On the 3BM iPod: Lo-Fang

It's Thursday, which is music to my ears because that only means one thing ... one more wake up until the weekend begins!!! yippee!!! 

In celebration, I bring you my Thursday tune obsession... Boris by Lo-Fang...



Now i've got you hooked with Lo-Fang's AKA Matthew Hemerlein's haunting vocals I will tell you a little more about this 30-year old music god!

Kick-starting will a few fast facts...

1. He has been the opening act for the legendary Lorde

2. He was selected by Baz Luhrmann to sing in his latest mini film masterpiece for Chanel No.5

3. He can turn his hand to six different instruments - he'd be a lethal Pied Piper that's for sure!

He's pretty much a big deal AND did I mention he looks like this...

Need I go on?

I will anyway! Hemerlein's stunning electropop debut album, 'Blue Film' is dark, full of sexual tension and features a balance of feminine and masculine elements. I've pretty much had Boris (the above track not the Mayor of London variety) on loop for two weeks straight now! I dare you not to fall hard... 

His track - #88 - is also up there. Mesmerisingly gentle and oh-so-catchy...

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

So this week has been a bit of a crazy one. The London Mice spent the beginning of the week basking in the Portuguese sun with a gaggle of girls getting up to so much mischief that they've spent the rest of the week wearing enormous dark glasses and quietly trying to recover.

Meanwhile over in Hong Kong, the streets have been awash with yellow ribbons, umbrellas and the most peaceful, polite protestors campaigning for democracy. I'm not going to get political on the blog, but I'm completely blown away by the calm, determined way that thousands and thousands of Hong Kongers have united to fight for the city's right to universal suffrage. Here are a couple of shots I've captured this week.

If you want to understand a little more about the whats and whys, this is a pretty neat summary.

Portugal and protests aside, there's been plenty going on in Miceland over the last seven days, this week the Mice have mostly been... 

Chomping my way through a couple of fresh new Hong Kong restaurant openings. 

First up, Gordon Ramsey's Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. This year has seen a slew of British chefs opening up in Hong Kong from Jason Atherton to Jamie Oliver, and Ramsey's new restaurant is the latest to join the line-up. Perched just above Lang Kwai Fong, Bread Street Kitchen & Bar is a buzzy, low-lit, laid-back space. 

The menu focuses on comfort food staples, think: Shepherd's Pie, macaroni cheese and fish & chips. The food is hearty and tasty but nothing particularly spectacular. In short - good gastropub grub in the heart of LKF.

The cocktail list is a little more exciting. Ranging from the novel - the Cinema Highball, a popcorn infused rum topped up with Coke - to the deliciously British - the Britz Spritz, Kamm & Sons Aperitif, sparkling wine, elderflower cordial and soda. 

Next up, Carbone, a New York Italian restaurant set just a few floors above Bread Street, but leaps and bounds above the Gordon Ramsey opening in every sense. Carbone is so mind-blowingly awesome that I ate there twice this week and if anything, the second time was even better than the first. 

I'll be writing a whole post on Carbone in the next couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled, and in the meantime a sneaky peek of a dish so simple, so perfect and so world-rockingly tasty that my mouth's watering as I type...

Watching in wonder as Paris Fashion Week brought fashion month to a close with a rally of jaw-dropping shows. 

Karl kicked off the fab finale with a catwalk overrun by Chanel Suffragettes... 

And then, in the belly of the brand new Foundation Louis Vuitton, a steel and glass Frank Gehry masterpiece... 

...Nicolas Ghesquière unveiled his LV ss'15 collection - one part folky, floaty Parisian girl, a heavy dash of Edie Sedgwick and a whole heap of futuristic sparkle.  

All of which left us breathlessly bravoing and working out how we can adopt even a little of the Louis Vuitton girl's cool come spring...

And that's your lot for another week!

Lots of love

x

The Mice

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

Oh hello there last working day of the week, we're not going to lie, we're pretty pleased to see you...

The last seven days have seen the London Mice ooh la la it across the Channel to a farmhouse in the French countryside for a week of rest, reading and sipping on pitcher after pitcher of Basil & Lemon Gin Coolers.

Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, their poor big sister has been laid-up with a horrid summer cold while relentless torrential rain pours down outside. But luckily it hasn't been all sneezing fits and showers, when I haven't been puddle-hopping with a fistful of tissues, this week this Mouse has mostly been... 

Rhapsodising about having discovered burger nirvana. Yup, I know that's a pretty huge claim, but this week I finally found the one. Burger lovers, the only three words you need to know from here on in are: Butcher's Club Burgers. Well, I mean, just so that you can find your way there, it would probably be handy to know the words: 2 Landale Street, Wan Chai too. And once you're there you're probably going to want to know the words: duck fat fries and ice-cream float too, but you get the idea.

There's only actually one burger on the official menu here but, when the burgers are this good, one burger is all you need. We're talking - a juicy, smoky hand-ground burger, draped in rashers of bacon and a cloak of oozy melted cheese, spiked with a kiss of pickle and nestled between two halves a perfectly grilled bun. Each and every mouthful is patty poetry.

If you've brought your smartphone (and your super sleuthing A-game), use the phone's camera to scan one of the mysterious QR codes on the wall to unlock the secret burger menu featuring a handful of other beefy delights (and even a vegetarian option). 

If you're really in the mood for a burger blow-out, then order up the Double Happiness - double everything in the regular burger all sandwiched between two rounds of grilled cheese. Words really can't do this bad boy justice, so I'll just let the photo do the talking...

Go hungry, go NOW!

The Butcher's Club Burgers

G/F Rialto Building

2 Landale Street

Wan Chai

2528  2083

(No Reservations, Open Noon-11pm, 7 days a week)

Sending my credit card scuttling off to cower in the corner after discovering the Little Shop of Jasmine. Anyone who spends any time at all on Pinterest, will definitely have already discovered at least a little piece of the typography genius of Jasmine Dowling, you just might not know about it yet... I've pinned her beautiful brushstroke typography pieces so many times over the last few months without ever taking the time to find out who was behind them. This week though, I clicked through on one of those pins, and hey presto, the girl behind the brush was revealed! Better yet, I realised there's a whole host of drool-worthy products in her e-shop, the Little Shop of Jasmine, just waiting to be snapped up. Now all I have to do is decide which gorgeous piece I'm going to make mine...

Beauty in the Chaos Print

$55

Bonne Nuit & Bonjour Pillowcases

$49 each

Phases of the Moon Print

$55

All You Need Is Sleep Cushion

$49

Raising a glass, draping ourselves in strings of pearls and honouring Coco Chanel because last Tuesday would have been her 131st Birthday. We personally think that the anniversary of the doyenne of fashion's birth should be a worldwide public holiday, but until then, here's a little Coco wisdom to finish off the week on the right note...

Have the most wonderful weekend!

x

The Mice

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

...miraculously NOT on holiday.

It's a sad, sad week when not one of us is drinking Champagne for breakfast, living out of a suitcase or on a constant mission to find the next Instagram-worthy beach shot. Fear not though Blog Buds, I can guarantee that our passports won't be loitering in the drawer for long, our travel toes are already itching and we're very much in planning mode for our upcoming overseas jaunts - watch this space...

In the meantime, I've been making the most of being back home for a bit, enjoying summer and catching up with friends. In glass half full mode, and chanelling that well-worn saying "a change is as good as a break", I guess if you're coming back from a long trip then staying at home is effectively a holiday (just with less bikinis and more spreadsheets). Convinced? Yeah, me neither?! I have been doing my damndest to cram the last seven days with as much lovely stuff as possible though, so here's a quick round-up of all that's new and fabulous in Mouseland. This week the Mice have mostly been...

Turning a whiter shade of pale now that I've finally caught on to the pale nail trend. The London Mice who are much cooler and more fashion forward than their HK sister, blogged about Tippex talons this time last year. Twelve months on, and I'm just about playing catch up.

When it comes to nail colours, given the fact that I work in a more corporate environment than the London Mice, I tend to stick to deep reds and pretty neutrals. Post my last couple of holdays though, with hands a little more tanned than usual, I thought I'd give white nails a try... I've braved them in the office over the last few weeks, and so far no outraged comments about their inappropriateness, so I'm going to take that as tacit approval.

I started with low cost, fairly safe, white-toned beiges and pinks courtesy of Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine nail polish. I opted for Rosehip (pinky white) and Almond (beigey white) which are a bargainous £3.99 each and last on my paperthin nails for a good three or four days with minimal chippage.

And then, sold on whiting-out, I graduated to blinding white - we're talking full-on tippex-esque nails here - with Chanel's Eastern Light.

All three colours are fairly tricky to apply and pretty prone to streaking but with careful loading of the brush and three coats I tend to manage to make them look passable. If anyone else is as backward in adopting trends as I am, I'd highly recommend all three products for clean, modern, summery nails.

Having serious concerns that I'll turn into the old woman who lived in her shoes after previewing the brand new Charlotte Olympia Fall collection at the Hong Kong Landmark store last night.  

The Shanghai Express collection will hit stores in a couple of months time but is currently available for pre-order. With Ming vase inspired platforms, panda flats (the perfect Eastern take on the much-loved Kittys) and Dollys with tasselled backs, each and every pair are kitschy fabulous and I want them all! Here's a little look at the range...

I also got a sneaky peek at the 9 till 5 Collection Lookbook and have my name down for a pair of Natalie's... Well, it's wrong not to bag a pair of your namesake shoes isn't it?! If you haven't heard about this new range yet, let me fill you in... Due to drop in stores in Hong Kong in late August, the 9 till 5 collection is designed to offer shoes that can be worn all day, every day.

Charlotte Olympia fans (let's call up Olympians) will know that her platforms can reach a neck-breakingly awesome 6.5 inch height, which is fine for taxi to curb nights out, but not so great for trotting around the office. Step up the 9 till 5s which sit at a much more manageable 4 inches and come complete with a pair of matching stockings and a super-cute briefcase-inspired shoebox designed to sit professionally under your desk. Keep your eyes peeled for well-heeled girls everywhere spinning Charlotte's web in an office near you very soon...

Getting flicky with it following my acquisition of the full-sized Benefit They're Real! Push-Up Eyeliner. I blogged a couple of weeks ago about trying out the sample of this brand new Benefit liner and summed up by saying it was good but not game changing. Well, after picking up the full-sized version in duty free last week, I've sort of changed my mind. Where the sample size has a squeezy tube which makes dispensing the correct amount of product tricky, the full-sized version has a twist base which means that as long as you'e restrained in your twisting, you get a perfect amount of liner. Having a full-sized pen to hold also makes applying a precise line much easier. The result is a much finer, tighter line than I can usually achieve with a brush and a gel liner.

As I said before, once you've applied the liner, it's pretty much there until you remove it and in fact, lots of eye make-up removers aren't even up to the job of shifting this stuff. Great when you want eyeliner that goes the distance, not so great when you're trying to avoid the panda look the next day. To combat this issue, Benefit has formulated a product specifically deisgned to remove the They're Real! liner and masacara - the aptly named, They're Real! Remover... While I haven't tried it, reviews are good, but the £14.50 a tube pricetag is fairly punchy. My top tip is to use Boots No7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make-up Remover which gets rid of every last scrap of black in just a single swipe and comes in at just £8.50 (as far as I'm concerned this is a total dupe of the £21 a bottle, Lancome Bi-Facil Make-up Remover too).

And that's all for another week! I don't know about you, but...

 

This weekend I'm thinking that if a little of what you fancy does you good, then surely a LOT of what you fancy is going to make you awesome...

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

x

 

The Mice

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

WOW! What a week…

Thank God it's Frrrrrriday!

This week has been mostly consumed with spreadsheets, mountains of documents and far too much dull, dull work. But, it is officially just a few short hours until the weekend and as we very firmly believe that...

…it's time to slip on your highest heels, add a slash of red lipstick to that power suit and get under that disco ball. Let's make this weekend a celebration of everything that's great in life wherever you are and whatever you've been up to this week. We'll drink to that…

But until it's cork pop o'clock, we thought we'd brighten your last office-bound day of the week with a quick whizz through what we've been up to this week, this week the Mice have mostly been…

Getting Haute under the collar over the Couture catwalks. Who doesn't love Couture week? Collection after collection of intricately beaded wisps of breathtaking amazingness, swishy capes and over the top gowns. These are the sorts of pieces that are just too beautiful to be called clothes. In a week of back to back meetings and never-ending emails there's something pretty awesome about a dress that can transport you to a world where you're swooping down a staircase and arriving Cinderella-style at some sumptuous gathering where diamond-stuffed party bags are handed out to women who've spent all day bathing in Champagne… One day… Until then…

Elie Saab...

Valentino...

Chanel...

Giambattista Valli

Keeping things simple at the brilliant meat temple that is La Vache Hong Kong...

Ever feel like life is just one dilemma after another? Early morning work-out or hit the snooze button for an extra hour’s sleep? Latte or Cappuccino? High flyer heels or means business flats? Cornflakes or boiled egg? Newspaper or Daily Mail Celeb Gossip? Even before you’ve left your flat each morning you’ve already made a whole heap of decisions and that’s just the very start of it… 

While we haven't quite mastered a day totally devoid of choices, we think we may just have Hong Konger's mealtimes covered. Step up La Vache – the answer to your dining dilemmas, a restaurant that delivers a delicious but decision-free dinner…

Work up an appetite hiking up the perilously steep Peel Street, aiming for the enormous neon cow. As you walk through the door you’ll note the glowing red letters spelling out ‘Steak Frites’. A word of advice – if you’re not keen on steak frites, it’s probably best to turn right around and head back out into the decision-filled world. At La Vache it’s steak frites or nothing…

If Steak frites is your thing, you’re in for a bit of a treat. We’re going to put our necks on the line here and say that this is the very best steak frites that you’ll find in Hong Kong.

Wander into the low-lit dining room, past the bustling bar in the centre of the room, and slip into a red leather banquette beneath a mural of the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower. So we fibbed a little, you’ll need to choose what you’d like to drink and your waitress will need to know how you’d like your meat cooked but after that, all you need to do is settle back and wait for your fuss-free French feast to begin.

After baguettes and butter, it’s a green salad to start complete with thinly sliced radishes and walnut pieces all tossed together in a plate-scrapingly good vinaigrette. Rabbit food out of the way, it’s time for the main event – a great hunk of juicy ribeye steak served with a generous heap of crispy pommes frites and the most incredible Bernaise sauce (a La Vache secret recipe…). If that doesn’t sound good enough have you trotting in search of the neon cow immediately, let us add that this lot comes in at a ludicrously great value HK$258 per person!

Still room for more? Well sadly dessert comes with a return to choice but you’ll likely find this a price you’re willing to pay when you lay eyes on the dessert trolley – a sugar high on wheels heaped with an abundance of French fancies.

As you roll back out again, we’re pretty certain the only decision you’ll be focusing on is when you’ll be back.

And that's it for another week! All that's left for us to say is…

See you next week!

x

The Mice