Michelin notes Wong’s Shanghai restaurant

Alan Wong’s restaurant in Shanghai has been listed as a recommended restaurant in the new Michelin Guide for China.

Wong’s restaurant marked its grand opening at the end of February and within six months received its first visit from Michelin inspectors.

The resulting guide was released last week, and while the restaurant did not receive a star, it is nevertheless listed as recommended.

The guide describes the restaurant as “modern” and as serving “celebrity chef Alan Wong’s own brand of Hawaiian cuisine,” blending influences from Japan, South Korea and China. The guide notes signature dishes including Hawaiian-style shoyu ahi poke with ginger, as well as butter-poached Maine lobster and Wong’s own sauces.

“I feel like a happy papa,” Wong said via email from Shanghai.

He credits his team led by chef de cuisine Beth Cosgrove. It is Wong’s only restaurant outside Hawaii.

Michelin gave one three-star rating, its highest, to T’ang Court restaurant; two-star ratings to seven restaurants; and a single star to 18.

Foods of the world

The Rotary Club of Waikiki is hosting its 11th Annual Waikiki International Food Festival Saturday, featuring a wide selection of dishes and music by Green Flash.

The event runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Beach Hotel and will include a silent auction and live auction.

Proceeds benefit the club’s service projects in areas of literacy, student scholarships and homelessness.

Tickets are $100. Call 927-9021 or visit WaikikiRotary.org.

Free coffee on a special day

Get your caffeine fix with a free cup of joe at any McDonald’s Hawaii restaurant on Thursday, National Coffee Day.

The offer applies to a small cup of coffee with any purchase from to 6 to 11 a.m. (iced coffee and McCafe specialty drinks are not included).

Partnering in the offer is Hawaii Coffee Co., which makes the Royal Kona Blend served at McDonald’s locally. The chain has been serving the Royal Kona brand since its first store opened in Aina Haina in 1968.

Art meets wine at Spada

An art piece will be created as the wine is poured from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Spada Bar & Restaurant.

Darby Roeder creates abstract acrylic and watercolor works on nature and wildlife themes. Her most recent work has centered on coral and other ocean creatures.

Roeder will work on completing a new piece during the tasting.

Cost is $20 for six tastings from a menu of wines from Chile and California, as well as wines from Spada’s private collection.

Spada is in the Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki Beach, 400 Royal Hawaiian Ave. Call 931-6222.

A weekend wine affair

Master sommelier Gillian Ballance presents a weekend of wine events Oct. 7 and 8 at the Kahala Hotel & Resort.

Wine Spectator magazine and the hotel are hosting Ballance, national education manager at Treasury Wine Estates in Napa Valley, Calif.

The events:

>> 90+ Wine Tasting: 6:30-8:30 p.m Oct. 7, featuring wines that have earned Wine Spectator scores of 90 and above, including the 2014 Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay (92 points), 2013 Penfolds Bin 389 (92) and Hewitt Rutherford Cabernet (94). Cost is $75, which includes appetizers.

>> Blind Tasting 101 – How to Taste Like a Pro: 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 8, with Ballance, Patrick Okubo of The Estates Group and Roberto Viernes, another master sommelier and general manager of American Wine and Spirits. Cost of $50 covers a tasting of four wines.

>> Hoku’s Wine Dinner, Napa Valley Wine Trail: A five-course meal, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at Hoku’s. The menu includes pomegranate-roasted foie gras, Miyazaki wagyu beef ragout and a Kona coffee-crusted rack of lamb. Cost is $150.

Call 739-8760 or visit kahalaresort.com/dining (click on “dining events”).

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Star-Advertiser staff