Dan Ryan's02-07-09We finally got the rest we needed after the tiring trip to Beijing, waking up well into the afternoon feeling refreshed and alive again. Today we had planned to meet Jacqueline, one of Antonia’s best friends who had just returned to Hong Kong. I had never met her so was a tiny bit nervous as best friends are usually very judgemental about boyfriends and such. We planned to meet for dinner at the Pacific Plaza, a medium sized shopping mall in Central Hong Kong.
We arrived just past 5pm and it was still quite busy. Jacqueline had already arrived so we went inside to meet her. As we were going down the escalators, Antonia saw her, going up on the one next to us. We walked around talking for a while, Jacqueline seemed nice but I was quite tired so must have came off as quite rude for not talking as much as I usually do, which is a lot.
Jacqueline had already booked a table at the restaurant, Dan Ryan’s, for 6.30pm so we had an hour to kill. We decided to check the cinema to see what films were playing and if we had time to catch one. There wasn’t much choice because of the time, it was either Hannah Montana or Ice Age 3D. Not being retarded, we booked tickets for Ice Age. The tickets were quite expensive compared to the other cinemas and there was even an extra fee because it was a 3D film, came to around £10 for me which is Central London cinema price but then again, Pacific Plaza is a bit of a high class shopping mall.
We still had a while before we needed to be back at the restaurant so we headed down to the Great Food Hall to wet our appetite. I had no idea what this place was, just assumed it was a selection of small places to eat but I was wrong, it was a small supermarket.
We looked around here for a while, Antonia and Jacqueline were off looking for Sushi while I was looking at sweets. I later drifted towards the live fish section when I passed a smiling dish and then got to the lobster tank where one defiant lobster was trying and doing well at climbing out of the tank!
Smiley Dish and Lobster
I caught back up with the girls and they had a small box of Sushi each. I’m not a fan of Sushi, never really got into it, even in Japan. What I do like is Ice Cream and near the checkout was a large Ice Cream section, perfect.
I decided to get a large scoop of Lemon Sorbet, my favourite. Just as expected, the ice cream was delicious, very smooth and sweet. While the girls were eating Sushi I was enjoying the ice cream way too much. It woke me up a bit and made me very hungry, thankfully, it was time to head back to Dan Ryan’s.
Dan Ryan’s is Antonia and Jaquelines favourite place to eat together. It is a American Style Steak House, sort of like TGI Fridays but with less variety on the menu. The decor is very similar with road signs and useless junk all over the place.
We were quickly shown to a table and promptly given a large bowl of bread and quite oddly, muffins. I nibbled at the bread and the girls shared a muffin while I looked at the menu. The girls were going to order their usual, a large Appetizer Combo followed by Reuben Sandwich. I decided to go for the Hamburger and ordered another Appetizer Combo.
The appetizers arrived, Onion Rings, Potato Skins and Chicken Wings. I was told the portions would be huge American size but these weren’t that big.
I started with the Onion Rings which weren’t too bad, the onion was very tough so once you got through the tasty crispy coating you were left chewing on an onion. Still, not too bad. The Chicken Wings were good but had a bit of a strange taste in the sauce, not wanting to fill up as the main courses arrived, I left the Potato Skins.
The portions weren’t too big but it looked good. I ordered the hamburger which was massive and tasted great. It was just what I was craving for. Girls being girls, they couldn’t eat all of their Reuben Sandwich so they gave me more chips which were very welcome and devoured quickly. After dinner I went off to the bathroom leaving the girls at the table, I came back to them both grinning, they had ordered a surprise desert.
Deep Fried Ice Cream. It was AMAZING. Sitting in a puddle of sweet strawberry sauce, lightly fried to give a soft yet crispy coating to the cold ice cream inside, this was a brilliant dish which I highly recommend. If you’re ever in Hong Kong, get your ass to Pacific Place, go to Dan Ryan’s, skip the dinner and go for the Deep Fried Ice Cream. Typing this at 4am, looking at the picture, I want it again.
We wrapped the evening up with the film, Ice Age 3D, which wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed it and so did the girls, the 3D didn’t add much but I’m starting to like the 3D films that seem to be becoming more popular now. After the movie we had a drink in Starbucks before going our separate ways and going home. It was nice meeting another of Antonia’s friends, we seemed to get along fine and I had a great time.
"(NDS Boy) Gordon ^_^ ^_^"
