Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Celestial Court

This Chinese restaurant is located inside Sheraton Hotel, in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui and facing the Victoria Harbour. It got a good reputation for its dim sum, but today we came here for dinner instead. Nicely designed to offer a cozy atmosphere, with lots of Chinese handicrafts illustrating the heritage of the cuisine, the restaurant certainly provided a comfortable and premium environment for diners.

Seated at a spacious table, we decided not to order the set menu but to go a la carte. To start we had the soup, with me going for Hot and Sour Seafood Soup ($108) while my wife having the Braised Vegetarian Soup with Bamboo Pith, Fungus and Mushroom ($98). With lots of ingredients including shrimp, scallops, fish maw, tofu, mushroom and bamboo shoots, my soup was good in taste, having the right level of spiciness for a 'kick' while not making your throat burnt. My only suggestion was to dial up the sourness a bit higher.

Seeing that on the menu there were a couple of dim sum available still, we ordered each a piece of Celestial Court Shrimp Dumpling ($58) and Celestial Court Pork Dumpling with Shrimp and Crab Roe ($58). These two are the most commonly seen dim sum in all Cantonese restaurants, and the restaurant certainly delivered the promise. The size of the dumplings is huge, with lots of fillings that are seasoned beautifully. They are so good that I couldn't help to consider coming back for lunch.

Decided to try something less commonly seen, we had the Braised Chicken with Hua Diao Wine in Casserole ($288 half chicken). Served in a steaming hot casserole, the hua diao wine sauce was very fragrant, with the alcohol evaporated already. Supposed to take 45 minutes for preparation but the dish was served fairly soon after ordering. The flesh of the free-range chicken is firm yet juicy and overall tasty. However it might also seem a bit simple and boring from the presentation.

We also had the Baked Fresh Crabmeat with Cheese Stuffed in Whole Crab Shell ($178 each). A delicate size of crab shell with the cheese baked on the surface, inside there are big chunks of crabmeat which are delicious. On the other hand it might be falling a bit short on the aromas, particularly given my high expectation on this award-winning dish.

For vegetable we had the Braised Beancurd Sheet Rolls, with Vegetable and Mushroom ($268). With two different styles, half of the dish was the braised beancurd sheet rolls, with a rich oyster sauce and some mushroom accompanying. The beancurd sheet got a nice bite and the flavors are already embedded. For the remaining it was a beancurd wrapping around some finely shredded vegetables, providing a totally different texture for the dish. A nice finish.

The dessert we had the Sesame Roll with Gold Flake ($58). Another traditional dim sum but now most restaurants are no longer making them, the sesame rolls are decent and not particularly sweet which is good for those on diet. The tiny pieces of gold flake also added an extra premium to the rolls.

Supplemented with Chilled Mango Cream, Sago and Pomelo ($48), this dessert however was a bit disappointing. The mango pieces were not fresh and not having much flavour. The sago were tiny and the dessert reminds me of drinking evaporated milk. My wife opted for the Sweetened Red Bean Cream with Lotus Seed and Lily Bulb ($48) and it seems that is more acceptable with our taste buds.

The service was fairly good considering this is a 5-star hotel, but again they could do better by introducing to the diners what exactly what we were eating. Still with two bowls of rice ($20 each) and tea ($25), the bill totaled only to $1521.80 which was quite reasonably price.

I look forward to come again and try out the dim sum.