Summer Junk
You’ve staggered through to the end of another work week. Oppressive summer humidity has just about peeled away your last shred of sanity. So, what could be smarter than hopping aboard one of Hong Kong’s famous junks and setting sail with a few good friends into the cool, blue yonder?

It’s practically a rite of passage to rally a group and head off the island for a day of swimming, wake boarding or basking in the sun on a secluded beach. Of course, you’ll want to keep your company happy throughout the day, so it’s important to pick a junk that offers not only the best R&R for your bucks, but also the most delectable food and drink. As you might expect, the tastier your voyage the lighter will be your wallet at the end of the day. bc went snooping around some of the junk excursions to find out just what is on offer.

Detours Limited operates one of the most well known, if not the most famous junk in Hong Kong, the Duk Ling. With its traditional three sails and its status as the official symbol of the Hong Kong Tourist Board, the Duk Ling is a beauty of a boat. She holds 35 people plus a five-person crew in two separate sleeping quarters with toilets and showers. Most importantly, there’s a solid spread of food to choose from.

Dishes from all sorts of international cuisines are listed across four menus ranging from $95 to $380 per person. And beverage packages run from $180 for the one-hour Captain’s Choice to $785 for the eight-hour Admiral’s Choice, depending on the size of your party and length of your voyage. The selection, hinging on the package you choose, can include soft drinks, juices and beer, white and red wine, vodka, gin, whiskey, brandy and, of course, champagnes are also plentiful.

The Duk Ling boards at Pier 1 in Kowloon and Pier 2 in Central with four departure times on Thursdays and Saturdays. Visit www.dukling.com.hk or call 2851 9601 for more information.
Next up is Jaspas Junk. Two boats are available for chartering: one holds 40 people and the other 26 with a minimum reservation of 14 for both. Also, both boats have a chef and waiter to prepare and serve food on board.

The food offerings are a bit simpler than Detour Unlimited with a single all-you-can-eat menu of starter, entrée and dessert selections. Unlimited drinks come with the hireage price – the bar serves sodas, water, juice, beer, white and red wines and cocktails.

Jaspas also rents out banana boats, wake boards and water skis at $800/hr with a two-hour minimum booking so you and your pals can really show off your water sport agility. The junks depart from Causeway Bay or Sai Kung in two sessions, one from 10:30am-5:30pm and another from 7pm-11:30pm. For more information, including an online reservation option, visit www.jaspasjunk.com or call 2792 6001.

Another line is Saffron Cruises with seven boats to choose from. A group opting for one of Saffron’s more elegant vessels might end up shelling out a pretty penny – the most expensive goes for $12,000 for the day or night. Yet plenty of other options range all the way down to $500 for the day/night. And for those who would take to the sea in something more visually striking, the Wing Sing is a traditional sailing junk
for hire.

Saffron’s food options include a three-course buffet dinner with dessert or a lighter menu of finger foods and salads ($90 per person). The buffet has three menu options (A, B, C) that range in price from $195 per person to $320 per person. Meanwhile, you can sip on water, soda, beer and wine.

Saffron also just announced its monthly event for June, the Mystery Location BBQ ($550) on the 21st, running from noon to 7pm and departing from the Aberdeen Marina.
For more information, visit www.saffron-cruises.com or call 2857 1311.

The AquaLuna was recently introduced by the Aqua group: the red-sailed vessel seats 80 for dining either indoors or al fresco. Or you could just chill out in one of the on-board cocktail lounges. The boat can be rented at $150 per person for the afternoon or $180 per person for the evening and will sail to Disneyland, Tsing Ma Bridge, Kai Tak, Jumbo Restaurant, Aberdeen Shelter or Lei Yuen Moon.

The AquaLuna team will create a custom menu for you but also offers packages of Northern Chinese, Japanese and Italian food – three are available at $350 (standard), $500 (premium), or $800 (deluxe) per person. Cocktails, mocktails, wine, champagne, beer, juice and soda are also available.
For more information visit www.aqua.com.hk or call 2116 8821.

If your budget won’t stretch to a catered junk, you could always set sail with a junk line that will let you bring your own food.

One such line is Jubilee International Tours which has dozens of boats of widely varying sizes for hire. For pricing information visit www.jubilee.com.hk/english/ or call 2530 0530.

Or, check out Jumbo Charters, who will also let you bring your own food and drink. Contact them at 2873 0345.

And lastly, Laissez Faire has cruisers, deluxe cruisers and plenty of junks to hire for those lazy day adventures. Give them a ring at 2770-8066.

Seasonal Sizzlers
Just in time for summer, Executive Chef John Webster brings a new menu of a la carte lunch and dinner options to the Scala (1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai) Italian restaurant at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel. Start the meal off with fresh beef carpaccio and arugula salad topped with shaved parmesan and homemade pesto sauce ($135) before moving on to either lobster risotto with wilted baby spinach in a red wine reduction ($195) or a juicy Black Angus rib eye steak ($295) for your entrée. To make it a proper Italian feast, save some room for the tiramisu with cappuccino foam ($85). The restaurant is open weekdays from noon until 3pm for lunch, and Monday to Saturdays for dinner, starting at 11pm. For information, call 2802 8888.

There’s no shortage of dumpling options at this time of year but make a special note to visit the award-winning Celestial Court Chinese Restaurant (20 Nathan Road, Kowloon) one of the five international restaurants inside the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers in Kowloon. The Celestial Court is at a choice waterfront location, and the chefs are offering two special sticky rice dumplings filled with all sorts of goodies in celebration of the Tuen Ng festival. The first is filled with abalone, conpoy, ham, roasted pork and duck, mushrooms, chestnuts, egg yolk, lotus seeds, green beans and glutinous rice. The second has bird’s nest, lotus seeds and glutinous rice as a stuffing. These limited edition sticky rice dumplings are going for $78 and will be available from
9-19 June. For information, call 2869 1111.

Pearl on the Peak (Shop 2, Level 1 Peak Tower) is out to lure you up the mountain with a rare summertime special: for a limited time, the Pearl is running a lunch promotion that includes a two-course meal for $168 a person as well as a taxi-fare rebate (up to $50) for groups of four or more. The culinary creations of Aussie chef Geoff Lindsay, named Best Chef of the Year 2005, include plenty of fresh fish, oysters, garden veggies and his homeland’s legendary lobster. This brand of modern Australian cuisine is just a 10-minute cab ride from Central to an outstanding culinary and visual experience, what with the restaurant’s ceiling-to-floor glass windows allowing a 270-degree view of the city. For more info, call 2849 5123.

Summer at La Terrasse Wine Bar and Restaurant (G/F 19 Old Bailey Street, Central) means a new set lunch of one, two or three courses, depending on your appetite. Appetizers include options like goat cheese salad, salmon, scrambled eggs with truffle, and salad nicoise. For the main course, choose from sole fillet, grilled sea bass, steak, lamb leg, stuffed chicken, or the pasta of the day. Expect only the best French cheese selection on their dessert platter or opt for warm chocolate cake, crème brulee or something called a ‘floating island’. Hmmm,curious! An extensive list of French wines will complement your meal. Prices range from $98-$155, depending on your choice of courses and include tea, coffee, or soft drink. Call 2147 2225 for more information.

As one of the 20 restaurants at Discovery Bay’s Water Margin centre, Koh Tomyums (Block A, Water Margin, Discovery Bay, 2987 0767) has a wide selection of traditional and contemporary Thai dishes. An offshoot of the Wanchai restaurant (just named Tomyums Thai) its signature dish is king prawns in red curry sauce, though plenty of mild and vegetable dishes are also available. Koh Tomyums looks out on Discovery Bay with panoramic views of the beach and water. Dishes range from the mid-$50s for beef satay and pad thai to upwards of $160 for dishes like the New Zealand
stir-fried mussels.

The Harbourside (18 Salisbury Road, TST, 2313 2323) at the InterContinental Hong Kong has some June-only lunchtime offers thanks to two celebrated visiting chefs from Singapore. Wong Fook Hoi and Winnie Goh bring over 54 years of combined experience to the kitchen of the Habourside. Seafood like black pepper crab, barbecued stingray and sir-fried Sambal prawns vie with Hainanese chicken, beef rendang and sambal kangkong vegetables for your attention on the menu. Coconut milk with taro, cendol, and other Singaporean specialty dishes are some of the dessert choices. This promotion runs from
5-17 June.

While in Central, be sure to swing by FINDS (2/F Lan Kwai Fong Tower, 33 Wyndham St, Lan Kwai Fong, 2522 9318) to sample some of the restaurant’s fresh, summer Scandinavian and Asian cuisine. Green salads and veggies as well as juicy fruit will cool down any hot day in the city. Then check out tarragon-poached cod fillet or pan-fried Japanese meltique striploin as a main course. Among the dozen or more choices for the buffet lunch you’ll find teriyaki yellow fin tuna steak and sushi, and wok-fried spicy beef udon noodles. Prices range from $98 (salad buffet bar) to $168 (main course plus salad bar) with the option of eating inside or out on the terrace.

The Kowloon Shangri-La’s Lobby Lounge (64 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East) announces the return of its hearty supper buffet on Friday and Saturday nights from 9:30pm until 12:30am, priced at $168. The all-you-can-eat options include pan-fried fish cake, glazed chicken with teppanyaki sauce, smoked salmon and potato frittata, mini chicken burger with mushroom sauce, crème brulee, steamed egg white pudding and much more. Freshly squeezed fruit juice will complement the meal which you can end with an enticing chocolate fountain to satiate your sweet tooth. Vocalist Ma Lourdes will be performing nightly through to the end of August. For more information and performance times call 2733 8740.

Pop Bites (3-5 Old Bailey St, Central, 2525 4141) is a fun lunchtime option, especially if you work or live near Central, with fresh takeaway food and drinks made ready to order. Choose from made-to-order sandwiches ($38), fresh baked goods, house salads, ice cream, thai nam chicken rice ($48), yang chow fried rice, Chinese soup and the chef’s daily dim sum platter ($48). You can include fresh iced tea, coffee, wine, cheese and savoury snacks if you’re in the mood. As summer approaches, the restaurant has scheduled some fun evening events including DJ nights and more.

Roman Festival
We’ve barely finished off our last piece of garlic-drenched escargot in celebration of last month’s Le French May celebration and look who’s knocking on our door: Italia with her many courses of sun and olive oil-soaked delights.

Italian luxury, fashion and cuisine – it’s all part of the 2007 Italian Festival introduced by the Italian Trade Commission and which runs from June 1-10. An opening night cocktail soiree, a display of the best range of products from the land of espresso coffee and Murano glass, a fashion parade of names like Fila, Missoni and Costa – what else can you ask for if not a peep of the latest from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati?

Then again, perhaps the gourmands among us might only cast a cursory eye at the product displays and automobiles as they make a beeline for the Italian Food and Wine Festival. Twenty-six local Italian restaurants, supermarkets and wine cellars will be offering special set menus and promotions as their contribution to the festivities, and bc being the taste diva it is, couldn’t help but take a quick sniff at where to go and what to expect.

Hotel restaurants like Grissini in the Grand Hyatt (2584 7933) and Nicholini’s in the Conrad (2521 3838) will be serving up their brand of fine Northern Italian cuisine with prices ranging from $228 for fixed lunches to $789 for dinners. Look for dishes like the pheasant ravioli in vegetable sauce at Grissini and veal shank ossobuco in a vegetable orange-flavoured sauce with saffron risotto at Nicholini’s.
Over at Cammino, located inside the Excelsior, a special June menu offers antipasti like chilled white asparagus in an arugula salad with scallops ($138), a secondi piatti of pan-fried goose liver with risotto ($238) and side dishes of Parma ham, smoked salmon or Bresaola air-cured beef ($60 each). This summertime promotion is centred on white asparagus so plan to find it worked into each dish, except, hopefully, the dessert!

Restaurants like Gaia (2167 8200), Isola Bar + Grill (2383 8765), The Mistral (2731 2870) and Va Bene (2845 5577) are promising Italian treats as well – keep an eagle eye on them during the festival.

One can’t forget the complement of any Italian meal: the wine! Local vintners like Watson’s Wine Cellar (3157 1886), Castello del Vino (2866 0587) and Ponti (2810 1000) are all making Italian wines more readily available during the festivities. Whether it’s a traditional bottle of Chianti to wash down your plate of ravioli or a crisp white to clear the palate before the next bit of prosciutto, the fruit of the Italian vine will round out the festival nicely.

For information about the Italian Festival including a complete list of participating vendors in the Italian Food & Wine Festival call 2846 6500 or visit www.italtrade.com/countries/asia/hongkong/promo.htm.