Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - The Chinnery

This British bar/restaurant is located on The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, named after the artist George Chinnery, who had lived in HK and Macau in the 18th century, producing a lot of great paintings, with many replicates in display in the restaurant.

Seated comfortably at the deep armchairs and green leather banquettes, the wood panel wall and ceiling, and the bar featuring lots of whisky, created a cozy and relaxed club-like atmosphere of the colonial 60s. All the staff are also dressed in impeccable white suits with bow ties. 

After getting our beverages to start, we ordered two starters to share. The first is Smoked Salmon ($298). With traditional condiments of onion, capers and dill, together with boiled eggs and gem salad, the salmon are truly exceptional, with a nice smoky note but not excessive, the texture tender and moist, with us able to readily tell the quality of the salmon. Even though it might look simple, this is a really good example of how a great dish can highlight and showcase the ingredients.

The other starter, Crab ($318) was even better. The meat from Devon brown crab was picked out, and on top putting a layer of avocado, supplemented with a rich sauce. The sweetness of the crab meat, with the bit of citrus used to mix together with the avocado puree, and the savoury taste from the sauce, created a wonder in flavours. There are some crispy melba toasts to put the crab meat on which further provided a contrast on the texture. A must-try in my opinion. 

Coming to the main we had Dover Sole ($688). The staff asked whether we wanted to be on bone or not, and we opted for the latter, and my friend John who works here recommended us to pan-sear the fish a bit longer to caramelize for better experience. Thanks to his advice, it was simply perfect. The fish is big so could serve two persons, and together with lemon butter sauce, with the lemon juice giving the acid to freshen the buttery note. On the side were new potato and spinach. This one was another recommendation. If I have to pick one thing to improve, the spinach can be a bit less salty.

The other main course we chose was Tikka ($338). The chicken is cooked with a curry made from tomato, butter, yoghurt and aromatic spices, which permeated great aroma even before our first bite. On the taste the curry had an interesting smoky note, well-integrated into the complex flavours. Served with basmati rice, we also had some Plain Naan ($88) on the sides to savour the wonderful curry. The chicken is also tender and flavourful, marinated very well. Despite my big appetite, I could not finish all as the portion was quite generous. 

But we somehow could not leave without having dessert, so my wife chose Eton Mess ($128). Inside there are meringue, with mango and passion fruit, along with vanilla ice-cream. For me, I took Trifle ($128), with raspberry, vanilla and compote, white chocolate ice-cream. Not too sweet, the raspberry had the acidity to balance the sweetness from the ice-cream and compote to finish a rewarding and complete meal.

Service was good overall, and the bill was $2,552. One thing I missed though was the whisky, as I was very full and a bit drunk (after having a glass of white and another glass of champagne) in the end. So I hope to return next time, to enjoy their big range of whisky and try out a few different ones.