We arrive into Hong Kong Thurs 25 March at 6pm, we will jump into a cab to our hotel, Harbour Plaza Metropolis - Kowloon.

We are three adults myself, my dh and sister, all in our 'late' 40's. She is a chef and this is her xmas / birthday gift, so eating is high on our list.
These are our choices.

The first night we will check in and eat at the Chinese Restaurant in the Hotel, Kingathin.
Friday night is her birthday and she has chosen Hutong.
Saturday night, Felix for drinks, then Springmoon (for Peking Duck or maybe beggars chicken? )
Sunday lunch is the Wine Lunch at the Amber Restaurant - Landmark Mandarin Hotel
Then maybe the Peak to watch the sunset?
Monday dinner Aqua Roma
Tues dinner Yun Fu
Wednesday we will go to Macua and play it by ear. We fly home at 11pm

Our days will be spent sight seeing and shopping.

Love to hear your feedback.

Thanks
AD

make sure your husband visits the men's room at felix--- huge surprise

There seems to be a lot of time spent in hotels here, and two meals at No. 1 Peking Road. You might want to look at the second edition of the Michelin Hong Kong guide to tempt you out of the hotels and to give you an education in Cantonese food. You should also visit at least one dim sum restaurant mid-morning.

Some of the Michelin choices are very affordable, too, meaning that going out to eat top quality real local food (and other regional variations) with real locals need not mean crossing out some of your other choices, e.g. Lei Garden, and Fook Lam Moon.

Consider, too, restaurants with locations genuinely redolent of Hong Kong, such as perhaps one of those in the newly opened Hullett House (I had first class dim sum there a few weeks ago, albeit for a price.) The building is the old colonial Marine Police HQ, now converted into shopping and a hotel, on high ground almost next door to The Peninsula. Google for details. Or consider formerly 'secret kitchens' like Yellow Door Kitchen, which serves first class Sichuan in what was an apartment. Again, Google for more.

Hutong is pleasant enough, but it seems odd to be sitting in the south eating prettily presented northern dishes for more than ten times the price in the north.

Aqua Roma is very successful but there's too much of the 'concept' and not enough concentration on the food.

In the Peninsula, while Spring Moon is indeed excellent (but noted for its Cantonese, and again you're choosing northern and eastern dishes--the beggar's chicken will need to be ordered in advance), I'd be more tempted by Gaddi's for classic French. Surely your sister would particularly enjoy the chef's table in the kitchen itself, if available.

And if given my choice of Western restaurants in hotels I'd otherwise probably choose Spoon by Alain Ducasse in the Intercontinental, or Pierre in the Mandarin Oriental (or possibly Petrus at the Shangri-La).

And you've left out afternoon tea, which comes in many variations, but perhaps best known at The Peninsula and the Mandarin Oriental.

Peter N-H

Thanks for your comprehensive thoughts. I will forward on to DS. We are planning on Dim sum and a high tea, but I was just focusing on the dinners.
Thanks again.

I see you have settled on a hotel rather than a serviced apartment which you were originally considering. My thoughts on your restaurants choices are below.

<u>Kingathin</u> – there does not seem to be a restaurant by that name in the Harbour Plaza Metropolis hotel. There are several restaurants in the hotel, including a Cantonese one called The Metropolis. I have not eaten at any of the hotel restaurants, so don’t have a comment other than that the restaurant you have mentioned does not seem to exist.

<u>Hutong</u>- perfectly fine choice, you don’t necessarily need a window table to have a nice view.

<u>Spring Moon</u> – a old time favourite, again a perfectly fine choice. Nice setting.

<u>Amber Restaurant</u> – have not been for the brunch, but the food is generally very good so I am sure the wine lunch will be too.

As for the Peak, sunset/dusk in late March will be between 6:30-7 pm, so work around that. I think you will want to be there in some daylight to see the views and then stay on through darkness to see the city light up, as the two experiences are very different. You can also take time to see the lovely Southside water views which are best appreciated in daylight. You may find lines for the Peak Tram on a Sunday afternoon, as that is a popular family day. If lines look really bad, walk back down to Connaught Road and take the #15 bus, which will also give you an interesting view (not quite the tram, but still good). There are some excellent walks up on the Peak, depending on your time, inclination and the weather you could do the Severn Road walk before or in conjunction with sunset, see “Cicerone's Favourite Hong Kong Walks: Severn Road, The Peak “ at http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...d-the-peak.cfm. You could also do the Harlech/Lugard loop, which offers some very good views and is flat (although my personal opinion is that the Severn Road walk views are better). This takes about an 1 to 1.5 hours. To get to the walk, after you get off the tram, and are standing with the harbour behind you, the Peak Tram station on your right, the brown Peak Galleria Mall on your left, and the low Tudor Peak Lookout Restaurant in front of you, look to your right and you will see the three streets leading off to the right of the Peak Lookout Restaurant. Mt Austin is the one in the middle. Lugard and Harlech are on either side. Take the street on the furthest right, which is Lugard, and just follow it around as it circles back to the Peak Lookout Restaurant where you started.

If it is clear, the only place to see a good sunset is up on the actual Peak, which faces south and west. (Although the part of Severn Road which faces the open water to the south and west, and not the harbour, would be OK as well.) The Peak Tram takes you to Victoria Gap, not the Peak, which up above another few hundred feet. Views from Victoria Gap are mostly to the north. To get to the Peak, walk up Mt Austin Road. (See directions above for finding Mt Austin Road.) Walk up this for about 20-25 minutes, basically straight uphill, until you come to the a large flat parking area. Go behind this, and there is a walkway which will take you to some lovely viewing areas.

For dinner on the Peak, you probably won’t feel like another big meal, but take a look at the restaurant list which I sent you a few months ago and see what may work for you.

<u>Aqua Roma</u> – while perfectly fine Italian, I don’t see the point in going back to the location of Hutong and having the exact same view and essentially the same experience, albeit with different cuisine. If you want a view, there are other places, including on the other side of the harbour. If you want good Italian, try <b>Gaia, Tuscany by H</b>, or, if you can get a reservation, <b>The Drawing Room</b> (the latter recently opened and is not on the list I sent to you).

<u>Yun Fu</u> – I like this restaurant a lot, good food and ambience (although you are giving the Aqua group quite a bit of your business).

As your sister is a chef, I am kind of surprised you are not trying places like <b>Bo Innovation, Yin Yang, Green T. House Hong Kong</b> or <b>Lung King Heen</b>
which are known for their innovative chefs. Or one of my favourites <b>Magnolia</b>, which is Creole and you sit with the chef in the kitchen while she and her team make appetizers. You are also very heavy on the Chinese, so you could consider Thai, Japanese or Indian or even French like <b>Chez Patrick</b> or <b>Cepage</b> or if you really want to spring for something, the chef’s table at <b>Caprice</b>. I would also put in a good word for local seafood like at <b>Tung Po Sea Food</b> (down and dirty but not cheap) or <b>Under Bridge Spicy Crab</b>, or one of the many seafood restaurants in <b>Sai Kung, Lamma</b> or other outlying areas (although any of the latter three would work quite well for lunch). But if I were going out to Sai Kung, I would go to <b>One Thirty One</b> for an absolutely fabulous meal. Personally, I would give up brunch at the Amber for Sunday lunch at their lovely spot on the water, but it can be a bit of a trip to get there without a car, so this may be ambitious for you (and March weather may not fully cooperate).

Just an editorial note, if this were my trip, I think I would to go Macau on the Tuesday rather than trying to fit a trip there into the same day as your departing flight. You may feel a bit rushed. You can take a ferry from Macau right to Hong Kong Airport, but this will either mean you will have to organize yourself to get to the Airport Express station in Hong Kong early Wed morning to check-in for your flight, or you will have to lug all your bags to Macau and then store them for the day. Otherwise, you will have to backtrack all the way from Macau back to your hotel in Hong Kong just to collect bags to head out to the airport (which you will pass on the ferry returning from Macau). Seems like a lot of rushing around on the last day. You may want to just spend the day in Hong Kong on Wednesday, have a nice dinner and leave for the airport after that. (I assume you are not flying out of Macau.)

You should have afterdinner drinks at Salon Da Ning at the Peninsula.

We had lunch at the Gaddi's chef's table at the Pen...

I meant to add that you need a reservation at Salon Da Ning. It has a pretty cool interior design that is great for relaxing and listening to live music.

Thank you so much. I am forwarding on to DS for her perusal..........thanks again.

Make sure to hit up Tim Ho Wan for dim sum--it's the world's cheapest Michelin Star-rated restaurant. So yummy! Get there early though because the line is ridiculous.

More info and pics from our Hong Kong trip at http://patrinadoestheglobe.blogspot....hong-kong.html