Dong Lai Shun 東來順 (Revisited)

When I spend my hard earned cash on a meal, especially a meal within a hotel establishment, I do expect the service to be of certain standard. Here at Royal Garden's Dong Lai Shun 東來順, the service of the waitstaff was great, very attentive, friendly and polite. However, what I got pissed off by was the serving speed of the food! Most of the main dishes arrived only minutes after our appetizers and even after repeated request the dishes kept on coming one after another while were were still trying to finish out first dish!!!! I felt like being rushed, no matter how polite and friend the waitstaff was, I wasn't smile at all! I feel bad for the waitstaff because I understand that there wasn't much he can do but to relay the message to the kitchen; however I find the same problem in many Chinese restaurants, even many upscale ones as well. It seemed to be a common traditional with Chinese restaurants and I wonder if the food / kitchen management style can ever be changed with respect to pacing of dishes, I truly wonder.

This meal was one of my birthday meals with relatives and I picked this place because I had the craving for Peking duck all the time! I did most of the ordering and picked my favorites as well. The dinner started with the Mashed Broad Bean & Salty Egg Yolk Rolled with Bean Curd which I ordered during my last visit here as well. The minced bean paste and egg yolk carried a contrasting flavors while their texture remained soft and mushy within the outer layer of bean curd. Interesting as always.

The Deep Fried Bean Curd (aka Veggie Duck) is a very common dish but I like it as always. While the layers were crunchy, the flavors were a bit off, not just the bean curd but the mushroom mixture inside.

Jelly Fish Tossed with Scallion, I love these stuff particular its texture. Perfect for starters to get your chewing going.

The presentation was wonderful. The Tea Leaf Smoked Duck Eggs were perfect in terms of texture but flavor wise was a bit off this time, weak smokey flavors.

Every now and then my craving for Roasted Peking Duck would kick in and the best way to get rid of such craving would be to have it, simple as that! Self-Control? Ah well, just thrown it out the window. The Peking duck here is one of their famous dishes and it looked promising the moment it was served.

However, the skin was not as crisp as it looked and the sliced pieces were rather oily / fattening. Nonetheless I was still quite happy with it.

Another important factor for a good Peking duck is the pancake. Too thick it will be like eating bread and too think it will break while eating, causing the sauce to be all over your hand. The pancakes here were fairly well made, not too thick and with the right elasticity.

Really up to you as to how you like to eat it. :)

The Peking duck I ordered came with two serving styles, after the skins were sliced, the rest of the meat would be diced up / minced and then stir-fried to be served with some lettuce wraps. Humm ... it was overly salty even with the lettuce!

The Baked Ox-tail with Black Vinegar was a pleasant surprise. The sauce was not overly sour with the black vinegar with traces of sweetness to it. It was rich in flavor but was a good combination with the soft / mushy meat of the Ox-tail. Thumbs up!

Rather disappointing Xiao long bao, dry and without any meat juice instead the overly elastic outer skin.

No surprises with the sauteed pea sprouts.

The pan-fried pork bun looked more like a dessert bun. Dough was too thick and meat was dry. Disappointing.

This pot of Boiled vegetable rice with air dried duck in Clay pot arrived like 15 mins after we ordered so I had to request it to be covered and set aside until the RIGHT TIME! Perhaps it was the delay in consuming and reheating the rice that made it rather dry. It was still alright I guess. The air dried duck was chewy (due to it being preserved) and carried the right level of saltiness as well. Worth a try.

I forgot what was the name of this dessert but obvious it has to do with pineapple just from the look of it. However, it was rather light in flavors and I didn't like the texture: overly chewy and sticky.

Likes:

• Tea Leaf Smoked Duck Eggs - although weak in smoked flavors, the texture was just right.
• Baked Ox-tail with Black Vinegar - wonder sauce and meat texture was soft and mushy. Thumbs up!

Dislikes:

• Dishes being served too quickly!
• Xiao long bao - too dry and skin overly elastic!
• pan-fried pork bun - dough too thick and meat too dry

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Dong Lai Shun 東來順
LG, The Royal Garden,
69 Mody Road, TST, KLN
Tel: 2733 2020


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