Food Review: St George@Hullet House, TST Canton road, HK

Since my man's birthday was over the weekend that just passed us by, I decided to spring him with two special dinner out.

The first dinner was trying out St George restaurant@Hullett House, across the harbour at TST. Figuring out where the building was was relatively easy but it took us awhile to figure out which level to head to. Kinda convoluted since we were not exactly heading in via the main entrance of the hotel...lol

So we were first greeted by this nostalgic British kinda lobby lift entrance with all the "rich photo" history on the wall. Walking through the halls was like walking in some old European statehouse.

We were early at 7pm and so the tables were relatively free. It wasnt a very large place but at least the tables were not crammed too close to each other.

To save us the headache of what to order and since the degustation looked alright, we decided to go with the Le Menu du Chef, without the wine pairing since we aint much of a wine drinker. I did have my moscato d-asti by the glass though.

I think the sign of things to come was from the serving of the langoustine starter. The portions was tiny. I dont mean small, I meant TINY. Like little baby jars of food composite. The taste was nice and so we were left hoping that the remainder of the course would be better.

This was an interesting dish. The idea was to serve the fatty tuna like sushi, with the crab meat replacing the rice instead. The ingredients were fresh but I didnt think much of the tomato cress pairing. Frankly, it was a little on the bland side and needed something to perk up the dish.

When I saw this dish, my head was like going WTF? Another tiny dish? Who exactly are they trying to feed? The dish was overall ok but the curry emulsion didnt do it for me.

This sweet onion pancake however was pretty delightful but the urchin didnt pack any punch. I think it was overwhelmed by the onion flavor. However, I did like this and prob the best we had from the course so far.

When our roasted lamb saddle arrived, we were shocked by another tiny portion. We have eaten in many places and no other degustation served such appallingly small sizes that even a kid will still be left hungry.  The slab was no longer than my thumb nor thicker than 1.5 finger width. It's quite a cheeky thing to do for a reputable restaurant.

The servings between courses were also a fairly LONG wait and it wasnt 2 hours later than we were served this food portion fit for Ms. Thumbelina. So of course the birthday boy was upset and so was I. We reflected our dissatisfaction to the manager who happened to be the one serving the main dish. We explained our concerns about the fact that we are STILL famished. It didnt help their cause either when our "medium" meat was served Rare, and the other waiters simply forgot our request for more bread (to fill up our hungry tummy)

The manager, taking in our immediate concerns, without hesitation addressed our problems with an apology as well as promising to top up our meal with another meat course, the beef. I told her I honestly dont want to wait for another hour but she promised it will be ready in 10mins. The beef itself was simply seared and grilled without much seasoning. It was ok, not great. The manager came back to us again and to apologise for the night because someone in the kitchen decided to MIA and didnt show up for work causing the "disruption" in service. I highly doubt the size would double even with the kitchen help appearing though. It is honestly shameful to serve such a small portion at such a price.

The extra beef dish

The puny roasted lamb saddle

 Probably because knowing this was a birthday celebration, the manager again took the initiative to serve us an extra cheese tasting dish. I'm not a cheese fan, so this did nothing for me but I did appreciate the gesture and we certainly let her know our appreciation at her "recovery" actions.

The 2 desserts were served one after another. First the sorbet and followed by the chocolate cake. Didnt blow my mind if you asked me.

Our meal came with tea and we opted to try the house blend. My goodness, the tea was actually rather nice, packed with a nice fruity flora flavor and fragrance. I had asked if I could buy a packet back and after waiting for 10 mins, the manager came back with this big bottled tea leaves and offered it as a gift instead as the souvenir shop was already closed by the time our meal was over at 10.45pm (we started at 7pm - longest meal ever!)

I was pleasantly surprised and thanked her for it. It was a nice gesture on her part and she told us that she hoped we will be back.

To sum up the experience, not great. Jessica the manager made it better but will I be back, likely not ever.

After dinner, we went for a nice stroll under the autumn skies and the surrounding was prettier than I had expected. I got to get out more to explore HK....

Hullett House, TST

Hullet House with landscape