Located in Rosewood Hong Kong, this Cantonese restaurant specializes in the Shunde cuisine, and is named after the founder of New World Development, which owns the Rosewood Hotel Group, Dr. Cheng Yu-Tung.
The interior decor is contemporary, with a dim lighting creating a cozy and relaxing mood for diners. There are smart uses of copper meshes to form patterns which also echo from the chairs with the rattan backrest. Seated at a booth with lots of space, while not exactly next to the window we could see a good view of the harbour.
We ordered the Tasting Menu ($1,280 each). The first course has three components: 1) Marinated Eggplant, with Seaweed and Dark Vinegar, 2) Deep-fried Stuffed Pastry with Pork, Crabmeat, Shrimp, Yellow Chive and Water Chestnut, 3) Barbacued Pork with Honey Glaze. The eggplant is good in taste, with the vinegar seeping in but the flavors adjusted well so not to be too sour. The BBQ pork is decent, with nice char and the right amount of fat and lean meat. The stuffed pastry is a traditional dish which took meticulous effort to prepare the layer of lard to wrap the fillings before deep-frying. Good, but not great.
The second course is Minced Fish Soup, with Fungus and Tangerine Peel. The thick fish soup has a rich and intense taste, fragrant with nice aromas, with plenty of different ingredients, including shreds of luffa, some cordyceps flower, shiitake mushroom. The fish meat has been carefully de-boned so we don't need to worry about choking and overall a very nice soup.
The third course is Wok-fried Milk in Daliang Style, with Lion Fish, Crabmeat, Caviar and Egg White. This one I like very much, with the egg white flavorful, with a great texture especially together with the lion fish and crabmeat, which further infused the delicate and sweet seafood taste to the egg white. I strongly recommend this dish, an example of great Shunde cuisine.
The fourth course is Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek with Matsutake Mushroom and Pomelo Pith. The beef cheek is essentially melting in the mouth, while at the same time having a rich and intense flavors of the beef supplemented by the sauce during the braising process. I like the pomelo pith which absorbed the wonderful flavors from the sauce without any bitterness, showing the impeccable skills of the chef in preparing this inexpensive ingredient.
The fifth course is Crispy Fried Pigeon. Another of my favorite in this dinner. The pigeon is very juicy, and on the first bite while the skin is crispy, the meat is moist with the juice seeping out. Marinated very well, the pigeon tastes great and there is no need to dip in any of the provided garlic salt or Worcestershire sauce. I basically bite on the bones to chew and suck the flavors of all of it, showing how good it is. Must try.
The sixth course is Stuffed Pear with Black Truffle and Gorgon Nut. A vegetarian dish, the chef carefully removed the pip of the pear and then stuffed with fillings of carrot, gorgon nut and other vegetables, before putting it to steam, so that the pear absorbed the flavors of the vegetables, and the vegetables absorbed the sweetness and fragrance of the pear. With some black truffle shavings on top, this dish not only looks beautiful, but also good in taste and healthy.
The seventh course is Stir-fried Fish Noodles with Dried Sole Fish, Bean Sprout and Mushroom. This is another of Shunde specialty, with the minced fish meat and flour mixed together to prepare a paste and then extruded to form noodles. Retaining the taste of the fish while having the bite like a soft fishball, the noodles is stir-fried with the dried sole fish to add savory notes, and with the bean sprout giving the crunchy mouthfeel and yellow chives on fragrance.
The eighth course has three components: 1) Sweetened Pumpkin Soup with Milk, 2) Deep-fried Milk in Daliang Style, 3) Strawberry Palmier. The desserts featuring two Shunde specialty, with the deep-fried milk very nicely done, soft on the inside while having the golden brown skin, not any sensation of oiliness detected. The double-boiled milk has been added some pumpkin puree to provide another dimension, creamy and a bit sweeter than I generally preferred, but still good. The palmier is a butterfly-shaped pastry with strawberry fillings, which also tastes good. A great finale to the meal.
Services are good, with the staff attentive but like so many of the other Chinese restaurants in town, failed to explain sufficiently the dishes to the customers. I always believe that having a good idea of what you are eating, how it is prepared and the specialty will go a long way in making the whole dining experience much more fulfilling and amazing. Seeing some of the staff doing that to foreigners I am sure they do have the knowledge, but whether it is because they don't believe the locals want to know, or whatever other reason, is a missed opportunity.
The bill was $2,904 and in my opinion reasonable. When we are leaving we bumped into a local tycoon who is also having dinner, in fact just next to us. Seeing the big limo picking him up and how everyone recognized and calling his name shows he probably is a frequent diner here.
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