BOUQUETS THE best bread in town for quality and value: Furama Cake Shop, then Marriott and Oliver's. KB FOR cookbooks or any books go directly to Pat Ng, at the Hong Kong Book Centre in the Landmark. She's the last of a dying breed, a helpful bookseller, someone who likes books and will go the extra mile to locate a title. KB A SLICE of roast beef, pink and rare, with Noel Coward and your tenderly poached pears with something robust from Les Miserables . What an evening. Dinner with music, beautifully paced - three courses and lashings of wine before the show troops on stage, dessert at the intermission - and splendid fun, courtesy of Broadway Express and Porticos. LL BEST jam doughnuts? At Furama cake shop. At $7.50 each, they're also the cheapest. LL WHEN it comes to Chinese dining, nobody can hold a candle to Hunan Gardens, the monstrously-sized pink restaurant in Exchange Square: their soft-as-velvet white fish in crunchy minced bean sauce and noodles in spicy broth (served in bamboo beakers) are among the best dishes on any menu in Hong Kong. LL THE best buy in quality Italian foodstuffs? Gather some friends and order from Blooming Star Trading in North Point. An Italian wholesaler, they're not always the cheapest, but cheaper than the stores and best for quality. Ask Marco to fax you a list. Tel: 2707-9123. Fax: 2508-1124. KB HEAVEN is a basket of warm pita bread and dips at Zahra's in Wan Chai where the hospitality of the owners, Tarek and Vivienne El-Mahmoud, matches the food quality. KK THE best desserts? Joyce Cafe's espresso ice cream with burnt honey sauce and thousand-layer sticky rice with mango. KK DESSERTS worth training on for marathons? Creme brulee in a coconut shell at Miami Spice and warm brownies with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce at California Restaurant. MS A ROUND of applause for tireless Raymond, of Bagel Factory Limited. Not only does he supply bagels for triathlons, free, but he's generous with credit. MS BRAVO to the crew at Wyndham Street Thai and chef Rosemary Lee who allow diners the joy of discovering wine. How can anyone resist when the waiter puts four open bottles on the table and invites you to sample each before buying something by the glass or bottle? MS MAYBE the Harbour is being reclaimed. But preservation of local colour includes hawkers who turn out the glutinous rice balls and neighbourhood stalls where any type of fruit juice can be found. KK IN the battle of the divine breadbaskets contenders would be Mandarin Grill, The Regent and A Galera in Hotel Lisboa. They all tie for texture, variety and freshness. MS LET Mozartstube be the role model for service: observant, confident, intelligent and always in the background. MS THANKS to Cafe Deco for being a wine-friendly restaurant with bottles and glasses at affordable prices. MS THANKS to DHL and a handful of inspired hotels for coming up with a solution to unused food. MS MOST romantic restaurant has to be the Veranda at Repulse Bay, so colonial it will surely be shutters down from the stroke of midnight, June 30 1997.
Here is unparalleled service, fruit and sparkle champagne aperitifs and truly delightful fresh-and-light cuisine. Sitting at the open windows in summer, looking down at the rolling lawn while nibbling on lobster flesh and balsamic-anointed salad leaves, is as bucolic as it gets on Hong Kong island. LL THANKS to Michelle Garnaut, of M's at the Fringe, for resisting the promotion bandwagon. MS THANKS to Juliette's Wine Bar, Brecht's and Aoi Sushi for being people-centred and promotionless. MS THE best convenience product this year? Try Dole's Caesar salad in a bag (around $25 at selected Park 'n' Shops). No waste, no leftovers. Just a heap of fresh-cut Romaine, addictive croutons and dressing. Perfect for the famished solo diner. MS THE Lan Kwai Fong reaction. As the conglomerates and multinational fast food places spread their tentacles, Lan Kwai Fong has individual places, with the stamp of their owners rather than the corporation. The 97 group, Elite Concepts, etc are local: sometimes kitschy, sometimes elegant, always fun, always personal. HR NOW this is customer service. Let retail shops learn from the salesmen at Pacific Wine Cellars, Seibu. Customer: Can you suggest an oaky chardonnay from Australia or New Zealand in the $150 to $160 category. Salesman: 'Don't spend that much. This one, at $110, is what you want.' MS MACAU is going back to its roots with genuine home recipes. You can find authentic Macanese food at Litorel and Casa Macanese. Not exactly haute cuisine, but with a home-grown sense of love. HR WE gravitate to Grappa's in Pacific Place, where the atmosphere is genuine, the food wholesome and the house wine is served in a decent-sized glass.
One of my biggest quibbles in Hong Kong restaurants is the price charged for a glass of wine. At Grappa's both the red and white are good and you get more than a mouthful for your money. DD UNLIKE the Dickens Bar, the Mexican food at La Placita comes in portions fit for a king and is full of spicy flavours. The margaritas are the kind you can drink all night. The waitresses in great uniforms are helpful and charming. DD IT'S cheap and cheerful, so we always return to Cinta J in Jaffe Road, Wan Chai. The hot and sour Filipino soups are particularly welcome in winter. The fish - if they have it - is good, particularly the boneless bangus. Above all, you get plenty of rice, and don't have to keep asking for more. DD ONCE for slummers or greasy restaurants, Kowloon City is still ethnic, still down-market, but with more and more interesting places.
Whole streets of Thai markets and grocery stores, elegant places like Peace Shanghai Restaurant, interesting Peking Muslim restaurants, more Indian curry restaurants, Cantonese seafood places. Costs vary, but the atmosphere is that of people enjoying good food and good walks. HR BRAVO for food buyer Ben Lam and the staff in the food hall of Seibu. Customer: 'Are these peeled tomatoes? I don't understand the label. It's in Italian.' Salesman: 'I don't either, but I will ask for you.' MS BEST find for modern parents is Health Gate, a natural foods shop on the 8th floor of the Hun Tak Building (106-108 Des Voeux Road).
Here are jars and jars of vegetarian and meat-based goodies that contain nothing more than vegetables, rice or pulses, and oils needed to cook them: no sugars, salt or 'bulk' fillers.
Free delivery for purchases above $600. They even have pureed turkey for the holidays. LL THANKS to the Regent's lobby lounge where the majestic view of Hong Kong Island at sunset makes the price of a drink a sheer bargain. MS BRICKBATS POX on food suppliers, retailers included, who advertise and display meat and seafood as being fresh when the produce has been brought in frozen and then thawed for sale. Wish list: please state fresh chilled or fresh but frozen. KB WHY can't restaurants play decent, inspired, appropriate music. Places such as American Pie have decades of styles and genre to choose from. But don't. Need a role model? Try La Trattoria in the Landmark or Zona Rosa in your neighbourhood. MS WHY can't hotels and public relations companies spare trees next Yuletide and give the money they spend on duplicates of multi-page press kits and holiday greeting cards and calendars to charity. MS BOO to the Wellcome stores on The Peak and Watford Road. The Dairy Farm whipping cream and Anchor UHT bought at Christmas was well past its prime. KB WHY do waiters insist on unfolding the napkin? Why can't diners enjoy cocktails and conversation without getting the wine list and menu stuck in their faces or a voice commanding attention to the litany of specials. Let diners, not waiters, be the focus of dining. Please be ready when we are, not when you want us to be. MS WHERE else can you be greeted with a snarl, told 'no more' (French baguetre/cottage cheese/sprouts - once all three - at 1.20), and then left to witness the sorry spectacle of a scant quarter avocado ('$6 extra'), bashed and black as an old incense burner, being smeared into stale bread. Please, more staff training and bring back those customer suggestion/complaints cards at Oliver's in Landmark. LL DOWN with food items for sale without a use-by date. Worse is discovering that purchases have the use-by date stamped over with a more recent date. KB PRICES! No matter what the official figures, restaurant prices rival the inflation rates of Weimar Germany or South American fiefdoms. Example: American Restaurant, with down-and-dirty Peking food at comparable costs, now has three-digit costs for virtually everything, and three can hardly eat for less than $1,000. HR THE Park 'N' Shop take-it-or-screw-off credit card system. Instead of offering a supermarket credit card, now you have to take other unwanted cards.
