Lovers Delight
La Bouteille (10/F Pinocine Building 80-82 Queens Road, Central, 2869 1499) is offering a special six course menu ($380/person) for couples on Valentine’s Day. With three appetizers, dinner starts with a smoked salmon and avocado mousse, mushroom soup with truffle, and pan-fried foie gras glazed with fig sauce. As an entree you and your significant other have the option of choosing from the baked sea bass fillet with asparagus and prawn sauce, French Cornish hen and foie gras ravioli, beef bourguignon, or duck leg confit (for an extra $50). Round out your romantic dinner with a choice of homemade passion fruit, blood orange sorbet, crème brulee, or a warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Merci beaucoup mon amour!

Camera loving lovebirds should head for Jack’s Terrazza (Shop 8, 1/F, Causeway Centre, 28 Harbour Rd, Wanchai, 2827 1687, or Soho East, Shop GA 26-31, Site A, 55 Tai Hong Street, Lei King Wan, 2885 6728) where you’ll get a romantic photographic memory of your dinner. The three-course meal will start off with a choice of salmon tartar appetizer or crab meat tomato soup and end with a chocolate mousse cake. For the entree you can try the sea bass and scallops ($288), the roasted Cornish game hen and lamb chops ($328), a grilled beef tenderloin with gratin potato in a porcini mushroom
sauce ($368), or the surf’n’turf combination of king tiger prawns and a beef fillet ($368). These prices are per person and include the picture, picture frame and gourmet chocolates for couples. Smile!

Nouvelle Cuisine
Starting fresh for the New Year, Aqua (29 & 30/F, One Peking Rd, TST, 3427 2288) has reintroduced its Sunday brunch menu with a sit-and-be-served ‘all you can eat’ buffet-style concept. For a set price of $398 or $498 (per person with a glass of Veuve or unlimited Prosecco), diners can look forward to new items such as potato gnocchi with cepe cream or an orecchiette pasta with pancetta, without leaving their table. Unlimited roast duck breast and seared sirloin steak dishes are also available while sushi, sashimi, and dessert platters round out the selection. Regular lunch hours are 12-2:30pm Monday-Saturday, dinner is served from 6-11:30pm Monday-Sunday, and late night desserts from 11pm-1am Thursday-Saturday.

The Hotel Panorama’s beautifully designed new restaurant has the added attraction of overlooking Victoria Harbour. Opened in early 2008, the menu at Santa Lucia (38/F, Hotel Panorama, 8A Hart Avenue, TST; 3550 0265) features dishes such as the Australian blue mussels ($128) and the Seafood Pot Au Feu ($248), which includes a mixture of Alaskan crab, sea bass, lobster, calamari and prawns. Breakfast is from 6:30-10:30am, lunch 12-2:30pm, dinner 6:30-11pm and the bar is open 12pm-1am (Sunday to Thursday) and 12pm-3am (Friday, Saturday and public holiday eves).

Khana Khazana’s (1/F, Dannies House, 20 Luard Rd, Wanchai; 2520 5308) new management are bringing the authentic tastes of both southern and northern Indian cuisine to their all vegetarian menu. Their Indian chefs can cater to all their customers dietary needs ensuring that vegans and others can enjoy a meal out. Start with the stuffed uttappam ($62) or marsala paratha stuffed with potatoes or cauliflower filling ($28) to get your tastebuds going. Combine that with a few vegetarian curry dishes, out of the 27 offered, such as the kashmiri dum aloo ($58) or the hari makai ($52) and add passion to your spice by ending the dinner with the karma sutra cocktail ($62) and try to behave yourself.

Burger Bites
The Big Bite (560 King’s Rd, Shop U12, Fit Fort, North Point, 2155 1066) is a new burger joint out in the Eastern District that offers an all-American menu complete with chili-filled Sloppy Joes ($49), cheese burgers ($49), and the fat bast*rd double cheese and bacon burger ($84). If you don’t feel like a burger you can order a jumbo hot dog ($32) or jumbo spicy dog with chili ($39) but open wide because they also don’t come small. Also don’t expect to call it fast food unless you can manage to scarf down these big bites in record time. Opening hours are Monday-Sunday 11am-11pm.

Spicy Feasts
Babek (G/F 9 Elgin St. SoHo, 2975 9332), the restaurant whose name originally came from Kebab spelled backwards, offers contemporary Indian cuisine with a eight course set menu ($250) that takes in a mix of flavours. After some mutter ki tikki (spiced peas pate), cleanse your palate with a set of test tubes of traditional lassi yogurt drinks before enjoying some salmon sarson tikka, andhra prawn and subz seekh kebab. A mango sorbet cleans the taste buds again to prepare you for tandoori chicken, paneer pudina and peshawari champ. While a dessert sampler rounds of your feast To add to your experience, sit along the dining counter to interact with the cook while he serves you hot meat and vegetables straight off the skewer! Open Monday-Saturday for lunch from 12-2:30pm, tea from 2:30-5:45pm, and dinner from 6-11pm.

It can be hard to kick the stereotype of curry only being suitable for spice fans but Chedi (G/F, 38 Elgin St, Central; 2868 4445) is offering Thai cuisine combining sweet but not too spicy flavours. Complimentary seasoned chips set the scene for starters such as three sticks of satay ($68) and Tiger Prawns rolled in crispy egg noodles ($98) for you to dip in a tangy chili sauce. Chedi’s signature entrees include a sweet green curry ($118) , which can be prepared with beef, pork or chicken and a stir-fried creamy cashew nut chicken presented inside a pineapple ($128). The restaurant is open daily 11am-11pm.

Tea Time
Enjoy a cuppa once in a while? Harvey Nichols Fourth Floor Restaurant and Bar (4/F Harvey Nichols, The Landmark, 15 Queen’s Road, Central, 3695 3389) currently offers organic tea from 3-5:30pm for $82 which includes a refreshing pot of organic tea and a homemade cake or scone of your choice. For those not so fussed about an organic experience, regular high tea is available for $150 per person or $240 for two, with your choice of tea or coffee.

Another option for avid afternoon tea tasters is at The Press Room (108 Hollywood Rd, Central, 2525 3444), where an English tea experience, createdby pastry chef Emma Renfrew, offers a variety of teas with freshly baked scones served with homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream ($88) or indulge in a complete afternoon tea set including freshly baked scones, finger sandwiches and homemade cake selections ($165). Served Saturdays and Sundays 3-6pm.

Fondue Fun
It wouldn’t be a celebration for the year of the rat if there wasn’t some cheese involved. So, appropriately enough there is a cheese fondue promotion at The Reading Room at The Verandah (109 Repulse Bay Road, Repulse Bay, 2292 2822) until 24 February. The selection ranges through gruyere and raclette ($348 for two), tilsit and appenzeller cheese ($348 for two) and black truffle and champagne ($418). Desserts include a Swiss chocolate fondue accompanied by a selection of fruits, brioche and marshmallows at $258
for two.

Say Cheese too at Mozart Stub’n (8 Glenealy, Central, 2522 1763), which is offering a fondue for two special through to the end of the month of February. At $300 for two, enjoy two glasses of selected wines and a mix of melted cheeses from Switzerland, served with bite-sized dipping bread. Let these flavours melt in your mouth while this special is offered during lunch and dinner. Opening hours are Monday-Saturday 12-2:30pm and 6:30pm-12am.