Staying in the heart of Causeway Bay at J Plus Hotel by YOO

My friends and I were staying in Hong Kong but since they had relatives in HK, we stayed with them for a bit.

Then we spent the last two days at J Plus Hotel by YOO to complete the real vacation experience.



J Plus Hotel by YOO was really good and let us dump our luggage there a few days before and they said we could leave it there for a while after our check out date.

We chose this hotel because it was close to CWB MTR station and a few minutes walk from the big shopping malls.

Nightlife was good because there were so many eateries behind the hotel on Haven Street.

The suite we stayed in was spacious and we loved the self-equipped kitchen with pots and pans.








There is a laundry area on the second floor next to the chill area which is inclusive so we did some laundry which relieved the relatives a bit.



The room was modern with a nice European style to it with lots of white curtain veils and the table makes you feel at home.









I loved the round table because it was great having dinner there because some good eateries don’t have dine ins.



All the personal toiletries were neatly concealed behind the mirror and the slippers provided were really comfortable made with cotton flannel fabric.

There was also an orange phone called the "Handy phone" which we were fighting to use because you can go online and also make free calls to certain countries including America.



The “Handy” phone is available in all rooms which is a complimentary handy service available to all guests!!





At the reception, the furniture was really stylish with striking colours so we took the opportunity to take photos with the clothes we just bought.



















Chill@JPlushk on the second floor:





Pop-up exhibition by Fin DAC:




We missed the cocktails that were served from 8-10pm because we were out for dinner but we managed to get up for breakfast and I liked the variety of savoury pastries.

There is a rotating toaster and beverages bar with brilliant teas and fruit juices in the fridge.









After having a wonderful and invigorating breakfast, which I always skip, we checked out and headed to our next location.

Checking out was smooth and fast.
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J Plus by Hotel Yoo
1 Irving Street
www.jplushongkong.com/

Macarons from Macau’s Grand Hyatt Lobby Lounge

At the entrance of the Hotel, there is a Christmas Boutique that has gift ideas and sweet treats.
They had macarons, which were huge but inexpensive for MOP20 that you can also get at the Lobby Lounge.

My favourite was the green macaron, which is tea flavoured, filled with a delicious chewy cherry in the middle that was a surprise because I thought it was just brown ganache in the middle.
The strawberry rose was also similar with a piece of strawberry in the strawberry rose filling.
The blue one was chocolate and coffee, which was dusted with poppy seeds that guys will like because it is not that sweet.

Environmentally Green Christmas Trees at Grand Hyatt Macau

The Xmas Trees at Grand Hyatt Macau are truly green Christmas trees because they are made with used items around the hotel.

You will find seven different Christmas trees made from the following recycled materials: 13,000 glass vases; 3,000 recycled wine bottles collected from banquets and events; 600 party hats; 500 stainless steel kitchen utensils; 300 pastry boxes; 300 soft sheep toys made for Chinese new year; and 200 floating glass bowls.

Guests staying at the hotel for Christmas will be given a tote bag and colour me in postcards with the Christmas tree designs.





















Estrada do Istmo City of Dreams
+853 88681234
www.macau.grand.hyatt.com
www.cityofdreamsmacau.com

Sino Hotels Create “A Patchwork of Caring Hearts” this Christmas

In support of the Operation Santa Claus, Sino Group of Hotels launched its “A Patchwork of Caring Hearts” campaign, complemented with a Christmas patchwork blanket decoration workshop to spread the joy and warmth to the community during the festive time of the year.

I was really lucky to be invited to attend this event where over 20 guests, including journalists, influential lifestyle bloggers and Chocolate Rain’s founder, Ms. Prudence Mak, joined hands with Sino Hotels’ Executive Management Team to add a festive touch to the colourful patchwork blankets together with 21 children from Liu Ming Choi Kindergarten.

A total of 50 patchwork blankets were created by the award-winning local design house Chocolate Rain and each was made from donated clothing and upcycled fabric. They will be donated to the beneficiaries of Operation Santa Claus such as elderly centres, through a series of outreach programmes conducted by Sino Hotels in December.
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Sino Hotels’ Management Team, Chocolate Rain’s founder, Ms. Prudence Mak and 21 children from Lui Ming Choi Kindergarten worked hands in hands to add a festive touch to the Christmas patchwork blankets. The blankets were made from donated clothing and upcycled fabrics by Chocolate Rain and will be handed out to the community sharing the festive warmth and joy.

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Kick-starting the festivities and outreach program with Christmas cake cutting from Sino Hotels’ Management Team, Chocolate Rain founder Ms. Prudence Mak and the children from Lui Ming Choi Kindergarten gather around Santa Claus.

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Christmas arrived early – Santa Claus arrived as the special guest and offered gifts and Christmas party glasses to the participating children.

Christmas charity sales of the party glasses starts on 3 December and will be available until 28 December with all proceeds going to Operation Santa Claus.

Children showcasing the Operation Santa Claus Christmas party glasses which will be on charity sales from 3 to 28 December at The Royal Pacific Hotel & Towers, City Garden Hotel, Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel, The Pottinger Hong Kong and Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club.

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Joyeux noel avec mes copains dans Agnes B

There are not many decent French places on the Kowloon side so I retreated to Agnes B that has other branches in Hong Kong.
It is well hidden in Festival walk because it is camouflaged behind their clothes store.
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Started off with the assorted platter which had:
Duck foie gras terrine on truffle farm bread, shrimp with truffle caviar, Quail egg wrapped in parma ham, green asparagus, escargot with fries.

It was a nice savoury assortment and the foie gras terrine was silky and thick.
The escargot was a surprise because it looked like a real escargot shell but the shell was made of crispy wafer so the whole thing was edible and really nice with strong herbs.

Finished with the asparagus, which was crisp and sweet.
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Then we had the Black truffle cheese fondue which is what you would expect because it was real cheese mixed with wine. To go with the fondue were cubes of ham, chicken, asparagus, bread and quail eggs.

My favourites were the cubes of ham, asparagus and bread because it goes well with the cheese.
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For the mains we had Braised beef cheek in port wine truffle sauce which looked really similar to Beef bourguignon.

It was just as nice as Beef bourguignon because the sauce was rich and tasty packed with carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms and leek.
The beef cheek was soft and gelatinous while the sauce just matched in heaven with the bread.
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We also had a Galette filled with smoked chicken and smoked duck with cherry sauce.

As well as the visible cherry sauce, there were more delicious sweet cherries in the galette which made the chicken even more appetizing.
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For desserts we had the Panna cotta with blood orange sauce and truffle icecream.

The panna cotta was presented in a cute copper saucepan and I liked the way the tartness of the blood orange sauce balanced the sweetness of the panna cotta.

On the other side of the plate, there was truffle icecream on a bed of truffle jelly cubes.
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To finish off we had the sparkling Christmas cakes.
Let it snow (ginger chocolate mousse, ginger apricot and cocoa streusel).

With Love (chestnut mousse, blueberry mousse, almond bread and chocolate chiffon cake).

Stay together (Chocolate ganache and cocoa crumble).

My favourite was WITH LOVE because there were lots of different textures and tastes going on.

A cup of Earl grey was needed to go with the cakes and the was imported from France.

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agnès b. LE PAIN GRILLÉ
Shop 33, UG, Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong

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