North Garden Restaurant

1-2/F 249 Des Voeux Rd, Sheung Wan
Visited 31st October 2009
My parents are visiting again and this time they haven't just bought their customary two friends along, but have somehow managed to fill my house with a total of six guests. The mandatory trip to Stanley was scheduled for Saturday and as pre-market substance we decided on yum cha in Central. I don't often eat on Hong Kong Island during the day so was a little unsure of where to head, until my girlfriend suggested North Garden Restaurant. The three story joint is apparently popular with the suits weekdays, but was a great choice for the weekend as it was relatively quiet.

The dim sum menu was pretty extensive, but didn't always follow the traditional formula as many items had been tweaked. We ordered up a tower of steamers and the majority of the food was delicious. The subtle steps away from the norm included water chestnuts with the beef rice paper rolls and mushrooms with the barbecued pork ones; cheese in the spring rolls, scallops in the xiǎolóngbāo (soup dumplings) and egg tarts made with purely egg whites. Though more traditional I also enjoyed the turnip cakes, roast pork and custard buns. The food was all served fresh and the smiles of satisfaction amongst my guests acknowledged its quality.

While I certainly wouldn't be as brash as to label this joint 'fusion' the menu is certainly interesting and offers enjoyable dim sum that’s a step removed from the traditional. The quality of food was good and the service friendly and efficient. Our bill came to $663 for the seven of us which seemed like excellent value as we were all both satisfied and stuffed. North Garden Restaurant ticked all the right boxes for me and is definitely worth considering for weekend brunch when it also comes up trumps as a haven from the crowds.

Maxims Palace

2/F, Lower Block, City Hall, Edinburgh Place, Central
Visited 4th August 2008
Yum Cha is on of the quintessential Hong Kong dinning experience and Maxims Palace is perhaps the quintessential place to indulge. A house full of guests keen for a day at Ocean Park called for a serious breakfast so we all tumbled into Maxims to prepare for the pandas, turbo drop and pushy hordes following stupid flags. Once located on prim harbour real estate, City Hall now seems to have been a little lost in the glamour of recent developments and land reclamation. Maxims however has lost none of its popularity and though we arrived early enough to avoid the queue, by the time we left there was a huge line waiting for tables. The decor is rather traditional with lots of red and dragons dominating the huge, high ceilinged room. For me though, a touch of class was derived from the gorgeous white porcelain tea-cups and a spectacular view of Victoria Harbour.

Dim Sum is still served by traditional trolley wielding waitress and we ordered up a tower of baskets that included all the usual favourites: sui mei, barbecue pork buns, steamed beef balls, shrimp dumplings, steamed pork ribs, rice paper rolls, spring rolls and fried squid. The quality of ingredients used was obvious and most of the food was top-notch. I was particularly impressed with the seafood and loved the prawn dumplings and sui mei. The selection of alcoholic drinks available is pretty limited, but seeing what time of day it was that didn't particularly bother us as we were happy with tea.

Maxims Palace really is a perfect place to bring guests to Hong Kong; the foods excellent, the view fantastic and the restaurant has a classic Hong Kong busy bordering on craziness, yet it's restrained with a hint of elegance. The service was fine and the staff were than happy to assist us ordering items that weren't rolling past on trolleys. Maxims' reputation ensures prices are above your street average yum cha joint with the dim sum ranging from $25 to $44. The bill for four of us came to $503, which isn't bad considering the restaurant's reputation, quality and location. Visiting Maxims seems a bit too much bother for Sunday yum cha - I'd prefer somewhere more local in both location and ambiance - but I'll certainly be taking visitors there in the future. Visit restaurant's strangely Chinese only website.

Royal Plaza Court Seafood Restaurant

Ground Floor, Sun Yuen Long Centre, Yuen Long
Visited 6th April 2008 It's somewhat strange that I haven't written up the Royal Plaza Court Seafood before as it's a place we regularly visit. Maybe I'm hesitant because of the bloody long name, maybe because the cleansing tea, nourishing buns and blotting fried treats of yum cha have a tendency to accompany a cloudy head or maybe I've just still got a thing about tying to evaluate Chinese food. Anyway the restaurant, known as King Fook to locals, is located in the shopping centre aside the Yuen Long West Rail Station. It's a huge place with all the charm you'd expect of a Chinese restaurant of this size; floral chair covers, hanging balls of fake roses, phoenix and dragon statues with real glowing eyes, tanks of flapping grouper and a yelling crowd, flapping more than the grouper.

Yum cha served on trolleys is pretty rare this far from the decadence of central and at Royal Plaza Court Seafood it's a simple matter of tick the box on the photocopied menu; simple of course if you read Cantonese. Luckily with the help of local colleagues I've been able to hack together translations on a battered, outdated old menu. We were with overseas visitors so enough of the classics were ordered to fill the six of us. Pork and custard steamed buns, rice paper rolls, prawn dumplings, beef balls, sui mei, turnip cakes, spring rolls, wontons, glutinous rice puffs, fried rice noodles, roast pork belly and a dumpling soup. Along side the mandatory tea, the boys got stuck into the bargain of the century; three Heineken beers for $18. Sometimes you drink beer at 11am simply because it's dirt cheap. The food was pretty good; the ingredients seemed of decent quality, it was served fresh and it wasn't too oily. Naomi's favourite are the BBQ pork rice paper rolls, I can't resist roast pork belly and the visitors were fans of the Char Siu Bao or steamed pork buns.

Royal Plaza Court Seafood isn't a bad place for yum cha. The prices are reasonable (always under $100 per person), the food is generally good and the vibrant atmosphere is reminiscent of something resembling a circus in Hello Kitty Land. Service is OK and simply waving something in the air, whether it's menu, bill or pork bun, usually gets good results. The lack of English can be a problem, though if the staff can't help there's usually a helpful punter nearby who can. Royal Plaza Court Seafood; big restaurant, big name and worth a look if you're in Yuen Long and hungering for adventure and yum cha.