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We are joining a birthday celebration tonight. Ro Ro has organized a seemingly endless series of dinners for DaRC during his birthday month, and tonight it was our turn to join the party.
Kiu's Kitchen (嬌姐小廚), an offshoot from the original
Hop Sze (合時小廚) in Sai Wan Ho. I never understood the craze over Hop Sze as I always thought it was just a decent place for casual stir-fry (小炒), which was why I haven't bothered trying to book a table here. So it was fortuitous that this provided me a chance to check it out.
We had a big group of 19 people - most of whom were college buddies of DaRC - so we took the private room with the huge round table. This was gonna be fun...
The menu had already been preset, of course, and no surprise there would be a lot of food. In fact, because of the number of people we had, some of the dishes had to have 2 servings presented at opposite ends of the table.
First up were the live prawns, which were doused in about a bottle and a half of
Mei Kuei Lu Chiew (玫瑰露酒) so that they became "drunken". We waited for some time for the prawns to stop struggling and jumping around, and then Kiu Jie came to cook the prawns by first draining the liquid, putting the prawns into the pot, and then dousing them with ANOTHER 1½ bottles of Mei Kuei Lu! Then we have a flame show...
Prawns flambéed with Mei Kuei Lu (玫瑰露火焰蝦) - these prawns weren't gigantic, which is a plus in my book as I prefer them smaller. They also weren't full of poop, unlike
this one I got served last year.
The prawns definitely got the rose flavors from Mei Kuei Lu.
Duck tongue jelly with Huadiao (花雕鴨舌凍) - I wasn't expecting a place like this to make dishes that looked pretty...
The tongues were marinated and the jelly was made with Chinese wine.
Chilled South African abalone (冰鎮南非鮑魚) - it always looks impressive when you have a plate of abalone...
To be honest, this was just OK. The texture was a little too firm as they hadn't been cooked enough - at least in my opinion. The Japanese sesame sauce was OK la...
Pan-fried pork patties with lotus root (香煎蓮藕餅) - love to have classic Cantonese dishes like these, especially when they are done well.
These came with crunchy bits of lotus root, of course, as well as diced shiitake and Chinese sausage. Very, very tasty.
Stir-fried Chinese chives and sardine fry (韭菜銀魚小炒皇) - let's be real... THIS is the kind of dishes that a place like this really excels at. There's no need for expensive, premium ingredients. Just Chinese chives, dried shrimp, dried sardine fry/anchovies... stir-fried at high heat for the
wok hei (鑊氣). Just give me this and a bowl of steamed rice, and I'm a happy guy.
Pig's lung soup with almond milk and vegetables (菜膽杏汁燉豬肺湯) - this was a FAIL to
FoursheetsPinky, as the kitchen got lazy and didn't trim the lungs properly... so we still had fatty bits and stuff floating around.
The pork looked very lean and tough so I just nibbled on a chicken foot.
Braised giant grouper with bitter melon and tofu skin (涼瓜枝竹炆龍躉頭腩) - this was... well, the chunks of giant grouper (龍躉) were battered and deep-fried before being thrown into the clay pot. We've got bitter melon which, of course, gave us their bitter flavor profile. The biggest issue, though, was that the fish still tasted a little muddy.
Tea-smoked pigeon (茶王煙燻乳鴿) - yes, the marinade was sweet and to my liking. Unfortunately someone in the kitchen lost their sense of smell and completely over-smoked these birds. It was so bad that I had to turn the lazy Susan so that the pigeon would be sitting in front of someone else... because I couldn't smell the wines in my glass otherwise!
Traditional salt-baked chicken (古法鹽焗雞) - OK la... nothing to write home about.
Butterfly brisket in clear broth (清湯崩沙腩) - the flavors of the broth was very, very sweet, which came not just from the radish being used, but from the large amount of MSG thrown in.
The brisket was tasty, but the tendons weren't cooked long enough and weren't soft enough.
Mixed vegetables with fermented tofu in clay pot (南乳雜菜煲) - this was very tasty, and I eagerly took seconds and thirds.
Baked Alaskan king crab in superior broth with pan-fried riceflour rolls (上湯焗阿拉斯加蟹煎腸粉) - the
pièce de résistance for the night. Loved the riceflour rolls that had been pan-fried.
Ro Ro arranged for a custom millefeuille... which was very nice.
Pumpkin soup with sago (南瓜露) - pretty happy to finish with this sweet ending.
Since we had a ton of people, we had plenty of bottles and some of those were magnums!
2008 Dom Pérignon, en magnum - this was pretty classic, and already kinda ripe and rounded given some years of aging.
Krug Grande Cuvée, 170ème Édition, ID 221034 - surprisingly the nose was not too tasty, and given I haven't tasted thie edition for a couple of years, I was surprised that acidity here was higher than that from the Dom, although thankfully not to a level that felt sharp.
2021 Catena Zapata Chardonnay White Stones Adrianna Vineyard - crisp with good acidity on the palate and a long finish. Pretty nice.
2008 Bergström Pinot Noir de Lancellotti Vineyard, from magnum - the nose was very open and fragrant, with good hit of fruit like dark blueberries, along with some sweet vanilla oak. Very enjoyable.
2005 Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva - lots of mint and eucalyptus on the nose, almost menthol, and very sweet and ripe on the nose. There was also tons of oak as well as some smoke.
2004 Peter Michael Les Pavots, from magnum - this was very ripe with lots of nice fruit, also minty and very fragrant with cedar notes. Still got some tannins on the palate after more than 20 years. Drinking well.
1996 Silver Oak Alexander Valley, from magnum - this was more smoky than Les Pavots, and also riper with more fruit and got that coconut butter. Drinking very nicely.
2016 Pahlmeyer - still a little young and slightly punchy.
2022 Louis Latour Chassagne-Montrachet
1990 Climens - tons of saffron on the nose along with acetone, classic marmalade, apricot, and pretty nutty. Very sweet on the palate.
Birthday parties are always lots of fun, and so it was with this dinner. We met lots of new friends and enjoyed drinking with them. Next time we'll come with our friends who live upstairs...
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