Chinesology 唐述 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

A highly respected Korean foodie friend of mine told me he had one of the best meals on his recent trip to Hong Kong at Chinesology (唐述) last week. Since I haven’t been to this upscale Chinese restaurant myself, I thought I should give it a chance some time. And with little nugget attending a birthday party this afternoon (and thank goodness I wasn't invited!), it was the perfect time to check it off my list.

I have recruited mom as my partner in crime for lunch today. 



She's not been to IFC much, needless to say The French Window which was the former restaurant occupying this space before Chinesology took over. She was getting a little hyped up about what laid ahead in front of this maze.

The decor I thought was a little bit quirky for a fine-dining Canto restaurant.

For a relatively new member to the fine-dining scene, I was a little surprised to see a full house here on a Sunday afternoon. IFC is normally pretty quiet on Sundays. 

I remembered the harbour view to be a little more stunning than this (when it was still The French Window). Way too much reflections on the window for us to fully enjoy the view.

One should really appreciate the effort put into the design of this place. Even the box of toothpick was nicely decorated as a traditional match box. Very nice touch, for nostalgia's sake. 

I didn't want to waste time on studying the food menu so we went straight with the set menu. Duck tongue? We didn't order these, did we (or are they part of the set?). Turned out they made a mistake.

Double-boiled soup with fish head, Szechuan lovage and Chinese Angelica (川芎白芷燉魚頭湯) – This was what they lost us, with the very first dish.

They said daily soup on the menu so I was expecting something seasonal, something that's perfect for the autumn season but certainly not something strong with medicinal herbs.

This was very very strong, Chinese angelica in particular. The flavors were both bitter and spicy at the same time and for someone like me, the soup was definitely not suitable for my health profile. Needless to say, both mom and I didn't finish.

Next was dim sum platter which came with three bite-sized dim sum.

Har gow, tiger prawn, minced pork (瑪瑙蝦餃) – The steamed prawn dumpling was pretty delicate with very bouncy texture from the tiger prawn.

Hokkaido seaweed, minced Pork, dumpling (北海道昆布小籠包) – The wrapper was terrible. It was broken even before I put my chopsticks on top. The seaweed flavor didn't really register.

Mushroom, puff pastry (手工千層酥) – The flaky puff pastry wasn't bad.

Tiger prawn, sweet and sour sauce (咕嚕蝦球) – Mom doesn't eat spicy so after voicing out her preference, the chefs were kind enough to deliver a version of this with a palatable sweet and sour sauce.

Tiger prawn, chili sauce, cashew (宮保蝦球) – I had the original version with the homemade chili sauce and cashew. The tiger prawn undeniably came with very nice texture but other than the spiciness of the sauce, I couldn't really taste the sweetness of the prawn at all. Perhaps my palate was a little numbed by our daily soup. 

French cod fillet, scallion, seaweed (海苔京蔥油香魚) – Another deep-fried dish. I thought this was the best dish of the afternoon by a country mile. The cod fish was silky smooth, working well with the paper-thin crispy batter and combination of flavors from the scallion, seaweed and what I thought was taro.

Very filling.

Hokkaido jumbo scallop, sakura shrimp sauce, handmade rice flour rolls (櫻花蝦汁帶子皇) – Serving the pan-seared scallop with two pieces of rice flour rolls was an interesting idea but for the most part, this dish was a marginal failure for me. 

To me, the sakura shrimp sauce was way too salty, overshadowing the sweetness of the jumbo scallop almost completely. A bit wasteful for such a perfectly seared scallop!

Tofu panna cotta (豆腐奶凍) – Dessert was tofu panna cotta topped with snow fungus (雪耳). After a run of dishes with intense and deep flavors, finally something light and soul warming, which was greatly appreciated by both mom and yours truly.

The double-boiled soup with fish head, Szechuan lovage and Chinese Angelica really put us off track right off the bat. Our taste buds numbed and our ability to taste was adversely affected immediately, then came a string of deep-fried dishes. I thought there should be a right balance (ingredients, flavors, portion etc.) within any set menu but today, there was none from this tasting menu we've chosen. None of the dishes failed miserably as an individual dish but together, they never meshed as a team. Would we come back for another meal, you ask? Probably not...

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 3101-3107, 3/F, IFC, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong Station

Tel: +852 6809-2299

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm daily