Hong Kee in Amsterdam

Of Chinese descent, coming from a family with superb cooks, I have been a critical consumer of Chinese food for all my years. I have been coming to Kam Kee for almost two decades but it had been a while since I moved to the south of the Netherlands. Saturday, I visited again with my family to find that the restaurant - at Zeedijk 103-103a, 1012 AV Amsterdam - had changed ownership. It is now called Hong Kee.

Our experience was h o r r i b l e.

Disappointment can be defined as the disparity between one's expectations and one's actual experience. Suppose you order a Rib-eye steak. You expect: a succulent, 28 day dry aged, well marbled steak, grilled to perfection, in my case medium. You get: a dry, a deep fried, 'Rib-eye' steak.

Our order included among others Peking Duck and Choi-Sam. The Choi-Sam was a pathetic heap of limp vegetables void of any crispness and of mediocre taste. The Peking Duck, a renowned dish that goes back to the Ming dynasty, was served deep fried!!!

When I complained to the owner, she had the audacity to claim that what she served was Peking Duck. To add further insult to injury, tea of low quality was charged by the cup.

Bottom-line: Avoid this restaurant like you would Ebola unless your culinary standard for Chinese is Peking Duck a la Kentucky Fried Chicken.