The hunt for Peking duck

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While enjoying our lunch today, the visitors were asking me where they could go and have - you guessed it - Peking duck. I explained to them that duck - especially Peking duck - isn't classic Cantonese fare... and that the go-to item is actually roast goose. Nevertheless, the ladies had a hankering for this classic dish that seems to be at the top of every visitor to Hong Kong, so I scrambled to find one on a couple of hours' notice.

No, Peking duck isn't really difficult to find in Hong Kong. For one thing, just about every Chinese restaurant in a 5-star hotel would offer it. The trick was to avoid a few restaurants that I had little interest in going to... Unfortunately for us, the places which offered some of the best ducks in town were either fully-booked or would require us to start dinner fairly late. That wasn't gonna work when there's a baby in tow...

And that was how we ended up at Spring Moon (嘉麟樓) at the Peninsula Hong Kong. They were able to fit our big group in, and I was grateful that we didn't get stuck by the restaurant entrance. We were conveniently placed in a spot that could accommodate the baby stroller. Big plus.

Just after we managed to finish ordering - which turned out to be a collective effort of the table, and inevitably resulted in too much food - Executive Chef Xavier Boyer came over to say hello. Despite not having returned to the hotel is close to a year, and not alerted anyone about coming, the CRM system probably flagged my booking and alerted him. I'm pretty sure Sébastien is to blame for this...

Our amuse bouche was a deep-fried milk custard coated batter with bamboo charcoal, on a bed of rice crispies and some salmon roe.

Honey-glazed barbecued pork (蜜味叉燒) - can't come to Hong Kong without having some charsiu! This was very nice, as it was pretty fatty with some crunchy tendons. We've also got a little bit of smoky flavors here, which was lovely. Oh the sugared soy beans (蜜黃豆) on the side came topped with some gold foil, which was definitely a plus for me!

Pan-fried bean curd sheet rolls with carrots and black mushrooms (香煎素鵝) - introducing our guests to the concept of "vegetarian goose"...

Roasted Peking duck (北京片皮鴨) - BABY, THIS IS WHAT YOU CAME FOR! The pièce de résistance comes early, and the table seemed genuinely excited at the sight of it.

Well... it was not what I had expected. The skin was paper-thin, which was fine, but what was that piece of lettuce doing on the pancake?! I know it comes down to personal preference, but I don't want the flavors of the duck diluted by watery lettuce. I like my pancake rolled up with just the duck, some shredded spring onion, hoisin sauce (海鮮醬), and nothing else. So... not so happy. But the important point was that our visitors got what they came for.

Deep-fried stuffed crab meat with pork, chicken, shrimp, water chestnut and coriander (金錢蟹盒) - I love old school dishes like this one, and the rose flavors really stood out thanks to the Cantonese preserved sausage made with mei kuei lu (玫瑰露). I didn't have the heart to tell our visitors that the wrapper was actually slices of pork fat (冰肉)...

Steamed spotted garoupa (清蒸東星斑) - ya can't come to town without enjoying a nice fish steamed with soy sauce and all the goodies, Cantonese-style. The spotted garoupa definitely did the trick, and we had smiles all around.

Stewed beef brisket with Chinese celery in beef broth (芹香清湯牛腩) - another classic Cantonese dish. Very tender brisket, and nice broth, too. I was a little surprised at the amount of chopped Chinese celery, though.

Braised pomelo peel with bamboo piths and shrimp roe in a clay pot (蝦籽竹笙扒柚皮煲) - a dish that our visitors have never had, and unlikely to find near the cities they live in. It probably is difficult for many to imagine how one would shred the pith of the pomelo, mash it into a "cake", and reconstitute it with liquid and braise it. But it can be really delicious, especially when it absorbs the sauce flavored with shrimp roe. Unfortunately these were a little more fibrous than I would have liked. But the dish tonight also included bamboo pith, which is again something foreign to our guests.

Stir-fried minced duck served with lettuce (生菜包鴨崧) - this is the "second serving" of our Peking duck, which came with some toasted olive kernels (欖仁) on top.

Unfortunately the minced duck was just too dry for my taste. Yes, there's a little dab of hoisin sauce, but not nearly enough to make the whole thing moist.

Crispy noodles with sliced spotted garoupa Wagyu beef in black bean and chilli sauce (豉椒東星斑和牛煎脆麵) - Xavier had mentioned that he would be sending over a surprise, and this was it. The noodles normally come with spotted garoupa filet, but since we already had a whole one steamed, this was substituted with chunks of wagyu.

The gift was very well received. What's not to like about thin noodles deep-fried to a crisp, then drenched in a tasty sauce to gradually soften them up? The sauce with black beans and capsicum is always so classic, and of course big chunks of tender wagyu is always a plus. I'm not surprised at all that our friends enjoyed this.

Spring Moon signature fried rice with assorted seafood, roasted goose and XO sauce in a clay pot (砂鍋嘉麟樓極品炒飯) - well... we loved the noodles but... we actually ordered a big clay pot of rice... so we really didn't have any more room for this. A real shame, because this was pretty tasty.

Steamed sponge cake with olive kernel and Okinawa brown sugar (沖繩黑糖欖仁馬拉糕) - a relatively light dessert that showed some interesting flavors to our visitors.

Chilled sago cream with mango and pomelo (楊枝甘露) - this is a dessert I love very much, as it's always so fruity and refreshing.

The petit four were matcha mochi filled with adzuki bean paste, as well as almond jelly with papaya.

There were, of course, a few bottles of wine to go with our dinner, and no surprise that we started with some Champagne. I also brought along a couple of bottles to share with our friends.

2013 Amour de Deutz - this had some nice depth on the palate, and the nose really showed some lovely toasty notes after it opened up.

2009 Lucien Le Moine Volnay 1er Cru Les Caillerets - the nose was very fragrant, elegant, almost floral, with a light hint of leather. On the palate, though, it's got a real meaty flavor.

1990 Trimbach Clos Sainte Hune - the nose was soooo beautiful, with "white truffle" as Jean Trimbach would call it. There was also some wonderful marmalade, but on the palate now it's kinda bitter and tart. Not as "fresh" and lively as some of the other bottles I've had, although it has been a few years since my last one.

That was a lot of food... and not nearly enough wine to go with the food. I hope this was a good experience for our visitors, as Foursheets and I really tried to show them what classic Cantonese food is like. Meanwhile, I managed to set up another meeting with a chef for our Champagne Diva...