Head to Chiu Chow restaurant Moon Lok for a glorious night at the Chinese opera
- Dim sum and Chiu Chow dishes round off a visit to Hong Kong’s grand new theatre dedicated to traditional xiqu culture
Housed in the newly opened Xiqu Centre dedicated to Chinese opera is the Moon Lok Chinese Restaurant, which serves regional Chinese cuisine.
We visited the new modern space and tried the dim sum on offer in the main dining room at Moon Lok (part of the same group as Pak Loh Chui Chow Restaurants). The colour green dominates the interior, from the fresh bottle green of the seats to the sage dinnerware, all set off with wood and beige tones.
We dove into the dumplings, starting with the pan-fried pork bun with black garlic (HK$48 for three pieces), a delicate and fluffy bun wrapped around a meaty centre with a clove of garlic. The portion was bite-size with just enough bun to soak up the juicy centre. We enjoyed the tangerine-peel twist to the baked and barbecued pork pastry, but the outer shell could have been flakier. We also liked the fried rice with minced beef, spring onion and garlic (HK$148), and the signature Peking duck (HK$380/half).
The Chiu Chow menu items such as the oyster omelette (HK$78/small; HK$108/regular) were fantastic, with duck egg providing a springy texture.