Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Summer Palace @ Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong

Cuisine: Chinese (Hong Kong / Cantonese)
Price: HKD675 per person without alcohol (what we paid for)
Visited: 27 September 2013
Food: 5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Value for money: 3/10
Services: 6/10

Here comes another Chinese fine dining with award of 2 Michelin Stars "Summer Palace @ Island Shangri-la, Hong Kong". First thing I have to say is disappointment. Not even sure if I had ordered wrong menu or something. Anyway, I just think such prestigious restaurant should perform so much better for all dishes.

Summer Palace is located on the 5th floor of Pacific Place./ Island Shangri-la. To come here, it is pretty easy, not to mention taxi of course. Pacific Place is connected directly to MTR Admiralty Station and travelling by tram can also be pretty convenient. The dining is kind of grand and elegant in the sense of Chinese tradition with red and gold theme. Again, we were not so impressed with the kind of service in fine Chinese restaurant. We suppose that with this price tag, the service should be clearly none or less fabulous with helpful and knowledgeable staffs.

Summer Palace @ Island Shangri-la

traditional and elegant entrance

big dining room

Anyway, let's get into food. For our starters, we had Baked King Prawn in Truffle Pesto (5/10) and Steamed Fresh Crab Claw with Winter Melon in Egg White and Mashed Yunnan Ham (7/10). Cooking skill and quality of ingredients are no doubt. Prawn was cooked to near perfection with soft but meaty texture whilst the aroma and the overall touch of crab claw was cool with fresh and firm crab meat. I like the cool touch of winter melon with egg white which can be really good for Summer dish. However, the taste of king prawn was a bit plain. The East meets West magic of king prawn dish did not quite work for us.

Baked King Prawn in Truffle Pesto (HKD180)

Steamed Fresh Crab Claw with Winter Melon in Egg White and Mashed Yunnan Ham (HKD200)

For the more serious and heavier dishes, first of the three was Deep-fried Crispy Chicken (7/10). The chicken was pretty tender, juicy, and delicious. Skin was really crisp which brought the wonderful touch apart from tender meat. Nevertheless, this dish can be a little oily in which I would recommend anyone to have this with plain rice rather than just pure chicken.

Next was Stewed Spare Ribs in a Clay Pot (5/10). Ok, this was nice but did not meet the expectation of Michelin Star awarded restaurant. It tasted like delicious home-cooking food really. Well, the pork was tender I have to admit. But still not spectacular. The flavour of this one was thick and rich. Again, plain rice is highly recommended to go with the dish.

Lastly, we ended our meal with Fried Rice with Minced Beef and Egg White in Preserved Shrimp Paste (3/10). Guess what, my fried-rice is perhaps similar to this one at Summer Palace. Come on, anyone would not expect soaky fried rice, wouldn't they. The overall taste was ok but the texture and mouth feel just ruined the whole dish.

Well, we would prabably not return to Summer Palace @ Island Shangri-la for the second time, unless we are really bored with other restaurants on Hong Kong island. (^^)

Deep-fried Crispy Chicken (HKD230 for half)

Stewed Spare Ribs in a Clay Pot (HKD175)

Fried Rice with Minced Beef and Egg White in Preserved Shrimp Paste (HKD180)

Summer Palace @ Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong
Level 5 Island Shangri-la Hong Kong
Pacific Place
Supreme Court Road
Central
Hong Kong

Open Hours: Daily from 11:30pm - 03:00pm for lunch and 06:30pm - 11:00pm for dinner

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