look up his bunny and then type in my message. After I click send, half way across the world, the bunny will read out my message in whatever voice my brother has chosen (there's one of a woman speaking in a French accent). I'm waiting for Nabaztag/tag, which has a belly-button that's actually a microphone. With that, you can speak your message into your bunny and it can be played on another bunny. It's super cool! Then there's all this other cute stuff like making bunnies move their ears or flash the same colours on their bellies. But the coolest bit for me is the messaging. It's just a quick and endearing way of telling people elsewhere in the world (could be just next door or on another continent) that you're thinking about them.

In addition to the smart, little bunny, Kapok sells all sorts of cool stuff from young designers from Hong Kong and elsewhere. There's a great selection of music, T-shirts and other gift items and accessories such as candles, jewellry, handbags, stationery etc. It reminds me of the Colette of old.





Nabaztag available @ Kapok
g/f 9 dragon road
tin hau, hong kong
t: +852 2549 9254

St Christoph: Hospiz Alm for wine lovers

Had dinner at Hospiz Alm in St Christoph last night. Their wine cellar is the most amazing one I've seen so far. It's stocked full of large-sized bottles of some of the most amazing wines -- Magnums (1.5L), Double Magnums (3L), Jeroboams (4.5L), Imperials (6L), Salmanazars (9L), Balthazars (12L) and Nebuchadnezars (15L). I saw Double Magnums of 1996 Providence that surely would have gotten SW or AL excited. Food was good too; ordered their duck served two ways and their spare ribs, but way too much food.

Finally Back Online!

Apologies for the long absence. First it was the busy holiday season (brother and sis-in-law in town for a week, last-minute shopping, party-planning etc.), then it was Hong Kong's internet access blackout from a damaged submarine cable caused by an earthquake in Taiwan. I had no access to my gmail account or my yahoo-hosted accounts for several days. Life without internet access just comes to a standstill. Couldn't even get onto zuji.com to book my hotel in Hanoi for 2 Jan! Anyway, big sigh of relief now that google sites are accessible again. *Phew!*

Promise to post pics of kapok and Stanley's beautiful new public toilets when I get to Macau tomorrow evening to prepare for the Casino Royale NYE party. Finally, got a game worked out, but still a few odds and ends to take care of, like picking up some Champagne and creme de cassis for kir royales. In the meantime, check out this cute, little upstairs shop called onefineday (3/F, 85 Queen's Road Central on the northeast corner by the escalator; T: +852 28106805) started by four women with backgrounds in advertising. They have a great selection of books and magazines on travel, living and gastronomy, cute gifts sourced from the owner's extensive travels and a great selection of CDs.

Tidbits: Kapok, Kahn and a Bryn Mawr dinner

Was going to blog about Kapok, this really cool shop at 9 Dragon Road in Tin Hau (T: +852 2549 9254), which has a beautiful, huge tree smack dab in the middle of this rather quiet street. But, me being my usual absent-minded self, I forgot my camera, so post will have to wait till Thursday. I only found out about this shop because daytauchung.com hosted a party there on Saturday night after having taken a group of AA (Architectural Association) students on a tour of Hong Kong.

Instead, just had to mention this NY Times article by Nicolai Ouroussoff: Restoring Kahn's Gallery, and Reclaiming a Corner of Architectural History, at Yale. Mainly because Kahn's Yale University Art Gallery was my favourite for the "Y" entry in Little Cream Book: Architecture. In the end, though, Kimbell Art Museum won over Yale as the Kahn representative. Reading the article made me a bit nostagic for the 3 years at Bryn Mawr I spent living in Erdman Hall (another Kahn work), by choice I might add (Erdman was one of the least favoured dorms on campus since most found Erdman cold). At least I can rest easy that Erdman Hall will not go the way of 1 Broadcast Drive, an apartment block in which I spent one year from 1979-1980. The Hong Kong government auctioned off the site a couple weeks ago. Sino Land won with a final bid of HK$1.94 billion or US$240 million (HK$9,868 per square foot)! In Hong Kong, you know you're getting old when your childhood memories start to disappear.

Digressing back to Bryn Mawr, had dinner on Friday at Lumiere (chosen out of practicality, but food turned out to be pretty good, although the bar ambiance was a bit to loud for diners) with a handful of alum and Prof. Toba Kerson, who's in town with her neurologist husband Dr. Larry Kerson to present a paper on the depiction of epileptic seizures in films at the 5th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health in Hong Kong this week (her thesis is that while depictions of other chronic illnesses such as cancer and AIDS in film have changed dramatically over the decades, depictions of epileptic seizures have not and continue to reinforce stereotypes). Definitely not a topic that comes up much at your typical Hong Kong dinner table conversation, but it was one that I found fascinating. She's trying to compare films across many cultures as well but hasn't come across any Chinese films yet. I'm still trying to come up with some, but coming up blank. Anyone with ideas?

Nan Lian Garden, Starbucks vouchers

A couple of cool things:

NAN LIAN GARDEN (The site's only in English, but here's the link to the LCSD info page in English.)
I visited the gardens yesterday evening with some family friends. We were led around the beautiful T'ang Dynasty style gardens by SC who has been volunteering with them, helping out with the website and various marketing and PR efforts. The gardens opened to the public just last month. I had already heard a lot of praise for the gardens from friends who have been. Normally, gardens aren't really my sort of thing, but I was really impressed with Nan Lian. First of all, it's so easy to get there! From the Diamond Hill MTR station, there are clear sign postings for the gardens that you can't help but find it! It's less than a 5-minute walk from the MTR. Once inside, I was really impressed with the quality of its design and construction (haven't seen such high quality of construction in HK in a long while!). I wish I had gone during the day so I could have taken more pictures, but suffice it to say, it is evident everywhere that a lot of heart and soul went into the creation of these gardens (the vision of the head nun at Chi Lin Nunnery. SC told me it was her dream to create a sort of T'ang Dynasty-land, an urban oasis of calm). The biggest surprise was the vegetarian dinner we had. It was delicious! So if you can get a group of 10-12 people together to tour the gardens, definitely worth booking a table at the second floor restaurant (set menu). If you're just a small group, you can also dine at the ground floor restaurant. There's also a tea appreciation pavillion (a pot of tea here costs HK$120, there's a limited menu of dim sum snacks). The garden is open to the public free of charge from 7am-9pm. There are limits on the number of visitors allowed to visit (1,000 people at any one time), so try to avoid weekends.

I love this detail here. This is on the corner of one of the pavillions to allow the water collected from the roof to flow down. They were so civilized back then! In present-day Hong Kong, we still have to contend with the nuisence of drops of condensation from air conditioners dripping on passers-by below.

STARBUCKS CHRISTMAS VOUCHERS
I just discovered a really cool thing about Starbucks' Christmas vouchers, which I stupidly had not realized in previous years. They're HK$250 for 10 vouchers, each good for a tall beverage customized any way you like it. Every morning, I order a double, tall, light toffee nut, non-fat, no-whip latte, which costs HK$33. With the Christmas vouchers, I save HK$8/day! Needless to say, I bought a whole bunch that should last me until they come out with Chinese New Year vouchers. Funnily enough, that same morning, I came across this Business Week article on how Starbucks is doing very well from sales of their loyalty cards. Don't think the cards would fly here, since we can pay using Octopus cards (HK's cashless payment card that's one of the great things about living here), but I love the fact that pre-paying for 10 coffees (which I would run through in less than 10 days), gives me a 24% discount!

ThreeSixty: Starting a health revolution in HK?

Over the weekend, I got some sad news about one of our ski instructors in Cortina. Apparently, M would not be able to join us for CNY skiing since she has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Perhaps BI, who has just completed a course of chemotherapy and is now undergoing radiation therapy and will be joining us in Cortina, can offer her some support. In any case, I wish M a very speedy recovery and return to the slopes!

So over the weekend, health was on my mind. As I was working out in the gym with PT, she mentioned having just checked out ThreeSixty, the new food store on the top two floors of Landmark. At first, I wasn't all that interested, thinking it was just another City'Super, Oliver's, Great or Gourment. But then, she mentioned it was like Whole Foods. Those who have read my post when I was in D.C. will know that I love Whole Foods. So of course, I jumped at the bait and immediately went to check it out after my workout.

ThreeSixty just opened last Tuesday and when I got there, it was bustling with people. In many ways, it does try to be Whole Foods, except ThreeSixty is still a whole lot smaller. And the fact that it's in Landmark makes it a lot less accessible to the masses (so I guess their health revolution is starting from the affluent. For the launch, though, they are partnering with three NGOs: Oxfam, WWF and Changing Young Lives Foundation, but I couldn't quite figure out what the partnership entails, i.e. whether part of proceeds are donated or whether it's free publicity for the organizations etc.)

Like Whole Foods, ThreeSixty has done a lot of work on their labelling. On fresh produce, country of origin and farming style (conventional or organic) as well as brief description of health benefits were marked on the label along with the price. Same with meats. There were lots of educational and informational pamphlets explaining the difference between conventional, organic or naturally-raised livestock. At the moment, though, I would say that the majority of the offerings are marked "conventional" (i.e. no different from what you might find at your local Park'N'Shop). But credit has to be given to ThreeSixty for clearly marking everything and for making consumers more aware of the differences of conventional vs. organic farming methods. It also uses labels to indicate which foods are suitable for certain diets (i.e. low-sodium, low-carb etc.) or when certain allergens are present (XTC's gelatos had milk marked on the allergen labels).

In the non-food area, I was happy to see products such as Seventh Generation toilet paper (free from chlorine bleaching) and non-toxic cleaning products. They also have the Wellness Centre that has a naturopath on hand to guide customers in their choices of health supplements and natural beauty products.

ThreeSixty probably has one of the nicest supermarket shopping environments in Hong Kong. Though, I imagine, they'll be wanting more space very soon. I took a couple of photos with my new HP iPAQ hw6965 (I am still waiting, with baited breath, for Apple's iPhone, but I just got fed up with Nokia's word completion on the cheap, basic Nokia I got in India that I just had to spring for a phone with a full keyboard and wifi) so please excuse the grainy quality of these pics:

25 Nov: Shop at Tod's to Benefit Mother's Choice

FY just forwarded an email invite to a Tod's special day of shopping in Hong Kong to benefit Mother's Choice. For tomorrow only (Saturday, 25 November from 10:30am to 7:30pm), "a special discount can be enjoyed and part of the sales will be donated to Mother's Choice". Participating stores are: Tod's Landmark in Central and Tod's Pacific Place in Admiralty only.

Tagged! & Tokyo wanderings through Meguro/Daikanyama

Just finished tagging all my previous posts. It's not a perfect system (for example, if you wanted to find all the posts on restaurants in Hong Kong, it's still probably easier to go through the results from google search function for the site), but basically there are two types of tags: destination (country, state/province, city.) or subject (such as hotels and restaurants that both take up 32% of my posts). The only subject tag that might require a bit of explanation is "services". Services encompasses everything from gyms, personal trainers, pilates instructors to spa & beauty services to telco, etc.

Here's the last bit from last weekend in Tokyo. While it rained on Saturday, it was absolutely beautiful on Sunday and Monday. I stayed with SM at her wonderful pad in Daikanyama. It was about a 15-20 minute walk to the Starbucks across from Shibuya station and only a 10-minute walk to Daikanyama station. On the way back from Shibuya Starbucks to the shopping around Daikanyama station, I decided to go for a detour along the streets behind Cerulean Hotel and got a little bit lost. But it was great, because I passed by lots of beautiful homes before finally following the Daikanyama loop bus to get back on track to my usual stop at Bonjour Records. This time, I found an awesome 24-hour food shop called Seijo Ishii. Great if you've run out of snacks and Champagne at 2am in the morning.

Here are some pictures of my walk. The Japanese are known for their politeness, so I just had to take a picture of this:

Elements of nice homes along the way:






Red leaves are coming!! As usual, global warming is just messing up the timing for red leaves and cherry blossoms.

From Chancery Lane, Hong Kong to Quito, Ecuador

The last time I strolled along Chancery Lane must have been on an Art Walk a few years back when I popped into 10 Chancery Lane, a gallery owned by Katie de Tilly, wife of an INSEAD alum. I've always liked the feel of this little lane, an oasis of quiet in the midst of busy Central in the area between Lan Kwai Fong and SoHo. I had reason to visit again when I found out that Kim Chung (owner of One Thirty One, one of my favourite restaurant retreats in Hong Kong that feels like you've escaped to a house on a European lake. 131 Tseng Tau Village, Sai Kung; T: +852 2791-2684) had just opened up a new gift/home accessories shop called just 2 girls (5 Chancery Lane, T: +852 2810 1488). KC had contacted me because they wanted to stock our books in their shop. It's a charming space and they sell a lot of really cute gifts for dogs and cats (KC even bakes dog biscuits!) as well as fashion and home accessories for their human owners. A great new addition for Christmas gift-shopping season! The best part is that they'll host a happy hour or aftyernoon tea party for you and your friends. It's a way for them to bring in more traffic to the otherwise quiet Chancery Lane and it's a fun way for you to spend some time with your friends drinking, chatting and shopping.

From this side of the world, our books are heading to another side of the world. The power of the internet to help small businesses expand globally never ceases to amaze me. While it's quite ordinary for us to sell our books to a shop in Hong Kong, it's quite exciting to get an order for our books from far-flung Quito! Actually, I guess it all started when we had requested permission from Quito Tourism Office to reproduce a picture of Quito's Church and Convent of San Francisco in our Little Cream Book: Architecture. When the book was pu