China Doll

Its name may refer to delicate porcelain forms, but there's nothing fragile about China Doll. At this waterside restaurant, flavours are robust, zippy, elegant but never muted. Sliced cucumber, docked in a chilli oil slick with razor-sharp shallots, is a great appetite kick-starter, while a beef rendang is worth slowing down over. Chef Frank Shek obviously knows the playbook of Asian classics, but he's not about overcautiously keeping within safety lines. Fried dumplings - pan-crisp bites of sticky rice stuffed with prawn, pork and coriander - are a wonderfully unusual take on a yum cha staple, the pickled ginger and red rice wine vinegar dressing adding wing-lift and zing. And the seen-it-all-before Eastern dessert syndrome is sweetly reversed by an outstanding banana pudding beautifully grounded with a dark chocolate sorbet and squiggles of creme anglaise and chocolate. The breezy wharf view and smart service are equally hard to resist.