HKTraveler

You can find geoduck in almost all hotpot restaurants in HK. A bit expensive but they are great!

What about chicken butt? Think it is called bonbachi?

*sigh* i am sadly lagging behind in trying all these new French restaurants in town! Have yet to get to Pierre and L'Atelier (for dinner) and will have to do so soon. Actually stopped at L'Atelier for lunch over the weekend and the sandwich was so-so. Dessert (salted caramel tart) was good though. Does the L'Atelier has a good wine selection as well? A Galera's wine list is ridiculously long. Still remember having a tough time selecting a wine since it must take half an hour just to glance through the list. For the best French, have you tried the chef's table at Gaddi's? Was my favourite when Philip Sedgwick was cooking it. The best steak that i've ever had in town was at the old Mandarin Grill before the renovation. Think it was a Wagyu steak cooked over open frame. Have been back in the new Mandarin Grill but don't enjoy it as much for some reason. The view has improved a lot though! For tips, i usually just round up to the next hundred. People don't really expect a tip and i am not even sure if the tip actually goes to the waiters.

Tried that hotpot restaurant twice already. It's OK but the ma la hotpot is not that hot. The fish are pretty good though but I don't really think it is all that much better than any other hot pot place in town. Have not tried Man Jiang Hong but it is always packed. One of these days, I will give it a try.

Only been to the Ding Tai Fung there and I would recommend a pass. Though it is a off-shoot of the excellent shop in Taiwan, the quality is simply not there. Definitely more hype than quality.

Most of my friends would fit right into the group that u described and believe it or not, I think 80% of them have no desire to try Spoon. As a matter of fact, it is interesting that u bring up Felix. I don't see my friends visiting Felix either aside from bringing friends from abroad to check out the view and the toilet. The only person I know who liked Felix was my little sister and that was when she was a kid (and before tasting good food like the chef's table at Gaddi's). From what I can tell the last time I was there, most of the clientele looks to be tourists. Gary> Don't forget, HK people are in general quite spoiled about commute or traffic time. Anywhere that you can't get to in 20 minutes is considered far away. I live about 30 mins from work and everyone says that's a long commute. Makes me wonder what they think about people commuting from the Bay area to SF or from Long Island into NYC. To be fair, the location of the Intercont is out-of-the-way since there aren't much around it but it is not that far from a MTR station. It is at most a 15 mins walk. anil> They have a restaurant there as well!

That's a good point. The support by the Intercont probably means they have more financial leeway. To be fair, will give the restaurant a try first before commenting on it further! Afterall, I might be blown away and become a dedicated customer For now, I am sure they will get their moments of glory while it is still new and everyone wants to taste what AD's cooking is like. HK people tend to be big suckers for brandnames, be it gucci bags or AD's cuisine! And the reviews in the newspapers and magazines that I have begun to see will certainly help!

Tried to make a reservation for tonight but they are fully booked already. Will try again probably on a weekday next week if I have time. Can't say I have high hopes for this place (in terms of quality of food) though since AD now has so many restaurants spread around the globe and Spoon is not even meant to serve the best food within his empire (unlike Louis XV, ADNY). But probably should go since I am not sure how long it will be around. Afterall, it is highly competitive in HK and Spoon is also uncomfortably positioned. It is too casual to compete with Gaddi's and Petrus as a place for special celebration. But too expensive to be a casual highend restaurant. I guess time will tell whether they will be able to create a market for themselves ..........