Shenzhen tour day 2: Fujian chic

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After napping for a few hours in my hotel room, it was time to head out and explore the area nearby a little more. Foursheets had recommended that we check out Freshippo (盒马鲜生) while in town as it's part of Alibaba, and there happened to be an outlet inside Wong Tree Plaza (皇庭广场) near Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen. We spent a decent amount of time strolling inside the shopping mall and checking out all the shops and stalls selling a wide variety of food, then eventually made our way to the supermarket and picked up some fresh fruits.

For dinner My Favorite Cousin had, for some reason, wanted to try a restaurant serving Hokkien cuisine. Unable to rely on recommendations from friends on this, she ended up choosing Chic 1699 (远洋私厨) inside Ping An Financial Center Mall (平安金融中心商场) after scrolling through Diaping. We ended up taking one of the smaller private dining rooms that came with a minimum spending limit.

Our tea tonight was loquat flower tea (枇杷花茶).

The amuse bouche included apple marinated in passion fruit juice.

We also had an assortment of cakes, which were just like the Taiwanese pineapple cake (鳳梨酥) but with different fruit and flower fillings.

We also had rice porridge with dried longan (桂圆米汤), no doubt to help warm the stomach and aid digestion.

Sauced pork knuckle roll (文火安海酱肘卷) - this looked really pretty, and came topped with a tiny dab of chopped green chili sauce.

But I was surprised at how dainty these were! They were so small that I could easily fit three or four in a single bite. I looooove pork knuckle so the flavors were totally up my alley. In fact, I could easily have taken the whole plate myself.

Soaked oyster in sauce (捞汁厦港海蛎) - these little oysters were pretty nice, and the sauce had a nice little kick along with some acidity. Served with some dried laver that matched with the oysters really well.

Spicy and numb spring bamboo shoots salad (椒麻春笋) - once you add the spicy and numbing green Sichuan peppercorns into the mix, the flavors are no longer Hokkien. But never mind... the bamboo shoots were very fresh and sweet.

My Favorite Cousin ordered up two bowls of Buddha jumps over the wall (佛跳墙) for her parents, as this went a long way towards getting us to the minimum spending amount. The younger generation decided to sit this out and watch the elders enjoy.

Roasted cuttlefish with Yunnan Qubei chili (云南丘北辣椒烧墨鱼仔) - the baby cuttlefish came with chunks of lotus root, cubes of young ginger, chives, Sichuan peppercorns, and chili peppers from Qiubei County (丘北县) in Yunnan Province (云南省). I thought this was pretty tasty.

Unfortunately, this dish arrived while the elders were busy taking in their main event... so by the time they got to it, stuff had gotten a little cold. Not very good service, especially considering that we had already told them to hold off on serving us new dishes before we made progress with what was already on the table.

Simmered rice with green crab (闽南红树林膏蟹焖饭) - I got really pissed off when this showed up at the table, AFTER we had told them to stop serving us any more dishes. So we sent this back and asked the kitchen to make us a new portion. And we told them we didn't mind the 20 minute wait.

We did like the dish when the new claypot came, but it was simply too much food by now. We ate most of the crab and took away about half the rice that was leftover...

First harvest seaweed stir-fried with houttuynia cordata (头水紫菜炒马兰头) - Ummm... NO. Whoever used Google Translate or whatever got the Latin scientific name wrong. Indian aster (馬蘭頭) is Kalimeris indica. Houttuynia cordata is 折耳根 or 魚腥草, and it's the rhizomes instead of the leaves of the plant that is used for food.

Anyway... it's not often that I come across Indian aster served as stir-fry, and here it came with some very tasty laver. VERY yum.

Our complimentary dessert was a bowl of cold-brewed Iron Buddha tea (鐵觀音) served with a few "dumplings (湯圓)" filled with different fruits or pastes. Very refreshing and fruity.

My Favorite Cousin brought along the bottle of red she carried from Hong Kong, since she didn't want to carry it back...

2001 Torbreck RunRig - this was decanted but the wine had been lying flat just before dinner, so the sediment got mixed into the wine. That may explain why the nose was showing very plummy and stewed prune notes, and just didn't seem as "clean". Definitely still got the eucalyptus and minty profile, though.

I thought the food was pretty tasty over all, but the service wasn't up to my standards... although this is a common problem not just in China, but for most Chinese restaurants. I stepped out early while My Favorite Cousin was paying for the meal, and she got a visit from the restaurant manager apologizing for the service. He ended up offering us some sweets to take home.