A Great British Affair LOVE ART AT THE PENINSULA VIP DINNER WITH THE ROYAL ACADEMY

Hong Kong’s power couples turned out in force for this year’s Love Art at The Peninsula, a joyful gala dinner last month to mark the beginning of Art Week and the hotel’s creative collaboration with daring British sculptor Richard Wilson. Guests admired the triumph of art and physics that is Hang On a Minute Lads … I’ve Got a Great Idea— a bus teetering on the edge of The Peninsula’s 7th-floor Sun Terrace, Wilson’s first work in Hong Kong. In the hotel’s grand lobby a live band serenaded guests as they sipped on Perrier-jouët before enjoying a five-course feast of British classics reworked in poetic ways. A starter named “The Sound of England” comprised a Scotch egg and cheddar muffin presented on a plate painted with the colours of the Union Jack and the names of famous songs by The Beatles. Next up was a gourmet take on fish and chips—turbot fillet with four kinds of fries—followed by beef and foie gras wellington, and salmon wellington for the pescatarians. After British cheeses, guests marvelled at the chef ’s interpretation of a trifle with wild strawberries and gold leaf. Ears pricked up for Richard Wilson in conversation with Financial Times art critic Peter Aspden, and things got competitive when Tim Marlow, director of artistic programmes at the Royal Academy, hosted a quiz about art in film. The celebrations continued at the hotel’s atmospheric art deco speakeasy, Salon de Ning.