Hong Kong's The Graces Restaurant

I stepped out of the lift and saw ribbons tied around the circular balustrade, instant sign of decorations for a wedding or celebration. Is autumn an auspicious time for weddings.

A Singaporean-Hong Kong friend of mine recently informed me that she had postponed her daughter's wedding for a year in order to find a date which was auspicious for the bride and groom, both of the bride's parents and the groom's parents. When her western educated daughter demurred, the mother of the bride angrily said that her daughter was being a Bridezilla and the wedding wasn't just about the bride.

I was speechless. Just as well. After trying to find several diplomatic replies to this family dilemma (wedding already over)I decided that silence was the best reply as I could not comment without incriminating myself.

My friend thinks I am a good listener. I just keep nodding with eyes wide open with surprise.

Leaflets about wedding banquet options are on side tables.

Stepping into the restaurant I find it is the size of a banqueting hall. However partitions crimson cross and life in all directions to provide any size of function room.


THE FOOD
I was unable to locate any kind or drinks or desserts menu. I asked for juice. No such thing. I had to settle for Chinese tea, provided automatically from a tea pot placed on the table at the start of the meal.

HONG KONG 'PEKING' DUCK
We ordered Peking Duck. It was delicious, thought not very filling, served traditional style, with crispy brown skin, a bit like potato chips, with only a sliver of meat on each pice, if you were lucky (or in my case picky!. However, the pancakes, unlike the wafer thin ones which tear apart and are served in London, our Hong Kong pancakes were thin but solid filling.

Chicken in Dried Mandarin Peel
Chicken in Dried Mandarin Peel was the surprise on the menu and the success of the evening. So tasty. Must try this at home. Another way to use up what would usually be wasted.

The menu indicates that you can finish your meal Chinese style with soup. In the old days you would make a casserole, divide up the vegetables and any meat or fish or other protein. At the end, when all the solids were gone, you could fill up by finishing off the soup at the bottom of the casserole or wok or bowl.

TEA AND DRINKS

Having arrived late, after 9 pm, from the Inside Out Bar which I described in my previous post, by the time the meal is ordered and served we are last. The whole place its demolishing around us. Walls slide off.

Tablecloths are removed. Giant circular table tops like plates for dinosaurs are wheeled out on their edge and disappear into a back storage area.

From the back of their card I see that the group includes two more restaurants, one on Kowloon.

The Graces Restaurant
20/F, Lee Theatre Plaza
99 Percival Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel: 2882 1889
Website: www.the-graces.com.hk

Oops - I missed pancake day! Quick - where's the maple syrup?

Oh, dear, I missed pancake day. I'm supposed to be on a diet and this would have allowed me to eat pancakes. I love pancakes, especially with maple syrup. One hundred percent pure Buckwud Canadian maple syrup. Yummy.

In England traditionally we would eat maple syrup with strawberry jam or lemon and sugar or lemon and honey. Countries all over the world eat pancakes. The French have large thin pancakes with Grand M a r n i e r (spell check keeps inserting Mariner) served around Mont St Michel. The Americans eat tiny round thick pancakes, like the slice off the top of a muffin.

The Russians have pancakes with savouries, as do many European countries. Blinis, with sour cream.
The Italians have cannelloni, a tube or spiral of pasta around spinach (Florentine) or meat in white sauce, with a white cheese sauce on top.

The Indians have pancakes, or sweet breads. Masala dosai with potato - my favourite.

The Chinese serve Peking Duck with shredded spring onion and soy sauce, wrapped in wafer thin savoury pancakes.

Pancakes, Shrove Tuesday, were originally a way of using up last year's flour before lent when you gave up eating goodies.

The basis, the origin, is supposed to be the Jewish festival of Passover, (Jesus's last supper), when matzoh or unleavened bread is eaten.

A Discovery Channel programme went through the ten plagues afflicting the Egyptians when Moses said, 'Let my people go'. The angel of the Lord passed over the houses of the slaves but the firstborn of the Egyptians died. Why? What was the mysterious illness and why did it affect the firstborn? How could so many have died or been poisoned in heavy guarded homes the slaves could not enter?

The answers were:
St Vitus's dance, is a widespread poisoning of wheat when it grows mould after a long rainy season. The cure is to clear out all the old wheat before the next harvest to ensure the new flour is not contaminated. The firstborn died because they were always treated to extra portions of food.

I gave up pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I'm running late this year. Can I celebrate with pancakes at the weekend? For anybody who doesn't follow tradition, but just like celebrating seasonal customs, why not eat pancakes all week. The latest commercial idea is matching pancakes with wines. A sweet wine?

An amusing idea. But for those of us who eat pancakes for breakfast, and didn't' drink before the working day ends at six, it's just pancake with maple syrup. Delicious!

Useful websites
https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/buckwud-100-pure-canadian-maple-syrup/538317-197920-197921?gclid=Cj0KCQjwtOLVBRCZARIsADPLtJ1RnHSwL9f-5muxQySjmeGHzfhWDTVkjs42nH-ZAggT4sn6XKcCJAEaAuxcEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CN3rtdPMitoCFcmi7Qod_64JbA

https://www.facebook.com/buckwudmaplesyrup/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.