Maxim's Palace, City Hall, Hong Kong

1 time dim sum in Hong Kong on each visit is definitely not enough..

Hence our visit to Maxim's Palace :p

Maxim's is a huge, chinese restaurant (zau lau), so if you want cozy tea house setting, this is definitely not the place for you. I felt I was attending a large chinese wedding dinner when I was in there actually( and me sitting near the large golden dragon- phoenix carvings with "hei" words does not help).

I was rather intimidated by the large crowd ( mostly locals and a handful of tourists) queuing at the entrance, luckily it was quite fast as they have about 100 tables in the restaurant..

Waiters pushing trolleys and carrying trays of dim sums were everywhere, so getting food the moment we sat was a breeze...

Stuffed aubergine..

Quite yummy. Pan fried aubergine stuffed with fish paste and doused with thick sauce.

Har gau (steamed prawn dumplings)..

Thin, translucent skin wrapping encasing huge, fresh, springy prawns. Good.

The steamed beef balls

Juicy, not over cooked and very well marinated. Had a wonderful spring to it.

Lamb with black pepper sauce..

Extremely tender lamb cooked in slightly sweet black pepper sauce. Delicious actually, the meat was still pinkish on the inside and the black pepper not too overpowering..

Amy was craving for loh mai kai since the first day in Hong Kong..

We had to grant her, her wish. Alas, she was sorely disappointed. Some parts of the rice were uncooked and taste was, well, flat. Skip this.

The fung zhao (steamed chicken feet)

Plump chicken feet cooked in thick sweetish bean sauce. Very flavourful, pretty good. (though a tad oily)

Steamed chicken with mushroom and fish maw

This was scrumptious! The chicken chunks were well marinated, tender and moist; while the mushroom was thick and fragrant; and the fish maw was so, so good as it soaks up all the essence and sauces from the chicken and mushroom. A must order!

Some veggies to balance our meal.. As expected, very fresh and sweet veggies..

The prawn chee cheong fun.. The CCF was too thick and sauce was a tad bland.

I was asking for woo kok (yam puff) since we sat down..

And after waiting, waiting and waiting, one of the waiter finally remembered my request and wah lah.. I'm glad for the wait. Freshly cooked, it's piping hot, the yam was soft and melting and the filling was simply lip smacking. Rather than the dark coloured filling we have in Malaysia, Maxim's version is somewhat creamy; ala alfredo, but very delicious nonetheless.

We thought we'll have some sweets and saw this quaint looking thing..

Ultra mini paus filled with mango flavoured custard and coated with a light mango gelatin. Nothing to shout about though sounding so fancy.

I was surprised to see the waitress carrying trays of keropok (fish/ prawn crackers)

No, that's a sweet snack, nothing like keropok SF said

Yes, it does look different when it was placed on our table. Tasted exactly like mah zai (aka shat kei ma), but way better as the fried flour concoction melts in my mouth almost immediately. What's left was hints of honey/ maltose which lingers, just for a while. Sweet :)

Total bill was HKD510 for 3 persons. A tad cheaper than Luk Yu, though Luk Yu's quality is a notch higher. I guess this is a place for you if you prefer a lot of dim sum variety.City Hall Maxim's Palace is located at 2nd Floor, City Hall Low Block, Hong Kong.