Easter Treats
The recently reopened Saigon at Stanley (1, Murray House, 2899 0999) is launching a new Easter lunch and dinner menu. Pamper yourself with fresh rice paper salad rolls, steamed prawns, green mango and apple salad or a beef noodle soup as an appetizer, then go on to the main with the choice of Hanoi-style charcoal pork, spicy lemongrass chicken or baked sole fillet with coconut milk, and end the meal with a Viet café crème brûlée. For an Easter night-out in Vietnamese style, choose between pomelo salad with dried and fresh shrimp or fresh and fried spring roll sampler as an appetizer. Main courses are roasted Chillean sea bass with quail eggs in caramel, tamarind-orange duck breast and confit leg, or wok braised beef and tomato with baked prawns with garlic butter. But don’t make yourself too full, as you may want to treat yourself to a cinnamon rice pudding with mango and honey after all that. The Easter menu will be served from March 21-24 and is $148/$288 per person for lunch/dinner. Magic shows and an Easter egg painting competition also will be held at the venue.

The Royal Garden (2/F, 69 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, 2733 2008) has selected Japan cuisine as the theme for its Easter dessert buffet where items ranging from sakura chiffon cake and pickled ginger mousse to seaweed roulade and white sesame tiramisu can be found. And though it is a dessert buffet, a Japanese noodle counter is also at your service. Anyone celebrating a birthday during the Easter holiday will receive a complimentary mango and sesame cream cake to share with their friends. Spend $600 or more and you can enter a lucky draw with flight tickets to Bangkok included among the prizes. The Easter dessert buffet is available from 7-10pm on March 22 and 23 and costs $188/$108 for adults/children.

Eaton Hotel is throwing a special Easter gourmet carnival at their Metro Buffet & Grill (4/F, Eaton Hotel, 380 Nathan Road, 2710 1863) during this festive season. Highlights in their dinner semi-buffet will include Alaskan crab legs, oysters and the chocolate fountains that every kid will love. And don’t forget to take the kids to the Garden Terrace for the special Easter magic show. The buffet costs $298/$228 per adult/child.

Belgian chocolate maestro GODIVA is introducing a delightful Easter collection with something for everybody. An ideal choice to treat the kids with would be the Easter Tote Bag ($290), filled with little Easter eggs. The Eggstra Special Box ($120) with five multi-coloured foil-wrapped eggs in almond butter, coconut, milk and dark chocolate flavours is a good buy for an Easter gift, but for something cuter, go for the semi-solid milk chocolate bunnies Bertie and Honey Bunny ($330). Go traditional with the limited edition beaded egg ($365), hand-decorated with hundreds of delicate beads and filled with 16 little Easter eggs in white, milk and dark chocolates.

Size does matter for agnès b. DÉLICES this Easter. The elegant brand has spread its influence from fashion to gourmet and its Easter eggs are as delicate as its clothes (whether you want your Easter eggs to be that splendid is another matter). The agnès b. DÉLICES mini Easter eggs ($138) include six mini chocolate eggs in both milk and dark chocolate while the giant Easter egg ($188) has the signature ‘b’ monogram printed on its surface. Other than the eggs you may want to check out new flavours of their chocolate bar ($68), which are strawberry dark chocolate, rocky road dark chocolate and pistachio milk chocolate. But of course it is the photographs taken by Agnès from her Spring 2008 collection on the package that attracts the fans.

“Let me take you down ’cos I am going to…” well, not exactly the strawberry fields but something close. Strawberry Party is the theme of the afternoon tea buffet at La Scala (3/F, Royal Plaza Hotel, 193 Prince Edward Road West; 2622 6161). Whether you like your strawberries served with smooth white cream or dark chocolate, the delightful tea buffet is a warm welcome to spring. Highlights are marinated strawberry in balsamic vinegar, baked strawberries, rhubarb crumble and strawberry sabayon. This buffet is served from 3:30-5pm on weekends and public holidays and is $138 per person on and before March 20. After that it is $148 per person.

All About Brunch
Shower yourself with some free-flowing Moet Chandon Rose Champagne at Tiffin’s luxurious Sunday brunch (1 Harbour Road, 2584 7822). If champagne alone isn’t lavish enough for you, take a look at the menu: whole roasted foie gras, baked Boston lobster in champagne crème and herbs, and the classic slow-roasted beef tenderloin, which are all freshly prepared in the kitchen upon request. Other buffet highlights include the tartare and seafood station, where you can take in as much beef tartare, prawns and sea whelk on ice, or scallop and tuna ceviche, as you like while listening to some light music from a live trio. The brunch is served on Sunday from 11am to 2:30pm and is $738/$380 per adult/child.

Meanwhile family fun is what counts in Madison’s Easter Brunch (G/F, Hutchison House, 10 Harcourt Road, 2523 4772). Kids are bound to go crazy for the free-flowing popcorn and balloon-twisting, cotton candy-making clown BoBo over the Easter weekend. An egg colouring competition has also been organized for Easter Sunday. Other dishes to look out for at the brunch include lobster ‘Easter eggs Benedict’, grilled lamb cutlet and pan-fried salmon fillet. The Easter weekend family brunch is available on March 22 and 23 between 11:30am and 3pm. It costs $358 per adult with unlimited sparkling wine or glass of champagne and $258 without, and $118 per child.

Over on Kowloon-side, The Place at Langham Place (Level L, Langham Place, Mongkok, 3552 3200) is celebrating Easter with some free-flowing French champagne ($418 per person, without the champagne it is $378/$188 per adult/child). Children can look out for the Easter Wonderland which features entertaining activities like Easter egg painting, an Easter egg hunt, balloon twisting and face painting.

Food Fair
The Lobby Lounge at Kowloon Shangri-La (64 Mody Rd, TST East, 2733 8740) has decided it is high time for high tea. They are rotating choices of traditional English, Chinese, European or American treats served on classic three-tiered silver stands. You will find the usual English tea options like finger sandwiches, scones with Devonshire clotted cream and preserves but a plethora of other food items including baked barbequed pork, pineapple buns and egg tart. American cheesecake, bruschetta, tiramisu, chicken and tomato tostadas, crème brûlée and Spanish crumble cake will also be served. The afternoon tea menu is available from Monday to Friday between 3pm and 6 pm at HK$118 per person.

India and Thailand may not be neighbours but the Spice Market at Prince Hotel (3/F, Prince, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2113 6046) is lining up the cuisines of the two countries for a Thai and Indian delight dinner buffet on until the end of April. Dishes like seafood tom yam kong and curry remind us exactly why we are so crazy about Thai and Indian food. Each Thai and Indian dinner buffet comes with a chilled bird’s nest with fresh papaya in coconut milk ($298/$188 from Sunday to Thursday, and $338/$208 on Friday, Saturday, public holiday and its eve per adult/child).

Newsflash
California Restaurant and Bar (G/F, California Tower, 30-32 D’Aguilar St, LKF, 2521 1345) has re-opened after renovations and will now host live entertainment‑shows, in particular jazz, every weekend. Look out for Canada’s singing sensation Athesia on March 14 from 10pm onwards, when she will play acoustic and modern sounds.

The 26-year-old Jimmy’s Kitchen in Tsim Sha Tsui is moving – though not far away. It will stay in the same building, but move one floor down to the ground level. See you in a few weeks!

Look out for the launch of The Pawn (62 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, 2866 3444) a bar/lounge/restaurant/roof garden located in a newly restored heritage building which used to be, as the name suggests, a pawnshop. The three-storey establishment has been designed by homegrown artist and film director Stanley Wong (better known as Anothermountainman) and will be divided into three sections. The Roof Garden (3/F) will be a semi-covered garden with a bar offering custom-made cocktails while The Dining Room (2/F) serves modern British fare created by executive chef David Tamlyn from London. On the ground floor, The Living Room is a lounge and bar featuring a simplified food menu plus a carefully curated selection of draft beers, ales, ciders, wines and single-malt whiskeys.

Mozart Stub’n (8 Glenealy; 2522 1763) strikes again with a new fondue offer. Their chocolate fondue promotion which will be running from March 17 to the end of April at $150 for two, includes an assorted fresh fruit platter.