The last corner of dark chocolate pudding sat in a puddle of molten white chocolate sauce. It was begging to be eaten and my lunch guest, Hannah Guthrie, obliged. Normally, I would have experienced a moment's anguish at such a missed opportunity but all I felt was a warm feeling of vicarious enjoyment. My guest at the Grand Hyatt's Italian restaurant, Grissini, is area manager and a lecturer with Weight Watchers, the international support group that helps its members lose weight, and maintain weight loss, through a sensible and medically approved diet. All Weight Watchers representatives are required to be ex-members so they know the hardships of losing weight from personal experience. Mrs Guthrie is an ideal role model - she lost almost seven kilos to reach her goal weight, which she is determined to stick to, chocolate puddings permitting. 'The secret to eating out is to plan ahead. I knew I was coming out to lunch today so I had a light breakfast and I will have a bowl of vegetable soup and fruit this evening. It is a matter of deciding you want to lose weight and sticking to that decision: after all, who is holding the fork?' she said. Grissini specialises in northern Italian food, with the accent on fresh ingredients. Dishes are light and refined but portions generous, though the olive oil is dispensed with a heavy hand. The restaurant tempts the diner even before he or she is seated. The moment you step out of the lift on the second floor, the smell of fresh-baked bread assaults you. An oven, cunningly positioned at the entrance, churns out long thin strips of doughy white bread - the grissini the restaurant is named after. On sitting down in this airy, spacious, split-level restaurant, a warm bundle of grissini is delivered to the table wrapped in a white cummerbund of a napkin. Neither I nor Mrs Guthrie could resist the warm soft bread, though my grissini were soon adulterated with butter. 'The main thing is to enjoy food and not to feel deprived. Deprivation will sabotage any eating plan,' said my guest. 'At Weight Watchers, you are allowed a balance of every food group - fats, breads, protein, fruit and vegetables. 'Eating at home is always easier to control. Fast-food places and pizza parlours are the worst as the food is greasy and high in fat - though eating Italian requires a little vigilance,' said Mrs Guthrie. Grissini starters are all relatively light: Parma ham in crispy green asparagus, black olive with Parmesan and sun-dried tomato salad. Mrs Guthrie chose the assorted grilled vegetables with anchovy sauce. She asked the waiter to bring the sauce separately, explaining to me. 'You get what you need without hidden fats.' Suspiciously glistening peppers, artichokes, aubergines and courgettes were served with a scattering of pine nuts. The anchovy sauce came in a separate bowl - the finely chopped anchovies lurking under several centimetres of calorific olive oil. The antipasto misto is a half-hearted mix of the appetisers served buffet-style. The antipasto table is positioned on the upper level in the middle of the restaurant so when you are ordering you are unaware of the meagre choice (though the quality is excellent): a bovine-sized plate of white, soft, fresh buffalo mozzarella, a basin of shiny freshly quartered red tomatoes, salamis, and a plate of paper-thin slices of tuna. As I generously doused my mozzarella and tomatoes with pesto dressing, Mrs Guthrie cautioned me to avoid the olive oil slick on top of the basil beneath which lay the pine-nut mix. Mrs Guthrie has been a vegetarian since coming to Hong Kong five years ago - though she grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado. As well as traditional Italian meat and fish selections, Grissini offers a concise but good range of pastas and risotti, such as lobster and artichoke risotto, porcini risotto and pumpkin lasagne. Mrs Guthrie chose linguine pasta with fresh tomato, black olives and mozzarella, and shavings of Parmesan. The pasta was good but, with enviable willpower, she left half her large bowl, explaining: 'The vegetable appetiser was so filling.' My fillet of sea bass was a fork-meltingly soft fish under a mantle of chopped black olives and pine nuts all swimming in a pool of olive oil - black, rich, fattening, and worth it. Conscious of my greed, as a token gesture I spurned the crunchy long green beans and potato slices. For two people who had not finished their main courses, desserts were obviously not necessary but I coerced my guest into sharing a sensible low-cal choice and a 'moment on the lips, forever on the hips' chocolate pudding - to use a Weight Watchers saying. 'I still have binge days, where I think, 'Why did I do that?' Often I have had a brownie raised to my mouth then I see the faces of 20 people I lecture to at a meeting. If I want a dessert I will try and negotiate with my fellow diner,' Mrs Guthrie excused herself. The raspberry sorbet was sweet and almost like a frozen cordial, without any raspberry sharpness. The Gianduja chocolate pudding in white chocolate sauce was mercifully quite small but dense, warm and comforting. Coffee was served with further temptations: pine-nut biscuits, slivers of spicy fruit cake and long thin grissini sticks of chocolate. The bill was not lightweight, though: a three-course lunch for two plus coffee came to $1,342, though you can cut costs if not calories with the set four-course business lunch at $225 per person. Grissini, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road. Tel: 2588-1234. Open: noon-2.30pm; 7pm-11pm