Peace out

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At the start of the year, Hoper's Base (人人和平) announced that they will be closing their current flagship by the end of the year. I have enjoyed a few meals over the last few years, although our last casual lunch there left a very bad taste in Foursheets' mouth. When Bong Girl pinged me about doing a dinner there with g4gary - who is school mates with the bosses - I was more than happy to put my hand up.

The restaurant had proposed a menu for us, and since it may or may not be my last visit here, I figured I'd make two special requests. As if we didn't already have enough food.

It's been a while since I was last here, and since our friend is a VIP, we were led to the "private room" in the adjacent shop space. At least here we wouldn't have to be bothered by the unpleasant smell that I've encountered before...

Nostalgic "money chicken" (和平金錢雞) - right off the bat we have the first item I requested. "Gold coin chicken (金錢雞)" is one of my favorite items in Cantonese cuisine, and so there are increasingly few places which continue this tradition. I loved it when it was served on my very first visit here, on a bed of deep-fried rice crispies (鍋巴). Sadly, they discontinued that amazing version. Nowadays it comes on top of a slice of baguette, which doesn't come anywhere close to giving the satisfaction of the previous version.

What hasn't changed, though, is how delicious that slice of chicken liver plus the pork belly with translucent fat is. Barbecued the traditional way on skewers. I only wish this was as thick as the first time they served it to me, as it's rather thin these days. And yes, I tossed the slice of ginger away. Homey don't play that!

Deep-fried tofu with shichimi powder (七味黃金豆腐粒) - pretty fluffy inside.

Century eggs with young ginger (子薑黃金皮蛋)

Honey char siu, Canadian pork shoulder butt (蜂蜜加拿大白臀半肥瘦叉燒) - this was a much bigger plat of char siu than I had expected, and the form factor was also very different.

These were pretty big and round slices, and that strip of fat on top was pretty nice. Very porky, very tasty.

Pan-seared dried oysters with sweet black pepper sauce (黑椒蜜汁煎金蠔)

The next dish was originally meant to be noodles in broth, but I recently enjoyed a special edition of potato chips from Calbee Hong Kong, and this reminded me that I haven't enjoyed much of this Hong Kong classic in recent memory. So this was my second request... And when I realized I had forgotten to bring a long a bag of those chips, Foursheets ran to the corner store and got us a bag.

Canadian lobsters with cheese and e-fu noodles (芝士焗波士頓龍蝦伊麵) - unfortunately, the cheese sauce was much too watery and diluted, and just didn't have the richness I craved. But at least we had lobster with the noodles.

Lychee wood smoked Xinhui Gujing roast goose (荔枝柴燻新會古井燒鵝) - they always do a good job with their roast goose, and tonight was no exception. Slurp.

Traditional method steamed threadfin (古法蒸龍躉斑) - this was the worst dish tonight. It's interesting to do it old school way with shredded pork and ham, but in this case the ham and the ginger helped to distract from the muddy flavors of the fish, and did their best to save this from being a total disaster.

Double-boiled conch, chicken, ham and honey melon soup (爵士湯) - the fish maw was pretty meh, but the soup was nice and sweet thanks to the honeydew melon. Enjoyed nibbling on the chicken feet.

South American abalones with pea sprouts (蠔皇南美鮑魚伴金錢豆苗) - very good stuff. The peak season for pea shoots is over, but they were still tasty. Loved the classic combination of abalone, shiitake, and that sauce!

Casserole of fried rice in goose sauce (砂窩鵝汁炒飯) - I LOVE this flied lice! Loved it since my first visit... because how can you not when it's made with goose fat?! And it's not an expensive dish, so it's possible to attain a high level of happiness for very little money. In fact, I've always said that I should just come and order this for takeout on any given night, although I've never actually followed through with it.

Double-boiling peach resin with red dates, lotus seeds, and black sesame sweet dumplings (桃膠燉紅棗蓮子配蔴蓉湯圓) - I don't think I've seen anyone combine these two desserts into one, but hey... I ain't complainin'!

Since we have Bong Girl, naturally we veered towards the bongwater side when it came to wine selection tonight.

Patagonia Yamamori (パタゴニアやまもり) 2024 - seimaibuai of 85%. Initially served under-chilled, and both the nose as well as the palate was showing fermented notes.

Bulles de Comptoir par Charles Dufour #13 Cuisine du Dimanche, dégorgée Octobre 2025 - this was bit metallic, kinda like French apple cider. Very strange.

2018 Ganevat Les Varrons Vieilles Vignes - served 20 minutes after opening. This was much riper than expected, with the nose more caramelized, but still a bit flinty and mineral. This, too, was approaching cider level, but not quite.

2002 Kongsgaard Syrah - this was in the decanter for about 10 minutes before pouring back into the bottle. The nose was very ripe and sweet while decanting, which was just as I expected. But some 50 minutes after initial opening the nose was more stewed fruits, showing more maturity than expected. We still got the leather on the nose, and surprisingly still kinda alcoholic on the palate.

I'm glad I made it back here for some of the classic dishes, which I'm always happy to nom on. Lemme come back next week and order that flied lice...