Ordering half the menu

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I met up with my friends from last night, this time at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) for lunch. I left the ordering to my friends, and as it turned out it looks like they ended up ordering half the dim sum menu...plus a few other dishes!

The dim sum plates:

Steamed rice rolls with fresh shrimps (鮮蝦爽滑腸粉) - pretty decent.

Steamed prawn dumplings (筍尖鮮蝦餃) - didn't have these but they're usually pretty good.

Deep fried prawn spring rolls (鮮蝦炸春卷) - probably one of the best dim sum dishes here.  The skin was perfectly done, with juicy prawns inside.

Pan fried cured meat and radish cake (香煎蘿蔔糕) - pretty nice and devoured quickly.

Deep fried bean curd skin roll with fresh shrimps (鮮蝦腐皮卷) - pretty decent, too.

Steamed xiaolongbao (小籠包) - served in individual carriers... not bad.

Stewed honeycomb tripe (金錢肚) - this was cooked with heavier spices than the lighter-tasting counterpart. Pretty soft...

Steamed manyplies beef tripe (蒸牛百葉) - very nicely done, with that wonderful chewy and springy texture.

Steamed taro cake (蒸芋頭糕) - I'm a guy who doesn't go for taro, and even I thought this was pretty damn good!

Steamed cured meat and radish cake (蒸蘿蔔糕) - definitely better than the pan-fried version, as the steaming process released the flavors from the sausages and infused them into the radish cake.

Steamed spare ribs in black bean sauce (豉汁蒸排骨) - pretty nice, actually.  Big chunks of pork with a bit of fat.

Steamed lotus leaf wrapped glutinous rice with Chinese dry scallops and chicken (瑤柱珍珠雞) - was too full by the time this arrived...

Other dishes:

Marinated jelly fish (海蜇皮) - the strands are too thick and this was not well-received.

Daily soup (例湯) - can't remember the name of this...anyway it was double-boiled with a fish whose name I had never heard of, along with a bunch of herbs.  Very light in color and delicate in flavor.  Great for a winter day.

Soy-marinated goose (鹵水拼盤) - some goose web and goose meat.

Deep-fried frogs' legs (椒鹽田雞腿) - these seem to be a little browner than usual, and my friends thought the ones they had at Tim's Kitchen (桃花源) the day before were better.

Stir-fried kale with garlic (蒜茸炒芥蘭) - very well-received.

Century eggs and pickled ginger (皮蛋酸薑) - these came way too late for me... no more room in my stomach.

Fried-rice with octopus in abalone sauce (鮑汁章魚炒飯) - pretty wet like Fujian fried rice (福建炒飯), but obviously slightly more upscale.  The chewy bits of octopus and mushrooms were pretty nice.

The desserts:
Almond cream with egg white (蛋白杏仁茶) - much, much better than what we had last night, and I always liked this.  But my friends thought it was a little bit light and diluted.

Steamed traditional brown sugar sponge cake (杬仁馬粒糕) - didn't have any, but this one got praises around the table.

Fresh baked egg tart (酥皮蛋撻仔) - didn't have any but the pastry crust looked sooooo inviting.  I'm sure they will give the ones from Honolulu Cafe (檀島) a run for the money.

Steamed buns with lotus paste and salty egg yolk (蛋黃蓮蓉包) - too full to taste...

I brought a bottle of 2001 Armand Rousseau Charmes-Chambertin, which took a little time to open up.  Smoky notes of grilled meats gave way to fragrant nose of eucalyptus and mildly sweet black fruits.  Not spectacular but a decent food wine.

My friend wasn't happy with the tea at the restaurant, so at the end of the meal he took out a plastic bag carrying his own 80-year old Puer tea (普洱茶)...which apparently cost an arm and a leg, and certainly more than a lot of wine in my collection (including the Rousseau)!  Was it nice? Well, it certainly tasted much better and concentrated, but I'm a dummy when it comes to tea.  I was happy to have had the privilege of drinking something like this.

I can't believe how much food we had ordered for just the five of us... I really was tempted to walk back to the office in Central from Wanchai!  Once again I have to thank my friend for his generosity.