CamW's Profile

Dinner at this restaurant in the Hotel Lisboa in Macau. This was an interesting meal, with a couple of dishes that I struggled a bit with, but overall I liked it and I think I can see why it is well regarded. The service was very attentive. We went on a public holiday, so I thought it would be busy, and I booked months in advance - but it was almost empty. This resulted in the main room having us and one other table, but wait staff standing around everywhere with nothing to do most of the time.Food:Steamed Whole Fresh Crab Claw with Winter Melon: Love the expert de-shelling, the tender and slightly sweet crab meat and the winter melon having the slightest resistance when biting into it. I'm not sure what the sauce consisted of, but it lent a slight richness to the dish. A definite highlight of the meal and my favourite of the two crab claws.Deep-fried Whole Fresh Crab Claw with Peppercorn Salt: This was good also, the crab was still tender and the batter is lighter than it appears, letting the crab flavour shine. The peppercorns gave it a nice little punch. Sautéed Garoupa Fillet with Broccoli: The fish was very moist and had good flavor, the vegetables were similarly well cooked. Relatively simple but a good way to present the fish and show off its quality.Sautéed Chicken with Onions in Black Bean Sauce in Casserole: I liked this dish, it's probably a bit closer to the Cantonese style I'm used to, but I thought it was well balanced and just generally tasty.Braised Pomelo Skin with Shrimp Roe: First dish we were presented with was undercooked, the waitress couldn't slice it. A second attempt came not too long after and this was better. This is one of the signature dishes of the restaurant, so I was excited to try it, but to be honest I struggled a bit with it - the shrimp roe was incredibly powerful and the texture was a bit too mushy. It was interesting but I don't think I'd order it again if I went back.Pan-fried Noodles with Fresh Crabmeat: This dish was fine, but not especially memorable; we probably should have ordered something else.…Read More

We had lunch at Robuchon a Galera in the Hotel Lisboa, Macau.The food was outrageously good and the value for money at lunch is unbeatable. The presence of gold leaf on almost everything was pointless but didn't detract from the meal.I loved that the wine list comes either as a massive leather bound 300+ page tome or on a somewhat more modern iPad with searchable pdfs for each region.Loved the numerous trolleys with selections of bread, butter and dessert.Wine and food service was perfect, couldn't have asked for any more. Overall it totally lived up to its reputation.Food:White asparagus panna cotta with tomato coulis - Vibrant and delicate. This was a perfect start.Tuna belly on heart of romaine with crunchy vegetable medley and “tonnato” sauce - Beautifully presented. Lovely seared tuna belly. The tonnato sauce had a real punch to it.Crabmeat in tomatoes broth perfume with fresh herbs and waffle toast - An out of this world level of good. Intense, concentrated tomato flavour in the broth, the crabmeat had delightful pockets of roe as a surprise throughout. The shiso leaves on top were interesting with their sweet&spicy notes and gave some extra depth to the dish. The waffle toast was just delicious.Scallop, squid and shrimp with saffroned fregolas and basil emulsion - Scallop was perfect. The squid was stuffed with chorizo and was wonderfully good. I haven't had fregola before but it was interesting and paired well with the other elements. The basil flavour in the emulsion was very mild thankfully.Braised “Wagyu” beef cheek pepper aromatic and creamy polenta with parmesan- The beef was incredibly tender and the sauce was nicely rich. The polenta on the side was tasty as well. This dish probably had the least wow factor, but was still very good.…Read More

Following our meal at Tin Lung Heen, we had dessert at the Chocolate Library, we were the only patrons there so we had our pick of tables.Chocolate soufflé with raspberry coulis and chocolate petit fours was the better of the two dishes. This was a classic combination of flavours that was executed well and certainly passed the “deliciousness test”.Chocolate fondue with marshmallow, brownie, brioche and chocolate pasta was straight forward except for the chocolate pasta which wasn't that good anyway. The other items were fine and it's hard to dislike something dipped in decent quality chocolate.…Read More

The service was very mixed. It was obvious that they were trying hard but a number of requests were lost somewhere between the table and the recipient, so we had to ask for various items multiple times, a request to view the wine list was made twice and it failed to appear at all. It just seemed like the level of service they are aiming for wasn't quite in place yet. Hopefully these issues have been sorted out by the time you read this review.The food on the other hand was top-notch. A sweet turnip appetiser was a perfect first bite. The Deep fried scallops with mango dip combines two of my favourite things, so I was very partial to it to begin with but the scallops were cooked just right and the mango dip gave the dish a lift with some sweetness providing a foil for the (light) deep fried coating. Pan fried lotus root stuffed with fresh crab meat was brilliant and the Crispy roasted pork belly pushed very hard for top spot of this dish among some extremely good competition.Live crab with salt and chilli, wok fried in soy sauce was another wonderful dish. The quality of the crab shone and the other flavours played perfect support roles. This was an expensive dish but it was worth it.Chilled shredded chicken with green onion and chilli oil was a good dish, the green onion gave the dish some texture, it just didn't have as much of a kick from the chilli as expected so was a little bit one-dimensional. Deep fried crispy chicken was good as well but wasn't quite up to the standard of Ming Court and Man Wah so suffered in direct comparison.Overall the lacklustre service was made up for by outstanding food.…Read More

This meal was exceptional from start to finish. The setting, service and food were all world class.Without doubt the service was some of the best I've ever encountered. Professional but charming as well, nothing was too much trouble and everything ran seamlessly.I'll just write about my dishes here, but of the little I got to taste of the others they were of similarly high quality.Shellfish Consommé with Ginger Aroma, Lobster Carpaccio and Crispy Palamos Prawn - The consommé was simply presented, but the lobster on the side draws attention with vivid red and green herbs contrasting against the Carpaccio. The intensity of the consommé was wonderful, being played off against the freshness of the Carpaccio and prawn.French rib-eye beef with gratin dauphinois and wild mushroom pastry in merlot sauce - Excellent quality beef, loved the presentation of a little line of mushrooms along the side of the plate. The mushroom pastry was outrageously good, a rich and creamy sauce with earthy mushrooms and crisp pastry. Not innovative but simply great.Wild Strawberries with Lavender Blossom, Crispy Almonds and Malaga Sorbet - Beautifully presented - there are only a few different elements visible but the shape and angles are very well thought out, then cracking open the cylinder your eyes are drawn to reveals another set of layers. The flavours matched the presentation, I love wild strawberries and these tiny bites were delicious, along with the other flavours that were complimentary to the main strawberry theme.…Read More

We had a very enjoyable meal at the Cantonese restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. This restaurant seemed to be highly recommended here and on various forums/blogs and it was indeed very good. We arrived slightly early and were invited to wait at the bar outside. The bar has a great view of the harbour from the 25th floor and I was happy to find they were serving Krug by the glass (one of the few times I was tempted away from tea on the trip). After our drinks we were escorted to the restaurant and everything was impressively smooth and professional. The dining room itself is wonderfully opulent.Again there were numerous highlight dishes including the excellent Tiger prawn, bamboo shoot dumplings with translucent and delicate wrapping and great flavour and texture. I also really liked the Conpoy and summer spinach dumplings, the summer spinach was full of flavour and the conpoy was only a background note adding complexity rather than being the focus.Shanghainese soup dumpling, minced pork and hairy crab mousse - Liked the presentation of this with its own basket and tray. I liked the richness of the soup component, though I couldn't really taste the crab over the pork with the rest. Barbecued pork belly was delicious with perfectly crispy skin and the Crispy Ka Mei chicken carved tableside and with bones removed was one of the better crispy chicken dishes on the trip.Chicken spring rolls were fine, but not especially memorable and the Deep fried crab claw with minced shrimp was one of the weaker dishes, it was acceptable but I'd order something else next time.The Toffee apples for dessert were great bites which had that crunchy-chewy contrasting outer layer from the glaze and batter, with some freshness from the apple inside. Double boiled pear, chun bei, tangerine tea was the final dish - The pear was great, offering little resistance when cut but not being mushy. The tangerine tea was an interesting combination that I think worked very well.Overall I was impressed and would be very happy to go back. The elevated rating of 1* Michelin is well deserved based on this single visit.…Read More

Lunch at the Cantonese 3 Michelin star restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Central, Hong Kong. Overall it was very good, the setting was very nice with lots of natural light and a view of the harbour, the service started badly but recovered well (see below) and overall the food was excellent. Service: A few problems here - the first dish to arrive was not something we ordered, the second dish was something we ordered but it was described quite differently to the menu so there was more confusion over whether it was ours. Not even close to enough to spoil the mood, but was surprising for a 3* venue! After these hiccups everything was very smooth and professional, so they recovered well.Food:Steamed Lobster and Scallop Dumpling: Quite enjoyed this, was presented very nicely with a delicate skin and ingredients that I am quite partial towards. Fresh and juicy, I would have had a second if there wasn't so much other food!Crispy Taro Dumplings: Filled with seafood and vegetables, these were surprisingly good. It's an interesting combination of flavours, but it works and the gooey inside and crispy outside are a nice contrast.Baked Barbecued Pork Buns with Pine Nuts: So good. Loved the crust on top, buns with just a touch of sweetness and delicious bbq pork and sauce with the pine nuts adding a nice background flavour element. Would come back just to eat these again, these were a highlight for the trip.Steamed Vegetable Dumplings with Bamboo Pith: Liked the presentation with the translucent skin, and the filling was good, but not a standout.Braised fresh bamboo piths with fresh crab meat: This sounded interesting on the menu, and it was interesting, but probably missed the mark a little bit for my taste. The crab was very good, the bamboo pith was a different texture and the vegetables were cooked well, but I just didn't understand how it all fit together really.Lung King Heen Roast Chicken: Liked that this was served tableside and we were offered the choice of having it on or off the bone. Excellent crispy skin and high quality, very tender and juicy chicken. Simple, but great anyway.Baked Cream Custard Puffs: Light crumbly pastry and a delicate cream filling - a nice end to the meal.…Read More

Lunch at this 1 Michelin star restaurant in April 2011. It was full when we arrived towards the end of lunch but they found us a table after 10 minutes at the bar. The service during the meal was efficient but impersonal, with orders taken quickly and without much interaction. This was fine for a quick lunch, but for a special occasion it may not appeal.The food was for the most part very good;* Shanghainese Spring rolls - simple but executed well. Pastry was crispy and not oily. Vegetable filling had a nice crunch to it.* Sauteed minced chicken with pine nuts and sesame pastry pockets - A signature dish. Chicken had good flavor with lots of garlic and onion. The pockets were nice and flaky.* Camphor smoked duck - Duck was dry and tough. The weakest dish by far.* Shredded chicken, chilli oil - Excellent dish, well balanced, nice amount of heat/spice. This was the highlight dish.* Pork dumplings and black truffle - Truffle was not too obvious, just a hint. Pork filling had good flavour and the wrapper was good.…Read More

Had a quick lunch here before departing Hong Kong via Terminal 1 at the airport. Items are cooked to order, so there was a 6-7 minute wait after ordering.I had the tonkatsu and prawn combo meal which came with cabbage, rice and sauce as well as a spice mix that you ground up with a wooden pestle. The pork and panko coating was cooked perfectly with the pork remaining juicy and the outer nicely crispy - the spice mix was interesting and lent some complexity to the dish. The prawn was fine but the star was the pork.The storefront is appealing, but the surroundings are a fairly generic airport food court. The service was very polite.This was a good meal considering the limited options at the airport and I would visit it again next time I am there.…Read More

We had dinner at this 2 Michelin star restaurant in the Langham Place Hotel in Mong Kok, in April 2011.I really thought this restaurant was excellent with a mix of exceptional dishes and great, friendly service. * Roasted crispy pork w/ 5 spices - Flat out delicious. Probably my favourite version of this dish tried on the trip. Pork had great flavour, the skin was perfectly crisp and the spice was spot on.* Shredded Chicken in spicy sauce - Nice level of spice giving the dish a kick but not overpowering the other flavours, I liked the textural elements of the vegetables.* Deep Fried Crab Shell with crab meat - Not bad, lacking a little bit in flavour. The weakest dish of the evening.* Sliced spotted garoupa two ways - stir fried with premium mushrooms & deep-fried with sweet and sour sauce - good quality fish cooked perfectly both ways. Interesting contrast between the two styles and liked the dual presentation. Sweet and sour had great overall flavour balance and the mushrooms and stir fried garoupa had bolder flavours. Another highlight.* Crispy Chicken and lotus root "chips" - Nice layer of crisp skin, chicken was moist and tender. Accompanying salt/spice mix brought out excellent flavour. One of the better versions of this dish on the trip.* Shark fin crystal extravagance - shark fin jelly with mango pudding base - the presentation with dry ice was entertaining even if it was gimmicky, it certainly does a great job marketing the dessert to the rest of the restaurant. I like mango so the desert was tasty and while the shark fin was not essential, it was an interesting combination.…Read More

Came here for dinner in April 2011. We didn't have a booking but there was no wait for a table.Overall the service was good, our waiter spoke next to no English but he was patient with us and there were no problems.We ordered two dishes to start and the house specialty crab. * The deep fried fish and corn wasn't what we were expecting based on the menu description, but was actually reasonably tasty, though a few spoonfuls were enough as it got a bit heavy. * The lemon chicken was terrible, overpowered by harsh lemon flavour. * The typhoon shelter style crab dish was definitely the star, good quality and fresh crab under a pile of garlic, chilli and scallions - the topping was tasty on it's own and combined with the crab it was excellent (and surprisingly the topping wasn't too overpowering). There are 5 spice levels that can be ordered, we ordered the medium spicy level (3) and it was a good balance at that point for my tastes.I would go back, either just for the crab or after having done more research on better side dishes to order. …Read More