Edible art at the Mandarin Grill + Bar, Operation Smile, Zen Too and Linguini Fini's "Culinary aNOMalies"

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Paint your plate with the Art Basel menu at MO

Published: 4:00pm, 24 Apr 2014Updated: 4:07pm, 19 Oct 2016

Eat Your Art Out

Enjoy some edible art at the Mandarin Grill + Bar (1/F, Mandarin Oriental, 5 Connaught Rd. Central, 2522-0111), thanks to talented resident chef Uwe Opocensky, who’s prepared a multi-course feast for the eyes in celebration of the Art Basel art fair. Available from May 5-18, the “Art Menu” will present dishes inspired by famous paintings from around the world, including Opocensky’s version of “The Son of Man” by René Magritte. Diners partaking in the dinner sessions will also get to “paint” their own mains, using edible sauces made of peppers, truffles, spinach and potatoes. The three-course lunch costs $788, while the five-course dinner is $1,688. Diners going on or before May 17 will get a free ticket to Art Basel (May 15-18, www.artbasel.com).

Charity’s a Piece of Cake

The glitzy Ritz’s executive pastry chef Richard Long has created a dangerously irresistible chocolate banana cake for Operation Smile, an international charity that supports children with cleft lips or palates. It’s basically a combination of velvety mashed bananas and the king of chocolate brands: Valrhona, in mousse form. The cake costs $358 and is available for order at www.smileasiaweek.org. Patrons can collect the cake any day from May 5-11 (that’s perfectly timed to coincide with Mother’s Day, hint hint). Special individualized cake messages are also offered.

Zenned Out

Soundwill Plaza II will be the talk of the town in the coming weeks, what with a line-up of star-studded openings, including Chinese restaurant Zen Too (8/F, Soundwill Plaza II –
Midtown, 1 Tang Lung St., Causeway Bay, 2845-4555), from the Zen Chinese Cuisine Restaurant Group, which originated in London and now operates branches in Mexico City as well as China. Zen Too is a flashy, spacious resto with very reasonably priced dishes. The menu reads like a novel, with dim sum, small plates and larger portions for sharing. You can get everything from har gau to fried rice to nose-to-tail Chinese stews to an awesomely aromatic truffle fried rice (not entirely Chinese, but delicious nonetheless).