10 Hollywood Road, Tai Kwun, Central, Hong Kong
I arrived... hungry as I'd flown into Hong Kong from New Zealand on an overnight flight, getting in at 6am that morning. After going for a long walk with a friend who'd come over from Macau to show me around, I'd worked up quite an appetite.
My first impression was… that this was a place of elegance, with beautiful high ceilings. The restaurant is part of the Tai Kwun arts precinct, which used to be the old Victoria Prison, Central Police Station and Central Magistracy. Staff were extremely attentive, taking my jacket for me, pulling out my chair and folding my napkin on my lap.
I started with… bamboo and charcoal har gau, which actually had gold leaf flakes on top of it, beef shin with sesame dressing and a laksa xiaolong bao steamed bun. Next came a sauteed garoupa fillet with mushroom sauce, some surprisingly spicy pork belly, braised greens in a chicken broth and noodles with wagyu beef. Our teacups were continuously topped up with oolong tea and I estimate I downed at least a couple of teapots of it over lunch, and consequently spent most of the afternoon rushing off to answer nature's call. Apparently oolong does help promote burning belly fat, so I'm now on a personal mission to drink it daily.
The highlight was...
