HELLO! Welcome back to another edition of Praisella cannot believe the month is over and now struggles to think about what happened there – I mean, another month’s favorites!
Is it just me or this year really just flies by like no tomorrow? Feels like it was just new years eve last week and here we are halfway through the year already.
Anyways, May was such a great month! I moved into a new apartment (yay to slightly larger shoe box), got myself a new phone (finally!!), hired my first intern ever, and picked up a few new hobbies along the way. It also happened to be the most social month I’ve had in ages. I realized as much as I love my chill weekends, human interactions are really what makes me happiest.
So this month, I took the extra time to hang out with my friends, colleagues, and even dipped my toes back into the dating scene (lol). My body was so confused about the sudden change that I actually got sick twice, but I had a lot of fun!
This month’s favorites seem to follow into three categories only: food, music, and assorted new things I liked, let’s just get started!
FOOD
I recently moved to the island side of Hong Kong and my oh my, I had no idea moving two stops over would change my life this much. This side of town really is the brighter side, and it feels like I just got transported back to LA (in a good way) because there is SO MUCH FOOD.
I’ve spent the last few weeks endlessly googling spots to try and I’m now working through a list of must-tries. Stay tuned for a more comprehensive guide but here are a few places I’ve tried and liked:
Supabowl
In my one year of living in HK, I had zero Acai bowls because 1) they are so expensive and 2) none seems to look good enough to try. UNTIL THIS MONTH. Lo and behold, Supabowl is my new obsession, with quality Acai bowls comparable to the ones I had in LA and for a much more reasonable price than the rest (i think its about 40-60HKD depending on size). And the best part, the service is a 10/10, it genuinely shocked me that they made conversation with me and other people whilst waiting. I’ve gotten so used to rude service and getting yelled at around here that it took me a second to understand what is happening lol but I definitely appreciate it! If you find yourself around Wan Chai, make a stop at Supabowl and thank me later 😉
Tallore
Alright, I know I’m going to sound like such a basic LA person but I have really missed having a good salad since we don’t really have much of that around where I used to live. But man, I have discovered my new lazy dinner takeout at Tallore. Similar to Passion for my HK peeps, this place offers selection of salad and you can mix and match whichever you like. For some reason though, I’ve had bad experience with Passion so I stopped eating there a while ago. Tallore on the other hand, have served me good and I like how fuss-free it is for when I just want something quick and healthy.
Han Ah Rum
If you’re looking for a solid home-style KBBQ, Han Ah Rum in Causeway Bay is where it’s at. It wasn’t my first time there, but I just recently went back and remembered how solid this place is. Their meat selection is LARGE and their kimchi pancake is one of the best ones I’ve had (and is my friend’s all-time favorite). Price is comparable to most, we spent about $300 HKD for a good amount of food (2 rounds of meat) and left feeling pretty satisfied.
Samsen
Another old favourite revisited, Samsen hit the spot one more time. I started going to Samsen back on exchange days and to this place, this place has not disappoint. I tried their Crab Fried Rice this time and it was of course well-made and delicious, just like everything else. Their Stir-Fry Flat Noodles (Pad See Ew?) will always be my number option one though. Pro tip, when they asked for water choice, still or sparkling, say tap. My first time going there we ended up with a bottle of expensive still water that we later carried back home (LMAO) so I’ve learned my lesson to avoid that since.
Little Creatures
On one of those social nights, my company and I decided to head to Little Creatures in Kennedy Town for Taco Tuesday. This time, they offered chicken, pork, and mushroom tacos and they had live music playing (which I LOVE). Of course, we devoured all the tacos. I beat my own record of 12 tacos to 15 (huge improvement, I know) and some of us ate more than 20+ in one sitting. Oh and the deal comes with unlimited beers too, so really what more can you ask for. Little Creatures is one of those places that’s guaranteed a good time (and great for pregame), and we’ll definitely be coming back soon!
PS. There’s a Tiger Sugar (bubble tea place) near me and I finally gave it a try but man, I did not like it. It was overly sweet and the bubble was just ok? Not sure why they are so hyped, but it’s definitely not for me. Will be going back to my lovely TST for my boba fix at About from now on.
MUSIC
In the middle of what feels like a very busy month, I found a lot of new songs that kept me entertained on my daily commute and showers lol, courtesy of my lovely friend/go to Spotify person Amanda (hi). There’s honestly too many to go through so here’s a rapid-fire list of some songs I liked this month, from chill hits to lowkey lit stuff:
- Feels so good & Location Unknown – Honne
- Sunflower Feelings – Kuzu Mellow
- Girls Like You – Blackbear (Tarro Remix)
- Henny in the Hamptons – Bren Joy
- wake up – Zachary Knowles
- Tonic Water – Moglii
- Fill Me In – Loud Luxury
- Moon River – Frank Ocean
- The Few Things – JP Saxe
- All Night Long – JST FRNDS
- Do You Think About Me – Captain Cuts
- Love Me Less – Max ft. Quinn XCII
- Let’s Fall in Love for the Night – FINNEAS (also great to play on uke!!)
NEW THINGS I DID
Yes, for once I actually went out and did stuff this month (amazing, I know). I’ve been wanting to do all of these, but haven’t gotten around to it until now. And turns out, I’ve been missing out on lots of fun!
LOST HK
I’m super late on this but ya girl finally did her first ever escape room! We went to Lost HK in Causeway Bay and it turned out to be super fun! I thought escape room would be kind of stupid lol with useless codes but the one we did (a 4/5 difficulty) was actually really fun! Someone told us escape room is a test of friendship and temper and I’m happy to report that we all remained friends after. I’m not gonna tell you how we did, but we’d go back for sure!
side note, I also went back to Strokes this month! This time, I discovered that there is a semi-secret arcade room full of ’90s looking games and we got some free tokens to play with! And oh, I kick butt on darts now 😉
Ukulele
This month, I picked up the ukulele as my new obsession. My boss has been trying to get us all into uke and I finally actually tried it this month. And let me tell you, uke is so much fun! It’s been my source of relaxing and entertainment lately (also because still living that no wifi life) and it’s super easy to learn! In case you’re interested, two apps that really helped me are Ultimate Guitar Tabs and GuitarTuna. Tabs is not free but they have a free trial and IMO worth the investment because of the endless song chords and GuitarTuna is great for tuning your uke (especially if you’re a noob like me). My favorite songs on uke right now are La Vie En Rose (Louis Armstrong), Don’t Know Why (Norah Jones), Island In The Sun (Weezer) and Somewhere Only We Know (Keane) and I’m super excited to expand this list soon!
HK Art Fair
Affordable Art Fair HK is a yearly weekend event where lots of art from paintings to photography are displayed and up for purchase for (what people considered) to be cheaper than average. For my nontrained art eyes though, these are still expensive (the cheapest one I saw was at 2000HKD ouch). Though the event seemed cool and is a good change from other typical HK activities, I found it only okay. Maybe because I expected more installations and sculptures in this art fair – but if you’re into paintings and such, you might enjoy this fair!
Nail Library
Call me an adult, because ya girl just got her first soft gel nails ever last week! I know I’m a few years late into this but man I just got it done and I feel like such a proper adult with my chip-free nude nails (lmao). If you’re looking for a good place to get your nails done in HK, Nail Library in Sheung Wan is nice! They have wide options of colors and I really enjoyed my experience! I heard they are moving to a new location soon though, so make sure to check that before you go.
All in all, May was a great month full of fresh starts and mini life upgrades and honestly, this was much much needed after what feels like endless Ls the past few months. I’m excited to see what June has to offer and for hopefully many more firsts!
