Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Ming Court (Wanchai)

This Cantonese restaurant is located in Great Eagle Centre, managed by Executive Chef Tsang Chiu King, who was at the helm at the restaurant of the same name at Langham Place Hotel (now Cordis HK) in Mongkok. This new venture is designed with a more modern dining experience, with a section reminiscent of bar with high table and stools, allowing customers to enjoy pre-dinner snacks and drinks. The decor is elegant, with a contemporary design of soft lighting, spacious tables and comfortable seating.

We ordered a la carte on the evening, considering to sample some of the signature dishes. First we had an award-winning dish, Chicken Consomme with Fish Maw, Shredded Chicken, Shiitake Mushrooms and Black Fungus ($198 each). Serving with some deep-fried Chinese crackers, the presentation was very similar to that of traditional snake soup. With plenty of ingredients, the taste was so alike that it could easily be mistaken. Worry about eating snake meat but interested to find out the flavors of the snake soup? Now there is a great alternative.

Next came another award-winning dish. The Fried Sliced Giant Garoupa with Minced Shrimp ($118 each) is certainly eye-catching, with the piece of garoupa fillet beautifully pan-fried with a nice soy sauce, and on the bottom pasted with a layer of minced shrimp, offering great complement in terms of texture and flavors. With a slice of yellow squash underneath to absorb some of the oil to balance the fat, there is also a deep-fried shrimp on the side. Very good in taste, no wonder I saw many other tables also ordering this one.

Braised Chicken with Sea Cucumber in Abalone Sauce ($398) is served in a clay pot, steaming hot and fragrant, with the boneless chicken pieces tender and juicy, absorbing the flavors of the abalone sauce so very tasty with good umami. With many pieces of shiitake mushroom and sea cucumber, these provided an extra dimension to the dish on texture and taste. Very good together with rice.

Fried Iberico Pork Loin with Caramelized Black Vinegar Sauce ($268) is of generous portion, with a total of eight pieces of pork loin perfectly deep-fried with a thin layer of crispy crust, then cooked with a nice caramelized black vinegar sauce, emanating nice sweet and sour flavors, while the pork loin did not get dried up and remained tender. Best to have more people to share as it would be a bit too much for just two of us finishing the whole dish.

Seasonal Vegetable in Supreme Broth ($188) might seem simple, but is a true reflection of the chef's attention to sourcing the ingredients. The choi sum were young and tender, without any fiber chewing, at the same time, with the supreme broth imparting great flavors to the vegetable. Nice!

Finishing with the dessert, I had Chilled Mango Cream with Sago and Pomelo ($68) while my wife went for Sweetened Walnut Cream ($68). The mango cream got a nice taste, not overly sweet or watery, with some mango flesh, sago and pomelo. Good overall, the only minor thing was that I found some sago stuck together to form a small chunk but honestly did not affect the sensory enjoyment by any means.

Service was decent, the staff polite and courteous, efficient and attentive. But they can show more warmth towards the diners, particularly those who are not frequent customers like us, like checking with us on food, or trying to get to know us more. With the restaurant not busy there is no excuse not trying to do that. Just a small suggestion for them to excel.

The bill was $1,883 which was reasonable. A really nice restaurant I would recommend either for business meals or family get-together. Definitely worth coming back again.