Nursing Rooms @ Yuen Long Plaza

This is the third installment of my Nursing Rooms around Hong Kong posts.  Today's Nursing Room comes to you from Yuen Long Plaza.  I actually was surprised that there was such a nice nursing room here because the Plaza is so small and not really the sort of place I thought would have this type of amenity.

I mean…the Plaza is definitely upping it's game with the new Fusion supermarket, the always awesome Uniqlo, and a new Starbucks shop…but, who knew that this Nursing Room had been here before all those things came to the Plaza???

I'm glad, none the less, to share what the Nursing Room and Changing Station look like.

The Nursing Room is found on the third floor of the Plaza near the restrooms (behind the Joint Publishing bookstore and Genki Sushi).

It'll be easy to spot because of the cutesy baby imagery that lead to the room.

When I first looked inside, I was quite surprised at how colorful and well kept the place was.  It looks semi new too.

The actual nursing room is to the right of the changing room. Besides the lock door, there is a changing station, a sink, soap, and paper napkins to wash your hands…as well as a diaper bin next to it…

There is also one pretty comfortable chair that gives pretty good arm support.

The only downside to having this wonderfully private nursing room is…that there is only one!  I am not too sure how busy this place gets, but, this morning, there weren't any babies or families at all in the changing room.  It was pretty nice to have the entire changing room to myself!

But, when it does get busy…I think that having one nursing room is not enough!  I mean, Yuen Long is a place where there are a lot of young families.  Everywhere I go I see babies…so, definitely, places around the city should think about having more nursing rooms to accommodate.

Seriously, who wants to wait half an hour to nurse their crying-of-hunger baby?

If the actual Nursing Room is busy, there are benches outside where you can nurse (if you like).

The outside changing room is public (open to fathers and mothers and anyone really…)

There are three changing tables with three diaper bins beneath.  Their quite cute…though close together.  But, they definitely can only hold one person at each station and their baby!  So, if you and your partner want to change the baby together…it is a tight squeeze!  But, tight squeezes are common in Hong Kong.

I've just started noticing this, but most nursing/changing rooms also have air purifiers…that's a neat thing to include!

It's always good to know that the malls are now installing changing stations/ nursing rooms.  It makes me think that they really are catering to a large target consumer!

Good job Yuen Long Plaza!

Royal Plaza Hotel Sweets

It was another lazy Saturday…when the weather was beautifully warm…and we just didn't feel like heading down into the city to do anything special for afternoon tea.  So, we headed over to Yuen Long Plaza…to use some Starbucks gift certificates that we got over the Chinese New Year.

When we were walking around, we spotted a little kiosk that was set up by the Royal Plaza Hotel.  We decided to test out one of the tarts.

I've heard of the cakes from the Royal Plaza Hotel before.  One of my friends had bought a cake that looked like a bowl of noodles from this place for a friend's birthday.  When I saw the image on her phone, I had made a mental note to check out this place one day!  Who knew…with such good luck…that these cakes came to Yuen Long!

The kiosk was selling a bunch of treats that could be eaten for afternoon tea…and also for gifts during the Chinese New Year.

The prices aren't that bad!

The treat that we decided on was the Baked Chocolate Tart.  It looked like one of the more popular options in the kiosk.

They were also selling little ramen bowls with cookie char siu and a sunny side up egg in the front.  We picked up one of the mini bowls as a birthday present for my mother, who has been visiting these past few weeks with my dad.  This was another stroke of luck "feeling" that I had in just minutes after realizing that the Royal Plaza Hotel kiosk was in Yuen Long Plaza.

By the way…the cake was a chestnut flavored cake.  Though it was small…the taste was pretty good.  I think that the novelty of the look of the cake is probably what makes these really special though.  I'm not sure how long the kiosk will be at Yuen Long Plaza, but I'm totally thinking about picking up another cake as a thank you gift for someone special.  We'll see.  The price is pretty all right!  And the taste is also pretty all right!  The look, though, is priceless!

Some of the other cakes that were available…

After picking up our little Baked Chocolate Tart, we headed to Starbucks and actually got a seat!  ANOTHER STROKE OF LUCK…because it is hard to get a seat at the Yuen Long Plaza Starbucks…there are always loads of people there.

Spending the afternoon with a nice cup of coffee and eating sweets to give the appropriate sugar rush into the early evening…that's what I call a really great afternoon.

Joint Publishing Bookshop

We were shopping around for books at Yuen Long Plaza's Joint Publishing, when I spotted something a bit odd...

I did a double-take and realized that my eyes were not deceiving me.  There, tucked away between some normal-sized books, was a miniature little red book...

 I picked it up in utter disbelief.  And asked my husband if this was supposed to be there.  He said, yes.

And he was right.  The miniature red book was being sold for $10 HKD.  

I love finding surprising things like a miniature book on sale.  I thought it was a prank initially.  But, wow.  That made my day.

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

Gyu-Kaku opened up over the summer, but there was always a line queuing when we were at the peak of our hunger.  But, we finally got to try this place, though a few months down the line!

Gyu-Kaku is one of the restaurants that we have in Yuen Long Plaza.  There are a good number of selections and, besides Genki Sushi, this is the other restaurant with a Japanese flare.

Gyu-Kaku Info:

Location

Shop 332 - 323, 3/F Yuen Long Plaza

249 - 251 Castle Peak Road

Yuen Long

Tel. No.

2725-9188

Hours

Mondays - Sundays noon - 11 pm

NOTE:  There is a 10% service charge, which means that the service is pretty darn attentive!

There is a physical menu on paper available, but they also give you a tablet to input your menu.  I thought that was pretty nice.  There is an English option, so that was also a great surprise.

We got a seat at exactly 6 pm, which might be the magic hour.  After 7 pm, the restaurant started filling up pretty quickly.

We ordred a cold tofu to start off with.

We got the platter of mixed vegetables.

We got the platter of mixed meats.

The fun thing about Gyu-Kaku is that you can cook the food on your own.  That's my kind of restaurant.  It brings in an element of fun with dinner…especially if you are on date night and want to be doing some bonding activity with your date!

The last dish we ordered was a spicy ramen dish.

Final thoughts on Gyu-Kaku:
1.  I really liked the service.  Everyone was so nice and accommodating (not that we asked for anything, but they cleared our table, helped us set up the stove, asked us if we wanted to refill our drinks…etc).  That was really great service.

2.  To go along with the drink thing.  We also got Calips mixed drinks, which were delicious (but I forgot to capture that image).  I first got a mix of Calpis and Coke when I took a trip over to Kozy's Okonomiyaki in Causeway Bay.  Who knew that Calpis could make a pretty good mixed drink!?

3.  I really liked the environment.  Even though it got crowded, we all seemed to have our own little private table.  I mean, we had a corner table, but it had enough spaces between us and the couple next to us to not really put a damper on our evening.

4.  The food was pretty all right.  I have no complaints about the food.  I did like the fact that we got options on condiments:  soy sauce, garlic sauce, and a spicy sauce.  I like options.

I'd definitely recommend this place for those who would fancy a little bit of a fun evening at the local Yuen Long yakiniku place.

Yuen Long Plaza: Chao Inn

The curry place is an option…

So is the Italian, when I'm feeling pizza…

Sushi is more my cup of tea during the winter…

Yoshinoya?

McDonalds? 

Maybe Vietnamese food would be a nice change?

Perhaps...Starbucks….?

There are quite a bit of places to eat at Yuen Long Plaza and Chao Inn is one of those options.  It's the Chinese restaurant that sits at the top floor of the Plaza and is also the place where we are most likely having dim sum on Sundays.

A year ago, or so, this place went under major reconstruction…for the better!  Now it's quite the hip trendy little place to dine. 

Upon sitting down, the waitstaff ask what tea that you'd like to have, which is probably the most welcoming thing about eating Chinese.  Each table also gets their own jug of boiling hot water to refill the tea pots throughout the meal.

Chao Inn has a pretty diverse menu.  Most of the time, I try sticking to the dishes that I know (the lobster noodles, sweet and sour pork, or the four season beans!), but I feel like I can really expand my repertoire when I eat here.

We started dinner off with the chicken soup, which is pretty tasty and definitely a comfort food!

The second dish we got was a duck and taro dish.  This was, by far, my favorite of the dinner.  It had the fried-ness that I love about my foods and an element of healthy stuck in there with the taro.

The second main dish that we got was a cheese and corn sauce draped over pieces of fried boneless chicken.  This was all right.  I'm glad I got to try it.  Chicken isn't one of my favorite things in the world, but it was nice to try.

The third dish we got was a vegetarian dish of mushrooms, rice noodles, and greens.  This is always a nice incorporation into any dinner.  It's always good to have a meat dish and a veggie dish at meals, I think.

We also ordered some PBR.  I don't know why I was impressed that Chao Inn had Pabst, but I was.  This took me back to the ye ole days of college.

The final dish that we got was actually something that I normally order when I eat at Chao Inn.  It's the fried noodle pancake, for lack of a better name.  It's a simple dish that comes with a side of sugar and vinegar.

The idea is that each person takes a little triangle of the fried noodles, sprinkles a bit of vinegar over the top (I prefer drenching my noodles with vinegar), and then sprinkles a bit of sugar on top of that (again, I prefer drenching my noodles with sugar)…  It's definitely one of my staple comfort foods since moving to Hong Kong!

Though I do like supporting smaller businesses, there is definite perks about eating at Yuen Long Plaza:

A Guaranteed Great Time!

Yuen Long Plaza has a lot of restaurants that I know are going to be delicious and the environment is always quite jovial (as most people seem to eat out in our area).  Dinners in Hong Kong are always such a wonderfully normal event.  It's something that I definitely love about this City…eating, drinking and being merry with friends and family!