"Sea Genius. Mr Da Lian. All Are Half Drunk" is a signature dish at the private kitchen.Photo by Donna Mah /For China Daily

Unfortunately, this was some-times hard to hear over the whirring of the air conditioning unit. It would also have helped to have more light so that we could see the food better.

We started with "Sea Genius. Mr Da Lian. All Are Half Drunk", which turned out to be alcohol-soaked abalone and octopus with fig. The Shaoxing wine-flavored abalone and octopus were both soft and tender and were a good start to the meal. This was followed by the "Pavilion", a baked Shanghainese dumpling made with eggplant, bamboo shoots, and Sichuan chili oil. The chili oil makes your tongue go a little numb, but it doesn't linger for too long.

The "Shell. A Treasure Forest Inside" dish was a stuffed shell-shaped pasta served with apple puree and a house-made eight-treasure sauce. This dish was nicely presented, but needed a flavor boost.

The "Shaking Sleeve. Charcoal Fragrance from a Farm House" was a Shanghainese-style braised noodle dish with smoky duck meat and lots of mushrooms. There was a theatrical blast of flame from the kitchen when they were preparing this dish.

"Soft Pluma. Soft Rice. Fragrance" is Fa Zu Jie's take on the classic Shanghainese vegetable rice dish. The raw rice is sauteed before cooking so the grains don't become mushy with further cooking. Yunnan ham, bok choi and oil are added to the rice to finish this take on a traditional dish.

Dessert, named "Red Dress. White Hat" was made with straw-berries, osmanthus-flavored meringue, and fermented glutinous rice cream. It had a good balance of textures and flavors without being overly sweet.

If you go:

Fa Zu Jie

1/F, 20A D'Aguilar Street, Central, Hong Kong. 852-3487-1715.

Cost per head: HK$628 ($81)

Recommended: "Sea Genius. Mr Da Lian. All Are Half Drunk", "Pavilion", Soft Pluma. Soft Rice.

Fragrance", "Red Dress. White Hat".