Beijing

Mediterranean buffet at Raffles

At the global-minded East 33 in Raffles Beijing, there is a new Italian summer breeze. The restaurant is offering a Italian dinner buffet every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The buffet features vitello tonato, various cheeses, a pasta station, ricotta cheese cake, panna cotta and more. The buffet costs 328 yuan ($53) per person. - Ye Jun

6-10 pm, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. East 33, Raffles Beijing, 33 East Chang'an Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010-6526-3388 Ext 5171/2

Guangzhou

Tea-volution at W Guangzhou

Partake in the Tea-volution at the W Guangzhou hotel, on offer every afternoon featuring a selection of hot beverages, champagne and iced teas served with a scrumptious menu of sweet and savory canapes. Sweets are arranged "out of the closet" with delectable macaroons dangling from miniature hangers and chocolate candies shaped like high-heels in a shoebox. Instead of cucumber sandwiches you will find Wagyu beef pastrami sandwiches with coleslaw, grilled toasted truffle sandwiches, crab sandwiches with parsley and scones presented picnic style with clotted cream, passion fruit curd, strawberry ginger jam and Mandarin jam. Prices from 208 to 380 yuan.

- Donna Mah

Woobar, W Guangzhou, 26 Xiancun Road, Pearl River New Town, Tianhe district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province. 020-6628-6628

New take on breakfast and brunch

The Kitchen Table is all things to all people. As W Guangzhou hotel's all day dining restaurant, it serves full buffet breakfast and brunch with pan-Asian and continental offerings in chic open bistro surrounds. Freshly prepared noodles and omelets with the fixings of your choice are deftly done in W Guangzhou's signature style. But it is the a la carte menu that is the real winner. Pepper Angus rib eye steak sandwich with Stilton and caramelized onions is melt-in-the-mouth, featuring tender chunks of beef balanced by rich cheese and sweet onions. Roasted pork belly with apple and cider sauce on butter Savoy cabbage is a heavenly marriage of East and West. The five-spices pork is very crispy and accented by apple poached to retain its firmness, accompanied by a streak of intensely flavored cider reduction. - Rebecca Lo

The Kitchen Table, 2/F, W Guangzhou hotel. 020-6680-7816

Hong Kong

Shanghai Min spices up menu

Shanghai Min is spicing up their menu with a few modern twists on traditional Shanghai dishes from this July. New starters including sliced pork terrine served with Zhenjiang black vinegar - a salted pork knuckle is marinated for several days before being steamed with ginger to form the terrine. A new main course is Shanghai stewed pork ball, a deep-fried marinated pork ball simmered with dark soy sauce. Traditional Shanghai wontons in soup pay homage to the brand's origins 26 years ago as a small eatery of just four tables in Shanghai.

- Donna Mah

Shanghai Min Tsimshatsui One Peking, 10/F, One Peking, 1 Peking Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. 852-2527-8899

(China Daily 07/21/2013 page14)