This restaurant offers authentic Cantonese cuisine, with Master Chung managing the kitchen, leveraging his vast experience working in the former Governor's House serving the local and overseas VIPs of the finest Cantonese dishes. Located in the heart of Central, the restaurant has a nice decor of contemporary design, with comfortable seats. There are also a private room but unfortunately the sound insulation is not sufficient to prevent the loud laughter keeps bombarding us from someone inside.
We ordered the Deluxe Tasting Menu, with the first dish being the Steamed Crab Claw with Shaoxing Wine. Before arriving the fragrant smell of the wine already reached us, and the taste was quite phenomenal, with the crab claw of good size, and one can readily tell the crabs are live and not frozen. The savory flavor of the wine is a great match with the sweet and delicate taste of the crabs. A wonderful start for the dinner and setting up with a high expectation for the rest of the meal.
The second dish is Pan-fried King Prawn with Premium Soy Sauce. The prawn has a beautiful golden brown color on the shell, pan-fried to a crisp texture but keeping the meat moist and tender. Apart from the soy sauce, there are also shallots and chili added to provide extra dimensions to the taste. Sounds simple, but how to balance well the richer flavors of the sauce not masking the prawn demonstrated the skills of the chef.
The third dish is Minced Chicken and Bird's Nest Soup. Bird's nest is more commonly served as a dessert but a savory style is equally, if not more, delicious in my opinion. With the bird's nest absorbing the chicken stock, but offering a bit of bite on the mouthfeel, and with the minced chicken giving additional complement on texture. There are a few flakes of gold added to increase the premium and appeal as well. These three dishes delivered a three strike to my dining experience on the night.
The fourth dish is Stir-fried Hokkaido Scallop with Asparagus and Truffle Paste. Again it looks simple, but immediately you can recognize the quality of the scallops being sashimi-grade. The asparagus, bell pepper and celery give an interesting contrast on texture, but personally I think the truffle is a bit too strong on its taste and a bit overpowering the more refined flavors of the other ingredients. But still I like the dish.
The fifth dish is Braised 8 Heads South Africa Abalone with Goose Web. The abalone is certainly big in size, but it is a bit rubbery, which I believe is more the issue on the quality of the abalone than the culinary technique. The goose web is on the other hand very good, with the flavors infused well into the web, and braised to perfection. The choi sum is also a good complement. A bit of a disappointment but mainly because we got a high expectation as well.
The sixth dish is Poached Mustard Green with Layer Bean Curd. The mustard green has been poached in the supreme stock, with the flavors seeped into the vegetable well, and there are a few wolfberry added to add both color and flavors. The layer bean curd also has absorbed the stock to give the same great taste. A nice dish overall.
The seventh dish is Lai Bun Fu Signature Fried Rice, which got abalone, lobster, scallop, Chinese ham and black truffle. The rice is not overly stir-fried to completely dry, maintaining a slightly moist style. The piece of abalone is big but the others are quite finely chopped so I could not readily tell their presence. The taste is good but again I think the use of black truffle needs to be careful as the aroma is too powerful and can easily dominate the whole experience.
The last dish is the Daily Sweet Soup, and today it was the Walnut Soup. It is prepared in-house and not coming from ready-made ones, with an appropriate sweetness to more tailored to the current healthy palate of customers. A nice conclusion to a good meal.
Apart from the noise, generally the service and ambiance is satisfactory for a high-end Chinese restaurant. The toilet however is a bit unclean and this should be something the restaurant needs to be careful, as it can seriously downgraded the overall experience. With the bill totaling $2620 it is a bit high on price but still considering the premium ingredients they have used it is not unreasonable.
沒有留言:
張貼留言