A Visit to Hong Kong

Can’t afford a trip to Hong Kong? Want to feel as if you were there? You might consider a trip to the brand new Harbor Village Restaurant, 111 N. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park; (818) 300-8833.

There are two Harbor Villages in Hong Kong and another in San Francisco, and their reputation is so good that when the Monterey Park branch opened on Wednesday for dim sum lunch, throngs crowded through the doors. They were so pleased by what they ate that by dinner time the vast, chandelier-adorned restaurant, which seats 450, was packed with hungry hordes eating delicate dishes from the enormous menu.

The kitchen is almost as large as the dining room, but the new crew isn’t quite equipped to handle these crowds. It was over an hour before we got our first dish--which turned out to be something we hadn’t ordered. We were so hungry we decided not to tell them that it was meant for another table, and by the time the waiter had discovered his mistake, we had finished the red-cooked spareribs. They were wonderful. So was everything else.

A couple of helpful hints. Bring a coat: The room is so cold you sometimes feel that you are eating inside a refrigerator. And if you really want to sample the best of the house, pre-order a banquet and dine in one of the many ornate private rooms. Banquets start at $198 for 10 people (11 dishes, including Peking duck and stuffed winter melon) and go as high as $1,280 for a 10-person feast comprising everything from whole shark fin to braised abalone and soft-shell turtle.