禮賓傅 Lai Bun Fu
中環安蘭街18號5樓
5/F, 18 On Lan Street, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/pre-chinese-new-year-gathering-e2538354
When I first heard of this restaurant, I really fell for it because the pronunciation is the same as the Government house 禮賓府 so I was a bit surprised that the public could go in for food.
Anyway, it turns out the name of the restaurant is 禮賓傅 which is still pronounced the same but the last word means Master.
Although the name is slightly different, it is still related to the ‘Government House’ because this place serves dishes that were served to officials at the ‘Government House’ because Chef Chung previously catered for government officials there.
Chef Chung has previously prepared dishes for world leaders such as President of PRC Xi Jinping, Premier of PRC Li Keqiang, Prime Minister of Russian Dmitry Medvedev, and former President of PRC Hu Jintao, former President of the United States George Bush and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher.
Lai Bun Fu is themed with elements from colonial days with Chinese antiques and British bits and pieces.
Went here for a pre-Chinese New Year gathering so we had some warming snake potage as well as festive dishes.
Here was what we had:
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Deep-fried Jinhua Ham and Dried Oyster Rolls:
0 讚好
This was good because they have used the bacon and oyster concept where they have replaced bacon with Jinhua ham, which gives the oyster a nice saltiness without the smokiness.
It was an oyster rolled in ham then dipped in batter and fried.
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Traditional Snake Potage:
0 讚好
This was a great warming soup on a cold day with crispy red beancurd flakes and traditional petals to garnish the potage.
I liked the potage on its own without the petals and there was a nice strong fruit peel taste.
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Lai Bun Fu’s Classic Big Bowl Feast:
The big bowl feast had all my favourite ingredients because it does not contain any fatty pork belly or pork skin which are substituted with prized sea cucumber and fish maw.
The remaining sauce in big bowl feast was fit for a hotpot so we ordered extra vegetables to put in.
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Stewed Mutton and Beancurds:
The mutton was soft and delicate paired with my favourite fermented beancurd sauce.
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Braised Beef Brisket with Assorted Peaches:
As this is the year of the Monkey, there is a myth that cheeky monkeys will always steal peaches hence there are peaches in this dish to make it festive.
The chunks of beef brisket were soft and big and the peaches made it appetizing.
Personally I liked the apricots in this dish.
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Lai Bun Fu Fortune Bag:
When this was served, it was a huge tofu skin bag/sack with smaller tofu bags surrounding it.
Inside this huge tofu bag was a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, but my favourite item was the smaller bags which are vegetarian filled with crunchy vegetables.
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Steamed Eel with Soya Sauce:
This was steamed fresh eel with black bean sauce.
It tastes nice but I eel bones and I just don't get along.
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Stir-fried Lotus Roots with Young Ginger, Chestnuts, and Goji Berries:
This was a vegetable dish to balance the meal, there was a nice crunch and gingery taste.
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Golden Sea Uni Fried Rice with Clams:
A fried rice that is memorable because it has springy clams complimented by creamy uni.
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Double-boiled Snow Fungus and Lotus Seed:
To finish off, had this nutritious sweet soup that contained snow lotus seed that has a sticky viscous mouthfeel.
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