Autumn catalogues from Lane Crawford are in…
Unimpressed Rockstar
Yesterday,
7 am: We land back in Hong Kong after a 9 hour night flight
9.30 am: Rockstar, newly cleaned up and fed, is reacquainting himself with his books and toys
10 am: Kings is asleep
(After changing Rockstar’s clothes and brushing his teeth, I took a sleeping pill as usual for longer night flights because I’m a terrible sleeper. During the 5 hours it knocks me out, Rockstar unexpectedly rolls off his plane seat in his sleep twice more so Kings is exhausted.)
11 am: I confirm lunch with an ex-colleague and friend. He’s the busy working one, that’s his only slot for lunch for some time.
11.15 am: Too late to book any of our regular haunts in Central. Many halfway-decent places for catchup lunches have to be booked at least 24 hours in advance (otherwise you’re sharing tables and they don’t like you to just sit and chat). They’ll call you to confirm the table (not accept a fresh booking) around this time so they can move waitlisted patrons if you let the table go.
Don’t even think of not booking in Central unless you want to catch up with your friend while queueing for a table, or can inhale your lunch at warp speed, something I never learnt to do (but admittedly some friends, mostly the guys, have).
If you don’t book and want a quiet-ish place, it’ll probably cost you about HKD 500 – 600 for 2 people; HKD 200 – 300-ish for 2 lunch places are hot commodities. (The max number of bookings I’ve seen another Hongkie friend make is 3 – after we were seated at his first choice place, he got 2 more calls on his cell from the other 2 places to confirm he was letting the tables go.)
Last time I tried, places like Café Landmark or Café Causette need to be called about 4 or 5 days in advance, otherwise you will be waitlisted.
Cafe Landmark
Cafe Causette
I finally secure a table for 2 at Landmark Kiku, one of our favorites, after agreeing to a 1.30pm table “just in case my earlier guests haven’t left yet,” the guy on the other end earnestly explains.
Kiku
You might think local Hongkies handling reservations etc would be rude or impatient, but you would generally be wrong. It’s an aggressive and efficient town – that includes selling you stuff. The average salesperson I encountered in Causeway Bay or Central (very generally) was a lot more politely aggressive than when I went shopping in say, Singapore or Aussieland. Me ending up with a lot more goods or services than I need when I first started living here, now, that’s another story…
11.30 am: Put Rockstar down for a nap
1.15 pm: My friend texts me to say they gave him the table 15 minutes early
1.30 pm: Not as wise as my local friend, I show up on time
(The reservations guys at popular restaurants must be masters at juggling the booking sheets – we probably got a table meant for someone who was late, it turns out to be a really nice table. One day after tipping them I have to get up the gumption to take a picture of their reservations book – just for the pencil notes and scrawlings.)
3.00 pm: Wander around Landmark before going home.
3.30 pm: AUTUMN FASHIONS IN DA HOUSE. Oh NOOOOOooooooooo…
My birthday gift to myself will be thigh-high boots. FLAT heels for fear of doing a Pretty Woman, and because I’m no spring chicken. Added bonus: I can run after Rockstar.
To wear with either just-above-the-knee skirts/dresses (absolutely nothing mini-er), or (more likely) jeans, tee and rocking necklace. More photos once I break out the old Nokia N82 and start taking pictures of my wardrobe.
(One thing I absolutely love about Hong Kong – you’re motivated to play dress-up because you have so much company)
Potential candidate
(Carefully checking my email for online offer codes because it’s still boiling hot in Hong Kong so I’m not about to pay full price)
