Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Elegant Lunch at Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

It's wonderful to treat ourselves to elegant meals from time to time, and what's more elegant than having lunch at Mandarin Oriental's Man Wah restaurant? The lunch was a bloggers gathering organized by Mandarin Oriental, where I got to meet some of Hong Kong's popular food and lifestyle bloggers, as well as try out the restaurant's new dishes, created by Chef Lee.

Whew! Sweet!

I can't believe I have been living in Hong Kong for over seven years, and I haven't been to Mandarin Oriental. I was so awestruck by the amazing view from the restaurant, I totally forgot to take pictures. Hop over to Mandarin Oriental's website to check out the lavishly decorated dining room and its breath-taking view of Hong Kong harbour.

Now, let's talk food.

The meal started with this dimsum trio...
Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
...which are not your average har gaw/siu mai kinda dimsum, each and every piece has plenty of treasures on it.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Vegetarian Shark’s Fin & Mushroom Dumpling is delicious. Nicely done dumpling skin with tasty filling, and we were pretty impressed by the vegetarian shark's fin on top of it.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
Abalone with Kurobuta Pork Siu Mai. The siu mai was yummy and juicy, the abalone on top of it was absolutely succulent. And look at it! How gorgeous! Normally I don't really pay attention to details, but recently (thanks to watching one too many cooking shows), I've learnt that the amount of work that went into the details of a dish makes it extra special and differentiates it from others. This one is definitely one heck of a special siumai.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Scallop, Shrimp and X.O. Sauce Dumpling has pieces of succulent, perfectly cooked seafood, and the touch of the famous XO sauce made it extra yummy.

I am sorry if I used the word "yummy" a little too often...
Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
...but I wouldn't choose any other word to describe yumminess :)

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
I was told that the XO sauce's famous...we'll get to this a little later.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
Double Boiled Silk Hen Soup, Pearl Clam, Chinese Herbs. Please accept my sincere apologies..my photograph didn't do this soup justice! Let's just say that I've never tasted a better Chinese soup in my life. Either my life is just too sad, or this soup is just too good. It should be the latter.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Stir Fried Lobster, Egg White and Slow Cooked Scallop Mousse was presented beautifully with a modern flair.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
But I personally am not crazy about the stalks of chives sitting prettily beside the stir fried lobster. The lobster was beautifully cooked, but if the chives were to be incorporated into the dish, I wish it was done differently.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Slow Cooked Scallop Mousse was something I haven't tried before, so I was really intrigued and excited to give it a taste. It surely looked fantastic on the plate.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The texture was really interesting, it's more like a...softer, more delicate version of a jelly than a mousse. Anyway, mousse or jelly, you could really taste the sweetness of the scallop, and it's lovely.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Wok Fried Pork Loin, Kuei Hua Flavoured Pear with Chin Kiang Vinegar looked like an artwork.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The pork was crispy on the outside, despite being coated by delicious sticky sweet sauce, tender and juicy on the inside. I love the cashew nuts too, but the most memorable part of the dish...hmmm, in fact, it's my favorite part of the whole meal, was the kuei hua flavored pear. They're tender but still with the perfect amount of crunch, they're fragrant and taste wonderfully refreshing. Plus, look at that shade of peachy pink...I was in love.
The only small thing I was not fond of from this dish was the three pieces of spring onion, I found that the flavor was a little too aggressive, especially against the delicate flavors of the pear.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
After the tasty pork dish, we had the Vegetarian Platter. As a huge meat lover, I am hardly impressed by vegetarian dishes. Did Man Wah impress?

Hmmm...I quite liked the Braised Morel Mushroom with Bean curd, the morel tasted almost meaty, which was good.
Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental

Bamboo Pith with Vegetables. Very subtle flavors, but I always love the texture and crunch of bamboo pith.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
Smoked Beancurd Roll. I am generally not a big fan of beancurd rolls, but we were all impressed by the smoky flavor of this dish.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
Crispy Imitation Eel with Shredded Mushroom. The bouncy and springy texture of mushrooms made the dish even better than the original eel dish we normally get in Shanghaiese eateries. 
Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The Lobster Consommé with Crispy Puff Rice...wait, there's more to this dish.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
I always have a thing for table-side presentation.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
And this broth? Absolutely delicious, and the succulent bites of treats in the dish didn't hurt either. But what's so special? It's the rice, which has been crisped up meticulously in the oven to give the dish a lovely crunch, and although it reminds me a little bit of dipping rice crackers into soupy dishes, I still adore the idea.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The dessert course consisted of Egg Tart, Fried Bitter Gourd with Winter Melon Filling & Jasmine Ginger Tea.

Man Wah - Mandarin Oriental
The egg tart was nice and I am very partial to anything winter melon, so I love the fried bitter gourd dumpling. There was absolutely no trace of bitterness at all, I was almost disappointed but pleasantly surprised :D
But for me, the real star was the jasmine ginger tea. It had just the perfect amount of sweetness, fragrance and heat, it reminds me of Indonesian ginger drink, but more subtle and elegant.

We all went away with a lovely souvenir, the famous Mandarin Oriental's XO Sauce.
Mandarin Oriental's XO Sauce

...which I put to a good use immediately in this simple dish.
Shrimps in Mandarin Oriental XO Sauce
Shrimps in XO Sauce. Succulent bites of springy shrimps stir fried with a bit of garlic, shallot, chilli, a dash of salt, pepper, sugar and the famous XO sauce full of tasty bits. 
I am surely no Chef Lee from Man Wah, but it was still pretty tasty. Heheheh. We also ate our Chinese New Year pan fried turnip cake with this XO sauce. Yum!

Many thanks again to Mandarin Oriental for the invitation.


Man Wah
25/F Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong.
5 Connaught Road, Central
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2825 4003

The above special tasting lunch costs HK$880 per person
Generally, a lunch at Man Wah costs around HK$300-400 per person

14 comments:

  1. It really looks super yummy, a big temptation indeed. Sure your stomach was super happy after all these nice dishes :)

    I especially like the picture of the scallop mouse, don´t know why the display looks like a rabbit head, no? :P

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  2. Dear Rita,

    Greetings from Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong.

    On behalf of our hotel property, we would like to thank you for your wonderful write up of your recent meal at Man Wah and that goes without saying, should you require our further assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact myself directly.

    Best wishes in the Year of the Rabbit

    Geoffrey Wu
    E-Commerce and Social Media Manager

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  3. Love the plating of all the dishes and the individual steamer baskets. Everything looks..well..Yum!! Mandarin Oriental is definitely going on my HK places to eat :)

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  4. What a luxurious meal and such beautiful photography :D

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  5. This is true Fusion food, it's the most modern asian food I have seen, and I was hoping that The Eight in Sydney was going to be like this. Having read some reviews recently, I think they have a long way to go. Thanks for the review! :D

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  6. I am amazed at all of this food! What beautiful photos.

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  7. Super luxurious lunch! All the expensive ingredients such as abalone, lobster etc. used in dim-sum :)

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  8. The pictures are awesome! May I ask what camera is used to take these pictures?

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  9. Thanks for all the nice comments, guys~

    Saul Karl, I used Canon 7D with 50mm f/1.4 lens and LOTS of editing to correct the white balance ;)

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  10. gosh! everything just makes me so hungry! :) nice shots by the way. And love the XO shrimp you cooked!

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  11. I've never had "fine dining"/modern dimsum (or banquet fare, for that matter) before! So deprived. =(

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  12. Hellow Rita, I 'Gong Xi'-ed you the other day on Twitter =p

    Anw, these dimsum menus look spectacularly scrumptious, the attention to detail on the first hakau, it looks like they make a knot with what appears to be vegetables of some kind. That is awesome.

    That explains the 'awesome' price as well. Hihi

    I enjoyed your blog very much. Keep posting. =)

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  13. The dim sum looks absolutely delicious and such a large and interesting variety too!

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