silverkris168

I think you mean a Cantonese speaking local. The most widely spoken Chinese dialect in Hong Kong is Cantonese, although these days more and more locals can speak Mandarin. And as you've said, a Mainland Chinese visitor may not always get good treatment given the unfortunate but widespread HK attitude of arrogance towards their "northern cousins".

Frequentflyer99

China Club. Private members club but the swankier Conciereges can get tables. Quite an experience, especially on the evenings they have a Shanghainese singer. Food so-so but definitely an experience. If you can get in make sure you see the whole building inc the Long March bar.

Frequentflyer99

Strongly disagree as far as ties are concerned !! After many visits to HK on business, I have now finally got myself into the habit of NOT wearing a tie, as one invariably looks totally out of place, unless it is a formal business event. You will be hard put to find a local (Chinese or Gweilo) ever wearing a tie unless they absolutely have to. Apart, of course, from the Hong Kong Club, but that is a different story ...

Cornroaster

Where is this located in Hong Kong? What is the cost for dinner for two? Thanks for any other info, as this sounds interesting.

kiwifruit

No doubt you can get some great food in many of the hotel restaurants already mentioned but I personally prefer to get away from hotels when dining and try and find something with a bit more local ambience. My choice would be the Peak Lookout on Victoria Peak ( www.thepeaklookout.com.hk ) , a colonial style building with a lovely outdoor court yard with sweeping views down to Aberdeen and Lamma Island. Eclectic menu inlcuding cantonese, indian, western and fusion cuisine.

If you really want an authentic experience, try Rainbow Seafood restaurant on Lamma island. Its a 30 min ferry ride from either Kowloon or Central and if you contact the restaurant beforehand they provided complimentary transfers in each direction. Fantastic authentic cuisine with great ambience I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed. ( www.rainbowrest.com.hk)

pegasus8228

they are snobbish over many cantonese speakers as well.

it is not about the language you speak. Yung Kee is just plain indiscriminate snobbery, with inconsistent food/service quality.

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regarding china club, the food is really mediocre, i would rather go to Maxim's
IMHO the decoration is very fake and ugly, i don't like it. but that is my own opinion. i guess taste for 'art' is very individual and i am not an artist

Jet2K

I guess the diversed preference means that everyone gets something different that they can really appreciate

I may actually have a little more leisure time in Hong Kong than first expected, so might just give Gaddi a try, as I will also be staying at the Pen for a few nights.

Thanks for the tip re: Lucas Carton, sounds like a place that my family and I would definitely enjoy when we are in France this summer.

MegatopLover

Jus stumbled across this thread. Somewhere way back when someone asked about the Verandah at Repulse Bay. I would heartily recommend it for Sunday Brunch. Mr. Megatop and I went for Brunch on the last Sunday in May 2004, and it was out-of-this-world! In an old-school colonial setting, it has excellent quality Asian and Western food in abundance served buffet style, followed by an a la carte entree, a wonderful filet mignon in my case. Although they seemed to have several Japanese tour groups, it's also definitely special-occasion dining, and reservations were essential. That morning another guest at the Pen asked about brunch at the Verandah, and the concierge had to explain that it was fully booked. I made our res'y several weeks in advance. We had a delightful morning, then went to the races at Sha Tin (complete opposite sides of HK, but both were available only on Sunday so we had no choice).

We also had dinner at Gaddi's. It's definitely Old School French, particularly in terms of ambiance. The food was quite good, but you can get better Old School French in New York. In a solid week at the Pen, Gaddi's was the only thing even slightly disappointing. The Verandah at Repulse Bay, in comparison, was probably the single best brunch I've ever had anywhere.

HKTraveler

Wow, didn't see this thread till just now and will try to address various posts from before:

Sunday brunch are very popular in HK as family events and reservations in advance are mandatory.

Gaddi's is a good choice but it's regular menu is decent but not worth a trip to HK. On the other hand, it's chef menu is. Not the best meal I have ever had since those would probably be French Laundry or Per Se but it is way up there. Throw in the tour of the kitchen before hand and I'd say this is an unforgettable experience! Reservations can be hard to come by as well and you can always ask them to give you the chef's table menu in the dining room outside (as opposed to a table inside the kitchen). Since you are from the bay area, for comparison's sake, I would put the chef's table at Gaddi's above Fifth Floor or Gary Danko.

Yung Kee is somewhat overrated even for the locals. The only way to get good food is to go with a regular and go up to the higher floors (think it is fourth). Don't think they let random walk-in tourists up there though since it is usually pretty booked.

For best cantonese food, I would recommend Tang Court in the Langham Hotel instead. Another good place is Fook Lam Moon or Fu Lam.

Amigo was one of the better restaurants in town but that's at least 10-15 years ago if not longer. Think the food is OK but I have had much better in HK. My parents enjoy the place immensely but I think it is OK. But you can't compare it with French Laundry, probably not even Fifth Floor.

Petrus is good. I would put it between the regular menu and chef's table at Gaddi's.

For italian, the best is probably Ciprianni in the old bank of china building but that's a private club. A good concierge or a Amex centurion can help u there. Failing that, my fav is Toscana in the Ritz Carlton.

Please do let us know how it goes.

Swiss Tony

Well, we ate at Yan Toh Heen in the IC and it was nothing short of excellent. The Wagyu Beef in Golden Basket was worth every cent - delicious! Window tables give an interesting perspective of the harbour, facing essentially East. Service was also worthy of note - very welcoming. I was concerned that they might be a bit stuffy and although we were initially steered towards the set menus, a quick mention that we felt there was just too much food there was received with a smile. The waiter was very honest and in the end with his help we ordered just the right amount of food, so an excellent meal for two cost around HK$1000!

Thanks all for your help!

number_6

Thank you for reporting back, it is nice to get feedback on this forum. The price was remarkably cheap (I never manage to get out of the IC for less than USD 100 per person) but it reflects a balanced and well chosen menu. Rarely do I recommend hotel restaurants or am impressed with them (and when I do, it is things like Ducasse in NYC); but the IC in Hong Kong really does have remarkably good food, service and ambiance. Best in the world calibre, along with the Pen and a few others. I never ate there when it was the Regent, but I'm told the restaurants were even better then, pre-IC. But more expensive (of course Hong Kong was really booming in those years).

Swiss Tony

Might be worth adding we didn't have wine - just a couple of beers. Can easily see how you could rack up US$100 a head, mind you. Infact I think all the set meals would push you past that level straight away.

Jet2K

Just got back from my HK trip, and unfortunately missed going to Happy Valley and Amigos However, since we stayed at both the IC HK and the Pen, ended up having meals at Yu's for seafood, and Spring Moon for dinner.

The view at Yu's is similar to our suite at the IC, mostly east view rather than directly toward Central. I was originally expecting a somewhat more Chinese/Asian style menu, and was actually pleasantly surprised by the more international offering. (By the way, I do like Asian style seafood, just that I have been attending a few different Chinese banquet during my trip, and was ready for something a little different). We tried their set menu for lunch, and it was actually quite good, plus a few à la carte items. Apparently, Yu's have a new Chef, Nicholas, recently from Australia just four months ago. We had a pleasant chat with him at our table, and he was quite proud and patriotic of his use of many Australian ingreidents. They made a copy of their lunch and dinner menus for me, and if any one is interested, I can post it on line along with a few pictures of the dishes. I would certainly return to Yu's again even if I am not staying at the hotel.

While Spring Moon at the Pen has no view at all, the service and the food more than made up for it. Very very attentative, but never in the way; even able to present a proper Chinese tea service, a very pampered meal experience in deed. Instead of ordering the set menus, we picked individual dishes from the regular menu. Top notch ingredients, good recipes with great execution. Probably one of the top three Chinese meals I ever had. I will certainly be back again. I have the menu also, if anyone is interested. Make sure that you have a reservation for dinner, since Spring Moon's is a quite popular banquet choice, and with room for only 12 large tables in the main dining area, they often close the restaurant for private parties.

We also had dimsum at Lei Garden over at Central. Highly recommended in a local Chinese language gourmet dining magazine. It is located at the International Finance Centre (IFC), Hong Kong's tallest office building, and the site of the Four Seasons hotel opening later this year. Lei Garden is very busy with the lunch crowd and reservations are essential; they have two seatings, 11:30am and 1pm, and they made sure that the guests know that they need to finish by 12:50 or so, and apologize profusely for needing to honor the reservations at 1:00pm. Good quality, but limited variety of dimsum, very good service and ambiance. I would probably return again if in Central for a business lunch.

For those of you that know what a "Little basket bun" (xiao lung bao) is, I had the best I ever had at a restaurant in TST, The King's lodge, http://www.kings-lodge.com (I have no affliliation, just a very very happy customer) Ground Floor, Oriental Centre, 67-71 Chatham Road South, TST. I think it is on the northwest corner of Chatham Road and Mody Road.

They roll the skin from fresh dough right at the display windows at the front of the restaurant, the buns are deliciously filled with soup and other fillings, and yet the skin does not rip at all. Think of the best shark-fin dumpling you have ever had, and this is better! This is by far the best I have ever had, much much better than the ones at Koi Palace near SFO, which was probably one of the best anywhere in US and Canada. Thinking of this actually made me wide awake at the wee hours here in the west coast, and this restaurant is probably worth a special trip to Hong Kong just to eat there.

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number_6

Great info about kings lodge -- a place that I have never heard of before and wouldn't have found outside of FT, but will definitely try on my next trip to HKG if I have time (tend to be very time constrained, thus my predilection for the Pen/IC circuit for food -- not such a bad fate, after all).

Speaking of SFO, I am a big fan of the AA bakery on Stockton. Not quite as good as the best in HKG, but very close and very good (I've rerouted to get a stopover in SFO just to get to AA). A neighbourhood chinese bakery, but their egg custard tarts are to die for.

PT22064

Actually, the correct (pinyin) spelling is xiao lung bao. Xiao means small and bao means bun. However, I always thought lung meant dragon. Of course, Chinese pronunciation is very subtle, and my Chinese is not terribly good; so it is quite possible that I may just have misunderstood all these years.