Recently opened and during 2010/2011 being crowned as a Michelin 1 Star worthy restaurant, Islang Tang (港島廳港島廳) is apparently related to Shanghai Tang (上海灘), a famous upscale Traditional Chinese apparel chain. Part of the directors/owners here also own other high end restaurants within Hong Kong, including the only Michelin 1 Star Japanese restaurant Wagyu Kaiseki Den.
The menu at Island Tang is exactly the same during both Lunch and Dinner session, which is pretty rare to spot in a Cantonese restaurant. Another one which springs up instantly in my mind is Man Wah (文華廳) on the top floor of Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Therefore if you are looking for a mixture of yum cha or a la carte dishes for composing your meal, you could still order dim sums during night time here, provided they still have any of these items remaining by evening time.
A little MORE Shanghai than old Hong Kong Colonial Chinese style in design..
Shou Mei (壽眉茶) tea is quite good here..
Appertizer of slightly spicy Pickled Radish, Peanuts, Capsicum and Beancurds -
Great for whetting your palate ~ 9/10
BBQ Roast Char Siu (秘製叉燒) -
Apparently, the muscle used here is a very rare muscle called 豬青肉, which is a round muscle found between the neck and the head, almost like a cow’s Flat-Iron equivalent but minus the fat.
Its quite tender, but marination was a bit too simple compared to others ~ 7/10
There was a lack of natural pork meat taste, compared to say West Villa, and it was also a bit artificially soft and grilled to be a bit under-charred. Having said that, this is definitely an ELEGANT version of a Char Siu, which is also eaten in 3 Star Lung King Heen and 2 Star Fook Lam Moon. The one here performed better than the above two versions indeed…
Baked Puff Pastry with Wagyu Beef in Teriyaki Sauce (燒汁和牛酥) -
This is done quite well, in a Cantonese–Japanese way. The pastry was great and hot,
lighter than the lard-filled versions elsewhere. Wagyu slightly spoiled by heavy sauce ~
7.5/10
Pan Fried Beancurd Sheet with Shrimp and Seaweed Wrapping (紫菜鮮蝦腐皮卷) -
This was very oily, properly because its shallow fried. Oil was dripping down my mouth,
but the taste was pretty good overall ~
6/10
Steamed Spanner Crab & Egg White Dumpling (西施蟹肉餃) -
This didn’t have much crab taste, but the skin was quite spot on ~
7/10
Deep Fried Crispy ‘Fresh’ Chicken (炸子雞 新鮮雞) -
They have 2 types of fresh chickens available in Island Tang - the bigger yellow chicken with more fat is used in this deep fried dish. This was pretty good. I have had better on occasions, even taking into account of ordering only Half-a-Bird rather than as a whole, but this is right up there ~
7.5/10
The Breast Meat was a bit dry on this particular day, but the skin was crispy,
seasoning was pretty much perfect!
Mini Lotus Leaf Wrapped Rice (鴨汁荷葉飯) -
This was very bland and had no Lotus Leaf aroma infused at all ~
5/10
Surprisingly, there were some pickles inside,
aside from the conpoy and some seafood pieces.
This was a disappointing finish as this was so ordinary..
Chilled Sago Cream with Pomelo and Mango (楊枝柑露) -
Rather than using Grapefruit, they used the sweeter Pomelo in this version. Despite the mention of cream, there wasn’t any or coconut cream here, an essential ingredient of this famous HK Dessert. Having said that, this was enjoyable for what it is – just don’t expect it to taste like a normal 楊枝柑露 ~ 6.5/10
Price: $330 + 10%
Score: ★★★★☆☆
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sat - 12:00pm - 23:00pm
Sun - 10:30am - 23:00pm
Address: 中環皇后大道中9號嘉軒廣場2樓
(2/F, The Galleria Plaza, 9 Queen's Road Central, Central)
Ph: 2526 8798
檢視較大的地圖
Hello K,
ReplyDeleteI guess booking under or going with KC / Isaac does make a difference, as just by looking at the pictures I can tell your chicken and char siu weren't as good as the ones we had. No excuse to the resaturant though, as they should serve the best to everyone and not just to known / frequent customers.
Unfortunately that's the reality. When we tried a lot of these restaurants with them, we got really great dishes (e.g. Ming Court, West Villa, Ye Shanghai, etc etc.) But when I went on my own with my family or friends, the quality can be so different. Sad reality, but true...
Little Meg
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think this restaurant is already better than quite a lot of local Chinese restaurants. And like you said, there seems to be variations in quality depending on whether you've pre-booked a larger table or a few of them with the management beforehand (it'll definitely be better if you know the restaurant staff and plan with them well prior to the meal, I think!)
If people only do a 70% job, it means we only get a less than 70% quality dish - it seems any lapse in effort or lack of heart put into the dishes will affect the final outcome in a non-linear way, more than it appears on the surface. :( French restaurants are probably the only exception?
Beautiful picture galley of beautiful hotels. I was looking some affordable and best hotels information here is my search ended. This is the right place for my stay. Thanks a lot for this hotel information. I wish you weren't so good at describing these dishes that I'll never be able to experience. The dinner sounds like it was a fabulous experience. Fingers crossed that I luck out in the lottery for seating at the next event.
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