January 20, 2013

• Lunching in HKG – Mom frequently treats me and my brother for a nice lunch. This time around the place of choice will be Lung King Heen (View of the Dragon 龍景軒). This is a top rated Michelin restaurant, with 3 stars (Fourth year in a row), making this somewhat like the French Laundry of Hong Kong. Lung King Heen is located on the fourth floor of the posh Four Seasons Hotel on Hong Kong Island, and connected to the ultra high end International Finance Center – IFC shopping complex. Back in 2009 , we booked a table for lunch here. We returned for lunch in 2010 , and also in December 2011 as well. Lung King Heen was properly decked out with silver-leaf ceilings, glossy dark wood floors, immaculately-pressed linens and elaborate floral arrangements. Coupled with magnificent views of the sprawling skyline, it certainly looked the part. The staff were also appropriately knowledgeable and friendly (even more so when it transpired that I spoke Cantonese), although the noticeable push of the higher ticket items when ordering did irk a little. The food here is all about contemporary Cantonese classics, without frills, just executed really really well. Helmed by Executive Chef Chan Yan Tak, the first Chinese chef to receive three Michelin stars, the dishes on Lung King Heen’s intricately designed menu give traditional Chinese dishes a big nudge forward.

  

  The interior, modern and spacious, with a large window overlooking the Hong Kong harbour makes a great setting for a wonderful meal…..
  

  Interesting floral arrangements…..
  

  Tea pot comes with a mini-warmer, very thoughtful…..
  

  I like the napkin holder…..
  

  The dim sum menu…..
  

  Steamed dumplings with vegetables…..
  

  Steamed rice rolls with lobster in sweet bean n’ soy sauce…..
  

  Baked BBQ pork buns with pine nuts…..
  

  An inside peek of the BBQ pork bun…..
  

  Baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken, the puff was buttery, warm and light, and the small abalone on top was packed with flavours and had an attractively chewy texture. The dim sum was then glazed in a sweet, light sauce…..
  

  Deep fried frog legs…..
  

  the frog legs are garnished with fried anchovies……
  

  Steamed Shanghainese pork dumplings with scallops, Lung King Heen is rather famous for their Steamed Shanghainese Pork Dumplings with Scallops – not for the actual dumpling itself, but for the adorable little rack which the pork dumpling is held in. The wrapper was thin and smooth (note for my non-Chinese friends: wrappers for Shanghainese pork dumplings are meant to be thin, whereas wrappers for other types of dumplings, such as Cantonese shrimp dumplings, can be thicker), and the pork and scallops inside the dumplings were smooth and flavourful. The inventive spark of this dumpling was in the addition of scallops – scallops will not be found in traditional Shanghainese dumplings.
  

  Mini greens in vegetable consommé…..
  

  Shanghainese style spare ribs with egg noodles…..
  

  Steamed Rice wrapped in lotus leaf…..
  

  Petite-fours after the meal, sesame puffs and coffee pudding…..
  

  It was a delicious and satisfying dim sum luncheon, with splendid food, warm, attentive staff and a magnificent sea view, Lung King Heen is simply a notch above other Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. I sure hope to visit this place again soon!

  Lung King Heen | Podium 4, Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, 8 Finance Street, Central | 3196 8880 |

  After lunch, we stopped by Petite Amanda Patisserie, which is tucked away in a corner in between the Apple Store and Starbucks. To be honest, it looks more like a counter than a pastry shop and is directly opposite to 2 lifts which is a little weird. Petite Amanda does have seating but it looks like the mall manager has just given them some dead space within the mall rather than a dedicated enclosure. I suppose that’s the sacrifice one has to make to get the top-notch location of IFC.

  Petite Amanda is owned by ex-model Amanda Strang. Amanda is half French half Chinese and as far as I know, in 2005, she put a hold on her modeling career and jetted back to Paris to enroll at the famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary arts school. She did her first internship at Caprice with chef Ludovic Douteau (now executive pastry chef at The Peninsula). After Caprice, she interned at renowned pastry house Ladurée. And after Ladurée, she travelled to the boutique shop of Jacques Genin. It was at Genin’s where she learned the fundamentals of running one’s own pastry business. So, around Summer in 2011, Armanda S. started the Petite Amanda Patisserie…..

  

  

  

  

  

  Amarina (lower left), pistachio mousse and cherry jelly, with a mini cherry macaron on top. Mont Blanc (lower right), chestnut jelly and vanilla mousse…..
  

  Mango tart (right) with sweet mango slices over a crispy tart filled with creamy custard, Delice aux Framboises (left), white chocolate mousse underneath a raspberry coat…..
  

  Overall, I find the food quality decent, with room for improvement in flavor matching – I noticed the chef likes to use light, refreshing flavors, with too much gelatin in the mousse. One notable point is that Amanda did graduate from le Cordon Bleu superieure in 3rd place. Other chefs in Hong Kong had also mentioned that Amanda worked very hard during her internship at Caprice (there is no secret in this industry, I guess!), which is something worth-respecting when many other celebrities treat culinary school as a pastime rather than a real education.

  Petite Amanda | Shop 2096, Podium Level 2, IFC Mall, 1 Harbour View Street, Central | http://www.petiteamanda.com/

  • 1:31 am
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