SAN FRANCISCO — The seasonal banquet tasting menu at Hong Kong Flower Lounge offers specialty items, as well as a dining experience.
In the 500-seat restaurant, the best seats are window side where diners have a panoramic view. Similar to a well orchestrated symphony, the wait staff work in harmony to provide a grand experience.
Banquet menus are all about balance and use of flavor. In this case, it was a mostly seafood menu, and much of it will be an acquired taste for the average diner; expect authentic dishes far from what you can find at the Chinese food court stand.
Authentic Cantonese food seldom includes sugar as the primary taste (the sweetness comes naturally from the ingredient itself), and solid knife skills are essential. Chop suey style cooking, by contrast, is more about stir fry, throwing ingredients together and adding sauce. Often, this includes frozen seafood such as shrimp and tangy sauce (as in orange chicken) that masks the flavor of the meat.
Seafood served banquet style highlights fresh seafood from the tank. The parboiled giant surf clam was an exciting starter. Served on a four-inch half shell, the meaty clam with its sweet sea flavor marries well with the soy sauce. Contrasting the flavors of the first seafood dish, baked oyster with “XO” sauce makes a bold statement. The spicy seafood sauce is made from dried scallop and shrimp, infused with oil basted in chili, onion, and garlic. However, the oyster was drowning in so much XO sauce that its flavor was completely lost.
Rescuing my spiced-up palate, the braised shark fin soup arrived. Known as a prized delicacy, slender fins swim in a thick soup. The mushroom adds a subtle earthy tone, and a drizzle of red vinegar rounds out the soup. The shrimp cake was my least favorite; lacking grandness, the dish featured a mere compilation of shrimp cake wok-fried with mushrooms and sweet bean.
The Peking duck is a do-it-yourself dish. White pillowy buns surround a neatly assembled duck skin platter. Chefs intricately cut duck skin paper-thin, and include the meat and bones only upon request. Lacking presentation, the braised black bass drowned my excitement. Tofu chunks and bean curd accompanied the fish that did not come together in its thick oyster-based sauce. With a nutty taste from roasted garlic, the mound of pea sprouts doa mui is a great vegetable dish. The sweetness of the vegetables is amplified by soaking in sweet broth made from hours of brewing.
My favorite dish of the night was the crab with preserved egg. Rich in consistency and savory taste, the egg is a perfect addition to the crab meat. The fried rice with fluffy egg whites and dry scallops needed a dash of salt. The red bean soup was a great comfort dessert to end the banquet. Manager Albert Yau also recommends the papaya shark fin soup and abalone.
The bill totaled $350, including tax and tip, for 10 people. Aside from the seasonal special banquet, additional haute cuisine may be sampled in the “Buddha Jump Over the Wall” banquet course for $600.
Hong Kong Flower Lounge
51 Millbrae Ave.
Millbrae, CA 94030
(650) 692-6666
………. Hours ……….
Mon. – Fri.: 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Sat., Sun. & holiday
10:30 a.m. –2:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m. –9:30 p.m.
………. Prices ……….
Prices: $20 and up