Ah, tonight went quite well. I was fretting slightly during the day, especially as it surfaced 2 days ago that there might be political tensions, quite literally. We had a very pleasant 7-course dinner at Mandarin Hotel's Pine Garden restaurant, and the chef as usual came out to shake our hands. It's my first time meeting this guy though, who - I must say - is extremely talented. Under normal circumstances I would never dream of touching fusion Chinese food, but he really outdid himself this time. The first course was yu sheng, but it was no ordinary one. The entire dish was coated in edible gold flakes, and there was the distinctive aroma of truffle oil in it. I was impressed. I loved the addition of the coconut flesh particularly - it was daring, creative, and went very well with the dish. The highlight of the night though (I felt, strongly) was this vintage 1988 Chateau - probably the 2nd or 3rd best wine I've ever tasted. The nose was light and refined, with a very rich bouquet of aged french oak and a delicate cranberry finish.

In any case, I think it went better than both of us could have hoped for, and that's good enough for now.