Diamonds and stars

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A little over 3 hours after running into Chef Liu, I walked through the doors of Yong Fu (甬府) in Hong Kong for a collaboration dinner B Bestie invited me to. I'm cognizant of the fact that I was just slagging off some of these collaboration dinners with multiple chefs across different countries and cuisines, but this one seemed a little different. Yong Fu Hong Kong and Yong Fu Shanghai are from the same group and serves dishes from the same cuisine, while I felt there can be real synergies among Ningbo cuisine and the Cantonese cuisine featured in Jade Dragon (譽瓏軒) as well as the Chiuchow cuisine showcased at Selection by Du (菁禧薈). In spite of my misgivings about the kind of stuff B Bestie gets up to in terms of these "x-hands", I have supreme confidence in Chef Liu Zhen (刘震)'s and Ms. Yu's ability to put together a fantastic menu.

The real VIPs were in the private rooms upstairs, while the KOLs sat in the main dining room downstairs. It's been a few years since I last saw Natalie from the City of Dreams, and of course she was here accompanying Chef Kelvin Au Yeung (歐陽文彥). I also got a chance to greet some old acquaintances I haven't seen in a couple of years.

While the four head chefs have put together a 10-course menu - where most of the dishes were individual efforts and one course included input from all of the chefs - there was a wine pairing featuring solely wines from China. This is definitely more of the trend these days, as restaurants from China are eager to feature wines from up-and-coming producers from their own country.

Appetizers (頭盤):

Fried smoked prawn dumpling with runny egg yolk (茶燻流心蝦棗), by Jade Dragon - this is definitely a modern take on the Chiuchow classic fried prawn ball (蝦棗), with a smoky, lava-like filling inside.

Sliced whelk with celery (芹菜拌螺片), by Selection by Du - the crunch from the whelk was pretty nice, and the marinade with chives was fairly light and interesting.

Raw-marinated Botan shrimp (生醃牡丹蝦), by Yong Fu - inspired by the Ningbo-style salted raw crab (寧波鹽嗆蟹) that I had the chance to taste on my last visit. Served with some crunchy green radish, methinks...

Smoked stone frog legs (煙熏石蛙腿), by Yong Fu - I'm pretty familiar with this by now, having tasted it a number of times over the years at Yong Fu in Hong Kong. Given that one of the common names of the Chinese spiny frog (石蛙) is "giant" spiny frog, I'm amazed a how tiny these little legs are... They must use real young frogs.

Chaozhou chilled fish with rice (潮州凍魚飯), by Selection by Du - this fourfinger threadfin (馬友) was very nice, and the skin was very springy and chewy. Very nice texture overall. Garnished with a dab of fermented soy bean sauce from Puning (普寧).

Crispy roll with caviar (魚子醬脆皮卷), by Yong Fu - although this was supposedly inspired by 粢饭, they stuffed "sushi rice" inside a tart shell. Unfortunately the rice inside was a little on the dry side. The caviar on top was sourced from Frosista of Yaan (雅安) in Sichuan Province.

DEVO MV04 Brut Nature - the nose was flinty and mineral. The palate was fairly well-balanced, although it was rather flat mid-palate, with some orange marmalade notes.

The next dish is the one where supposedly all the chefs participated in. We've got lightly-poached razor clams topped with microgreens of coriander.

Seafood consommé with Scottish razor clams (海鮮清湯沖蘇格蘭蟶子), from all four restaurants - the broth was made with dried shrimp (蝦乾), dried scallops (瑤柱), old chickens, pork ribs, and dried sole (大地魚). This was very clean and elegant. The razor clams were very sweet, and we've got slices of pickled radish which were crunchy with a nice dose of acidity. This was a very good dish that is an excellent example of "simplicity is not simple".

For our next dish, the chef from Selection by Du brought out this giant-ass fish maw that made us drop our jaws. This one coming from a bronze croaker weighed in at 1.6-head, so about 300g in its dry state.

Chaozhou-style braised Annam fish maw (潮味燒安南公肚), from Selection by Du - that is one big piece of fish maw in front of me... and that sauce! Simply amazing, and pure bliss to taste it on my tongue have it coat my lips.

The fish maw itself, of course, came with a perfectly soft texture. The thing bounced around when I tried to pick it up with my chopsticks, and yielded easily to my teeth. I've never really seeked out high quality fish maw - and I don't really know the true value of this - but this is one I won't easily forget.

2023 JiangYu Grechetto - this was very oxidized. Ripe and sweet.

Wok-seared scallops with local fermented soybean paste (堂煎上醬元貝), from Yong Fu Hong Kong and Yong Fu Shanghai - this really was fried in a pan tableside.

Cutting this showed that, even underneath the coated batter, this was a damn big scallop. And cooked mi-cuit. The natural flavors of the scallop was very, very nice.

Bai Yue Cheng Qu Long Jian Fu Xi (百越承曲 龙见伏兮) - made with a solera system, with wines up to 30 years being used. Long finish here. Nice.

Stir-fried wild-caught tiger garoupa fillet with spring chives, baby mustard cabbage and preserved olive (春蕎兒菜欖豉炒野生老虎斑), from Jade Dragon - this was a pretty classic way to season the brown-marbled grouper (老虎斑), so the flavors were pretty familiar. Served with bell peppers, Chinese onion (蕎頭), lotus root, and baby mustard greens (兒菜).

Braised wagyu beef cheek with Port wine sauce and spring onion pancake (波特酒燴和牛臉頰配蔥油餅), from Jade Dragon - this was always gonna be a winner... a no-brainer. How could one not like braised beef cheeks with all that collagen?! Soooo tender, sooo tasty. Served with a thick slice of jicama at the bottom. Oh that spring onion pancake on the side? Killer. I would even say that this delivered a bigger surprise than the beef itself. I would have wanted 4 more pieces of this.

2023 Domaine des Glaciers Cabernet Sauvignon - started serving almost 3½ hours after opening. Initially the nose was rather muted and only so-so, with a hint of spices and some green capsicum. Then it got more open and fragrant, with smoky notes and some graphite. Some 4½ hours after opening this got to be pretty nice.

Spring bamboo shoots with heart of cabbage in pork broth (菜膽肉汁春筍), from Yong Fu Hong Kong and Yong Fu Shanghai - these were pretty big and thick pieces of spring bamboo shoots, and they were very tender. If I had to nitpick, I felt that if the kitchen had shaved off just 1 to 2mm more from the outside, the texture would have been absolutely perfect. As it was, it was just a tiny bit too fibrous on the outside. Flavor-wise I really love bamboo shoots when they are in season... just can't beat the sweetness. But yeah, although Chinese cuisine serves up a lot of vegetables during a meal, many of them aren't "vegetarian" because they come with meat-based sauces...

Crispy suckling pig roll with glutinous rice, Iberico ham and mushroom (金陵乳豬飯), from Jade Dragon - YEAH, BABY, YEAH!!!!! It's been far too long since I last had this dish in Macau - more than 6 yeas, actually...) so I was really happy to see this on the menu. I've loved this ever since Chef Tam Kwok Fung (譚國鋒) served it to me 8 years ago. This piggy was as tasty as I remembered. The glutinous rice stuffing was nicely seasoned and left to dry for the right texture. The crackling was crunchy as it should be. I really wanted to have 5 more pieces, as I always do. Maybe it's time to make the long-over due run to Macau and just go have half a pig by myself.

HOWEVER, as with my last visit to Jade Dragon, my issue is with the presentation. Last time the crackling became detached from the rice, so I found the presentation unacceptable for a place with 3 Michelin stars. Tonight, though, I felt the cutting of the "maki" was just carelessness on the part of the kitchen cooks. This dish is made by cutting the piglet in half lengthwise, rolling up with the rice inside, and tying the roll down with butcher's twine. For my piece, the kitchen should have just cut the pieces at the spot where the twine tightens the roll... and I wouldn't have to look at this awkward dent in an otherwise perfect piggy sushi roll. Oh well... maybe I wouldn't care so much if this came from another restaurant, but with 3 Michelin stars and 3 Diamonds from Black Pearl... I expect better.

Ningbo glutinous rice balls in sweet soup (寧波湯圓), from Yong Fu Hong Kong and Yong Fu Shanghai - Gemma was telling me that they would be serving "big balls" tonight, and made a gesture with her hands. I guess as the joke goes, men aren't good with visually measuring size because... well... what showed up was bigger than usual but fell short of my expectations. Instead of having two balls of regular size, tonight we just got a bigger ball that is made with the same amount of ingredients...

But DAMN! I love this! Big ball, small ball... I'll take them whatever size. The rich sesame filling, and that fluffy wrapper. THANK YOU, MA'AM, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

2017 Franco-Chinois Petit Manseng - very sweet on the nose, with lots of intense honeydew melon.

The other KOLs were all in a rush to hit all the afterparties... from crossing the harbor to Ozone and then crossing back to Hong Kong side for Lin Heung Lau. It was only B Bestie and I left sitting at the table while nibbling on the fruit platter, featuring emerald honeydew melon (翡翠蜜瓜) from Yunnan (雲南), kumquat (金桔), and pear.

For all the shit I give him both publicly and privately, I do recognize - as many do - that B Bestie (also known affectionately as PR8) really does work very hard both for his client as well as Hong Kong as a dining destination. Before dinner started, I jokingly asked him how many places he needed to be simultaneously tonight. I think the answer was 6. So it was good that towards the end of dinner service, he sat down and we actually had a nice catch-up about the festivities this week. We're both assholes, but we appreciate each other and our friendship. Yes, there IS love among assholes.

I was very grateful to have received the invitation for tonight. While I would have liked to have seen more true collaboration among the chefs, the dishes presented by each chef were chosen to represent the best they had to offer. They were all very delicious, and I'm happy to have this moment among my memories.

No afterparties for moi. Time to take the bus home and cuddle with my fur baby.