Italian Excess
If you want to experience culinary pleasures celebrities like the late Luciano Pavarotti and Pope John Paul II have enjoyed, mark your diary now. Gino Angelini, the chef and owner of the Angelini Osteria and La Terza restaurants in Los Angeles, will be in town from June 5 to 15 as the guest head chef at Angelini (64 Mody Rood, Kowloon, 2733 8750). He will host a wine dinner on June 13 at which wines from the Angelini vineyard in Tuscany, Italy, will be paired with all five courses. For a starter, the Tuscan whole-grain farro with marche salad and Mediterranean scampi will go with a glass of Tenuta Trerose Chardonnay Renaio 2007, followed by a half rigatoni with cured pork cheek and spiced tomato sauce and a San Leonino Chianti Classico 2005. For the main course there is a choice of rolled tuna with borlotti beans, basil and extra virgin olive oil to go with a 2004 Tenuta Trerose Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, or a New Zealand lamb loin with potato cake, spinach and balsamic sauce with a 2001 Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino. The dessert is a homey grandmother's cake custard tart with raisins and toasted almonds. The dinner will cost $980 per person but if you cannot make it to this one-night-only event, chef Angelini has also created an a-la-carte menu which will be available throughout his stay.

Salt of the Sea
Let’s go sailing - Shelter Census has recently launched the 55ft by 15ft luxury yacht Belle Epoque as a cruising venue for private parties. The modernly decorated yacht is equipped with a state-of-the-art entertainment system, and offers four menus with a range of exclusive champagnes especially chosen from Perrier-Jouet. There are Chinese, Japanese and Western kitchens on board, and seafood, barbecue and a variety of quesadillas also are on the menu. To book the yacht for a cruise of six hours will cost $1,540 to $2,888 per head; a more affordable choice would be the $900 per person package, which entitles you to a four-hour cruise. All prices are based on a booking with a minimum of 20 people. For bookings or information, call 3758 9000 or email info@sc-yacht.com

Chit Chat Station (GA08-09, 55 Tai Hong Street, Lei King Wan, Sai Wan Ho, 2967 1666) at Soho East has been undergoing some renovation but opened again recently and is now serving French cuisine with a view overlooking the harbour. Seafood is the keyword for Chit Chat - oysters from France, the US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand are flown in daily, and as many as eight choices are available for the main course during dinner. The chef also recommends the grilled M10 wagyu beef - and homemade chocolate pudding and souffle for those with a sweet tooth. The eatery is now offering a special set dinner menu for two, which includes a seafood platter, a scallop salad, a choice of lobster or white truffle cream soup, grilled wagyu beef with potatoes and vegetables, spiced prawn angel’s hair and chocolate pudding with cheesecake. The set costs $499 for two on weekdays, and $599 on weekends and public holidays.

Festive Fun
The Tuen Ng festival would not be complete without rice dumplings, no matter how much dragon boating took place. There are a lot of choices on the market, from high-end to more grass-roots choices. Here are some of our highlights. Sheraton (20 Nathan Road, Kowloon, 2369 1111) is presenting two popular items, the very richly flavoured supreme sticky rice dumpling with conpoy and yunnan ham ($118) and matsutake sticky rice dumplings with assorted beans, tailor-made for ladies and vegetarians ($68). The rice dumplings are available from June 5-9 during lunch and dinner.

For a more extravagant taste, Tsui Hang Village Restaurant’s (G/F, Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2376 2882; 2/F, New World Tower, 16-18 Queen's Road Central, 2524 2012; Club Marina Cove, 380 Hiram's Highway, Sai Kung, 2719 4768) brand new agaricus blazei rice dumpling with whole abalone ($98) is your choice. Yes, a whole African abalone is hidden inside the rice dumpling, seasoned with homemade XO sauce. Also stuffed inside are white peas, red beans and preserved vegetables. The conpoy rice dumplings ($88) stuffed with Japanese conpoy, dried mushrooms, barbecued duck slices, lotus seeds, lily bulbs, preserved duck egg yolks and glutinous rice are also popular. And don’t forget sweet rice dumplings ($30) made with supreme glutinous rice and served with sweet and clear cumquat sauce for dipping.

King Bakery is serving a variety of rice dumplings focused on customers staying healthy while eating this very filling, heavy festive speciality. A highlight is the vegetarian rice dumpling with beans ($18), which avoids all the usual fat and greasy ingredients. Five kinds of rice and 10 varieties of beans go into making it a healthy choice with a refreshing flavour. On the other hand, alternatives such as dumplings with sweet osmanthus and green bean paste and rice dumplings with egg yolk and seasoned meat (both priced at $15) are more traditional offerings. All rice dumplings are available in the 18 branches of King Bakery and DCH Food Mart.

Father's Day
Father’s Day is on June 15 this year in Hong Kong (the third Sunday of June, remember?) and now is the time to start planning how you would like honour the old man. Morton’s (4th Level, 20 Nathan Road, Kowloon, 2732 2343) is offering a special three-course menu priced at $700 which starts with either a signature salad of romaine and iceberg lettuce, served with blue cheese dressing, chopped egg and anchovies, or a Caesar salad. For the main course, the choice is a single-cut filet mignon with bernaise sauce; filet oskar with asparagus, jumbo lump crab and bearnaise sauce; broiled salmon fillet with chef's beurre blanc sauce; colossal shrimp Alexander with beurre blanc sauce; or chicken Christopher with garlic beurre blanc sauce. Dessert may not be your Dad's favourite but we are sure mum won’t mind a hot chocolate cake or a New York cheesecake.
Beef-loving dads will be delighted with a treat in Lawry’s The Prime Rib (Lee Gardens, Causeway Bay, 2907 2218). The three-course Father’s Day dinner begins with a choice of original spinning bowl salad or lobster bisque, followed by the legendary California cut of roasted prime rib of beef with Atlantic lobster tail, mashed potatoes and gravy, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables. If that sounds too heavy, a pan-fried sea bass in champagne sauce with salmon caviar, seared lobster tail, gratin potatoes and French beans wrapped in bacon with broccoli is also on offer. Sign the evening off with a New York cheesecake with vanilla ice cream or cream brulee with mixed berries and your Father's Day mission is accomplished!

Harlan’s (Shop 2075, Podium Level 2, ifc mall, 2805 0566) is serving Father's Day dinner on June 15 with their wide range of seafood starters, main and desserts. The special menu is priced at $398 for adults and $278 for children. At Promenada (7/F, 7 Metropolis Drive, Hunghom, 3160 6888), every father dining in the restaurant will enjoy a free special mocktail Father's Delight and a moisturizing gel cream from L'Oreal Paris. The Father’s Day dinner buffet costs $508 for adult and $298 for children.