Those of you who think that business travel is all expense-account glamour are sadly mistaken. But once in a while, we do go someplace nice.


Aqua is an Italian-Japanese restaurant in a penthouse-like space in Kowloon, looking South across the harbour at Hong Kong island. I had a reimagined Timballo, a bundle of rigatoni on end, stuffed with duck confit and wild mushrooms, and a cocktail called “anxiety” composed of vodka, pomelo and grapefruit with a bit of brown sugar.