Very Good Restaurant 頂好海鮮酒家 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We're supposed to have a really BIG Mother's Day lunch this afternoon but our little one fell sick again so we ended up letting him sleep through much of the afternoon until almost 3PM. Most restaurants would be closed for lunch service by then but I know one place would be welcoming us with open arms - Very Good Restaurant (頂好海鮮酒家) whose dim sum lunch closes at 5:30PM daily. Yes, you read that right, 5:30PM!



Century egg and pickled young ginger (酸薑皮蛋) - Some nice acidity to get me started and I always love century eggs.



Steamed rice flour rolls with BBQ pork (叉燒腸粉) - The steamed rice flour rolls were fine but looked like the barbecued pork has been shredded into real tiny pieces. Hm...



Steamed rice rolls with vegetables (羅漢齋上素腸粉) - Much better than the one with barbecued pork. Not bad.



Steamed prawn dumplings (晶瑩蝦餃皇) - Decent wrapper with a jumbo sized prawn in the middle. By far, the best dish by a country mile.



Steamed pork dumplings with crab roes (蟹籽蒸燒賣皇) - Another one that tasted just about average. It's been a few years since I last visited this place and I could see quite a drop-off in quality.



Steamed ox tripe (惹味金錢肚) - Very tender and a nice touch of chu hou paste (柱侯醬).



Fried octopus tentacles with pepper and salt (椒鹽魷魚鬚) - Love the crispy batter and the seasoning was right on the money.



Fried noodles with shredded squid (豉油皇龍鬚炒麵) - They have one of the best fried noodles around town and looked like they still got it. I've tried different versions of this before (There was one with whelk) but this one with squid always put a smile on my face.



Steamed sweet buns with lotus seed paste (軟滑蓮蓉蟠桃) - For a place known for its old-school dim sums, this was disappointing.



Cashew nut cream soup (生磨腰果露) - A lot of places don't make cashew nut cream soup anymore due to the amount of work so we were delighted to still see this on their menu. Pretty nice (I love nutty desserts).



Osmanthus pudding with coconut juice (椰汁桂花糕) - Pretty decent.



Some of the dim sums were still pretty decent but for the most part, there's been a major drop-off. I won't be visiting any time soon unless it's a really late lunch (say 3PM).

Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Basement Level, 90-94 Nathan Road,, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2366-5660