Our Festive Picks For Hong Kong

Planning to go out to paint Hong Kong red this Chinese New Year? Here’s some of our picks on what you can do….

Enjoy great food and fireworks over Victoria Harbour at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong on 24 Jan. With a minimum spend of HK$9,900* at its Michelin-starred Dynasty Restaurant, you get access to a well-appointed Harbour View Suite to see the fireworks. If you’re not in the mood for Chinese, how about Italian? Scala Restaurant is serving up a five-course Fireworks Dinner Menu at HK$888 per person. With that, you get to potter to the 34th floor podium to enjoy the fireworks with a glass of champagne. If you have young kids or an elderly family member in your group, it’s a good idea to check into a room and party while they can rest when they want. The hotel is offering a festive package of 2 nights stay at HK$2,688* in newly renovated Harbour View Rooms (left), with brekkie included. Rate is valid from 22 to 28 January 2012 inclusive, and must stay through 24 January 2012.

Tel: (852) 2802 8888. 

 

Cuisine Cuisine, the gourmet Cantonese restaurant which just received a Michelin star, is serving up some pretty swish fare for the season. Tuck into their Chinese Reunion Dinner  menus (HK$4,988 to HK$9,888 for 4 to 12 persons) from 19-22, then from 23 Jan – 9 Feb, they serve a Spring Dinner (from HK$5,988) or Fortune Dinner (from HK$7,388). Expect suitably luxe dishes like Bird’s Nest, Abalone, Roasted Duck and Melon Julienne Tossed with Abalone Sauce, Lobster with Black Truffle Sauce, and Abalone with Fish Maw and Sea Cucumber in Casserole for good luck and wealth. A special Fireworks Dinner (HK$1,088 per person) is served on 24 Jan. For takeaways, we like their funky puddings – Sweet Osmanthus Pudding Topped with Gold Foil and Bird’s Nest (right, HK$338) and Turnip Pudding with Parma Ham (HK$268) which blends east and west, but still traditional enough to please Grandma.

3101, podium level 3, IFC mall, Central
Tel: 852 2393 3933

 

Over at Tsui Hang Village, you’ve got sumptuous options for Heritage Bowls, or what is called poon choy in Singapore – great vats filled with expensive trad Chinese gourmet goodies – from now until 15 Feb. If you like your collagen and cholesterol, order the Marine Delicacies Seafood Heritage Bowl (HK$2,388 for 6 persons) with yummies like abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin and fish maw, and is topped with bamboo fungus, scallops, and shiitake mushrooms. For something just as yummy but not so ostentatious, I liked the more traditional Slow Roasted Pig’s Feet with Delicacies Heritage Bowl (left, HK$1,888 for 6 persons), brimming with black moss, abalone slices, shark’s fin with shrimp roe, dried oysters, prawns, and plenty of vegetables. And of course, there’s the Reunion Dinner Menus (HK$6,288 to HK$12,888 per table) with dishes like  Sautéed Sugar Pea Shoots and Bamboo Fungus with Bird’s Nest, Braised Deluxe Sea Cucumber with Abalone, Wok-fried Vegetables with Giant Grouper, and Egg Tart with Bird’s Nest.

Tsimshatsui
G/F, Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road,
Tsimshatsui, Kowloon
Tel: 2376 2882
 

Central
2/F, New World Tower, 16-18 Queen’s Road
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2524 2012

 Now this is a cute diversion from birds nest and sharks fin! If you want something quite different for your CNY eating, check out Le Chef, the restaurant at Metropark Hotel Wanchai Hong Kong. Adventurous Fusion is the fare here in their ‘lucky’ eight course menu, available from 20-29 Jan. Highlights include a starter of sliced abalone and shredded chicken with glass noodles in a sesame sauce, paired with deep-fried crispy prawns and fresh fruit salad; warm double-boiled milk with crab meat, roast duck roll and pan-fried fresh foie gras in raspberry sauce, chocolate rice dumplings (left) with raspberry sherbet, and lychee and medlar mousse. Unique, it most certainly is; whether it works….well the proof is in the pudding!  (HK$388 per person, HK$1388 for four, additional HK$150 per person for wine pairing.)

41-49 Hennessy Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2863 7345

 

Ok, not exactly CNY food, but Saboten’s new Japanese-inspired Soymilk Hot Pot (right, HK$168) can surely qualify as a reunion dinner option with close friends, no? Available from now until 29 Feb, it’s an unctuous vat featuring Collagen Jelly with Goji Berries, specially prepared with collagen extracted from fish. Toss the Collagen Jelly into the soymilk broth to melt and simmer alongside grain-fed Kagoshima pork slices and vegetables, so by the time you get to dessert, you have skin smooth as silk, you can forget your facial for the month! Other options are Soymilk Hot Pot Twin Combo (HK$398), which features Kagoshima pork slices and vegetables, Deep Fried Hiroshima Oysters and the Fried Pork Tenderloin Roll.

Lower Ground Floor, Henry House
42 Yun Ping Road,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2895 4111

 

Catch the fireworks on 24 Jan at Harlan’s Bar & Restaurant (left) from 6.30pm. Grab a seat with a spectacular view and dine on non-Chinese delectables like Foie Gras Sandwiches with Gomasio, Crab Meat and Almond Stuffing Bathed in Aigo Boulido and Spicy Flowers,Chicken Velouté, Mini Brioche and Truffle Bavarois, Baked Italian Sea Bream Fillet on a Sweet Onion Tart, Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Bone Marrow Crust, Braised Oxtail, Swiss Chard and Chanterelles.
19/F, The ONE,
100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Tel：(852) 2972 2222