Price: $$$$
Cravingness: ★☆☆☆☆
Duddell's is a recently opened Cantonese restaurant that is meant to make a wow on Duddell's street. Duddell's combines fine Cantonese food and fine art in one setting. The two floors 8,000 square feet restaurant is spacious enough to accommodate different sizes of arts, I particularly admire the ones along the staircase, while the ones at the front doors (see photo below) were too artistic to me lol.
Walking through the corridor of arts, located on the first floor is a garden-alike dining hall with bamboo stands, and pots of plant decoration. With an extremely dim lighting, it seems that Duddell's is trying to set its image to a fine dining scene. Yet I personally reckon the lighting is definitely too dim. We also found the dining room was EXTREMELY LOUD, I felt like I was at a club. I had to yell at the top of my lung to my friend sitting opposite to me. We also had trouble listening to each other during the dinner, it was definitely not a relaxing after work dinner experience.
Crispy Eel with Sweet Chili - HKD220
Crispy Eel is one of my favourite Chinese dishes, I have to order it when it is on the menu. Duddell's crispy eel was however kind of disappointing. Even though it was hot when served, none of the eels on plate was actually crispy. The flavours was alright though, pretty sweet with mild spiciness.
Scrambled Egg whites with Mango, Milk and Fresh Crab Meat - HKD220
The presentation of this dish made our heart sank to the bottom of the sea, it was not what we would expect given the price. The egg whites were first very chunky in size and second it was definitely over cooked and were very rough in texture. The mango was a fair pair with the egg whites and was fortunately still sweet in taste. There were some crab meats in the dish, but I don't see how it can justify the price of HKD 220.
Crispy Chicken Fillet with Minced Shrimps in Sweet Lemon Sauce - HKD220
This is one of the dish that I actually liked on the night but the texture has yet to be improved. Duddell's seems to have difficulty in understanding the word "Crispy" as it once again failed to produce a dish with crispiness. Although the chicken has no crispy skin, they were succulent. The sweet and sour taste were well balanced and delicious.
Beef Cube, Wasabi Soy Sauce - HKD380
Finally a dish that impress us in both presentation and taste perspective. The beef cube was very tender and juicy, the wasabi sauce was indeed a very good pair with the beef cube.
Poached Choi Sum in Superior Soup broth - HKD200
I was in shock when I knew this choi sum cost me HKD 200, my immediate response was WTF? I have never had this pricy vegetable dish in my life before, not to mention this dish bares minimal cost!!!! The "superior broth" was supposed to be fish broth but they said they ran out so they will offer us the "normal broth". I bet the cost of this dish at most is HKD 50. It was just 10-ish strands of choi sum with a bit of shredded Chinese ham on top.
Sautéed Pigeon Fillet with Asparagus - HKD230
Another dish of what I would call home style, as it is a typical stir fried dish without presentation. We usually have pigeon roasted, so it was my first and probably the last time I am having the pigeon this way. The pigeon tasted very gamey with an unpleasant pungent taste. The first asparagus I put into my mouth was somehow sharp like fish bone, and kinda hurt my throat for a bit. :(
Baked Kumquat Puff - HKD48
This puff was the second best favourite of the night after the Beef cube with Wasabi Sauce. Served hot, the bake kumquat puff was very delicious but it would be better if there are more kumquat in it.
Double Boiled Pear with American Ginseng - HKD60
I was extremely disappointed at the taste of this dish. The dessert was bad and boring because it only carried sweetness, not even a slight taste of pear or ginseng.
Almond Cream with Egg White - HKD50
Duddell's chef probably cannot handle egg whites very well. This is probably one of the worst egg white made in almond cream at all times. The egg whites were all very chunky in size and was rough in texture. The almond cream on the other hand was quite nice, with good almond taste almond and only mildly sweet.
Overall we were all deeply disappointed with our experience in Duddell's. The environment was extremely noisy, we all had to yell for the whole night. Food was presented badly and taste-wise needs much improvements. Service was pretty bad, the waiter team was not quite organised and looked like a mess. I wonder if the horrible service was because Henry Tang, Ying-yen was dinning there the very same night. Price-wise I personally reckon it is overly priced given the presentation and the food quality.
Perhaps my expectation was high after reading HK Tatler's review on Duddell's. I don't think I will come back again, as I can get MUCH better food with the same price else where.
♥ ♥ MUST GET ♥ ♥
Crispy Chicken Fillet with Minced Shrimps in Sweet Lemon Sauce
Beef Cube, Wasabi Soy Sauce
Baked Kumquat Puff
Duddell's
Levels 3 & 4, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central
香港中環都爹利街1號上海灘3至4樓
☏ 2525 9191
Opening Hours:
Mon - Thu: 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 12am
Fri - Sat: 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 1am
Sun: Open for brunch.
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Website: http://duddells.co/
Date of Dining: 21 June 2013
Bill in Total (Dinner with HKD25 tea p.p.) - HKD1928
Bill Per Person (Dinner with HKD25 tea p.p.) - HKD$643
No comments:
Post a Comment