Saying Goodbye to Sevva

This stunning dining room will close its doors

Socialite and Sevva hostess with the mostess Bonnae Gokson looked different today. Then I realised she hadn't used eyeliner to accentuate her eyes. Instead she wore sunglasses indoors donning a thin sweater and jeans as she sat inside her restaurant, surveying who walked by her.

At one point she leaned over and whispered, "Do you know who is sitting behind you? She owns Lee Gardens."

One of the best views of the city at Sevva

The top floor restaurant and bar in Prince's Building in Central that has one of the best skyline views of the city is closing on April 17 after 16 years, and many fans of the place have been booking reservations to eat and drink there one last time. 

Gokson says she was forced to close after Hong Kong Land claimed it was looking to freshen up the space with a new food concept. And given the current challenging economic climate, she has decided the time is not right to reopen elsewhere or do something else. 

So now practically everything in the restaurant is for sale, from the cutlery and glasses to the light fixtures and wine. She said people have even asked her if she is selling the wall full of plants is for sale. 

Sevva was the place to see and be seen, with a list of celebrities from Pharrell Williams, Jennifer Lopez to David Beckham, Sting, Bill Clinton and Robert De Niro having visited the restaurant when they came through Hong Kong.

Vik Muniz's artwork graces the dining room

During the 16 years in business, Gokson organised numerous events such as drag queen Courtney Act, and musician Alfredo Rodriguez. She also invited Nikki Yanofsky, a singer from Montreal to perform, and another time chef David Hawksworth from Vancouver to cook.

When I asked Gokson what she would miss most about Sevva, she said the people, meaning her staff. Many of them are loyal employees for years.

Before I left I asked her if I could have a last tour around the place and she obliged. One of my favourite art pieces is the meticulously designed collage by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, an homage to Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergere. It will have a new owner.

And that ceiling with so many strands of coloured glass decorated with flowers... Gokson had spent a lot of money and time renovating the place in 2019 to bring back customers, but then the protests disrupted business for many months, then the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gorgeous colourful chandeliers

Yet Gokson persevered, but was eventually stopped by the landlord from continuing to deliver good food, service and a classy ambience for her guests, many of them socialites who are wondering where they can hang out now.

"Jimmy's Kitchen!" she said and laughed.

After Sevva closes on April 17, everything will be taken down and then stripped to bare concrete to hand over to the next tenant. Gokson explained this could only be done at night, which will take three nights and cost millions of dollars.

What a way to go.

Not Dressing for the Occasion

Beware this hotel has a specific dress code!

This morning I met up with a friend for a tea at the lobby of the Peninsula Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui.

He is known for wearing T-shirts, loud Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts and flip flops. But today he dressed up and wore a collared shirt, shorts, and a pair of Birkenstocks.

When he asked if they served tea and coffee, the Peninsula staff replied yes; when he asked what else they offered they did not reply.

At first we were seated near the foyer of the lobby, but after we sat down, they suggested that since the gentleman was not appropriately dressed, we should sit by the window, away from other guests to avoid attracting attention. We obliged, still confused.

Turns out the hotel does have a specific dress code for each of its restaurants here: 

In the case of The Lobby, it says: "Smart casual wear is permitted. Exercise attire (including vests or exercise pants) or footwear for the beach (including flip flops, beach sandals or plastic footwear of any sort) is not allowed when dining at the restaurant."

But given the times we're in now, where the business climate is "challenging", the hotel had to accept us, sandals and all.

In the end they did serve us our teas (jasmine for him, mint for me), and even gave us four small sweet bites to eat. 

But it was quite the cold reception at "The Grand Old Lady"!

MTR is Hong Kong's Pride and Joy

The Tuen Ma line is very efficient

The MTR system continues to grow in Hong Kong, and I experienced first hand how convenient it is to commute from the New Territories to Central in minutes.

This morning I went to Yuen Long to visit a friend who has a 15-month-old boy and another baby three months old. She made it easier for me by suggesting we meet in Yoho Mall, which is attached to the Yuen Long MTR station.

It took me just under an hour to get there from North Point by going to Admiralty, then taking the East Rail to Hung Hom, and changing to the Tuen Ma line, the longest line on the MTR network. 

But going back to Central, it only took 30 minutes, by going from Yuen Long to Nam Cheong then to Hong Kong station. I was very impressed. Not only that I got to my lunch appointment on time despite helping my friend with her kids, and even holding onto the older one by the hand as he walked a bit in the mall.

This MTR line enables people to live in cheaper areas and commute into work in Central or Tsim Sha Tsui East within 30 minutes. Where else in the world can you find such an efficient public transport system?

This is Hong Kong's strength -- being able to transport people quickly and efficiently. This MTR system is not trumpeted enough, the envy of every other major city in the world.

Picture of the Day: Hong Kong Rarebit

Hong Kong Rarebit at the Lobster Bar

This is a Hong Kong Rarebit that is served at the Lobster Bar in the Island Shangri-La in Admiralty

It's a take on the Welsh Rarebit, which is typically hot cheese sauce with stout, ale or beer with Worcestershire sauce and mustard on toasted bread. 

The dish dates back to the 1500s when working-class families could not afford to eat rabbit, so this was the next best thing.

This one is called Hong Kong Rarebit because it has a bit of oyster sauce in it instead of stout to bump up the umami flavour.

And it's sooo good. The gooeyness of the cheese contrasts with the light crunchiness of the toast. Pop it into your mouth and it's a heavenly revelation!

New MTR Station Brings Shenzhen Closer

One of the newest stations in the MTR system

This afternoon my friend and I intended to walk from Central to North Point, to help me digest a big lunch I had just eaten. However, by the time we got to the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre we could see dark clouds looming over us, and periodic muted claps of thunder.

When we arrived at the Wan Chai ferry pier, we felt rain drops on our heads and decided to bail and get to the relatively new Exhibition Centre MTR station. This was being built when I left Hong Kong two years ago so it was interesting to finally see it open.

Lots of space for people to move in the station

It is on the East Rail line, which means starts from Admiralty all the way to Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau. In other words, there is now no need to go to Hung Hom to get to Shenzhen -- you can easily start the journey from Admiralty.

Talk about making it easier to get across the border...

Again at lunch there was discussion about going to Shenzhen. A great deal is getting glasses made there -- in half an hour -- at HK$200 per pair for not too complicated prescriptions.

Since it's so chea, people get more than one pair made.

Not only can you pick them up to go home, but also have the option of someone bringing these glasses to you in Hong Kong.

Even Costco in Shenzhen has a delivery service where if you buy your items in the morning, they can be delivered to you by the late afternoon.

This line goes all the way to Shenzhen

How can Hong Kong compete with that? And just a very convenient ride away on the East Rail line, the second stop being Exhibition Centre.

Hong Kong Still Struggling to Get Beyond Covid

Hong Kong still struggling to recover from Covid pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic changed people's lives, and in Hong Kong, the well-heeled set have changed their ways so profoundly that it has had a knock-on effect on the city's economy.

A friend who works in the luxury sector told us that her clients used to love going to charity balls and galas, which meant spending hours in the salon, spending money on new dresses and new jewellery, didn't have to do that for three years when Covid struck in early 2020.

Many well-heeled aren't going to balls anymore

Once Covid was over and Hong Kong opened up with parties back on, these wealthy people didn't feel the need to go back to those old ways. They got used to eating at home instead of going out to eat, and parties? Why go when they have become homebodies and would rather play with their grandchildren than dress up and go out for a few hours?

Or if they did buy jewellery, they didn't care to buy real diamonds anymore -- they are content to buy lab-grown diamonds at one-fifth the price at HK$20,000 compared to HK$100,000 for a real diamond mined underground.

When diamond sellers point out the lab-grown diamonds aren't worth much, the rich clients didn't care; they didn't even care to invest in diamonds either when they can get 4 percent to 5 percent on a term deposit in the bank. With diamonds you still have to check the market value and be able to sell them, so they are not a guaranteed return on investment.

Eating out has changed a lot too. During the pandemic in Hong Kong, the government mandated that restaurants could only open until 6pm -- the joke was that the virus only came out after dinner time. So people would eat dinner at 5pm to beat the deadline, or they would cook at home, and more people did this, a chore that for many became a staple, or sparked a culinary interest for others.

Once all the restrictions were lifted, people continued to eat early and go home early. Meanwhile there are others who want to catch up with friends and linger, but the restaurant staff present the bill at 8.45pm or start stacking chairs at 9.30pm. Gone are the days of eating dinner at 8.30pm or 9pm and going to a bar afterwards. Oh and did you know cocktails cost HK$170 these days? 

Who is willing to serve others in Hong Kong?

So many people flock regularly to Shenzhen not only because they find the food there is cheap and there are many choices, but also because they feel the service is much better than in Hong Kong. Here in the city, no one wants to do grunt work, no one wants to serve others. They would rather become a security guard who sits around all day, some in air conditioning, than to stand around for 10 hours a day carrying plates, cleaning tables and fulfilling customers' fussy requests.

Is it any wonder that Hong Kong can't pull itself out of its rut? There are too many factors and not enough solutions to these problems...

Review: Favoriten

Immigrant children learn German in an elementary school

The 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival is on and I managed to catch a film while here -- and with YTSL no less!

We watched a documentary called Favoriten by Austrian director Ruth Beckermann that follows a class of mostly immigrant students and their teacher in an elementary school in a district of Vienna called Favoriten.

The film follows the premise that in Vienna's elementary school system, over 60 percent of students don't have German as their first language.

The students reveal honest, raw emotions

The students are from various places, like Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine, and they learn German together as it is the official language in Austria needed for work. 

These children are wonderful subjects, as they have a range of emotions and the way they talk reveal their thought process, their upbringing, or cultural background.

Their teacher is young and kind. She wears heavy makeup, and casual clothes. Not only does she teach them the curriculum, but also helps them resolve disputes with fellow classmates. She reasons with them or encourages them to apologise or to explain the incident, not only as a way to get them to speak more German, but also to learn how to get along with others. 

One girl accuses a boy sitting at the same table of bothering her; she claims he is talking non stop, but he denies it. Another more serious accusation is when a girl says the boys accuse her of having lice and they hit her, but they vehemently deny it. The teacher says they cannot accuse her of this when she doesn't have lice and adds that when she was a girl she had lice too, so what's the big deal?

Viewers watch the children visit a mosque and many of the students are Muslim and are proud of their religion. Another time they go to a Catholic church, but no one in the class is Roman Catholic. They also go to swimming class and in a funny scene they kids learn parts of the body, including words like penis and vagina, and point them out on the drawing projected on the wall.

The teacher (left) tries to reason with the pupils

It's also interesting to watch the teacher interact with the children's families in parent-teacher interviews. Some parents can speak German, while others rely on an older child to translate; overall they are grateful to the teacher for teaching their child. Most of the parents are keen for their children to integrate into Austria as much as possible, while one expresses reservations and considers taking his daughter back to Turkey. Perhaps he is tired of discrimination or doesn't feel welcome in Vienna.

Favoriten follows the students over a few years with the same teacher so they have become very close. When she meets with each child to go over their test results -- not even an exam, each one has a different reaction that's honest and emotional; one child bursts into tears, stressed out and devastated that the viewer can't help but feel for him.

There is also a hint of the strain of resources in the school system, as the in-house counsellor has been assigned elsewhere and a psychologist won't be coming anytime soon; there aren't even enough teachers to teach which is concerning.

Nevertheless it's a heart-felt film, with a lot of honest observations and emotions thanks to the children who speak their minds, while their teacher tries hard to help them peel away biases and help them to become more confident and happy in their new hometown.

Favoriten

Directed by Ruth Beckermann

118 minutes

Picture of the Day: Saccharine Art

This is what 60,000 bottles of boiled down Coca-Cola looks like

One piece of art work at M+ that I saw yesterday was quite arresting -- a glass box that looked like it had black dirt in it.

It's called Coca-Cola Project (Extraction) by Chinese artist He Xiangyu.

This dirt is actually residue that remains after boiling down 60,000 bottles of Coca-Cola over a charcoal fire for more than a year.

As the description says, "He turns the symbol of desirable cosmopolitan life in 1990s China into completely unrecognisable and even toxic matter."

It goes on to say that the work highlights the conspicuousness of consumption, thus asking if this is what we really want.

How one acquires 60,000 bottles of Coke is not only costly but where do you store them all, and boiling them down sounds like it was a smelly venture too...

A Good Dose of Art at M+

Great Criticism: Chanel by Wang Guangyi

The Hong Kong contemporary art museum M+ opened just after I left the city two years ago so it was a place I wanted to visit. However, getting there is a hassle as the signage on the MTR station and in the Elements shopping mall are vague. I had a bit of a run around trying to find out the best exit to take until I looked up the directions on the M+ website. 

Vague directions to get to M+ in West Kowloon

From Kowloon Station, go to Exit C1 or Exit D1 and take the escalator to the 1/F and follow the signs to the Artist Square Bridge on 2/F, Metal Zone (as if going to the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong). However, when you walk through the mall, there isn't enough signage to give you the confidence you are going in the right direction. 

Eventually I found the bridge and from there the giant black building that looks like a massive computer hard drive was in front, and the entrance was signalled with a series of white lamps that echo the shape of those red plastic lamps found hanging in wet markets.

I had bought a ticket in advance, but could have gotten it at the front desk, though the website makes it sound like purchasing it ahead of time was a requirement. When you buy a ticket be sure you get the access to the special exhibitions you want to see otherwise you are not allowed in as the staff scan the QR codes to these rooms. 

Liberty Guiding the People by Yue Minjun

Speaking of staff, the place was crawling with them wearing M+ jackets everywhere. They hung around chatting with each other, or it seemed like they needed an army of people to repair something, or stand around and supervise the repair. They were all trying to look busy, but they didn't seem interested in welcoming visitors to the place and kept to themselves.

In any event, the first place I checked out was the Uli Sigg, a Swiss businessman, diplomat and art collector, who donated a big collection of Chinese contemporary art to M+. The pieces run the gamut from paintings to sculptures, and videos. 

Many of the art works either hark back to proletarian China, where idealistic Chinese communists fight for the motherland, inspiring patriotism, or at the opposite end of the spectrum and showing how capitalist the country has become, with propaganda-like paintings with brand names like Chanel on them, like Wang Guangyi's Great Criticism: Chanel.

Old People's Home by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

Yue Minjun, known for his laughing self portraits, makes his own version of Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, with him in a white T-shirt and gray shorts, complete with brown open-toe sandals and gray buildings in the cloudy and dusty background.

An eerie multimedia piece is Old People's Home by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu features 13 life-like sculptures who resemble politicians, admirals, generals, bishops, and dictators, but they look old and frail, dozing off in their wheelchairs. All the wheelchairs are supposed to move, but because this piece is pretty fragile, only one was moving.

Controversial works by Ai Weiwei were not shown, in particular the photographs of him giving the middle finger to places like the Gate of Heavenly Peace or Tiananmen Square, or even the photograph series of him dropping a vase. Instead there is a giant brown cube called Ton of Tea, made of pu'er tea leaves and wood. 

Kacey Wong on his floating apartment

Nevertheless, local artist Kacey Wong, who has gone into exile in Taiwan, has his work here. It's a video called Paddling Home, where he is dressed in a white captain's suit and a life jacket and gets into his tiny floating apartment, a satirical critique on Hong Kong's lack of affordable housing. 

Fashion designer Vivienne Tam's black and white Mao Suit from 1995 is also displayed here. She really made her mark with her Mao prints, and I still have my T-shirt of Mao with a bee on his nose that she designed.

Not only did I appreciate the works on the walls, but the building itself, designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The large expansive spaces allows a lot of room for the works of art to be exhibited without cramming them, while the views looking out are also panoramic, unlike the Hong Kong Museum of Art that only has one area facing the harbour.

Nice views of the harbour and city from M+

On the third floor is the Korean Michelin-starred restaurant Mosu, and there is also an outdoor garden for visitors to have a 180-degree view of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. I found out about this place thanks to a friendly staff member who encouraged me to go take a look.

The Non-Casino Macau Tour

Even the stairs are painted with cats in Macau!

After lunch at Miramar in Macau, my relatives took me on a stroll in Coloane Village. First stop was to get half a dozen egg tarts from Lord Stow's. As you approach the unassuming shop, you can smell the butter baking in the oven. 

Lord Stow's famous egg tarts

The staff have boxes of freshly-baked egg tarts ready to go and were doing a brisk business when we arrived. It wasn't busy, but a small steady stream of customers.

Then we walked along the waterfront, and in the distance you could see Zhuhai, like the distance between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. 

As we walked along the side streets, we spotted many colourful murals, many painted by art students. It's a great and inexpensive way to bring some vibrancy and character in the neighbourhood, and many visitors take pictures too. 

There are also many green thumbs in the area because in front of people's homes they had small gardens and made the most of the space they had with lots of potted plants and flowers that beautified the streets.

At one small shop selling souvenirs and coffee was a sign that said "Macau Cultural and Creative Ice Cream". We were curious to find out what this meant and asked the two staff there. One came over to where we were and pulled out the freezer to show us Macau buildings in different colours on a popsicle stick. So that's what they meant by cultural ice cream! Clever! They were 25MOP each so we didn't get one...

This pond will be filled with water lilies later

Then we walked down a mosaic staircase to Wetland in Avenida da Praia, which has a view of the giant casinos in the area: Galaxy, Morpheus, City of Dreams, Venetian and Paris to name a few. There's a giant shallow pond where later in the summer it will be filled with water lilies and lily pads. A few fish were swimming in the muddy water, but it was extremely shallow for them. 

At the other end of the pond were restored homes of Macanese officials. We were able to visit one of them that was furnished with antiques to give visitors an idea of what life was like in the 19th century.

For example the families were so religious that they had prayer benches in their bedrooms, and had religious effigies of Christ, or paintings of Christ around the home.

Nearby was also the former IEC Long Firecracker Factory. The complex is made up of several old and abandoned buildings, though no one is allowed inside them. They are one or two storey concrete huts and in between them are barriers built to hopefully prevent the spread of explosions in case any of the firecrackers were set off accidentally. 

Fireworks were manufactured in these buildings

Apparently at one point Taipa was home to five fireworks factories, but by the 1980s production slowed down. This village was set up in 1925 and closed down in 1984.

While it was a hot and humid walk, it was a great way to see the other side of Macau (the non-casino version)!

An Alternative to Fernando's in Macau

Roasted suckling pig was very tender with salad and fries

It turns out not just Hong Kong was quiet for the Easter long weekend, but Macau too. Granted the 10.30am ferry I took this morning was pretty much full, once the vessel arrived an hour later the immigration lines were short.

Hearty octopus salad with onions and coriander

My relatives have lived in Macau for almost five years and used to go to Fernando's to eat, but post-Covid they have found the quality has dropped. So instead of eating at this Hac Sa institution, we went to another place a short distance away called Miramar that serves Portuguese food.

It's located in a somewhat secluded area near the Grand Coloane hotel that used to be the Westin Macau. What's good about Miramar is that there is not only outdoor seating, but indoor as well, and today being muggy and humid it was nice to have some air conditioning while we ate.

The menu is filled with pictures, and we chose a few dishes to try.

The octopus salad features tender slices of octopus, combined with oil and vinegar, onions, lettuce, and coriander. This salad had a greater ratio of octopus than vegetables, which was hearty yet refreshing.

Bacalhau had more potato than cod fish in them

Roast suckling pig is a nice portion for three to share. It comes chopped into pieces with a side of salad and fries. The pork is moist, and practically falls off the bone, the skin is relatively crispy, with a thin layer of fat underneath.

At this point we waited for our last two dishes to arrive, and we were surprised considering the restaurant was not full, but we were told there was only one chef! 

We finally got the order of bacalhau, or codfish cakes. My relatives told me these were slightly bigger than before, but when we tried them we were disappointed, as there was more potato than codfish in it. One of them was also very salty.

Our waiter also told us our grilled sardines would come out soon, but we waited and waited... until we had to chase the waiter again.

Long awaited grilled sardines arrived warm

Finally it arrived, four fish with boiled potatoes and carrots, but was warm and lost its appetising taste. Seafood needs to be served fresh from the kitchen, but this one seemed to have been sitting too long. 

To make up for the long delay in our order, the manager gave us not one, or two desserts, but three to try.

There was a slice of serradura cake, lots of cream with "sawdust" of crumbled biscuit on top; a cup of dark chocolate pudding that tasted decadent, and pineapple upside down cake served warm. All the desserts weren't cloyingly sweet at all, and it was nice to try all three, though we were already so full we couldn't finish them.

It also meant that despite walking along Hac Sa Beach, we didn't have enough room to eat egg tarts from Lord Stow's bakery. Nevertheless I bought half a dozen to take back to Hong Kong!

Serradura cream cake wasn't too sweet

Miramar 

Zona Nordesta da Praia Hac-Sa, Coloane, Macau

(853) 2888 2601

(853) 2888 2623

Hong Kong Can't Compete with Shenzhen

Many restaurants were quiet in Hong Kong this long weekend

This Easter weekend Hong Kong was eerily quiet. 

Over 680,000 people left the city to either go to other countries, or crossed the border into the mainland.

Many who did the latter headed to Shenzhen, the "it city" where options are plentiful but the key word is cheap.

How cheap, you ask?

Cheap food in Shenzhen, though quality not high

An acquaintance just came back from Shenzhen yesterday. He said four adults and three children went out for dinner and the total bill was around HK$600.

What did they eat, you may ask?

A whole grouper cost HK$68. In Hong Kong that same grouper would cost HK$500. Granted he said the Shenzhen fish didn't taste very good, but hey, it was super cheap.

Same goes for half a chicken, HK$68. Even four pieces of KFC in Hong Kong costs HK$89.

How can Hong Kong even compete with prices that are a fraction of those 45 minutes away by train?

It's impossible because rents in Hong Kong are so high, as well as labour and food costs.

It's not about eating good food in Shenzhen, but it's really cheap. And with people in Hong Kong struggling to make money post-pandemic, they love the cheap thrills they can get across the border. 

Is it any wonder restaurants and shops are struggling in Hong Kong these days? 

Uneven Dim Sum Joint

"Goldfish" dumplings that were yellow blobs not fish

My relatives took me to a dim sum place in Whampoa, which took a while to get to because my aunt took me out of the wrong MTR exit. It was supposed to be exit B, but we had already gone out of exit D and had to do a massive round about way to get there.

Apparently there is another branch of this place in Tokwawan, but is quite small compared to this one, which had about 25 tables. With this being Easter weekend, it wasn't packed and we luckily got a round table for the seven of us.

Interesting matcha-flavoured sesame balls

The menu not only had har gao, or steamed shrimp dumplings, but also ones shaped like goldfish complete with gold leaf. When the trio of "fish" dumplings arrived, one of my cousins remarked they looked like a pale comparison to the picture, and complained it didn't have a neck, and was just a blob.

Taste-wise it had a tiny bit of parsley stalk in there, but it was hardly substantial.

The deep-fried spring rolls had red cabbage stuffed inside, while the turnip cake was cut into cubes, pan-fried and then seasoned with a creamy orangey sauce and bonito flakes. Like what? It was totally unnecessary -- the sauce completely overwhelmed the delicate taste of the turnip.

Another was a rice dish that was presented in a lotus leaf but open -- with slices of flat spare rib like kalbi with a sweet soy sauce. 

But really impressive was the deep-fried taro dumplings -- the filling was substantial with some meat inside and the taro was so soft while the exterior was crunchy. Usually they are very heavy and oily, but this one was light and so smooth.

Turnip cake with bonito flakes?

For dessert, the ma lai go or steamed cake was so fluffy and light, while we also ordered the matcha-flavoured sesame balls. The balls were small, but when sliced in half, there were three layers inside. Quite impressive.

This particular location was also busy servicing customers who needed wheelchair access -- the entrance has a ramp rather than stairs to cater to seniors living in nearby homes. The not so good thing about this place is that reservations cannot be made.

Sun Moon (Hunghom Bay Centre)

Shop 14A, G/F, 92-112 Baker Street

Hung Hom

2780 0288                                                                                                         

First Impressions of Hong Kong Two Years Later

Nice to be back walking along the promenade again

Woke up at 4am this morning with jet lag and couldn't get back to sleep until around 6am for another two hours. It took me a while to get organised but I finally got out the door and on a whim took the tram going west from Sai Wan Ho.

The streets were much quieter because it was Good Friday, and many people have left for the long weekend. By the time the tram reached Causeway Bay it was 11.15am and I realised Din Tai Fung was there. Vancouver is set to have one towards the end of this year, so I decided to have my dumpling fix.

Xiaolongbao looks a bit smaller at Din Tai Fung

When I got there the shutter was still down, but staff were busy in the kitchen wrapping dumplings. The restaurant actually opened before 11.30am and there were only a handful of us waiting to get the first seats.

As I perused the menu I was shocked that the prices had gone up, and not only that when the food arrived, the dumplings and other dishes looked smaller. Shrinkflation, folks. The food was still good, but for one person it cost HK$230 for pork dumplings, vegetarian dumplings and an appetiser of seaweed and beansprouts with a generous drizzle of sesame oil.

Nearby was Sogo and even though it was lunchtime it was not packed with shoppers despite encouraging its members to collect five times the points on certain products. I managed to score 20 percent off on swimming caps because I bought two.

The next stop was to see Bakehouse, a popular bakery that had opened there after I left. It was completely packed with a queue of people waiting patiently to snap up sourdough egg tarts, pastries, cookies and coffee. Amazing.

Bakehouse doing a bustling business

I then headed to Sheung Wan to buy ferry tickets to Macau in a few days. There were massive lines at TurboJet (the red ferry), while the one for Cotai (blue) was not too bad. Service was brisk with three people servicing counters for tickets to Macau as well as China. 

There weren't as many mainlanders in the city, though today is Friday. My friend and I saw a group of young people wearing the same cap with a small Winnie the Pooh stuffie on it! How ironic.

She took me to a bookshop called Mount Zero in Tai Ping Shan that will be closing at the end of the month. It has been accused by the authorities for several minor violations, including illegally occupying a space outside the shop. It's a tiny place and there were lots of people standing in front or trying to get inside to take a look. 

After that we made our trek east, walking through Central, then Admiralty towards Tamar where there were a lot of people waiting to look at... glowing eggs. It's an exhibition put on by Team Lab from Japan. There are giant eggs that you can touch and apparently make sounds and these things go all the way down the grass at Tamar into the water too. We had to fight the crowds to get to the waterfront.

Mount Zero bookstore closing soon

Almost two hours later we made it to Fortress Hill and enjoyed a Japanese meal that included grilled fugu or puffer fish, and yakitori skewers of beef, chicken, mushrooms, scallops, shishito peppers, and sweet potato, and boiled edamame washed down with sake.

Hopefully that long walk will keep jet lag at bay!

Review: Mommy Dead and Dearest

Dee Dee Blanchard controlled daughter Gypsy Rose  

On the flight to Hong Kong I watched several documentaries, one of which was Mommy Dead and Dearest made in 2017. It is about how a mother was murdered by her daughter Gypsy Rose and her boyfriend, but also why this horrific crime was committed.

Gypsy Rose curled up the fetal position in the bathroom as she heard her mother Dee Dee scream as she was being stabbed by Nicholas Godejohn on June 14, 2015.

Tired of 23 years of abuse, Gypsy Rose asked her boyfriend to get rid of her mother. From when Gypsy Rose was a baby, her mother made up a long list of illnesses her daughter had, from leukemia to epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, to vision and hearing impairments and seizures. 

Gypsy Rose in prison outfit speaking in the doc

Most doctors didn't pick up the abuse, and that Dee Dee had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy -- where she faked Gypsy Rose's illnesses and forced her daughter to take the medicines which actually induced the illnesses. Gypsy Rose even had surgery to have a feeding tube inserted in her stomach for food and drugs; she never knew what her mother was feeding her. The feeding tube was replaced every six months -- without an anesthetic.

Her mother forced her child to do this to get attention, and receive get lots of freebies from people who truly thought Gypsy Rose was living her last days. She constantly shaved Gypsy Rose's head, forced her to sit in a wheelchair and made her look much younger than her actual age.

A psychologist in the documentary points out how Dee Dee is constantly holding Gypsy Rose's hands as if to send a message to her that she had control over her daughter and she could not escape.

At first Gypsy Rose thought her upbringing was a bit different, that her mother was over protective, but later realised her mother was forcing her to act sick and helpless.

So when she announced on social media that her mother was dead and how she died, her followers thought her account was hacked at first -- how could she want that "bitch" to be dead?

Gypsy Rose was released earlier this month

Eventually it was revealed through investigations the two decades' of abuse Gypsy Rose had suffered which caused her to want to have her mother killed, but she didn't think too clearly about what would happen either, nor did she have much experience with relationships with members of the opposite sex.

The film shows police interrogation videos, interviews with Gypsy Rose in her prison clothes, the psychologist, friends, Dee Dee's father, grandfather, nephew and her ex-husband. They all paint nasty pictures of Dee Dee, who had a history of lying and stealing from her own family. 

He is also at fault for not trying to keep in contact with Gypsy Rose because she didn't have to kill her mother -- she could have found her father and gone to live with him and his partner.

But that was never an option Gypsy Rose ever thought of, and she tearfully accepts her fate. The interviewer asks if she prefers prison over being abused by her mother and she says jail is much better.

The film was made in 2017 and noted that Gypsy Rose would be out of jail by 2024 and yes -- she got out for good behaviour in March after eight and a half years in prison. She even got married while in prison and will be making the media rounds promoting her memoir, Released.

It's such a tragic story on many levels, and hopefully Gypsy Rose will finally have healthy relationships with people and get on with the rest of her life, now 32 years old. 

All Hail the Best Restaurant in Asia

This modern French place the top restaurant in Asia

Last night was the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards held in Seoul and it was so great to see chef Daniel Calvert's restaurant Sezanne clinch the top spot this year.

He is a young British chef from Surrey, southeast England, who knew from the age of 13 he wanted to cook. And he's a damn fine cook. He has the talent, skills and finesse, and being in Tokyo suits him perfectly, where precision artistry is appreciated. 

In 2016 Calvert came to Hong Kong to help chef James Henry open a French bistro called Belon for Black Sheep Restaurants.

Calvert (second from left) with his team last night

He thought he'd only be there for six months, but in that time he fell in love with the city and became head chef the following year. However, the initial excitement of Belon had dissipated by then.

"When I took over Belon, it was not doing well. It was very hard to get people to change their minds and eat here again. So I would say going from this restaurant, which was empty, to turning it into what it is today, that's probably my biggest achievement," he said in August 2020 when he was leaving the city.

People were not used to the expensive items on the menu, like three pieces of asparagus and dots of caviar at HK$900 (US$115), and chicken wing stuffed with matsutake mushroom and foie gras at HK$348.

Instead of lowering prices or doing gimmicky dishes, Calvert persisted and in 2017 that year Belon earned a Michelin star. 

His attention to detail and taste are impeccable

After he moved to Tokyo, the Covid-19 pandemic postponed the opening for about a year in 2021. But Calvert was ready to show off his culinary talent. Six months after Sezanne opened, he earned the restaurant's first Michelin star, and its second in 2022.

Some dishes that diners have raved about are duck foie gras slow poached with chicken leg and soy sauce, Shanghai hairy crab marinated in yellow wine with rice, and mille crepes with Australian black truffles. 

When he was in Hong Kong he was curious to learn more about Chinese ingredients and condiments, and incorporated them into his dishes; same goes for what he has discovered in Japan.

Meanwhile on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Sezanne ranked second last March, and last night climbed to number one.

Now in his mid-30s, Calvert claims to have no secrets to his success. "I'm not the greatest chef in the world -- I can't attest to that. But I do think I work harder than most people. I think that was the key."

We're so pleased to see him do so well. Hard work rewarded in spades.

Dressing Down in PJs at Work in China

Young people wear pyjamas to work to be comfortable

Following work trends in China like tang ping or "lying flat" and bai lan or "letting it rot", there's now "gross outfits for work".

On Douyin, or China's TikTok, a woman with the handle "Kendou S" posted a video of herself in her work outfit -- slippers, pyjama bottoms and a brown sweater dress and accessorised with a pair of holey woollen gloves.

Another woman named Cindy Luo in Wuhan, Hubei province has the same idea. "I just want to wear whatever I want," explained the 30-year-old. "I just don't think it's worth spending money to dress up for work, since I'm just sitting there."

Others don't see the point in dressing up anymore

Luo has a point.

Kendou S' video had 736,000 likes and 1.4 million shares, and the Chinese hashtag for "gross outfits for work" went viral. Others took videos of themselves wearing hoodies, sweatpants and other kinds of sleepwear.

It's yet another sign of young Chinese workers throwing out the 996 work ethic of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week as the country's economy slows and job opportunities or chances for promotions have dried up.

As a result, they choose to take their time or pursue a work-life balance not be so ambitious, a kind of quiet protest that has bosses annoyed their employees aren't gung-ho about their jobs.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also influenced how people dress, having worked from home during that period and so they are just used to wearing comfortable clothes. 

Kendou S has said her boss has complained her work outfits are "gross" and that she needed to wear better clothes "to mind the image of the company."

But seems like she and many others don't seem to care what their bosses think and instead guess how long it will take until their supervisors will comment on their fashion sense.

In this way they are making work fun for themselves, and shouldn't we all?

Jellyfish Stop Ultra Endurance Athlete in Hawaii

Pelletier got swollen eyes

Last summer ultra-endurance athlete Nick Pelletier made headlines when he swam the 106-km length of Okanagan Lake from Vernon, BC to Penticton in 71 hours.

Originally from Kelowna, the 26-year-old was very familiar with the lake, but he wasn't quite prepared for his next challenge -- to swim across Molokai Chanel, 41km between the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Oahu.

He swam the length of Okanagan Lake last year

While he was ready to deal with sharks in the water, he really should have been worried about jellyfish.

"I knew there'd be sharks and jellyfish, I was just hoping I wouldn't run into them," he said in a radio interview.

However, he encountered a lot of jellyfish, resulting in long red streaks across his torso and arms.

"It got me in the face here and then all over my arms, and my chest and everything," said Pelletier. 

He said he could feel jellyfish tentacles on his hand as he swam, and then tentacles began hitting him in the face.

"It looks kind of like I got whipped," he explained. "I felt like I had a hot iron on me, getting branded."

The stings also left him with swollen eyes.

Pelletier was in the water for 13 hours, halfway through his swim when his crew decided to pull him out. 

"It's very frustrating," he said, adding he had been fighting rough currents, and his lungs were filling with saltwater which made him feel sick.

Jellyfish left stings and red streaks on his torso

He was disappointed after all the practice he had done was all for naught.

"At that moment, you just kind of think about all the time you spent in training that people don't see.

"You get all the hours, and hours and hours in the pool alone and mentally preparing in the gym, strengthening your shoulders, doing your running, everything like that... So, all this stuff kind of flashes before your eyes when you're getting pulled,"

Pelletier is laying low in Hawaii for the rest of the week, but plans to attempt his swim again, but did not say when.

"It's always a learning experience," he said. "I wouldn't trade the things I've learned for anything."