Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Contemporary Chinese food for hipsters – Dragon Noodles Academy

Youngsters nowdays are often reluctant to have Chinese food as many restaurants are rather old-fashioned, plus the recipes remain almost unchanged for years. Thank God the founders of Urban Park and Yum Cha has introduced this super cool Kung Fu themed Dragon Noodles Academy to the cuilinary scene.


Really loved the way they incorporate conventional Chinese decorations and Wing Chun training equipments into this modern restaurant, which only makes everything undeniable.


Just turn around and you’ll find some herbal tea containers for cold brew Chinese tea and a local beer called Gwei Lo. A nice wordplay as beer is nicknamed as ‘Gwei Lo herbal tea’ by Hongkongers.


Okay, I was really carried away by the awesome interior and let’s get back to the food and drinks.

DNA got a drinks menu despite being a Chinese restaurant and we started off our meal with some East-meets-West cocktails.


Flower maiden’s collins ($99, back) – rose & jasmine-infused hendrick’s gin, crawley’s rose syrup, bergamot puree, crawley’s orgeat syrup, east imperial sode water
Females would totally fall for this girly and elegant drink and it tasted as good as it looked. The amount of gin added was just right so it didn’t overpower the floral aroma and sweetness from the syrup.

Margarita chino ($79, front) – cimmaron blanck tequila, crawley’s pineapple & almond syrup, chartreuse green, fresh lime juice
A little more spiked than the former one but I also liked that lime and pineapple sourness.

Berry Wintermelon ($69) was so cute that the girls couldn’t stop taking photos! The mini wintermelon balls were soaked in blueberry sauce and plated as a bunch of grapes. They were all juicy and sweet but perhaps this can be eaten after a few savoury dishes to cleanse the palate.


Another ultra photogenic item were the Crispy Lobster Puffs ($69@) which looked so much like real lobsters when seen from far away. Minced lobster meat was mixed with water chesnut and coriander, then wrapped in two types of pastries (thus the two colours) and fried to golden brown and airy. The filling was flavoursome but not as bouncy as expected. Probably would have been better if chunks of lobster meat were used?


Clouds of sweet smelling steam filled our dining area when the barbecue sauce was poured to the tiny pot of Hot-stone BBQ Pork Fillets ($119). Every single piece was fatty, thoroughly marinated and the beans on the side were just as amazing.


Wood-oven whole peking duck with pancakes ($499) was definitely DNA’s signature and they even roast their own ducks!


Served fresh off the oven, the chef then artfully skinned the duck into three plates, duck meat, duck skin and skin with meat. Look at how neat they were arranged! Accompanying the meat were garlic mash, raw cane sugar, sweet duck sauce and sesame paste, as well as cucumber, rock melon, chinese leeks and pink cabbage.


Here’s my peking duck wrap and it was simply delicious with all the great ingredients.


We also had Spicy duck & dried chilli ($99) made with the skinless duck as a follow up course. It possessed all those mouthwatering factors, pungent and spicy flavours in Sichuan cuisine.


Get your camera or smart phones ready for this 24 hours ale-braised pork knuckle & rice (for 6 people, $399) as it involves another mini live show. The staff first destructed the pork knuckle and mixed those off the bone tender pork with everything else in the gigantic plate. The addition of pomegranate was a nice and brilliant touch as it balanced the briniess and greasiness of the meat.


We were super full after downing all the amazing dishes so we just ordered Flowering tofu ($79) as a sweet note to finish the night. To be honest, it was an usual tofu pudding with goji berries but it’s the chef’s knife skills that brought this dessert to a whole new level. Totally an artwork that requires years of practice.


DNA is undoubtedly my recent favourite with their innovative and stylish dishes without compromising on authentic flavours. Would surely be taking my foregin friends (especially martial arts lovers) here for a taste of real Chinese Kung Fu (yes, Kung Fu means 'skill' and 'technique' in Chinese too :p).








Dragon Noodles Academy (
龍麵館)
Shop G04, G/F, Man Yee Arcade,
Man Yee Building,
68 Des Voeux Road, Central

中環德輔道中 68 號萬宜大廈萬宜廊地下 G04 號舖

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