When a billion people know your face

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H-man is back in town for a few days, his first trip here since 10 years ago. As Rice and I took him to Neighborhood on that visit, we figured it only made sense to do the same this time around. Little did I know that The Kitchen Nazi had become such a celebrity since the premiere of the popular Chinese TV show, that tables at Neighborhood are now difficult to come by.

Since I had booked my table with Shirley, The Kitchen Nazi had no idea that I was coming tonight... until I mentioned it to him yesterday. That would have an impact on the selection of dishes I would be getting tonight.

We started with a tea session at Rice's office, where he poured me some tea for my cold, as well as giving us a taste of some Taiwanese green tea harvested in the 1930s...

We arrived before our table was ready, so the three of us stood against the bar while trying to stay out of the way of the staff and other diners. Coincidentally, DaRC and Ro Ro are also here tonight - in the company of Dashijie. This would turn out to be kinda fun later, as we were seated at neighboring tables.

Pine nuts - the boss was also on the same mushroom foraging trip in Yunnan as the three chefs from last night, and once again we have roasted pine nuts to start our dinner with. These were very, very good.

Beef tartare / burrate / truffle - the first dish we actually ordered, and this was as good as I remembered.

As I almost always do, a dish like this needed to be spread on sourdough bread. Just look at how alluring the creamy "burrate" was... and all those hazelnuts and black truffle providing the aromatics.

Smoked Pacific saury - smoked fish is de rigueur here, and tonight we had Pacific saury from Japan. Perfect for our guest from Tokyo.

And this, too, needed to be taken with the sourdough. And make sure there is plenty of that sauce made with the fish's own liver. So, soooo tasty. That bitter aftertaste is an acquired taste, but soooo delightful.

Dry bouillabaisse - I miss the old days when The Man in White T-shirt (before he turned into The Kitchen Nazi) used to serve up a big pot of bouillabaisse, but this "dry" version is pretty damn good, too. The seafood is now chilled, and can be enjoyed with or without the saffron and piment d'espelette aïoli on the side. Tonight we had the small razor clams, mantis shrimp, babylonia, scallops, local spiny lobster, and thread-sail filefish (皮剥) from Japan.

Lentil salad / caviar - the first of the dishes that showed up without ordering, but it's understandable since this has become a staple here in recent years. Tonight we've also got different diced vegetables with the lentils, and best of all... bacon!

Matsutake / honey - the celebrity chef didn't make us his newest signature dish, but instead saved us a nice matsutake (松茸) from Yunnan that was served raw, drizzled with some honey, and garnished with those young shoots of Sichuan Dahongpao (大紅袍) pepper trees.

With just the three of us, we could only have one big main dish. Thankfully The Kitchen Nazi saved us one of his signature salt-baked chickens - stuffed with ganbajun (干巴菌) under the skin, of course.

Salt-baked chicken / ganbajun / giblets / morel mushrooms - this was, of course, a fantastic dish as always. Our guest from Tokyo enjoyed it so much he kept on eating - including the giblets like chicken testicles. There was no way we could ever finish a dish of this size, so we packed the rest of it up for Rice to take home to the wife.

Canelés - love the cat anuses, as always.

With this trio there would only be an over-abundance of bottles, and we actually left some unopened tonight...

Egly-Ouriet Brut Rosé Grand Cru, dégorgée en Novembre 2014 - this has some nice age to it, so it's got plenty of complexity and that savory profile I love so much. Such a treat.

1981 Penfolds Grange, re-corked August 22, 2025 - this was the bottle that was deemed "sub-standard" at the Penfolds Re-corking Clinic, so I figured I'd bring it out and drink it with a couple of Grange lovers. We opened it and decanted it after about 30 minutes, and the nose was definitely still pretty fragrant, with plenty of coconut butter I love so much. The others didn't see any issue with this bottle, and I even poured a small glass for DaRC.

2023 Yukidoke Shonai Blanc, from half-bottle - a curious blend of 15 grape varietals. In addition to the main ones like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and Riesling, there was also Gewurztraminer... which explained why it was so tropical with prominent lychee notes. Very ripe and very sweet on the palate. I poured a glass for DaRC to blind taste.

2003 Clos Mimi Syrah Brave Oak Vineyard - I've been waiting for the right opportunity to open this bottle, and it has to be with Rice. This has clearly aged and mellowed, and no longer as vibrant as it was in its youth. A little disappointing, to be honest.

It's been 10 years since the three of us were at the same table, but old friends don't feel the passage of time. We had a really fun night out, due in no small part to the wonderful food from The Kitchen Nazi as well as our bottles.

The real fun tonight, though, was watching the transformation of our friend after the launch of the TV show. The introvert was suddenly more outgoing, and he welcomed - nay, actively sought - to take selfies with restaurant patrons. In fact, there were groups of fans who came to the restaurant just to see if they could meet this new celebrity chef. The restaurant now is booked out 2 months in advance online, and I figured a billion people in China now know the face of 米奇老師. So what does that mean for us regulars?!