Hutong

Had a lovely dinner at Hutong (28th Floor, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui), a glamorous Chinese restaurant rife in atmosphere and artistic food presentation, with stunning harbor views.

Hubby and I admired the decor, especially that of the restrooms, but we would be scared silly to look at ourselves in the mirror and "do our thing" if we had as dark and eerie a room in our own home.

Eye candy for me were the wooden trays, hand-painted bowls and lacquer servingware where the inventive dishes reposed.

To start with we had:
- poached cold drunken pigeon and crispy roast pigeon which little boy finished most of so we had to order again
followed by:
- crabmeat rolled in thinly-sliced radish, in one perfect row, with a black sesame dipping sauce. bland but refreshing
- mixed vegetable spring rolls, crisp and very tasty
- deep-fried battered eggplant with a minced prawn and lotus root filling, served with fresh minced garlic
- bamboo clams steeped in rose wine and chili sauce
then came the main courses:
- a boneless lamb rib, Hutong-style, fried to perfection and served with warm, thin pancakes, slices of leek and a garlic dipping sauce
- soft-shell crabs hiding like cowards under a fierce mountain of fried fiery hot Szechuan red peppers - beautiful to look at, served in a red wooden receptacle with handle
- roast pork ribs topped with fennel seeds
- squid sauteed with lofty sea urchin (uni)
- braised sea cucumbers wading in a rich brown sauce redolent with golden scallions and prawn roe
- Mandarin fish fillet smartly dressed in a heap of crunchy garlic
- chunky green asparagus stir-fried with salted yellow croaker
- steamed taro balls with prawn roe sauce
- eggwhite fried rice with spring onion

Some of us with adventurous tastebuds and possibly alcoholic tendencies tried the Jia Qing Tung Pao- one small lychee placed in a clay pot (like those for dipping sauces) where a heady, sweetish concoction of lychee liquor, gin and soda water is poured. An extraordinary way to sip one's alcohol.

The kids, little boy and his pretty friend, each ordered noodle soup with diced shrimp, but shared in the adult's fare as well. My son took one sip of my strawberry-lime shake and never let go of the glass. He seemed to be suffering from endless thirst so I ordered a peach shake for him but he turned his nose up at it. I should've known, he's a darn good actor for a 4 year old.

After dinner we all walked to Knutsford Terrace and ended the night canoodling with a vanilla souffle, molten chocolate cake, nougat parfait, apple crumble and pistachio creme brulee.