Yale 1999 reunion?! — When Siamphone Louankang (IG: @siamphonelouankang) was in Hong Kong, we went to Man Ho for dinner. Man Ho is the Chinese restaurant at JW Marriott, where she stayed at. It serves good authentic Cantonese cuisine, and was awarded a Michelin star from 2021 to 2024.
Normally, I would suggest to just have the tasting menu to keep things easier, but given all the different allergies and “picky eaters” present, we opted to go with a la carte.
Here are all the dishes ordered, photographed by Siamphone. The full image set with the full menu is included at the end of the set for completeness.
Man Ho Chinese Restaurant
3F, JW Marriott Hotel, Pacific Place
88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
+852 2810 8366
Michelin One Star: High Quality Cooking
Michelin Guide 2024: Best Char Siu in Hong Kong
1. I always order Chinese food with a Moleskine. This waiter actually asked me wtf I was doing with a notebook (LOL). It‘s just that I don’t remember all the dishes — seriously.
3. This is a traditional snake soup but made with Duck instead of Snake. It’s something traditionally only available during the winter. 金殿非蛇羹. Shredded duck meat soup with fungus, mushroom and bamboo shoot.
4. Rated one of the best BBQ Pork (Char Siu) by the Michelin Guide. Very good. Iberico Pork has been pretty popular in Hong kong, and you’d see many places using it for BBQ pork. 萬豪貴妃叉燒 (西班牙伊比利亞豬) Signature barbecued pork with honey sauce (Spanish Iberico Pork).
5. More colloquially known as “vegetarian duck”. 素鵝. 五香大啡菇脆皮素鵝 Pan-fried bean curd rolls stuffedwith shredded carrot, black fungus and portobello mushroom.
7. Roasted goose is a traditional everyday Cantonese dish. People in Hong Kong would have roast goose with rice for lunch. These are very juicy. Surprisingly good. 老菜脯明爐燒鵝 Roasted goose with aged dried radish.
8. XO Beef — it’s not really fusion because this is also another popular dish in Hong Kong. Some type of pepper, soy sauced based / XO sauce is common for everyday meals. Here mostly elevated to be star worthy. X.O.醬日本尖椒炒本地牛柳. Pan-fried local beef tenderloinwith Japanese chilli pepper in X.O. chilli sauce.
9. More everyday dishes. My mom would make these at home. It’s very easy to make. 鎖鮮杞子魚湯鮮黃耳泡西洋菜苗 Poached hydroponic watercress with yellow fungus and wolf berries in fish stock.
10. A decent dan dan noodle. The noodles are top notch. I prefer the ones made in other places. I mean everything is good here — no complaints. 風味擔擔麵 Sichuan dan dan noodles with spicy minced beef.
11. The only gotcha about this place is that every dish is individual. It’s very unusual to have individual portions, but also potentially more “tourist friendly” because you won’t have to share. This fish is served with rice noodles underneath, which soaks up all the essence of the fish. It‘s very well thought out. I might steal this idea! 風味藤椒陳村粉蒸斑球. Steamed garoupa fillet and rice noodleswith fresh sansho pepper sauce.
12. Traditional Chinese dim sum, courtesy of the restaurant. It’s customary for Chinese restaurants to provide desserts if you didn’t order anything specific. Bet you didn’t know that! 綠茶椰汁糕 Green tea coconut milk pudding
“The sophisticated interior inspired by a Chinese garden features cascading glass chandeliers shaped like morning glory, marble moon gates and camellia enamel art. The young but seasoned head chef takes a creative approach to classics, such as Cantonese barbecue, dim sum and seafood. Try the fish soup with fish maw, shrimp cake and bamboo pith – the rich, flavoursome broth is made with three kinds of fish. Certain items need to be pre-ordered.” — Michelin Guide.
