The Gallery — Restaurant in Islands District

Step in as a solo Asian woman and get world-class rudeness: stone-faced silence, a menu scrawled in hieroglyphs, and outright snark for daring to ask for a typed menu (“First time in 25 years anyone’s asked that!”). Try to help with a quick Google Maps photo and brace yourself for a full-blown mantrum (“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”). Refused service on the spot—apparently my “attitude” (translation: not groveling) and basic standards were just too much for Tong Fuk’s resident king of mediocrity.

Watch the staff and regulars light up for every white man in the room, while the Asian woman on a date keeps her eyes glued to her phone, and the herd of diners quietly cosign every cringe-worthy moment.

What a sad little circus. If you’re seeking good food, basic respect, or a shred of self-awareness, save yourself the trouble. Some places are beyond help.

If your idea of hospitality is being treated like an inconvenience by expats with a savior complex and their parade of nodding diners, you’ll feel right at home. Otherwise—trust me—hunger is preferable to this show.

Come hungry. Leave hungry. And remember: you’re not missing a thing.

And honestly, even starvation felt like an upgrade compared to the spectacle of white male fragility and colonial cringe inside.

Tong Fuk deserves better—and so do you

Refuse me service? Please. Maybe Hong Kong should start screening out applicants who are allergic to class, competence, or...

The Gallery is an institution on South Lantau, and has been for a long time. Be sure to book a table for Fridays and Saturdays, while Wednesday and Thursdays are usually less busy (Mondays and Tuesdays are closed). Here in 2024, they will be closed the month of August. Since South Lantau is highly affected by outside visitors and tourists on weekends and public holidays, the waiting time varies with how the weather is.

A great selection of very high quality food. Especially the steaks are awesome, seasoned and for some dishes marinated and most of them grilled, slow cooked or slow smoked. A good selection of beers both bottled and on tap, my own favourite being the Vedett Blonde draft. Despite this being a meat focused restaurant, they have a very good vegetarian burger, and the hummus with pita appetizer is so good I some times order one more.

The atmosphere is great, looking over the main road and towards the beach of Tong Fuk, which is just 5 minutes walk from the restaurant.

A genuine local experience, the total opposite of serial production franchised copy-paste food machines. This is genuine and authentic and worth travelling to even if you are not a local to...

I can’t believe how arrogant the owner of this place is. We came here after a tough hike, tired and ready to relax, but we were turned away just because we were holding a couple of water bottles. Really? Your restaurant is literally on a hiking trail—are you seriously rejecting every customer who walks in with water? That just doesn’t make any sense.

To make matters worse, the attitude we got felt unnecessarily hostile. It’s one thing to have a policy, but the way we were treated was rude and completely uncalled for. Honestly, it felt like more than just arrogance—it was borderline racist.

We’ll nevercome back here again, and thankfully, we didn’t have to.

There’s a much nicer canteen right next door where we ended up ordering drinks and a ton of food. That’s the business you lost because of your attitude.

To the owner: maybe take a step back and think about how you treat people. A little kindness can...