This restaurant on the terrace of the Cultural Centre is always busy prior to a performance, but empties just before the curtain goes up. Service tends to deteriorate when it gets busy, so it's best to come after when you can nab a window seat overlooking the harbour.
The restaurant serves Cantonese cuisine, as well as dishes from other Chinese provinces. Golden shark-fin soup - enough for four ($198) - looked eye-catching on the colourful menu, and the product closely resembled the picture. It glowed bright yellow because of the crab roe placed on top of the soup that was thick with shark's fin and egg white. It was smooth and rich, and even better drizzled with a little red vinegar.
The Beijing cold meat platter ($78) came with a selection of crunchy marinated cuttlefish, mock goose made from bean curd skin rolled around shredded carrots and other vegetables, and spiced sliced pig's knuckles. The simmering clay hotpot with braised tofu and gluten in oyster sauce ($58) was warming. The sauce was flavoured with shrimp eggs.
Sweet and sour sauteed king prawns with scallions was expensive at $32 each because the prawns were not large and the chefs forgot to add the scallions. The home-style assorted vegetables and conpoy in soup ($68) was too watery, although the pak choi, broccoli and spinach were fresh. Despite containing Chinese mushrooms, dried scallops and shrimps, the broth lacked flavour.
Desserts were better than the rest of the meal. 'Cotton Rabbits' (three for $20) were coconut-flavoured marshmallow bunnies that were so cute my friends didn't want to eat them.
The Japanese carp milk pudding ($20 for a pair) was a surprise. The flavour was not too sweet, with a nice almond aroma. The drinks menu was sparse, with only sodas, four types of beer and a house merlot for $138 a bottle. Dinner for three came to $706.