Dining Carbone Style

The Italian hand-painted rustic plates made for Carbone come from Italy

This afternoon my friend YTSL and I headed to New York Italian restaurant Carbone for lunch. I needed to load up on some carbs for my 10K run tomorrow as part of the Standard Chartered Marathon, and she was keen to go back for one of her favourite pastas.

It was relatively quiet for lunch, save for a boisterous private party at the back, but it was a comfortable and relaxed environment.

A half portion of spicy rigatoni vodka was delicious

After we ordered, some nibbles kept us occupied -- two slices of garlic toast, four slices of salami, a small dish of large green olives, and freshly cut chunks of Parmesan cheese from a large cheese wheel.

Our starter octopus pizzaiolo (HK$198) arrived, three chunks of Spanish octopus which were meaty but quite chewy, though we quite enjoyed the sliced roasted peppers and fingerling potatoes.

Then the main event -- spicy rigatoni vodka (HK$208), with tomatoes, onions and Calabrian chilli. The server instructed the kitchen to split the pasta into two plates, saving us the trouble of doing it ourselves.

The pasta was creamy, but didn't taste heavy, and wasn't too spicy, though there was a kick in the after taste. I enjoyed it so much that I quickly cleaned up the plate!

A sinful treat in the "blackout cake" with chocolate gelato

I still had enough room for dessert, and the dessert trolley was wheeled out featuring a lemon cheesecake, tiramisu, carrot cake and what was described to us as a Black Forest cake. YTSL was interested in that one, but when it was served to us, it was more of a chocolate cake with layers of cherry mousse in between.

It was a very large slice, but we chipped away at it and soon it disappeared into our stomachs. While there were blackberries, raspberries and cherries garnishing the dessert, it would have been better if it has been topped with just cooked cherries -- they complemented the chocolate cake that again wasn't too heavy, though we did load up on the calories.

At just over HK$300 per person including service charge, it was a great lunch, nice ambience, friendly service and yes! great food too.

Now to burn it all off tomorrow...

Carbone

9/F, LKF Tower

33 Wyndham Street

Central
2593 2593

carbone.com.hk

Frightening Inferno

Passengers watch the train carriage go up in flames at Tsim Sha Tsui station

During dinner tonight, around 7.20pm, my friend received a whatsapp message from her friend that there was an incident at the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station and to avoid taking the MTR. We then went on some news websites and soon discovered there was a fire in one of the train carriages going from Admiralty to Tsim Sha Tsui during rush hour.

Firemen attend to severe burns on one of those injured

Then shocking photos and videos emerged very quickly on social media -- there was a fire in the train carriage, and a man lying on the ground, his trousers were all burned to his thighs, exposing severe burns on his legs. Another showed him standing upright with his pant legs on fire.

Others showed passengers cupping their mouths in a very smoky carriage. At first it was four injured, then six and now 17.

The police have arrested a 60-year-old man, who they say, told passengers, "Burn you to death", then lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it in the packed train carriage before it reached Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station.

The man, Cheung Kam-fai, claimed to start the fire for "personal reasons", and police say initial investigations have found he has a poor relationship with his family, and he had previously been arrested for minor offenses, such as gambling.

Many witnesses describe the heavy smoke during the train ride

Yau Tsim District Commander Kwok Pak-chung dismissed suspicions it was a terrorist attack, saying so far there was no such evidence, but said they would not rule out any possibilities in their investigations.

My friend was grateful we were having dinner tonight, otherwise she might have been on that train...

Party Preferences

Speculation turns confirmation as Carrie Lam is backed by Beijing

There are now reports that National People's Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang was in Shenzhen a few days ago to inform Hong Kong's pro-Beijing camp that the Communist Party was backing Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as the next chief executive of Hong Kong.

And the decision was made on December 25.

Zhang Dejiang made the announcement in Shenzhen

Was she also informed that day, as a Christmas present? And how come their decision was only revealed now?

A source also revealed tycoon Li Ka-shing was present at this meeting, though he and his company representatives did not attend her rally last week. Nevertheless, Li and his two sons, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi and Richard Li Tzar-kai were seen going to the Beijing liaison office in Western on Wednesday.

Interestingly it was stressed the decision to back Lam was a collective one, not one particular official or group of officials.

Also worth noting is that the meeting was not covered in Chinese state media, and one source to a Hong Kong newspaper explained this was so that it would give the party room to manoeuvre in case anything unexpected cropped up.

One of the attendees in Shenzhen was tycoon Li Ka-shing

The unwillingness to let this be a completely fair race (aside from allowing over 3 million people in Hong Kong to vote), shows Beijing still doesn't completely trust 1,194 people in the Election Committee and wants a clear winner in March.

If Beijing can't even trust its most loyal supporters to do the right thing, how is the relationship between Hong Kong and the motherland ever going to mature?

A Fifth Wheel?

Leung Kwok-hung wants to give the Election Committee a choice - himself

As if four candidates vying to become Hong Kong's next chief executive weren't enough -- a pan-democrat has decided to throw his hat into the ring.

And it's not a mild mannered, decently dressed one -- it's Leung Kwok-hung or "Long Hair", who seems intent on stirring things up.

The League of Social Democrats lawmaker said today that he would only officially put in his bid to become the city's next leader if he managed to secure 37,790 votes from the public, or one percent of the city's registered voters through a referendum held by post-Occupy group Citizens United in Action.

"I used to hold a stance of not voting, not nominating and not running in any small-circle election, so [my decision to run] is indeed a very huge change in my position," he told the media today.

Alan Leong (left) and Albert Ho (right) had run for CE before

"But I think the pan-democratic camp should never vote for any of the four pro-establishment contenders who cannot represent our camp at all."

Hmmm good point. But why him?

While the pan-democrats have 326 of the 1,194 votes in the Election Committee, some are divided on what to do; some plan to vote for John Tsang Chun-wah, while others may submit a blank vote as a symbolic protest to the unfairness of the small-circle election.

Leung said voting for Tsang would in effect endorse his platform to start the electoral reform process and try to pass the controversial national security law, Article 23.

When Leung made his announcement to run, critics immediately branded him a hypocrite, as he previously protested attempts by other pan-democrats to join the race, Alan Leong Kah-kit in 2007 and Albert Ho Chun-yan in 2012.

In 2010 Audrey Eu (right) challenged Donald Tsang for CE

Leung admitted he was not the best candidate to run, saying he had tried to lobby Audrey Eu Yuet-mee twice to get into the race, but she refused. You might remember she had a lopsided race against Donald Tsang Yam-kuen for chief executive many moons ago...

It seems Leung didn't get much support today from old school pan-democrats, and instead from people like Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, Lau Siu-lai and Nathan Law Kwun-chung.

Leung is definitely not the right candidate for the pan-democrats, but no one else really is. Are the political rookies supporting him just to agitate the situation?