IT IS almost one year since Faces restaurant in Citibank Plaza opened and Raymond Smith, co-partner and manager, is looking forward to celebrating with a series of unusual dinner shows. Faces has grown up fast since it opened last October. It is not only the caricatures of Hong Kong's famous and infamous which line the walls that have expanded in number: so has the clientele. ''My partner [former JK's on the Peak chef-manager Walter Gloor] and I had always talked of opening a nice, modern restaurant serving plain, good-value food,'' said Mr Smith. ''Eventually we got round to it.'' A chef for 16 years, Mr Smith is front-of-house manager while Mr Gloor looks after the kitchen. Despite tasting dozens of different cuisines on his career travels round the world, he is a firm advocate ''simple is best''. ''I like plain, unadorned food, especially fresh fish grilled without oil or lemon and not masked by a sauce,'' he said. ''If food is fresh, it doesn't need anything extra.'' Mr Smith's tastes stem from when his family moved to the Shetland Isles off the north coast of Scotland when he was 15. ''We ate very simply because we had to,'' he said. ''In those days, basic goods were delivered by boat twice a week, but in general you only ate what you were able to grow or raise.'' Cooking was not a vocation for Mr Smith. ''I left school and went to work on a building site,'' he said. ''I had no idea what I wanted to do.'' Then the harsh winter weather forced a decision. ''It was freezing cold and miserable. So I went to work in a more hospitable environment - a hotel kitchen.'' The owners soon sent him for training on the Scottish mainland, and he repaid them by gaining the highest examination marks in Britain. Bermuda, teaching in Britain, more exams and several years with the Hilton group in the Middle East followed, before Jimmy's Kitchen invited him to Hong Kong to manage its Central restaurant. ''By the time I met Walter I'd formulated my ideas and deciphered the good from the bad. Luckily, he shared my opinions which is why we opened Faces.'' Although Mr Smith leaves the cooking to his partner, he likes to have friends over to his Discovery Bay apartment for Sunday lunch. A starter would be a giant salad of summer vegetables, lots of fresh herbs from his windowbox, soft-boiled eggs, croutons and no dressing. The main course would be an original recipe for roast garoupa with a soft crust made of breadcrumbs, gruyere cheese and spinach puree, served on a bed of new potatoes. And dessert? Warm fresh raspberries, their juices thickened to make a syrup, poured over home-made vanilla ice-cream. ROAST GAROUPA WITH GRUYERE AND SPINACH CRUST (Serves 6) 15 grams unsalted butter 10 g shallots, finely chopped 100 g fresh tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped 1 cl dry white wine 2 medium-sized potates, cooked and sliced 6 x 180 g garoupa fillets 100 g gruyere, finely grated 100 g fresh white breadcrumbs 1.5 eggs, whisked 100 g spinach puree Salt, black pepper and nutmeg to taste Melt five grams of butter in a pan, add shallots and cook gently. Add wine and tomatoes and cook for three minutes. Remove and put aside. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper. Melt 10 g butter in the same pan and when foaming seal the fish on both sides. Remove. Combine the cheese, breadcrumbs, eggs, puree, nutmeg and seasoning together and mix. Line an oven-proof dish with potato slices and lay fish fillets on top. Spread each with a little tomato mixture, then a thick layer of the spinach mixture. Cook in a hot oven - 190 degrees Celsius - for about six minutes. Serve immediately.
