Shinjuku Gracery hotel, Tokyo

The hotel is situated inside Kabuki area (busy and night life).  Shinjuku wasn't that complicated before; so I wouldn't mind staying in this area, but when the night life came with other "societies" (I was followed by a negro. and watched for what I bought in a convenience store).  If you look for this kind of  complex night life, this hotel would be a top choice.  However, it's way too busy for me and the clientele is generally from HK, CN, TW and KR.

The room itself is very nice and the sound proof is not bad.  There is a Gozilla head on the patio outside the hotel's lobby floor on the 8th.  Some rooms of this hotel are on a higher charge if the room is facing this Gozilla head, about 30% higher.

HK Airlines business class BKK-HKG, HKG-Tokyo-HKG

Haven't flown HK Airlines for almost a year.  Service and the meal have proven a big step forward.  The meal is in a bigger portion and branding with some local prestigious restaurants like Blue Elephant from flights out of BKK.  Though I'm not a big fan to Blue Elephant, the brand has out-won many other airlines.  Their lounge has also improved with some discerning customer services.  What's more, a friend of mine was put in a very tight connection due to flight delay and the bookings are on different ticketing, HK Airlines showed their gesture to help and could make it for a flight time within an hour by locating 3 big pieces of luggages to board together and 1 piece to go in the next flight.

On our flight from Tokyo to HK, some very nice chilled soba, nice big prawns, purple sweet potato bread and a nice local green tea ice cream were served.  Very impressive.

A heavy meal in Karma Kamet BKK

In some western restaurants in Asia, it's typical that we may try those dishes with heavy cheese, heavy olive oil, heavy butter, heavy syrup...etc.  This restaurant is starting to behave like that.  I ordered a veggie sandwich but it's drown in heavy olive oil.  The drink isn't too appealing either - their coffee/tea can upset your stomach even in a very small amount.  

Appia, Sukhumvit 31, BKK

The place was so crowded that you may expect to have your meal for a longer chat in a vibrant eating atmosphere (the clientele talk in a high tone and some ABK/ABT/ABX (this is quite a general scene in HK, SG, TH... that those ABC/ABK/ABT would speak so loud in English.).  The last time when I was in Soho (London) I already lost my voice because of turn on my voice turbo to talk.  I decided to give it up, but paid attention to the food.  The pasta and ox tail are the best among all the dishes we ordered.  The green peas soup is good too as it's not that overwhelming but the green peas weren't in season, making it a bit less aromatic but it's still nice to me.   The roast pork is the 3rd best.  I'd recommend the chef to have a "brush pin" to make the pork skin be pinned from time to time when it's in roasting so that the skin could be more crispy.  The least impressive (and yet the longest waiting - over 1.5 hours) is the roast chicken.  Strange that the chicken was just luke warm when it was said to be roasted right from the order.  The chef missed an important step when cooking a roasted chicken (or steamed) - it's the stretching of the chicken from wings to thighs to give more air inside of the joint parts.  This is a little important step but yet making the chicken cooked better in the inner parts.  As for the dessert, better save it.  The tiramisu was put in a fridge with other meat products, getting it a very strong smell.  The ice cream is quite a thrifty brand taste but the price isn't thrifty.  The pecan pie's crust is not well done - too moist and uncooked.  I believe this place should have been much better but the chefs seemed to entertain and cater for other things that he neglected quite much on his cooking.  

Moments in Bangkok, the Fall, 2016

Man Fu Yuan KItchen, Emquartier, BKK

It's a bit risky to try some new Chinese restaurants in Bangkok.  As when we learned about the background of this place, we tried it.  Perhaps we didn't have a high expectation.  It was quite a nice surprise, not just only the common dishes but also the dim sum.  We decided to try their dim sum next time.  The cooking technique and ingredients are quite Singaporean Chinese style (e.g. the black sweet soy sauce and the soy sauce in chili).  Among all, I like their pan fried salty fish pork patty which was mixed with some chopped Chinese celery and water chestnut balancing the salty fish falvour, and yet the salty fish wasn't too overwhelming).