MNSC at 10: 1961 horizontal

The main reason why I'm back in Hong Kong this weekend was for tonight's dinner.  This was another long-awaited MNSC gathering, and it's been 2½ months since our last dinner.  Once again we are doing a kick-ass theme to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our little group, and tonight the theme was 1961 horizontal.

The venue was a little out of our list of usual suspects.  The Pawn has recently hired a new chef from London's Tom Aikens, a restaurant I remember fondly from my visit a few years ago.  The chef has created a tasting menu to work with our list of wines, and I was curious to see how different things would be from my memories of the Pawn from prior years.

Less is more?!

I was meeting a friend for lunch today, and tasked with choosing the venue as usual.  I was trying to pick a place I haven't been to when Limehouse popped into my head.  A few of my foodie friends had positive things to say about this little joint in a quiet corner of Wanchai, and I thought it'd be an interesting change from my usual type of places.

I sat down and was given the lunch menu.  I stared at it for a while, a little in shock.  I don't think I've ever seen a smaller or simpler menu.  One is offered the daily soup (not sure there is a choice), a choice of three mains (none of which looks "British"), and a choice of beverage.  OK, so it does say "Simple Lunch" and it's not at all expensive, but it was still a little shocking... especially given that this place is classified as serving British fare and the menu resembled nothing of the sort.

Mr. Hsu and Mrs. Smith

I received a call on Saturday, after finishing mom's braised pig trotters for lunch at home.  I couple of friends were nearby and wanted to know if I could join them for tea.  I remember reading about smith&hsu in Taipei from a recent post by Nanamoose, and quickly went over to check it out.

I arrived to find a surprisingly large selection of tea - 47 of them numbered 1 to 69.  In addition to seeing being listed on the menu, the staff also brought over a large tray with small jars containing the teas.  You are invited to take a whiff and see which combination you prefer, before ordering a pot.  Certainly a very good idea!

I figured I could always use something to decompress, so I ordered No. 59 - Stress reliever (檸香舒壓花草茶).  This is an herbal combination with rooibos, St. John's wort, lemongrass and other leaves and pods.  Very soothing, and exactly what I needed.

My friends ordered the tea and scone set.  Nanamoose had stated in her blog that she thought this place served the best scones in the world.  That's a pretty bold statement.  I took half a scone only when it had gone cold, and I thought it was pretty good.  Then again, I'm not a scone connoisseur...  One has a choice of scones, and we had them with cranberries.  The lemon jam was very delicious.

Later we ordered the home-made cookies, which were also made with cranberries.  These were really, really good... with so much butter you can feel it on your lips after the cookies are gone.  Yum.

I went back to smith&hsu again on Monday, this time at another of their four locations.  I was in a very different mood today, and decided to order No. 30 - Lavande Sur Le Déclin (日落花草茶).  This floral combination of lavender, chamomile, orange blossom, rose petals, mint leaves...etc was perfect.

I did have another half of a scone again, this time while it was still warm.  Still pretty good, I thought.  The apricot jam was also pretty delicious.

I'm happy that we have places like smith&hsu for tea.  In an age with the ubiquitous Starbucks and other coffee chains, it's important to have alternatives where people take tea very seriously.  I think I'll be going back to these guys on future visits to Taipei.

Pawned again

Needed a place for dinner last night, and decided to give the Pawn another try. Fortunately they weren't so packed on a Sunday night, and I got us a table with an early seating.

Apparently per restaurant policy, they wouldn't serve us the yummy scotched eggs from the bar downstairs. I was a little upset, but it meant that we started with the roasted bone marrow with parsley and lemon. Three bone sections were presented on a plate, sprinkled with chopped bits of parsley and lemon rind. I love the rich, oily taste of the bone marrow, and I hungrily dug in with my spoon. My cousin Maria couldn't quite get used to the taste, but me? I used a bit of bread to mop up the runny oil left on the plate...

For main course I picked the classic fish and chips, based on the recommendation from one of the owners on my last visit. The plate was huge, as was everything on it. The batter was crispy and yummy, with so much oil soaked in it that the aftertaste was wonderful. The fat fries were also crispy and stayed that way. The peas were not mushy. It was just as had been promised.

We ordered three desserts to share: the Eaton mess plus the lemon trifle and the treacle tart which I had on my last visit. All were excellent, with perhaps the Eaton mess being the most interesting due to its presentation - it was a messy pile of strawberries and cream and other ingredients.

I had brought along a bottle of 2005 Guigal Condrieu La Doriane. It showed a nose of minerals, citrus lemon and a bit of butter; with a medium sweet palate and a "hot" and spicy finish. It was a yummy wine, but disappointing to me because it did not taste like a Condrieu. Where was the overpowering floral nose that comes from the Viognier? Frankly this wine tasted like a Chardonnay from a ripe vintage - in fact it tastes like a 2005 white Burgundy. I cannot help but feel a little cheated.

Anyway, we had a very enjoyable meal, and I look forward to my next visit where I'd begin with some scotched eggs at the bar...

The Pawn

Tonight I had dinner at the Pawn, the new restaurant opened by my friends behind the Press Room. This has been a cool and hip venue lately, having been renovated from an old Hong Kong pawn shop (和昌大押). Reservations are hard to come by, and I was fortunate enough to be treated by one of the owners.

The menu is decidedly British, having drawn inspirations from restaurants such as St John in London and Heston Blumenthal's Hinds Head Hotel. I was really looking forward to this meal, since I had always wanted to but had never been to St John.

We started with Scotch eggs, which had soft, liquid cores wrapped inside a thin layer of pork sausage, breaded and deep-fried. This was a great way to start us off, and partially made up for the disappointment at the unavailability of roasted bone marrow salad tonight.

For starter, I had the beet root salad with goat cheese. This was very interesting as it also included sweet potato, haricot verts, watercress and pomegranate seeds. I thought the flavors blended rather well together.

For main course I had the roasted duck breast with savoy cabbage, which came in a huge portion (all the mains were rather big). While the flavor was good, it was overcooked and the meat was no longer pink and juicy. A little bit of a let down here.

I also had tastes of other mains: the baby turbot was blackened (not really pan-fried) and was reasonably tasty (skin was a tad salty); the rump steak was large but not great; but the roast suckling pig was excellent. The skin was crispy and the pork fat underneath was just yummy. I guess it's difficult for me not to like roast pig anywhere...

Even though I was stuffed at this point (and a little drunk to say the least), we nevertheless sampled a few desserts. While I passed on a delicious-looking apple crumble, I did dive into the excellent lemon trifle, with zesty strips of lemon rind that was prefect on a summer day. I could never resist sticky toffee pudding and it's sweet, sticky and yummy here. Finally, I took a small piece of treacle tart that was also very good.

Of course, we would never dream of having a meal without some excellent wine. We started with the 1995 Louis Jadot Batard Montrachet, which showed a powerful, pungent nose of flint, minerals and petrol. As time went on, the nose softened and became more pleasant, but the toasty oak was still there. Acidity on the palate was a bit high. I could easily see this wine drinking better in another few years.

The first red was the 1990 Fontaine-Gagnard Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chenes. With the memory of an earlier bottle of 1990 Volnay 1er Cru still in my mind, I really looked forward to tasting this wine. It turned out to be quite interesting, with a nose of sweet, stewed prunes and smokiness. If I had tasted this blind, I would have guessed it was a Right Bank Bordeaux by its nose...but the acidity on the palate would have made me question my guess.

The last bottle of the evening was 1979 Jaboulet La Chapelle. The nose was classic Hermitage, very wonderful and I enjoyed it very much. But the finish was short, and we were a bit disappointed in this respect. Still, it was a pleasure to drink this wine.

I left the restaurant very stuffed and quite drunk...especially given I had started drinking before 4pm... But I will need to return soon to try out the roasted bone marrow.