Video
Read full review
2012-06-09
566 views
OK, so my wife's parents were visiting and I thought we should take them to Maxim's. Now, I had never been there before, so that was one reason I wanted to go. A second was that I had heard it was good and that it was a good place for tourists. Third, I'm a big fan of both Jade Garden and House of Beijing, two other Maxim's restaurants that have locations in Citywalk. And finally, Maxim's is right by the Sam Tung Uk museum, which is also touristy, if only moderately interesting.That being said,
That being said, I didn't find the experience all that satisfying. I can't say that it's Maxim's fault-- but there were language barriers. At other dim sum places (like Jade Garden) you get little paper menus to check off what you want. Maxim's still does the push-cart thing, which is big in the US-- but of course, there's no language issues in the US. Mostly you can just point at things you want, but there were a couple of times where they came by with a cart where you couldn't see anything and they wouldn't show you anything except signs, which were written in Chinese. There were other minor issues too-- I think we got two dishes free, because they forgot to write them down on our card, but I couldn't really explain that to anyone.
From subsequent reading-around, it seems like not all Maxim's are created equal. The one in Central has computerized images of dishes on the trolleys, and English AND Chinese. That's just not true at the Tsuen Wan location. Here's what we got though:
Rice sheet rolls: They were a little crispy from frying, which I liked, but also a little bland-- not much filling.
Sesame balls: Sometimes these have bean paste in them. Not this time
Shrimp dumplings: What can I say? It's a prawn in a dumpling skin.
Fried crab rolls: These were actually great. Unfortunately, they were a little lukewarm.
Shrimp wontons: I like fried things as much as the next person, but there wasn't much going on here.
Cha siu buns: Classic. And tasty.
Siu mei dumplings: Meh.
At the end, I recommend going to Jade Garden instead. Maxim's says they have "over 100 dim sum dishes" but I didn't see much more than 15. The push-cart thing is bothersome if you speak only English, and none of our dishes were as hot and fresh as I would have wanted them.
Post