This Michelin 2-star restaurant is formerly known as Yan Toh Heen. With the InterContinental closed and re-opened as Regent Hong Kong, this restaurant also re-opened and re-named to Lai Ching Heen, at the exact same location, offering diners a gorgeous view looking out to the Victoria Harbour.
The renovated décor still creates a premium, luxurious yet cozy and comfortable ambience, with the signature use of jade apparent throughout the restaurant, from the plates and utensils to the art pieces and the greenish hues on decorations.
The sommelier introduced a non-alcohol sparkling cocktail for us ($120) which had authentic peach flavours, not too sweet and was a nice refreshing aperitif. The complimentary Amuse Bouche was White Wood-Ear and Cucumber Salad 千島涼拌白木耳脆青瓜. Appetizing and pleasant starter.
Our first course was Barbecued Pork with Honey 蜜汁黑豚叉燒 ($320). A generous portion with two slabs of nicely grilled piece of pork, glistening with honey glaze. The pork was very tender, of the perfect proportion of fat and lean meat, and seeping with juice. I would like it to be a bit more charred but still one of the best Char Siu in town in my opinion.
For the soup, I had Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu and Vegetables 酸辣豆腐雜菜羮 ($210). This was a vegetarian dish, with a nice balance of spicy and sourness, plenty of tofu, corn, mushroom, and stem of choi sum for different bite in texture. A nice deviation from the traditional seafood version.
My wife had Double Boiled Fish Maw and Sea Whelk Soup 花膠燉響螺 ($320). The soup was rich in umami and delicious, with the sea whelk cooked to such tenderness that it showed the soup must have been double boiled for a long while. Unfortunately, the fish maw had a hint of weird notes though.
Next, we each had Golden Stuffed Crab Shell with Crabmeat 脆釀鮮蟹蓋 ($318). The golden-brown crust of the crab meat was highly appealing, with the chef using abundance of red and green crab meat together for the best taste and mouthfeel, together with onion and milk, to make a stuffing that was phenomenal in my opinion. I believe the dish was waiting to be served while we were finishing the soup, and if they could be enjoyed immediately from oven the experience would be even better.
The last time we visited Yan Toh Heen this dish was the most memorable, so we had again Golden Frog Legs with Spicy Salt 椒鹽田雞腿 ($288). Lightly battered before deep-frying, the frog legs had thin crisp surface, tender and flavourful. I also liked how the spicy salt did not over-dominate the taste, just giving that savoury touch to make everything perfect. Still good as always.
The Braised Garoupa Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onion in Soy Bean Paste 麵醬薑蔥生炆斑球 ($680) was served in clay pot, highly aromatic from the spring onion and ginger. The garoupa fillet was very good too, firm with a good bite, seasoned well with the bean paste adding some sweetness and an extra dimension of savoury. The dish also did not feel heavy or excessively oily. Fantastic.
Coming to the dessert, I had picked Baked Sago and Custard Cream Pudding & Taro Paste with Black and White Sesame Roll 奶皇焗西米布甸拼荔蓉鴛鴦芝麻卷 ($82). The pudding was appropriate in sweetness, with the custard less heavy than the traditional lotus paste, but personally I would prefer the latter. The sesame roll was good, and I found it a pity that this dim sum was increasingly difficult to find nowadays because of the tedious works.
My wife had Double Boiled Sweetened Dried Longan Soup with Japanese Ginkgo Nuts and Peach Gum 紅棗桃膠燉日本銀杏 ($88). Decent in taste and also appropriate on sweetness, the delicate and refined flavours were delicious, particularly suitable for the health-conscious who might worry about the sugar in the desserts.
There was also a complimentary Petits Fours including several of the dim sum like Hawthorn Roll, Sesame Ball with Custard, Mango Mochi, Lotus Paste Puff and Mini Mooncake. Delicate in appearance and good in taste, this assortment was a good combination of different traditional delicacies and a joyful completion of this wonderful dinner.
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