East Ocean Restaurant @ Quarry Bay, Hong Kong

visit date:  December 2008

The ten-course Chinese banquet is a standard for celebrating special occasions, from weddings, births, birthdays, to special holidays including the Winter solstice.

It is for the occasion of Winter solstice that my family went to East Ocean recently and we ordered a 10-course dinner.  I must say, I was disappointed.  Very disappointed...and I have determined that the cause of my disappointment stems from four causes: 

1)  Eating overload: Hanging out family & friends in HK usually means a meal out, even when there's no particular special occasion.  This is largelybecause most families don't have homes large enough to host many guests...and as well, it takes a lot of work and sometimes it's just a lot easier to go out to eat.  As a result, I have been eating waaay too many meals out.  Feeling so gross....

2)  Weak by comparison.  A few nights before our dinner at East Ocean, we ate a crab feast 10-course banquet in Wanchai restaurant.  The restaurant is apparently less well known that East Ocean, but what a difference in value for money.  For the same price of $3000HKD for a 10-course banquet for 12, the highlights of our crab feast included two hairy crabs per guest, delicious and fresh oysters, in addition to a lot of other special, tasty and huge dishes.  I was more than satisfied with every single dish.  Further, the price included a private room, a mahjong table and a TV.  There was even an attendant permanently in the room to help us re-fill tea.  For the exact same price, East Ocean served what I think was a really nothing-special meal.

3) They had an "off' night. We didn't go on the exact date of Winter Solstice, but it was still a busy dining night and the staff likely didn't have enough time to give its food or us proper attention (did I mention that they kept on serving each huge platter on my left over the head of my 13-year old cousin even though there was a perfectly empty seat on my right? It was kind of dangerous!).  However, is being busy really a good enough excuse given the price they charge?

  
4) The food simply wasn't good. There was a roast piglet and apparently that is a big deal for Chinese celebrations (maybe that is why the cost was so high?) but I didn't think it tasted anything special.  Then there was an abalone dish...but rather serving it traditionally with the abalone on its own, so that you can savour the flavours, the small abalone served was baked and covered with spices/sauce.  By covering it up like that, I kind of get the impression that means the abalone wasn't good in the first place.  Anyways, here is a line-up of our dishes:

The menu:

The roasted piglet.  I think the dish should be crispy.  It wasn't.

Shrimps with cashew and celery.  What is special about this?

The baked abalone.  This was a disappointment...

This was the only hearty dish.  Scallops with black moss seaweed.  This quality of dish is what I expected from the rest of the meal.

The chicken portion was really small.  If I count the limbs, I think there's a whole chicken there, but it looks like only half a chicken..

Aargh, in my opinion, this was the worst dish of the night.  Steamed dumplings filled with tomatoes.  One of my relatives was kind and said it tasted refreshing.  Most of us just said it was odd.  We can eat it, but we won't necessarily eat it again.

The best dish of the night:  the Chinese birthday bun.  It was hot, huge and each had its own egg yolk (oh, the cholesterol...).

On one hand, since this restaurant has a good reputation, I want to believe the "off night" excuse to give it a second try.

On the other hand, there are sooo many other restaurants in HK.  Ultimately, I think I would rather want to give those a "first try" than to go back to East Ocean again.