The Peninsula The Lobby (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I love Father's Day. It's one of the few days in a year that I got to sit back, relax and let somebody else pick a dining venue for us. That's something that I wish could happen a little more often. 

Jelloman calls the shots today and her pick certainly raised a few eyebrows (mostly mine) when she first broke the news to us. I think nobody would argue with picking a restaurant from the prestigious The Peninsula Hotel but The Lobby and for lunch!? That was a peculiar choice.

They are offering a four-course Father's Day tasting menu at The Lobby this afternoon. From the empty seats left and right, I can tell this is not the most popular pick for Father's Day. At least not for lunch (maybe afternoon tea if daddy is into the sweeter things in life).

Smoked salmon mille-feuille, crispy bagel, salmon roes – Kicking things off was smoked salmon served in mille-feuille style with alternate layers of salmon and crispy bagel (more like a wafer). The dish was finished off with quail eggs and salmon roes on top, and a small garden salad around the mille-feuille.

This was a pretty refreshing dish to start the meal with. The smoked salmon and wafers didn't really click but I did enjoy all the different textures, especially the crunch.

Ginseng, chicken, abalone soup – A Korean style ginseng soup? 😅 This looked a bit like the soul-warming broth I had at Mingles back in April.

I didn't get to try the soup myself (little nugget had it) but from what I've heard, it came with some pretty strong herby flavors.

Beef short ribs, horseradish, vegetable – I like the plating of this dish with all the grilled vegetables sitting on a bed of slow-cooked beef short ribs with a crispy pastry ring hugging around it (again for the extra crunch).

The beef short-ribs was pretty tender and I thought the richly flavored horseradish cream helped to tie everything together nicely.

Chocolate, coffee, clementine – There was no question about the best dish of the afternoon. The chocolate dessert won it in a landslide.

This was a combination of silky and rich chocolate mousse, with a centre of coffee infused ganache and clementine marmalade. The flavors did come together very nicely with the lovely acidity of clementine cutting through the richness.

I actually had time to enjoy a cup of English Breakfast tea which was a bit of a luxury these days.

Some complimentary chocolate for dad. No rose . 😪

It was nice to enjoy some bubbly with little one.

And my report card was in. Mixed results.....

I have no complaints about today's dishes (cuz I had no expectation coming in) but I was utterly disappointed with the service team's performance. This is a top-class luxurious hotel with a rich history and even the fact that it's not a fine-dining restaurant, I expected 5-star caliber service which was sorely missing right from start to finish, from the host to the waitresses/waiters. I am talking about timely and attentive service. I raised my hand for 5-10 minutes but no one came to assist, waiters dropping off dishes without saying what it is, no one came to clear the table for the next dish. And this is a restaurant with a 20% occupancy.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: G/F, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui / East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2696-6772

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 6:00pm daily