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Dinner 'sumptuous' at Maui restaurant

Great restaurants usually have surprise treats between courses. Plantation House didn't disappoint.

Go ahead. Forego lunch.

Save your appetite for a sumptuous dinner at the Plantation House Restaurant on the Hawaiian island of Maui. You won't be disappointed.

My table overlooked the golf course. Golf carts meandered to and fro. A lone golfer sank a long putt. An omen about the dinner to come? Perhaps.

White egrets fluttered noiselessly across the lawn. In the distance, waves splashed on the shore.

Not much of a drinker, I ordered what some guys refer to as a "sissy drink," one of those fruit drinks with the umbrella. With a minimum of liquor. Pineapple punch (Bacardi rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and lime juice) did the trick. I cut the effects of the alcohol with a glass of sparkling water.

The herbed bread that arrived was soft, warm and yummy. I spread on lots of butter and sat back to inhale the aromas of delicacies arriving at the tables around me.

The warm evening breeze encouraged romantic thoughts. Unfortunately, I was alone. But that allowed more attention to the sensations I would experience while eating. I've been known to close my eyes while enjoying my food.

I began with Hawaiian-style prawns. Sweet and spicy. If you like your tongue to tingle, you'd love these scampi. Crunchy and done just right.

Great restaurants usually have surprise treats between courses. Plantation House didn't disappoint. Toasted oblongs of bread, arugula, tomatoes, blue cheese and sauce.

For a main course, I went with their angus beef filet mignon, with truffle mashed potatoes, shallot foie gras butter and a blackberry port demi glace.

I looked up the word "demi-glace" when I got home. A rich brown sauce of beef stock with, in my case, blackberry port. I dipped each bit of my steak in that sauce.

My steak arrived charred on the outside, pink in the middle. Wonderful.

The sun resembled a gold ball as it descended in the West. In its place, dinosaur-like cloud sculptures.

Twilight time. Jazz pianist Thelonius Monk's tune Crepuscule (twilight) With Nellie, dedicated to his wife, popped into my head. I hummed the tune while I ate.

Lights of expensive condos began to go on in the distance. Headlights snaked along on the highway below.

No matter how full I get,I always have room for dessert. This time, a slice of decadent key lime pie. Dining here is the way to suffer (smile).

Dinner reservations are a must. The restaurant fills rapidly after their 5:30 opening.

Bill Peeler is a freelance travel writer based in Courtenay.