Newly opened Hung Tong at the Kerry Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui – uneven Cantonese with a twist

The Kerry Hotel had only been open for only two weeks when we visited its Chinese restaurant, Hung Tong, for dinner. The hotel, designed by architect Rocco Yim and interior designer Andre Fu, is beautiful, with views of the east side of Hong Kong Island, and westward, towards Central.

Our first dish to arrive was the grilled eel tossed with osmanthus honey sauce (HK$170). The four pieces were nicely executed – perfectly cooked, and the sauce wasn’t cloying.

Next came the most expensive dish, listed on the menu as steamed fresh crab claw with truffle and egg white (HK$520). What we were served was different. The crab clawcame without egg white, but instead on a slice of white melon that had no flavour. It was surrounded by an orange sauce with bits of black truffle. It tasted like disparate ingredients on a plate, with none of the flavours integrating with each other.

Stir-fried prawn with mango and lime (HK$288) sounded intriguing, but it was unexpectedly spicy, and it had a subtle taste of salted duck egg yolk that was quite gritty; the chilli nor salted egg were not listed in the dish description. All the flavours were fighting with each other and confusing the taste buds.