Walking around Anchorage, we stumbled upon Ginger, were very impressed with the menu of Pacific Rim cuisine so decided to have dinner there. Had we actually asked anyone, they would have said “Yes, but book a table, it’s Saturday night and this is an incredibly popular restaurant.” So, in all innocence, we strolled in at 7.30 and got the very last table. Everyone who came after us was turned away.

It’s not a large room, dark wood and simple Japanese lines. Service was swift and friendly, and the food truly wonderful. L started with six oysters, while I had a ceviche of halibut with tropical fruit and fried wonton crackers. Everything was so beautifully presented, I became quite emotional. For the previous month we’d been in the Alaskan Interior, where the only good food we'd had was what we or our friends had cooked at home.

L’s Duck Breast Chinois served with Crab Fried Rice was elegant and gorgeous, and my Baked Sea Scallops were the best thing I’d tasted in Alaska. Usually we give each other tasters, but on this occasion we were both quite mean, reluctantly yielding very mingy forkfuls, before the food disappeared. The restaurant was full, and the excitement of people who no longer had to leave Alaska for a good dinner was palpable. Everyone was happy, including our waiter, and including us, of course - it all felt a bit like “Babette’s Feast.”

My dessert was a Green Tea Créme Brulée with a white chocolate cream and berries, which contrived to be both light and rich, and the tiny crumb of L’s Ginger Pear Cheesecake which I was permitted, promised a complexity of flavours, but quite frankly I needed far more to make a real judgement. Far, far more.

Ginger has only been open since March 2007, and the chef, Guy Conley, was born and raised in Anchorage. Prices are reasonable, given the impeccable quality of the food. We tottered out, happy and very well fed, into the perpetual June daylight.