Musings by Grace Chng

Since my last blog, I’ve gone to Hongkong, Las Vegas and San Francisco. The key thing in these trips was food. Yes, I was on a work trip to Vegas, but food seemed to be an obsession with everyone there. I guess if you don’t gamble, you would want to eat well and if you win, you can spend more on the fancy Michelin-star restaurants.

In Hongkong, my friend J, took me to Sichuan Kitchen, somewhere near Lan Kwai Fong. It’s a private kitchen so you eat what the chef cooks. Every meal is a 10-course meal and following Sichuan tradition, it’s spicy. Thank goodness, the chef alternated between spicy and non-spicy so it was nice. The first three dishes were appetisers, of which 1 was very spicy. Then one soup and the rest were pork, fish, chicken, prawn and vegetable dishes. I think there’s a soya-based dish somewhere there.

All I remember was that by the fifth dish, I was stuffed. But the food is good and reasonable at HKG$280. Plus you get the chef singing a Sichuan aria at the end of the meal. She’s a trained singer, very professional and although I don’t understand Chinese, it was a professional performance.

In Las Vegas, the food was good, but often just huge! It would be better to share the dishes.  Gambling is still the main business in the city but many hotels now have spas and fancy eating places. The theme parks at MGM and New York New York hotels seem silent now.

In San Francisco, a favourite city of mine, I missed going to Embracadero which is the waterfront with the refurbished warehouses. They have been turned into coffee and organic joints, specialist supermarkets and restaurants. I went there with friends on my last night there but did not manage to get into the restaurants because they were booked to the gills. So next time, I’ll check out the place.