Vong and Hutong, Hong Kong, China
Vong and Hutong are two contemporary, stylish restaurants with attention-getting interiors and cuisines, but the dining experiences they offer do not quite match their initial impressions.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's reputation precedes him, with Jean Georges, Mercer Kitchen, and Vong restaurants in New York, Hong Kong and Chicago giving him a global presence. At first sight, the Hong Kong Vong, on the 25th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel overlooking Victoria harbor, matches high expectations, with a sophisticated and subdued black and gold interior. Several touches mark the restaurant as one designed for style - if you look inside the tall, black cylindrical lamps near the entrance, you can see slowly fluttering golden leaves visible through an eye-shaped opening, giving off a slightly mysterious flair. The service was also marked with a few flourishes; for instance, multiple servers will converge on a table at once, such that each diner receives his or her dish simultaneously.
Unfortunately, the food, aspiring to innovative French-Thai fusion, is somewhat uneven. The lime and ginger sauce surrounding a pair of crab cakes was tantalizing, but did not really fit the crab cakes well, as if the sauce were simply prepared on the side and poured over just before serving. The roast duck slices with tamarind and sesame were too lightly seasoned and overcooked as well, holding little flavor at all, neither from the seasoning nor the duck itself.
Hutong restaurant attracts a well-heeled crowd, offering them a fantastic view of Hong Kong island from the Kowloon peninsula, and a well-designed interior that looks like an updated Beijing hutong, or traditional courtyard residence. Unfortunately, the prices are far too high and the service is very uneven, negatives that more than offset the often creative cuisine. Frankly, any restaurant that tells you upon entry that a minimum bill of HK$300 (roughly US$40) is required is immediately suspect.
The menu itself is notable, printed like a photo scrapbook, and equally hard to read. Unfortunately, the staff was not particularly helpful in navigating its pages, other than to remind diners that the dishes selected should exceed the minimum bill. They also forget orders with surprising regularity. Hutong's contemporary versions of traditional Beijing dishes, on the other hand, nearly redeem the restaurant (but not quite). One especially unusual and delicious dish was lamb prepared Peking duck style, with the same crispy skin that marks the classic Beijing dish. Yet the lamb, delicious as it was, was served in very small quantity for a nearly US$30 dish, further strengthening the impression that Hutong exists mostly as an operation to make money by luring trend-conscious customers, rather than a restaurant truly concerned with serving its genuinely interesting menu offerings.
Hutong
One Peking Road, 28th Floor
Kowloon, Hong Kong
852-3428-8342
Vong
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 25th Floor
5 Connaught Road
Central, Hong Kong
852-2522-0111
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's reputation precedes him, with Jean Georges, Mercer Kitchen, and Vong restaurants in New York, Hong Kong and Chicago giving him a global presence. At first sight, the Hong Kong Vong, on the 25th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel overlooking Victoria harbor, matches high expectations, with a sophisticated and subdued black and gold interior. Several touches mark the restaurant as one designed for style - if you look inside the tall, black cylindrical lamps near the entrance, you can see slowly fluttering golden leaves visible through an eye-shaped opening, giving off a slightly mysterious flair. The service was also marked with a few flourishes; for instance, multiple servers will converge on a table at once, such that each diner receives his or her dish simultaneously.
Unfortunately, the food, aspiring to innovative French-Thai fusion, is somewhat uneven. The lime and ginger sauce surrounding a pair of crab cakes was tantalizing, but did not really fit the crab cakes well, as if the sauce were simply prepared on the side and poured over just before serving. The roast duck slices with tamarind and sesame were too lightly seasoned and overcooked as well, holding little flavor at all, neither from the seasoning nor the duck itself.
Hutong restaurant attracts a well-heeled crowd, offering them a fantastic view of Hong Kong island from the Kowloon peninsula, and a well-designed interior that looks like an updated Beijing hutong, or traditional courtyard residence. Unfortunately, the prices are far too high and the service is very uneven, negatives that more than offset the often creative cuisine. Frankly, any restaurant that tells you upon entry that a minimum bill of HK$300 (roughly US$40) is required is immediately suspect.
The menu itself is notable, printed like a photo scrapbook, and equally hard to read. Unfortunately, the staff was not particularly helpful in navigating its pages, other than to remind diners that the dishes selected should exceed the minimum bill. They also forget orders with surprising regularity. Hutong's contemporary versions of traditional Beijing dishes, on the other hand, nearly redeem the restaurant (but not quite). One especially unusual and delicious dish was lamb prepared Peking duck style, with the same crispy skin that marks the classic Beijing dish. Yet the lamb, delicious as it was, was served in very small quantity for a nearly US$30 dish, further strengthening the impression that Hutong exists mostly as an operation to make money by luring trend-conscious customers, rather than a restaurant truly concerned with serving its genuinely interesting menu offerings.
Hutong
One Peking Road, 28th Floor
Kowloon, Hong Kong
852-3428-8342
Vong
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 25th Floor
5 Connaught Road
Central, Hong Kong
852-2522-0111
posted by steve at 9:11 AM
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