Dinner Out

Anna booked us a table at the Mandarin Grill, a one-star Michelin restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong Island's most storied hotel. We had the chef's tasting menu, which was the most innovative and entertaining meal any of us have ever had. It was also delicious.

After some interesting amuse bouches, the first course was a salad of vegetables planted in forest green rocket puree with 'topsoil' made from something we didn't quite understand (the waiter's Cantonese accent was a little strong). The waiter sprinkled dressing over it from a silver watering can. It was as delicious as it was fascinating.

I didn't get pictures of all the courses. This is a plate of tiny blinis and quail eggs and capers and onions to be eaten with...

...caviar on a bed of crab salad served in individual tins.

It was part of a course that included lucious cubes of smoked salmon that came on a sort of grill under a glass cover that was filled with aromatic smoke. When the waiter lifted the cover, he swirled it over the table so everyone could smell the smoke as they ate. It added an amazing dimension to the meal.

This was a consome poured over mushrooms and savory custard.

I couldn't capture this with the phone camera I was using, but this was a wonderful grilled scallop on a bed of seaweed over hot stones served in individual iron casseroles. The bed of stones looked like a bit of rocky beach.

True, taking a break. We all really enjoyed the meal.

This course came in a porcelain 'cookbook' with a fabric cover.

The inside looked like it was lined with velveteen, but it was in fact flocked with black eggplant powder.

Le jus!

You can see in this fuzzy photo that beneath the eggplant powder lay the white porcelain of the box.

The first dessert course was this amazing light bulb made of spun sugar and filled with coconut cream.

It was served with mango and mango ice cream. It was spectacular.

Next came what looked like a banana. The skin was made from white chocolate and the inside was banana-flavored ice cream.

It was served with chocolate sauce and a side of whipped cream with a cherry made of chocolate and cherry sorbet.

They served truffles with the coffee. We sat and talked and talked. We were at the restaurant for about five hours!