ChocoFergie

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We were celebrating two November birthdays tonight, and the birthday boys have booked us a table at a place that is new to many of us. Yuet Tung Hin (粵同軒) is a new addition to what used to be my 'hood, and Fergie was obviously very impressed with his prior visits. Since I trust my friend's palate, I didn't do any homework before showing up with bottles of Champagne.

Chiuchow-style marinated goose platter (潮式滷水拼盤) - there were 10 of us so a big platter was in order... and we got the whole shebang! On top of the standard sliced goose meat, we've also got the wing, the web, liver, gizzard, intestines... etc. The masterstock (滷水) used for marinating was definitely not as salty as usual... and maybe even bordering on being a tiny bit sweet.

Fukien-style oyster pancake (福建家鄉蠔仔煎) - the chef-owner's family comes from Fujian, so I wasn't surprised that this was the type of oyster pancake he delivered... as it's very similar to ones in Taiwan. Instead of crispy flour batter that's been deep-fried in oil, this uses sweet potato starch for pan-frying that makes the texture pretty sticky and wet. I found this a little too salty for my liking.

Double-boiled soup with whelk and oyster adductor (珍珠肉杞子燉新鮮螺頭湯) - this was pretty nice, and I really liked the chicken feet. The dried oyster adductor muscle was pretty interesting.

next came a pot bearing two of Cantonese cuisine's four precious treasures of the sea...

Braised South African abalone with fish maw in abalone sauce (糖心南非吉品鮑魚 鮑汁花膠扒) - gotta say the braised fish maw was pretty nice, and we asked for steamed rice to soak up that abalone sauce loaded with collagen.

The abalone had a pretty good texture, as it was soft and bouncy. Tons of flavor.

Steamed spotted garoupa slice with black garlic (古法黑蒜蒸原條東星斑片) - I have to say... this country bumpkin has never seen Cantonese steamed fish presented this way. It definitely made a very dramatic entrance, and almost everyone - yours truly excepted - was filming videos of the dish as Foursheets volunteered to spin the lazy Susan slowly.

I thought the fish was OK, but the addition of fermented black garlic and crunchy wood ear fungus was a little unexpected.

Traditional mutton hot pot with Chinese lettuce (古法鮮羊腩煲跟唐生菜) - I guess the weather is cooling down and we finally entered the season for this. The butterfly brisket was really tasty, and the tofu skin (腐竹) soaking up the sauce was a star, too.

Stir-fried noodles in soy sauce and crab fat (蟹油龍鬚豉油王炒麵) - this was very, very tasty... because it did come with some crab fat, didn't it?! The surprise, though, was how sweet the soy sauce was. Very unusual for noodles like these to taste so sweet. Again, this borders on kecap manis...

Almond cream with egg white (生磨蛋白杏仁茶)

Citron Noir, from Finesse Patisserie - I love tarte citron and key lime pies, so it was a no-brainer that I would love this.

Wonderful combination of acidity, sweetness, and the fragrance from citrus.

We were definitely weak tonight when it came to alcohol. I think quite a few people were pretty restrained, and we didn't get to open a couple of bottles...

1975 Moët et Chandon Cuvée Dom Pérignon - pretty amber in color now that it's 50 years' old. Initially there was plenty of Chinese licorice on the nose, but of course there were also savory minerals and marmalade. I love old Champagne and this was drinking nicely for its age.

Ubusuna Yamada Nishiki (産土 山田錦), 2024 - slightly fizzy on the palate. Lots of banana and plenty of starchy rice notes on the nose. Really fragrant. Lightly sweet on the palate. A lovely sake.

1996 Bruno Paillard Assemblage, dégorgée en Janvier 2006, en magnum - lovely nose with flint and minerals on top of the marmalade. Nice acidity on the palate.

2022 Bendito Destino Amphora - the nose was kinda bretty, with animal and leather notes.

This was a fun evening, and somehow I got very, very full... I think we had a few tired people after a long week, so we called it a night and didn't party on further. The leftover bottles will just have to be drunk some other time...