From left: dishes from Lung King Heen, Hong Kong include steamed grouper fillet in black bean sauce; steamed dumplings; crispy scallops with fresh pear; abalone puffs with chicken

Chan Yan Tak is the talented chef in charge of a 28-strong brigade at Lung King Heen (View of the Dragon), the dim sum restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong to which Michelin last year awarded three stars. It has extraordinary views across the harbour towards Kowloon with a constant stream of activity below as ferries, container ships and many small vessels forge their way through this narrow waterway.

I was to dine in a party of nine people, and we had booked the private room for Saturday lunch, a busy time for dim sum service. Inevitably some guests were late, so as we waited I listened to Bobby, the restaurant’s sommelier, talk about how he tries to overcome the particular challenges of matching Chinese food with wine.

He had previously spent several years working in Caprice, the hotel’s highly regarded French restaurant, and explained that unlike western food, where the flavours progress from light to heavy as the meal goes on, in Chinese cuisine there is no such linear progression and the weight of the flavours varies from course to course.

So rather than going from white to red wine, his solution is to open both red and white at the beginning of the meal, to allow guests to follow their preferences. We did that, and by the time the other guests had arrived, and the table was laden with food (we ordered the seven-course menu, £65 per head) there was an inevitable crush. The table was crowded even before both wine glasses, and water glasses, were filled: Chinese food requires far more on the table than a typical western meal, including condiments, crockery, chopstick rests and spoons, not to mention the Lazy Susan so the food can be shared among a crowd.

“Chinese food is also served much more quickly than western food,” added Bobby, “so I have to have staff who can move around the tables swiftly, watching to see which wines may need topping up and doing so very, very carefully.”

The first course was described as “dim sum combination” and comprised two servings, initially of steamed lobster and scallop dumplings alongside Shanghainese pork dumplings with crab; then a duo of baked whole abalone puffs with diced chicken and crisp sesame balls with roasted goose in a spicy plum sauce. This last dish was declared ‘‘very creative” by the Chinese food expert on my left. But it was the abalone, an ingredient highly prized by the Chinese, which caused the biggest stir. When asked how this had been prepared to such perfection, our waiter consulted the kitchen and came back to tell us that the key was to use canned rather than fresh abalone.

Then came three more dim sum on one plate: a crisp frog’s leg flavoured with spicy salt; a square of barbecued suckling pig topped with caviar and a scallop topped with fresh pear. While the flavour of the latter impressed everyone it was the presentation of the frog’s leg – with a ring of deep-fried aubergine – that most impressed me.

Chef Tak likes to combine inexpensive and ultra-expensive ingredients, evident in the combination of caviar and suckling pig, and even more obvious in the next dish of shark’s fin soup with tofu and fresh crab meat. I felt guilty about eating an ingredient that brings an untimely end to the sharks which are caught, shorn of their fins and thrown back into the sea. My Chinese dining companions were less squeamish, but felt it was too salty. Next, a bamboo basket lined with a large green leaf contained a steamed fillet of garoupa nestling in the most delicious clear fish stock. It was absolutely first class. Unfortunately, it was followed by over-steamed bok choi with rather too much garlic.

Finally, we were served bowls of fried rice with diced roast goose and taro; a delicious bowl of chilled mango, sago and pomelo; and petits fours that included a pink coconut rabbit.

Chef Tak came in, keen to know whether we had had enough to eat or, as he put it, “Would we perhaps now like some noodles?” Nobody did – although we all praised his work. It had been a memorable meal.

As soon as I mention to anyone interested in food in Hong Kong that I have eaten at Lung King Heen, they ask “Is it three star or not?” To which my answer is: yes and no. For creativity and presentation the answer is definitely yes. The three Chinese food experts round our table were also very impressed. However, the bok choi – the simplest dish and one that the kitchen should have got right – was poor. But this is a minor gripe. Lung King Heen is the most exciting dim sum restaurant I have ever eaten in. It is, perhaps, the best dim sum in the world. Go there if you have the chance.

Lung King Heen, Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong; www.fourseasons.com