Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Yue, the Chinese restaurant at City Garden Hotel in Hong Kong, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a lavish 10 course banquet showcasing 10 classic Cantonese cooking techniques. The dishes will be featured on the eatery’s menu from 15 June to 31 July 2018.

image-of-food-critics-at-Hong-Kong-Chinese-restaurant — Journalists, travel bloggers, and food critics attend the 10th anniversary dinner at Yue, the Chinese restaurant at City Garden Hotel in Fortress Hill on Hong Kong Island.

Hong Kong Restaurant News

Yue, which is one of Hong Kong’s best Chinese restaurants, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special menu featuring 10 dishes prepared using 10 different cooking techniques.

The menu features dishes prepared using the following culinary methods: pan-frying, slow-braising, steaming, stir-frying, double-boiling, simmering, deep-frying, braising, quick-braising, and braising in layers.

The menu was created by Executive Chinese Chef Lai Ching Shing, who heads the kitchen at Yue, the fine-dining Chinese restaurant at City Garden Hotel, Hong Kong, in North Point.

Special Hong Kong Menu

The special menu was previewed by the popular eatery’s most loyal diners as well as a carefully curated coterie of journalists, travel bloggers, and food critics.

This is what we sampled:

Pan-frying (煎)

Fish Maw with Rich Almond Sauce – 濃杏汁煎花膠

Pan-fried Fish Maw with Rich Almond Sauce – tender and juicy fish maw in a crispy crust. HK$268 per person.

Slow-braising ( 炆)

Abalone and Goose Web – 炆鮑魚鵝掌

Slow-braised Abalone and Goose Web – soft with a savoury aroma. HK$238 per person.

Steaming (蒸)

Lobster with Egg White and Huadiao Sauce – 花彫蛋白龍蝦球

Steamed Lobster with Egg White and Huadiao Sauce – silky and sweet freshness. HK$328 per person.

Stir-frying (炒) and Deep-frying (炸)

Prawn with Jade Vegetables – 玉簪玻璃蝦球 (right)

Stir-fired Prawn with Jade Vegetables – crunchy, aromatic, and flavourful. HK$168 per person.

Crispy Yunnan Ham – 酥香燒雲腿 (left)

Deep-fried Crispy Yunnan Ham – distinct and crispy texture. HK$238 per person.

Double-Boiling (燉)

Giant Marbled Eel-head with Tian Ma in Soup – 天麻燉花錦鱔頭

Double-boiled Giant Marbled Eel-head with Tian Man in Soup – rich ingredients in fragrant consomme. HK$688 per person.

Simmering (煮)

Wagyu Beef Cheek with Porcini Mushrooms – 天麻燉花錦鱔頭

Simmered Wagyu Beef with Porcini Mushrooms – essence of premium ingredients and tantalizing tastes. HK$378 per person.

Braising (燴)

Crab Meat and Winter Melon Pearls – 鮮蟹肉燴明珠

Braised Crab Meat and Winter Melon Pearl – rich, thick broth with a delicate aftertaste. HK$488 per person.

Quick-braising (煀)

Pigeon and Fresh Peaches in Clay Pot – 水蜜桃煀鴿

Quick-braised Pigeon and Fresh Peaches in Clay Pot – a melting pot of all goodness. HK$218 per person.

Braising in Layers (扣)

Pork Belly and Giant Marbled Ell with Garlic – 蒜子火腩扣花錦鱔

Pork Belly and Giant Marbled Eel with Garlic Braised in Layers – a hearty blend of flavours and freshness. HK$568 per person.

Dessert

Fortune Sweetened Seaweed Cream – 仙翁露

Prepared with miniature sea grapes – HK$58 per person.

The Chef …

image-of-yue-executive-chef-lai-ching-shing-of-city-gardenhotelhongkong-yue10 — Photo Credit: Sino Hotels.

Lai Ching Shing (賴正成) – Executive Chinese Chef at Yue, the award-winning Chinese restaurant at the City Garden Hotel in Hong Kong, Chef Lai Ching Shing is a Michelin awarded chef. He has also been recogznied as a Chinese Master Chef by the Chinese Culinary Institute.

Ching Shing has had an illustrious carrier spanning more than 30 years, manning kitchens at some of the best Chinese restaurants across Asia, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore.

The Ambiance …

image-of-yue-cantonese-restaurant-at-garden-hotel-hong-kong — Photo Credit: Sino Hotels.

The dining room at Yue features a contemporary interior design with subtle Chinese decorative touches. Pictures windows overlook a leafy park.

There is comfortable seating, which includes booths for smaller groups and large round tables for larger parties.

There are six private rooms that seat as few as eight and as many as 48 diners.

The Verdict …

image-of-diners-at-hong-kong-restaurant-serving-cantonese-food — Photo Credit: Accidental Travel Writer.

It’s hard to say which I enjoyed more, the food or the people. As always, City Garden Hotel and Chance Communications assembled a convivial group, and conversation was spirted and friendly.

The menu was well-paced and full of surprises, showcasing the vast array of cooking techniques that make Cantonese cuisine one of the world’s most respected cooking styles.

My personal favourites were the Prawn with Jade Vegetables and the Wagyu Beef Cheek with Porcini Mushrooms.

The prawn was meaty and succulent, enhanced with a strip of salty Yunnan ham.

It’s hard to go wrong with Wagyu beef, and the Wagyu Beef Cheek with Porcini Mushrooms was no exception.

But it was the Porcini mushrooms, cooked together with the Wagyu Beef, that stole the show. The texture and flavour were indescribably delicious.

Eight Great Cuisines of China

China is a vast country with significant linguistic, cultural, and culinary differences that vary from region to region, province to province, city to city, and town to town.

While the number of Chinese cooking styles is innumerable, there are eight provincial standouts, which I like to think of as the Eight Great Cuisines of China (中国8大菜系). Listed in alphabetical order, they are …

Anhui (徽菜) – noted for the liberal use of rock sugar and sugar-cured hams.
Cantonese (粤菜) – considered by many foodies to be China’s premier cooking style because of the emphasis on using fresh ingredients and the enhancing rather than the masking of natural flavours.
Fukienese (闽菜) – seafood is the star of the show.
Hunanese (湘菜) – noted for the liberal use of chili peppers.
Jiangsu (蘇菜) – often grouped together with Zhejiang food and called Hwaiyang cuisine, which overseas is often referred to as Shanghainese cuisine because Shanghai is the nearest internationally recognized city.
Shandong (魯菜)– famous for stews, and the origin of Peking Duck.
Sichuanese (川菜) – noted for the liberal use of numbing peppers.
Zhejiang (浙菜) – often grouped together with Jiangsu food and called Hwaiyang cuisine, which overseas is thought of as Shanghainese cuisine because Shanghai is the nearest internationally recognized city.

Where

Yue is one of three food and beverage outlets at the City Garden Hotel in North Point on Hong Kong Island.

The four-star hotel has 613 rooms and suites, an outdoor swimming pool, a 24-hour gym, meeting facilities, and free use of Handy smartphones.

Here is a quick guide to its food and beverage outlets …

Yue – located on the first floor, Yue is a fine-dining Chinese restaurant serving a traditional Hong Kong menu, with an emphasis on Cantonese cuisine.
Garden Cafe – located on the first floor, Garden Cafe is an all-day dining restaurant serving pan-Asian and Western dishes. The dim sum at this popular Hong Kong Chinese restaurant is especially popular. The popular cafe serves all-you-can-eat buffets at breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as an afternoon tea set. Craft bottled beers and yummy snacks. It is open from 6.30 am to 12 midnight.
Satay Inn – located in the basement of City Garden Hotel, Satay Inn serves traditional Singaporean fare. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. There are other Branches of Satay Inn at The Royal Pacific Hotel and Towers in Kowloon and the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel in the New Territories.