Hard to believe our visit to Hong Kong Fashion Week is over, goodbye Hong Kong. So much to do to finish our designs for Sydney's Closet Spring 2015 Prom, Bridal and Cocktail Collections. But so little time! Were we too ambitious trying to also wrap up all the critical details, like approving trim, on the special occasion dresses that will debut for our Fall and Holiday 2014 Collections. . All that creative energy works up an appetite for designing women. For our last dinner in Hong Kong, we join our great friend Joan Damask, brilliant designer of luxury sweaters you can find fine boutiques and department stores.
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Joan and Phyllis enjoy a last meal in Hong Kong[/caption] We opt for a genuine Chinese restaurant in the Western District where towering apartment buildings line the narrow streets choked with two-story buses, cars, taxis and pedestrians negotiating the crowded sidewalks. I'd love to tell you the name of the popular restaurant but there are no signs in English. Thankfully, Joan speaks a sprinkling of Cantonese and the waiter turns out to have lived in Chicago for two years. The menu features fresh dishes to suit every palette. We're starved from working through the last day of Hong Kong Fashion Week without even stopping for lunch. We aren't disappointed with our choices. To start, we have an appetizer of smacked cucumber. Turns out to be a bowl of cucumber chunks marinated in a spicy sauce with a kick that we can't identify. Onto a vegetable dish: sauteed "brocooli" with minced garlic. The broccoli comes cooked to perfection paired with the powerful fresh minced chunks of garlic. We go with the waiter's suggestion of the chef's specialty: sauteed crabs so fresh that they are displayed for customers in a plastic bucket. The recipes features the incredibly tasty combination of scallions and onions. The black bean sauce over tofu creates a tangy dish served with a wilted lettuce-like green vegetable. A beef dish featuring vermicelli noodles stirred with satay sauce and red peppers rounds out the beyond delicious dinner. And leaves us stuffed! We linger so long over tiny cups of sweet Taiwanese green tea that the waiter politely asks us to leave. There is another party with a reservation standing outside for our table. (The shoe box size restaurant holds only about 25 guests) Can't wait to return to this treasure of a restaurant on our next trip to Hong Kong. I'm going to try the sauteed prawns (shrimps) with spicy rice cakes.
