Riviera: 31/F Regal Hong Kong Hotel, 88 Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay. Phone: 890-6633. Hours: Lunch Monday-Saturday, 11.30 am-3 pm (set lunch $178); dinner Monday-Saturday 6.30 pm-midnight (set dinner $298; gourmet dinner $428); brunch Sunday and public holidays 10.30 am-3 pm ($218). Decor: Unfashionably large room with splendid view and cocktail lounge, all done out in pastel pinks. Cuisine: Mediterranean. Service: Discreet, well-trained, flexible. Reservations: Not necessary. Smoking policy: Non-smoking section available. Temperature: Too cold. Music: Pianist. Parking: Valet parking during opening hours. Overall value for money (out of five): 21/2plates here AT A time when many Hong Kong hotels are busying themselves renovating or even shutting down their fine dining rooms, the Regal Hong Kong - which could win every kitsch award going - opens its version. Riviera is the kind of place where Caesar salad and crepes are prepared at the table by waiters in jackets that were once a brighter shade of white; where your carefully chosen wine sits chilling in a corner so distant there is simply no chance of refilling your own glass; and where your name is printed on a card in a little gold stand and placed on your table before you arrive. Walking into the pinky-peach restaurant with its cut glass, homogenous table settings and mirrored ceiling, could have felt like going back in time had it not been, firstly, for that Hong Kong trump card, a stunning view - even if seating was arranged sothat most diners found themselves with their backs to it. The other saving grace was the promise of Mediterranean food. The question was whether a restaurant that literally sparkled would be able to serve a simple and honest cuisine, and resist the temptation to tart it up. One merit of the otherwise rather straightforward menu was that dishes themselves were correspondingly straightforward in presentation, and not half as fancy as the setting. An appetiser of gambus pil pil ($115), which should have been hot and sizzling prawns, arrived lukewarm at the table with the paltry prawns sitting on a few slimy green leaves from some vegetable or other. Gazpacho ($50), which was full of freshly mincedherbs and vegetables cut in perfect proportions, was served with a simple drizzle of sour cream. Rich but not heavy garlic soup ($55) came with a runny poached egg sitting in the middle; a marvellous combination. Roasted chicken with Provencale herbs ($175) and a ratatouille underneath lost marks for being too salty around the breast, but was otherwise tasty. Not a single person in the kitchen had felt the need to fiddle with the paella ($195), though it was eaten with the vaguely uncomfortable notion that the chicken and seafood in it were left over from the day before. It turned out that the more simple the concept, the better the taste, and at no time more so than over dessert. Everything on the chariot, unless it was bowls of plain fruit, looked over-sticky and not substantial; all good looks and no content. A four course a la carte dinner for two followed by coffee (they really should think about freshly brewing decaf instead of serving it from little packets), and including a bottle of unexceptional Spanish white, came to an acceptable sum of $1,500.
