Greater China Club 大公館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Just when I thought my weekend would be totally washed away by the imperfect weather, there was a bit of a lifeline on Sunday morning, some clear skies at last. So I went out to do some light jogging and was wondering what my lunch plan would be in a couple of hours. Wait a minute, didn't I read about this newly opened dim sum place in Lai Chi Kok the night before?

Speaking of Lai Chi Kok, this industrial-centric district has really been evolving into a small dining haven of late, especially with the arrival of Umai, Rustico, Ten on the Bund just to name a few. There's still a long way to go but at least we could all see a little bit of progress over the past year. Now we could also add the Greater China Club (大公館) to the mix as well.

But not so fast. The Greater China Club is a members-only club that is only open to the general public during its soft opening in August. After the month of August, it would go back to its original members-only mode. With just 2 weeks left, I better act fast.

This is a really interesting "facility" they got here. From the outside, it's rather difficult to imagine it as a restaurant. More like an art gallery perhaps?



There's a lot of traditional Chinese design elements in the dining area, most of them coming with a contemporary twist. That was very nice to see - a spacious and artsy place to enjoy some modern Chinese food. Isn't that great? 





Baked salmon and cheese puff (芝士三文魚酥) ($68) - I have heard all about their pastries even before I came. Baked salmon puff dressed like a small turbot and of course their famous "piggy" deep-fried pork and dried shrimp dumplings (咸水角). So having at least one of the two was definitely a no-brainer. 



I went with the baked salmon and cheese puff since it's a little less commonly seen in Chinese restaurants. Hm...the presentation was pretty cute. The puff was very similar to those from a char siu puff and it was sweet and tasty. Underneath the crispy pastry, they had small cubes of salmon and minced salmon all over. Not bad (6/10). 



Steamed rice rolls, prime Iberico pork (黑毛豬叉燒腸) ($65) - The char siu made with prime Iberico pork was indeed very nice and sweet while the rice flour rolls were thin and soft. Love it (7/10).



Garoupa fillet dumplings with minced prawn and water chestnut (XO醬金魚餃) ($50) - This was one item that I could do without. While I like the minced prawn and water chestnut, the wrapper was way too thick and the XO sauce slightly too overpowering as well (4/10).



Steamed sui mai with quail egg and caviar (黑魚子鵪春蛋燒賣) ($68) - While the steamed sui mai with sea urchin (海膽燒賣皇) ($78) looked like the more appealing of the two sui mais here, we ended up picking the one with quail egg and caviar. 

This had "old school" written all over which was nice. Thought the flavors were pretty good but I didn't like the caviar there. It was again the case of the kitchen over-doing things by adding premium ingredients to make their products more "supreme" (5/10). 


 
Baked tartlets with abalone and chicken (鮑魚雞粒酥) ($88) - I was a little surprised that they came with a whole abalone on top. Again, the pastry was excellent. Although the overall taste did pale in comparison with those from places like Lung King Heen, it was still a fairly good effort (6.5/10).



Wok-fried rice noodles with beef and homemade XO sauce (山珍XO醬乾炒牛河) ($188) - After a very good session with dim sum, we turned our attention to their noodles and fried rice. The wok-fried rice noodles with beef came highly recommended by the staff here so we decided to have a go with it. 

The rice noodles were delicious and I was pleasantly surprised that there's not a whole lot of oil there. The beef was nice and tender. Glad that they didn't put an excessive amount of XO sauce in there. Just a nice subtle touch. Very good dish (7.5/10).


 
Deep fried pastry with pumpkin and red bean (紅豆南瓜沙翁球) ($48) - Everyone got so tired of the usual desserts from dim sum (pudding, anyone!?) so we went the unconventional way with these deep fried pastry with pumpkin and red bean. 

They sure know a thing or two about pastry making here. It was once again a winner! Crispy on the outside and soft and moist inside. Love the fact that they decided not to sprinkle the deep fried pastry balls with sugar like they always did traditionally and went with some shredded coconut (椰絲) instead. Excellent choice (7.5/10).




I was a little (pleasantly) surprised with the high quality on some of these dishes here. If this place was somewhere in Central, I probably won't be this surprised but Lai Chi Kok? Too bad it's going back to a members-only club in 2 weeks. If you still haven't been here, come check it out soon.

Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Unit A, 10/F D2 Place, 9 Cheung Yee Street, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok
Tel: +852 2743-8055
Website: www.greaterchinaclub.com