It's pretty considerate to give the authentic Chinese tea cup a nice cute handle as people with larger hands often find it difficult to gently lift the cup. In order to distinguish it from western tea cup, it is smaller in size, such that the volume can maintain more or less similar to the ones used by ordinary Chinese restaurants. The overall setting was pretty classy but not to the extent where you would feel intimidated to not behave in a way gentleman/lady-like.
牛耳
They have included the descriptions of some of their special dishes on their menu; this appetizer was one of them. There were details of their history, origination, ingredients, procedures of making them etc. Informative to acquire more knowledge about Chinese dishes and a way to "spend" time if you have to wait for your friends. 牛耳酥 is a Chinese traditional snack made with 南乳 and flour, nothing related to cow. It was quite crunchy yet not oily and just slightly sweetened. Didn't dare to have too many to leave quota for the upcoming dishes
迷你桶仔飯
We tend to order whatever food not being delivered in ordinary plates and bowls
The rice was a bit hard, ingredients mainly were diced chicken and mushroom. Although deeply coloured, soy sauce gave credit to its main flavour. I guess it was there for the purpose simply replacing white rice instead of showcasing the standard of dishes offered by this restaurant.
盤仔蒸蘿蔔糕
We were pretty indecisive between this and XO醬鑊仔炒蘿蔔糕. Decided to go with the prior as sis was having pimples.. After viewing the OR reviews, it was obviously the right choice due to its popularity! Of course, credit is only given where credit is due. The steamed turnip pudding was nicely seasoned, not bland at all. Mum was worried that it would be soggy but it turned out to be rich in fillings with dried shrimp, mushroom, preserved meat etc. The generous 瑤柱 provided really brought out the sweetness of the turnip and the finely diced meat added texture to each bite. Neither the meat nor the pastry felt oily, you could further add soy sauce for additional sweetness if you like. I totally welcome the use of basin as it totally brought a scene to the table although it was quite shallow in comparison. Nonetheless, it was enough for the share between the four of us. However, it would be better if the turnip strands were shredded more exquisitely, as right now, they were pretty thick(in 條狀 instead of 絲狀) and you could easily identify the turnip from the paste.
冰花炸蛋球
This was a mistake made and a repetitive lesson learnt again. We just never learn from mistakes eh? Ordered in the middle of our meal when we saw a waiter delivering the dish to another table as it appeared mouthwatering. It looks good even in the photo
It came in the serving of 3 and guess what, we ended up leaving 2 behind and only managed to swallow 1 in, which was shared between dad and sis. According to them, it had the taste of flour soaked in deep fried oil with coated sugar. It would have tasted bland if not for the sugar sprinkled on top. Although it was hot and most likely freshly fried, the inner content was hard, not enough air to give a bouncy texture.
(小心)流心奶皇包
We laughed-out-loud when we saw the (小心) imprinted on the menu as a description of this yummy custard bun. Indeed, never attempt to bite directly towards the center unless your tongue is heatproof.
Love the sweetness, the hotness and most importantly, the soft pillowy dough. As it was hot, we had to gently bring it over to our plates and once it was halved it in two, our mouths had to react quickly to avoid losing any golden molten custard that was finally released. Wouldn't say this was the best as I could see grease from the custard (obviously was lard as it could greatly bring out the flavour of egg yolk) but I have tried ones which masked well the grease due to accurate measurement of the mixtures. Also, actually I prefer the ones which have stronger flavour of salty yolk which give a more complex sensation.
桶裝豆腐花
I literally consumed half bucket myself simply because the rest of them weren't that interested in sweet dishes (they protested that there were too many..where do my genes for sweets come from-.-). It was inconsiderate to provide only one spoon for both the syrup and the brown sugar as you can clearly imagine what would turn out
Nonetheless, it was really smooth and slipped down my throat easily. I attempted to slice off each layer like how they usually do; it would be best if the waiters could offer to serve at least for the first round if not for the whole basin
101鮮果拿破崙
Also known as mille-feuille. This is the ultimate reason I brought my family to this restaurant as we have a little inside joke of our own about napoleon cake=P. This was in fact what we ordered once we sat down and we told the waiter to deliver the order immediately but apparently they overheard our request and we ended up having to wait for about 10mins after the whole meal was completed. My family(except me) was not exposed to the photos of this enormous napoleon cake beforehand so they have never expected such a scene when being delivered! They were astonished at the size and greatly appraised this nicely made dessert. Every layer was clearly visible including the custard, fruits and the multi-layered puff pastry. I have read comments about its difficulty in slicing as it was expected to flake when being separated but we were quite successful in dividing it and each of us received a quarter of this gigantic "structure". The puff pastry was light, thin and crispy but not too oily as they didn't have a greased appearance. The custard had a well balanced vanilla taste and creamy smooth texture. The fruits consist of blueberries, watermelons, strawberries, dragon fruits etc. I only liked strawberries, the rest to me were a bit weird. I wouldn't say it was a magnificent dessert as it wasn't exactly rich in flavour but definitely worth seeing and trying it once. In fact, the cotton candy strips that garnished the napoleon were amazingly delicious.
We all agreed that its value exceeded the amount it costs and conquered it entirely!
We were really satisfied with the service provided that we completed a customers' feedback form (requested for one ourselves).The waiters were attentive and friendly.
Although tables were not especially far apart from one another, it was not noisy(ah jie shouting here and there><) as we could chat comfortably. A place recommended if you were to dine with non-Chinese visitors of Hong Kong as it was not expensive, not crowded; incorporated to their menu were signature yum-cha dishes as well as some western comfort food as a nice round up. More importantly, a chance to experience the fusion we locals have invented. We could see few tables of westerners really enjoying themselves! Good job "hong kong" maxim
fyi, no reservation available in the weekends but we didn't have to wait at all so feel at ease to visit the place even during Sundays
hoping that it's because of the unwillingness to depart from the tradition yum-cha instead of its quality, we decided to give it a go.
Understood why it didn't "dare" to charge at a higher price in such a decent place. Grateful that waiting time was saved but we immediately went to auntie anne's to make sure our stomachs were satisfied and filled. How about simply extend one of the Chinese restaurants to its location and save the public's time
