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2018-09-02
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This post isn't about the food. It's about the appalling service we received at this restaurant. For the short form summary, scroll down to the end. The long storyFirst time visitor with my wife and baby, and with another family who kindly booked the table for us for a dim sum lunch. Excluding our baby (who dididn't eat), we had 4 adults and 2 children in the party. As we entered the building and into the foyer, there was no sign as to where the restaurant was, we had to ask the security guard w
The long story
First time visitor with my wife and baby, and with another family who kindly booked the table for us for a dim sum lunch. Excluding our baby (who dididn't eat), we had 4 adults and 2 children in the party.
As we entered the building and into the foyer, there was no sign as to where the restaurant was, we had to ask the security guard who guided us down the corridor connecting to the foyer. Admittedly there was a large sign next to the lift, but you wouldn't be able to see it from the front glass doors, and 30 metres down a dark corridor.
The illuminated sign next to the lift, and additional A4 posters in the lift boast about the restaurant being a Michelin star restaurant. But as soon as you enter, it makes you wonder how such recommendation was given by the prestigious international food guide. The look and feel of this restaurant is no different from any other 1980s or 1990s banquet restaurant - and it hadn't looked like the decor had been updated to reflect that it's 2018. The place was functional, and the tables were well packed in to fit as many people as possible.
During our 2 hour stay, we were served by two people, one at the start, the other midway through. We arrived at midday on Sunday (day of posting), and only 3 tables out of about 25 were occupied at this stage (the restaurant seemed to be split off into another large section). At the table we were given a stack of multi-coloured menus to pick from, all in Chinese. Our friends didn't read Chinese, and my Chinese is limited, save for the usual dim sum courses. We were also given 2 other menu booklets, and before we could ask the waitress about any recommendations, she disappeared. It took another 5 minutes to grab her.
Several dishes in the main booklet were 'not available' (not even an explanation as to whether they had sold out, but just 'not available', which could be interpreted as, we can't be bothered to prepare those anymore). The most obvious 'not available' dish was the deep fried tarot dumpling, which any banqueting restaurant worth their salt, would sell. She was also on a mission to sell us several dishes that the group as a whole weren't interested in, such as the char siu, and wouldn't take no for an answer at least 4 times. She also stated that the restaurant doesn't sell stuffed sharp tipped peppers (which my wife asked for) and would we settle for some char siu! Reluctantly we said yes, if they don't sell it, but she came back a few minutes later and said that they do sell stuffed sharp tipped peppers!
Given the confusing array of menus, we asked her to write down our order for us . All the while she was trying to rush us with our ordering, and kept threatening to walk away if we even breathed in between calling out dishes - at this stage, the restaurant hadn't yet started to fill. She promptly made one more appearance 5 minutes later, to sell us some unappetising food on a tray that she seemed desperate to offload. Then, poof! She disappeared.
Our food came in piecemeal fashion and with large gaps of time.
During this time, a new waiter comes along to serve tables around us. We realised there were a couple of dishes missing that we asked the waitress to take down, and asked the new waiter to follow up our order. One was chilli oil dumplings, the other conpoy stir fried e-fu noodles. He disappeared for 10 minutes and comes back with a print out of our order. The dumplings were on the list, but not the e-fu noodles. We highlighted this to the waiter and asked him to take down a few more items, to which he gives us another stack of menus. All the while, the expression on his face was, 'why are you inconveniencing me? Just eat your food and go'. This was pretty much the attitude he had with us, half turning each time he arrived at our table, as though he was about to walk off midway through our conversation.
At the end of the meal, he states that there is free dessert for our party of 6, either Tong Yuen sweet dumplings in sugar cane soup, or red bean paste soup. We ordered 5 Tong Yuen dumplings and 1 red bean paste. He comes back with 6 red bean paste soups and says, 'no tong yuen available'!
And to top that off, he still missed another of our extra dish orders, and in usual banqueting restaurants, you could hear the immense clatter of plates and dishes thrown in the trolley of dirty dishes.
The food? It was generally ok, but nothing that overwhelmed us to earn praise. The highlight were the deep fried spring rolls, surpisingly good, the baked pork char siu pineapple buns tasted a lot better than they looked (if you want top notch char siu pineapple buns, head down to Tim Ho Wan above HK Express Airport). The rest of the food we ordered was no better, no worse than you'll find in any common banqueting restaurant across the length and breadth of Hong Kong. But no way does this restaurant justify a Michelin star or other recommendation, nor their inflated prices, particularly with the sub-standard service received. The owners need to retrain their staff, motivate them, pay them more (to reflect the overpriced menu), and should have at an extra 2-3 waiters. Many of the staff were in their 50s and frankly looked jaded and weary from having probably worked at the same restaurant for many years. And the whole place sorely needs a facelift, a full on makeover by a F&B consultant.
Whilst it's possible to book a table, the subsequent appalling service drags the whole experience down to nothing more than a regular cha chaang teng. At least with the latter, there's no service fee or pretences of what they are.
The short story - summary:
- Incomprehensible menu system, and staff giving attitude when you ask them to write down the food for you
- Dishes missed out from order list, and some not turning up at all
- Food not to the standard of Michelin.
- Service was painfully slow (lack of staff)
- Quality of service not congruent with the prices charged (high), nor the supposed Michelin star
- Decor and overall ambience is much like any other standard Cantonese banqueting/seafood restaurant
What other Michelin restaurant expects you to write your own order down and charges you 10% service charge!
Also, the average per head may seem low for dim sum, and Michelin star restaurant at that, but of our party of 6, two were children aged 7-8, so we didn't order in volume. Most dishes were $45-65.
Avoid.
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