Mott 32
Standard Chartered Bank Building
4-4a Des Voex Road
Central
Hong Kong

Perpetually Underwhelmed recommended Mott 32 for its modern and sophisticated take on Cantonese cuisine.  As a lunch spot, people come for the dim sum.  One of The Annoyer’s friends, HK Baller, comes here quite frequently for business lunches.  The novelty and luster of the place had long since left him.  Although, it didn’t really seem like he thought it was anything special to begin with.  He eats so fancy so frequently because of work (wining and dining the rich and the richer), that nothing seems to impress him.  But for the regular people, this definitely has quite the buzz.

Barbeque Pluma Ibérico Pork yellow mountain honey
Hands down, this is 1 of a handful of highly buzzed about dishes from Mott 32.  The restaurant serves a limited quantity of this special pork and it is recommended you call ahead to reserve an order.  It is easily the best version of Chinese BBQ pork.  It really melts in your mouth and drips with the savory sweetness of five spice, honey, and soy.

Black Truffle Siu Mai soft quail egg, ibérico pork
Mott 32 takes a lot of traditional Cantonese and dim sum favorites and takes it to a whole other level. Your traditional pork siu mai gets an upgrade with ibérico pork and black truffle.  A soft runny quail egg in the center amps up the yum factor.  

Minced Duck with Lettuce Cups
I shouldn’t have listened to reviews on Trip Advisor.  This may have taken inspiration from PF Chang’s or something.  I mean it was tasty no doubt, but not particular special or memorable.

Stir Fried Australian Wagyu M9 Sirloin black pepper sauce
I am typically not a fan of black pepper anything, but as the waiter’s recommendation we went with it.  It was some extremely tender fatty beef.  The sauce wasn’t actually too overpowering with pepper.  It was a nice dish but I don’t feel it was worth the high price tag.

Signature Smoked Black Cod
The waiter recommended the cod.  Under a cloud of who-knows-what, the cod was unveiled.

An impressive presentation.

The fish was lightly battered and fried.  The sauce was slightly sweet in that Chinese savory way.  The smokiness was hard to miss and made for a unique dish.  Though, the dish felt a little one note after a few pieces.

Mott 32 impressed me with their dim sum, but less so on their larger dishes.  From my research, I did get the feeling their popularity stemmed from their dim sum so maybe I should not be surprised.  I would venture to say that we probably could have ordered a little better.  Maybe we should have skipped the wagyu since that’s what hit the wallet the hardest and undeservedly so.  But any way you fry it, you’ll be spending a pretty penny.  This place is pretty overpriced just on food alone, but maybe you’re paying for the inventive cocktails, posh ambiance, and service.  I guess I wasn’t in the mood for any of that and expected more.

10 – You NEED to eat here
9 – Awesome
8 – Very good
7 – Good (for the dim sum)
6 – OK (factoring price)
5 – Average
4 – Not bad
3 – Not good
2 – Terrible
1 – Do NOT eat here