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Stir-fried French beans with spicy termite mushrooms. Photos: Paul Yeung

Restaurant review: Tycoon Tann tempts diners to spend like one

Luxury dishes tempt diners to spend more, but the quality is a little patchy

The Tycoon Tann menu can be off-putting — some dishes seem like a blatant ploy to get as much money as possible from diners. Peking duck can be ordered with caviar, or with foie gras mousse and gold leaf, while several dishes feature black truffles.

There was also an unsubtle attempt to make us order drinks: we were refused cold tap water, and when we asked for ice to put in our hot water, were told they didn't have any, even though the restaurant has a bar on the ground floor. But our waiter did point out when we'd ordered enough food, and didn't try to steer us to the expensive dishes.

Crispy salted chicken.
Charcoal grilled Hungarian Mangalica hog with honey sauce.
Deep-fried bean curd cubes with seven-flavours chilli pepper (HK$68) had a delicate, light and crisp crust, although we couldn't taste any spice. Charcoal-grilled Hungarian Mangalica hog with honey sauce (HK$288) came on an iron plate heated with a tea candle, which kept the fat from congealing. But the pork was too soft, without any textural contrast between the exterior (which didn't have any char or crunchiness) and the interior. Crispy salted chicken (HK$210 for half) had thin, crisp skin and perfect seasoning, although the breast meat was dry. Baked grouper fillet with garlic, ginger and spring onion (HK$428) came sizzling in a casserole. Underneath the thick grouper fillets were masses of soft garlic cloves, which, along with the fried garlic and crunchy spring onions, gave flavour to the mild-tasting fish. Baked crab shell stuffed with fresh crab meat, onion and cheese (HK$168 each) was too wet and not hot enough. Sweet and sour Iberico pork fillet with figs (HK$238) had a well-balanced sauce and the batter on the meat was thin and crunchy, but we didn't see the point of the figs. We liked the crunchy French beans with chewy termite mushrooms (HK$128). Rice with seafood in matsutake soup (HK$168) had great flavour, but the purple potato noodles with duck meat, preserved vegetables and ling zhi mushrooms in duck broth (HK$88) was bland.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Repast of the big spenders
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