Dong Lai Shun 26/F Soundwill Plaza II — Midtown, 1 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay Tel: 2763 7038 Open: 11.30am-3pm (Saturday and Sunday from 10am), 6pm-11.30pm Cuisine: it's supposed to specialise in Beijing cuisine, but the menu lists many Shanghainese and Sichuanese dishes. Price: about HK$350 without drinks or the service charge. Ambience: tables are large and set well apart. There's a great view of the harbour. Recommended dishes: the chilled baby geoduck with spicy sauce (HK$188) was light, cool and refreshing. Fried duck marinated with tea leaves (HK$268 for half) had moist meat and delicately crisp skin, but we couldn't taste the tea leaves. Wok-fried crabmeat and rock lobster with salted egg yolk on rice crackers (two pieces for HK$198) had a plentiful amount of hairy crab roe, substantial chunks of lobster, and a garnish of crab-shaped ginger tea jelly. Pros: the staff were accommodating. The crab and lobster dish was listed as serving four (for HK$398) but they offered to halve the portion. Cons: it took three attempts to get the shrimp dish we wanted, which was the pan-fried prawns with salted egg yolk and stir-fried river shrimp (HK$398). And then the river shrimps tasted off. We talked to the manager, he took some of them away to taste them, then took the plate from our table and didn't charge for the dish. The menu is far too extensive. The food was served all at once, which meant the hot dishes became tepid. The most disappointing dish was the poached mutton in stock (HK$138). It was listed as a special, but there was nothing special about it — the meat and bones were hacked into uneven, sloppy pieces, there wasn't much flavour, and when the dish got cold, the fat congealed and it looked unappetising. What else? This is the second Hong Kong branch of Dong Lai Shun; the first is in Tsim Sha Tsui (tel: 2733 2020).
