The Hong Kong Club

The community of agriculture journalists covering the WTO Ministerial is 6. Farm broadcasters include Mike Hergert from the Red River Farm Network, Bill Ray from the AgriNet Farm Radio Network and myself. Brenda Curtis from the US Department of Agriculture is also providing stories for broadcasters. Sara Wyant from Agri-Pulse and Jerry Hagstrom from Congress Daily and National Journal are here also.

This evening, after we attended a German Marshall Fund reception, Jerry Hagstrom asked Mike, Brenda and myself to join him for dinner. Jerry wanted to take us to the Hong Kong Club, an exclusive business and dining club in the heart of Central Hong Kong, next to the Statue Square. Jerry is a member of a similar club in Washington, DC, which extends the courtesy to Hong Kong Club members there, so they return the favor here.

We arrived and were quickly escorted to our table. Napkins were layed across our laps and the experience began! The table captain offered several suggestions for each course as the menus were presented. I decided on a Caesar salad for an appetizer, with Tazmanian lamb for the main course.

We toasted to the activities of the week and enjoyed each other's company, discussing what we had heard at this point in time and planning our strategies for the week. To the side, one of the waiters prepared the Caesar salad. Jerry ordered the asparagus...I wish I had a picture of how great it looked. Mike had a crab cake that was fixed as fancy as anything you've ever seen!

The food was incredibly good...I'm no expert on lamb, but I enjoyed it as much as I have ever experienced. I was already good and full when the table captain informed Jerry that if we would like a souflee, we'd better or them now. Despite my fullness, I managed to put a serving of that down, then finished the night with a cup of green tea.

A unique experience, a wonderful restaurant and a generous host. Thank you, Jerry!