The Jumbo Kingdom floating restaurant is quite famous. It has been visited by the Queen of England as well as other celebrities and it was even featured in the Stephen Chow film God of Cookery. While I have admired its prettiness from a distance, I never thought I would actually go myself because...well...isn't that a place for tourists?
Well, it is actually quite easy to forget at times that I am a tourist in HK too! Luckily, my Uncle has not and it was on his suggestion that we go try the restaurant for dim sum lunch. Apparently it is quite expensive in the evening (I totally believe that) but is much more reasonable for lunch. So, off we went to Jumbo.
After a short bus ride to Aberdeen, we got off at the pier where Jumbo has a dock for its private boats which takes you onto the floating restaurant.
Big sign at the dock. If you are looking for it, you can't miss it.
The most well-decorated dock in the area.
The most well-decorated dock in the area.
Jumbo provides access to its floating restaurant with a free private ferry (well, I am sure the cost is embedded in the price of food). For someone who is sensitive to motion sickness, I found the boat very steady...and as for the restaurant, I could not tell I was on a boat at all. No worries at all.
After a short boat road, voila, the restaurant! Because of the route that the boat took, I didn't have the chance to take a wide shot. It is actually very impressive when you see the entire restaurant, three large floating restaurants linked together, from a distance.
The interior of the restaurant is very elegant and beautifully decorated. A large central stair case leads to the first level which is a private club (???) and the second floor is the main common dining room. I liked the details on the ceiling.
I need to point out that view from the restaurant is not spectacular. With our window seats, we looked into the harbour which was filled to the brim with private yachts which is really not that attractive unless you are really into boats. The main structure in front of us was the HK marina club which is a big white building...and that is all I have to say about that. I would say the people inside the marina club would have a much more interesting view eating their meal while looking at the Jumbo restaurant and the water.
While the view is lacking, I think eating at the Jumbo restaurant is more for the experience of taking the small boat out to the floating restaurant and just saying you ate in a floating restaurant. Luckily, the food was also quite good.
Beef tripe. I am surprised it is on the menu given that Jumbo caters to tourists. I guess there are more tourists who enjoy beef stomachs than I thought!
Shanghai "little basket dumplings". This was my only disappointment mainly because I normally love this dish and I have had it at other places that were prepared much better (with a thinner dough, more soup inside)
Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. This looked really good, but unfortunately I was too full to actually try it.
Custard filled buns. This was really tasty. I liked how the filling was very neutral in colour. Usually the custard-filled buns in more local dim sum restaurants have fillings that are very bright yellow-orange in colour...created most likely from food colouring.
Shrimp dumpling rolls. The shrimp was very tasty.
Fried squid cake. Not a very common dim sum dish. It was nice to see that as a seafood restaurant, they have created special seafood dim sums.
Fried fish balls. This was also very well made! They do their seafood very well!
Fried wontons. I am not usually fond of this dish and I usually don't eat it at all because the wrapper is sometimes made way too big and with too much oil. While I still don't love this dish (I don't like deep fried things in general) I have to give them credit for making this dish with a delicate touch. The wrapper was very thin and crispy and it did not feel that oily.
All that dim sum, for three of us!
On the whole, I had a very very nice experience at Jumbo Kingdom. Dim sum was more expensive than my usual fare (at around $25-$30HK per dim sum compared to $15HKD) but I think that's because I usually go to very very local and cheap places. If I compare it to other slightly-above-average dim sum restaurants throughout HK, it is really not that expensive at all.
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