On average, I spend roughly $20 on bottled water each day. Call it a symptom of modern city paranoia, but if I could bathe in the stuff, I would. Its not that Hong Kong water is contaminated, but many of our pipes are old and rotting. If you’ve ever emptied out a water filter after a week’s use, you’ll have a bottled water budget too.
My preference for bottled water brought me to the new opening of Bubbles Bar at the Marco Polo Prince Hotel. They pair typical hotel fare with so-called “gourmet” bottled water from around the world. Staring at a list of 30 bottled waters is just as intimidating as staring at the wine list at Petrus. It amazes me that people are willing to pay more for bottled water than for a cocktail with substance: bottles from Italy, Iceland and Fuji were about $50 for 500ml and $45 for anything smaller (actually a bargain next to Spoon’s $90 per bottle).
We started with seared Ahi tuna with hijiki and seaweed rolls, which we matched with seawater from Okinawa. The crabmeat and avo salad paired with a beautifully packaged Colbert blue bottle of sparkling called Ty’nant from the UK. I found myself using descriptions like “soft” in relation to water. In hindsight, I’m extremely embarrassed about that.
But the elite of the elite is the Chateldon 1650 ($50). There is only a limited supply made each year by this well-respected French water bottler. The story goes that doctors treated Louis XIV with this water to relieve the King of headaches and other small ailments. To me, it had a more distinctive taste than the others, but in the end it just tasted of water. In fact, to my unrefined tongue, it all tasted of water.
Bubbles Bar is a bit of a novelty in this town. But for once, I walked out of a restaurant after drinking the entire evening, without being piss drunk – and for that I raise a glass to Bubbles Bar.