Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Tin Lung Heen 天龍軒 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Tin Lung Heen (天龍軒) has been my "preferred" Chinese restaurant for occasions ever since it opened its doors to customers a while ago. Situated more than 100 floors up in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, it might not have the same pedigree as 3-star Michelin Lung King Heen (yet) but it certainly sits on top of my list.

 

They have this narrowly shaped dining room but you can get a piece of the harbour view from almost at every angle of the restaurant.  



The view is mostly on the Tai Kok Tsui side so unlike Tosca, you can't see any fireworks from here.



This is my first time having dinner here and I have a feeling it won't be my last.

Our amuse bouche came in a tiny little bowl in the form of a deep fried wonton served with a sweet and sour sauce. The acidity kind of woke up my taste buds almost instantly.



Char-grilled barbecued Iberian pork (蜜燒西班牙黑豚肉叉燒) - Every Chinese restaurant in the city is doing their char siu with Spanish Iberico pork these days and obviously, Tin Lung Heen is one of them. This is pretty fatty and super tender. Too bad the portion was a little small so we had to fight for that extra piece.



Deep-fried crab shell filled with crab meat and onion (炸釀鮮蟹蓋) - I stopped ordering this dish after realizing that most restaurants would put way too much onion and not enough crab meat in there. But this is not the case here at all. Every bite contains chunks of fresh crab meat and this is just pure joy.



Double-boiled chicken soup with fish maw in baby coconut (原個椰皇花膠燉雞) - The star of the night without question. The double boiled soup here never fails me with its great depth of flavor. The chicken, fish maw and coconut combined for a real nice symphony of flavors that was very enticing for our palates.




Stewed chicken with preserved vegetables (家鄉梅菜雞) - Didn't expect this from a top-notch hotel restaurant as it's more of a household dish. But this is seriously good again with the chicken being some of the sweetest and most tender one I've tasted for a while. The homemade sauce made with Chinese preserved vegetables, was served on the side to provide yet another dimension to the chicken.



Pan-fried garoupa fillet with green onion in superior soy sauce (醬油葱花煎斑柳) - Perhaps the least successful dish of the evening. The deboned garoupa was way over-seasoned with the superior soy sauce.




Braised assorted vegetables and deep-fried shredded mushroom in superior sauce (蜜味花菇三色蔬) - A nicely presented vegetable dish with all kinds of vegetarian ingredients that include bok choy, mushrooms among other stuff. This is the entire opposite to the previous dish in the sense that they could probably put a bit more seasoning in there to make it more interesting.




Pan-fried vermicelli with scallops, green onion and ginger (薑葱帶子煎米粉) - The vermicelli was pretty "al dente" which was nice. Not bad.




Double-boiled Tienjin pear with sea coconut (海底椰燉津梨) - More double boiled stuff, but this time it was our dessert. It's just the perfect dessert for the summer with the pear soup playing a great nourishing role. I'm feeling like a different man after washing this down (with a better lung and all according to Chinese medicine).




This is a very impressive debut, especially with the double boiled soup, char siu and chicken. I am planning to do this again sometime soon.

Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 102/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre (ICC), Elements, 1 Austin Road West, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2263-2263
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HongKong/Dining/tin_lung_heen