Chiuchow classics

We have a visitor in town who wanted a meal that wasn't Cantonese, so The Great One asked RAW Yeah to pick a place for Chiuchow cuisine. I had never heard of Chiu Ka Banquet (潮家宴) before, but it's just walking distance from my office, so that worked out well.

As I approached the door of the building, I saw a light box out front advertising the name of the restaurant. As it turns out, the restaurant is inside the clubhouse of the Hong Kong Chinese Importers' and Exporters' Association (香港中華出入口商會). The powers that be had, probably years ago, decided to shorten this to 中出商會... so naturally the club is called 中出會所. Well... anyone who has remotely had any exposure to Japanese AV would know what 中出し means...

The menu here is compact, but we've got all the standard classics. We left the ordering up to RAW Yeah, as he's a regular and knows the staff.

Marinated goose intestines and goose liver (鹵水鵝腸鵝肝) - these came with the usual accompiment of braised tofu, but we've also got a braised egg.

Fried Puning tofu (普寧炸豆腐) - I was so happy that we ordered these. I looooove these fried tofu with a real thin, crispy outside and a fluffy interior.

They did come with the usual dipping sauce of chopped Chinese chives in salty solution.

Pig tripe and preserved mustard leaf soup with pepper (鹹菜胡椒豬肚湯) - this was curious that the chunky ingredients were plated separately while the staff heated up the soup in claypots nearby.

This was pretty damn good. Tons of pepper here, and plenty of flavor from the preserved mustard leaves (鹹菜). I do love my pig tripe...

Steamed local fourfinger threadfin (蒸本灣海馬友) - instead of a whole, smaller threadfin, we have 2 cross-cuts of a large fish that was reportedly 20 catties. The fatty fish was as tender as one would expect. Very tasty.

Radish pancake with shrimp (鮮蝦蘿蔔烙) - a classic Chiuchow dish that the others were more excited about than I was. While this was tasty, I guess I just prefer my pancakes to be more on the crispy side.

Braised goose webs with Japanese shiitake (日本花菇炆鵝掌) - I do love a classic braised goose web, and always happy to suck on those "fingers".

Fish balls with salt and pepper (椒鹽魚蛋) - as RAW Yeah correctly pointed out, this wasn't exactly a "salt and pepper (椒鹽)" preparation... there was way too much minced garlic here.

It seems like everyone else is a fan of taro, and The Great One insisted on ordering two taro desserts.

Frosted taro sticks (反沙香芋) - this was OK, but the others wished there were more spring onions.

Sweet taro mash with ginkgo nuts (銀杏芋泥) - we each got a spoonful, which was just fine with me.

We didn't order any fancy, expensive dishes tonight, but it's pretty obvious that the classic dishes are well-executed here. I'd be curious to come back to try the dishes that I really want to taste.