Lollipop cake – C’est La B HK

Hello Dearest Readers, it’s finally Hump day meaning there’s only two days until the weekend 🙂 Work has been insanely busy for me lately so I’m definitely looking forward to relaxing this weekend! Anyhow, today I have a confession to make…and that is apart from being a sugar addict, I’m also a shopoholic! Yup I’m one of those crazy people who can’t go to the shops and leave without buying one or two things. And you know what’s worse…I’ve recently started shopping online, something I’ve purposefully avoided in the past! My first parcel arrived everything fit and looks great…so I’m worried I think this is a start of another addiction 😛

C’est La B in Tsim Sha Tsui, HK

Let’s move back to my addiction for sweets, back in July I managed to catch up with my friend Mary and she suggested that we try out the new C’est La B in Tsim Sha Tsui. I’ve had their cakes before when they were stocked at a nearby cafe and was quite impressed so was even more excited about visiting their actual cafe. We arrived at around 5pm on a Thursday and was surprised to find it quite empty, I liked the slightly eccentric and quirky interior design ~

Cake cabinet

My eyes glued to the glass cake cabinet as soon as we walked in, all their cakes are intricate and pretty, I’m not sure if you can see but that black and white checked cake on the top right is so perfectly made! I also liked how they had a lot of little individual cakes which is great when you want to order and share a few more flavours.

Awesome cake stand!

And we did exactly that, Mary suggested that we get 3 cakes and asked for them to be placed on a cake stand because she knew it’ll look great for photos. I love how my friends are so thoughtful 😀 and how cool is this cake stand with the Owner’s (Bonnae Gokson) initial on the bottom. Now I want to know where they got this and want to get one with ‘D’!

Madame Butterfly $60HKD ($8.2AUD) +10% Service fee

This is the ‘Madame Butterfly’ it has a sable base, followed by a chocolate sponge cake, pistachio and lastly an intensely red beetroot cake. I found the flavours for all the layers to be quite light and hard to distinguish from each other, however, the texture was moist and fluffy.

Paradise $60HKD ($8.2AUD) +10% Service fee

I wasn’t sure what the ‘Paradise’ cake was but Mary assured me that it’s good, turns out it was a Lavender Taro Chiffon Layers with a hint of Coconut Cream & Glazed Young Coconut and it was amazing! The taro flavour was pronounce in the sponge cake, but the taro buttercream was definitely my favourite. I knew Lianne would’ve loved this cake because we’re both fans of Taro!

Cheesecake with Queen Anne Cherries $60HKD ($8.2AUD) +10% Service fee

The last on the stand was the ‘Vanilla Bean Cheese cake with Queen Anne Cherries’, I’m not too sure what Queen Anne Cherries are but I’m pretty sure they’re a type of variations and these ones were covered in a type of sugar syrup. Mr Bao liked the cheesecake the most, it had the same sable base as the first cake, the cheesecake filling was soft and full of vanilla bean flavour.

Lollipop Cake $60HKD ($8.2AUD) +10% Service fee

We were already pretty satisfied but you know me… still wanted to try more. I really wanted to try the colourful rainbow cake, which is the ‘Lollipop Cakes’ it is actually a limited cake and currently only available at the Tsim Sha Tsui. It’s a Vanilla chiffon cake with rainbow tones and in the middles there’s a  cherries and jelly mousse, white chocolate crisps and served with colourful popcorn. The chiffon cake was made very well, and the filling wasn’t too rich, overall really impressed.

Green tea latte $55HKD ($7.5AUD) +10% Service Fee

Mary and I both got the Green Tea Latte, we found that it had too much ice and quite watery and definitely did not have enough matcha flavour which is a shame because it would’ve complimented the cakes so well.

Peach tea $65HK ($8.5AUD) +10% Service Charge

I prefered Mr Bao’s Iced Peach Tea more as it had more flavour and less ice, we also liked the pieces of peach in the tea, it was definitely refreshing and welcomed as it was so hot and humid in Hong Kong.

C’est La B is located in Harbour City a super busy shopping centre on Canton Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, perfect place to place to chill and relax after you’ve maxed out your credit cards 😛 We enjoyed the cakes we had at C’est La B and will return to try their other cakes, I know that they’re releasing a cookbook soon, so I’m excited about getting that too so I can try making some of their cakes at home.

C’est La B
Shop G111, G/F Gateway Arcade, Harbour City,
Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,
Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 3102 2838
Hours: 9am-11pm daily

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Matchaholic’s Dream – Sin Mei Tea

So my Dearest Readers I have a lot of sweets that I like but there are some flavours that I’m crazy about and one of them is MATCHA! For those who aren’t familiar Matcha is powdered form of Japanese green tea, depending on the strength of the matcha it can have a unique flavour and can in some cases be quite bitter. That’s why I find it’s either a flavour you like or don’t like 🙂

Sin Mei Tea – Can you see Sin Mei in the background? 🙂 

I have been very lucky and have met quite a few Matchaholics in Hong Kong especially Minnie (Instagram @minnie2mac) she is the biggest matchaholic that I know ~ I have been drooling over her matcha desserts and drinks she’s been indulding at Sin Mei Tea in Hong Kong. That’s why I put it on the top of my list this time going back!

CS Tower in Sheung Wan

Sin Mei Tea is actually named after the owner herself, Sin Mei. She is a tea lover and came up with the idea of a modern tea cafe because she felt that this was something Hong Kong lacked. You might be a little confused when you arrive at Sin Mei Tea, because it’s located in a commercial building on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan. But don’t worry just head up the elevators and when you arrive on level 5, you will immediately smell the tea and a chic cafe.

Matcha Snow White $42HKD ($5.8AUD)

I managed to persuade few people to go with me so I could try more things ~ Mr Bao, Minnie, Ivan (@ivanypng) and Yuki (@yukis_world). It’s summer in Hong Kong so everyday is like over 30 degrees and extremely humid so we all started off with a refreshing drink. I was the first to order and got the Matcha Snow white, which is like an iced matcha latte with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. It was rather milky and creamier than I expected, matcha flavour was subtle and I would’ve liked some more but was quite refreshing.

Matcha Mojito $42HKD ($5.8AUD)

Mr Bao wanted something less creamy and chose the Matcha Mojito with matcha, fresh mint leaves, lime and soda. We both agreed that the mint was quite overpowdering and definitely down played the matcha flavour, but he still enjoyed it finished it in a flash.

Soya Matcha $42HKD ($5.8AUD)

Minnie is like a VIP here lol I swear she comes here at least once a week. That day she felt like a Soya matcha which is similar to my Matcha snow white without the ice-cream and was made from soy milk instead. I had a sip and found that the soy milk matched the bitterness from the matcha quite well and gave it an extra nutty flavour hmmm I think I’ll order this next time 🙂

Matcha chiffon cake with matcha icing $38HKD ($5.2AUD)

Now that we’re done with drinks it’s time for matcha flavoured desserts! First thing we got was the matcha chiffon cake with matcha buttercream frosting. I find my matcha cakes tend to be a little dry and sometimes dense, so I was really impressed with the light airy texture of this chiffon cake. The green tea flavour in the cake was once again a little on the lighter side, but the intense matcha frosting definitely made up for it. I could’ve just ate the frosting and I’d be happy!

Matcha panna cotta

The matcha panna cotta was actually a special request from Minnie and Ivan, Sin Mei doesn’t make it every day and when she does they’re usually sold out within hours! So glad we got one each because this was definitely the richest, smoothest matcha panna cotta I have ever had! I also liked the mango slices on top that was shaped liked a flower 😀 Put a smile to my face! I may or may not have got the recipe from Sin Mei ~ But not sure if she’ll be happy for me to post it onto my blog but I’ll ask and hopefully will have the chance to share it with you too!

Matcha fondant with vanilla ice-crema $68HKD ($9.3AUD)

One matcha dessert that I can make and do it reasonably well at home, would be a matcha fondant, do you remember the giant one I had at Intercontinental Hotel at the start of the year? This was definitely much smaller but still just as good.

Perfect texture!

We carefully made an incision and slowly but steady a flow of green lava started oozing out, and that’s why I realised that it’s much thinner and smoother than my batter at home… meaning I have some experimenting to do! As for taste and texture it was close to spot on for me, just personally because I am such a matchaholic I would’ve added maybe a tiny tad more of matcha but if not it’s pretty much a perfect matcha fondant!

Matcha Cheesecake $40 ($5.5AUD)

Just when you thought I couldn’t have enough matcha desserts, the last one was the matcha cheesecake, digestive base then a thick layer of matcha cream cheese. Ummmm we actually had two of them hehe and the first one had a merengue topping but wasn’t very photogenic so I think the naked one looks better ~ This had a good matcha flavour and bitterness was balanced out quite well with the cream cheese. Next on to make list ‘matcha cheesecake’!

Matcha Soul $32HKD($4.4AUD)

I was close to being matchaed-out but Sin Mei was so kind and made me their signature ‘Matcha Soul’ latte, which has green tea, soya milk, honey, almond, sultanas and cinnamon flowers. Wow it has so many flavours that it’s quite hard to describe, but I think the best way would to be say it’s like a Matcha chai latte. It has the matcha flavour in the background but on top it has the cinnamon flowers, sweetness from the sultanas and honey. It gets a little complex with the soya milk and faked almonds but if you like chai latte and matcha this is THE drink for you 😉

That concludes my first visit to Sin Mei, I’m sure it’s not going to be my last, because I thoroughly enjoyed both the sweets and drinks ~ Sin Mei is also very friendly and turns out she’s an Aussie too! She use to live in Brisbane but moved back to Hong Kong a couple of years ago 🙂 Sin Mei Tea is definitely any matchaholic’s dream come true!

Sinmei Tea House
5/F, CS Tower, 50 Wing Lok Street
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
上環永樂街50號昌盛大廈5樓
PH:3690 8238

 

 

Winter Break – HK Summer 2013

My smart clever Readers 🙂 Have you noticed once again I have gone quiet? Less posts and definitely slower at replying to your lovely messages? I’m terribly sorry! But I’ve actually flown back to HK for a Winter Break and spend some time with family and friends! This post is more of an update of what I’ve been doing lately ~

Grab n Go!

There’s a few reasons why I’m back first is to celebrate my Dad’s birthday! It’s been a couple of years since I’ve celebrated his birthday with him, as I’m usually in Melbourne during this time 🙂

Dad’s birthday cake

How pretty is this fruit cake! The base is an almond sponge cake then topped with smaller sponge cakes, fresh cream and covered with loads of fruit! My nephew and niece and were excited and kept asking for more hehe

Birthday Boy

Then two days later was Aden’s 3rd birthday party!!! His favourite character is Buzz Lightyear so that was the theme of the party ~ I rarely go to Kid’s parties but this one was fun with loads of games and food for the kiddies! Hahaha I love this picture of him and the rainbow afro!

I’m a proud Auntie!

I don’t post many photos of myself…but I’m a super proud Auntie so a Selfie with Aden is most appropriate 😛 Wished I had more time to spend with this little man!

I have also been doing a LOT of EATING!!! Something I do very well 😀 oh and don’t forget the shopping hehe! Starting with the first meal was Chinese with my family and we always get steamed fish! I’m not a fan of rice but can eat a bowl when its drenched in the soy sauce ~

Steamed Fish

I’ve had Japanese with my Uni friends 🙂 Hong Kong people really like Japanese food so there’s quite a lot of establishments and some are really quite good!

Japanese for dinner

I’ve revisited Tim Ho Wan and took Mr Bao for the first time 🙂 Of course we couldn’t leave without getting their BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun! Love the contrast between the sweet bun and the salty filling.

Tim Ho Wan – BBQ Pork Pineapple Bun

I’ve also managed a few fine dining lunches with Win Win 🙂 We had such an amazing lunch at L’atelier de Joel Robuchon. Look

Seared Hokkaido scallops with crunch diced vegetables

The dessert was even more impressive! It’s a surprise chocolate ball where hot chocolate fudge was poured over to sightly melt the ball and the vanilla ice-cream. Of course it tasted wonderful and absolutely blew me away 😉 If it wasn’t such a high end restaurant I might’ve licked the plate clean!

Surprise Chocolate Ball with crunchy pecans

Afternoon teas are one of my favourite activities, and managed to try their new tea set at The Lounge (Four Seasons Hotel). I nearly always pay them a visit, their desserts are always so pretty, and I have dubbed the little petit for a flower as the ‘Daisy Lychee Cake’!

Afternoon at Four Season Hotel

I’ve also gone on a bit of a Japanese green tea ‘Matcha’ phase and been searching high and low for the best MATCHA desserts in Hong Kong 🙂 That’s how we ended up at Sin Mei Tea House in Sheung Wan, everything we was Matcha! Can’t wait to blog about it!

Green Tea Cheesecake at Sin Mei

I also visited my Grandma who’s in her mid 80’s but still just as strong and fit, she’s an amazing cook and made all my favourite dishes when we went for dinner. My grandma is from Ning Bo the Northern part of China so her dishes are heavily influenced from those region and very different from Cantonese food. Just wished I was back more often and get to spend more time with her and eat her delicious dishes.

Grandma and Me

That kind of sums up what I have been doing for the past week or so 🙂 I also made a short trip to Taipei with Win Win, but I’ll tell you about our adventures that next time! Hong Kong is still an exciting city and definitely my home away from home, especially with all my family being here ~

Hong Kong my home away from home

I hope you have also had a great week 🙂 And looking forward to coming back and sharing the stories with you all xox

Delicious and Affordable – Shyun

I remember when I was at University, so many people would tell me “Enjoy when you can, because once you start work…it’s not the same”. And back then I didn’t think it was going to be true, how bad can working be…and even though I’m very fortunate to work in a good company with a great team. I really do miss my Uni days… only having 12 contact hours, being able to get up at 12pm every day, going out late at night and my only job was to ‘study’ 😀 Even though, those days are gone now, but it’s nice to revisit cafe and restaurants we use to go all the time to relive those memories.

Shyun is definitely one of the places we use to a lot because it was only a short 5 minute drive from Uni. It wasn’t until I started blogging that I realised that Shyun is actually quite well-known and well blogged about too ~ My best friend Sasa and I use to be late for our classes just so we can have lunch at Shyun and it’s partly my fault because I always got dessert lol

Bento (Terriyaki tofu, sukiyaki beef) $10

A few weeks ago, Mr Bao and I happened to be around the area so we decided to have late lunch at Shyun ~ Although I don’t go to Carnegie as often now, not much has really changed. The menu has remained generally the same, I’m boring so ordered what I always get which is a DIY bento, where you get to choose the dishes of your choice. There are quite a few options to choose from such as tempura, karaage chicken, terriyaki beef and many more. The bento also comes with rice and potato mash and sometimes a little gyoza. I decided to go with the Terriyaki Tofu and the Sukiyaki Beef.

The terriyaki tofu was coated in a light translucent paste and then covered in sweet terriyaki sauce and even though Mr Bao likes his meat he gave the thumbs up to this tofu ~ The sukiyaki beef was thinly sliced beef marinated and sautéed in sukiyaki sauce, I could really taste the mirin. Only compliant about this was the beef was a little overcooked and the meat seemed a little tough but flavours were great.

Chirashi $17.90

Mr Bao loves his sashimi so decided to get the Chirashi which is a slices of sashimi on a bed of rice and finished off with some salmon roe. We were both impressed with the generous amount of sashimi that was given but would have liked some more salmon roe. The fish was fresh and definitely help curb Mr Bao’s cravings for sashimi ~

Shyun Rolls $13

Mr Bao had skipped breakfast so he was still hungry and continued to order more food… lol what’s new? He wanted to try the Shyun special rolls, which is a sushi with a prawn and cucumber filling in the middle and on top was a thin slice of raw salmon, salmon roe and Kewpie mayonnaise. I’m not sure if I’ve told you before, but Mr Bao previously trained and worked as a sushi chef for about 8 months 🙂 He was very happy with these sushi rolls, saying the rice was cooked perfectly and had a good amount of vinegar that wasn’t overpowering.

Gyoza $5.30

We also got the Gyoza the pan-fried dumplings, I really liked the filing with pork and vegetable but I found the dumpling skin to be a little thick and didn’t really have that crispy fried base.

Chawan mushi $7.90

I really shouldn’t order anymore but couldn’t resist ordering the Chawan mushi which is a steamed egg dish with chicken pieces. I always order this when I see it on the menu as I find not many places do this dish, it’s a very simple dish but so comforting to me and I love the soft velvety texture of the egg. This one had chicken pieces, but I’ve had others with crab sticks before which I think compliments the egg flavour even better 😀

They have definitely extended the dessert menu since the last time I visited because they had Green tea chiffon cake! YAY! It was nicely plated on a brown piece of baking paper with a little tub of whipped cream and a dollop of red bean paste. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment, I could barely taste the matcha flavour in the chiffon cake, and it had a very dry dense texture which resembled more of a butter cake.

Green tea chiffon cake $4.5

We also tried the Homemade baked cheesecake, if you’ve had Japanese cheesecake before you will notice that it is very light in flavour and texture compared to say your New York Cheesecake. I personally prefer the richer and dense cheesecakes, but this was perfect after such a large meal with had. I also liked how they cut it in up bite sizes 🙂

Homemade baked cheesecake $4.5

Shyun is still just as good as I remembered it to be ~ serving delicious and affordable Japanese food. I just wished it was closer because I know we will be regulars again if it was closer to home.

Hot Steamy Sexy – 50 Shades of Chocolate Book + Giveaway *WINNER ANNOUNCED*

To my loveliest Readers have you read Fifty Shades of Grey the erotic adult novel? I know it was huge last year and was a sell out, sales even surpassed JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

I actually never got around to reading the book ~ My colleagues were obsessed and some finished it without days! While others said it was written quite badly and told me not to bother 😛 Having said that they’ve told me enough about the story line and I still don’t really understand the complex and absurd  relationship between Ana and Christian.

Anyhow, moving away from the Fifty Shades of Grey, have you heard or seen this book 50 Shades of Chocolate? 😉 I first saw it in a news agency last year during my lunch break at work and couldn’t help but blush at some of the photos taken in this book, they were definitely raunchy, sexy and leaves a lot of room for imagination!

This is one of the more milder photos in the book 😛 It is written by Claire Preen the chocolatier and owner of Blue Mountain Chocolate Co in Sydney. In the book she shares her favourite chocolate recipes but also some more unique ones such as 6 aphrodisiac chocolate recipes 😛 and also Edible Chocolate Massage Body Oil.

I was recently sent a copy of 50 Shades of Chocolate and was also permission to share a recipe with you 🙂 I wanted to keep the recipe G-rated so Mr Bao and I chose a Shamelessly Chocolatey Cheesecake. He did complain that the book was very distracting to cook with hahaha

Recipe – Shamelessly Chocolatey Cheesecake from Claire Preen

Yield – 23cm cake

Ingredients
150g plain digestive biscuits
50g milk chocolate buttons
80g butter
500g cream cheese
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
150g white chocolate, tempered/melted
150g dark chocolate, tempered/melted
1 1/2 cup thickened cream
100g milk chocolate

Notes
*Recipe asked for tempered chocolate using the recipe in the book, but if you don’t have the book simply melt the chocolate in the microwave or a bain-marie.

Method
1) Either crumb biscuits and add 50g milk chocolate in a food processor or place biscuits and chocolate in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin to ‘bash’ them into little pieces.

2) Tip crumbs into a bowl and add the melted butter. Combine using your fingertips, place and press crumb mixture into the bottom of a lined cake tin. Place in the fridge to set.

3) Beat the cream cheese, sugar and milk until it is velvety and smooth. Split the mixture in  between 2 bowls. Pour the white chocolate into one bowl and the dark chocolate into the other. Stir. Then gently fold the cream through the chocolate mixtures.

4) Pour your dark chocolate mixture over the biscuit base and freeze for 10 minutes. Lightly pour the white chocolate mixture onto the dark chocolate. Leave to set.

5) Decorate the top by dusting cocoa powder and grated chocolate.

This was seriously a chocolatey cheesecake, with the rich dark chocolate layer then the lighter and sweeter white chocolate layer on top ~ I of course shamelessly ate this cake with a lot of joy 😀

Now thanks to Word Storm one lucky Reader will get the chance to win their own copy of 50 Shades of Chocolate! So then you too can make your own aphrodisiac chocolate treats for you and your partner hehehe

To enter this giveaway:
– Leave a comment and tell me will you make that Edible Chocolate Massage Oil recipe in the book? 😛
– Please like the 50 Shades of Chocolate Facebook page (you must like this page to enter)
– For more entries please ‘Like’ me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter ~ If you’ve already done that please let me now! Thank you!
– Giveaway ends on the 12th June (Wednesday) 
– You may reenter daily, one entry a day
– Winners will be chosen by random.org and announced on this blog and notified via email
– Open only to all Australian residents (Sorry International Readers!)

Winner Announced

 Congratulations Lianne you are the winner of this giveaway! YAY! So happy I think you’ll really enjoy this book 🙂