Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Wall City Flavor 城寨風味

This restaurant is located in Kowloon City Plaza, moving from the original site in Nam Kok Road. I remember we had a good meal before they moved a few years back, and having seen the TV programme introducing the specialty dishes, decided to revisit and try them out.

Arriving very early in the evening, we are one of the first groups seated. Sam, who handled our table, provided great service and shared with us the recommendations. The setting of the restaurant is good, with a lot of traditional artifacts and decorations creating a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere.

We have pre-ordered a number of dishes. And the first served was truly a great rendering of delight, on both taste and visual. This Hand-Shredded Chicken in Phoenix Style, or 鳳舞手撕雞 ($488), is beautifully plated, with the chef's knife skills demonstrated on how he created the tail of the phoenix with cucumber. The chicken itself is very tasty, tender and juicy, and even without dipping the ginger and spring onion sauce is already full of flavors. The sesame on top was a smart addition as well. Very good indeed.

The other dish we pre-ordered and featured in the TV show was Wishes Coming True, or 願望成真 ($568). Again this dish was very creatively plated, using a pot of orchid and hanging from it are some deep-fried fish ball, made by the mix of fish meat paste in the form of a ball and then coated with bread crumbs before deep-frying. The idea came from the tradition of people throwing the pack of paper with the wishes onto the tree in Lam Chuen to hang there, praying for them to come true. On the plate there was more of the fish ball which is paired with a salad made from apples and potatoes, with some deep-fried small fishes. Again a very good dish both visually and on taste.

Sam recommended us to try out the soup, and we ordered four portions of this Double-Boiled Black Garlic, Sea Whelk and Pork ($352 for 4 pax). The portion is generous, with each of us having 2-3 bowls of soups, which are fantastic in taste, with an intense fragrance from the black garlic, good for health as well. The broth was prepared with an abundance of pork lean meat and sea whelk to give great umami. Another great choice if you like the double-boiled soup.

By now honestly we were quite full, and continuing on the signature dish it came the Roasted Suckling Pig, or 即燒脆皮香豬 ($398 for half pig). The skin of the pig is very crispy, thin and without any fat. While the skin is good, the thin layer of meat underneath is equally tasty, marinated very well. No wonder I saw this is the number one ordered dish on the restaurant's ranking.

The last dish we pre-ordered is this 'It is Not Corn' or 不是粟米 ($398). Very creative, the chef has prepared the deep-fried fish fillet in orange custard sauce to look like a ear of corn, with the kernel coming from the way how the Shanghai dish fish in pine cone style is made. Personally I am not a big fan of the orange custard sauce, and so for this dish, the taste of the fish is not the highlight but the presentation.

I applaud the chef for putting in a lot of thoughts to create the dishes, really up-leveling the visual enjoyment to create a memorable experience for the diners. Most of the dishes I mentioned above would need to be pre-ordered at least one day in advance though.

The total bill on the night was $2,490 which was quite expensive on the first look, but I think we need to consider the effort to prepare those and at the end if you come because of these special dishes I believe the price would not be of your top concern.