Food critic: Azabu Sabu - Jusco - Taikoo - HK

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being Poor, 10 being Excellent.

Food (entrees & snacks): 6
Food (dessert): 9
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Price: $$

Jusco has reopened with an absolutely new look and feel with new mini-shops within it -- focusing very much on food and desserts from Japan. (I'll do another review on the new Jusco in another post.)

I used to love going for Japanese dessert when I lived in Japan so I thought I'd check out the new Azabu Sabu, just opened in Jusco.

It was very disappointing to say the least. I went there for a snack at dinner time and was seated in about 10 minutes, to the sound of "Irrashaimase~", as they mimicked their Japanese counterparts. Once seated the waitresses had totally forgotten about me -- even though I was holding a menu and looking through it. No tea was brought to the table as they were bringing tea to the other newly seated tables.

I summoned a waitress and ordered my 2 dishes and asked her to bring tea. She nodded and walked off.

5 minutes later -- still no tea. So I asked another waitress to bring me tea. She did, but in about 2 minutes. After drinking, my tea cup was empty while I was waiting for my order to come. I waited for about 10 minutes for my first dish to come. After eating that, I had to wait another 5 minutes for my next dish to arrive. By that time I *still* did not have my tea cup refilled.

The manager finally showed his face but was crouched down behind a cupboard looking at waitress schedules. Not once did he walk about to ensure his customers were doing well in their third or fourth week of opening.

I asked for a refill of my tea and my bill (which came pretty quickly), which came to $68 HKD. I left $8 HKD in change and a $100 HKD bill. They gladly took it and I waited another 5 minutes for my change.

I got up and walked out the restaurant. I don't think anyone realized I had left as I didn't hear the familiar "Arigatou gozaimashita!"...

Peach tea and wah mui

Peach tea with dried sour plum (wah mui)

1 litre of water
2 peach tea bags
4 dried sour plums (wah mui)

Boil the water.
Steep the 2 tea bags in the water, then pour into a 1 litre jug.
Steep 4 dried sour plums in the tea.

Place the jug in the fridge to refrigerate.

Drink when chilled with some ice cubes and 1 dried wah mui for flavour!

Makes a great summer drink! :)

Uh no... not again...

For those who have so faithfully ( =b ) followed my blog, you're going to laugh at this one.

I was at the gym yesterday at around 10:30pm. I had just finished my elliptical so I was ready to bulldoze through my workout so that I'd get out of there by midnite (closing time).

I was in the big boys gym and had just finished my first set of single leg squats with 20 pounds on my bosu and fitball, when...

Asian dude: (in chinese) That looks really hard! Are you not afraid of falling down?
Me (startled): (in chinglish) No, its ok...

I tried not to look at him and tried to make myself look like I was really into my workout -- which I was -- and I think he got the message. In the mirror and passing by him to grab weights, I could see he was googly-eye-ing me the entire 1.5 hours I was there!

Ugh.. how awkward.

I think he realized that I wasn't a local cause he spotted my worn out temporary Canada Flag tattoo (I've had it since July 1 when we were celebrating Canada Day in LKF), and that its absolutely RARE to see a local girl in a gym, nevermind the big boys gym... and maybe cause I was wearing proper gym clothes (not a tennis skirt outfit), and that I wasn't wearing makeup...

Are people right? Is CF really a meat market? :P

Note to self - avoid going to the gym past 10 pm :P

FINALLY! A gym I can call my own... :D

So many of you already know that I've been trying to get myself back into a gym routine with the gym at the office. Not only is it 1 hour mini-bus and train ride home at night, I have to bring my own fit ball and my own Bosu to and from the office across the road and onto the elevator to the 6th floor so I can do my core exercises.

Even with these inconveniences, I thought I'd have enough willpower to drag my sorry butt 3-4 days a week.

Well, for those of you who have been making bets against me, you've won.

I think on average I was going once every 2 weeks... ugh.. yah I know -- thats not bad, thats REALLY bad.

So I said, enough of this. I heard of a gym nearby that was pretty inexpensive (DC works out there as well), so I decided to drop in and take a look.

It was empty. Probably 'cause I walked in at like 10 minutes to midnite on a Saturday to check it out. P, the sales dude, and his friend, gave me a tour. There's a spinning room with bikes, a boxing ring, an open area of machines and cardio equipment, then another area with more cardio equipment and tvs, then downstairs is the 'big boys' gym with free weights and some machines as well. I was happy to see 3 Bosus, 6 fit balls, and a separate area for stretching!

People who workout in the big boys gym don't necessarily understand gym etiquette, so to be honest, that bugs me a bit, but oh well -- beggars can't be choosers.

I've gone 3 times already. Started just last Sunday. I'll be going again tomorrow and will be doing 2 on - 1 off, to average 4-5 times a week.

YaY!