Lei Garden is a highly renowned Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. It opened its first outlet back in 1973 and later introduced the famous Hong Kong-style dessert, Mango Pomelo Sago, in 1984. Several of its Hong Kong branches have been awarded one Michelin star, with the Mong Kok branch being upgraded to two stars in the 2012 edition. In mainland China, it has branches in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu~~

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly, a signature dish and also a very common item in Cantonese roast meats. The meat is cut into neat little cubes and served with a mustard sauce to cut the richness. The meat is very lean and not greasy at all, while the skin is exceptionally crispy—truly distinctive.

The soup of the day is a broth made with pork, pork liver, and radish. It is rich, flavorful, and of top-notch quality.

Steamed Egg White with Crab Meat and Fresh Shrimp. This dish was much lighter than I expected; there weren’t many shrimp, and the crab meat was barely visible, though you could still taste the crab flavor. The steamed egg white was smooth and tender, but the egg white itself was practically tasteless.

Homemade Cured Meat Claypot Rice, a signature claypot rice dish. The Chinese sausages are homemade and taste excellent, enhanced by a savory sauce—really great. The large claypot looks quite impressive… but actually, it’s ordered by portion, with a minimum order of two portions. However, a serving for two is actually enough for three people. For just two people, it’s a bit too much to finish~~

Zen Garden Delight, ordered per person. To avoid waste, we only ordered one portion. According to the English description on the menu, it consists of seasonal vegetables stuffed inside a tomato. In reality, it was quite a pleasant surprise: the tomato contained mushrooms and spinach, and the soup was fresh and light without being bland—a great choice for a vegetable dish.

Mango Pomelo Sago with Red Bean Powder-Coated Glutinous Rice Balls. This is truly Lei Garden’s signature. As the originator of Mango Pomelo Sago, they naturally do it justice—the balance of sourness and sweetness is perfect, and combined with its refreshing chill, it makes for an excellent after-dinner dessert. The Red Bean Powder-Coated Glutinous Rice Balls are a traditional Shanghai snack, featuring black sesame-filled glutinous rice balls coated in dry red bean powder, carrying a delicate fragrance of red beans.

For drinks, the watermelon juice is freshly squeezed without added coloring or sugar, and the quality is good.

Ambience:

To sum up, Lei Garden positions itself as a high-end restaurant in mainland China. Presumably, to maintain the same standard of taste as in Hong Kong, their costs are significantly higher. Nowadays, more and more restaurants in Shanghai are taking the high-end route, and more people are willing to pay extra for a better dining experience. There’s no faulting the taste—it ranks among the best Cantonese cuisine in Shanghai, and the ambience is also nice, though it gets crowded, so reservations are recommended.

However, the service here doesn’t quite justify the 10% service charge. You’ll see servers, food runners, and cleaning staff in the restaurant. Non-service staff clearly outnumber the actual servers. Although their uniforms distinguish them, many customers don’t bother telling the difference—they just call out to whoever they see. While the actual servers provide pretty good service, the rest fall short, and there simply aren’t enough servers.

Then there’s the issue of value for money. Portion sizes here aren’t large—in fact, they’re relatively small compared to other places—but given the prices, even a single dish easily exceeds 100 RMB. Even without ordering seafood, dinner will cost around 300 RMB per person. Rumor has it that Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine at Rockbund offers much better value~~~~

• Previous Post：Snowy Scenery at Changchun South Lake Park
• Next Post：iPhone 6 / Jaybird Bluebuds X

Hong Kong