A good night to die with 3-star food

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Tonight is a good night to die.

'Tis the season for game meats, and one of my favorite dishes from this genre is lièvre à la royale - which I've been lucky to have at a few top restaurants in Europe as well as here in Hong Kong. The dish is pretty heavy, so it's not something I have every year. In fact, the last time I had this was actually 4 years ago!

So once again, I organized a boys' night out at Caprice. Hairy Legs Cookie Monster always serves up a great version of the dish, and while I have tasted other dishes served with hare more recently, I still can't believe it's been so long since I last tasted this classic.

I was grateful that Cookie Monster put us at the Chef's Table, which was where some of us last had this dish together with a huge game menu. We would be having a slightly lighter menu tonight... or so we thought.

I gotta say... I've had these three bites from the boîte à bijoux multiple times by now, and tonight each of them were the best versions I can remember.

Mushroom tartlet - tonight the mushroom flavors were pretty intense... porcini, par hasard? There was the usual Parmesan cookie at the bottom, and a small disc of Comté on top with a bit of tarragon. This was more salty than I had remembered, but the flavors were very, very good.

ChocoFergie

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We were celebrating two November birthdays tonight, and the birthday boys have booked us a table at a place that is new to many of us. Yuet Tung Hin (粵同軒) is a new addition to what used to be my 'hood, and Fergie was obviously very impressed with his prior visits. Since I trust my friend's palate, I didn't do any homework before showing up with bottles of Champagne.

Chiuchow-style marinated goose platter (潮式滷水拼盤) - there were 10 of us so a big platter was in order... and we got the whole shebang! On top of the standard sliced goose meat, we've also got the wing, the web, liver, gizzard, intestines... etc. The masterstock (滷水) used for marinating was definitely not as salty as usual... and maybe even bordering on being a tiny bit sweet.

The overcooked Chairman

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After making sure Sporty Cousin finally got a chance to dine at The Chairman (大班樓) for the first time, I thought it would be nice to invite him for another round. After all, the guys clearly wanted the oppotunity to taste more dishes from the restaurant's repertoire. And I made sure that we would not repeat any of the dishes we had the last time they came.

Ginger and vinegar pig trotter terrine (甜醋子薑豬手豬耳凍) - I really, really love this dish... So happy that they came up with this delicate, refined version of the Cantonese classic. The finely diced kaffir lime leaves on top of the minced pickled ginger really shone tonight. I did notice, however, that the jelly in the terrine had a firmer texture this time, and didn't melt as easily with heat.

Seafood itchy

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Foursheets couldn't wrap her head around it.

She couldn't understand why, for two guys who normally don't eat much spicy food and can't handle the heat, the two of us have chosen to go to Grand Majestic Sichuan for dinner tonight.

I had ended my years-long boycott of Black Sheep restaurants, so there was nothing to stop me from going. The concept of the restaurant was devloped together with Fuchsia Dunlop, who I've dined with a few times together with The Great One and Sweetheart. Here's a woman who knows a shit ton more about Sichuan cuisine - and probably Chinese cuisine in general - than I ever will. So I was naturally curious. DaRC felt the same. So here were are.

Seeing that the restaurant is under the purview of B Bestie, I asked him to book a table for us. The two of us went with an open mind, or at least tried to, but it was immediately apparent that the place is geared towards the non-Chinese community. Our table of two, together with the neighboring four-top, were the only all-Chinese tables I could see. My guess is that there were no more than a dozen Chinese patrons.

Steamed Ping Tung aubergine, scorched green chillies (燒椒屏東長茄子, 燒青辣椒) - not the usual eggplant dish I would normally order, but that's kinda the whole point of coming, innit?! The scorched chilli "salsa" was pretty nice, and while there was some heat here, it was more about the garlic. Very refreshing as a first dish, especially since it was served chilled.

DRC at Petrus

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Ms Hurricane Big Spender Cheapskate has been talking about this dinner for some time now, Ten years after throwing a big birthday bash with great food and lots of fantastic wines, she decided to do another big birthday bash. This time around, though, she upped the ante both in terms of food as well as wine - centered around a highly prestigious case of wine.

My friend needed help arranging a venue, which needed a private room large enough to accommodate her guests. The venue also needed to accommodate her wish to serve the case of wine she wanted to open. The combination proved to be difficult to realize, so she asked for my help. Well, I immediately sought out The Chef Who Tries to Kill Me, as Restaurant Petrus would be a perfect venue. I was grateful that he agreed to make the arrangements for this very important evening.

As this would be a very important dinner, Big Spender Cheapskate wanted to make sure that the cuisine being served would be able to measure up to the wines. So we even arranged to do a preview a few months ago... and I'm happy that my friend was satisfied and gave her approval.

But first, she convened a bigger group of friends for some Champagne and canapés in the Presidential Suite at the Island Shangri-La. We've got smoked salmon and, of course, some caviar.

Then there were the Alaskan king crab legs along with some kueh pie tee.

Since it's actually a Champagne and caviar party, we've also got some Kaviari Kristal caviar to go with our Champagne...