Birthday in the summer

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It’s no secret that Mr. Chichi is a superfan of Chef Vicky Cheng’s, and he’s been to both VEA and Wing (永) countless time… although I’m pretty sure he actually does keep count. He recently asked me to join his dinner table at Wing, and since I was kinda curious about how much more food Vicky gives him on top of a “standard” menu, I said yes.

We started, as usual, with a seasonal drink to suit the 24 seasons. Currently we are in Summer Solstice (夏至).

Tonight it was plum and mint tea (脆李布冧薄荷茶). Nice, fruity acidity paired with the soothing and cool finish of mint.

Then came the starters, which tend to vary based on the seasons:

White asparagus • Yunnan chili • bull kelp (白蘆筍配雲南皺皮椒及海茸) - with white asparagus from France.

Smoked eggplant • housemade sour sauce (煙燻酸汁茄子) - always liked the acidity from the sauce that comes with the eggplant, and the finely-diced pickled chili peppers on top.

Housemade golden crystal egg • spicy Okinawan tofu (香辣沖繩豆腐伴自製黃金皮蛋)

Deep-fried pinspotted spinefish (酥炸泥鯭) - these were pretty young, and great to go with Champagne.

As usual, we get to have a bite of noodles with the "leftover mala sauce" from the century eggs.

Local Western king prawn • chili scallion oil (本地油蝦伴香辣蔥油汁) - the Western king prawns (油蝦) came from the waters around Sai Kung (西貢).

The prawns came with roe. Very nice and pure in terms of flavors, and pretty sweet.

We were shown the main ingredients for our meal tonight. Note the big shell at the back... We have a 王八 at our table!

Alaskan king crab • winter melon soup (阿拉斯加帝王蟹冬瓜湯) - winter melon soup is a common sight during hot summer days, and here the gourd was wrapped in bamboo pith (竹笙), and came with a chunk of Alaskan king crab leg, some blanched geoduck slices, sugar snap peas, and tonkin jasmine (夜香花). I love this soup, and the crab was very tasty... with great texture that was both soft and springy.

Hunan chili • humpback grouper • venus clam (花蛤湖南辣椒蒸老鼠斑) - this is a dish I had the pleasure of enjoying on my last visit 2 months ago, and I do love the venus clams (花蛤) being served together with steamed fish. The Hunan chilis tonight were much more spicy than I expected, and I actually choked a little thanks to the heat.

Braised blue lobster (家燒藍龍蝦) - I guess my camera work needs improvement, but nevertheless the dish felt very homey to me. Instead of the pomfret that is usually braised in a brown sauce like this in Jiangsu-Chekiang cuisine (江浙菜), Vicky has chosen to batter and fry homard bleu before braising. The usual accompaniment of glutinous rice cakes (年糕) was very much welcome.

Dry aged roasted goose (熟成燒鵝) - ah... the familiar dry-aged goose...

I do find it tasty, but I need to remember to stay away from the goose's ass!

“Three cup” frog leg with phoenix nut (鳳眼果三杯田雞) - I know that eating bull frogs has become a thing in Mainland China during the last few years, but I've never really been interested. Well... tonight Vicky served up just the calves of the frogs along with phoenix nuts (鳳眼果), although I was scratching my head as to why he chose to do it “three cup (三杯)" style with tons of aromatic Thai basil. Once this was served, I had a little trouble smelling the wines we were drinking...

Sweet and sour pork • sea cucumber • kamias (酸果海參咕嚕肉) - a dish that Vicky has become known for, where bilimbi was used to provide the acidity that traditionally came from hawthorn or pineapple. Nice and tangy.

In lieu of the usual fatty pork belly, he combined jiggly braised sea cucumber with lean pork. Very tasty, and I suppose it's more "healthy" despite the dish being battered and deep-fried.

Dried spring bamboo shoots • cured pork belly • snap peas (春筍乾菜鹹白肉炒蜜豆) - I was wondering when the gold foil was gonna come, and the wait finally ended with this dish. Look at that bling! Although, in all honesty, he usually gives me a lot more gold...

Love the sugar snap peas, and also the shredded dried bamboo shoots (筍乾菜). Of course, cured pork belly just makes everything taste better!

Spicy braised soft shell turtle with lime leaf (檸葉香辣紅燒水魚) - FINALLY, the 王八 is served!

The spices used were meant to neutralize any unpleasant flavors coming from the soft shell turfle.

Wagyu rice noodles with sour broth (酸湯和牛湯河粉) - well, here's a different take on the traditional flat rice noodle soup with beef (牛肉湯河粉)...

... served with with a thin slice of wagyu and that sour soup (酸湯) popular in Mainland Chinese these days. No, Dorothy... we're not in Guangdong anymore!

Mung bean soup with black truffle (黑松露綠豆沙) - with discs of fresh Australian black truffle on top.

We've also got some diced black truffle cooked together with the custard, and served chilled. Kinda interesting, as Vicky tried to put an ingredient commonly seen in winter (in the northern hemisphere) together with a dessert often taken in the summer.

Donuts with salted egg yolk cream (鹹蛋奶皇冬甩)

Walnut mochi (核桃麻糬)

The birthday cake for Mr. Chichi came with a layer of black truffle on top...

We also finished with a selection of fruits:

Pineapple

Mangosteen from Thailand.

Apricot from Xinjiang (新疆) in China.

Nuomici lychee (糯米糍荔枝) from Guangdong.

Watermelon from Shanxi (山西) in China.

I'm guessing this was an early birthday dinner of sorts for our host, so he asked everyone to bring along some nice bottles...

La Closerie Grand Cru - the nose was nice and toasty, and showing some notes of straw. The wine had really good depth on the palate, with good acidity but not too lean. This was beautiful.

1995 Krug Collection, N°534 - pretty nice with lots of vanilla on the nose. Also lovely marmalade on the nose thanks to a good amount of age, which has made it very elegant but still retained freshness. The acidity was on the high side and almost a little grippy on the palate.

2023 Dugat-Py Bâtard-Montrachet - the nose was like those banana rolls I grew up eating. This was definitely fruity and sweet on the nose, almost like bubblegum... with only a hint of toasty popcorn. Definitely got that classic sweet and buttery feel on the palate. Later on the nose also turned a little flinty.

2005 Georges Mugneret Clos-Vougeot - lovely nose of eucalyptus and mint, a little oak, with lovely fruit like black cherries and a bit of smoked meat. Still a pretty big wine with plenty of tannins on the palate.

2020 Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Clos-Vougeot - served around 4 hours after opening. This was much more closed, but showing some sweet fruit like blueberries. Pretty nice and open after another 1½ hours and beyond.

1999 Guigal La Turque - tasted about 45 minutes after opening without decanting. This was really fragrant with tons of coconut butter, which was pretty surprising. Stoppered for about 1½ to prevent the wine from over-breathing, but unfortunately it became muted even with the cork stuck back in. I blame this on the restaurant sommelier insisting to pair this wine with the goose dish, but actually serving this only after the dish had been served.

Bought from Bordeaux Index for GBP 300.

1995 Comte de Vogüé Musigny - served more than 5 hours after opening. There was a little toast and some eucalyptus on the nose.

A pretty good evening out, and I finally got to see what this VVIP gets when he comes to this restaurant. Grateful to have been invited to join the party.