I was particularly impressed by how fast it rendered raw 4K video during video editing! 😱 The 1080p videos played super smoothly — no hiccups or stuttering whatsoever — and looked stunningly crisp as well. 🤩 Based on what I saw, the Pavilion’s high-end NVIDIA graphics make it a great choice for people who do graphically-demanding projects, or even anyone who likes watching high-quality videos really! 😊

Then HP lent me a Pavilion laptop to play around with for a week, to test for myself how well it fared with editing photos in Lightroom/Photoshop. ✌🏻 The result of that is the photos in this Hakkasan review, so keep reading!! 😄

Honestly, I usually only use Instagram's editing tools when I'm posting on Instagram haha (I've personally found them to be way better than a bunch of other apps, contrary to popular opinion!!). But I do have to use Lightroom/Photoshop (although I wouldn't say I'm particularly good at it, haha) sometimes for photos I'm keeping on my laptop only (non-food photos), to avoid the vertical cropping, and/or to make some more significant edits like altering the white balance, removing something from the background, etc. 🙃

Naturally, Lightroom and Photoshop both worked perfectly smoothly on the Pavilion. I couldn't feel any difference at all between the Pavilion and my 2018 MacBook Pro. 😊 Plus, the laptop itself is aesthetically pleasing, don’t you think? 🥰 It's part of their "Everyday" range, and I'd definitely recommend considering it if you're looking for an all-rounder laptop 💻 that can handle a range of things, from watching Netflix 🎥 to photo editing 📷 to gaming 🕹. 😄

Now, onto my Hakkasan review!

The first and last time we'd been to Hakkasan before this was over a year ago (how time flies?!) and that visit made it our #1 favourite Chinese restaurant in London ✨, so we'd been meaning to go back for ages! Sadly, our wallets did not permit this 😅, but I was lucky enough to have HP contact me and sponsor this post! 😄🎉 Because we got mostly dim sum last time 🥟 , we thought we'd try more of their mains this time.

Chinese chive jade dumplings

These were really delicious -- not necessarily outstanding, but definitely some high quality dim sum. 8.5/10. Oh, and definitely dip it in their divine crispy chilli oil 🌶 for an extra kick! 😄

Golden fried soft shell crab (with red chilli)

We actually ordered this before as well 😛, but it was SO good we couldn't help it! And it was, dare I say it, EVEN BETTER than the last time we had it! 😳 Yup! I gave this a 9 before, but this time it was a solid 9.5/10. 💫 Not *that* significant a difference, but certainly noticeable. The crab 🦀 was even more PACKED with flavour than before (THE most flavourful soft shell crab I've had in my entire life, by far ✨), and not to mention crispy as ever. 😍 The golden flakes are always scrumptious 💕, but I think what would get it up from a 9.5 to 10/10 on my scale would be to serve it with a little curry sauce as well (like the one at Duck and Rice; basically the golden flakes taste like the curry sauce but in flake form, lol).

Sanpei chicken claypot (with sweet basil, chilli and spring onion)

Had no idea what Sanpei-style chicken claypot 🐓 was when we ordered this, so I can't compare this to how it's supposed to taste, but this was pretty good. It fell short next to everything else we ordered though, so I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it. 7.5-8/10. 🙂

Spring onion and egg fried rice

This fried rice was one of our favourite dishes from the last trip 🤤, and I've been raving about it to EVERYONE who's asked me about fried rice / Chinese food in general ever since (just ask my friends). 😂 I was super sceptical about paying £12 for egg fried rice (yes that's a ridiculous price but hear me out!), but my boyfriend reaaally wanted egg fried rice so we went with it. And I am SO GLAD he insisted, because it was THE best fried rice we'd ever had! 🤩 It was a mind-blowing 10/10! ✨

It tasted way more flavourful than just "egg fried rice" 🍳🍚 which left me extremely curious as to whether they'd cheated and put some Yong Chow Fried Rice umami ingredients in it or what... 🧐 I didn't post about it last time on my Instagram feed though, simply because I failed to get a photo that could do it justice (bearing in mind the need to eat almost immediately because fried rice loses taste when it gets lukewarm!!). 😢

But sadly, it wasn't *as* good this time around. 😣 It was still pretty darn good, but not the 10/10 I remembered. I even began questioning my memory and expectations (as I always do when I return and the food isn't as good as I remembered), but the sad truth is that 10/10's are basically ALWAYS inconsistent by default, based on my experience. 😪 They will usually range from 8-10, 9-10 if the place is superb at quality control. And then it's up to your luck really! 😅

This time, it was around 8.5-9/10. 👍🏻 Still really good for an egg fried rice, but not good enough to maintain its title of Indisputably Best Fried Rice in London. 👑 It's definitely still in the top 3 though. 😋 My boyfriend and l will still almost certainly be ordering this every single time we go to Hakkasan. 😂

Oh, and have you noticed how it's GOLDEN? 💛 I'm telling you, it's something special! Do give me a shout if you HAVE seen golden fried rice anywhere else in London though, 'cause I sure haven't. 🙂

Hakka noodle (with shimeji mushroom, beansprout and katsuobushi)

My Malaysian 🇲🇾 friends wouldn't approve of spending money on this at Hakkasan because this basically tasted like Mi Goreng (fried noodles; super cheap and found at any local hawker stall) or Yakisoba 😂 - but heck, it was good anyway! 👍🏻 We were a little misled though because the waitress said it'd be fat/flat noodles, so I was imagining the Malaysian-style hakka mee noodles (google it) instead, lol. 🤷🏻‍♀️ With the shimeji mushrooms 🍄 (my favourite mushroom in the world, by the way!) and katsuobushi (bonito flakes), I highly doubt it's authentic either. 😂 They should really change it to Yakisoba (Japanese fried noodles) I think! Objectively 8.5/10 😊 - it really was delicious - but I personally do think ordering something else would be more worthwhile. 🙂

Chocolate clay pot (Dark chocolate cream, cocoa nib tuille, mandarin ice; for 2-3 people)

We were too full for dessert last time, so I'm really glad we got to have some this time!!! 😄 Although it says it's for 2-3 people, I basically ended up eating it all on my own LOL. 🙊 The "dark chocolate cream" was deliciously sweet - tasted exactly like milk chocolate 🍫 - so do be aware of that! I personally prefer milk chocolate so I was happier this way. 😛 The cocoa nib tuille was TO DIE FOR 😍🤤, they were basically super-crispy chocolate bits with a slightly burnt(?) flavour.

I also normally hate the chocolate-orange combination 🍫🍊 (it just doesn't work IMO; raspberries go much better with chocolate!!), but it worked well here. They served both mandarin oranges and 'mandarin ice' (think a light orange sorbet?). 🍊🍧 On another note, the presentation was really interesting 😮 but I failed to capture a video of the whole process because Hakkasan's staff act way too FAST (and without warning) for my liking lol. 😩 8.5/10. 🧡

White peony tea

We also had this white tea, which was super delicately fragrant - unlike any other tea I’d tried before. 🌸☕️ Definitely not for everyone because it’s really light-tasting, but I think it deserves a 9/10. 😊

Overall, this trip to Hakkasan was great 💛, but unfortunately not mind-blowingly-amazing 🤯 like our last visit. I think part of the reason for that is that the menu is a little different from before. 🙁 My beloved 10/10 truffle chicken roll✨ isn't there anymore, which makes me super sad because it's one of my favourite things in the world!! 💔 I also suspect that their dim sim might be generally better than their mains 🤔, although I do have my eye on the black truffle roasted duck 🦆 for next time... 😏

Despite it being expensive, it's definitely not overrated IMO (depends on what you order too!), and I'd say it's fairly worth the price. 👍🏻 The ambience is fancy~ and service is pretty good too. 💁🏻‍♀️ It's still my #1 Chinese restaurant in London in terms of quality 🌟, and is WAY better than its Japanese sister restaurant Sake no Hana (which is ridiculously overpriced, overrated, mediocre quality)... 😒 Given my awful finances 🙈 I'll probably only get to visit again next year so, until next time Hakkasan, we'll miss you...! 😭