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A mixture of relief and surprise will accompany your arrival at Hong Kong's Restaurant 131, tel: (852) 2791 2684. Relief because finding it [an error occurred while processing this directive] involves reaching a remote village that even locals won't have heard of. Surprise because what awaits you when you finally get there is a dream of southern France, not a slice of southern China.

Complete with manicured lawns, shuttered windows, carriage lamps and oil paintings, the reservation-only Restaurant 131 has become one of Hong Kong's most sought-after dinner venues. Actor Jackie Chan has been known to book the whole restaurant, and the guest book reads like a Hong Kong Who's Who. This is not simply a result of its intimate ambience (with room for no more than a dozen or so, an evening there has the air of a private party).

It's also due to its sequestered location on Tolo Harbour — within sight of rocky islets and earshot of lapping waves — as well as the superb cooking of Gary Cheuk, who presents a changing degustation menu nightly. Then there's the sheer delight of stumbling, with your loved one, upon such a gorgeous little place in the dark: if romance isn't kindled amid the crystal and candlelight of this country hideaway, it may never be.