This is an extraordinary weekend - and that calls for a restaurant encompassing all that we hope an extraordinary Hong Kong can be.
After surveying a dozen favourites, I realise only Peak Cafe has the ingredients for what I hope Hong Kong can be. For one thing, it overlooks the territory, and on a clear day we can even see our new masters far to the north. For another, the food embraces all of the West and all of the East. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. At times it is all Asian, other times the Californian openness of Jeremiah Tower, who started it. No dish is perfect, thank heavens, for perfection means mediocrity. And Peak Cafe is not mediocre.
It has the virtue of longevity. Not the oldest place in town, perhaps. And the management has changed over the decades. But for 50 years Peak Cafe has been an impressive landmark overlooking Hong Kong.
The place looks good - in Hong Kong terms. Nothing pristine about it, none of that Singapore holier-than-thou faultlessness. None of that designer-concept elegant twee or the simple (and cheap) monotony of newer restaurants.
Peak Cafe looks like it was fun to build. The shape is of a huge empty cavern, but it has a clutter of designs which gets more fascinating each time you go. Here are Tang houses, Qing-style chinoiserie mirrors, a chrome kitchen, a long bar and pictures old and new, historical and even erotic. (Try to find that picture!) In a way, this is a Dickensian Old Curiosity Shop, but done with . . . well, not taste with a capital T but taste with enjoyment. What Dickens did not have, though, was an outside. The bamboo trees, the umbrella-covered tables, the views of Hong Kong and - let's be honest - on warm days, the mosquitoes. It gives the wonders of a world air-conditioned Hong Kong rarely sees: nature.
Before the food, think of the service. I have been here on quiet days and on days when it is packed. The waiters know their jobs, they are efficient, they help. And if their English is not too great (which is often the case), they get others who are fluent.