Review: Seventh Son restaurant in Hong Kong
There’s nothing juicier than a story of sibling rivalry, except perhaps a restaurant that was born out of it. Opening this September, renowned chef Chiu Wai-kwan’s new restaurant, Seventh Son, was created to compete directly with his elder brother at Fook Lam Moon, the legendary Hong Kong restaurant famously frequented by local celebrities and tycoons.
Atmosphere
Seventh Son Hong Kong is perched on the fourth to sixth floor of the unglamourous Kwan Chart Tower in Wanchai and loses out to Fook Lam Moon when it comes to location and design. A dingy elevator takes you up to the restaurant of equally unassuming décor — pale walls, wooden floors and random old Chinese decorations like wooden chairs and old style windows. Diners can choose between smaller tables in the hall or nine private dining rooms.
Food and drink
If you’re looking for new and exciting dishes, Seventh Son is not the place for you. Here, it’s all about old-school Cantonese food (similar to Fook Lam Moon) tried and tested to culinary perfection. Our meal started off with an array of classic dim sum: har gow, pork shao mai, spare ribs in black bean sauce, turnip cake and spring rolls.
While there were no surprises, the ingredients used to make the dim sum (from the julienned carrots inside the spring rolls to the chewy skin of har gow) tasted incredibly fresh. There was definitely no cutting corners when it came to food production.
Evening dishes had the same high quality, including the barbecued suckling pig with skin so crispy, it was cracker-like. The bird’s nest broth with shredded chicken left a slightly sweet aftertaste that complemented the soup’s slippery texture.
Next up was abalone flown in from Yoshihama in Japan, which was so fresh it clung to our knives as we sliced through them. We also loved the fried rice wrapped in fresh lotus leaf, which had a hot and fragrant aroma we could already smell from the kitchen.
Our dessert at Seventh Son Hong Kong was sweetened almond soup with egg white — a little bland in taste but very smooth — and glutinous dumplings with red bean paste. Soft, sticky and not too sweet, the combination of red bean paste and the glutinous rice wrapper created a balanced ending to our meal.
Verdict
This is traditional Cantonese cuisine at its best and a real treat for showing out-of-towners what Hong Kong food is all about. Set to open on 12 September 2013, Seventh Son has every potential to become a Hong Kong tycoon’s next secret hideout.
Seventh Son Hong Kong is currently offering four banquet meals for dinner starting at HK$14,800 for a table of 12. With all the buzz surrounding this new place, we recommend you book in advance.
Seventh Son Hong Kong, 4/F-6/F, Kwan Chart Tower, No. 6 Tonnochy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, +852 2892 2888, seventhson.hk
This article was first published on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong on 7 September, 2013 as ‘Review: Seventh Son restaurant in Hong Kong'.
Photo credits to Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong.