Supatra's stakes outnew Central venue
With only weeks to go before the lease on her Lan Kwai Fong restaurant expires, Thai restaurant queen Supatra has found a new location. The next version of her restaurant, scheduled to open in July, will be near the Foreign Correspondents' Club on Ice House Street. The new Supatra's will, of course, remains true to its Thai traditions (tel: 2522-5073).
In the space on the corner of Lan Kwai Fong where Supatra's has reigned for 10 years, the Va Bene crowd are opening a new Italian restaurant, Benessimo, on September 1.
Cheesy fix without fat Low-fat cheeses have finally become a fixture on Hong Kong's cheese counters. While they may not have the distinctive character of brie or Camembert, cheeses like St Claire Swiss and St Otho Healthy work well for what they are - a healthy alternative to one of the highest-fat food categories.
The St Claire Swiss ($13 per 100g) is on the stronger side. A panel assembled to taste a few of these low-fat cheeses detected a stinging aftertaste. The French St Otho Healthy ($22 per 100g) is 95 per cent fat-free, slightly sour and does not taste like cheese as we know it. But it sits well on a water cracker.
The most boring, dubbed simply 'Plain Cheese', was judged pleasant but hardly earth shattering. Plain Cheese ($17 per 100g) is British and contains only 14 per cent fat.
Other low-fat cheeses available are Diet Gouda ($17 per 100g) and Low Fat Havarti ($18 per 100g) and are available from Seibu.
Hand over your cash Hotel restaurants are sharpening their knives and polishing their silver in the hope of bumper profits over the handover holidays. Expect to pay in the region of $2,500 plus a head for the privilege of celebrating the event on June 30 or July 1.
High-cost end-of-empire programmes include the $2,280-a-head gala dinner, including cocktails on the lawn and dancing, at The Verandah at The Repulse Bay (tel: 2812-2722) on June 30. There is also the more reasonable $900-a-head auspicious Chinese dinner at Hei Fung Terrace (tel: 2812-2622).
The downside of The Repulse Bay is the lack of fireworks. One of the better waterfront positions is the Panorama at Kowloon's New World Hotel, which is serving the Majestic Dragon's Dinner from 7pm on June 30 and July 1. Cigars and champagne are thrown in for $2,380 a head (tel: 2369-4111).
Cross Pierrot at the Mandarin Oriental (tel: 2522-0111) off the list. It is closed for a private party. However, dinner on June 30 at the Mandarin Grill costs $2,980. At The Peninsula, everything is sold out. The handover parties at the Regent on June 30 are also sold out. Tickets for July 1 are still available at $2,500 each. If party-goers buy tickets for both nights, the hotel has promised to put them on a priority waiting list for June 30. Ticket packages for both nights are available at a special rate of $4,500 each.
Quanto? Mamma mia! Patrons at Joyce Cafe in Exchange Square (tel: 2810-0906) are irate over being charged $110 for a bottle of San Pellegrino for which most other restaurants in town charge around $45 to $50. 'It makes no sense,' one said. Joyce Cafe has now dropped San Pellegrino from its menu. At the Grand Hyatt's Grissini, the house water is San Pellegrino and is free.
