#private kitchen

Tasting Court is located in a residential building on Wong Nai Chung Road, right by the racecourse, and you have to both book in advance, and also commit to one of their tasting menus. All 3 tasting menus are about a dozen dishes, and range in price from HK$698 to HK$788; with the main difference between the type of dishes on offer. We opted for the HK$698.

There are a few dishes that are served at Tasting Court, which are the same as the ones at Chairman, and those sadly are the ones that fared the worst. They were still good, of course, but unfortunately does not hold up to the original.

So from the appetisers, the deep-fried enoki mushrooms were just a little bit more greasy than the Chairman version; while the tea-smoked pigeon (below) a little less juicy.

However, when we try the dishes which are more original to Tasting Court, they benefited from this lack of comparison and came off very well indeed. One of our favourites was a Spanish iberico char siu (below), which had an excellent fat to meat ratio, and also is very different to your standard Cantonese char siu, as in it came without the red sauce. Rather, this felt more like a slow-cooked, almost braised, version, with a much less sweet marinade.

After these appetisers, there is a chicken soup with fish maw (below), which is hearty, and very similar to what you would get at any Cantonese mother’s kitchen. It had a tonne of flavour, but could have gone with an oil skim. The fish maw is also on the skimpy side.

The main event is the huadiao steamed crab, of course, and here I’m afraid it really does not compare to the original Chairman one. The flavours of the wine and chicken fat are soaked in less into the crab; the rice noodles clump much faster; and I really missed the finely julienned spring onions that came with the original.

Next up is a type of meatball served in a clear broth with some Shanghainese cabbage (below), and this was one of my favourites. It doesn’t look very impressive, but it’s very delicate and well-cooked, yet packed a punch in the umami levels. It’s basically a version of the Shanghainese favourite, lion head.

The soya chicken (below) arrives next, and again, I couldn’t help but be nostalgic for the Chairman one. Again, it’s hard to describe exactly why it is less good, but somehow the dish just comes off as a little less refined; the sauce has less depth; and the chicken is a little less juicy and flavourful. This is really more of a bog-standard soya chicken that you would get at most high-end Cantonese restaurants.

Finally, there is a plate of stir-fried Chinese kale with ginger sauce, which I found a bit greasy and forgot to take a picture of; as well as a plate of noodles with dried shrimp roe, which I was too full to try but a lot of people seemed to enjoy.

The last two dishes were dessert: a coconut and jujube gelatinous cake, which again I didn’t try but everyone around the table deemed too sticky and no one went for a second bite; and a cold drink with rice wine, which was pleasant enough.

Overall, I think if you have never been to Chairman, or balk at the ridiculous prices they are now charging for their crab dish at dinner, then Tasting Court is a good option. However, for me, I will still go to Chairman and get their lunch sets, which can include the crab and the soya chicken, for a much more reasonable price. Unlike the many rave reviews on the internet though, this is definitely not the best Cantonese food I’ve ever had.