Luk Yu Tea House — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Against my friend's better judgment, I decided to give this place a third chance for dinner tonight. With the previous times not having been particularly great, the expectations for tonight weren't set very high but yet still managed to be let down. We were seated upstairs where the ambiance wasn't great to begin with, but the restaurant being an old school Cantonese establishment I understand that you aren't really going there for the vibe. Sadly, it started off with some of the tableware being visibly dirty and upon mentioning it to the servers we were just directed to the empty table next to us to swap out whatever utensils we needed (some of which happened to be dirty there too). Unfortunately, during the ordering process we had to find out that the majority of the dishes that they're known for (aka the roast meat dishes) were already sold out (for a 7pm dinner seating). As a group of 10, we did order most of what was available. The food overall was of acceptable to good quality, but not much really standing out. We did bring our own wine with us, but didn't ask for any extra wine service other than one glass per person. We opened and poured all wines ourselves. We tipped our server $200 cash, paid $300 corkage (for 6 bottles which does correlate to their corkage policy) and $660 worth of service charge (10% standard in HK). So all in we left $1160 hkd that pretty much went to the service experience, which was essentially non existent. Upon settling the bill, our server came over to me asking if I would be willing to tip a little bit of cash to the service staff. Given the circumstances I was completely dumbfounded and frankly lost of words. I told him that we had already tipped cash on top of all the charges, how much more does he want? Without a response he walked away, talked to his colleagues and they instantly started clearing our table ushering us out of the venue. Now, I've lived in Hong Kong for 10 years and I'm fully aware that these aren't the kind of places that you'd go to for a proper 'service experience'. However the blatant audacity to ask for extra money followed by an indirectly rude kick out of the restaurant is hardly acceptable. I had wanted to give this place another chance but sadly, I should have known better. Last time for me to take...

The perfect combination of old-school Hong Kong “Eating House” and the iconic dishes of Hong Kong that have been exported around to the Chinatowns of the world. The best Sweet & Sour Pork and Fried Rice you’re likely to find anywhere.

The Fried Rice (楊州炒飯) was light, oil free and moreish. The flavour of the egg and chopped roasted pork come through really well. It’s well balanced and not dominated by any one ingredient.

Luk Yu’s Sweet & Sour Pork (菠蘿咕嚕肉) is a treat. Often the dish can be overpowered by the sauce or the chicken is unnecessarily bony or overly fried. Not here, it’s the best Sweet & Sour Pork dish I’ve had in Hong Kong. They have treated each part of the dish like it matters. The deep fried pork is good enough as a stand alone dish - soft inside and the lightest of crisp on the outside. The peppers and pineapple bring a lightness and freshness and the sauce is not heavy or overly thick, it coats the pieces without dominating.

Deep Fried Beef Balls with Sweet Sauce (干炸牛丸) was a very unexpected dish. You get the same softness of 牛肉球 Beef Balls but the texture of the deep fry. It was clearly made by someone who knows the fine line of over-frying.

Luk Yu’s dim sum is solid. It doesn’t compete with some of the best dedicated places in Hong Kong but you’ll not be disappointed at all. The Steamed Beef Balls (牛肉球) and the Steamed Shrimp (鯇魚蝦燒賣) were very good. The Prawn Cakes (揚州煎蝦餅) were surprisingly the best part of the dim sum we tried. The steamed buns were a little dry and the filled could have had more flavour & juice to really match some of the best dim sum out there. The Shrimp Dumplings (筍尖鮮蝦餃) were very standard.

For desserts we had Layered Custard Cake (奶黃千層餅). The flavour was great but it was a little dry for something steamed. We had mini egg tarts (鬆化雞蛋撻) which were probably one of the most disappointing things on the menu - quite too bland and colourless. Lastly was the Apricot Cake (杏片奶黃酥), I rarely see apricot flavour on menus in places like this so I was eager to try. It was just a dry sponge cake with a hint of apricot jam and some sprinkled almonds,...

I never thought a restaurant could combine the experience of both a meal and an emotional journey. It was like in "Deliverance" where I'm minding my own business in my canoe on a calm beautiful river and then the restaurant staff come out of nowhere and order me to squeal like a pig. I only came here as it was the only yum cha place opened at 8am. Had no idea it was "famous". Thank you Google maps for taking me to the worst yum cha joint in HK. Had four dishes and the bill was 490 HKD. Egg tart. Pork Bun. Sticky rice. Meat ball. That's it. 490 HKD. Bill was in Chinese so you can't dispute it and God knows what dodgy cr@p they put on the bill. Thank goodness service was slow otherwise I would have ordered more food. Why is this place so special? Ohhhh wow you have some porter who opens the door for me. Big deal. I was sitting there thinking what just happened? Was it someone else's bill? Is it some TV game show prank to see my confused facial expressions for comedic entertainment. HA HA you got me hidden camera crew. You can come out now. But no I was left with nothing but a big bill and a gaping hole (not on my...