Regal Palace at the Regal Hotel in Causeway Bay boasts luxuriously designed traditional Chinese interiors with quality furnishings. Giant crystal chandeliers suspend off high ceilings in the main banquet hall, where walls of mirrors increase the illusion of space. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer unobstructed views of bustling Causeway Bay streets. Most tables are spaced rather uncomfortably close together in the main hall, but against the walls, large marble columns provide a tad more privacy, so do ask for these tables when making a reservation. Apart from the main hall, the restaurant has five rooms for private banquets or corporate functions.

The restaurant mainly offers Cantonese cuisine – many made with upscale ingredients such as abalone and lobster – as well as a smattering of other Asian favourites, such as Peking duck and laksa casserole. To start, try the deep-fried silver fish with chilli salt (HK$65) or the roasted suckling pig (HK$118). Both are delicious, small-portioned dishes to get the appetite going. As one of the restaurants specialities, the fried fillets of lobster topped with Shanghai crabmeat and roe (HK$256) is a slight disappointment. Although the lobster is cooked just right, the crabmeat and roe sauce give it a fishy flavour, which slightly overwhelms the lobster. Luckily, the accompanying bed of spinach cleanses the palate. The menu does not have a large selection of vegetable dishes, and sadly, the sautéed shredded vegetarian chicken, mushrooms and bean sprouts (HK$118) looks and tastes just as bland. Fortunately, the next dishes are a delight. The fried rice in lobster soup with assorted seafood (HK$228) is a hearty treat. Served piping hot, the rice is cooked perfectly in a lobster bisque-like soup that is full of flavours of the ocean. The smoked crispy chicken with Chinese tea leaves (HK$168, half bird), another one of the restaurant’s award-winning dishes, is the star – the smoky and peppery flavours infused within the tender meat are simply addictive.

Regal Palace’s offers a short but succinct wine list, with bottles from France, Italy, Chile, and the US. Unfortunately, the restaurant offers only one white and red house pour by the glass. Other alcoholic drinks on the list include Chinese wines – hua diao, moutai – as well as whiskeys and cognac.

The polite and helpful staff gives diners plenty of privacy, only appearing to serve dishes or to clear them. However, customers are sometimes neglected when the staff is busy setting up for the next service.

Dinner for two is around HK$600 per person without wine, but this can vary according to the types of seafood dishes ordered.