In Hong Kong, rich and decadent cuisine makes a comeback
After years of talking up lean cuisine, local chefs are losing their inhibitions about putting decadent food on our plates
Dietary advice can be a minefield for the layman, especially for its apparent ability to change on a whim and its use as the rationale behind some fairly faddish diets.
The latest apparently clear advice - bearing in mind I'm no doctor - is that for most of us there is no need to worry about dietary cholesterol. This news comes not long after the blame for many health problems has been switched from fat to sugar.
It seems a happy coincidence that this advice comes as Hong Kong chefs are losing their inhibitions about putting rich, decadent food on our plates.
A phrase we're hearing quite often from chefs is: "I cook what I like to eat." What chefs like to eat seems to be packed with seafood, red meat and fatty dairy products - if it's not the fried chicken currently experiencing a boom.
It also seems as though some Hong Kong chefs want to put the smiles back on Hongkongers' faces in difficult times. The Stone Nullah Tavern is abandoning its modern American menu to concentrate on New England and east coast classics, meaning a menu stuffed with dishes such as pork cheek chilli with melted cheddar, king crab legs with drawn butter or maple barbecue glazed ribs with gorgonzola slaw and dill pickle.
That menu is not exclusively rich but plenty of other decadent dishes have caught our attention recently.