Shang Palace 香宮 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

My sister was in town for Christmas and following my struggles to find a decent western restaurant for lunch, we ended up picking a Chinese restaurant. A weird decision indeed considering that for a western holiday like Christmas, it just felt natural to have a western meal all the time. But this was not just any Chinese restaurant. The ageless Shang Palace (香宮) has been around for decades and in recent years, they've been one of the favorites of the Michelin guys.  



I've always picked Summer Palace (夏宮) over Shang Palace due to convenience from work so it's been a while since I last came here. Still looked very much the same with very minor tinkering here and there.



Steamed shrimp dumplings ($68) - the four of us shared a nice steamed shrimp dumpling to kick things off. This was a pretty good start (6/10).



Steamed rice flour rolls with shrimp ($80) - I thought it was OK but for that price, it gotta have a little more shrimps in there (5/10).



Steamed scallop dumplings ($68) - The diced scallops were fine but the wrapper had a bit too much spinach or asparagus flavor which was taking something away from the sweetness of the scallops. I could definitely do without this dish (4/10).



Baked abalone puff with minced chicken ($72 per piece) - A house specialty here but again failed to impress me. The pastry was a little too thick for my liking (4.5/10).



Baked barbecued pork buns ($48) - This was a decent dish. The baked buns were soft and spongy with a nice and warm BBQ pork filling but still not overly impressive (5.5/10).



Smoked bean curd skin rolls filled with carrots and black mushrooms ($80) - It actually tasted a little better than it looked (some of the bean curd skins were burnt). Forget about the presentation, it was another alright choice (5.5/10).



Braised E-fu noodles and lobster with black truffle ($388) - We had trouble picking a fried rice and fried noodle from the bunch and since most of us like lobster, we went with this choice.

Unfortunately, the noodles were a lot more soupy than we expected. Quite honestly, I didn't like the fact that they've thrown in all the expensive ingredients like lobster and black truffle just to make it more "premium". The flavors were fine but again nothing spectacular (4.5/10).



Summer Palace's chilled sago cream with mango and pomelo ($48) has always been my personal favorite so of course I had to check out this one here. Very refreshing. Not bad (6.5/10).



I have to say, this was one of the more disappointing lunch I've had in recent memory. So much for the two Michelin stars.


Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 64 Mody Road, Lower Level I Kowloon Shangrila Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui East
Tel: +852 2733-8754
Website: www.shangri-la.com/hongkong/kowloonshangrila/dining/restaurants/shang-palace/