There are a number of restaurants that are simply impossible to get in these days and everyone I know seems to have a different batch they want to scratch off their list. For me, the top two have recently been Mián (紅棉) and Bâtard (with Chaat a distant third) and this weekend, I finally gotta check both of them out. Well, almost.
During the middle of the week, I managed to find ourselves a table at Mián (albeit it was an early booking at 11am). It almost felt like winning the lottery for me but my day actually got better when someone from Bâtard pinged me saying that they've also got a table for me on the same day and almost at the very same timeslot. Knowing that I could only choose one of the two, I reluctantly dropped my booking at Bâtard in favor of Mián, since well, everybody wanted some dim sum this weekend.
I originally thought Mián is one of The Murray's own restaurants but someone told me that the popular Chinese restaurant actually has no affiliation with the hotel itself. In fact, it's under Lubuds F&B Group who is behind the Japanese restaurant chain "Ana" including Ana Ten (天穴) at Ocean Terminal.
Baked barbecued pork puff pastry with apple purée (蘋果叉燒酥) – Instead of steamed rice rolls with barbecued pork, I'm getting little nugget some baked puff pastry with barbecued pork to start the meal.
This was pretty decent (though a bit too much sesame for me) but to be fair, I'd take the ones at Spring Moon (嘉麟樓) over these any day.
What really got me interested in this in the first place were the diced apple and apple purée. I was curious of how they would work with the puff pastry and barbecued pork as a whole, and I have to admit, I wasn't impressed.
Steamed prawn dumpling with asparagus (蘆筍鮮蝦餃) – They didn't lie when they said "prawn dumpling".
The huge prawn in the middle came with an abundance of sweetness while the chopped asparagus added some earthy notes to the mix. Pretty nice.
Steamed pork dumpling with crab roes (蟹籽燒賣皇) – Really meaty and one of little nugget's favorites without a question.
Steamed rice rolls with wild mushrooms (野菌素腸粉) – The combination of colors (green from the asparagus flavored rice roll and purple from the purple cabbage) was pretty eye-catching. I liked the contrasting textures highlighted by the crunch from the purple cabbage but it really looked a little better than it tasted.
Steamed rice rolls with scallops and asparagus (蘆筍帶子腸) – Contrary to the previous steamed rice roll dish, this tasted better than it looked.
Each slice actually came with a couple of these poached scallops, matched nicely with chopped asparagus (again!?). Not bad.
Bean curd sheet rolls stuffed with shrimps in supreme broth (上湯鮮竹卷) – One dish I could do without. The supreme broth was really sweet and flavorful but unfortunately those wonderful flavors didn't get passed onto the bean curd sheet rolls.
Whole abalone puff pastry (原隻鮑魚酥) – After the most disappointing dim sum of the afternoon, here comes the most delicious one waiting on deck.
Hidden underneath the crispy crust was a perfectly braised abalone. The abalone sauce was so rich and tangy, working wonders with the abalone.
I've had similar abalone puffs on a number of other occasions but most of them only put diced abalone inside. This was definitely something else!
Boneless silky fowl and chicken fillets, spring onion, dan dan sauce (擔擔鴛鴦雞) – Most definitely, the most instagrammable dim sum on the menu here.
These were seriously tender.
But I thought they could have given the dan dan sauce a little more heat.
Stir fried rice noodles, short ribs (美國牛小排乾炒牛河) – Very very nice with solid "wok hei". It took a little longer to arrive but it's well worth the wait.
Baileys egg tart (百利酒蛋撻) – I did my homework so I knew exactly what to get for our sweet ending.
The flavors of Baileys Irish cream provided a very strong finish. Even little nugget couldn't resist having one of these despite the powerful flavors.
We were supposed to take a slow walk in the Hong Kong Park after the meal but the heat was too mighty strong that we decided against it at the end. Time to head home for a swim!
Honestly, I didn't expect such a strong showing from a Lubuds Group Chinese restaurant as they are better known for their Japanese cuisine instead. Jelloman and I both agreed that only service was not up to the standard of a hotel fine-dining restaurant. Both food and ambience passed in flying colors.
Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: The Pavilion, The Murray, Hong Kong, 22 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 3563-6405
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 5:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily
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