Dining
Experiences in Hong Kong
I was extremely excited about going to
Hong Kong after our amazing stay in Beijing. I had heard incredible things
about Hong Kong from tons of people, and my girlfriend's father had been raving
about it the whole time we were in Beijing. I had heard about how the Hong Kong
Chinese view food and was really excited to see just how amazing of a foodie
town Hong Kong was. It didn’t disappoint. They love food! The city is extremely
modern, very westernized. I loved every second of our trip there, and I would
go back in a heartbeat. We ate like kings the entire time we were there,
probably a huge part of the reason why I loved it so much.
The hotel in Hong Kong was really
spectacular. It is the number one hotel of the Intercontinental brand, and for
good reason. We were staying on the club floor, so we had access to the club
lounge. They served breakfast every morning, high tea in the afternoons, and
happy hour each evening. It was absolutely knocked out. The service was
incredible, the food was tasty, and the view was superb.
The lounge however is not the only
viable option for food inside the Intercontinental that sits directly on
Victoria Harbour. The hotel is home to two Michelin star restaurants including
Yan Toh Heen, a traditional Chinese restaurant in Cantonese style. The GM of
the hotel invited us there one night, his treat, so we ventured in and enjoyed
a meal fit for a king. It started off with bottles of Chandon Shiraz, a really
delicious surprise. Apparently the wine scene in Hong Kong used to be crap, but
its improved tremendously in the last ten years. I finally got to have my Peking
duck here, and what better place to have it then one of the best Cantonese
style restaurants in Asia. They brought the duck out with its head and neck on,
crispy as can be. They show it to you, and then the guy begins carving off
pieces of the crispy skin. They serve a piece of skin on a small flour tortilla
with scallions, peppers, and a plum sauce similar to a hoisin sauce. Talk about
heaven, this was incredibly delicious. The crunch was unmatched, and the
sweetness from the sauce was in sharp contrast to the salty nature of the duck
skin. After the skin was served, the duck was taken in the back, and we were
served four other courses including a green bean dish, some melt in my mouth
wagyu beef, and some fried rice. Each course was better than the next, and
finally the duck came back out. It was minced in a bowl, and served lettuce
wrap style. Again the duck was succulent and only enhanced by the fruity
deliciousness that was the plum sauce. For dessert they came out with bowls of
jade that were billowing smoke from the dry ice underneath. The presentation
was phenomenal. The taste was as good as it gets for Chinese desserts. It was
like a mango pudding with a bit thinner of a consistency. I was truly blown
away by my first experience with a Michelin star restaurant. The service, food
and ambiance are all unmatched, and I can honestly say I have only ever had all
three that good once or twice before in my life.
A quick word about the Harbourside, a
buffet and sit-down restaurant in the lobby of the hotel. We went there the
first day we got to Hong Kong. I ordered an Indonesian dish I had never seen on
a menu before called nasi goreng. It was a fried rice dish, topped with chicken
and beef satay, a fried egg, and prawns. Everything about it was superbly
delicious! The rice was incredibly flavorful, the chicken and beef satays were
super tender and had delightfully sweet and savory sauces covering them.
To be continued...
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