Located on the lobby level of the Sheraton hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, the entrance areas leading to the main dining hall of Celestial Court are dotted with Chinese sculptures and vases. The atmosphere is that of a typical high-end Cantonese restaurant, with many local friends and families gathering for a meal as well as hotel guests.

While it is Cantonese in essence with some regional specialties from Shunde, the menu betrays plenty of modern touches which tell diners that Celestial Court is anything but your average Cantonese restaurant. The menu is full of imported premium ingredients such as black truffle, kurobuta pork, Iberico pork and mushrooms not traditionally found in a Cantonese kitchen, such as porcini and morels. One of the more successful dishes of the night was a double-boiled White Mountain snow goose with wild mushrooms and fresh bamboo thalli (HK$528), which brings the fragrance of eight different mushrooms together, and leaves diners with a wonderful aftertaste. The signature braised asparagus with matsutake in superior soup (HK$188), on the other hand, fails to deliver on flavour, with bland matsutake and bitter asparagus. Egg white dumplings wrapped with ganbajun mushrooms and Yunnan ham (HK$268) showcases intensely fragrant flavours of the fungus. Braised matsutake, shimeji and button mushrooms with sliced black chicken and frog (HK$198) should find favour with those looking for punchier tastes. Braised e-fu noodles with black truffle and morel mushrooms (HK$188) is another amazingly fragrant dish that leaves diners clamouring for more. Classics such as bird’s nest, abalone, lobster and other premium seafood are also available.

The wine selection is reasonably diverse, with a good balance between wines from France and other old world regions and the new world such as the Americas and Australia. The very helpful wine list includes tasting notes for each wine and indicates grape varietals down to specific percentages. There is also a selection of Chinese liquor offering the standard choices.

The staff is helpful and courteous, despite being obviously very busy at dinner time. Waiters are quick to offer suggestions both in terms of food and wine. However this restaurant also habitually chooses to serve virtually all the dishes simultaneously, like many other Chinese restaurants in town.

A meal for two, with five dishes featuring premium ingredients and two glasses of wine comes to about HK$1,900.