No snake no problem

Pin It

It's our annual team dinner tonight, and for a number of reasons I decided that Man Ho (萬豪金殿) would be the most suitable location. I've always enjoyed Jayson Tang (鄧家濠)'s creations, and truth be told, it's been too long since I last showed him some love. So I was pretty happy to ask him to put together a menu based on our budget.

I was pretty happy to see that we would be served mostly dishes I've never has before, which involves Jayson pushing the boundaries of Cantonese cuisine as he adds flavors which aren't considered "traditional" or "classic". I'm always happy to see chefs doing this, as long as they're not being flippant - or "taking a piss", as the Brits would say.

We had an amuse bouche to start, featuring a little abalone with pickled cucumber, and a sweet gelée that tasted of five-spice (五香).

Next came a trio of chef's specialties (萬豪金殿獻萃):

Chilled razor clam with Sichuan peppercorns (青花椒涼拌蟶子) - these came with some green peppercorns and diced green chili, adding some fragrance and a very mild kick to the natural sweetness.

Chilled raw lobster cube with caviar (魚子醬刺身龍蝦盞) - normally I'd frown at the sight of caviar in a Chinese restaurant, given the widespread frivolous use of the ingredient by chefs. Here, though, the ingredients worked seamlessly together, with finely-diced shallots and garlic mixed in with diced marinated raw lobster balancing well with the salty caviar.

Signature barbecued pork with honey sauce (萬豪貴妃叉燒) - any self-respecting Cantonese restaurant will be capable of delivering a fine piece of charsiu. Jayson uses the collar (脢頭) of Ibérico pork, and while the center was very tender as always, the edges were able to deliver a drier, crispier texture.

Pan-fried crab claw with spring onions in ginger foam (薑蔥汁生煎鮮蟹鉗) - it's always impressive when one is served a whole big crab claw, and Jayson has chosen to pan-fry it till golden brown on the outside. The accompanying ginger sauce with spring onions turn this into a more modern take on the traditional combination of condiments.

When these condiments show up at the table, one immediately expects that snake soup will be served next.

Shredded duck meat soup with shredded fish maw, shredded chicken, fungus, mushroom and bamboo shoot (金殿非蛇羹) - but Jayson has named this "NOT snake soup (非蛇羹)" in Chinese. Rather than shredded snake - which can include five different species for 五蛇羹 - it's duck meat that has been shredded.

This was very, very good. First of all, it was served piping hot, which is how snake soup should be. The ingredients are all finely-shredded, with fish maw, bamboo thoots, mushrooms... etc. all nicely done to deliver delicate texture. We've got plenty of pepper in the soup for a kick, and also fragrance from aged tangerine peel (陳皮). Really nicely done and respectful to the tradition.

Oh, I was originally slated to join DaRC at my favorite private dining facility tonight to enjoy my favorite imperial scholar's five-snake soup (太史五蛇羹), but this was a very good substitute.

Steamed yellow croaker and rice noodles with fresh sansho pepper sauce (風味藤椒陳村粉蒸黃花魚) - WOW! This was a real surprise. Any decent Cantonese chef can serve up fish steamed to deliver that perfectly tender texture, nicely seasoned with soy sauce (and in reality, other stuff like ham broth), but this is so much more. Yellow croaker is a premium ingredient, and the texture was perfectly tender. The traditional condiment of spring onions came finely-diced, leading to a more refined mouthfeel. Green Sichuan peppercorns (藤椒) bring their intense fragrance and at once tingles and numbs the taste buds, and suddenly it feels like someone having a party on my tongue. This isn't the classic Canto preparation, it's an upgrade that I like very, very much. Oh, Jayson's also added some rice flour flat noodles known as 陳村粉, and they soaked up the spicy sauce very nicely.

Braised New Zealand abalone with maltose (乾燒黑金鮑魚) - very nicely done. Very, very tender texture with good depth of flavors thanks to the addition of maltose to the braising sauce.

Poached baby white cabbage with Yunnan ham in chicken stock (諾鄧鹽泥肉濃湯小白菜芯) - I love this... and it kinda reminded me of the veggie dish I had last night at Yong Fu (甬府) - which also came with delicious stock. The flavors here were somewhat heavier, though, thanks to those diced cubes of ham preserved with salt from Nuodeng (諾鄧) in Yunnan (雲南). I also liked the textural contrast with the sliced tofu puffs.

Sweetened pistachio cream (生磨開心果露) - very rich and very nicely done.

Baked preserved bean curd pastry with lotus seed (南乳香酥餅) - while this may look like an average crispy pastry stuffed with lotus seed paste, the magic was the crust flavored with red fermented bean curd (南乳).

I was tasked with picking up some wines a couple of hours before dinner started, and I'm glad my friend's wine shop is just a short walk from the office.

2018 Domaine Ganevat Les Varrons Vieilles Vignes - it took time for the wine to open up, with more ripeness on the nose than expected, together with flint. Lean on the palate with high acidity. More than an hour later the nose began to show toasty notes. Drinking decently.

2020 Jean-Marc Vincent Santenay 1er Cru Le Beaurepaire - this was pretty forward. Nice and fruity on the nose, with a little leather and also a little meaty. Very pleasant and easy to drink.

1982 Giscours - started to drink more than an hour after opening. Clearly a little tired, as the sweet fruit was gone. Got some sweet grass on the nose, musty, definitely bretty. Not great.

2021 Muxin Rouge - started drinking about 1 hour and 15 minutes after decanting. The nose was pretty open, and this was definitely predominantly cab. Smoky, earthy, mineral. Young and lively. This was much better than the one I tasted last year.

Every time I'm here, I ask myself why it is that I don't come more often. I did that again tonight, after another meal where Jayson surprised me yet again. He also made sure that we were well-taken care of in the private dining room, with impeccable wine service from the sommelier. I'm looking forward to fulfilling my promise to Jayson about returning, sooner rather than later.