HONG KONG: My Guide to Dining at Maxim's Palace City Hall
Why Dine at Maxim's Palace City Hall?
Lonely Planet accurately describes the place as a " 'palace' (that) offers the quintessential Hong Kong dim sum experience. It's cheerful, it's noisy, and it takes place in a huge kitschy hall with dragon decorations and hundreds of locals. A dizzying assortment of dim sum is paraded on trolleys the old-fashioned way."
It's a popular place among local residents and tourists that's why you need this guide to help you enjoy this experience and avoid the line and the crowds.
THE BEST TIME TO ARRIVE
Opening time from Mondays to Saturdays is at 11:00 AM. Arrive at least 10 MINUTES BEFORE OPENING TIME. We arrived around that time ON A MONDAY and there's a short line of people already. But when they open at 11:00 AM, you can enter immediately and choose your seat. This rule may work only on weekdays because at 11:00 AM, the locals working nearby are not yet on their lunch break.
Most diners, especially locals who are on lunch break, arrive 12:00 PM. At 12:30 PM, the restaurant is full and a long waiting line can be seen outside. Our leisurely lunch lasted from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM. We saw the line outside when we left the restaurant.
The restaurant has 50 tables and can accommodate 632 people (source: Maxim's website). Despite the large capacity, it still becomes full at lunchtime.
THE BEST PLACE TO SIT
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| The best place to sit is at table in the middle of the restaurant. |
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This is our table.
It is located in the middle of the room.
The trolley carts with dimsum originate from the white door you see at the back. |
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This is the view from our table.
When the trolley carts leave the kitchen, it doesn't take long till it reaches our table.
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| Our table number |
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| Most tables in the room can accommodate 4 persons. |
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Tables for big groups (of 10 people) are located in the room's perimeter.
For big groups, the best table are the ones near the window. |
OPTIMUM NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN A GROUP
The optimum number of people in a group is FOUR. Four people can order 13 different items and not overeat. So if you're eight people in a group, you can order 13 different items but you must get 2 orders per item or kind so everyone will be able to taste all 13 items.
PRICE
The total cost of our meal is 700 HKD, or 175 HKD per person.
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| Dimsum prices are cheaper Mondays to Fridays. |
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| Take note of additional charges. |
WHAT WE ORDERED
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| Steamed rice roll with shrimp |
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| Bean curd sheets with shrimps, pork and mushroom |
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| Steamed glutinous rice with preserved meat |
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| Steamed shrimp dumpling |
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| Siu mai |
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| Salted egg yolk custard buns |
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| Baked barbecue pork puff (char siu puffs) |
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| Our dessert |
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| Taro pudding with rock sugar |
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| Taro pudding with ginger juice |
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| Mango sago with grapefruit and mango soup |
HOW TO ORDER
1. You choose dimsum from these trolley carts going around the table. The names of the dimsum are displayed in front of the cart.
2. After placing on your table the dimsum item you choose, they place a stamp on the meal card. From this card, they compute your total bill.
ADDRESS:
1 Edinburgh Place
3rd Floor, Lower Block
Hong Kong City Hall
Central
OPERATING HOURS:
Monday to Saturday
11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 11:30pm
Sunday and Public Holiday
9:00am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 11:30pm
