Eat, drink and be generous

GIVING to a good cause doesn't have to mean denying yourself a treat - as Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui is keen to show.

Go along for lunch or dinner today and enjoy all you want to eat from their buffet - then dig deep into your pocket to help the Rwandan refugees.

The Indian restaurant, at Mirror Tower, 63 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, is adding another date this year to its annual charity food day, this time to collect for the appeal run jointly by Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam and the Red Cross.

Managing director Shihabadeen Uzair said the restaurant held its annual fund-raising buffet on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, October 2, but this would be too late to help those starving in Rwanda - so he was organising a special charity buffet today to coincide with the restaurant's 13th birthday and Indian Independence Day.

''It's to promote the common man's sense of charity,'' he said. ''Some people will find no time to write a cheque [for the appeal] so instead they can enjoy good food and give whatever they like here.'' Last year on October 2, the restaurant raised $80,000 for the earthquake victims in India. Mr Uzair said he hoped to raise more this time, although he was not sure what to expect because it was an unusual day.

''We've been doing this every year for the last nine years,'' he said.

Woodlands, Hong Kong's first Indian vegetarian restaurant which opened in 1981, will be serving the buffet from midday.

WHERE TO SEND YOUR DONATIONS Hong Kong Red Cross Rwanda Relief Fund: Send cheques to 33 Harcourt Road or lodge money in Hongkong Bank account 567-650155-020, Bank of East Asia account 514-40-40040-8 or Hang Seng Bank 267-180123-001. Medecins Sans Frontieres Hong Kong Limited: Send cheques to GPO Box 5803 or transfer money to Hongkong Bank account 511-119034-001. Oxfam-Rwanda: GPO Box 8428 or transfer donations to Hongkong Bank account 001-537000-005.