Hong Kong’s Fook Lam Moon restaurant is the gastronomic equivalent to a prized family heirloom, combining much of the best the city has to offer to the world. Namely, that of adhering to its own unique style and the offering of finest Cantonese cuisine that can only really excel so highly when conceived in its natural habitat.
Boasting an authentic heritage that spans more than half a century, Fook Lam Moon’s origins as a superior standalone Cantonese cuisine brand date back to 1948 when Mr Chui Fook Chuen founded his own gourmet catering service. Providing dishes that epitomized the traditions of Cantonese cooking, with a twist, Chuen used this and his many years of experience as head chef providing dishes for some of China’s most eminent families to eventually establish Fook Lam Moon.
Now a name synonymous with guiding the principles of Cantonese cuisine their first restaurant rose from its foundations in Hong Kong’s Wanchai district by way of the city’s economic growth in 1972. This would be followed by a Kowloon branch being opened in Tsimshatsui in 1977 and the latest branch being opened in Macau as recently as August of last year.
The Fook Lam Moon restaurant in Hong Kong
When Glass visited Fook Lam Moon’s Wanchai branch we were instantly taken by how immaculately presented the whole set-up remains to be. Despite the more corporate sheen of booming bygone Hong Kong that, at least on the outside, seems to sum up Fook Lam Moon this is the finest of fine dining establishments that does make efforts to remain ahead of the game.
Its prime positioning in the heart of one of the city’s most metropolitan areas has seen it illustriously dubbed “the cafeteria of the wealthy”, and the fact it’s still delivering Michelin star dim sum and various assortments of other delightful dishes is undeniably keeping that economically privileged set coming back for more.
The restaurant area in Fook Lam Moon
We dined on a series of scrumptious dishes which surprised the palette to start, beginning with braised dried-age Japanese abalone and baked stuffed crab shell with onions and fresh crab meat, crab undoubtedly being one of Fook Lam Moon’s classic Cantonese specialities. Immediately after we moved on to the soul foods of Cantonese cuisine including barbecued suckling pig and stir-fried beef cubes with garlic. 
Braised Abalone and fish maw
Baked stuffed crab shell with onions and fresh crab meat
To complement these dishes further, we were introduced to even more crabby delights in the form of sautéed vegetables with fresh crab roe and fried rice with assorted meat and conpoy wrapped in lotus leafs, all the while mulling these overly lovingly with wines that were the ultimate tribute to all the dishes.
Wines which were also recognised by Wine Spectator in its Restaurant Wine List Awards in 2014, garnering Fook Lam Moon the accolade of the only non-hotel affiliated Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong to win the Best of Award Excellence, I might add.
Finally, dessert of a pan-fried water chestnut cake and some silky smooth pure dessert soup was the not too overly sweet cherry on the top of a meal bursting with things to try that far from disappointed on the flavour front.
Kale with fresh crab meat and crab roe
Beef cubes with dried garlic
Lotus leaf rice
Back on street-level following your dining experience you are also invited, via brilliant neon lights, to pick up a foodie nik-nak for a friend or loved one at the Fook Lam Moon Gourmet Shop, adjacent to the restaurant entrance. This store houses a smorgasbord of fine foods, teas, confections and wines all of which make the perfect gift in lieu of tawdry duty free.
This, as Fook Lam Moon’s last bastion of sheer hospitality and exceptional service, marks a broad level of real customer awareness from start to finish which puts this establishment on top of the Cantonese cuisine scene in Hong Kong.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Fook Lam Moon
Fook Lam Moon, 35-45 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: 2866-0663
Opening Hours
Lunch 11:30 – 15:00 (LO 14:00)
Dinner 18:00 – 23:00 (LO 21:30)