BEIJING

Rhone revival

Morton's of Chicago and China Wines & Spirits will host the French winery Delas Freres, a venerable label founded back in 1835, which fell on hard times before a 1996 revival. For 900 yuan ($136), Morton's will complement the wines with four courses that start with seared scallops and raised short rib roll; the main is a 270-gram filet mignon with pan fried foie gras and red-wine jus - paired with a well-reviewed 2008 Hermitage from Delas, followed by dessert with a 2012 muscat and your choice of coffee or tea.

6:30 pm, Jan 15. 2/F in the Regent Hotel; 99 Jinbao Street, Dongcheng district. 010-6523-7777.

Day of the rose

With Feb 14 coming right on the heels of the Spring Festival golden week, it's worth making plans early for Valentine's Day. One romantic dinner option: Sureno, where the restaurant will collaborate with high-end rose retailer Rose Only for a stylish dinner and a lapel brooch. Mains for the special set dinner, in which the colors of rose petals inspire an elegant presentation, include mixed seafood and manzo (porcini oil poached Australian black angus tenderloin, chestnut potato hash brown, roasted mushroom ragout and coffee jus). The price is 1,314 yuan per couple plus 15 percent service charge,

Feb 14; lower ground level, The Opposite House, 11 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang district. 010-6417-6688.

HONG KONG

Speakeasy pop-up

The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong and WorldClass, the luxury collection of spirits from Diageo Reserve, have opened a pop-up bar through Jan 30. The Shell at MO Bar has been made-over to recreate PDT (Please Don't Tell), the legendary New York speakeasy named World's Best Bar at Tales of the Cocktail in 2009, and again in 2011 by The World's Top 50 Best Bars poll. Guests will enter PDT HK through a hidden entrance in a phone booth upstairs at MO Bar. Jim Meehan, bartender, founder of PDT and author of the PDT Cocktail Book, will be behind the bar making cocktails.

5 pm till late, Tuesday to Saturday through Jan 30. 15 Queen's Road, Central district, 852-2132-0077.

FRANCE

Dueling lists

Galled by France's lack of prominence in the UK-based World's 50 Best Restaurants list - not a single Gallic entry was included - the French foreign ministry recently launched the "totally scientific" La Liste (The List). The top slot in its ranking of the world's best 1,000 restaurants goes to French chef Benoit Violier, whose Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville is in Crissier, Switzerland. More than a quarter of the new ranking's top 100 restaurants are in France. William Drew, group editor of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, responds that unlike the French list, "we are not affiliated to any government or any country".

(China Daily 01/08/2016 page19)