Lung King Heen Restaurant Review, Hong Kong

We recently revisited Hong Kong and ate more of the best Cantonese Chinese Food around…

Upscale IFC Shopping Center – Fancier than any US Mall

Lung King Heen (View of the Dragon) is the top rated Michelin restaurant in Hong Kong, with 3 stars, making this like the French Laundry of Hong Kong. No other Chinese restaurant worldwide, has the same 3 star rating. Controversy erupted after the decision, with some in Hong Kong questioning the decision. Lung King Heen is located on the fourth floor of the posh Four Seasons Hotel on Hong Kong Island connected to the ultra high end International Finance Center – IFC shopping complex. Needless to say, we highly anticipated dining here in Winter 2008. We returned in the Summer of 2010.

Be sure to read our Introduction to Chinese Dim Sum.

Other Hong Kong Reviews: 2010 Hong Kong Mini Restaurant Reviews, Lung King Heen, Lei Garden, Yung Kee, Chuen Kee Seafood, Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, Conrad Nicolini’s Sunday Brunch Buffet, Harbourside Buffet and Yan Toh Heen.

The restaurant serves contemporary Cantonese Chinese cuisine using the freshest local ingredients. We came for lunch, which adds a limited dim sum list to their standard menu. We attempted to sample items off both menus, concentrating on items marked as a specialty. The menu changes every 3 to 4 months, so some items we reviewed may not be on the menu.

Decor, Vibe – Elegant, open decor with lots of marble, hard woods, glass and silver that highlights the great harbor view they have. Mostly locals and a couple tourists were dining. Several bigger parties and regulars. Mostly people in their 40′s and 50′s including ‘Tai Tais’ or rich old ladies reading the newspaper. The dress was far more casual than other three-star restaurants.

Menu Pictures

Website Lung King Heen Menu

Summer 2010 saw a supplemental truffle menu.

Full Lung King Heen Menu and Image Set

Picks:
3 sauces are brought to the table: XO, lot jew hot sauce, and a ponzu sauce

Cripsy Taro dumplings with assorted seafood and black truffle (HK $60) was excellent, is highly recommended, and was the best dish we had in 2010. This dish came with truffles on top and inside adding to its nice crispy texture.

Steamed Rice Rolls with Lobster in Black Bean Sauce (HK$7.8 to US$1 – HK$90) – kicked up a basic dish with lots of tender fresh lobster. This dish also had pea shoots, adding to this complex flavored noodle.

Abalone chicken rice rolls (HK $88) had a sweet soy sauce base in were fairly chewy. Not much abalone and mostly chicken flavor, but still a solid dish.

Steamed Lobster and Scallop Dumplings (HK$68) came with 2 very good individually steamed dumplings filled with high-quality lobster and scallops, and a shrimp on top. Very luxurious and pretty. 2010 visit reconfirmed its quality.

Steamed beef dumplings with vegetables (HK $64) were see-through, chewy, hot dumplings in which we tasted each distinct ingredient, not a mishmash of each.

Steamed scallop dumplings with black truffles and vegetables (HK $60) emerged from the kitchen very hot, with a hint of truffle flavor, and lots of pea shoots.

Crispy Turnip Puffs with Lotus Root (HK$45) was the best we have had and it looked great. Perfect texture, crisphy outside, very smooth, a bite of lotus flavor.

Steamed Fried Rice with diced abalone wrapped in Lotus leaf (HK$80) was a single huge lotus wrapped delicious rice dish with conpoy, tried scalloped, chicken and even had high quality abalone in it. It came from the kitchen very hot and featured flavors that were infused into the rice. They probably cooked fried rice and a walk and then wrapped and steamed it in the lotus leaf. 2010 visit reconfirmed its quality.

Barbecued Suckling Pig (HK$240) was a beautiful dish. The crispy skin was incredibly even. They had shaved some fat from the bottom of the skin and also placed a thin bun in the middle. Very tasty and a surprisingly big dish. 2010 visit reconfirmed its quality when we had a three meat chef’s signature appetizer dish with the following two items:

Barbecued pork with honey (HK $90) was on the sweet side with its honey sauce, but tender and perfect.

Soya chicken (HK $80) have bits of spiciness and saltiness infused into small bony pieces of chicken. Chicken’s in Hong Kong are not the huge, antibiotic infused versions as in the United States.

Braised Shark’s Fin with Fresh Crab Meat (HK$320) had extremely clear broth and a ton of crab meat. Lots of very good intense flavor.

Crispy Pigeon (HK$80) was a reasonably priced but small squab with good flavor. Cooked very well, was probably frozen as they strictly adhered to bird flu guidelines of no live poultry.

Double Boiled Superior Bird’s Nest served with Almond Cream, Coconut milk, and crystal sugar (HK$450) was a decadent, almost US$60 dessert that I had to try. It was awesome. The birds nest had a very smooth texture and I was able to blend in my desired level of high quality add ins.

Crispy sesame balls (HK $48) with sweet potato and pickled ginger was an innovative version of the classic. It possessed a thin skin and some unique flavors.

Dessert Sampler (HK$80) consisted of 5 items from their dessert menu, Chilled Coffee pudding layers, Baked Walnut puff, Chilled Mango and Sago Cream with Pomelo, Chilled Osmanthus rolls flavored with green tea, and Sweetened almond crea with egg white. All items were very good.

We also got the complimentary desserts with awesome but delicate lotus seed paste filled pastries and multilayered coconut pudding. 2010 included a delicate and not super sweet Osmanthus jello.

OK:

Steamed Shanghainese Pork Dumplings with crab meat (HK$48) came with 4 elegantly decorated dumplings. Having come from Shanghai a couple days prior, we tasted better ones for a lot less.

Wok-Seared Turnip Pudding with Conpoy and Black Mushrooms (HK$48) was a decidedly average dish. A clinker, nothing special to it.

Chilled sugarcane pudding with Dragon fruit seeds (HK$48) was an okay dish with weird chewy seeds and not much sugarcane flavor.

Pans:
None

Lung King Heen had top notch service, with our tea cups never empty. On our visit in 2010, service had clearly faded, so we lowered their rating. All the servers were extremely knowledgeable, courteous, and could recite how each dish was prepared. It is clear that the Michelin inspectors value highly, a stylish restaurant and tip top service. There was no need to spend thousands of dollars or be a regular to get outstanding service. Lunch at Lung King Heen is much more affordable than any other three-star Michelin restaurant. 10% service charge, HK$20 per person for standard Chinese tea.

Other restaurants may make a particular dish better, but few could put together the combination of excellent food, service, and atmosphere. We would have no hesitation coming back on our next trip to Hong Kong. This is definitely a place to be experienced. We have not been to a Chinese restaurant of this caliber in the US, the closest in North America are located in Vancouver, BC like Kirin. Koi Palace is about as good as it comes in San Francisco. Be sure to check out our Hong Kong reviews of Lei Garden IFC , Chuen Kee Seafood, and Yung Kee. We would also almost rank Yan Toh Heen in the same class as Lung King Heen.

MTR: Central or Hong Kong

If you have a short layover in Hong Kong, you can take the Airport express to and from the Airport to Lung King Heen!

$25 Dining Certificate for $5

Lung King Heen Overall Rating: (Extraordinary! 4)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Excellent)
Service Rating:	(Very Good)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Extraordinary)
Value Rating:	(Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Daily 7-10am, 6-1030pm. Sun 1130am-3pm. Mon-Sat Noon-230pm
Parking:	Paid Valet
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	HK$45 - HK$980 - 10% service charge