Peking Garden

Basement, Alexandra House, Des Voeux Rd, Central
Visited 5th November 2008

Friends passing through Hong Kong demands a Chinese meal in Central and for a change we tried Peking Garden. The original branch of this restaurant is in Star House in TST, but this rather fancy looking place in the basement of the rather fancy Alexandra House. It really is beautifully decorated with bright coral (yes coral - not red, not pink, but coral) tablecloths and napkins, plates with classical Chinese images and rather snazzy wine glasses.

The highlights of the Peking inspired menu include beggars chicken and delicious looking Peking duck. The three of us couldn't face a whole duck and didn't order the chicken in advance so instead we went for beef with spring onions, chicken with walnuts, cabbage with Hunan ham and my friends have-to-order-every-time-favourite sweet and sour pork (and to be fair the tender pork was tasty and not overly sweet). I enjoyed the beef and richly flavoured cabbage, though I did think the chicken and walnut dish was a touch too dry. Having dinner with two girls meant that we didn't just order dessert, we ordered three desserts. The coconut jelly (which came with a cherry on top) and baked tapioca custard were both good, but the home banana fritters were the highlight. Finished at the table using cream soda to harden the toffee outside these bad-boys really were delicious. Peking Garden's has a decent winelist and we enjoyed a bottle of rose from one of my favourite Yarra Valley producers, Dominique Portet.

Peking Garden is good, very good. The setting is impeccable and the service ultra professional. I really enjoyed our meal and though it good value considering its location and the high quality; our food came to under $200 each and all the dishes we ordered cost less than $100. There is also an element of showmanship Peking Garden that is perfect to wow guests; the girls loved the banana fritters being finished at the table and the noodle making demonstration that happened half way through the evening was really impressive. I can't recommend Pecking Garden enough and I'll certainly be coming back soon to try the Peking Duck.