Dim sum with a view

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I can't remember the last time I had a meal at Yan Toh Heen (欣圖軒), even though it has long been one of my favorite restaurants ever since I arrived in Hong Kong all those years ago.  I was entertaining more visitors and decided it might be a good idea to pay them a visit.

Roasted baby pigeon (香燒軟骨鴿) - these were pretty good... succulent and tasty.

Baked sweetcorn buns with diced chicken and garlic (蒜茸美國雞粒焗玉米餐包) - I have no idea why this has been marked as one of the chef's recommendations.  We all thought this was the one item which failed in terms of taste.  OK, garlic is always welcome, but the bun was actually like a crappy wheat dinner roll and these just don't taste good steamed.

Turnip and freshwater eel in puff pastry (燒鱔蘿蔔絲酥盒) - the puff pastry was very fragrant and oily, but as a result it was too soft and broke apart easily when I lifted it with my chopsticks.  The taste was very interesting, although I was surprised that carrots were used in addition to turnip.

Steamed carrot, pinenuts and chive dumplings (甘筍崧子韮菜餃) - interesting and creative combination of filling, including some mushrooms.  The skin is made with carrot juice, which gives it that bright orange color.

Steamed crabmeat, green vegetables and black truffles dumplings (黑松露蟹肉菜苗餃) - another yummy dumpling, this time with the skin made with spinach purée.

Steamed rice flour cannelloni with shredded roasted duck conpoy and chives (韮皇瑤柱火鴨絲腸粉) - so-so, although in the end I finally thought that the shredded duck as somewhat tasty.

Stir-fried broccoli with XO sauce (XO醬炒西蘭花) - kinda interesting.  I've always loved the XO sauce here so no complaints here...

Mini egg tarts (珍珠雞蛋撻) - I couldn't believe how badly the restaurant failed here... the egg custard filling was just bland and tasteless... One of the worst egg tarts I've had in a long, long time.

Chilled mango cream with sago and pomelo (楊枝甘露) - very tasty and refreshing.

I'm glad I came back for dim sum today - which incidentally was the first time I've had dim sum here.  I found the general quality to be very high, befitting a Michelin-starred hotel restaurant.  The items were also pretty creative, and actually worked most of the time.  I should cross the harbor and come back more often...