Yue

Yue is a big step up from your typical Chinese restaurant. The culinary precision and meticulous presentation bring it to the vicinity of fine dining, though I still hold Shang Dynasty as the ultimate Cantonese cuisine so refined it is fit for royalty.
I tried to look up the items we ordered on the online menu, but for some reason I failed to identify anything because all the extensive names and big words sounded similar and the dishes seemed to blend into each other – so please bear with my unofficial food names and descriptions in this review.
1) I think the most unique item was the layered pudding with fish filet: not only is it award-​winning, I also saw it featured on TV! The presentation of the aesthetic layers in the simple glass cup is ravishingly beautiful, and the TV program talked about how the chef uses a special technique to construct the layers. However I found the actual taste to be just alright; rather, I was primarily impressed by the fish filet. You know how when you get pork belly in your ramen, it’s tiny but explosively delicious? That’s what the fish filet was like – despite its modest size (and appearance) of a chicken nugget, it was melt-​in-​your-​mouth savory heaven. Lastly is the mini asparagus garnish, which I didn’t care too much for as it is primarily for looks, but I found myself amused because I don’t think I’ve ever such chibi /​ちび asparagus.
2) There was another award-​winning fine-​dining-​esque item with another type of pudding and a piece of chicken. Although this one had no pretty layers, the chicken was equally mind-​blowing.
3) We also got the specialty dim sum sampler. Again, the main specialty was presentation because the actual food ranged from okay to great. The 蝦餃 /​shrimp dumpling was quite tasty with a delightfully thin dumpling skin and sat in an adorable mini dim sum steamer. The taro puff with fried taro nest was good too, with an interesting fluffy fried coating on the taro puff. However it was rather filling and the taro nest was too crunchy (let’s hope that the crunching was much louder in my head than in reality). The last chicken thing was mainly for presentation; it was good but nothing earth-​shattering; plus, I found it strange to eat a dessert shaped like a chicken because it seemed like it would be more fitting savory than sweet.
4) Lastly, we got two additional dim sums: the quality was good and I liked how they adhered to flavor profiles of traditional dim sum though some of the presentation and ingredients were novel.
The ambiance is nothing all-​out and completely out of the ordinary, but it was nice and comfortable. Food-​wise I think Shang Palace may have an edge on culinary prowess, but Yue does not disappoint and it certainly seems to have an expertise in presentation.

My friend is hosting a luncheon cocktail here today for her wedding. The function room is spacious such that the ceremony set up and the buffet are arranged in the same room. The food is fine, provided that this is normally a Chinese restaurant and effort has been made to provide a variety of bite size food to make the cocktail party interesting. There are mini burgers, dumpling, Thai shrimp and sushi to suit the event. The audio system is not functioning well though.
This is my 2^nd time here (in the same function room). Last year was here for the department X’Mas party. Guess this is a convenient place to host parties and events.