Tonight, Scala spans the waters. From a restaurant seat overlooking the harbour, the Cultural Centre lies in the distance, where La Scala orchestra gives its first performance in Hong Kong.
Scala the restaurant is contradictory. With initial plans for a European restaurant, it was named Latour, but immediately changed to Scala, cashing in on the 1989 fad for Italian. When pasta-passion disappeared, the menu reverted back, though the name stuck.
The setting of this almost unknown restaurant is as charming - and baffling - as you can get.
The bafflement comes from the lobby and lifts of the Harbour View Hotel, where the signs and elevators seem to have been created by a dyslexic misanthrope. Getting in the wrong lift is inevitable, learning how to get to the 11th floor is like learning a new computer program.
But upon arrival, you could not have a more entrancing background. Tables are separated by glass partitions, the walls filled with lithographs and monochrome architectural drawings. The light balsa wood walls are soothing, the service impeccable and genuinely friendly.
In contrast to the raucous hotel lobby, Scala's atmosphere is hushed, except for the background music. Those selections would make even La Scala conductor Riccardo Muti applaud. Mozart horn concertos, Haydn string quartets, and Brahms concertos. Not everybody wants such heavy music with a meal, but one must admit the uniqueness of it all.