Old timers' deep fried shrimp toast (懷舊蝦多士) - Before coming for dinner, I wanted to check out their parade of dim sum first but we started off on the wrong foot. I was expecting so much more from their old fashioned deep fried shrimp toast so these ones just didn't cut.
Someone has got to teach them how to do this the proper way (I am stealing a picture from my meal at Fung Shing 鳳城)! This is how it should be done!
Supreme roast goose pastry (一品燒鵝酥) - Social Place has always got some of the best pastries and dumplings in town and these roast goose pastries were certainly up to par.
Underneath the fluffy pastry were diced goose meat, mushrooms and a very rich abalone sauce. It's the best thing that happened to this meal.
Pan fried rice rolls with supreme soy sauce (豉油皇腸粉) - I have never been a big fan of this dish anyways. All these rice rolls were sticking together giving me the impression that they have been pan fried for a while. It's a fail for me.
Signature roasted white king pigeon (必食金獎乳鴿) - I can't possibly come here without taking a bite out of their signature pigeon. Not when it's on a discounted price of $38. It's been one of my favorite dishes from Social Place since day one and it still is!
Yuzu prawn dumplings (柚子蝦餃) - These prawn dumplings are really cute!
Lots of prawns under that yuzu flavored wrap. It's actually not bad although the yuzu flavor could have been a bit stronger.
Baked crispy buns with goose liver (雪嶺鵝肝包) - I had high hopes for these buns mainly coz this kitchen is capable of producing some of the best ones in the business.
But forget about that fancy name. These are just the classic Hong Kong style "Mexican bun" (墨西哥包) with what-they-call goose liver in the middle but too bad that whatever they've put in the middle did not taste nor smell like goose liver at all. As a matter of fact, I have trouble finding an appropriate word to describe what's in there (maybe sort of like yam purée?). This is just weird altogether.
Superior specialty fried rice (一品炒飯) - The name was telling me nothing about the ingredients in this fried rice so I decided to consult with some of the servers here. I was told it's all kinds of seafood but when it arrived, well it's a totally different story.
Obviously, the server knows nothing about this dish like the two of us. My taste buds are telling me that it's egg white, tiny anchovies, diced vegetables and lots of black olive. No seafood though. If it's any consolation, the rice was wonderfully dry on the outside with decent bite; too bad that's not what we were looking for or expecting.
I think it would be a bit too generous to give this dining experience a score of 3 out of 5 so 2 or 2.5 (star) would sound about right. This is not a total disaster but the fact is, the experience was deeply ruined by a few underwhelming dishes and a couple of clueless waiters.
Food Rating: 4/10
Price: $$$
Address: 8/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2180-6532
Post a Comment
Please tell us what you think