Harbour Spirit 王朝粵川
Harbour Spirit is on No. 3 Road right beside Cactus Club. I've wanted to try this place ever since it opened, but I've heard a lot of negative comments from family and friends. I decided to wait for operations to settle before coming here, and finally dropped in for dim sum yesterday. I found the decor somewhat strange because I didn't think the elaborate chandeliers fit in with the general theme.
The dishware was rather fancy for a dim sum restaurant.
The house special buns (王朝第一包) ($3.98) were actually baked BBQ pork buns. I didn't like the texture of the bun because it was mushy and not fluffy at all.
The ribs and chicken feet on rice (排骨鳳爪煲仔飯) ($4.78) was a really good deal because it costs the same as a medium dim sum before 11 am. It wasn't super impressive, but it was acceptable.
The steamed beef tendon (柱侯牛孖筋) ($4.78) was in huge chunks, so there were 2 large pieces and a couple smaller ones. The taste was ok and the texture was soft and bouncy, but the sauce was somewhat salty with no depth to the flavour.
The steamed dry scallop with dry shrimp rice roll (蔥花蝦米腸粉) ($4.78) was rather bland even with the soy sauce.
I was kind of impressed by the size of the steamed shao mai (飛魚子燒賣) ($4.78). There were large bits of shrimp and pork inside, so I was stuffed after eating just one of these.
Next was the most disgusting dessert I have ever tasted: the green tea glutinous rice ball (綠茶雪花糯米糍) ($4.98). It looked like it had just defrosted and part of the skin was damp.
As I was slicing the rice ball in half with my chopsticks, I could feel that the skin was harder than usual. I bit into it and while the red bean paste was great, the skin was not soft or chewy at all. There was no green tea taste and the texture was brittle and powdery like it was stale. I immediately notified the staff and luckily they agreed to take it off the bill.
The food and service were not as bad as people said, but definitely not good enough to prompt a return visit. The bill came with a coupon for a free dim sum that expires in a week, so maybe I'll try it out one more time.
The dishware was rather fancy for a dim sum restaurant.
The house special buns (王朝第一包) ($3.98) were actually baked BBQ pork buns. I didn't like the texture of the bun because it was mushy and not fluffy at all.
The ribs and chicken feet on rice (排骨鳳爪煲仔飯) ($4.78) was a really good deal because it costs the same as a medium dim sum before 11 am. It wasn't super impressive, but it was acceptable.
The steamed beef tendon (柱侯牛孖筋) ($4.78) was in huge chunks, so there were 2 large pieces and a couple smaller ones. The taste was ok and the texture was soft and bouncy, but the sauce was somewhat salty with no depth to the flavour.
The steamed dry scallop with dry shrimp rice roll (蔥花蝦米腸粉) ($4.78) was rather bland even with the soy sauce.
I was kind of impressed by the size of the steamed shao mai (飛魚子燒賣) ($4.78). There were large bits of shrimp and pork inside, so I was stuffed after eating just one of these.
Next was the most disgusting dessert I have ever tasted: the green tea glutinous rice ball (綠茶雪花糯米糍) ($4.98). It looked like it had just defrosted and part of the skin was damp.
As I was slicing the rice ball in half with my chopsticks, I could feel that the skin was harder than usual. I bit into it and while the red bean paste was great, the skin was not soft or chewy at all. There was no green tea taste and the texture was brittle and powdery like it was stale. I immediately notified the staff and luckily they agreed to take it off the bill.
The food and service were not as bad as people said, but definitely not good enough to prompt a return visit. The bill came with a coupon for a free dim sum that expires in a week, so maybe I'll try it out one more time.
Is it me, or is that a bit pricy for dim sum? Just saying, because it better be damn good for that price. 26% is a pretty bad rating, haha!
ReplyDeleteYea it's a bit pricey, but they currently have an all-day 20% off special and no tea charge before 11 am. I went back again today to use my coupon and it was like meh... just another mediocre dim sum place. Some dishes were decent, but some were baaaaad... I wouldn't go back again.
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