Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Birthday Meals

For lunch hubby and I had a "date" at Hanagushi at Lan Kwai Fong, this large Japanese restaurant that's not street level, is quite pricey and yet always full. Hubby had his usual beef fillet cubes on rice with raw egg (HKD 185), a teppanyaki of sorts with very tender beef and a sweetish sauce you can ask extras of (not exactly teriyaki but addicting!). Of course beef paired with sticky, hot Japanese rice with lots of sauce to dribble over is always a sure winner.

I had their yakitori set lunch (HKD 220) which came with miso soup, Japanese fried rice and dessert. Skewers of mushroom stuffed with minced chicken, giant asparagus, chicken fillet with leeks (they call it long onions), chicken balls, chicken wings and chicken liver arrived one after the other. All in all a happy birthday lunch. Not exactly the prices you would find at the "set lunch" places in Soho, and I was surprised with the crisis and all there were people waiting for a table at 1:30 pm, but that's HK for you. We were there because it was my birthday, they were there just because.

Dinner was supposed to be at Grissini (the Grand Hyatt's Italian restaurant) but hubby has been wait listed for a week (see what I mean? people in HK are still eating out, and eating well!) so we opted for Baci instead. Little boy was with us (I think he's old enough to go to proper restaurants and is adventurous enough to not go home hungry). We shared the rich and creamy porcini and black truffle risotto, a tomato, basil and spicy salami pizza, and fresh tagliatelle with rabbit ragout. Little boy ate tons of the crisp flatbread, tried the pesto dip, ate 2 slices of pizza, finished off his half order of bolognese, and ate a lot of the tagliatelle (without the rabbit, which all of us found too gamey).

Little boy loves eating out, whether at a formal restaurant, a cafe or his favorite HKD 16 noodle shop. He probably takes after me, the one who gets excited at the mere thought of eating someone else's cooking.

No cake or dessert for us on this day, no candle-blowing either. I'm trying to eat healthier this time around, and not gain as much as I did with Little boy.