Journey to the mansion

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I felt like a lucky boy tonight. I had the privilege of being invited to a dinner where Ta Vie 旅 - one of my favorite restaurants - collaborated with Yong Fu (甬府), another one of my favorite restaurants in town. I know PR8 is constantly pushing his clients to put together these 4-, 6-, and whatever hands events. Often they feel contrived, and all you get is different chefs presenting their own dishes. Then there are some collaborations that truly live up to the name, where the chefs actually spend time creating dishes where each one adds their own input. Tonight ran a little different.

I have been looking forward to this meal ever since I found out about it. While I have had the privilege of attending a few collaborations involving chef Liu Zhen (刘震) of Yong Fu, sadly I can't say the same for Sato-san. I had no doubt, though, that any dish these chefs put together would be totally delicious.

We started with some appetizers, where the chefs chose two main ingredients, and each chef created their own expression with them.

Ningbo-style pickled and cooked winter melon with sea urchin, fermented crab, celtuce (雙味冬瓜咸蟹), by Yong Fu - the first main ingredient was chosen by Sato-san, and it's the "white winter melon (白冬瓜)" from Ningbo (寧波). These get covered with powdery wax that gives them names like "wax gourd" or "ash gourd" in English. Yong Fu's dish came with two squares of the winter melon cooked with different methods. The bottom layer was cooked by slowly feeding chicken stock, while the top layer was the traditional fermented winter melon (醃冬瓜) from Ningbo. Topped with sea urchin from Zhangzi Island (獐子島) off Dalian (大連), and some fennel flowers that came through with their anise-like scent. We were asked to make sure that we taste all the ingredients together, which led some of us to do it all in one bite. Well... if you do everything in one bite, then there will be a couple of flavors dominating and drowning out the others. In this case the winter melon won.

At the bottom of the dish was a sprinkle of very finely-diced crunchy celtuce (萵筍). Between the two layers of winter melon, Chef Liu had placed the roe of marinated swimmer crabs which is one of the restaurant's signatures. I didn't really taste the crab roe because there was a little too much going on in one bite.

Steamed egg custard with deep fried sakura shrimp, Ning Bo winter melon in a shrimp broth, by Ta Vie - Sato-san's interpretation of a dish from Yong Fu in Shanghai. The winter melon was simmered in langoustine broth and came on top of steamed egg custard sitting in the same langoustine broth. The dish was garnished with sakura shrimp (桜海老) - which I love very much - from Suruga Bay (駿河湾) as well as chiffonade of leeks which were very crunchy and sweet. Besides the beautiful shellfish flavors, this also had noticable ginger, which was pretty comforting as it made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

German white asparagus with crab-stuffed zucchini flower (德國白蘆筍配蟹肉釀南瓜花), by Yong Fu - it's white asparagus season, and I appreciated that I had the chance to taste it cooked in the kitchen at Yong Fu. Instead of the classic hollandaise, we had a "調和醬" that tasted a little like a cross between honey mustard and thousand island sauce...

The deep-fried pumpkin flower was stuffed with crab meat. Very tasty, as one would expect. I've seen stuffed flowers on the plate at places like Caprice and Petrus, but it was not something I expected out of this kitchen!

German white asparagus with Ning Bo razor clams, by Ta Vie - I've had the razor clams from Ningbo (presumbly from Changjie township (长街镇) in Ninghai County (宁海县)?) a few times here, but I've not had them with white asparagus before. The textures and flavors of these clams were simply beautiful, as was the white asparagus. That yellow wine sauce was just about perfect with a little kick from black pepper. The "shell" of the razor clams was a crispy cookie that instantly recalls Sato-san's "abalone shell".

Next came the soup course:

Sour broth with fish maw, shrimp and tofu ribbons (酸湯茗荷煮三絲), by Yong Fu - the broth was made with kombu dashi and lime juice, which offered up umami and acidity together. The myoga (茗荷) on top added a slight crunch and, of course, the signature aromatics filling one's mouth. The laver (紫菜) was a nice touch, too.

The "three ribbons (三絲)" were shredded fish maw, prawn, and pressed tofu (乾絲), all of which were fun to chew on due to their springy textures.

We were treated to a dim sum course next:

French pork "Noir de Bigorre" dumpling with yellow chives and bamboo shoots, by Ta Vie - in 11 years of dining at Ta Vie 旅, I have never been presented with a savory course this small... but what a glorious bite it was! I've enjoyed different dishes from Sato-san featuring Noir de Bigorre", but as a jiaozi (餃子)?! The minced pork was mixed with diced cabbage and bamboo shoots for the filling, and we were informed that chicken consommé was added instead of the ubiquitous chicken powder found in so many Chinese restaurants... so no MSG here! The wrapper was made with flour that was milled from Kitanokaori (キタノカオリ) wheat grown in Hokkaido. Pan-fried to a golden hue on the bottom. This was sooo tasty, and so fragrant with ground pepper in the filling.

Then came the main courses:

Soy-glazed pan-fried brown croaker fish with fresh daylily flowers and rice lees chickpea puree (糟香鷹嘴豆醬豉油煎鮸魚配脆皮金針花), by Yong Fu - supposedly the brown croaker had been air-dried for 12 hours before being deep-fried (I thought the menu said pan-fried?) on its skin/scale side. It's always nice to have fish that had been browned for that crispy texture. The sauce made with chickpea purée mixed in with fermented rice wine lees (酒糟), giving that yellow wine flavor profile. The spicy kick was a surprise.

During a lull in service, Ms. Yu asked if there was anything else they could offer us... so a bunch of us asked for bayberries (楊梅) since they are in season, and we know Yong Fu's sourcing on this fruit is impeccable. And indeed, these were really juicy and delicious.

Chef Liu came into the room and stood behind the mobile cooking station for the next dish. First we see some fake "abalone"... which were definitelyt the wrong color! Turns out they were cut from artichokes.

Then we had the real, rehydrated dry abalone...

Dried abalone with artichoke and lily bulb in golden premium chicken broth (金湯洋薊百合扣鮑魚), by Yong Fu - the braised abalone is, once again, served in a yellow broth made with both chicken and duck stock, and I could definitely taste the fat from duck skin. Tonight Chef Liu added 9-year old lily bulbs for the starchy, grainy texture and sweetness.

Very nicely done.

This next dish was introduced as a "signature dish" of Ta Vie. This was news to both Mr. Chichi and myself, who have been dining at the restaurant for years. I can count almost 30 visits since they opened 11 years ago, and I have never seen this pithivier/pie... Well, apparently this was on the menu last winter, but I do wonder why it qualifies as a "signature dish" after just one season.

Guinea fowl pie with black truffle, by Ta Vie - this was really nice, and certainly much more interesting than your average dish with guinea fowl. The Savoy cabbage that came between the pastry shell and the bird and truffle nudged you very gently and subtly to make its presence known.

AND OF COURSE one can't lose with black truffle shaved on top.

The noodle course that came next would be familiar to anyone who frequents Ta Vie...

House-made fresh pasta with "aonori" butter sauce topped with fresh Hokkaido uni, by Ta Vie - I've had this many, many times over the years... and in fact, I had this at Ta Vie less than 3 weeks ago. Tonight, though, there was a slightly bitterness in the purple sea urchin (紫雲丹) from Otaru (小樽). Still pretty tasty.

Each chef would present their own dessert:

Ning Bo bayberry compote and mousse in jelly, vanilla bavarois with yogurt mousse, by Ta Vie - Foursheets actually got a preview of this dessert at Ta Vie 3 weeks ago.

The bayberry compote was made with perilla leaves, along with a raspberry/bayberry mousse on top and a vanilla bavarois at the bottom. This was creamy but light and fluffy.

Pan fried Longjin tea dumplings (脆皮龍井湯圓), by Yong Fu - no, this ain't your normal tangyuan (湯圓) from Yong Fu. The wrapper was made by mixing ground Longjing tea (龍井) powder into the glutinous rice powder. Deep-fried and served on top of a perilla leaf with its signature fragrance. The flavors of Longjing tea came through very nicely.

The usual sesame seed filling inside, which I love so much.

Finally, we had the fruit platter. The lychees from Hainan Island were practically seedless.

A nice, last sip to finish the meal.

We were treated to a few bottles of wine from producers I'm not familiar with:

Roger Coulon 1er Cru Heri-Hodie, dégorgé en Juillet 2023 - as I suspected while tasting, this was mostly pinot meunier as it had the flavor profile and was more full-bodied.

2020 Comtesse de Chérisey Meursault Bois de Blagny - a bit of toast on the nose together with lemon. Just a little bit buttery.

2022 Nicole Lamarche Nuits-Saint-Georges - lots of fragrant herbs and eucalyptus on the nose, together with lovely sweet fruit... like a big nose of blueberries. Also got pretty fragrant oak on the nose.

I expected an interesting meal, and I got one. I could see both chefs venture out of their comfort zones - something I have seen both do on numerous occasions over the years - to create something unique and new. Very grateful to PR8 for the kind invitation, and for Chef Liu, Ms. Yu, Sato-san, Takano-san, and their respective teams for the kind hospitality.