The Moonious 滿小館 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We have a number of things to take care of in East Tsim Sha Tsui this afternoon and I was again asked to find a place nearby for dim sum lunch. Not an easy task but I managed to remember The Moonious (滿小館) which was just in the proximity.

Last time we were here, dad was still with us so I would say it's been at least 8 years. Wasn't sure if the restaurant is still under the same ownership.

Braised e-fu noodles with crab meat (蟹肉乾燒伊麵) – Interestingly, the first dish to arrive was our braised e-fu noodles. This came with some sort of wafer on top which no one was sure what it was made of.

Barbecued pork rice rolls (黑豚肉叉燒腸) – Little nugget was all too happy to see his two rice flour rolls arrive shortly after the noodles. The one with BBQ pork was pretty decent.

Shrimp rice rolls (原隻鮮蝦腸) – The one with shrimp came with some strong fragrance from the coriander. Not bad.

Mushroom bun with truffle sauce (松露冬菇包) – Some buns for little nugget but he wasn't impressed even with the cute presentation.

Signature prawn dumplings (滿小館蝦餃皇) – Very nice texture from the minced prawns and bamboo shoot. Definitely one of the better dishes this afternoon.

Crispy pork puffs with preserved mandarin peel (陳皮叉燒酥) – This tasted a little weird with the overpowering flavors from the preserved mandarin peel.

Pan-fried radish cake (香煎蘿蔔糕) – Not bad.

Fried dumpling with duck liver sauce (鵝肝醬鹹水角) – A disappointing dish despite the fine presentation.

I could only wish they could pack this with a little more foie gras sauce and minced pork. The mouthfeel wasn't good. 

Cantonese multi-layer brown sugar sponge cake (千層馬拉糕) – A hybrid of Cantonese sponge cake (馬拉糕) and multi-layer cake (千層糕). I thought it tasted a little better than it looked.

Mango sago pomelo pudding (楊枝甘露凍) – Our second dessert was mango sago pomelo flavored panna cotta. Check out how it was making its grand entrance!

     

This was quite a pleasant surprise for everybody (considering how lackluster most of the other dishes were). The flavors were exactly the same as the dessert soup version, just that it came with different texture and (perhaps) temperature. 

It was a bit difficult to assess this meal cuz I thought the service level and price-performance ratio (性價比) were both reasonably good. Our lunch was obviously full of hit-and-misses but I was reluctant to give it a fail considering how bad many Cantonese restaurants were these days. 

    

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 30-41, G/F Houston Centre, 63 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2638-3329

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm daily