Last updated on December 28th, 2022 at 10:41 am
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When it comes to fancy dim sum, you can’t miss out on the Michelin guide restaurant, One Harbour Road in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
This Wan chai district restaurant is known for its high-quality food and a pretty ocean view of the city.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get a table near the windows but the window was so big that we could still see the view from where we were sitting.
The view was breathtaking. It was pretty even during the day; I can’t imagine how much more gorgeous it will look at night with all the lights.
The restaurant even has an indoor water fountain. All that water noise could have been annoying but we didn’t mind it much.
Food at One Harbour Road
1)XO Sauce Cheung Fun
The first dish that came out was the XO sauce cheung fun, one of my favourite dim sum dishes.
XO sauce cheung fun isn’t one of those yum cha dishes that is present at every restaurant. It’s not uncommon but not exactly common either if you get what I mean.
You might think the XO sauce cheung fan is really spicy because of its name but I never found it that spicy.
Through eating at different restaurants in HK like Dim Sum Bar, I have learned that just because they use XO sauce in a dish does not mean it will be spicy.
When the XO sauce cheung fun was in front of my face, my eyes sparkled and my stomach growled immediately. It smelled delicious.
The appearance alone wowed me already. I took a bite and was even more impressed. I would go as far as saying this is one of the best XO sauce cheung fun places I’ve had in Hong Kong.
The texture was soft and chewy. The whole thing was gone so quickly that I was tempted to get another order.
The only reason I stopped was because the other dishes didn’t come to our table yet. What if the other dim sum dishes are equally, or even better than this one?
There won’t be enough space in my stomach then!
You can always order another one later on.
Anyone who likes cheung fun needs to order this.
2) Shrimp Spring Roll
A lot of Chinese people tend to like spring rolls but personally, I’m not the biggest fan. I might eat one if someone else orders it but it’s not something I would order for myself.
It was my dad that asked me if we should try the shrimp spring roll. There was a chef recommendation logo next to the name on their menu. If it wasn’t for my dad, I would have glossed over it.
However, I do like fried food as you can probably tell in my restaurant reviews talking about the shrimp tempura from Agehan and Korean Fried Chicken from Outdark and Banchan and Cook.
So we did.
The appearance was nothing special. It looked like any other spring roll out there. The magic happens when you take your first bite.
The shrimp inside was extremely fresh. There was even still steam coming out.
The best part about the shrimp spring roll at One Harbour Road was that the chef managed to make this crispy and not overly oily.
The sight of all that oil on a doily paper can be off-putting. You would be eating something that is leaking with oil. Their shrimp spring roll here wasn’t like that at all.
The chefs fried their spring rolls the right way.
Again, this was another dish we thought about re-ordering but we managed to hold back.
3) Abalone Chicken Tart
I talked about an abalone chicken tart in my Yat Tung Heen restaurant review but it was at One Harbour Road where I tried this for the first time ever.
Before eating here, I never noticed this but it pops up at quite a few modern high-end dim sum restaurants. It’s funny how once you start noticing something, it suddenly seems like it’s everywhere.
This is considered a luxury dish because of the abalone.
Hong Kong people love abalone.
It’s a fancy food in Chinese culture (and lobster). If you’ve ever been to a nice Cantonese cuisine type of banquet, you’ve probably eaten abalone or, at least, seen it on the menu.
In fact, some restaurants even have an entire page dedicated to abalones.
It’s an acquired taste. Not everyone will like this type of seafood.
I would have never expected abalone and chicken in a tart.
Sounds…funky?
I expected a tart with abalone pieces mixed with chicken inside the tart. To my surprise, there is an actual piece of abalone on top.
It’s a dish you order by the piece. This abalone tart picture looks lonely because we only ordered one. My dad didn’t want one. I also wasn’t sure if I would be crazy about this so only ordered one piece to be on the safe side.
It’s pretty good. The tart was soft and buttery. The abalone on top added texture to the dish. It was also on the softer side. Abalones can be chewy but this was done well.
There was also a good amount of sauce in the tart.
It’s a strange combo but it somehow works.
The abalone and chicken tart weren’t as good as the XO sauce cheung fun and the shrimp spring rolls but it’s still something I would order again.
4) Chicken and Mushroom Casserole (light)
The full name of this dish is called casserole of chicken, hedgehog mushrooms, spring onions, and Yunnan mushroom sauce. The name is a handful, isn’t it?
For convenience, we’re going to shorten the name to chicken casserole. This one was special because it was on One Harbour Road’s seasonal menu instead of their regular menu.
Also, this was a ‘light’ portion. The light version is a smaller portion than a regular size dish. It’s a terrific option for those who want to sample a wider variety of dishes.
I never noticed this before moving back to Hong Kong. When I ate at Angelini, they also had this light portion option. Is this a thing?
Since the chicken casserole was one of the last dishes to arrive, we were somewhat full by the time it was on our table.
The casserole smelled good but when we had a bite, something was lacking. It wasn’t very flavourful despite the mushroom sauce.
Since all three previous dishes were scrumptious, we upped our expectations but it was clear that the chicken casserole wasn’t going to be in the same league as the other dim sum dishes.
We finished the chicken casserole because the portion was so small but it will not be something we will get again.
It’s also a seasonal dish so there might not be the option of ordering it again even if we did enjoy it.
5) Fried Rice with Abalone in Stone Bowl
Like the abalone tart, the abalone fried rice was also a per-person portion.
Eating rice from a pot or stone bowl is fun because it’s a pleasant sound when you hear the food sizzle. The rice also seems to taste better for some reason.
When I go to yum cha, I tend to get a rice or noodle dish (although I prefer rice). My meal doesn’t feel complete without it.
In this case, ordering the rice was a waste because this fried rice was a disappointment.
There wasn’t much taste. I took a few bites and gave the rest to my dad.
The abalone pieces looked like mushrooms. Unless they did add mushrooms to the dish.
If anything, it was a good thing this was only a per-person portion. We would have had to eat more of this dish that we weren’t fans of.
Service at One Harbour Road
At a restaurant like One Harbour Road, you would expect better service.
The dim sum all came out pretty quickly but the main dishes took a long time. We had to remind different staff members that our abalone rice and chicken casserole weren’t here yet.
Since we ate here on a Sunday, we would have been understanding that the wait would be slightly longer but it wasn’t acceptable that we had to remind different waiters about our food.
If we placed our order and the dish had shared that these two would take longer to come, we would have chosen something else but they didn’t.
The service didn’t ruin the dining experience per se but it made it less enjoyable.
Overall Impressions of One Harbour Road
One Harbour Road is a great restaurant to bring friends and family for a treat. Or those who are visiting you while in Hong Kong. They will surely enjoy the ocean view.
All of their dishes are hot and fresh (including the ones I wasn’t a fan of).
Once you eat dim sum often enough, you can easily tell what food has been left out for a while. The food won’t be as good.
You get what you pay for.
Although this statement isn’t true all the time, it certainly is for the food at One Harbour Road. You can understand the pricier menu in exchange for the food quality you’re getting.
Also, this restaurant is inside the Grand Hyatt. You can’t expect the food to be cheap inside a five-star hotel.
If there is one tip to give, it’s to not bother ordering from their a la carte menu. Focus on the food from the dim sum menu. The food is better and the wait is shorter.
I can’t wait to come back here to eat here soon.
What are you waiting for?
The tables fill up quickly so book your reservation now at One Harbour Road!
Now to You – One Harbour Road
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Xoxo,
Nicole