Hue Dining (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

V and I have been talking about when and where to meet up for his birthday dinner since last month. Since both of us have been busy at work, it took us a while to finalize on the date and by the time it was all said and done, most of our first-choice restaurants were long gone, leaving just a couple of decent places left. I have always wanted to go back to Hue Dining at the Museum of Art after my first visit in their opening month. And with V not objecting to the idea, I made the online reservation with the click of a mouse.

I can't believe these first-row seats are worth $200 extra per head. As we were not a couple in love, we decided to take a backseat at the second row while saving us some extra cash to spend on food.

Jerusalem artichokes, cashew cream and Chinese celery mayonnaise and shaved truffle – I am a sucker for Jerusalem artichokes so I was pretty happy with the first dish. There was a nice crunch to the artichokes leaving me to think that they've been roasted on coal. The supporting cast was a little weak though, as the combination of cashew cream, celery mayo and truffle failed to make much headway. They really didn't add much to the dish at all.



Poached Taiyouran egg, mushroom consommé, radish and green bean – The most disappointing dish of the night and it wasn't even close.

The taiyouran egg certainly wasn't bad but I couldn't really taste any flavors from the consommé. Yeah, it was bland, tasteless; whatever you want to call it.

Smoked mackerel, pickled cucumber, dill oil and crème fraîche – The marinated mackerel was buttery and rich in flavors but there wasn't any sign of smokiness. And like the first dish, the flavors from the rest of the dish were totally missing in action (almost).

Roasted chicken breast, grilled leeks, cauliflower and hazelnut – Simple but fairly decent. The roasted chicken breast was pretty tender and it was working well with the crunchy cauliflower and hazelnut.

On a side note, this was the first dish that our server actually took the time to explain the ingredients of the dish to us. With the first three dishes, they simply dropped them off without telling us what it was. Of course, V and I had a good laugh about it. With the price tag they were charging us, it was a total joke that we didn't even get introduced on our dishes.

Slow-cooked pork belly, fennel, black pudding and kabu – V had the slow-cooked belly which was looking like a better choice than my chicken breast. 

Rose hibiscus panna cotta, strawberry soup, toasted marshmallows, sunflower – I was pretty stuffed at this point and when I saw V with his cheese plate, I was like good luck to you buddy.

I had the creamy panna cotta, topped with a layer of rose hibiscus jelly in a refreshing strawberry soup. This was more custardy than the panna cotta I was accustomed to but it wasn't bad. I have to say, the last two dishes were by far the better ones from this 5-course menu. The rest, well, they all felt like they were just amuse bouches.

The restaurant and I have a slightly different interpretation on the term, "a la carte". Apart from their 5-course tasting menu, they also offer an "a la carte" menu with a 2-course and 3-course option. Now, that's not really a la carte, isn't it if you're limiting the diners to take either 2 or 3 courses. Since there were only a $150 difference between the 3-course and 5-course, it was a no-brainer for us. But in terms of value for money, I wonder if the 3-course was actually the better choice since the 5-course really didn't give us much value at all.

P.S. Our night was (partially) saved by this beautifully tanned server who was probably the only one from the waiting staff willing to help us. Too bad I am unlikely going to see her again.

Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 1/F, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui / Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3500-5888
Website: https://huedining.com.hk/
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 11:00pm Daily