Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine 御寶軒 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It's been a while since we last have a public holiday without a packed schedule (which is life for parents with a small child in Hong Kong). After MJ yesterday, I am having another relatively easy afternoon, just a quick dim sum lunch and we'll be off to the Science Museum to close out the day.

Michelin starred Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (御寶軒) isn't always on top of my list when it comes to dim sum but it's pretty easy to find a table (just booked 2 days ago) and the prices were more than reasonable.

Steamed prawn dumpling (筍尖鮮蝦餃) ($52) - The wrapper was a tad thick today but for the most part, pretty delicious.

Steamed diced mushroom dumpling (雜菌如意餃) ($45) - I forgot to order siu mai but this was a pretty nice replacement though. Mom loves this~

Steamed rice roll with prawn (鮮蝦蒸腸粉) ($58) - Pretty nice. 

Baked barbecued pork pastry (蜜汁叉燒酥) ($48) - Jelloman wanted this since we haven't had it for a long time. I thought the buttery pastry was nice and flaky working well with the diced barbecued pork.

Deep-fried prawn dumpling with mayo (沙律明蝦角) ($52) - I don't know why they made these deep-fried dumplings so small! I could hardly taste the filling...

Baked pineapple bun with barbecued pork (菠蘿叉燒包) ($48) - The buns were so pillowy.

Not bad but I would much prefer the baked pastry with BBQ pork thanks to that flaky crust.

Pan-fried turnip cake (臘味蘿蔔糕) ($45) - Pretty decent but I won't mind a bit more turnip strips in there.

Steamed beef tripe with "chu hou" sauce (柱侯金錢肚) ($48) - Really soft with a bit of chewiness (that's what I like about it!). The chu hou sauce was spot on without going over the top. 

Steamed Malay soft cake (香滑馬拉糕) ($42) - Very spongy. 

With a bit of bouncy texture. Love this~

Black sesame glutinous rice ball with grated peanuts (擂沙湯丸) ($45) - While Jelloman settled her crave for the baked BBQ pork pastry, I have my own score to settle as well - to scratch that itch for some glutinous rice balls with black sesame filling.

This was loaded with black sesame paste. Very very tasty.

Wok-fried "hor fun" with prawn in Penang style (檳城炒河粉) ($168) - The rice noodles didn't have its usual "wok hei" this afternoon. I guess it's been sitting in the kitchen for a while before someone brought it out.

I don't care much about the Michelin star but the price tag is certainly reasonable for what was on offer. But there's always one thing that they could improve upon and that's their service. I don't know what's the deal with this service team but there's always someone that gets on my nerve. Perhaps they could all use a customer service training together. 

Food Rating: 6.3/10
Price: $$$
Address: 10/F, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2613-9800

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

Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel H Queen's 當文歷餅店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

This has been brewing for weeks on the social media, finally we know the exact address. I'm talking about the new flagship bakery of Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel (當文歷餅店) at H Queens in Central.

I had the pleasure of spending about a minute at their new location a few days ago when I was having my new implant checked out at a dental office just a stone's throw away. Didn't really get the chance to try anything though as I was rushing back to my office.



But like I always said, it's great to have a foodie friend who's passionate and adventurous about food. Agent-I bought these before coming to our MJ game this morning, including some from their "Around the world" pastry collection.

Pretzel ($58) - I have pretty much tried out the entire collection except this one. Pretzel bavaroise, soft caramel and peanut praline and crispy peanut butter feuilletine in the shape of a giant pretzel.

This looks really really cute. Judging from the description, it's a peanut butter lover's dream. I thought the peanut butter flavors weren't as strong as I originally feared. It was spot on and perhaps a bit on the light side, if you ask me. In fact, I first thought it was hazelnut praline. And obviously, the dessert was full of lovely crunch thanks to the crispy peanut butter feuilletine. I love this one a lot more than the sticky mango rice and Mexican taco.

Special thanks to Agent-I for the decadent treat!!!

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 2, G/F H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong Station

Tel: +852 3482-7735

Website: https://dangwenli.com/

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 8:30pm (Mon - Fri), 9:00am - 8:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Wing Chung Siu Mei Dai Pai Dong 榮忠燒味大排檔 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★☆☆☆☆

Just before my little nugget was born 6 years ago, I officially retired from a lot of things in order to free up my time to be spent with the family. One of those things was playing mahjong with my friends and over the years, I never looked back. 

But this long weekend saw me officially come out of my retirement for a casual game of MJ. My opponents are my usual MJ legs from Vancouver and some of us were already saying that this will be a dressed rehearsal for things to come when one day, we decide to go back for good.

We were meeting at our friend's house but right before the game, I decided to meet up with Hanger Jack for a quick breakfast first. He arrived early and already picked our venue at Wing Chung Siu Mei Dai Pai Dong (榮忠燒味大排檔), a dai pai dong style cafe that both of us have never had the pleasure of visiting before.

The toast and fried eggs were quite decent, in par with what's been offered around town. Less successful was the milk tea which was not nearly silky enough though I would stop short of saying that it tasted like mud water (坑渠水).

Macaroni with ham, another tea restaurant classic. I thought the soup was a bit too intense.



While the food was exactly what we have expected from an average cha chaan teng (local tea restaurant), I thought the vibe, or venue whatever you call it, left something to be desired. In a world of social distancing, we were sitting way too close to other tables and to rub more salt to the wound, the hygiene conditions were horrible. In fact, the place stinks!

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 9, G/F, Parker33, 33 Shing On Street, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Sai Wan Ho

Tel: +852 3108-9999

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 10:00pm daily