FAM 囍公館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

My friends have been raving about the spacious Art Park at West Kowloon Cultural District for a while but I wasn't paying much attention until most recently, when we were looking for an outdoor place to bring our little one amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Let's see what this "last piece of paradise in Hong Kong" is all about.



My research showed that there are 5 to 6 cafes and restaurants around the park but only a couple of formal restaurants including FAM (囍公館), an upscale Chinese restaurant behind M+ Pavilion.



I wasn't expecting such a hipster decor from a Chinese restaurant.



FAM offers a very small food menu during lunch with a short list of dim sum, appetizers, rice and noodles. The modern twist on some of these dishes reminded me a bit of HEXA (六公館) at Harbour City. I wonder if they are from the same owner.

Steamed Fresh Shrimp Dumplings (彩虹鮮蝦餃) ($68) - The thin wrapper looked particularly nice with patches of green and orange working well with the fresh shrimps as well.



Wild Chicken Stuffed with Pork Dumpling & Caviar from Royal Caviar Club (野雞黑魚子燒賣) ($68) - Interesting mix of chicken and pork together in the siu mai but the flavors were a bit light even with the umami-rich caviar on top.

Roasted Pork Bun with Buttered Charcoal Crust (黑金雪山包) ($68) - Love these pork buns with the charcoal crust.

While the crispy crust was very nice, the same could not be said about the filling of barbecued pork and sauce. Mixed result with this one.

Steamed Red Vermicelli Roll with Shrimps (鮮蝦紅米脆腸) ($78) - Lovely the crunch from different ingredients to go with the rice flour roll and shrimps. My second favorite dish right behind the fried rice.

Fried Rice Rolls with X.O. Chili Sauce (XO 醬炒腸粉) ($88) - Not bad but the spicy kick could have been a bit stronger.

Abalone & Wild Mushrooms in Puff Pastry (鮑魚野菌千層酥) ($98) - This has to be the most disappointing dish (and most expensive) of the afternoon. The braised abalone was tender but way over-seasoned (possibly a cover-up on the blandness of abalone) and my puff pastry suddenly came off while I was transporting it to the plate with my chopsticks. A closer look revealed that the abalone was actually just resting on the puff pastry with nothing there to glue them together!

Fried Mixed Wild Rice with Seafood & Eggs (大廚炒飯) ($198) - Very lovely bite from the mixed wild rice with very good "wok hei". Surprised it came with all kinds of seafood including abalone, scallops and prawns too.

I was absolutely stunned by the harbour view here. It looked like I could just walk across the harbour. It's that close. This is a very quiet and peaceful place in the heart of the city where one could enjoy a nice afternoon with family and friends. I am hoping it won't get much more crowded when more people start to discover it.

There were some hit and miss from a number of dishes we had this afternoon and I thought the prices were a little aggressive for what they brought to the table (food and service).



Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Units GF- 01-03, 22 Museum Drive, West Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2866-3667
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 12:00am daily