SHA TIN 18

It should be a crime to visit Sha Tin 18 and not try their Peking duck.

Carved tableside, it is served three ways, with separate plates of delicate breast meat, gamey leg meat and skin, and perfectly crisp skin; factor in accompaniments of fluffy thin pancakes and punchy garlic and soya bean sauces, and you have a show-stopping dish that is famous for all the right reasons. Nevertheless, the rest of a menu—a weighty tome featuring both Dongguan specialities and more familiar classic Chinese cuisine—acquits itself excellently, with well-cooked proteins and finely balanced flavours evident throughout. We are particularly impressed by the desserts, which include velvety homemade ice creams in creative Asian-inspired flavours like Jasmine milk tea and Chinese wine chocolate. Sha Tin 18’s design is contemporary and spacious, with open kitchens to watch the chefs at work, but fairly unremarkable—other than the fact that it is positively Arctic in temperature. However, for superb Chinese cuisine and a standout Peking duck, plus the bonus of very reasonable prices, Sha Tin 18 is hard to beat.