Congress Restaurant     會景餐廳  

Booked this for something like 800HKD for Chinese New Year Fireworks.

I am from NYC where buffets are just not that expensive. =) So price to value ratio is not too good for this restaurant. The quality of the food was pretty good for buffet but nowhere near excellent.

There was no lobster, just crabs and shrimp. Double boiled soup was bad. Desserts mediocre. Grilled tiger shrimp just okay as well. Nothing stood out to me. Environment was not bad and service was decent.

I would not come back here unless someone else is footing the bill and I did not have to return the favor. =P

We had pampered our palate with a great seafood dinner at Congress Restaurant last Oct.

Thanks to its natural advantages of a mild climate, rich coastal seas and fertile soils, New Zealand is recognized as one of the cities for finest seafood and agricultural products . Heard that Congress Restaurant was promoting the “New Zealand Seafood Dinner Buffet”, no hesitation, we decided to go and gave a try!

My ex-colleagues recommend this salad lunch because they know I ate too much during this HK trip.

The lunch includes unlimited access on rolls, soup, and salad. It also came with a hot/iced beverage at no additional charges. They are charging about HK$120 per head during the lunch hours, 12:00 ~ 14:30.

They offer over 6 kinds of rolls. All are not bad and warm enough to enjoy.

There are two types of soup, western and chinese. The chinese soup is about carrot and pork clear soup while the western one is seafood soup with tomato base. Both are not bad as a "buffet' soup.

The salad bar is smaller than I expected but it had quite alot of greens and cold meats. All greens and leaves are fresh with above average quality. Beets and olives are my favorite with greens. They have two chefs to handle the salad tossing.

My first bowl of salad is mainly all types of greens, kidney beans, beets, and red onions. My vinaigrette is a mixture of lemon olive oil and vinegar. [I am not fans of traditioanl sauces such as thousand islands or ranch ... etc.] Finally, I added tons of almond, olives, and raisins for extra texture. Of course, it didn't disappointed me!

My second bowl of salad is a simple ceasar salad, simply add romaine lettuce and have it passed to the chef for tossing. The chef will add the caesar salad dressing, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. It's too simple and easy to make and I surly have no complaint!

After two bowls of salad, I am almost 99% full! So, we went for the beverage. We choose hot coffee and iced lemon tea. Then, finish the whole meal with a sense of well being.

This was my first time here and I was quite shocked by the size of the restaurant. Walking in you see an open-style kitchen with counters for the buffet, and proceed further there is many tables for guests. For today’s lunch I decided to visit my friend D who was working in the area….

Lunch at Congress is straight-forward. You can choose the salad or noodle buffet ($105 each), have both for an extra $35, or have either plus one from the main courses list for an extra $35.

Seeing it was my first time here, I went for the salad and noodle buffet to sample as much as I can. Meal began with a heart-warming soup – there was a Chinese pork-based soup, and cream of pumpkin. Both were simple, light and tasty. Bread rolls were pretty good too, I particularly like the black sesame roll =).

Next was the salad bar where there was a variety of salad leaves for you to pick from, including butter lettuce, mesclun mix, romaine lettuce etc etc.

For toppings you can expect the regular salad-bar items, e.g. corn, chick peas, kidney beans, diced chicken, diced ham, artichokes, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and heart of palms. There were several dressings for you to choose from, before you end up at the salad bowl where two chefs were at your disposal to help you mix everything up nicely! Oh yes, and don’t forget to help yourself to one of those crunchy thin breadsticks…!

The noodle station was our next stop, with four soup bases and an abundance of vegetables, seafood, meats and noodles for you to pick from. Between us we sampled the clear Japanese mushroom broth, Pork bone soup and the relatively light laksa soup bases. Simple but hearty and filling! (Note: ramen noodles in laksa broth makes a very yummy bowl of noodles.)

After a bowl of salad and noodles I was very satisfied indeed, but I couldn’t help to wonder if I should have went for one of the main courses? Tandoori cod fish had caught my eye but decided against it since chefs here were Chinese…. For the fantastic harbour view, relaxed atmosphere (we sat chatting until 3pm!) and the flexibility of combining ‘set lunches’, this is definitely a place I will return to!

for original post, see http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/07/congress-restaurant-at-convention.html

Had lunch there... you can either choose Noodle or Salad or both...

I am a greedy pig so i chose both... hee hee...

Lots of fresh veg at the salad stand and they have the chill metal bowl which can mix the salad... GOOD~~~ had 2 rounds... hee hee...

and the noodle bar... so so...

and the soup is not bad either... had a good time there... wish my friend can stay and chat longer... hee hee~~~

will go again soon~

People say the noodle bar here is good, but I've been here twice and never had I tried it. I am too lazy to go out and queue up, although the queue here is much much shorter than the one at Marriott.

The a la carte menu was quite multicutural, more eastern style of food. I have the thai beef curry with rice, very yummy indeed. But maybe the curry was too tasty, a mosquito flew into the curry in the middle of my meal!!!!

My friends had the tandoori salmon and the noodles. I tried a bit of the salmon, very nicely done, as the fish was still very tender, just right.

The noodles looked fine to me. Judging by the fact that my friend ate it all, it must have been quite tasty.

We got the salad & soup bar plus a main course of curry lamb. The salad bar is still great. If the tossing can be performed for another few seconds, it should be much better. since the ingredient is fresh enough, i have no objection.
the curry sauce is the ace while the lamb turns to be less attractive.
beverage is so so ....
will come again, for sure, in the next trip to HK.

Since BB was born, we hardly go out for dinning. Last week I saw an advertisement about a 日本"放題" at the Convention Centre, and I talked to myself is time to "重出江湖"！

What a disappointment! First, let's not talk about what they have but what they dont'. Maybe I was 'out' for too long and my expectation is too high, here are what they don't have:

海胆、油甘、章紅、生、羊, not to mention something like鵝肝!

Actually, there only has four types of 刺身: 甜蝦,三文,劍魚, and tuna. The quality of 和牛is the worst that can be. At the third round, I almost has to go to the Chinese section and eat 梅菜扣肉 (remember this is a Japanese Buffet and the reason I didn’t pick the梅菜扣肉 is because it looks bad also)… Lastly they don't even have 烏冬 so that I can fill my stomach.

p.s forgot to mention, the 櫻花雪糕 taste like medicine.
p.s.s. the only fine items to be honest is the 燒大蝦 & 大吟嚷煮花螺.

$400 may not be a lot for some people, but for me, at least it has to be “等價交易”!!

They are currently doing a Japanese promotion.
Came on a Monday night and it was quite busy. The decor is quite nice, the dining area is huge for Hong Kong standards, very spacious. The whole area is dimly lit yet you can still see pretty well.
A good variety of international cuisines, chiefly Indian, Chinese, standard western and of course their current Japanese promotion.
Cold seafood counter provided crab legs, Chinese flower crabs, mussels, clams, medium sized shrimps, sea snails and later in the evening geoduck clams, all of which were fresh. I especially recommend their Chinese flower crabs which were really juicy and delivered umami ("Seen teem" in Chinese, literally meaning fresh and sweet) with their very tender and meaty bites.
Raw vegetables at the salad counter are fresh. Smoked salmon is thinly sliced and quite lean (very few white strips seen). There's also seared tuna. Assorted sushi rolls and nigri sushi were served. There was also a soba noodle station with many condiments on the side like pickles, spring onions etc etc.
A variety of premixed salads was served - my favorite was the one with figs, sliced almonds and chicken.

Indian/southeast Asian counter had a variety of curries including Indian yellow curry, Thai stir fried shrimps, tandoori meats, naan bread, poppadoms (fried Indian crackers) etc. my favorite of this counter is actually the naan bread, which is a bit chewy and has a nice blend of garlic and parsley with charred bits on the top. Condiments like mango chutney, mint sauce and raita is offered as well.
At the western counter were stewed veal, portugese chicken, baked seabass, sauteed vegetables etc. a roast beef wagon was available too but I did not try it.
The Chinese counter served two types of Chinese soups, steamed fish, stir-fried shrimps, braised vegetables with mushrooms, Chinese BBQ meats, fried rice etc.
For the Japanese promotion there was a teppenyaki table that was only used for grilling king prawns, which was my favorite entree of the evening. Meat was soft, very fresh, tender to the point it was almost creamy. Wagyu beef was available but I did not try that either. Enjoyed their light sukiyaki, as well as their pan fried cod. There was also a sashimi counter, a Japanese sea snail counter and a tempura counter which served croquettes (fried potato cakes) as well, and a variety of dipping sauces were available.

Dessert consisted of 2 tables: there was a strawberry chocolate fondue fountain which smelled very nice, fresh fruits on display (including Thai rose apple), cakes, pudding cups, a Japanese crepe counter and 3 types of ice cream. I especially enjoyed their green tea ice cream which I had with crepes and adzuki beans. the ice cream itself was very creamy and mildy milky. My disappointment however was that there was no sakura or sweet potato ice cream as they have promoted in their ad print. Also you can skip their so-called lavender sakura cake, which was more like whipped cream with a mango and pink streak topping - there wasn't even a cake base! Their crepes are nicely thin but doesn't have a strong eggy taste which I would prefer.
Overall a very pleasant dinner, and for a party of 3-5 we received a 15% discount. I especially like their atmosphere and dining area for its comfort and spaciousness.

Heard the 'French promotion' so we picked this place to celebrite Mum's b-day

Total 9ppl, turn out to be a good choice, though other food is average, the below food were standout and worth the $$:

FROI GRAS - great pan fried with 黑松露 sause, crispy and tasty, bravo...

Brown Carb - another value for $$$ dish, only downside is the refilling frequency... only saw it filled twice during the whole night...

海龍皇湯 - thick and filled with great ingredient

Downside: Service - the attitude of the so-call cheif as well as the waiters let it down... look and feel like annoying all the time...

Free Parking as well...

We were there to celebrate my wife's birthday.
We booked there because of the french promotion, the unlimited supply of froi gras and other member's good comment. BUT IT TURN OUT TO BE A TOTAL DISASTER.
All the chef have the habit to overcook thing.
FROI GRAS: I think the chef ( If he is one) never cooked froe gras before, it was way too well done... and very dry
Beef Fillet: 110% Well Done, dark brown inside.
Oyster: No OYSTER
Sashimi: Average
Seafood: The crab, shrimp and mussel were only cheap stock. small, and of limited supply, not fresh at all.
Overall, for $360+10 %, i can have something much better

I went there on 30 Aug 07. I totally agree with the opinion of sleepy and fanfanfan. It should not be a buffet of $348. There is nothing special with the food and no oyster except those cooked were supplied. I went there several years ago and the quality and variety of food is much better at that time. In short, I'm very disappointed with the buffet.

I've try the spanish dinner buffet with my friend last week, lots of choice,I like the Iberico ham, very tasty the waiter told me that ham is almost $600/kg 4 time higher than parma ham and the fish soup is very good too, I dislike the tapas bar-too much deep fried food, but my friend like it, I like the hot food more because I can't eat oyster so I took some spanish seafood rice, chicken in the yellow colour soup, don't know what it call, but my friend eat a lots of sashime she like it because there are 8 kinds and the cook slice the fish in front of us, dessert ok la.

The environment is good and relaxing. Waiters are cheerful and polite. However, I think the variety of food is below my expectation, and the choices of "hot-pans" are limited (My mum doesn't eat raw).
Price: $320/person (after discounted), a little bit expensive when compared to the overall quality.
For those who are interested, remeber to have an early booking in order to have a nice sea-view.

Never been to a buffet restaurant as good as this one. Many choices, great atmosphere, beautiful decoration, enough space between each tables. Appreciate for the waiter who serve my table.
Also appreciate you guys too!! Keep up the good work!!