Above & Beyond — Restaurant in Kowloon

We went for a romantic dinner there with my girlfriend as we were visiting HK. At first sight, this restaurant is very nice, at the last floor of the Hotel Icon which gives you a very nice view on the bay (provided the windows are clean, which was not really the case). We opted for the 6-course signature sea food menu (988 HKD per person + 10% service charge, 2 person's minimum). The service was prompt - sometime too prompt even making you feel rushed as the 6-course meal lasted less than 90 minutes in total - and the service was not very friendly. The dishes description on the menu was very appealing, but the reality was different : yes, some expensive dishes (lobster, truffle, crab...) were used, but that did not mean the dish was tasty after all. The first course consisted in 3 small samplers (crab beignet, fried oyster and one shrimp with yuzu and some mayo). I was ok, although the crab beignet looked like it was coming from a frozen bag... The second dish was a scallop soup. Was ok too, but nothing to write home about. There was one big scallop and some smaller bits of sea food. The third dish was the grouper fish with some small asian vegetables. The fish, like the overall dish was fine, but there were only 2 small pieces of fish. The wow effect for taste and presentation were both missing... The highlight of the dish should have been the lobster. It was ok, but the chili toppings they added to it were maybe not adequate to my taste. Also, the lobster meat was not removed the shell, as you could expect from a nice restaurant. No ustensils to "work" on the lobster meat were provided either. The best dish of the evening was maybe the fried rice with crab and truffle. The dessert was a joke though : a mango juice in milk with some sago and some "Chinese petit fours" (note the quotation marks here) which consisted in a sesame jelly cube and a mini almond butter cookie, which you can find at the supermarket. When you add petit fours on the menu, you have the right to expect 3-4 small desserts... Add to this the fact they charge a whooping 70 HKD for a pot of warm water (not even tea), one mocktail and one Singapore sling cocktail and you end up with a bill of almost 2500 HKD (300€) and a...

Above and Beyond is the feature Cantonese restaurant on the 28th floor of the ICON hotel in Hung Hom. This is a nice dining venue with excellent views of the harbour and Hong Kong Skyline. Opening hours are 11am to 2.30pm (lunch) and 6-11pm (dinner) daily.

The restaurant is popular with hotel guests and local residents so best to make reservations in advance if you want to dine on weekends or public holidays.

Seating area is nice but relaxed. Service friendly and attentive. Menu is in Cantonese and English and waitstaff can explain menu items if you need help.

During our meal we tried a couple cocktails. The Old Fashioned was too sweet, the Manhattan much better prepared. Drinks were served with caramelised walnuts that were pretty good.

For dinner we tried their Hong Kong style Peking Duck served with a sweet plum like sauce instead of the Hoisan sauce that comes with traditional orders. The duck was on the dry side but tasted decent. Overall, this was a fair serving of Peking Duck.

We also had the signature Braised eggplant served with bak choi (local green vegetable) and bean curd sheets. This was very good, everything tasted very nice. Lastly, we had the fried rice with mince wagyu. The wagyu was very tiny and difficult to identify in the rice but there was a slight beef taste with the dish.

In the end, there is room for improvement at Above and Beyond but our meal was better than average and views afforded to diners are very good. It is a worth considering a meal if you are staying here...

We paid over 1800HKD for 2 people just to waste our time. We weren't too unpleasant about the seating although our view was not the best. However, we were very disappointed at the service and the food quality compared to the amount of money we spent. If you are like us and are not lucky, you would be seated just to look at a dirty table that has not been cleaned over an hour. Not only we were charged for drinking water, but also there was 10% service fee already included in our bill despite our unpleasant experience with their slow service. We ordered the Beijing Duck dinner set for two people. At first, it wasn’t too bad. But we had to wait at least 30 minutes for each food about 2 times, and it took us more than 2 hours to finish the course because of the delayed service. The food was not worth the money as it didn’t taste too special. I do not understand how they received the Michelin star. We also had to wait 10 minutes for water after asking. We are not sure if the delay was caused by being short staffed or putting too much effort in cooking. But surely, they need some improvements in many aspects. This had to be our special night but turned out to be the worst experience in Hong Kong. Definitely not happy with the experience and would not recommend if you are in a tight schedule and or want to spend your...