10 years!

One of the wonderful things on this trip here to the Big Island is that my husband and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. It has been a very nice trip, sadly, we leave tomorrow.

Our anniversary was Yesterday, and we made a full day of it. Morning breakfast, went to see a movie, did a little shopping relaxed and talked and napped... and then we got ready to go out to dinner. We chose a combo, the Lava Lounge for sunset drinks and the Hulalalai Alan Wong Grill for dinner, both at the Four Seasons resort.

It was a lovely evening. The sunset at the Lava Lounge was perfect, and we enjoyed their snacks and drinks, the service there was flawless. I had a Pineapple Cosmopolitan and he had a glass of Au Bon Climat Chardonnay. They serve these lovely spicy and sweet snacks. We had a lovely hour there before our reservation. I thought the presentation for the cocktails was especially nice.

Then we walked over to Alan Wong's. The food for dinner was great, completely perfect. We tried the chef's pairing/tasting menu. Hubby had it with the wine pairings, I was the Desig.Driver- so I had a Pineapple-Orange-Guava Juice, called a POG. It was nice. We had told them on the phone when we made the reservation that we would be celebrating our anniversary so it was very nice that they made some special arrangements, our menu was printed specially and said Happy Anniversary on top and was signed by the chef of the night. And when the dessert course came, they had it on a special plate that had congratulations on the top in chocolate! yum.

The first course was an appetizer combo
"Soup and Sandwich" Chilled red and yellow tomato soup with a Foie Gras Kaula Pig Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
served with
a Seafood Cake of Lobster, Shrimp and Dungeness Crab with Caper Mayonnaise

(we felt that the sandwich was perfect, the soup a little less exciting, and though the Seafood Cake was delicious we would have been happy with just the first part did not need the cake as well)

Second course was
Pan Seared Scallop with Pork Hash Risotto and Chinese Soy.

(this was totally YUMMY- Our seat was in a private corner out on the terrace with quite dark lightning so I was very photo challenged... no go shots of any of the main dishes. The pork hash was salty and spicy, and was a perfect compliment to the perfectly prepared scallop)

Next was the Ginger Crusted Onaga, which we were told by 3 different staff members- is the "Signature Alan Wong Dish" at the restaurant. It was lovely.

Finally A Soy braised short rib, with a gingered scallion shrimp
This was a nice small portion (husband thought too small on the rib) the meat was tender and the shrimp fantastic. The sauce was a bit too spicy for the dish, especially with the wine pairing which was a wonderful Turley Zinfandel. (I had a taste of this too)

And finally we had our dessert trio, cheesecake, chocolate crunch, and a tapioca with passion fruit Sorbet in a ginger tuile (kind of a cookie cup)

The only downside of the evening was from the bar, we had late wines, and one glass came with lipstick prints all over the top--- ick. and the port with dessert must have been the absolute bottom of the bottle as it was all dregs and particles. But our servers were nice and attentive, the food temps were perfect, and the food came a great pace. (though they pushed the check a bit at the end- we were still eating and I had just gotten my coffee when she dropped the check- but it was tues night and most other guests were already gone)

all in all a wonderful meal. I would love to go back there and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the island.

plus... the company was wonderful, as it has been these ten years.