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2019-06-10
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Summary: I don’t get Man Mo Dim Sum at all, but it always has customers, so I guess the concept (European-Chinese food, in a relaxing environment encouraging long meals) works for a certain demographic. Don’t go if you’re expecting any sort of recognizable, reasonably priced dim sum. Go you want a chill place with an extensive drinks list to hang out at for a few hours, which also happens to serve decent if wildly overpriced Franco-Chinese small plates.My initial impression of Man Mo was that it
My initial impression of Man Mo was that it was overpriced fusion Asian food tailored to foreigners, that skates by on veneer and vibe… aaaand honestly it is exactly that.
I’ve been a bit back and forth on this review – the table next to us had very similar dishes to us and they seemed delighted with the food and the meal. I’ve been wondering if I’ve missed something, or there’s just something about the experience that I just didn’t get. Full disclosure, that table and almost every other customer at the restaurant were not Asian, and all the staff are French, but I can’t imagine our sense of taste differs so wildly. Anyway, I can only write reviews based on my opinion, but note that people do seem to enjoy this place, even if I clearly did not.
One note, the service is flawless, friendly and very conscientious with refilling our water (was a super-hot day). Food arrived out timely and steaming, as dumplings should.
Here’s the menu – I’ve only taken a picture of the food menu, but a fair summation of this place is how the food barely makes it to one page, where the drinks list is a full three pages.
It’s a small menu with a heavy focus on dumplings, and just a few rice and noodle dishes.Here’s what we had:
Tom Yam Soup Dumplings
Neither richly porky nor tom-yammy – I can only guess that these are tailored to non-spicy eaters? Doesn’t excuse the lack of flavour of course. Skin was also way too thick for soup dumplingsMushroom dumplings with parmesan sauce
Okay these look kinda dull, but I think they the best thing we ate. Rich, finely chopped mushrooms with a somewhat crunchy skin (do they pan fry the bottoms?), with a surprisingly well-matched parmesan (umami bomb) sauce. Are they worth $25 each though?Chinese Kefta Noodles
Noodles were nothing exciting but I heard the dumplings weren’t bad – note it’s not very large at all (even though it’s for “Sharing”), and can be perhaps split between 2, though one person could easily finish it.
French Peking Duck
Neither the waitress nor any of us could explain why these are “French” Peking Duck dumplings. Thought it might be a confit or something, but no, it’s just a dumpling (again with overly-thick skin) filled with dry duck with no sauce or soup inside. Bizarre and not good.Five Spices Lamb Bun
Of all the things we had, these were the only ones I might recommend as a somewhat value-dish. Xinjiang inspired lamb garnished with a soft cheese and lettuce/tomato, in a sort of bao. Nicely baked so that the baos are just a bit crunchy, the lamb was seasoned a bit mildly for me, but retained a lot of that gaminess I love in this kind of snack. These are about worth it at $105/3.
We also had the “Kung Fu” crème brulee (which was exactly just crème brulee) and the mango rice pudding (which was fine)
Overall, I didn't like Man Mo Dim Sum very much. We paid $750 for the three of us, but none of us were full, and i just didn't want to waste any more money. You should expect a full meal here to be 300-400$ each with one round of drinks. While some of the dumpling variations are kind of interesting, it misses more than hits, and is laughably overpriced (HKD 115 for three duck dumplings?). At the price, I'd expect each dish to have standout flavor combinations and ingredients; except for the mushroom dumplings, they just didn't. I regret we didn’t try the various cheese dumplings (Reblochon dumplings hmmm), but for a dumpling-focused restaurant, the skins were far too thick, especially on the bottoms. As a result, the soup dumplings came across chewy and doughy, taking away from the fillings. This is surprising given the chefs here apparently worked at Din Tai Fung previously. Man Mo’s setting is pleasant for an afternoon drink or after-dinner nightcap, and I can imagine people chilling here with drinks and a couple plates of dumplings as a snack. That said, Blue Supreme and Dandy’s Organic are on the same street, and both have a lot more to offer, at far better prices. Give this one a miss.
One final note somewhat unrelated to the food that you can/should ignore:
I’ve been wondering why this place bothers me as much as it does, beyond the blah $100 dumplings. I think it’s a bit more insidious: I’m not a big fan of how this non-Asian-run place offers nominally Asian-inspired dishes (e.g. Tom Yam soup dumplings, French Peking Duck, Kung-Fu Crème Brulee), but then serves up lifeless, flavorless shadows of what the original dishes are (don’t even talk about any innovative fusion version). I’m aware that this constitutes only half the menu and the other half is made up of non-Asian fillings that could be Polish but for the consistency of the dumpling skins. Nevertheless, the pervading Asian-ness of the restaurant is undeniable.
Thus, does my irritation stem from the fact that it succeeds despite it being a mediocre and overpriced Asian restaurant, while not being Asian-owned (owner is Swiss) nor remotely aimed at an Asian audience? Would a locally-owned restaurant that succeeded while offering the same meh food (at the same prices), bother me in the same way? Conversely, if it was a bad Swiss/French restaurant that succeeded in spite of itself, would I care at all? I am wondering if I have at last become one of the #1stworldproblems cultural appropriation police.
That said, in good faith, I'm sure that some of its customers enjoy Man Mo’s cuisine at face value, and who am I to say otherwise. I would just hate to know that Man Mo’s heavily non-Asian customer base pays more for less-than-good cuisine because the restaurant is approachable, comfortable, and has a great drinks list, rather than because they genuinely enjoyed the food. If that’s the case, then it’s a failure of service, marketing and imagination at “better” restaurants, and Man Mo has done well to exploit that gap in the market.
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