This past week I went to a fashion show at my friend's lingerie store, Sheer, in Landmark. Isn't the display in my friend's store beautiful?
The store is located on the third floor of the mall and in recent years the mall has put in concerted efforts to make this area more of a revamped, lifestyle, beauty and health focused section. I didn't realize it but that evening the entire floor was a party, with free flowing bubbly and wine and canapes from L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (yum).
I got there too late for bouquets of fresh flowers (wah!) the free
goodies from Sheer (wah!) and a few other little goodie bags from the
other stores, but I did manage to register and pick up a little gift bag
from Landmark itself.
Watching the gorgeous lingerie models strut around in barely-there lace teddies and underwear and silk robes up close, I could only admire how beautiful they were. I mean, truly, from an objective and non-sexual perspective, these ladies are like another species. That said, I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures of them - the show was beautiful and the pieces were beautiful and their bodies were beautiful, but to lift my camera phone to capture them in their near-naked glory made me personally feel very uncomfortable, perhaps because the act of capturing something in a still photograph is essentially the act of objectifying it.
She
has some fun and cheeky things (look at those tassels!) that manage to
be elegant and tasteful nonetheless. I bought my Eberjey pajamas from
here and I am already planning my next trip back to load up on a bunch
of items.
She had a great turnout.
After hobnobbing around a bit, I left to go enjoy a quiet, late dinner with a few friends who share my love for Vietnamese food. I had not yet tried out Luke Nguyen's restaurant, Moi Moi, located in the Nexxus Building on Des Voeux Road.
I have VERY bad memories of this building because it happens to be where the financial printers (for printing prospectuses, registration statements, offering letters, etc.) are. That little fact sadly turned me off before I even got to the restaurant, but the truth of the matter is that the setting is very weird for a restaurant. It's an incredibly local (think bright fluorescent lights, tiled floors, small elevators, dark bathrooms on a separate floor you can only access with a key) and very corporate space (reception desk to check your ID, elevator bank with lists of offices, automatic sliding glass doors on both entrances).
That said, one should never entirely judge a book by its cover, so I headed in with an open mind about the food. Overall, I thought it was pretty good, with some notable highlights, but not consistently amazing. Plus, I know Vietnamese food is not all about pho, but to not even have one pho option seemed a bit sad.
We ordered the chicken salad and the rice cakes with pork floss to start. The chicken salad hit all of my taste bud favorites, with zesty lime, a dash of sweet, and a hint of chili. The sticky rice cakes were very good, chewy but with a crispy pan fried exterior, which contrasted nicely with the softer, salty pork floss, and all topped off with a generous helping of sweet vinegar.
The mains were a grilled seabass wrapped in betel leaf, and a lemongrass beef. I thought both of these were a bit bland - the lettuce wrap was a good way to incorporate some vegetables, but they only offered one kind of herb, whereas in Vietnam you would typically get an entire basket of all the varieties of wild grass. The seabass was very bland despite generous spoonfuls of fish sauce. The meat dish I liked better because it came with some rice vermicelli, which reminded me of one of my favorite dishes, the bun cha.
Lastly, to round out the meal, we ordered a brussels sprout dish and an avocado tart for dessert. The brussels sprouts were AMAZING. I took one bite of those cooked-to-crispy-caramelized-perfection nuggets, coated with crispy bits, fried garlic, slightly charred and blistered chili peppers, and finished in a balsamic vinaigrette reduction, and could only think, "I would come back for this dish alone." The avocado tart was creamy and smooth, but as much as I love avocados, I have to say I do not prefer it in dessert form!
Moi Moi
Ground Floor, Nexxus Building
77 Des Voeux Road Central
Central, Hong Kong
Watching the gorgeous lingerie models strut around in barely-there lace teddies and underwear and silk robes up close, I could only admire how beautiful they were. I mean, truly, from an objective and non-sexual perspective, these ladies are like another species. That said, I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures of them - the show was beautiful and the pieces were beautiful and their bodies were beautiful, but to lift my camera phone to capture them in their near-naked glory made me personally feel very uncomfortable, perhaps because the act of capturing something in a still photograph is essentially the act of objectifying it.
I have VERY bad memories of this building because it happens to be where the financial printers (for printing prospectuses, registration statements, offering letters, etc.) are. That little fact sadly turned me off before I even got to the restaurant, but the truth of the matter is that the setting is very weird for a restaurant. It's an incredibly local (think bright fluorescent lights, tiled floors, small elevators, dark bathrooms on a separate floor you can only access with a key) and very corporate space (reception desk to check your ID, elevator bank with lists of offices, automatic sliding glass doors on both entrances).
That said, one should never entirely judge a book by its cover, so I headed in with an open mind about the food. Overall, I thought it was pretty good, with some notable highlights, but not consistently amazing. Plus, I know Vietnamese food is not all about pho, but to not even have one pho option seemed a bit sad.
We ordered the chicken salad and the rice cakes with pork floss to start. The chicken salad hit all of my taste bud favorites, with zesty lime, a dash of sweet, and a hint of chili. The sticky rice cakes were very good, chewy but with a crispy pan fried exterior, which contrasted nicely with the softer, salty pork floss, and all topped off with a generous helping of sweet vinegar.
The mains were a grilled seabass wrapped in betel leaf, and a lemongrass beef. I thought both of these were a bit bland - the lettuce wrap was a good way to incorporate some vegetables, but they only offered one kind of herb, whereas in Vietnam you would typically get an entire basket of all the varieties of wild grass. The seabass was very bland despite generous spoonfuls of fish sauce. The meat dish I liked better because it came with some rice vermicelli, which reminded me of one of my favorite dishes, the bun cha.
Lastly, to round out the meal, we ordered a brussels sprout dish and an avocado tart for dessert. The brussels sprouts were AMAZING. I took one bite of those cooked-to-crispy-caramelized-perfection nuggets, coated with crispy bits, fried garlic, slightly charred and blistered chili peppers, and finished in a balsamic vinaigrette reduction, and could only think, "I would come back for this dish alone." The avocado tart was creamy and smooth, but as much as I love avocados, I have to say I do not prefer it in dessert form!
Moi Moi
Ground Floor, Nexxus Building
77 Des Voeux Road Central
Central, Hong Kong
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