Hong Kong Dinning, Press Room

After walking for a while through Hollywood Road exploring antique stores and much more, we found this amazing cafe/bistro to get a snack and a cocktail, Press Room, it's a place so tastefully placed together I wanted to come back since the minute we walk into it.

The address is:
108 Hollywood Road

I would recommend making reservations for lunch or dinner, since the space is limited and it is a very popular place amongst hip locals. We scanned the menu and everything looked superb, unfortunately we had already grabbed lunch and we were looking for a dessert and some bubbly to cool off. The food is a combination of french cousine with a modern flare that makes it look a little more american without being burgers and fries, they have a great selection of fresh oysters and fish.

Prices are a la par with any trendy bistro in town, our mille feuille was a deconstructed version of, which was surprising, I absolutely loved it! The fresh strawberries were the perfect compliment for the creme fresh and the white sauce was not heavy at all! I regret not had the chance to have lunch here before we left...

There is another trendy cafe/bar next to Press Room called Classified, this one has small bites and lots of drinks! plus seating outdoors! they are extremely puppy friendly which is amazing and unusual in Asia! We did not had a chance to hang out there, but it seemed awesome!

If you keep walking down Hollywood Road there are many other restaurant and bars where all the international crowd hangs out, very entertaining, great place to meet people and watch international sports events!

Hong Kong, Jade Market

The streets of Hong Kong are always so busy, is no different in the Jade Market, two block size enclosed market areas where literally there's pretty much nothing else but jade... from strands of stones for you to buy and make your own creations to carved bracelets and pendants, going through earring and house decorations!

There are many different kinds of jade, the very milky ones that you can not see the light through them are not real and you should not pay more than $12 american dollars for any piece, when the jade is real your will know cause they'll start asking 3,000 yuans for the pieces, in that case depending on the work $80 - $100 dollars is a good deal. And home decoration stuff can go up to a couple thousand dollars in the right cases.

My favorite tent is Huang Xiao Jie, which is the one in the picture, make sure you hassle for at least 50% reduction of the price on your first purchase, then the lady becomes friendlier and you will get a better deal in the rest.

The address of the place is:
Shop 294, Jade Market
Kansu St, Yaumatei
Kowloon

Very near from this market is the Women's Market that actually sells more clothing and women's fashion accessories, and the electronics market is also around there, you just need to be very careful with the electronics sometimes they are fake!

Shanghai, Local Shopping, Garden Shopping Area

Omg is all I have to say, the Garden shopping area in Old Town Shanghai is the best place to find souvenirs and little gifts for the whole family and friends. This plaza is filled with stores with Chinese crafts, chinese candy, silk scarves, and much much more. Not only the architecture of the buildings is amazing, but the feeling of the place is awesome! The streets surrounding this place is also crowded with kiosks selling jewelry and anything else! 

The plaza is busy all day long,  crowded with locals shopping for their kids and people offering you fake watches, purses and electronics, be very careful, some times they ask you to go with them to buildings and offices apart from public view and robbery has occurred, it's best to avoid this type of conflicts in a foreign country.
 

There is a great amount of local food being sold in the street, but my favorite place is the tea house i n the top floor of the plaza, I can not remember the name, but once you get there and you ask about the traditional chinese tea house, people will point you to the right direction. My favorite part is the view, breath taking.

Followed by a traditional chinese tea ceremony in which we tried over 12 kinds of tea! Some were very yummy, some others, the medicinal ones were sour and not too good in taste, but it is a fun experience and if you have never seen it, I think you are in for a treat!

After you have tried all of your teas you are expected to get some to go, they are not cheap, but hey how many times you go to China!? My favorite tea of all is Jasmine tea, the sweetness of it makes me feel I am having dessert after a heavy meal and I do not know if this is with everyone, but it does not have any caffeine effect on me! Love it before going to bed! You can also try many medicinal teas, like for example some will help you clean your liver after a night of partying, some will help with your blood pressure and others release stress and stomach pains... there is a tea for every need, you just need to ask!

You can also find here tea sets and the always popular flower tea, which is nothing else than a big jazmine flower attached to a bunch of leaves, it looks very cool, but I have  to say paying 3 times more for the flower tea, is not a priority for me...

Hong Kong, Antique Shopping

I was surprised to see that Hong Kong has so many little antique shopping streets, it is confusing and makes it hard to be able to bargain between shops, you might never find the one you stopped by in the first place! Not to mention that most of the spots are fold up metal kiosks that have no name or actual business website or phone number, but I guess it is part of the adventure, and I love it!

Make sure you bargain for what you are buying, I got some really cute, carved Jade bracelets for $50 american dollars a piece, you might think these are pricy but they are not the $10 ones you find at the markets, this are actual natural jade and you can see it by looking through the stone when exposed to sunlight.

Anyways another cool place to explore is Masterpieces of Netsuke Art, this is an actual store front and they have everything from the regular jade necklaces and bracelets to antique vases and paintings. Do not forget to fight for a better deal even if it seems cheap, they expect you to go lower! The address is Shop No. 1, Evora Building, 3 Lascar Row.

In the same road you can find the cute kiosks I was talking about before, awesome to pick up some souvenirs to bring back home!

Shanghai, Local Shopping, Beers and more!

Tai Kang Road was the best kept secret in town, it was located in a residential area of the French Quadrant of the city, you had to literally walk through someones house to be able to get to the shops inside the Tai Kang Market. Today after it was discovered by tourists it has several entrances from the street, but you still get the feeling of walking through someone's backyard to get here, the market is a collection of hand crafted goods, souvenirs, local crafts and some goods exported from Mongolia and Tibet. There are also a lot of restaurants, bars and cafes, if you are a person who hates crowds and small spaces, you should not visit this area, the narrow aisles are crowded by locals and tourist in search of that perfect piece of art, or jewelry. The restaurants do not have over 6 tables each, and most of them just have a couple outside the kitchen and the rest of the customers are forced to get to go orders.

Amongst my favorite store in this place are:
YU, amazing jewelry, some hand made, some I think were fake replicas or look a likes of brand names, but hey it is China after all, what you expect....
Another one is this leather book retailer, I can not red their card but it has several names on it, Modove or Craftxm is the name of it, although it is the only place with handmade books/memoirs in the whole market so you won't have trouble finding it.
There is also a pet store that I seem to have lost the card for, but they have the cutest clothing for your pups, will have to warn you, it was pretty pricy!

This is a great scape from the typical tourist places that guides will take you to!

Shanghai Lunch, Yin par le Garcon Chinois

The only free day my hubby and I had in Shanghai we decided to explore the subway, well, bad idea, it is very complicated and unless you know exactly were you are going I would not recommend it. We were in the exploring mode, and got lost and somehow appeared in the medical center of Shanghai... Immediately we hailed a cab and 15 american dollars and 30 minutes later we ended walking around the Tai Kang Road area and found this amazing food plaza, where in the second floor there's this place called: Yin par le Garcon Chinois. The physical address is No. 4, Hengshan Road.

We had no idea what to expect, when we walked in, it was a nice place with exposed brick walls, very antique, parisian look, very romantic and intriguing. As we have learned in most of the restaurants in Beijing there was an extensive set menu option for lunch, which my husband had of course, this one included 3 course meal and a beer for $12 (american dollars approx) I in the other hand decided to order a la carte some mushroom salad, some beef and some noodles as well.

After 3 rounds of hot sake, several soft drinks and of course you can not leave a meal without some Jasmine tea, the bill comes and it was $50 american dollars approximately, it was an amazing 2.5 hours lunch with Lisa Ono tunes in the back and free wifi to check your email and stuff. The staff was a little surprised with our drinking habits, but they were friendly enough!

If you want to check out this awesome local hang out spot visit their website for more information:
www.yin-lgc.com
or you can also call them at:
021 546 650 70

Beijing, Blue Frog

One day after eating way too much chinese food, my sister and I decided to look for a good place to have some american style food, we ended up in Blue Frog, it is a cute, not really high end, but very nicely done american style bar, with a pool table in the second floor, and free wifi. They have several locations around the city and also in Shanghai. You should check them out, their drinks are well priced and their hamburgers are the bomb! many different topins to choose from!

They also have several pastas, wraps and salads to compliment their menu. The staff is very friendly and I am sure they have great happy hour specials!

Shanghai Lunch, Local Spot

We were done with our city tour and pictures at the Bund and we asked our guide to take us to a place were we can experience some local food. In such an western oriented city is easy to end up at not so local places every day for lunch and dinner... So our guide take us to: Guang Dong Road No. 471 - 475, it is a giant red, corner restaurant infront of the World Trade Center, phone: 635 225 I 28, not that it will help is you do not speak chinese...

While we were there, the Moon Festival was being celebrated, their moon pies must have been the best in town because there was a line of at least 200 people waiting to get their hands in such a traditional dish that is sold on every corner of the city, so this must be special cause people were waiting for hours to get some!

The place is so local they do not have a translation for their name, that's why I had to cite the location of the place instead...

The place is crowded by many people having lunch, we decide to get a private room since we are a group of 12 people, and order from their menu stuff like fried eel, peking duck, braised pork, and other delicatessen like shark fin soup, steam whole fish and abalone.

The menu is very extensive and well priced, the portions are big enough to share. I thought the seasoning on the dishes was excellent! The service was not so good, but we have found that already in all the local restaurants we have visited.

Definite an experience  you would not want to miss!

Hong Kong Dinning, Metropolitan Cafe

Located at:
Shop 008, LG1
Pacific Place
(88 Queensway)

You would think we did nothing but explore this shopping center, it is not the case, but I am curious of great food that is close to us in a rapid pase. We had another extraordinary and less fancy experience at Metropolitan Cafe.

It is very much life an American coffee shop that sells light pastas, soups, hot flat breads, sandwiches and made to order salads. The prices are reasonable, again being in such an exclusive area of town you are subjected to pay a premium, but he environment is really cute, and easy going.

The food quality and taste is very good as well, I had a chicken soup that almost tasted like the one I made at home, followed by a custom made salad, that was so big I shared it with my sister and it was plenty for both of us!


If you are in a rush, this is a great option!
Check out their website for other locations:
www.windy-city.com.hk

Hong Kong Dinning, Cova Restaurant

It was our first day in Hong Kong and we are so excited to have regular toilets in our disposition and be surrounded by English speaking people that our first thought was to find a good Italian restaurant where we can order a martini and relax.

We were not surprised to find, not one but several, high end restaurants at the Pacific Place Shopping Center, located under the hotel we were staying, JW Marriott. The place we choose it was a cute cafe-bistro style restaurant called Cova. It was a very nice, small, open bistro located in the third floor of the shopping center, as you would not imagine there was white glove service and a very elegant crowd!

In the menu there are only one way to order, by set menus, you do have two options, one a little more basic and less expensive and a second one with a little more sophisticated food, like lobster and steak. As we were not in the mood the get fancy, I decided to go with the salad bar and a duck ragu pasta that was out of this world.

The martinis were promptly placed in our table, ah, the simple joys of life, love to zip on a perfect martini after way too many failed attempts to have one in Beijing and other small cities in China.

The service was fast,  the food was out standing, the wine list was not too extensive but they had great wines, kind of over price, but you are dinning next to the Chanel store, what you expect....

I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, it was an amazing experience, btw the tiramisu is to die for!!

info: www.cova.com.hk

Food Trucks

This has been an increasing trend, now you see food trucks all over the city, today i tried my first one.... H town Streats, they set up shop at Willard and Montrose on Tuesdays, their menu is short but precise and very reasonably priced.



Great option if you are on the run!




Let me know some other ones you love!!

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Bulk Shopping

If you are looking for a safe place to get lots and lots of imitation brands and some local crafts as well, you need to stop by the Silk Street Market, completely remodeled for the Olympics, it is safe, clean and fun!

My favorite store there is:
Corul Jewelry
no 5118 - 5th floor Silk Street Market
Chao Yang District Beijing

they have all sorts of pearls and jade jewelry, the girls that work there are very nice, they will make custom stuff while you shop, and they are great for bargain, you never never want to pay full price on anything, unless you absolutely want it and you have 5 minutes to hail a cab during rush hour! lol

In here you can find "Polo" shirts, all sorts of golf accessories, Tommy Bahama's shirts, nicer quality leather goods and much much much more, come with lots of cash and lots of patience and time! I would advice you not to use your credit card in these places, you don't want to have your credit card "accidentally" double charge or cloned.... always be safe and carry cash for street shopping.


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On the way to the Great Wall

Our guide decided to stop by;
Beijing TangRenFuJiuDian
010 697 - 13776
010 897 - 15338

Local restaurant with giant selection of life fish in tanks that you can choose from and have cook any style! Also it has giant pictures of all their dishes so you can easily identify what would you have for lunch.

They also have a large selection of more exotic foods like frog, which you need to clarify NOT to be done in a soup, it is so spicy that it's uneatable. The same with the duck in that section.

But beside from that, their vegetable plates are amazing, surprisingly addicting is the eggplants comes in a grill with an amazing garlic and tomato sauce, we ordered seconds of this one! The flavors were so good and the portion gigantic!

Then we had a life fish steamed for us, and enjoyed a bunch of other local delicatessen, the service is very fast, but they scream a lot, like a lot lot! and definitely need to take a local speaker with you, if not it will be a lost cause!

But the food is spectacular, very local experience!

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Fine dining Beijing, Pick #3, Sadler Ristorante

My husband and I love to look online for different recommendations of places to stop by in an area we are exploring, we have read online several reviews about this restaurant that is located in the old American embassy, walking distance from the Forbidden City and lots of history between it's wall. So we stumbled into Sadler Ristorante.

No 23 Quan Men Dong Da Jie
Beijing 100006, China
010 - 6559 - 1399

The place was also Dalai Lama's residence for 7 years before his was exiled, and it was the same building were during Richard Nixon's presidency the first economic meeting were held between China and the USA.

The menu is extensive and pricy, but absolutely everything is amazing! They offer a menu option that come with a choice of appetizer, 2 entrees and dessert. It was too much food for me, but my sisters happily devour it, advice, stay away from the beef cheeks, also from the tuna on the fixed menu.

The bolognese is AMAZING! very very traditional italian and the halibut is excellent as well! And the pea soup are fabulous!

They will take their time and you need to be a little dressy to go there, avoid shorts and flip flops, Beijing is a very casual city, but there are a lot of nice restaurants as well.

Great place!

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Fine dining Beijing, Pick #2 Pearl

As we were staying at the Marriott, we decided to try one of their restaurants for dinner, we wanted to stay within the Asian flare so we chose Pearl, their main dining option.

The restaurant is very elegant and modern, the Chinese sobriety is still reflected in the vast amount of detail in the decor, the silk tapestry in the burnt gold chairs and much more.

The service is good, again do not expect to have a conversation in english with your waitress, they barely can help you answer simple questions as do you have diet coke? Which at sometimes is frustrating, but the food is amazingly cooked and beautifully presented.

Order the abalone, el comes with bock choy and a gravy of some sort two pieces for 288 RY
Also the BBQ pork is outstanding and the braised pork as well! It is so delicate you can feel the crisp of the skin on every bite!
They also have great vegetables, the sautéed mushrooms with bock choy are amazing! And for the more catonese eaters the fried rice and the beef with broccoli is always safe to order.

This same restaurant had a fixed menu during brunch where they offer dim sun, it is really good as well.

I would highly recommend this place, attire, business casual.

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Fine dining Beijing, Pick #1 Capital M

The most amazing food we tried in Beijing was at Capital M restaurant, it is located on No. 2 Qianmen St, Qianmen Pedestrian St, Floor 3. The plaza is still under construction, you might think it is not the right place, believe me, it is the right place! You will regret it if you miss it!

It is very elegant and not very touristy, trendy and chic locals hang out here, the food is superb and the views from their patio are extraordinary, we were there in an overacted night, and still seeing the illuminated Forbidden City roofs and Tianmen Square lights was amazing!

The menu is a combination of french fusion and modern European cousin I would say... the service is amazing, the atmosphere of the place transports you to a 1950's glamour hard to find these days. The food and drinks are pricy, but it is perfect for a special evening with loved ones! My favorite appetizer was the figs with pancetta and seared pears, oh my gosh, it was to die for!

Dress code: Dressy chic, guys are not required to wear a jacket but you see a lot of jeans with sports coats.

The presentation of the dishes is so pretty and elegant, our favorite entre was the Mushroom Risotto with Truffles, SUPERB! Also the veal paillard is great, the portions are not small, they are perfect!

As appetizers I think we will all agree in the figs with prosciutto, I gave it a solid 10!

Dessert wise, I would choose the Mille Feuille, it is so delicate and fresh you would think it was flown from La Duree, the orange soufflé is good, but nothing extraordinary.

I would go back to this restaurant in heart beat!!

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Catholic Church in Beijing

There are not many Catholic churches in Beijing, I found a real pretty one near the Forbidden City, the name is Xuanwumen Catholic Church, it is a beautiful Cathedral and it offers services in english on sundays at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm, the address is No. 141 Qianmen W. St (Outer w. Tian'anmen Square)

This will become in handy, believe it is not easy to find Catholic churches around the city.

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What NOT to expect in China, Beijing

1) Do not wear sandals, the streets are very dirty and dusty, also you have random pieces of glass and other stuff getting stuck on you!

2) Do not expect to get restaurant service after 9:45 pm

3) Do not expect people to speak english even in American driven hotels or restaurants.

4) Do not expect to finish a shopping transaction fast if you want to get a good price on things, if you want to pay the real price for anything give yourself at least 20 mins and lower the asked price by 50 - 60%

5) Do not expect to find Occidental style toilets in the streets! Specially in Beijing the only place for a tourist to use the restroom is in a hotel!!

6) Do not expect to find a cab pass 4 pm, we stood in line for a cab for over an hour!! and when we finally got one the driver decided that he would not take us cause it was his dinner time!

7) Do not expect to be in touch through Facebook or Twitter with your family or friends, it is blocked in regular computers, maybe you can get it in your iphone...

8) Do not expect to have one single free minute in your day! there are thousands of things to do and see!

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Marriott, City Wall, Beijing

As good South Americans my family followed the tradition of staying in Marriott hotels, we have been staying with the chain for over 20 years and really have not had any bad experiences so far..

For our Beijing stay we chose the City Wall location, curiously the largest of the Marriott outside the United States, the building is beautiful, very modern decor, with gigantic lobby and very nice bar. I will have to warn you they are not very fond of guests that do not consume alcohol while using the wifi at the bar, and drinks are very over priced.... but the good news is that there are plenty of little stores right outside the hotel where you can find snacks and soft drinks/beer to bring back with you.... Also if you are a Marriott rewards member the wifi in the room is free.

Another great thing about the hotel is it's location, when it is not rush hour you can get out of there in no time and be on your way, the problem is that all the new overpass constructions make it impossible to loop to the other side of the street in less than 15 mins, so keep that in mind when you plan to head out for tours or restaurant reservations.

The hotel is very well equipped with an amazing gym, fabulous spa and magnificent indoor pool! The room are very very nice and spacious for Asian standards, the bathroom has a bathtub and a standing shower, very big plus when you are walking 9 hours a day!

The restaurants in the hotel are amazing! The room service is nothing out of the ordinary, but it is not bad either... you will be better off paying for the buffet and eating a REALLY nice brunch! Think is around 180 Yuan a person, it is worth it!

Problem: NO FLUENCY in english! we had such a hard time trying to make people understand us! Frustrating at some times, but I guess they would think the same of us if they were visiting the US....

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Beijing Quanjude Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant

Our first night in Beijing and we all wanted to have the traditional Peking Duck, my grandfather remembered this place that claims to be the originators of this amazing dish!

The place is called: "Quanjude Hepingmen Roast Duck Restaurant", it is located very close to the Forbidden City, not much traffic at night, the building is gigantic so you wont miss it.

The restaurant is very local, very casual and not very fancy, but the food is amazing, well priced and fast! And on top of that it gives you a certificate with the tag of the duck you have ordered! Very cute!

260 yuan for whole duck....

People are very humble and nice, just remember to get there at last an hour before 9 pm, it closes very early!!! they also have a full menu a la carte with typical cantonese dishes.

Enjoy!

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Never fly UNITED internationally

Never ever ever travel international with United Airlines, it has been a nightmare, first of all avoid buying tickets on continental.com if they are operated by United. I have spent the last week trying to figure out how to convert my reservation to a United ticket so it can be linked to a Mileage Plus account they made me create, cause apparently although Continental and United are one company, their miles are NOT available to use in each others counters.....

So after spending a whole day on the phone with the Star Alliance desk splitting my reservation in bits and pieces, setting out my new mileage account and transferring miles, I finally get my husband and I in a first class fare.... They send the email confirmation but tell me the ticket will be issued at the airport upon check in.... Well, surprise surprise it was not done! My husband appear in their records and not me.... The incompetent people in the counter can not figure out how retrieve all of our accurate information, making this start of vacation a living nightmare! After one hour in the gate I have to settle with one first class ticket and one economy plus middle seat...

It gets even better 6 hours into the flight I decide to stretch my legs and go see my husband in first class and a very rude flight attendant, demands in a very aggressive tone for me to leave the cabin since this is exclusively for first class passengers, adding that if I have to talk to my husband he needs to go to the back of the plane.... Are you F....ING kidding me!

So here I am half way into my flight typing furiously cause there is going to be a long long long letter in the HR department at Continental and United as soon as we land.

Since when flying became such a hassle!? It is horrible, uncomfortable and with nasty toilets, so long Continental, it was nice while it lasted but I will NEVER take another flight longer than 3 hours in this carrier, it has been an absolute disaster!

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