Amuse Bouche: Hit the Deck

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For many visitors, a meal at Hong Kong's Jumbo floating restaurant has proven to be a mild disappointment. Although it's name-checked in many a guidebook—and appears on every other postcard dispatched from the city—the 30-year-old waterborne tourist haunt is locally infamous for its mediocre food and moribund air. But all that has changed with the opening of Top Deck, tel: (852) 2552 3331, a snazzy international restaurant on the Jumbo's uppermost level. Operated by the same team behind the almost-as-iconic Café Deco restaurant atop Victoria Peak, the new venue provides the best excuse in years for a trip to the Jumbo's anchorage in Aberdeen Harbour. Amid a breezy alfresco setting (choose from tables, sofas and even day beds), visitors can dine on cosmopolitan bistro fare—think steaks, sushi, tandoori dishes and Thai curries—while gazing on the luxury yachts and fishing boats bobbing in the water below. And while a good deal of the original fittings have been left intact, in Top Deck's flattering candlelight they appear chic instead of garish. In short, one of Hong Kong's best known tourist attractions finally has the standards of food and service it has long deserved.