Sunday, May 30, 2010

Lung King Heen 龍景軒 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Something popped up at work and I had to join my family late for dim sum at Lung King Heen this afternoon. This marked my very first visit to this famed 3-star Michelin restaurant, the first Chinese restaurant to ever receive 3 star status in the world. 

Quite honestly, my expectation wasn't particularly high coming in here, especially for lunch. Call me biased, but I never believe Chinese dim sum should be mistaken for the haute cuisine often associated with Michelin stars.  

We had quite a number of dim sum on this afternoon but instead of going through each and every one, let's just cover some of the more impressive ones here.

The baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken was supposed to be the crown jewel of the Lung King Heen lunch menu but it didn't taste as good as I thought it would (4.5/10). I know a few other restaurants that could do a much better job with the same dish.



The other signature dim sum, steamed lobster and scallop dumpling also failed to impress me (4.5/10).  



Lung King Heen signature fried rice was better. Sprinkled with lobster and crab meat. It tasted particularly flavourful with all of the chopped spring onions (5/10).



I thought their interpretation of the Hong Kong "cha-chaan-teng" classic, stir fried noodles with beef in XO chili sauce was even better than the signature fried rice. Maybe that's because of Lung King Heen's special XO chili sauce (6.5/10).



A lot of online bloggers showed their disappointment with this dish but I thought it was one of the better dishes we had all day - battered Pork belly with Chinese pancakes (6.5/10).



Out of the many desserts we ordered, we had a surprising winner in these deep fried glutinous rice balls with yam. Not as heavy as most glutinous rice balls. Definitely a delightful ending to an otherwise disappointing lunch (7/10).



I could name a number of restaurants offering better dim sums at about 1/4 of the price here off the top of my head (Dinner is another story though) but perhaps housed under the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel had something to do with it.


Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$$
Address: 8 Finance Street, Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong Station / Central
Tel: +852 3196-8880
Website: Link
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 59th (2010)