Ming Court

Smart casual hotel lunch

Ming Court at the Langham Place Hotel in Mong Kok is regarded as one of the very best Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, popular to the locals as well as tourists, it has held 2 Michelin stars for 3 years but it was dropped to a 1 star rating in the 2014 edition. Not that I am bothered about it as I had a great dinner there last year and that was the reason I returned for lunch. I gathered that there was a new chef in charge who is the previous head chef's brother and ex executive chef at Fook Lam Moon, ranked as one of the Asia 50 best restaurants.

Ming court

We selected a range of different dim sum items from the menu, first to arrive was the drunken shrimp dumpling, what set the difference to your everyday shrimp dumpling was it had Shao Xing wine inside the dumpling so you could really taste the extra dimension it offered and it brought out the dedicated freshness of the shrimp. Steamed Alaskan king crab and pork dumpling, doesn't look fancy, but what mattered is what was inside, premium crab meat blended wonderfully with the pork then wrapped with a fine and thin layer of dough.

drunken shrimp dumpling

Alaskan king crab and pork dumpling

Deep fried taro and foie gras pate dumpling was an interesting dish showing western influences on Chinese dim sum, both the taro and foie gras were very earthy elements but it turned to be a very clever match, creamy and smooth with a very savoury taste. Steamed crab meat, egg white and black truffle dumpling was also a very well executed dish, the sweetness of the crab meat offered a lovely contrast to the black truffle with the egg white balancing the flavours and offering a smooth and settled texture.

deep fried taro and foie gras pate dumpling

steamed crab meat, egg white and black truffle dumpling
& BBQ pork bun

sauteed rice roll with xo sauce

For desert we had some Chinese classics, the snow fungus soup had a very soft and fine texture, I really enjoyed the nutty aftertaste from the fox nut and coco de mer. The whole soup was light and elegant, my kind of Chinese style dessert. The downfall of the day was the green bean glutinous rice dumpling, it was a little too rich and thick as a dessert and quality wise I couldn't tell much difference if I was to compare the same dish from a standard neighborhood Chinese restaurant. 

green bean glutinous rice dumpling 
&snow fungus soup with fox nut and coco de mer

The lunch experience was totally different to the dinner I had from my first visit, but that was to be expected with dim sum vs dinner menu. The dim sum here are of a great standard with good use of quality ingredients similar to Sun Tung Kok, something that really sets the different to your everyday Chinese dim sum places. As a brand of Langham's, you also got a high level of service and a lovely layout dining room to match the cooking, both lunch and dinner offered quality Cantonese cooking and I don't see why I wouldn't return if I was to visit Hong Kong again.

Food 4/5

What I paid: 
£20 per head

Average cost without drinks and services :
£20 - £80



6/F, Langham Place Hotel Hong Kong, 555 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

http://hongkong.langhamplacehotels.com/restaurants/ming_court.htm

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