The Fireplace at the Hyatt in Manila

February is one of my favorite months of the year. Why? It's my birthday month! That's right, month. I like to milk the celebrations and use it as an excuse to eat out and enjoy life even more.

On my actual birthday, my family and I were adventurous for something new. So we tried out The Fireplace at the Hyatt Hotel along the Manila Bay. We also pass the restaurant when we go to Li Li, the Chinese restaurant. The Fireplace is well decorated and highlights their fireplace, in which they cook most of the proteins.

Overall, the food was pretty good, along with the service. But, the prices are steep especially compared to what you can get at other steak houses in this area. Also, at the end of the meal, we asked for a piece of bread to take home and the kitchen refused. Despite what we paid, they insisted we pay for a tiny piece of bread! More on that under the "Notes" on the bread picture on the slide show below. After an incident like that, we're not too inspired to ever go back. Repeat customers come back because of the overall experience.

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Paella at Home

My mom's signature dishes, even if she describes them as "party food", are my all time favorite comfort foods.

After coming from a trip and eating out a lot, it's really enjoyable to stay in and enjoy a high quality meal at home. One of my mom's signature dishes is her paella. I totally believe I'm not saying this because she's my mom, but I think she's got one of the best paella's out there. We've tried so many across Spain and the U.S., and they don't come close. Not even Jose Andres's paella is as good as my mom's. It's a bold statement, but I stand by it. Perhaps Chef Andres should accept my BFF invitation (and BFF invitation, part 2) and try out my mom's paella!

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Hong Kong Museum of History

Whether it's a city I live in or a city I'm visiting, I love going to museums! The whole activity of going to a museum takes you away from the routine of every day life and the chaos from city life. For those quiet hours, you get to jump into the culture you are exploring. It's not just through traveling, but also in these museums that you learn so much about culture and life.

For a late morning activity before lunch, and instead of the usual shopping or eating, I visiting the Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui. If you have a couple hours and find yourself curious about the history of Hong Kong, I highly recommend this museum! But, if you go on a weekday get ready for loud and chaotic school kids running around.

These are some of the food related pictures from the museum:

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Dining at the W in Hong Kong

What I love about staying at nice hotels is that, more often than not, the hotel restaurants are really good. In our latest stay in the W Hotel in Hong Kong, their newest restaurant opened. Sing Yin serves traditional Cantonese cuisine in a contemporary atmosphere. The prices are definitely hotel prices, so it will likely attract more tourists and expats than locals. The food, though, is authentic and quality. They served one excellent and generous plate of roast goose! A memorable plate like that makes me tempted to go back again another time.

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Hot Pot in Hong Kong!

I love the change of seasons. The weather changes, the scenery changes.. and the food changes! Seasonal ingredients and seasonal meals.

When the weather gets colder in Hong Kong, people bulk up in their jackets and coats, and they head in groups to enjoy some hot pot. Growing up, I've been more accustomed to Japanese Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki. To experience hot pot in Hong Kong is such a treat!

My best friend, who is a great guide for local eating, took me to a local place in Wan Chai called Tack Hsin (the site is all in Chinese. This review is pretty good if you want to see an English write up).

What I loved about this style of hot pot is that you get to choose your base broth. When the broth comes out in the middle of the table, it's already so delicious. This is a list of broths offered.

I hope the weather is still cold the next time I'm in Hong Kong! I can't wait to discover more local eats!

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One of my favorite lunch spots in Hong Kong - Ye Shanghai

Whenever I visit one of my favorite cities in the world, I usually go to back to restaurants that I really enjoyed from previous visits. One of those restaurants is Ye Shanghai. Ye Shanghai serves traditional Shanghainese cuisine. I mostly grew up with Cantonese cuisine during Sunday dim sum meals or family dinners. Since I've been traveling in other parts of Asia, I've been really enjoying Shangainese and Taiwanese cuisines.

At Ye Shanghai, both the dim sum and the entrees are delicious and memorable. The setting is clean and contemporary. The food is quality,fresh, and authentic! I love discovering new items on the menu each time we visit. On this particular trip, I tried and fell in love with the River Shrimp and the Crispy Roasted Chicken. Soo good! I can't wait to go back!

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Crispy, Crunchy Katsu

One of my favorite food cities is Tokyo. Japanese food is one of my top three favorite cuisines (right up there with Spanish cuisine). So to have one of my favorite meals in Tokyo thrills my palate and stomach. On our last trip to Tokyo, about 7 years ago, we kept going back to Katsukura. The katsu there is amazing - so flaky, crispy, crunchy coated all around a succulent slice of Japanese pork.

The bar is set high for a great katsu place elsewhere in the world. When my family and I come across a katsu place that has a nice atmosphere, we get really excited to try it out. We did just that in Hong Kong.

Tonkichi Tonkatsu has several locations throughout Hong Kong. We dined at the Tsim Sha Tsui location on Canton Road. Overall, we had a good experience. It didn't come near our standard in Tokyo, but it was a satisfying meal because of the crispy, crunchy, flakiness of the pork katsu.

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First Meal in Hong Kong - Lunch, Part 2

Lunch, Part 2! Right across the walkway (less than 10 steps away) is my favorite sushi place in all the cities I've been to, that aren't in Japan. Sen-ryo is a casual but high quality sushi restaurant. It serves most of the sushi and sashimi via a conveyor belt, but you can still order any of the items and more from the menu. In the states, most sushi boat places are of mediocre quality. They are just for cheap eats to fill your stomach. Here in Hong Kong, that's completely not the case!

Compared to sushi prices (for the same quality of sushi) in the states, this place is a cheap eats sushi place. You can get a pair of premium toro sushi (that cut of awesome tuna belly) for less than $7 USD. The same goes for a pair of fresh, plump uni sushi. I can eat here all day.

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First Meal in Hong Kong - Lunch, Part 1

Since I've been going to Hong Kong for this past year, I've been staying at the W Hotel because of it's unbeatable convenience (Airport Check-In, Airport Express Train, MTR lines). The hotel is located within the Elements Mall, which has boutique shopping and a selection of restaurants and cafes.

While waiting to check into our room, we had our first meal in what is turning out to be one of my favorite restaurants in Elements Mall, Xia Mian Guan. Whenever we eat here, we usually pair it with the restaurant across the walkway, Senryo (to be feature in my next post in two days). So because Xia Mian Guan opens a half hour earlier, we started the first part of our lunch here.

Noodles and steamed dim sum is soo comforting after a long haul flight from San Francisco. This place totally welcomes you into Hong Kong.

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A Five-Star Steakhouse Meal at Home

Our local butcher in Las Vegas, The Butcher Block, is our go-to place for some of the best quality steaks. For one of our last meals at home in Vegas, my dad usually grills some steaks. At $50 per pound of New York Steak, we hesitated for a moment and considered going to a five star steak house on The Strip. But, we realized that the way we eat at home (the cooking, the wine, the table setting) is just as five star as in a restaurant out on The Strip. Plus, these steaks, if you know how to cook them, are so worth the price.

One of the greatest joys in life is savoring each bite of a melt-in-your-mouth quality steak. Pair it with a good sauce and a well-aged wine - happiness.

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Jaleo - Tapas by Chef Jose Andres

To further my fangirl status for Chef Jose Andres, my family and I went to Chef Andres's other Las Vegas restaurant, Jaleo. Jaleo is also located in the new Cosmopolitan Hotel. It has traditional Spanish tapas with Chef Andres's touch.

The design of the restaurant is open and inviting. We were so fortunate to get the coolest table in the house - the foosball dining table! As soon as we were seated, we were given the ball to play throughout our meal. (Read more about the table in the pictures below.)

The food is delicious, inspiring, and awesome. Andres manages to retain the essence of traditional Spanish tapas while integrating his playfulness. The tapas become even tastier than the traditional ones because of how he can enhance flavors and textures and use excellent ingredients. Plus, his presentation of tapas makes you want to order more and more plates to see how they'll come out. Unfortunately, our one disappointment was the presentation of the paella (simply on a plate). The next time I'm back in Vegas, I need to go back to see if they'll improve on that. Plus, it's a great excuse to eat more of his food.

His playful personality really comes out in his food. What a cool, fun, chef! Really, let's be BFFs, Chef!

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