Clueless at the club, part 2

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We're having our third MNSC gathering in a month, and tonight it was Curry's turn to play host. After debating whether he could live with the poor stemware at his favorite Seventh Son (家全七福), our host ultimately opted for the more serene settings of the Derby Room at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It's been nearly five years since I last dined here, when Francky Semblat first started his stint with the club. Word is that the menu has shifted back to a more old-school, "clubby" offering, without much semblance to the refined nibbles from Oncle Joël...

Corn fritters - these were pretty sweet.

Tomato sorbet with pickled cucumbers and crème fraîche - nice acidity to whet the appetite.

Party like it's 1990

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An invitation came to join a group for friends to dinner, ostensibly to help celebrate Giona's birthday. The chosen venue was somewhere the birthday girl has never been, and one that I have also never been. I had heard about SẾP when it first opened some time ago, but while I was somewhat intrigued, I had never heard friends rave about the place. I did join a dinner where Chef DoBee Lam collaborated with other chefs, but as it was a joint effort, I didn't feel it was indicative of what the "true" flavors would taste like.

We were in the large private dining room, so we were not in a position to watch the chefs work over wood fire in the open kitchen... which was supposed to be the attraction. Oh well...

123!! Dzo - there were three appetizers:

Bánh tráng: Phú Quõc dried shrimp, quail egg rice paper - the sakura shrimp here tasted pretty nice.

Mực ống: yobuko no ika basil tartlet - the tartlet came with diced spear squid (槍烏賊) from Yobukocho (呼子町) in Saga Prefecture (佐賀県). The squid flavors were pretty nice, with just a bit of heat and fish sauce, while the pomelo pulp provided a good contrast.

Hokkien in da haus

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We have known about Mr. Chichi's new project for some time now, and a number of us have been looking forward to having a fine dining Hokkien restaurant in town. We know he has high standards and doesn't compromise too much, so the cuisine offered should be fairly authentic. As a (fake) Taiwanese, I must admit that my understanding of Hokkien cuisine (閩菜/福建菜) isn't very deep... although, admittedly, it should still be better than your average Cantonese person. So I'm pretty interested to get myself educated.

We know he has been asking close friends to join him in multiple rounds of taste tests to get things right, so when the invitation came for dinner tonight, I knew they felt ready.

We were led to one of Hokkien House (福上)’s private dining rooms for what would undoubtedly be a feast. There’s no meal with Mr. Chichi that doesn’t involve my stomach being on the brink of explosion, but I was surprised to find ONLY 13 dishes on the menu before fruit and dessert.

Choking smoky sticks

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I had a pretty good first experience at Torikaze (鳥かぜ) - the local outpost of famed Tokyo joint Torishiki (鳥しき). That was, of course, by invitation from B Bestie. After that meal, I thought maybe, just maybe, there is finally a yakitori (焼き鳥) joint that Foursheets could enjoy. In addition to the 3 sticks of veggies - which were watched over by Chef Matsui Ryo (松井亮) himself - there were another 9 different vegetables offered as add-ons. It wouldn't have to be an all-chicken evening.

We managed to rope the Zhongmeister and Winnie the Chew, as they have been a few times and are fans. As our friends have always sat in the private rooms, I thought they should get a different experience by sitting at the counter - like a proper yakitori joint. This would turn out very badly for me tonight...

Appetizer : edamame egg tofu with shiso sauce (前菜：枝豆玉子豆腐、しそソース) - the perilla sauce was not bad, but it wasn't as strong and fragrant as hoped.

Detour to Hangzhou day 2: shrimp and tea leaves

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It's a new day and I need some breakfast. I had originally thought about grabbing some noodles like the Hangzhou specialty pian er chuan (片儿川), but the place Nicemo recommended would take 20 minutes by taxi - or 40 minutes round trip. That seemed like too much effort just to get breakfast on a workday, so I decided to walk around the hotel and see what I would come across.

Unfortunately, there were no shops nearby offering the noodles I wanted. Most were places offering simple takeout stuff and bakeries, which didn't offer any interesting local stuff. I actually considered getting brekkie at McDonald's... but eventually came across Longquan Shaobing (龙泉烧饼) which offered simple shaobing with preserved leafy mustard (梅干菜烧饼) - something I tasted for the first time two days ago. Actually, these also came with little bits of pork fat. So... totally up my alley! Happiness.