Exotic Tastes
Harbour Grand Hong Kong (23 Oil Street, North Point, 2121 2688) is a newly opened five-star hotel and offers Chinese, Western and Japanese cuisine in four eateries and the Lobby Lounge where you can ease back with a high tea or cocktails. Le 188° Restaurant & Lounge’s name refers to the panoramic views you get through the floor to ceiling windows on three sides of this restaurant at the top of the hotel. Here Western cuisine like raw scallops ($190), roasted duck breast ($268), Dover sole and seared baby abalone ($380) is complemented by an Oyster bar and desserts such as the 72% chocolate platter ($108) consisting of warm lava cake, bitter mousse, jelly, milkshake and mint ice cream. For Chinese fine dining, try Kwan Cheuk Heen for their steamed scallop dumplings topped with shark’s fin ($48), baked abalone in oyster sauce pastries ($78) and deep fried taro dumplings with shrimp ($48). The Harbour Grand Cafe is achingly modern, spacious and airy. The cafe has a large buffet open daily with prices ranging from $195 for breakfast to $238 for lunch and up to $468 for dinner.

Its name comes from the warm breeze that blows over the Mediterranean sea and Sirocco (1/F, 10-12 Staunton Street, Soho, 2973 6605) which reopened its doors earlier this month with revamped décor and a new summer menu - featuring food and wine representing the beauty of oceans and faraway lands – looks to transport you for an evening, to a more relaxed place. Admittedly the view from the large balcony is not quite Mediterranean but it is al fresco, which is something we enjoy even if the government bureaucrats fail to appreciate the pleasures of fresh air dining. The new menu features a combination of tastes, textures and colours. Starters include the Caprese ($75) a simple salad of mozzarella, tomatoes and basil from Italy, whereas the Manchego Cheese Puffs with a Fiery Tomato Salsa ($70) and the Sizzling Chilli & Garlic Prawns ($70) have a nice zing to start the meal. The entrees include Grilled Lamb Chops with Piquillo Pepper Marmalade ($220) and Bouillabaisse with Rouille Crouton ($180), fresh tuna, mussels, clams and prawns in Saffron-Tomato Broth with Pernod. For dessert there’s Passion Fruit Panna Cotta with Balsamic Berries ($68) a classic milk pudding infused with the flavour of passion fruit or the Hot Chocolate Cake ($70) flourless and baked to order with a melted chocolate centre - a divine finale to a taste vacation.

Entering Magic Dessert (G/F, 115 Flora Plaza, Block 5, Fanling, 2947 9000) is like stepping into a palace out of a children’s storybook. The place is a riot of colour and glitter but the décor is not the star of this extravagant show. That honour belongs to the desserts which - ranging from creations containing fresh fruit to ice cream and Chinese grass jelly are true to the restaurant’s name and quite spellbinding. Take for instance, the Magic Kiwi Treasures ($28). This two ‘bag’ dessert comes with cream, strawberries, peach and coffee beans wrapped in what appears to be a pancake. This ‘bag’ is tied up with a green candy string and presented with strawberries, kiwis and chocolate sauce. And that is only one of the menus many options, each sounding as delicious as the last. We can only wish the place would put out a sampler menu, so that we can discover if the tastes all live up to the sights.

Floating restaurant Jumbo Kingdom (Shum Wan Pier Drive, Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen, 2553 9111) is infamous for its over-the-top Chinese imperial exterior and traditional Chinese cuisine. On Father’s Day, it is offering a menu of 10 dishes catering for up to 12 people for $3,080. We tried out the spiced chicken with soy and steamed fresh twin green garoupa with fresh abalone and honey – it was simple but delicious, though the deep fried mashed pork and shrimp wrapped in a flour sheet, an original creation by chef Yu King Lai, was our favourite. Jumbo Kingdom is located at Aberdeen’s Harbour, so the seafood probably couldn’t be any fresher – every morning Aberdeen fishermen discharge their catch into the restaurant’s aquariums.

Maid Date (Room D, 2/F, Percival House, 83 Percival Street, Causeway Bay, 2808 0789), Hong Kong’s very first Maid Café, has had a bit of a facelift in both interior and menu. For those not familiar with the Maid Café phenomenon, in these establishments, innocent-looking waitresses are dressed up as French maids and treat their customers as master or mistresses. In Japan, where the whole thing originated, the maids mostly attract – well, male obsessive manga or anime fans. At Maid Date in Percival Street you will find a broader clientele – especially at the bar on the terrace overlooking Times Square. The intent is to make the customer feel at home and the maids will happily play board games with you or tell jokes if your company is not entertaining enough. As for the menu, the emphasis is on Japanese dishes. We had the traditional Japanese pan-fried chicken thigh with fried rice and omelette ($48) and traditional Japanese fried black pepper and beef dices ($72). Maid Date even serves custom-made milkshakes based on a customer’s favourite colour for a maid. We’ll be back, how can we not when the staff are so friendly and they name your omelette.