Golden Valley

The fact that Golden Valley has a Michelin star is proof that, when it comes to Hong Kong, one cannot trust the Michelin Guide. The dim sum here is okay, but certainly nothing special. The service is awful.

My family and I used to go to Golden Valley often. Located on the first floor of Emperor Hotel, it’s only minutes away from where we lived so when friends or relatives came, we would always go to Golden Valley. The waiters there hardly changed and they basically watched me grow up, often remarking how much I’ve grown and making friendly conversation with my parents.
Happy Valley is a quiet, residential location, so it’s always puzzled me why Golden Valley is always so crowded. I guess it’s so well liked that people actually make the trip here to come to Golden Valley. One thing’s for sure — if you intend to come, you had better make a reservation or risk not getting a table at all! Even when we did reserve a table, we would sometimes still have to wait a little outside.
I come here a lot more often for lunch than for dinner. Their dimsum never disappoints — I love their shrimp dumplings, and my parents adore their Chinese-​style meatballs. Their seafood fried noodles is pretty good, and I’m not even normally a fan of fried noodles. The fried chicken is a must-​order — the meat is nice and tender and the skin is fried to be just crispy, but not burnt. Because we know (or knew? We actually have not been there in quite a while) the waiters so well, they would always offer us free dessert as we are finishing up our food. It’s usually things like green bean soup or almond tea — traditional stuff — and it’s served really hot.
Service here is great, but there was this once that my parents and I were there for a late lunch and after sitting there for half an hour, we realized that the waitress had never put in our order! She apologized profusely and we’ve known her for a long time, and it was clear it was an honest mistake.
The last few times that we were there, my father and my aunt, who we always bring here whenever she’s in HK, have commented that the standard of the food isn’t as great as it was before. But I would still recommend Golden Valley if you’re looking for some good dimsum — it is a hotel, so prices don’t come cheap, but it’s worth it!

Whether it is the winter time, or the summer time, or in between seasons, the point is, pretty much ANYTIME out of the year, I can ALWAYS eat hot pot. Some might think this is strange to eat in the summertime especially in Hong Kong’s famous summer heat, but with AC’s blasting everywhere, Hot Pot is super achievable and not to mention yummy.
Golden Valley, is one of the BEST hot pot places I have ever been to in Hong Kong. They even have awards to prove it. However, regardless of hype, awards etc. I must taste with my own palette in order to judge if it really is THAT good. Oh… It was.
Soup bases: This is probably the first thing to distinguish a good hot pot place from a bad one. How creative are the soup bases and what are your options. I’ve had all kinds of soup bases for hot pot, ranging from just water to sichuan spicy to tomato soup base, but I have to say hands down, Golden Valley has the tastiest soup base of all. We ordered a yin-​yang pot, meaning the option to have two soup bases instead of one. Since they were famous for their sichuan «Ma-​la» (which basically translate directly to numbing spicy) soup base we got that as an option and the other we chose, sour cabbage fish head soup base. Holy Smokes. It absolutely blew my mind how good it was. Being a person who particularly likes tangy/​sourness, I LOVED this soup base. Think of sauerkraut but in a pot of soupy deliciousness flavoured with fish head thats been cooked for hours. This is just the BASE for all that you are about to cook in it.
Soup base– 5 stars.
Sauce– When you eat hot pot, you have the liberty of creating your own dipping sauce. This is why I like hot pot so much. So much is within my control. Golden valley has an exceptional sauce stand. Usually at hot pot restaurants, you have the usual, spring onions, garlic, soy sauce etc. This sauce stand beats ALL sauce stands. You’ve got garlic, whole or sliced, four different kinds of soy sauces, sesame paste, fermented tofu paste, peanut paste, satay paste. Every condiment imaginable was at the sauce stand. Just like you would pick what you like at a buffet, you pick what you would like to concoct your own sauce.
Sauce stand– 5 stars.
I was equally impressed when our meats and veggies came. Everything was fresh, plated nicely and ready to be cooked. The beef was good quality. The intestines crispy, the bean curd was silky, the pork neck tender. AMAZING!!! I literally enjoyed the entire meal. Overall golden valley has been one of the best hot pot experiences I have ever had. Take it from a person who Loves hot pot.