Woping Restaurant 和平餐室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

My life as a primary schoolboy's parent officially starts today and I have to admit, I am pretty excited about it. Little nugget has moved along just fine and I am hopeful that he can spread his wings and get inspired in his new surroundings.

After dropping him off at school, other parents and I slowly walked over Woping Restaurant (和平餐室), a newly opened cha chaan teng just a stone's throw from little nugget's school for a quick breakfast.

It still got that new furniture smell around here. Perhaps we should have waited another week.

Of cuz I had to check out their iced milk tea first hand. No cha chaan teng should be without a good cup of milk tea.

I thought the tea flavors were a little light. That's okay. I could live with that. But I can't live with the fact that it's on the watery side. That's not good enough. 

Macaroni with luncheon meat and scrambled eggs in a rich tomato soup. This wasn't bad.

In fact, a lot better than the instant noodle with beef marinated in sacha sauce (沙茶牛肉麵). From my experience, this is typically a very heavily seasoned dish thanks to the strong flavors from the sacha sauce. But not this time. I could still taste the broth here and it was so bland!

Fried egg, ham and butter toast. This was pretty standard. No surprise there.

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 1-2, 1/F, Podium, Hoi Tat Estate (Phase 3), 38 Sham Mong Road, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Nam Cheong

Tel: +852 6032-9622

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

The Chinese Restaurant 凱悅軒 at Hyatt Regency (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★☆☆☆☆

Today is my second consecutive and final off-day this month. Unlike yesterday's lunch where I already made my booking months ago, I was still struggling to find a place this morning. But since I know mom probably prefers dim sum more than anything else, I have narrowed down my short list to a number of Chinese restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui before finally deciding on The Chinese Restaurant (凱悅軒) at Hyatt Regency TST.



I have heard about The Chinese Restaurant (what a bad name!) being the pioneer of dim sum buffet ($348 per head) but I have never been here before my entire life.

Since little nugget didn't have any class in the afternoon, I decided to drag him along to join me and his grandma for dim sum.

Barbecued pork with honey glaze (蜜汁叉燒) – Mom thought the meat was a little dry and lean, and I agreed. I didn't expect Spanish Iberian pork here but something with a little fat would be nice.

Steamed shrimp dumpling with bamboo shoot (筍尖蝦餃皇) – Bite-sized har gow with a bit of bamboo shoot. Not sure if the small portion was intentional.

Steamed pork dumpling with flying fish roe (飛魚子燒賣) – Not the best presentation.

Steamed himematsutake mushroom dumpling (姬松茸素粉果) – Mom thought this was one of the few decent dim sum they had here but I thought a little too wet for me.

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

Baked chicken and mushroom pie (白汁磨菇雞粒批) – For me, this chicken mushroom puff and the beef tripe (which I didn't have a very good photo of) were the better dishes this afternoon. The rest probably won't make the cut for a hotel restaurant but I know they are on a budget when it's all-you-can-eat.

Traditional wok-fried rice vermicelli (家鄉炒米粉) – A little heavy-handed with salt and no "wok hei". I guess it's been sitting there and warmed for a while.

Mung bean soup with kelp (海帶綠豆沙) – Just two desserts on the menu. I wasn't in the mood for chilled hawthorn pudding so this was the only option.

I have to admit, I expected a lot more from a Chinese restaurant inside a 4-star hotel even when it's all-you-can-eat. Everything was just sub-par (but presentation was just horrible) from start to finish with service being the only bright spot for us. And to rub salt into the wound, the moment I saw diners walking around the dining room without their masks, I was thinking we might as well go to East Ocean or something of that caliber. At least, we're not spending $400 per head there.

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 3/F, Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 3721-7788

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily

Restaurant Petrus (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I am taking a couple of days off before September to clear my expiring annual leaves off the books. I was never a person known for planning ahead but months ago, I have already made lunch plans for my first off-day and it's going to be at Chef Uwe's Restaurant Petrus. Why Petrus? I was really amazed with their summer menu when I paid them a visit in April. Let's see if their autumn menu is nearly as good.



But even without the exquisite food menu here, this harbour view alone will always lure me back for more!

A nice collection of homemade bread was served with the usual lightly salted butter made of buttermilk from France to kick off the meal.

It was accompanied by the usual amuse here, cheese gougère filled with runny cream cheese which I thought was slightly truffled.

Tuna Loin – I had no idea what this dish would look like so when it eventually showed up, I was pleasantly surprised with its contemporary presentation.

It was a very busy dish with wonderfully balanced flavors. The almost raw tuna loin was perfectly matched with the clean flavors of heirloom tomatoes, finished off beautifully with a light sauce vierge made with chopped tomatoes, cherry and tuna belly. To add to the great depth of flavors, was the white peach "gelatin" which exploded with some nice sweetness to balance off the acidity and last but no least, the chanterelle mushrooms for some contrasting textures. Very nice start!

Obsiblue Prawn – I was expecting something raw here but these Obsiblue prawns came perfectly cooked.

Another nicely plated dish with the prawns sitting on a bed of finely-diced celery. There was great depth of flavors here starting with the sweetness of the Obsiblue prawns, matched superbly by the earthy notes of the watercress emulsion and the sharp acidity from the hint of lemon.

Boston Lobster – A minimalist dish with half of a lobster, a stuffed zucchini flower and a dash of lobster foam. A simple yet elegant presentation.

The charcoal grilled Boston lobster came with this perfectly bouncy texture and there were the diced zucchini and nuts on the bottom to add some nice crunch to the bite. 

The zucchini flower tempura was stuffed with minced prawns and delicate scallop mousse. Not bad.

Lychee – I was blown away by the chamomile dessert last time around so my expectation was a bit high coming in.....

This was another masterpiece. Hidden in the centre of the Oolong tea foam were Oolong brulee, lychee compote and a very refreshing raspberry sorbet. Just a perfect dessert for the summer.

My mignardises were again mini chocolate tart and freshly baked madeleine which felt like it's just come out of the oven.

It was another amazing meal at Michelin starred Restaurant Petrus. I had to wait a little longer than expected for my table but it was well worth the waiting time.

 

Food Rating: 7.6/10

Price: $$$$
Address: 56/F, Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Admiralty
Tel: +852 2820-8590
Website: Link
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:30pm - 11:00pm daily