三希樓 (半山)

Birthday celebration for a friend who is obsessed with spicy food. The food was vey authentic, much like what I've had in Chengdu, like the famous Yinxin Lou or any other traditional Sichuanese restaurant. There was a lot in the menu, including mala hot pot, smoked fish, deep fried tofu, chicken feet, and spicy innards (which I'm not a big fan of). Having been to Pure Veggie House many times before, which is a great place owned by the same group and also located in the same building, I was expecting more from their food, but I was a bit disappointed not because of the lack of authenticity, but the lack of variety in taste. We ordered quite a few dishes for the 14 of us, but unfortunately many of them tasted too similar, with the same spices and same level of heat. Some of the non-spicy dishes were way too salty. Even the simple veggie pot was overly seasoned. Good thing the portions were substantial and different sizes for a few of the dishes were available to suit your liking. 
I was particularly impressed by the mala fish, as the frangrance from the peppercorns were very enticing from the second the dish was put on the table. Each piece of fish was silky smooth and tender. The glass noodles at the bottom of the pot was divine as they were perfectly coated with the chilly and peppercorn oil and absorbed all the juices from the fish. 
Another surprise was the lettuce dressed in sesame sauce. The lettuce was crisp and fresh and well coated with the sauce which had just the spiciness that tingles your tongue. The heat was not overpowering and it was refreshing in contrast to the other deep fried, spicy, heavier dishes.
The desserts were good as they cleansed our palates and lightened up the meal. The mini glutinous rice balls in osmanthus soup was really nice, although it may not be a traditional Sichuan dessert. We also ordered the lotus seed paste buns for the birthday girl, but they were rubbery and tough and tasted worse than frozen/packaged/microwaveable steamed buns.
The service could have been better as orders told quite a bit of time to get to the table.
Considering its location being in the mid-levels, expectations were not met. And as a hotpot restaurant, they need to have a much better air conditioning and ventilation system!

禮賓傅 (中環)

For the price we paid, we could have gone elsewhere, with way better food and service. Friends and I came here to celebrate a couple of birthdays and ordered the set dinner. We sat down and ordered at around 7:40, but the first dish didn't actually come until 30 minutes later. Sequently it took nearly 20 minutes in between for all the other 7 dishes. We noticed that food was only served together with the other tables, which is absolutely unacceptable unless this is fast food or hawkers or cha chan teng. The waitresses were also unprofessional, serving and passing dishes literally at centimeters away from our faces. When we asked for a group photo, the waitress took a few shots and was making unnecessary comments.
The food was also nothing special. A few of the dishes were just ordinary. Besides the fried rice and soup, for the price we paid, any local Cantonese restaurant/dim sum chain would have been better. It was totally not worth it and I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

NUR Restaurant (中環)

Overall the food was good, but there was a big disconnect between the food and the service. If you are going for a special occasion, be prepared take a risk of possibly spoiling your mood. I was with three other friends, as soon as we arrived, a waiter came over to pour some water, but spilt it all over the table, over my menu and serviette. Instead of cleaning it up immediately, he just walked away. So I asked another waiter who passed by to wipe off the table, and he just took my serviette and dried off the table with it. When I asked for a new one, which I had to go a third waiter, he seemed to be completely discontent about my request, as though I was being unreasonably demanding. What a great start to the meal.
Throughout the night, we were served by 3-4 waiters, who were all unprofessional and not attentive. They were not familiar with their own dishes and just gave generic descriptions to the dishes. We had to guess and in the end we had to ask for a menu as reference. A couple of them would mumble and most of the time didn't respond upon requests for pouring of water or wine. 
Good thing the food was good and innovative and credit must given to Chef Nurdin Topham. In particular, the amuse bouche with candies carrots, beet chip and cucumber rolls were light and refreshing. The 9 course feast had the perfect portions and just the right number of dishes. The langoustine was cooked to perfection, with a nice touch of Thai from mango peanut and yoghurt. The mackerel was slow cooked and it was to the juiciest, silkiest mackerel I have ever had. The best dish was the banana dessert with baked banana with white chocolate, Sichuan pepper, and caramel, well textured, not overly sweet and had just the right hint of spiciness. I wanted more.   
Unfortunately the sweet savoring taste of the dessert was quickly ruined by the poor servicing staff... again. We were offered the coffee/tea menu, before the table was even cleared, and they only gave us 3 menus for the 4 of us. When we asked for one more, we were asked to share!  Then we noticed the group of male servers were very eager about taking photos for the pretty girls at the table next to ours. To be fair, the girls were cute, but shouldn't the staff be a bit more professional and treated all the guests equally? Service was worse than a dai pai dong! Has F&B service in HK come so low?