HOW are those four-day-old New Year resolutions coming along? Sit-ups for breakfast, swimming laps at lunch, the squash court instead of happy hour? Helping last week's living dead shape up is the Rickshaw, where burning calories and socialising supposedly strike a balance. The bar/health club/snack shop at 22 Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, offers a fully-equipped gym with two certified personal trainers plus a rooftop swimming pool. Cool off downstairs at the piano bar with televised sporting events and a variety of nibbles - from fresh fruit, juice and muffins before work to snacks, sandwiches and pizza afterwards. Health club fees range from $100 to $2,800. No membership is required for diners. For more information phone 525-3977. VISITING chefs usually leave their imprint, and the Hilton Grill has hosted an army of French ones in the past year. Some of their dishes have remained on the menu by popular demand. Find out which during The Best of the Hilton Grill, a promotion celebrating appetisers, entrees and desserts that topped the year's culinary hit parade. From Monday, a 22-dish a la carte menu will be offered as well as a three-course set lunch for $260 and five-course set dinner for $420. Temptations will come from chefs Michel Trama (shellfish risotto with asparagus), Roland Mazere (terrine of vegetables with goose liver), Jean Fleury (cream of mushroom soup with a shallot royale), Jean Pierre Vigato (roasted veal cutlet with garlic and parsley) and others. Some of the creators are Hilton staff, including pastry chef Antony D. Osborne (warm banana and chocolate chip souffle), executive chef Winfried Brugger (gratinated lobster with teppanyaki vegetables), sous-chef Franz Sonnerer (fillet of pigeon breast with braised cabbage in puff pastry) and general manager James Smith (highland game soup with port). The promotion runs until January 21. For more information and reservations, phone 523-3111, ext. 645. THE good times continue to flow. Bridging the period from New Year to Lunar New Year is a champagne festival at Hotel Victoria. The House of Louis Roederer will be supplying the bubbly all month. To accompany the glasses, bottles or magnums are set menus for lunch ($195) and dinner ($365) as well as a la carte. Devotees of sparklers can have Roederer Brut Rose 1989, Cristal Brut 1988, Brut Premier NV, Brut Vintage 1986 and Cristal Brut Rose 1985. STAY warm in the evening with a hot pot. Japan's traditional shabu shabu hot pot rates its own station nightly in the dinner buffet at Hong Kong Renaissance hotel's Sun Cafe. Cooked before the eyes is a variety of fresh seafood and vegetables, speared then dunked in one of two bubbly soup bases. The cooked morsels merit a variety of contrasting dipping sauces, including a tangy sweet and sour or sesame seed. The dinner buffet is available from 6:30 pm to 10 pm daily. Adults $230, children $165.
