Nursing Room @ K11 Mall

Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) is one of the busiest districts in Hong Kong.  It's where I find myself meeting with friends, going to Cantonese class…and doing quite a bit of my shopping!  When I am down here, I never really have to worry about NOT being able to find a changing table or nursing room.  They are easily found in most places that I frequent.  Harbour City, for example, has a really chic and modern nursing room found in Ocean Terminal near the Toys R Us.

One of my favorite nursing rooms to pay a visit to when I am in the area is the K11 Mall.  I'd found this nursing room a few months ago when we were having a gathering at the K11 Pizza Express.  I think that is where most parents feel quite comfortable taking their kids…anyhow, this nursing room has a lot of amenities that make my life a lot more comfortable…not to mention the baby's.

The first amenity is the air purifier, which I always appreciate!

Secondly, there is the ever necessary sink!  Some places I have been to only provide a changing pod sans the sink.  So, any nursing room with a sink is safety on the comfy side of the Nursing Room Spectrum for me.  And it's even more of a luxury if the room comes with a soap-filled dispenser and paper towels.

It's quite a compact space, which you can see from the photos, but it is nice, cozy and warm.  It is quite quiet as well, which is good for me because loud, blaring musical tunes in a nursing room aren't really my cup of tea.

There is a hot water dispenser, as well to mix formula.  These dispensers are another luxury that I appreciate in some of the newer nursing rooms that I've visited over the past few months.  This means that you can mix formula and feed it to your little one fresh.  Given that the water is clean!

The dispenser is also good just for rehydrating your parched-self as well!  It's majorly hot these days…bless the Hong Kong summers…

Fourthly, the ultimate luxury for me in the K11 nursing room is the scale!  Every time I am in the area, I choose to visit the K11 mall just to be able to weigh my baby.  I like seeing how many pounds (and also grams) he weighs week by week.  It's a fun little thing to have in a nursing room!

A fifth amenity is the spacious leather double seat.  There is enough room to spread out all of the diaper bag necessities and also for a friend/spouse to chill out on.

The sixth amenity is the padded changing table.  Though pods are nice and do the job…having the luxury of a pad to lay a baby on is ideal.  I never have to worry about putting a blanket under the baby's head or lining the changing station with blankets to make the changing experience more comfortable…

K11 also provides disposable linings to put your blanket/baby on.  It makes it feel a bit more sanitary…but, that's just me!

The last amenity, this nursing room is a private one, so the door can be locked for privacy.  There is a 15 minute recommended limit though, but I have not really experienced being forced out of the nursing room.  I have not even heard anyone knock at the door.

If in need of a great nursing room, try asking the K11 concierge and they'll kindly direct you (that was my experience the first time I asked them!).

Lady M Crepe Cakes

Over the summer, there were two new cafes that opened up…one at the IFC Mall in Central and one at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui.  The only thing I knew about this cafe is that people lined up to get a seat…and anywhere in HK where there is a queue is probably going to be an awesome spot to eat at.

Lady M (Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui Location) Info:
Location
Shop OT215K, Level 2, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City
17 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui

It's quite easy to find.  It's in Ocean Terminal.  When you first walk into Ocean Terminal, there is an information desk.  They can direct you straight to Lady M, which is just a one minute walk from their desk.

Contact
2873 - 2356

*I really doubt you can make reservations for seats.

Hours
Sundays - Thursdays they open from 10 am until 9 pm
Fridays and Saturdays they open from 10 am until 10 pm

We got there maybe around 2:30 or 3 pm for the afternoon tea hour and the wait wasn't that bad.  I think it was around 10 minutes.  And they let one party in at a time because you have to order at the counter, get a number, get a seat, and then wait for your cakes and beverages to be brought to you.  It's a nice system that makes waiting in line feel not so bad…because who likes to be pushed around in a crowded cafe…NOT I!

The cool thing is…if you are not in the mood for dining in and waiting in line, there is the option of just picking up a cake or two on the other side of the counter.  So, there is a separate line that you can queue up in to select some cakes to take away.

Lady M is a cafe that was originally opened in New York.  It is famous for their crepe cakes…in particular, the Signature Mille-Crepes Cake.

Check out the website for more info on what the cafe offers.  There is also an option to order online!

We got one of my favorite flavors:  Earl Grey.  This was a slice of the Earl Grey Mille Crepe.  This was so moist and so delicious.  It wasn't too sweet and the flavor of the Earl Grey was so delicious.  I really enjoyed digging into this slice.  I would have it again…and probably will when my parents come to visit in a few weeks.  This was perfect…and would be perfect with a hot cup of tea on the side too.

Because I always feel like I have to try a place's signature dish, we also ordered the Signature
Mille Crepe Cake slice.  This was really nice…not too sweet…moist as well…and just lovely.  If I was in the mood for something not as extravagant as the tad-bit-sweeter Earl Grey crepe, I would go with this classic.  It was a really nice slice to start off with.

The third slice we got was the Lady M Green Tea Mille Crepe, which my friend told me was highly recommended by a lot of people online.  I'm quite the fan of the Japanese matcha flavor (Matcha Kit Kat anyone!), so this was a really nice slice to try with the original Signature crepe cake and also the Earl Grey!  It had that lovely matcha flavor.  It was also quite moist and not too sweet.

I was actually on quite the sugar high after delving into these crepes that we walked around to try to burn off some of those calories.  An interesting find, by the way, which I had never really noticed before…

Bruce Lee's Childhood School!!!!!

So, we were walking along Austin Road and bam.  There it was.

Who knew that this could be such a historical spot…

Who knew that a school could use it as advertising too…

…another log about some interesting and amazing finds around Hong Kong!

Jazz at Ned Kelly's

It was another Girls' Night Out and we hit up Ned Kelly's for the jazz music.  It's always nice to listen to live music while you eat, drink, and have a bunch of merriment.  

Ned Kelly's Last Stand is one of those bars that were in Hong Kong for a really long time.  They claimed that they were one of Kowloon's longest standing pubs…which I totally believe.  

It's also named after one of Australia's most famous outlaws…

Fun Fact:  Ned Kelly (as Wiki says) is one of Australia's cultural icons, who some think of as Austrialia's Robin Hood.

Ned Kelly's Last Stand Info:

Location

11 A Ashley Road

Tsim Sha Tsui

Contact

2376 - 0562

*We got there around 7pm, so there was no real need to reserve a table (though you can reserve tables).  Most people come in around 9 pm…after work.

The pub looks like something out of the Wild West…though Australia's Wild West.  It's a really nice chill place to hang out.  There were a mix of people who actually were here:  like mothers and their new born babies, families with young children, tourists from out of town, businessmen looking for an afterwork drink, and office coworkers who were looking to blow off some steam.  Who'd of thunk that there'd be so much variety…

The menu had a good deal of the usual burgers, steaks, salads, and sides.  The drink menu was also pretty extensive…There was something for everyone though.

The first thing on our docket was to try out the nachos.  They were all right.  They were your basic Doritos with cheese, salsa and cream cheese.  It wasn't that impressive…

The second thing on our docket was to try the calamari.  This too was not so impressive…

The third thing we got was the stuffed potatoes…which was filling, but not that impressive…

And the last thing we got was the fish and chips, which was probably the best thing on the menu.

I'm not sure if the actual menu might have been better to select food off of, but we were in the peckish mood for just the snacks.  The snacks were, again, not so impressive, but they did fill our stomachs with the satisfaction that only greasy junk food can give.

But, the food wasn't the draw.  It was the jazz music that really made the evening.  The band started up around 9:30 pm and play their first set, which was pretty awesome.  It's been awhile since I have listened to live music…not counting the band that goes round Disneyland.

It's a great show to watch and they had a really great vibe about them that made me want to get my old trumpet out of the closet and start learning how to play it again.

If you are in for some pretty darn good jazz music in the Kowloon area…then going to Ned Kelly's on Ashley Road is a great option.  There are also a lot of other great restaurants to try on Ashley Road.

Shanghai Min, TST

I am a big lover of Shanghai food.  Some of my favorite dishes are probably the (1) spicy pork dumplings drenched in spicy oil and covered in pork floss (hung yau chau say), (2) the spicy noodles in a peanut sauce with a sprinkling of ground pork atop it (dan dan mian) and (3) the soup -filled pork dumplings (siu lung bao). 

When walking around Tsim Sha Tsui East looking for food, my husband suggested we try out Shanghai Min.  We've both not been there before, but we were looking for some warm foods to comfort us on this chilly evening.

Shanghai Min Info:

Location

UG2 Tsim Sha Tsui Centre

66 Mody Road

Tsim Sha Tsui

Contact

2369 - 8899

Hours

Monday - Sundays

11:30 - 3 pm

6 pm - 11 pm

*Reservations available*

We go there around 6pm, which was really lucky because the kitchen opened up at 6pm.  There were a handful of people who were there before us and they were waiting until 6pm to get their orders in.  So, taking note of the times when the restaurant is open for service is quite valuable!

This place seems like a classy place, but also quite casual.  The staff were quite professional…or more so than your usual canteen!  I liked how they worked fast, were quite efficient at clearing our table, and also made sure if we were doing all right (somewhere in the middle of our dinner).  That was quite thoughtful.  

The menu was beautiful!  I love menus with pictures of what the dishes are.  The pictures were quite true to what the actual dishes looked like, which is always great.

I'm not sure if the first little appetizer was complimentary, but it seems like it was apart of the meal…just like you pay for the tea that comes with your meal at most places.  But, the little appetizer that greeted us at our table before we ordered was a pickled radish dish.  It was pretty good…but I quite like sour, vinegary things…so, I'm quite bias!

The first dish we ordered was recommended by the restaurant.  It sort of reminded me of Beijing Duck because it was a bit of meat that you placed on a bun and ate.  This was a cube of pork with a layer of the most delicious tasting fat that I have ever eaten.  Who knew that fat could be so darn delicious.  But, it also came in the most wonderful sauce that I have ever tasted.  The combination of the meat, the sauce and the bun were really nice.

It was also fun to eat.  A mini Chinese burger…or sandwich.

The next dish we got was one of our Shanghai staples…the spicy pork dumplings.  These were all right.  They weren't as spectacular as some that I've had at other places, but they did have a really nice sauce that the dumplings were resting in.

The next dish was the cutest thing that I'd ever seen.  We each got a single serving of the recommended soup-filled pork dumpling.  It was topped with crab eggs, I believe.  It was also quite nice, but nothing spectacular.  I did enjoy it…though..and it was almost double the size of a normal siu long bao!

The last dish we got was the dan dan mian.  This was pretty good as well.  I enjoyed it because it was just the perfect warm dish I needed to satisfy my stomach for the night.  It was not as spicy as I had thought it would be, but it did have a really nice soup flavor.

For dessert, we got a red bean cake.  This was just the perfect thing to end the meal with.  It was lovely and crispy on the outside and warm and sweet on the inside.  I love red bean desserts.  I would totally recommend this as a way to end a dinner.  I'm not sure if this came recommended by the restaurant, but we had this before at several other Shanghai restaurants and this one was comparably quite nice too!

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of dining at Shanghai Min.  The food was pretty good.  There were two dishes that I enjoyed more than the others, but, then again, we ordered food we usually order…so, of course, comparisons would be made!

This was a really nice place to eat at.  I think, when in the area…and in the mood for Shanghai food again…I would definitely go back.  Though, I think I would chance ordering some new dishes and expanding my taste-bud knowledge of Shanghai cuisine!