I had very high hopes for the dimsum at this place since it was quite hard to book. Alas, it was not to be. Perhaps the first clue is that although they were apparently always fully booked, the restaurant was 1/4 empty at 1:20pm...

Food: I'm surprised that a restaurant of this calibre can screw up the basics so badly! Maybe this place really is for fine dining only. But if that's the case, then they made a big mistake allowing basic dimsums to tarnish their rep.

Prawn spring rolls - Let's start with the positive - this was the only dish that I liked. No points for creativity, but it was chock full of bouncy shrimps. B

Har Gau - This was ok in flavour, and the skin was fine, but the shrimps were not as bouncy as the ones in the spring rolls and there was a lot of water inside the dumpling. B-

Pea Shoot Dumpling (dau miu gau) - I was really looking forward to this one and had hoped it would turn out like the one at Shanghai Garden in Hutchison House. These were generous in size and had ok texture, but had no flavour whatsoever. So bland! C+

Ham and onion pastries (Wong Kiu Siu Beng) - these were ok, but tasted pretty doughy. None of the fragrance expected from this dish eventuated. Significantly better option at East Ocean (especially the Wan Chai branch) C+

Chicken buns - these were cited to have mushrooms - where were the mushrooms? I was expecting nice niblets of shitake mushroom inside a lot more chicken filling than what was actually there. C

Tricolour Harm Sui Gok - This dumpling couldn't make up its mind between sweet and salty and ended up tasting like a floury mess. It apparently had foie gras in the filling, but I just didn't really taste it. I think I just don't like harm sui gok in general, so I will give this one a handicap of half a grade. C

Pricing:
For food that was slightly worse than your very average dimsum place (like Star Seafood or Maxims palace), the prices were more than slightly above average. Most of the dimsum ranged between $42-60. That would be acceptable if they were good, or even just average, but unfortunately they were neither.

Service: Nothing wrong with service. Rather nice chap came after me with an envelope which I'd left behind.

Ambience: Nothing special apart from the view. It felt a little bit bare.

Had a reservation for this Michelin 1-star Cantonese-style restaurant at the IFC.

Upon arrival, we were immediately presented our table facing the harbor. The restaurant is spectacular in terms of service and environment, definitely well deserving of a Michelin star.

Started off with the Pineapple BBQ Pork bun which was fresh, light and flavourful.

Moved on to the beef tenderloin with goose liver and this was a tasty and unique way of cooking goose liver.

The shrimp dumpling was very fresh with the skin being very thin

The BBQ pork was very tender, soft and flavourful, definitely a good pick.

Portions were on the smaller side and pricing was on the higher side, typical of a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Cuisine Cuisine IFC has a elegant décor, high ceiling and a stunning Victoria harbour view. Staffs are friendly and professional, but not as well trained as the Mira, for example, tea was serve without the warmer!

Cuisine: Chinese
Food rating: 6/10*
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Price: HK$200 pax

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or 10/10 to three Michelin stars

Abalone marinated with Chinese “hua diao” wine (4/10)
Lovely presentation, but the white carrot and asparagus have dominated by the alcohol. More or like just some decoration, such a waste! The abalone was tender and reasonably seasoned, absorbed the alcohol well.Roasted peking duck served with three kinds of pancakes (7/10)
For the duck it would be 6 out of 10, but the sauce was somehow unconventional, I really loved it. The pancakes were somehow unnecessary. The skin was roasted perfectly, crispy and fairly seasoned. The meat was tender and juicy. If the duck was even slightly fatter would be perfect!Peking duck fried rice (6/10)
The leftover of the peking duck was cooked in to fried rice. It was genuinely nice, full of flavour, the rice was moist and yet sticking together. Not bad. Poached vegetable with Gingko in rice porridge (6/10)
The rice porridge had a very strong seasoned broth! And the vegetable was poached nicely and yet overcook.Dessert on the house and they were actually the best dishes of the night! (7/10)Cuisine Cuisine IFC is actually more expensive than the Mira with lower quality food and nosier crowd. If I have the time and effort, Cuisine Cuisine Mira will always be my top choice of the two!

Give me a thumb up if you like it!

Something Special! Usually wine dinners are arranged in Western restaurants, but this time, in fusion Chinese.
Organized by a luxury brand management group for this African wine company. Surprisingly great! Matching white and red wines with Chinese dishes, indeed not easy.
Although it's a designed menu for this wine dinner, but the dishes are also availabke in usual menu.
Appetizer is lovely, I love eel, crispy and juicy, very nice. And also the 椒盐九肚鱼， tasty.
Scallop wraped with bacon, I do this at home too. Big and fresh scallop

Soup and the abalone are good, and I really love lamb, and I had 2 because my friend doesn't eat lamb. Finally they served the 糯米饭 and dessert.....Wow, it's delicious. Small dishes, but I feel very full ^_^
Tried 5 different types of wine (2 white, 3 red), what a great evening

Took my French friend to have dim sum lunch, and Cuisine Cuisine is one of my favourite Chinese restaurants.

Service was great! We booked a table at 2pm and most people have left for work. Window seats were arranged and the weather was good that day.

Be frank, Dim Sum selection is limited. It will be much better if they offer more choices.

We order general dishes like 虾饺， 叉烧肠粉， 灌汤饺， 鸭舌， 烧卖, all are delicious.

The weakness is, it's rather difficult to book a seat during weekdays normal lunch hours and it is always full house there. So if you are expecting a relaxing lunch, it's better to go later, after 2pm.

Given the price, the food quality is simply a joke. I'd been there for lunch twice and I wondered why they're charging so high on both occasions. The shrimp dumplings had their skin sticking on the plate and looked like a real mess! I think this is a crime already for a restaurant which appears to be so high-class. A lot more can be said about the food I ate there but the list can be long. SO many restaurants make better dim sums than Cuisine Cuisine. Maybe the dinner would be better, but I won't know as I simply won't take the chance.

I went back to Cuisine Cuisine (國金軒) tonight for a gathering with some friends. The central location was ideal, and it has been a few months since my last visit, and I wanted to give it another try.

We started with deep-fried pig's intestine stuffed with glutinous rice (糯米炸釀大腸). Amazingly, my fellow Taiwanese friend didn't want any. I was somewhat surprised because the intestine was actually just a thin layer on the outside, rather than the thick and chewy ones that I am used to. This version was fairly similar to the glutinous rice sausage (糯米腸) that I would find at street markets in Taiwan, except that this is deep-fried instead of grilled.

Roasted crispy duck breast served with blinis (層餅脆皮燒鴨胸) was definitely a fusion dish. The duck breast was presented like one would expect in a typical French restaurant - magret de canard - except that it was prepared with Chinese spices and served with steamed Chinese blinis. The breast was well-done like the Chinese normally do, instead of being a little pink in the center as the French would do. I like it.

The braised eel with pomelo peel (柚皮風鱔煲) came in a claypot that contained lots of veggies and tofu skin. I'm not a big fan of big eel, but the veggies with the starchy sauce were pretty good.

I really liked the braised seasonal vegetables with bamboo pith and shrimp roe sauce (蝦籽竹笙扒時蔬). The seasonal veggie now is pea shoots (豆苗) which were delicious. What really made the dish was the addition of shrimp roe in the starched sauce, which transformed the dish from something ordinary to make it stand out. Shrimp roe is one of my favorite ingredients in Cantonese cuisine, as it is so intensely flavorful. Yummy!

The stir-fried glutinous rice with assorted preserved meats (生炒臘味糯米飯) was pretty yummy. The rice grains were still a bit soft but I didn't mind too much. I think I've been having this dish quite a few times this winter...

Just when we were getting full from the rice, our final dish arrived. Pan-fried rice vermicelli with beef brisket in curry sauce (咖喱牛坑腩煎米粉) is a dish that I keep ordering here. Somehow I just really like the combination of the pan-fried vermicelli and the curry sauce. Greasy, yes, but delishhhh!

We finished the meal with some pan-fried stuffed glutinous balls. I was pretty satisfied with the meal in general, and my only minor complaint is the corkage that we were charged. I'm sure I could get it waived once I become a frequent customer...

original blogpost with notes on wine: http://chi-he-wan-le.blogspot.com/2009/02/canto-with-twist.html

food stilll very good. service very good. washroom very good. even the staff inside female washroom very polite. again renovation sea view. not so good. expensive food. around 1100 dollars for 3 adults for lunch. initally we want to try the michgen 3 star 4 season chinese rstaurant. but it is full. so we went here again today 12 pm. nearly full when we leave at 1 30 pm. snake soup cost 800 dollars for 4 bowl.

need to book table 1 night before. also someone will call to confirm that morning. book 3 adult 12 pm today 8/1/2009 thursday working day. but nearly full. food are good. service are good. but renovation sea view. not so good. washroom are very clean. we just order normal food, not expensive food. but need 740 dollars for 3 adults. but anyway. if we go to ifc shopping. we will choose this restaurant for sure. we wont choose lee garden or 4 season hotel.

1st time go there with my mom and uncle on 11/10/2008 satursday 11 30am. coz we want to walk ifc. we spend more then 100 dollars taxi from our home fo tan to there. when we arrive only 1 table is full. when we left around 12 45pm. only around 2/3 full. we order bbq pork , rice, some dim sum. total cost around 400 dollars. not cheap. but i think that worth with so many waiter, waitress serve u. the washroom very clean. only the sea view decoration is a bit worse as there is some construation going now. we must go there again later.