Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Yan Toh Heen 欣圖軒

This Michelin 2-star Chinese restaurant is located in InterContinental Hong Kong, with a stunning interior design, apparent when we first entered the restaurant. Passing through the waiting area it is the wine cellar and then a corridor, with jade wall showing nice carvings, contemporary art sculptures at the end, before entering into the dining area, with lush carpet and a modern cozy ambiance.

Seated at a spacious table facing the window and looking out to the gorgeous view of Victoria Harbour, the staff greeted us warmly and introduced the menu. The serve-wares are also of jade, from chopsticks stand, spoon, to the plate, creating a premium and high-end dining experience right from the start. Ordering the Chrysanthemum ($26 per person) we were served some honey-glazed walnut to start. Tasty and healthy, it is a nice appetizer.

Decided to order a la carte, we were brought an amuse bouche which is a Seaweed Meat Ball, with the meat ball made from pork and squid mixed together, and having some seaweed on top, with a thick clear sauce supplemented with some spring onion. The meat ball is very flavorful and bouncy, plus the umami from the seaweed making it an appealing welcome dish for guests.

The first dish was Golden Frog Legs with Spicy Salt ($240). The size of the frog legs are pretty big, and all are nicely deep-fried to golden brown. The frog legs are phenomenal in taste, beautifully seasoned with the spicy salt highlighted but not excessive. The coating is thin and so you would not feel eating a thick layer of batter. The frog legs are also meaty and all in all this is a wonderful dish.

Then we have soup, with me going for Winter Melon Soup with Whole Conpoy and Crabmeat ($250) while my wife has Double Boiled Fish Maw and Sea Whelk ($280). My soup was fantastic, with many ingredients including winter melon cubes, roasted duck, mushroom, chicken, Chinese violet, conpoy, crab meat, and some others which I could not identify. Super tasty, the supreme broth is so good that I would like to lick every single drop of it, and all the ingredients added extra dimensions of flavors to make this a truly great soup.

Next came Wok-fried Prawns with White Asparagus in Black Bean Sauce ($400). The prawns are from Thailand, with a crunchy texture and marinated well to emphasis the flavors. The black beans and red chili provided a nice combination of savory note to the prawns, while the white asparagus are young and tender, without any fiber when eating. Another great dish in my opinion.

The other dish we ordered was Wok-seared Garoupa Fillet with Soy Sauce ($660). There are quite a number of pieces of large garoupa fillet, all seared to golden brown, and just the appearance already is mouth-watering. The soy sauce is appropriate on saltiness, bringing a great complement to the delicate fish fillet. On the side there are some broccoli which is appealing on appearance with the bright green color. Again the skills in the thin layer of corn starch on the fillet is something one might overlook but true testimony to the chef's prowess.

Finishing with some desserts, I had Basil Dragon Pearl served with Ginger Ice Cream ($120), while my wife had Sweetened Red Dates, Snow Fungus and Dried Longan ($68). My dessert is certainly innovative, with the dragon pearl on a thin layer of panna cotta and in the middle the ball of ginger ice cream, with intense ginger flavors. While it might not exactly matched with the other food, it is certainly interesting and demonstrated the creativity of the chef.

There is also a Petits Fours which contains 6 pieces of dessert dim sum. Personally these are not my favorite dim sum but the presentation is great. It is a nice finale to our wonderful meal.

The service is really good, with the staff coming to refill our tea, changing the plates, and also explain each of the dish, which is not something commonly found in Chinese restaurant.

The bill was $2,020 but that is after a 15% discount from the hotel-staying guests. Fairly reasonable considering the quality of the food, the environment and services, this is a great place for hosting important guests or having special occasions.