Taste of Hong Kong: Above & Beyond Restaurant @ Hotel Icon

BY ONEIKA RAYMOND

It’s Chinese fine dining at its best.

When Hotel Icon invited me to lunch at their glitzy Above & Beyond restaurant upon my recent trip to Hong Kong, I was filled with trepidation and self-doubt.  I’m a scrambled egg, grilled-cheese sandwich kind of girl.  Chinese food, with its heavy sauces, mystery meats, and difficult-to-pronounce names, scares me, and fancy establishments test my very poor table etiquette.  A meal at a place this luxe, complete with a full Cantonese cuisine menu, was a fearful prospect.

Turns out I needn’t have worried at all.  The food was very good.  So good that I gorged myself and spoiled my dinner, even though I had already scheduled to meet friends that evening at a restaurant in Hong Kong’s Soho district (after such a huge lunch, the only thing I could manage to get down my gullet that evening was a diet Coke).

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Location, location, location

As the name hints, the Above & Beyond is located in the upper reaches of the Hotel Icon, a new design-concept hotel in HK’s happening Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood on the southern part of Kowloon Island. The 28th floor restaurant has huge floor to ceiling windows that give a vertiginous panorama on Hong Kong’s skyline.  View just as important as the food?  You should probably come here then. This place is stunning at night.

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The decor is the typical modern elegance that you see in most newer hotels these days but with an Asian kick: artwork of Chinese characters and twinkly Hong Kong landscapes dot the walls.

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Great surroundings, even greater food

But while the surroundings are scintillating, it’s really the food (oh, the food!) that steals the show. I should note that this is a big statement coming from someone who is not a great fan of Chinese food.  The dishes I had were of  insane quality and neat presentation. Left in the capable hands of the two PR reps for the hotel who ordered everything for me in rapid fire Cantonese, I sat back and let myself be seduced by the dishes, rarely asking what anything was before I put it into my mouth. If you know how picky I am with food this is atypical.

But now you’re wondering just what I had to make me do such a thing.  Should I proceed with a picture diary of what I had?  Very well, then.

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We began with dim sum, which is always a great choice when you don’t want to commit to just one thing.

·         Crispy Taro Cakes with Whole Abalone 

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·         Steamed Truffle Dumplings with Mixed Fungus

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·         Crispy Shrimps Rice Flour Roll

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Next, we continued to the main dishes.

·         Hot and Sour Soup with Scallops

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·         Barbecued Suckling Pig and Honey-glazed Barbecued Kagoshima Pork

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·         Crispy-fried Sweet and Sour Pork with Red Wine Vinegar

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To top off an already decadent meal, we were presented with dessert.  I’m told that the following dishes were made from scratch in-house.

·         Citron Honey-coated Crispy Egg Twists


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·         Wolfberry and White Sesame Ice Cream

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Hungry yet? I was stuffed after such a feast.  With the exception of the crispy egg twists, I liked EVERYTHING (the twists were just a tad too sticky and sweet for my taste).

Why you should go

 

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Priced at $20 to $25 USD for main courses and $35 USD for the set lunch menu, the Above & Beyond is a fantastic initiation to Cantonese cuisine (or a good option for those who are squeamish about eating street food/ in a more local establishment).  The restaurant is excruciatingly clean, the ingredients extremely fresh, the taste exceptionally good.  And of course, there’s that view (even better at night)!  I told Liebling about this place and we will definitely be back the next time we’re in Hong Kong!

Are you a fan of Chinese food?

Above & Beyond @ Hotel Icon

17 SCIENCE MUSEUM RD.
TSIM SHA TSUI EAST
KOWLOON, HONG KONG

I was a guest of the Hotel Icon but all opinions and mouth-watering photos are mine.

SHARING IS CARING

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