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I decided to do a little bit of work in my hotel room after getting up this morning, which was why I missed grabbing breakfast with the family. Funnily enough, I ended up going to the same shop they visited nearby to have some Cantonese-style steamed riceflour rolls (腸粉). My Favorite Cousin and I had done some research on breakfast joints near the hotel while we were sipping on our whiskies last night, and
Hong Li Cun (红荔村肠粉) in Times Square Excellence (卓越时代广场) seemed like a good idea.
Steamed riceflour roll with mixed vegetables with egg (罗汉斋肠粉加蛋) - once in a while I enjoy having the classic dish of mixed vegetables and fungus known as 羅漢齋, and it's not common for me to see it as the filling of steamed riceflour rolls. This would have qualified as a vegan breakfast... until I decided to add some egg to it. Pretty big portion for breakfast, and I didn't have reason to complain.
I took a glass of chilled
jujube-flavored soy milk (红枣豆浆) with it, just because I don't think I've ever had this combo.
For lunch I decided we should go across town and explore the "old" part that is Luohu (罗湖). I haven't been back here in more than a decade and it's kinda interesting to see how it has transformed and modernized. We decided to go a little early so we could check out
The Mixc (万象城). The elders did some shopping while I fought hard to resist grabbing a pot of
chocolat chaud à l'ancienne and a
Mont Blanc at
Angelina before a lunch I was looking forward to...
HGH Chaozhou Cuisine Restaurant (潮上潮) - often phonetically translated as
Chao Shang Chao - is famous for having been awarded three macarons for their outlet in Beijing, and since the group has a restaurant here, too, I figured we could get a taste of what their version of high-end Chiuchow cuisine is like.
Our welcome drink was made with
laoxianghuang (老香黃), or aged Buddha's hand (佛手柑), along with aged tangerine peel and honey.
Our
amuse bouche was
mung bean cake with wampee (黃皮綠豆糕). It's really nice to see this special fruit being used.
Deep fried tofu (脆炸普宁豆腐) - not just any tofu, but the famed Puning tofu (普寧豆腐).
This was nice and crispy on the outside and just soooo soft and fluffy inside. Served with some chopped Chinese chives marinated in salt water.
Pan fried oyster omelette (香煎蚝仔烙) - no surprise that My Favorite Cousin wanted to order this up.
The Chiuchow style oyster omelettes aren't exactly the same as the ones in Taiwan, but the flavors are certainly familiar. Here it is served with some fish sauce accented with ground white pepper. Unfortunately someone reported finding bits of oyster shells in one of their pieces...
Sautéed beef fillet with satay and Chinese kale (沙茶芥兰炒吊龙) - the Chaoshan (潮汕) region is famous for their beef, so when I found 吊龍 - a cut along the top of the cattle's back that could be rib or loin - on the menu, and that it came with the classic Chiuchow
shacha (沙茶) sauce, it only seemed right that I order it up. This was OK.
Deep fried pork and chestnut with foie gras (揭阳炸鹅肝粿肉) - My Favorite Cousin saw this dish recommended on Dianping (大众点评) so I went ahead and ordered it. Sounded interesting for sure.
I really liked this! Inside the deep-fried wrapper we've got chunks of pork fat, goose liver, crunchy water chestnuts, taro, spring onion, five spice powder... With a kumquat dip that's nice and fruity. This is very much similar to
ngo hiang (五香滷肉) or 宜蘭肝花 from Hokkien cuisine. I'd totally order this again.
Rice cooked in claypot with fish maw and preserved radish (老菜脯花胶戈饭) - I really wanted the elders to taste something that's very classic, even though I knew the portion was a little large.
The flavors were pretty strong, but I thought this was about as tasty as I expected. Love the combined flavors from the soy sauce and the preserved radish, which has been aged for more than 10 years, I believe.
Porridge with preserved radish in casserole (现煲老菜脯砂锅粥) - as I knew uncle really wanted to have any type of congee or porridge, I ordered up
a second claypot... on the recommendation of the restaurant staff.
This may seem like a simple porridge without any luxury ingredients, but that aged preserved radish really brought their smoky, deep flavors and made it pretty special. I really liked this.
So... maybe, just maybe... I ordered a little too much food. Two claypots of carbs was definitely overkill, but I had my reasons for having each one. Maybe I should have ordred a couple of dishes less and replaced them with the classic chilled flower crab. Oh well!
I was obviously too full by now to go back to get my hot chocolate from Angelina. Next time!
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