Another food post.

Tonight, a business dinner. At the Chinese restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. At the Chef’s Table.

I’ve never eaten at a chef’s table. I’ve certainly read about it often enough to be really excited at this opportunity. And I hope that tonight’s experience wasn’t typical of the genre.

In terms of the physical set-up, we walked through the restaurant and into the kitchen. Which, I should mention, was the most spotlessly clean Cantonese kitchen I’ve ever seen. We were then led to a private room located in the back of the kitchen.

Once in the room, it could have been a private room in any restaurant anywhere in Hong Kong. There was a TV set up in the room – a camera pointed out into the kitchen and we could turn our heads to the TV to see what was going on in the kitchen.

And at no point before, during or after the meal did the chef come in, introduce himself, share a glass of wine with us, ask what we thought of the food. (Language difficulties? Of the 11 of us, 7 were fluent Cantonese and Mandarin.)

So there was really nothing especially “chef’s table” about the whole experience. Except that every time anyone had to go through the bathroom, they had to go through the kitchen and out into the restaurant. And every time walking back into the kitchen, would get stopped by a waiter who thought we were looking for the bathroom and got lost.

And in return for the private room, we then lost the magnificent harbor view that one gets when one eats in the regular section of the restaurant – 8th floor unobstructed view looking out towards TST.

And the food? There was nothing unusual on the menu at all. There was nothing risky or unique or that displayed any sense of creativity. It was all your standard Cantonese banquet fare – extremely well executed, of course. Here’s what we had …

  • Peking Duck
  • Hot and sour soup with some lobster meat
  • Steamed prawns with garlic sauce (nice sauce)
  • Stir fried garoupa
  • Stir fried wagyu beef
  • Pea shoots with crab meat
  • Rice with diced chicken
  • Mango pudding
  • Chinese petite fours

All very nice. All high quality ingredients and well prepared.

So a good dinner. And I’m sure an expensive one (no, I have no idea what it cost). But not a particularly memorable one.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I get taken out for yet another super nice meal and all I can do is complain.

Hongkie Town
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