Ho Mei, Surry Hills

Ho Mei, is a modern Chinese Restaurant in Surry Hills. Parking around the area can be quite challenging and limited often limited to 1 hour. 

Setting:

The décor a this restaurant is very warm and inviting. It would be best described as modern oriental mixed with industrial. One side of the wall is wall-papered with a red lantern motif, bright red lanterns hang from the wall and couch is decorated bright red cushions - giving the oriental feel. And the there are more industrial looking lights hanging over the tables and heavy wood bench-tables giving the industrial impression.There are high ceilings giving the restaurant a open and spacious feeling even when the tables are rather cramped together. 

We visited the restaurant in early spring, the doors were wide open, making the restaurant was rather cold (temperature).

Menu:

There were two menus, a Tapas set-menu for $39 per person or ala carte. We went for the Tapas set-menu. Drinks were not included. There was a bar - however drink prices were pretty steep. It was surprising that we couldn't find traditional Chinese tea here.

Tapas Menu - Click to Enlarge

Drink Menu - Click to Enlarge

Food:

Crispy Handmade Won-ton with Chicken, Water Chestnut, served with Sweet Chilli Sauce. Very hot won-tons served straight from the pan! I personally thought the filling of the won-ton was average, didn't really stand out.

Crispy Handmade Wan-ton

Steamed Butterfly Buns with Roast Pork and Homemade Apple Sauce. The apple sauce was fantastic, but I wish they were more generous with it. The pork was cold, but the rind was crunchy.

Duck Pancakes with Cucumber and Leek in Homemade Hoi Sin Sauce. This sauce again was very complex and yummy, however the duck was cold.

Salt and Pepper Calamari and Sweet Potato Tossed with Shallots and Chili. The calamari was cooked perfectly, soft and juicy (not rubbery at all!). 

Shandong Chicken - Crispy skin chicken served with Shandong sauce and Steamed Rice. 

This chicken really was really not crispy and was served lukewarm. Only 1 bowl of rice was provided for 2 people too.

Deep Fried Ice-cream with Homemade Sauce and seasonal fruits, to be shared between 2. The dish was very asthetically pleasing, and that's about the last thing pleasing about this dish. The crumbed coating of the ice-cream was very hard, and took us quite alot of effort to get to the ice-cream. The ice-cream wasn't the soft, fluffy or silky as one would expect. It was hard, grainy and had weird nuts blended within which really didn't go together with the fruits nor the home-made sauce.

Overall:

The service at this place is fantastic. Our water was always topped up. Service was prompt and polite. However, unless you are after lukewarm food, this place is pretty disappointing. The quality or the amount of food definitely did not match up with the price. I personally wouldn't return to the place.