A night with raw shellfish

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A well-known foodie who happens to be a compatriot of mine is eating her way through town, and DaRC had originally invited me to join them for dinner tomorrow at my favorite private dining facility. Unfortunately I had to schedule a team dinner for tomorrow, so DaRC very kindly made room for me at Yong Fu (甬府) tonight. I know that the restaurant is launching the spring banquet later this week, and I was secretly hoping that some of those dishes would show up tonight...

It's been some time since I last saw Ms. Yu, and when I arrived she was already in the room along with Chef Liu chatting with our guest of honor. I sneaked a peek at the menu, and it was obvious that I hadn't tasted most of these dishes. Yay!

I love these snacks! Mahua (麻花) is something I loved since childhood, and the other puffed rice cracker kinda reminds me of hineriage (ひねり揚げ), or kali-kali (卡哩卡哩) as they're called in Taiwan. I couldn't stop eating these throughout dinner, despite all the delicious dishes we had in front of us.

Air-dried goose wings (風乾鵝翼) - the goose wings were marinated in soy sauce from Ningbo, then air-dried overnight with the northwester. An interesting alternative to your average Chiuchow-style goose wings marinated in master stock (滷水).

Marinated Chinese baby mustard (香油兒菜) - someone couldn't wait and grabbed a piece before I got around to take the picture... and ruined the presentation. The stems were first pickled Ningbo-style, rinsed, and pickled a second time Sichuan-style. Finally they were quickly stir-fried in canola oil. This was nice and crunchy, but more spicy than I had expected.

Tofu puffs in meat sauce (肉汁油豆腐) - the tau pok (豆卜) is one of the "three treasures of Qiantong (前童三宝)", and this was flavored with the sauce from braised pork but served without the meat. The puffs were certainly very nice and fluffy.

Salted raw crab Ninbo-style (寧波鹽嗆蟹) - the traditional style of salt-marinated raw crab, not made the same way with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar as the restaurant's signature "18-chop (十八斬)". What I didn't know until tonight was that all the crabs were taken to a professional facility and frozen with liquid nitrogen - killing bacteria in the process - then kept frozen at -60°C until ready to serve. The crabs tonight were caught about 2 months ago, and had been soaked in a saline solution for about 3 days after defrosting. The salt water enhanced the natural flavors of the crab.

As I told Ms. Yu, out of sanitary concerns, I have only eaten raw crabs twice in my life. The first time was actually on my first visit here, and this would be the second. Now that I know how the crabs are treated, maybe I'll feel safer eating raw crabs here in the future...

Smoked frogs (煙熏田雞) - this was an extra dish requested by the restaurant's most loyal guests, and always a good call with those wonderful smoky flavors.

Next came a big plate of blood cockles (血蚶) from Ningbo, and this was also a special dish not originally on our menu. Not usually one of my favorites due to its strong flavors.

Ningbo cockles in sauce (澆汁寧酣) - the sauce made with Huadiao wine, soy sauce, and ginger helped to neutralize the strong, natural flavors of the shellfish. These were probably the fattest, tastiest cockles I've ever had. Definitely a rare treat.

Green congee with Japanese snow crab and gum karaya (碧綠鬆葉蟹雪燕粥) - OK, so it's actually "松"葉蟹 (pine needle crab) and not "鬆"葉蟹 (loose leaf crab) as printed on the menu... Rice and ginger were sautéed at low heat for about an hour, turning the rice grains golden before using them to make congee. The crab meat was so finely-shredded that it didn't actually add much to the texture, although they did bring their flavors to the mix. Gum karaya (雪燕) is a nice, vegetarian substitute for bird's nest, and comes guilt-free without the usual ethical concerns. Pretty nice.

This was the point when Chef DaRC suggested using swimmer crab as a better alternative, and added a piece of the salted raw crab into his bowl. The experts concurred that this was, indeed, something that works well.

Cutlass fish confit with three onions (三蔥油浸東海帶魚) - it was fascinating listening to Ms. Yu explain why cutlassfish tastes better when caught by trawl - which has a worse impact on the ecosystem - instead of ones caught by a fishing line with dozens of hooks. This was cooked in oil with three types of "onions" - leeks (京蔥), onions (洋蔥), and shallots (乾蔥頭).

We also added some fish maw...

The fish was indeed very, very tender. I nibbled carefully to separate the flesh from the bones. The different types of onions and ginger also worked so well with the fish, and would have been perfect with some steamed rice.

Yong Fu golden crispy chicken with pepper and sesame (甬府黃金椒麻雞) - this has become one of the signature dishes of the restaurat, and tonight it was presented in a box made of fragrant camphor wood.

It was decided that we would be served some of the skin along with the two wings first, so that we could enjoy the skin while it was still crispy.

And one just has to look at how thin the skin was to imagine how beautifully delicate it felt in the mouth, having been made crispy with the help of a lacquer solution coated on top.

The rest of the chicken gets shredded and mixed with a sauce made with Japanese sansho flowers (花山椒) and black sesame seeds, and we wrap it up with shredded Japanese onions and pieces of crispy skin inside paper-thin pancakes - as one does with Peking duck. Very, very tasty as always.

Stir-fried pork collar with winter bamboo shoots and St. George's mushrooms (冬筍口蘑炒第一刀) - I love winter bamboo shoots and Shanghainese cabbage (青江菜), but why did the kitchen have to use baking soda to tenderize such a beautiful cut of pork?!

Braised radish in meat jus (肉汁蘿蔔) - once again we have a vegetable that was cooked in the sauce of braised meat, which meant this was no longer a vegetarian dish...

The "fruit radish (水果蘿蔔)" from Shandong (山東) - also called "pineapple radish (鳳梨蘿蔔)" - changes color over time between purple and white. Here it still had a purple core.

Preserved mud snail (三北鹹泥螺) - more off-menu seafood, and yet another one that I rarely touch. I think I've eaten these a couple of times in Shanghai nearly 30 years ago, but I haven't touched them since. These came from Cixi (慈溪) just outside Ningbo City, and marinated the traditional way.

Choy sum (家燒菜蕻) - always love having this simple dish here... and the stock the veggies are cooked in. Feels so homey.

Housemade sausage (手工香腸) and sausage with preserved mustard greens (梅乾菜香腸) - another extra dish. These would definitely go well with some rice.

Hand made dumplings with shepherd's purse and minced pork (手工薺菜水餃) - it speaks volumes that on every visit, with all the beautiful ingredients and dishes on the menu, these dumplings are still the things we most look forward to.

I don't think there is another jiaozi (餃子) I like more in this town. I love that the wrapper is thin yet has so much bounce to one's bite. I also love shepherd's purse (薺菜) as a fragrant vegetable. And after having these many, many times on my previous visits, I was finally told by Chef Liu that they put fried lard (豬油渣) in the filling. NO WONDER it tastes SO FUCKING GOOD!

Shredded air-dried eel (新風手撕鰻筒) - yes, we were still getting extra dishes... This was kinda new to me... not sure I've tasted air-dried (and salted, of course) eel like this before. Served up with fragrant Chinese celery.

Ningbo sesame glutinous rice dumplings (寧波湯圓) - always, always have to end with a couple of these. That black sesame filling is just sooo rich.

Homemade yogurt (酸奶) - when I popped open the gewurz tonight, Ms. Yu immediately thought it would match well with their homemade yogurt... which was why it, too, was added to our menu on the fly. And they certainly matched VERY well, with the prominent honey notes from the wine acting like real honey when we poured a little onto the yogurt itself.

Hong Mei Ren (紅美人) - these Benimadonna (紅まどんな) are not from Japan, but are grown in the Xiangshan (象山) area of Ningbo (寧波). Still pretty tasty.

Had I known the bosses would be sitting with us tonight, I would have brought more wine! As it was, we had a nice collection that wasn't exactly "the usual"...

2017 Darviot-Perrin Meursault 1er Cru Genevrières - this was initially served too cold and needed a little warming up with the hands. There was good ripeness on the palate, with lemon citrus, and also got those flint and toasty notes, but thankfully not too heavy.

1991 Penfolds Grange - this was opened prior to arriving at the restaurant. Showing that classic coconut butter and jammy nose. With aging this has developed tertiary notes on the nose, and was now so fragrant with spices and this lingered in the mouth. Also prunes but not unpleasant nor too acidic on the palate. Finally showing some notes which reminded me of hawthorn. Drinking nicely.

2004 Colgin Jubilation - started drinking after 1½ hours in the decanter. This was much riper and much sweeter on the nose as well as palate. Pretty fragrant on the nose, and so soft on the palate now... but not diluted or weak. Pretty elegant and feminine.

1999 Hugel Gewurztraminer Sélection de Grains Nobles, en demi-bouteille - the nose was so floral, so much lychee, so much honey here... and definitely nutty, too.

It was yet another beautiful meal at Yong Fu in Hong Kong, which serves up dishes that have been devleoped in parallel to the flagship on the Mainland. I can easily see the passion and dedication from Chef Liu and Ms. Yu, who really want to create special dining experiences for their customers. I'm very grateful to have been able to join the party tonight, and I look forward to making arrangements to try their spring banquet soon.