The price of seafood and steak is jumping across the board, so the $88 three-course lunch at seafood restaurant Frog Face Fish is money well spent, at least until Sep 30. 43-55 Wyndham St., Central, 2869-8535.

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This just in: Remy Fine Wines is closing down its Pacific Place branch on Sep 14. But the upside is that it’s discounting all available stock by up to 20 percent. The company will still be operating online: place an order at www.remy.com.hk and they’ll deliver right to your door (minimum order one case).

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This just in: A brand-new Belgian restaurant/bar called Frites will open on Pottinger Street mid-Sep, and is going to be one of the biggest spaces on that groovy little strip.

American chef/entrepreneur Harlan Goldstein is opening a new place: a massive 16,000-sq-ft restaurant called Harlan’s Macau in the Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16, about a five-minute ride from the Wynn. He took the entire top floor and added a private room called Private H, as well as a 10,000-sq-ft al fresco terrace. 25 of his top chefs will join him sometime in January.

This is one of those rare times I have one over my banker buddies. By some miracle, I managed to get a comped suite at the Paiza Club at the Sands Macau – it’s not even available to the public, you have to be given a room by the casino. Your own personal butler, private gaming room, spa, massage, fully stocked mini-bar – hell, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But hunger called, and over at the Venetian (opening end of Aug), the Paiza Club was not quite the same but you can phone ahead and make any kind of crazy dining request you want, 24 hours a day.

No, I did not win this year’s chili-eating contest at the Lan Kwai Fong Julyfest, nor did I triumph in the beer-drinking event. It’s several days after the two-day celebration and I am still stuffed.

At last, a hip new spot on the Sheung Wan dining scene – a place called Graze (142 Bonham Strand, 2850-7766) just on the corner of Bonham Strand and Queen’s Rd., serving up some damn tasty sandwiches and international fare for a decent price.

My weekend is jam-packed - I’ll be heading to Lan Kwai Fong’s finer restaurants for cooking demonstrations during the Julyfest beer and food festival. It's on Sat and Sun, Jul 28 and 29, from 1pm on, all throughout LKF. Each chef will demonstrate their signature dishes – well, as best as they can using hotplates and mini gas stoves. You'll learn a lot and the boys are amiable, so don’t be afraid to chat them up after the demos.
I hear SoHo favorite Le Tire Bouchon is now under the control of the Epicurian Group. The official re-opening happened last week.

God help you if you want a glass of water these days. Tap water in Hong Kong is completely safe to drink but you wouldn’t know it in SoHo, with several restaurants actually refusing to serve patrons a glass of water based on the “fact” that it’s “not safe to drink.” Let’s get a politician down to the hippest restaurant in SoHo or Lan Kwai Fong and get them gulping down a nice, big tall glass of tap water to show us how safe the aqua actually is.

So just what is Okinawan cuisine? It’s time to find out at the new NAHA restaurant in Taikoo Shing. There’s a rumor that inhabitants of Okinawa Island in the south of Japan have long lifespans thanks to their healthy diets, so you can look forward to cholesterol-free seaweed, low-calorie sea grapes known as “green caviar,” vitamin-packed bitter gourd and protein-rich pork. Okinawan chef Seiichiro Asato brings over 25 years’ experience to the kitchen, joined by sushi/sashimi chef Wong Tak-Ming.