My 2 girlfriends were visiting from Singapore and in search of good HongKong Dimsum. I had heard so much about this place so we decided to head down at 1130am on a Monday for food. When we called at 11am to ask for a table,, they told us that the restaurant was full and we could walk in and wait. Despite it being 1/3 full, we were still directed to the 3rd floor (which was totally empty) and ordered to sit at the table right on front of the kitchen and toilet. Every table had a Reserved sign with someone's name on it but somehow it was fine when removed the one on our table. They rudely shouted across the restaurant at us when we tried to sit at another table.

The Dimsum was average and extremely pricey for the quality.

When Cantonese speaking customers arrived at the next table, they were given hot towels to clean their hands with and hot water to rinse their tea cups in. We were given none of that and they also rudely told us that they had no vinegar when we asked for some.

We were appalled and told the waiter that we did not feel that service charge of 10% was justified because their service was atrocious. He then raised his voice at us 3 girls and insisted that we paid for it . The bill came up to $573, affordable by our standards but totally not worth it.

Ordered a table for lunch but the person who answered the phone was quite rude which almost put us off going. Sat on the ground floor. The atmosphere was old fashioned and we were looking forward to trying some traditional dim sum. Liked the bowls and spoons which are specially made for Luk Yu and looked like the design had not changed since the 1950s. Looking at the dim sum sheet - the prices are quite expensive but expected. However was rather shocked at $40 or was it $45 for olny three pieces of haw gow. Same for other dim sum - only two or three pieces. We had to order more.

We were looking forward to the chicken bun and the white seasame paste buns but the buns were really stodgy and heavy to eat. The chicken buns only had very little filling and it was mainly chicken without much dried duck egg or mushroom or other bits and pieces we expected to find inside. The seasame bun was worst as the filling was really hard and unappetising. However the worst dim sum was the fun gor - both steamed and fried with soup to dip. The outside skin was so thick, I think I could have made a better version myself and inside was tasteless. I didn't try the har gow as there was not enough to go around but my friends told me it was no good too. I tried the pig's liver siu mai. The liver was large and looked good but on tasting it was overcooked and tasted strange - not fresh. Although I love pig's liver - I took a couple of bites and left the rest.

The best dish was the sweet and sour pork with fried rice. This tasted as expected and at least it was freshly made.

We spent $1000 on lunch for six persons and although you may say this is less that $200 per person, for the quality of the food I think it is badly over priced and tea per head charge is $25!!!! The service was not as bad as I expected although not great. People may say it's worth it for the history of the place and for the old-fashion atmosphere. However I think Lin Heung is more atmospheric and fun. Tai Pin Koon really feels like you have stepped back to the 1950s or 60s and much better value for money.

Luk Yu Tea House, a legend in the local restaurant scene, the stuff of many urban legends. At a friend's invitation, I set foot in this venerable institution - now, how many restaurants can call itself that?

It was as if time stood still here, or have I stepped into one of the movie sets? Chinese antique wooden panelling with faintly art deco influence. The clock on the wall, the stained glass decorations, the lamps... all covetable... kekekeeke...But we were here for the food. Friend did all the ordering so I just ate:

Pig's lung with almond soup (杏汁燉白肺湯): a milky white soup with a lovely almond flavour; one could actually taste the ground almonds. Soft airy pieces of lung. This soup is said to benefit health, improve complexion etc, so nobody hesitated in asking for 2nd helping. But taste alone would tempt a 2nd or 3rd helping. Sweet and sour pork: This is supposed to be a dish that sets apart the real chefs from wannabes as it's remarkably hard to do well. I guess the chef here is competent. It was tasty, not too pungently sour and not too cloyingly sweet. Would have preferred less fat in the pork.

Chicken stuffed with glutinous rice (脆皮糯米雞): Impressive dish with an entire chicken deboned and stuffed with glutinous rice. So every mouthful was pure meat and rice plus crispy skin. Yummy and filling.

Steamed buns with lard (奶皮豬油包): I wish I could come up with a more elegant translation for the name of this dish but this rather unappetising one is all I could think of. Imagine char siu bao without the char siu but with a topping of chopped pork fat, candied winter melon and Chinese ham. It was interesting and I could almost love it if only the buns were firmer and less crumbly. I was told by my friend that minimum order was 24 pieces. Not sure how reliable this hearsay is, so do check before pre-ordering.With a name that referenced the Tang poet Luk Yu, who wrote the equivalent of tea encyclopaedia, one would have expected the tea to be of a higher quality. The pu er that night was strong and dark but lacking in fragrance and taste.

As for the rumour of lousy and discriminatory service, we experienced none of that. The waiters were wanting in smiles, but the service was prompt, helpful and attentive.

I came here for their early morning dim sum. Not only have they kept their original interior and exterior design, but the way they serve is also traditional. Unlike many present day dim sum places where we mark what we would like to order on a piece of paper, here middle-aged waitresses would carry these trays of various dim sum dishes around their necks and walk around the whole 3-storey restaurant calling out what they are carrying. You don't find this way of serving anywhere anymore. Some people find it much more convenient to order what they want by using a piece of a paper, but for me, I really enjoy this sort of experience. I like the feeling of not knowing what is going to come out fresh from the kitchen.

For early dim sum, everything on average was tasty, but their bread dim sum dishes were to die for. Unlike many places I have been to, it was not dry and heavy, but light and fluffy. I especially loved how they put a twist to their steamed spare ribs by sprinkling pieces of white bread on top. Their sticky rice was not too sticky, but can taste every grain of rice. It was perfectly balanced between the toppings and rice, meaning we can taste all the ingredients. For dessert, we were suggested by our great server to try their sesame custard bun with preserved egg yolk. It is this big bun split into 4 quarters and definitely needs to be shared amongst because it is quite heavy unless you plan to eat only this. Again, the bread was soft like cotton and the strong sesame taste totally won me over.

Luk Yu Tea House is known to be a tea house so their tea is exceptional. Their tea leaves are 30 years old, so like fine wine, it has a smooth and refined taste. The tea is able to help clear the palette and make us feel like we have't eaten as much as we actually did.

Besides their dim sum, they are famous for their pork soup and sweet and sour pork. Since these 2 dishes were only available after 11, we unfortunately were unable to try it. I guess it gives us an excuse to come back.

I have been to my fair share of dim sum places in Hong Kong: the traditional, modern, michelin-starred. Even though Luk Yu ended up being on the pricey side, their food and overall experience made it worth it. I guess I would just have to make the sacrifice to not eat dim sum so often. Honestly, if you are going to end up spending money, might as well spend it on the best!

Many friends of mine recommended this traditional Chinese tea house & restaurant to me. I have been told that it is a long time favorite of many famous writers; it’s one of the oldest and famous tea houses in Hong Kong. As one of the HK’s heritages, a lot of tourists and locals visit it every day. So here I am to give a try,

At the first impression, the architecture and the decoration looked so traditionally classy to me. They’re all so classy Chinese style. It’s known with strong colonial style, very impressive to me.

We settled down at the 2/F, then we ordered couple dishes of dim sum and baked rice.

here are my comments/ feeling:

Minced Fish in Radish Cake
wow, quite oily, I don’t feel like tasting radish cake. Instead, I feel like tasting a thick piece of fat.. Steamed BBQ Pork Bun
instead in the bun, I can only see so MUCH fat of pork instead of normal meat. It hesitated me to finish the whole…Steamed Minced Beef Ball
Another dish with fat more than actual meat, another hesitation for me to finish the whole…Egg Tarts
mini tart with strong sweet taste, sadly it’s not warm enough, as I think it should be eaten in a warm temperature.Baked rice with beef in sweet & sour taste
Perhaps I shouldn’t expect nor order a baking dish. This is a Chinese restaurant I have to remember. This ‘western wannabe” baked dish disappointed me, by its weird taste of ‘sweet & sour’ sauce. This weird sauce covered ALL rice that it keeps me drinking water to ‘purify’ my mouth…This is a pricy restaurant indeed, it’s just a spot to attract tourists and sell its name in Central. Luk Yu has long time history here though, personally I don’t feel extremely impressive after dining here. It is nice for photos but not for food in Luk Yu…

We ate lunch after 1:30, and had no problem with seating. Service is "assertive" but friendly. Food ordered was mostly traditional dim sum, shu mai, hargow, egg rolls, spareribs, and egg tarts, etc. I would definitely come back, and explore further.

On a rainy Friday night I was invited to a dinner at Luk Yu with my mum by my aunt, having just been here a little over a week ago. We were seated in their cute booths once again and my aunt ordered their pigs lung and almond soup before we studied their menu. The soup was just as creamy white in colour as the last time, but slightly less thick or chunky from ground almonds and less salty, which I thought was better.

My Aunt then ordered the sweet and sour pork with young ginger, and on the recommendation of one of the waiters, a stir-fried sliced pigeon with ham dish.

The sweet and sour pork was one of their signatures, and although ginger is not for everyone I loved the use of the young ginger. It had no roots and I loved the spicy crunch in my mouth. The pork was soft and not chewy or tough at all too. Sauce was well-balanced, without overdosing on the sugar or vinegar…yumm.

The fresh sliced pigeon with ham was stir-fried with button mushrooms and ginger pieces. The 'ham' was nothing other than deep-fried Yunnan ham and was laid out by the chef in the shape of the bird (see photo!) – creative, no? It was very easy to eat as it was all meat (no skin or bones), and had been very well seasoned – perfect with rice. The dish was overall very delicious and I couldn’t stop raving over it at the table.

We also ordered the same spinach with assorted century and salted eggs, for no chinese dinner is complete without vegetables! Never too salty here, the broth was clear and tasty.

My experience here was better than the last, because of the soup as well as the dishes were relatively new for me. I would strongly recommend diners try the pigeon dish, and can’t wait till my next visit!

For original post with more pictures see http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/07/luk-yu-tea-house-revisited.html

On a Monday night my ma was in the Central area and so we met up for a quick and simple Chinese dinner.

We were seated at a 'cart' table so it was like a little private booth - so cute!

We sat down and immediately I asked for a tureen (2-4 pax) of their Pigs lung soup with almond before reading the menu =) My ma had tried this before and loves it so I had to too, right?

We each had at least 2.5 bowls of this lovely milky white soup. It reminded me a lot of the dessert 'almond tea' as there was plenty of almond in this soup. It was also very savoury and slightly salty. The pigs lungs, my mother said, was cleaned very well here and it takes skill to do it - not easy to do this at one's home!

Spinach with century and salted egg was next to arrive. The superior broth was really good and not salty at all. It didn't have the bitter after-taste of the iron in spinach when cooked either. It was tender and the eggs added some texture and taste to the dish, yummy! (p.s. the broth is really good with rice!)

So after being told that the 'pot' items e.g. beef on rice in claypot was only available during the winter season, my ma suggested za zi gai (i.e. deep fried crispy whole chicken). The few tables around us we noticed, also had this dish present, so it must be one of their more popular dishes we thought. When it arrived, it was a nice golden brown colour. My ma picked up a prawn cracker and started munching away loudly - must be the crispiness of it I thought, so I did the same! I know I know, it sounds rude of us but we had our 'private booth' remember? So no one heard us....

Soup, chicken, a bowl of rice and the spinach was very satisfying for the two of us. Our bill came to $580 for these few dishes which I thought was quite pricey... But in all fairness each dish was executed very well =)

for more photos: http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/07/finally-trip-to-luk-yu-tea-house.html

I had dim sum with a large group of friends at around lunch time. The place was packed, so naturally we had trouble finding seats. However, service staff were shoving past us and muttering about how we should stop blocking the way, though (as per how HK buildings are) there wasn't any other space for all 12 of us to stand and wait. After being stranded in the walkway for 10 minutes or so, they finally found us a table. It was meant for 4, but they simply added an extended table top and squeezed (literally) the 12 of us in.

Happily seated, the food arrived rather quickly. The bamboo tofu skin rolls were really good. But most of the other dishes were a let down. The Ha Gao was pasty and floury inside. The skin was too thick and a little over-steamed. I found the Shrimp Wanton rather tasteless. The mini egg tarts was 3/4 pastry, 1/4 egg custard. And it didn't help at all that the egg custard was tasteless, not a hint of sweetness.

We did order alot of food, perhaps more than we could finish. So the bill came up to about $200 per head. I found that amazingly expensive for dim sum that wasn't good. I've had fantastic dim sum for less than half that price. The worst part is I can't even say that I've paid that much cash for a great dining experience. Yes, the place was very old school, but that's about it. Service wasn't top notch, not enough to warrant that price. Really hope that the standard of the food was that low only because the place was packed. But in any case, I probably wouldn't go back again.

Luk Yuu Tea House 陸羽茶室 has to be one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town mainly because of its consistency in food quality. Do not expect top notch service from the senior waitstaff who perhaps worked here for more than 2 decades, but their service has its own charm simialr to that of Tai Ping Koon. I actually quite enjoyed the unique charming attitude from staff, perhaps unpretentious is not the perfect word to describe it but it was their down-to-earth behavior that made it very ... homely.

The interior is of course one of the key attractions of this famous establishment and I am pretty sure it looked just like this 3 or even 4 decades ago.

The meal started with my favorite soup! Almond and Pig Lungs soup 杏汁白肺湯! It reckon that it is a hate it or love it soup because of the use of pig lungs. I love it! Very rich almond flavors and together with the smooth, mushy pig lungs, it was wonderful! (FYI - it is a very tough soup to make at home because the cleaning of the pig lungs requires time and great patience!)

Next came the stir-fried bean sprout, eggs and crystal noodles 桂花炒魚肚. The ingredients used were very simple but not an easy dish to cook because it must be dry and "mixed" very well so every bite has all the ingredients. There are many variations of this dish so pick your own favorite.

Another one of my favorite dishes from here was the Stir-fried Pigeon meat with preserved ham 雲腿鴿片. Tender meat with the right salty flavors form the preserved ham, a wonderful marriage of flavors and textures.

It was a rather cold night so we ordered the Lamb Stew in Hot Clay Pot 羊腩煲. To my knowledge, the traditional way to prepare the lamb is to include the skin! There were plenty of lamb but not enough meat with skin! The stew flavor was rich and creamy, perfect to go with some rice as well!

Together with the pickled tofu dip (腐乳), it keeps you warm all night long!!!

I did mention it was a cold night right? The lamb stew was not enough to keep us warm so we ordered hot clay hot rice as well, Preserved pork and duck hot clay pot rice! Yes they were all sodium rich, extremely rich as a matter of fact, but the chewiness of the meat and the salty flavors were a good combination with the rice!

The drippings from the preserved duck and pork went into the rice, absorbed the flavors and made the rice very moist as well as flavor-able of course.

How can I meal go with vegetables! It was a simple vegetables (pea shoot 豆苗) dish with mushroom. Simple yet delicious.

Walnut Sweet Soup 合桃糊 was rather disappointing. It was a bit watery. Usually it was very thick and creamy but tonight was just not very good.

Likes:

* Almond and Pig Lungs soup 杏汁白肺湯 - reminds my favorite soup to date!
* Stir-fried Pigeon meat with preserved ham 雲腿鴿片 - tender meat with a great combination of flavors from the preserved ham and meat itself
* Lamb skin attached in the each pieces ... the correct way to do it

Dislikes:

* Walnut Sweet Soup 合桃糊 - rather watery

Original Blog with more pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2010/01/luk-yu-tea-house.html