Wandering Fel

I Cremeria specialises itself in soft cream parfait (i.e. smooth texture milky ice cream). Its menu is divided into a few section from Frutta Crema (the pairing of soft cream parfait with premium Japanese fruit in season, did I see melon?), Giapoponese Crema (the pairing of Japanese Cha-Ya sweets with Kyoto's Uji Matcha and Kochi's Sawatari tea Daifuku), Classico Crema (premium soft cream blended with Japanese Hokkaido fresh milk and cream), Cremadoro (soft cream covered with 99% finest edible gold leaf), and Affogato (pairing of hot coffee or chocolate with soft cream). The menu is rather extensive and that's why YY and R5 spent a few minutes in silence to study the menu while I'm keeping our table safe. 

After their careful deliberation (which seems to take forever to be honest with you), both ladies come back with two kind of parfaits in their hands. R5 came back with the green parfait on the left, the Exclusive Sawatari Tea Daifuku Parfait from Kochi (HKD 56). The parfait basically combines green tea soft cream with toppings such as red beans and tea mochi. I love Japanese green tea so green tea soft cream is definitely on my favourite food list. The taste of green tea soft cream from I Cremeria is not bitter and yet not so sweet either, it's just nice. Meanwhile, YY brought back Affogato of Monbana Hot Chocolate (HKD 53). I thought affogato always refer to caffeinated drink like coffee but I Cremeria offers a combination of hot chocolate with soft cream instead so that people like YY and I, who have weak tolerance for caffeine, can enjoy affogato without having to suffer insomnia at night. Soft cream and hot chocolate pairing is one of the pairing in the world which cannot go wrong but since it's chocolate, it can be rather sweet. 

After finishing our desserts, it's just right for us to continue our exploration of Causeway Bay. The area is actually one of the major shopping areas in Hong Kong besides Mongkok and Tsim Sha Tsui. There are so many shopping malls which are located within close distance from one to another like Times Square, Hysan Place and Fashion Walk (where I Cremeria is located). I wonder if watches are so popular here in Hong Kong because I keep seeing watches store from the normal brand to the high class one. YY entered one of the high class branded watches store to check out a watch for her beloved husband but apparently the kind of watch that her husband wants is not yet available at that store. She breathed a sigh of relief since that means more money for her to spend for herself. Tsk tsk tsk. 

If you want to visit the largest Apple store in Hong Kong, you should make your way to Hysan Place at Causeway Bay. I personally like the shopping mall because it has many overseas brands which are catered more for younger people and even, Eslite bookstore from Taiwan, has set up its stores here. There is one waffle/ pancake restaurant at one of the higher level at Hysan Place which is perpetually full house during our visit to Hong Kong. Is the country currently suffering from waffle/ pancake craze? I suppose we can only find out how good the restaurant is when we make another trip to Hong Kong since it's way impossible for us to pick a ticket at 10.30 AM to dine at night at Hysan Place. Hmm, okay it's technically possible but we were too lazy to do it. Hahaha. 

Oh right, if you love LINE Friends, there is one LINE Friends store in Hysan Place. The fun thing about visiting LINE Friends store is that there will a lot of photo prop that you can take picture with just like this cool friend of mine, Choco, who looks so edgy with her yellow scooter. 

I just love looking at cute stuff and LINE Friends store basically is full of cute range of items from stationeries, clothes, bags, gadgets, phone casing, and even kitchen utensils. But I just damaged my wallet back in Seoul when I visited another LINE Friends store there so I managed to control myself this time by not buying any. Until next time, my cute little Brown, Cony and Sally. 

I Cremeria is located at: 

Shop F-9, 1/F

11- 19 Great George Street

Fashion Walk, Causeway Bay

Opening hours:

Daily 12PM - 11PM

Line Friends store is located at: 

2/F, 500 Hennessy Road

Hysan Place, Causeway Bay

Opening hours: 

Daily 10AM - 10PM

Myeongdong is best visited at night time because there will be more food carts to see at night. In this case, you will not go shopping with a hungry stomach. 

There is an ahjumma (re: middle-aged lady) who sells spicy Korean rice cake, ddeokbokki. My Mom and I were salivating looking at it and we decided to just buy it since my brother is nowhere in sight yet (he's getting overwhelmed by the 4-stored Uniqlo I suspect). The ddeokbokki really taste oh-so-good. And there are some pieces of fish cakes too in the mix. Yummy! Massiseoyooo~~

This particular stall is quite interesting too. It seems to be fried egg pancakes. Too bad we were seriously full from the early dinner of bibimbap and the ddeokbokki that we just ate. Oh well. 

Did I tell you earlier about the abundant skincare stores in Myeongdong? Holika Holika, Too Cool for School and Club Clio are located next to each other. Myeongdong is really an open market for all skincare products in Korea. Sometimes, the price of the skincare products sold in Myeongdong can be way cheaper than those sold at department store though. So far I've stocked up my skincare regime which I'm sure are sold at cheaper price in Korea such as: Laneige's grapefruit lip gel, Faceshop's collagen eye patch + CC cream, and Etude House's pencil eyeliner. 

If you are looking to buy clothes in Myeongdong, you may want to check out SPAO and ROEM. SPAO is more for street casual style (for both guys and girls) while ROEM (which is advertised by Park Shin Hye) leans more toward feminine/sweet style for ladies. Uniqlo is also available here at Myeongdong and it has four levels (no wonder my Brother took forever inside Uniqlo). 

 Oh there is also another Line Friends store in Myeongdong and while this store may not be the biggest Line Friends store in Seoul, I managed to find phone casing for my S7 Edge and it was on sale woohooo. 

Anyeong Brown and Sally. This huge version of Brown doll is always popular for photo taking with visitors. Hahaha. 

Line Friends store in Myeongdong sells food and drink but to be honest, I was more attracted to the ddeokbokki outside the street at Myeongdong. 

Line Friends snacks like peanuts and chocolates are available too if you would like to buy some to give out to friends or families as souvenirs. 

The mini Brown lamp looks so cuteeeee. If only I have enough space to put him on my desk. Not having your own place to live is kinda troublesome sometimes. But that's the price to pay if you want to work in another country. Oh well. 

There is one smaller outlet at Breeze at Taipei Main Station but I could not find anything that I feel like buying from that outlet. And one of the main reasons of why I really really want to go to the right store is because Choco is waiting for me at that store. Awww. 

But of course, I was so happy to find Sally, Brown and Cony and immediately posed with them. Hehe. 

Choco is really the fashionista in Line Friends universe. She even has her own corner at Taipei Line Friends Store. Thankfully the store was not crowded on Friday evening. We did not have to queue for long time to take picture together with the chic Choco. 

I just went crazy over these socks. Like really crazy. There is no way for me to buy Line Friends socks in Singapore because apparently the people here are not really head over heels for Line. They prefer the boring Whatsapp but I do agree that Whatsapp is more convenient and professional to use when you are chatting with colleagues (which includes your...ugh, bosses). 

If only I have my own kitchen, I will surely buy all these kitchenware for sure. Maybe it's a good thing I don't even have my own house at the moment. Hahaha. While these goods are cute, they don't really entice me enough to make me want to buy them. 

There is a swag corner with Brown, Moon and Edward. Don't you wanna be part of the cool gang of Line Friends Town? 

Mobile phone decoration and keychains are plenty but I already have a lot of these stuffs so I gave them a miss. I cant really hang all of them on my one and only phone after all. Hahaha. 

The couple Brown and Cony dolls are so cute but my rented room is too small for another pair of Line Friend plush toys. I really need to get my own house really. Somehow. Someday. God will make a way. 

I was so happy I can finally buy Brown and Cony figurines. There are two sets of Brown and Cony each but I decided to start with these two (because these goodies are not cheap). They have been featured quite prominently in my anyhow-takeaway-food because I put them on my table. Let's say they are good companionship when I eat my food while watching Ipad. #singleladylifestyle

Line Friends Store is located at: 

Shinkong Mitsukoshi A11

Xinyi District 

Opening hours:

Daily 11AM - 9.30PM

Formosa Chang is a restaurant chain specializing in braised meat rice and the outlet usually has yellow sign with its mascot, the bearded man. My uncle and aunt brought me here for the first time during my first visit to Taipei 4 years ago and since then, I am hooked to this simple and yet, addicting food. It comes as a small bowl of rice (thankfully, because well rice makes you fat) and the braised meat is poured on the rice. 

Since the rice itself is so small in portion, Formosa Chang offers it in set meal (you can also have the option to order ala carte if you'd like to). My standard choice of set meal is the NTD 99 set which have clear radish soup, tofu with sweet sauce and the braised meat rice. The radish given inside the soup is generous, you will surely feel full from eating this soup alone. 

I love the tofu too and the sweet sauce that comes with it. 

We were very very full after eating the above meal and decided to walk the calories off. We went to Taipei Main Station area because this station is still vibrant even after 9PM. I was curious about Line Friends Store at Breeze @ Taipei Main Station but it took us a while to find this Breeze. Turns out it's located near to the HSR/ TRA gate. 

The Line Friends Store here is not as big as I thought but apparently there's a bigger one located at Taipei City Hall. But anyway since we were already here, I decided to just take a quick look at the store. 

But unfortunately, I could not find anything that I wanted to buy from Line Friends Store @ Breeze. Oh well. Better luck next time.