The Praya — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

The Praya is a neo-Chinese restaurant that offers an excellent dining experience, albeit at a high price point. The food quality is superb, and the menu features some truly unique dishes.

I came here with my family for Mid-Autumn Festival, and I particularly loved the Braised grouper fish head Soup - This soup needs to be pre-ordered 48 hours in advance, and it is divine! It is rich and milky with all the fish essence in it. A must-try!

We also ordered the following dishes: Master stock beef quintet Sourdough spring onion pancakes Gold coin eel Longjing tea-smoked pigeon Pot Fish (Ma Yau) Rice

The food was excellent, the servers are very attentive and caring, there are small areas of improvement given the price range of the restaurant.

The tea-smoked pigeon was cooked to medium rare to keep its juiciness and tenderness. It is delicious - if you don't mind it being medium rare. We were never told this before we ordered the dish. In a Chinese restaurant, it is normal to expect everything to be cooked. The restaurant has a responsibility to inform customers before they order a dish that is medium rare, especially since there are people who cannot eat rare food due to medical concerns.

Another area to be improved is the serving of the fish rice. The fish was dry-aged Ma Yau (threefinger threadfin), cooked in the pod together with rice and other condiments. When the server helped to serve the dish, he tried to mix the rice and fish together. However, he also mixed all the bones from the fish into the rice, which made it difficult to eat.

Overall, I had a good experience at The Praya. The food was excellent, and I would recommend this restaurant to others, but be sure to let your server know if you have any dietary restrictions or...

Located in One-Eight-One Hotel, The Praya seeks to resurrect the city's bygone era, when its name referenced the waterfront promenade symbolizing Hong Kong's modernity. The restaurant reinvents Chinese cuisine, emphasizing local produce prepared with finesse in-house while retaining a view of the harbor symbolizing the city's roots.

鳳肝金錢鱔 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙚𝙡 (7/10) Inspired by 金錢鷄 "Money Chicken", it combined eel with chicken liver, reimagining the classic eat. While the sauce overwhelmed at times, the contrasts between eel and liver produced an intriguing texture, hinting at tradition with innovation through balanced reworking of profiles.

生醃本灣章紅魚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙠𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞 (7/10) A tasty tongue-tickler - fish starring through soy, chili and garlic. Each mouthful balanced bold tastes with smooth texture, priming my appetite for more to come.

煙燻三黃雞 𝘼𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙-𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙣 (5/10) The smoke didn't wow and skin lacked crisp, but tender meat saved it from being a total letdown. Guess they've still got room to take this dish up a notch.

鹹檸檬欖菜烤鹹鮮馬友 𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙛𝙞𝙣 (8/10) It was executed flawlessly with charred skin cradling succulent flaky flesh. Flavoursome sauce of aged salted lemon and preserved olives accentuated each bite. When paired with rice, this grilled fish delighted through a simple yet refined preparation.

薑汁番薯蛋卷 𝙎𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙤 & 𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡 (8/10) It defo struck the perfect balance, with the sweet potato and ginger flavors present but not overwhelming. The sweetness was just right. Best of all was enjoying it with the ice cream - a dessert that left us satisfied.

𝚆𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚍 –

梅菜蒸菜心 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙢 (7.5/10) 自家製臘肉津白 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙏𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙟𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙗𝙗𝙖𝙜𝙚 (7/10) 四小碟 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 (7/10)

Date: May 2024...

SILLY RULES RUIN BRUNCH. Came here for my friend's birthday brunch. We were shocked to find that had a silly rule when we sat down that for bottomless champagne add-on, everyone at the table had to pay, even if they didn't drink. There were 4 of us, and I didn't drink alcohol, but they insisted on charging me for not drinking. Glad we knew about the rule, we complaint about it, and the fact that we weren't told about it when we made the reservation. After a few back and forths with the "director", they decided to make it a special case and not charge me for not drinking. Been to numerous lunches around the world and this is the first time I heard of this rule. However, this already put a damper on the whole brunch experience. They had another rule that if we didn't finish any of the food we ordered, we would be charged full price for the dishes. So we had to be extra careful with the ordering just in case we couldn't finish the food. The food quality is good, but taste wise all dishes were just bland. The drunken clams were bland, the famous chicken was meh. Nothing to write home about. You can get better dim sums at Maxim's to be honest. The best thing was the dessert. This place had so much potential, but ultimately because of management, it's a...