Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: ode to mountains and seas

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For our lunch at Song (颂) inside the Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at Hangzhou Centre (杭州中心四季酒店), we were hosted inside one of the restaurant's private rooms. It wouldn't be a meal with Mr. Chichi without a long menu, and today the menu went all the way down the back of the menu card... The poetic title was Ode to Mountains and Seas, A Summer Feast of Ningbo (山海颂•甬浙夏宴), as the restaurant specializes in Ningbo (寧波) cuisine. This was a deliberate choice to avoid direct competition with Jin Sha (金沙厅) at the other Four Seasons in town. Chef Neil Zeng (曾东海) - who was previously the head chef at Jin Sha - would be taking good care of us today.

We were meant to have started with something else that served as the first stanza, but the kitchen had other ideas... So let's go with the second stanza, entitled Terroir (越溪风物):

Marinated crab | ginegar | vinegar | soy sauce | liquor (招牌宁式十八斩) - I tasted more ginger and less chili. I also think this was less savory, maybe because the soy sauce based marinade was just poured in at the table.

Braised pork rib | waxberry sauce (慈溪杨梅酱烧小排) - the pork ribs were battered and deep-fried, and came with a bayberry/waxberry (楊梅) sauce, mint leaf, bayberry, and bayberry jelly on top. Lots of acidity here to cut the grease.

Marinated Arctic sweet shrimps | crispy lotus roots | glutinous rice wine (醪糟红虾脆藕片) - the presentation certainly looked very pretty with the thin slice of lotus root wrapped around the shrimp like a soft taco.

The shrimp was nice and sweet, and the marinade made with rice wine and soy sauce somehow tasted like soy sauce-pickled cucumber (醬瓜) from my childhood.

Soy-braised fresh abalone | preserved vegetables (笋夫菜油卤鲜鲍) - this was looking mighty pretty, just look at the color from the soy sauce.

Yes, the abalone was nice and tender, but that was to be expected and any competent chef can deliver that. The best thing about the dish was actually the quenelle of Ningbo specialty known as sunfucai (笋麩菜), made by preserving shredded bamboo shoots and leafy mustard (雪裡蕻). The umami here was a wonderful complement to the abalone. And the tiny perilla flowers on top added just enough aromatics in the mouth.

Deep-fried dried eel | chili | fermented soya beans (豉香辣椒沙鳗干) - the eel was crispy and came with spicy chili.

Braised bottle gourd | potherb mustard juice (雪菜原汁㸆宁波浦瓜) - this was nice and refreshing.

Now came the first stanza, entitled Embark (湖山初棹):

Marinated razor clams | nepeta | oyster sauce (荆芥捞拌大竹蛏) - I'm not sure which exact cultivar of nepeta they served us, but it's basically catnip... and the fragrance was similar to mint and lemongrass.

I love it when they serve seaweed-covered peanuts (海苔花生) as a snack. We also had preserved radish (蘿蔔乾) to nibble on or use as condiment.

These were accompanied by Longjing sparkling tea (龙井气泡茶).

The next stanza was entitled Sip (稽山一瓯):

Braised superior broth | cuttlefish roe | pork belly | scallop bamboo piths | garden green (四季家乡糟羹) - this thickened broth came with a lot of different ingredients, including dried bean curd, water chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, snow fungus, and diced pork belly.

The fragrance of litsea oil (木薑子油) was pretty obvious and outstone the white pepper. The texture was very soft and smooth, and this bowl of very warm, comforting goodness just manages to get me more relaxed.

These tiny little things were the roe of cuttlefish.

Now we move on to Forage (河滨拾翠):

Braised sea white shrimps | pickled water bamboo shoots | green soybean (酸茭白毛豆烧海白虾) - this looked sooo pretty, with the light-pinkish shrimps against a background of green soy beans and white pickled water bamboo (酸茭白).

I absolutely ADORE tiny little shrimps, and would eat them whole with the heads and the shells. These actually came with tiny little shrimp roe.

Next comes Trinity (甬灶三白), which are named "three whites" because we've got three different types of white meat:

Wok-fried simmer crab | glutinous rice cake (宁波蟹骨酱) - a Ningbo specialty where swimmer crabs are stir-fried after being chopped up, and this was pretty nice with the glutinous rice cakes.

Steamed white pomfret | rice wine marinated pork rib | minced pork (糟骨头蒸舟山白鲳) - here's another Ningbo specialty with pork bones mixed in with a little minced pork that gets marinated in rice wine lees. Interesting that this mixture of pork and bones is often steamed together with seafood.

I love pomfret, and just look at how big and thick this was! There's a thin layer of minced pork patty underneath the fish, and the pork on top definitely got the rice wine flavors. Very familiar in terms of flavors, yet something new to me.

Steamed free-range chicken | lotus seeds | rice wine marinated pork rib (糟鸡油蒸农家土鸡) - since this was a free-range chicken, the meat was quite nice and springy. This was, essentially, a warm version of the classic drunken chicken... and I love the fragrance of yellow wine.

Quartet (海矶四炙) following trinity seems logical...

Crispy pigeon leg | Sichuan pepper (大红袍脆皮大皇鸽腿) - one of the most popular dishes of the restaurant certainly looks impressive, especially when there's a whole collection of these "lollipops".

Gotta say... these lollipops looked so enticing! They also look like those maracas I used to see people shake. They get this puffy from having hot oil poured over them repeatedly, in the same way that Cantonese crispy chickens (炸子雞) are cooked.

Unlike maracas, these don't have any seeds or beans inside to make sounds. They were, in fact, hollow inside after removing most of the leg bone. Absolutely loved the fragrance from being smoked with Sichuan Dahongpao (大红袍) peppercorns. So, soooo juicy and tasty. I would have loved to have two of these, and hold one in each hand while pretending to shake them like maracas.

Poached beef slices | fermented tofu | amaranth stem | Sichuan pepper (臭三宝煮肥牛) - I've never been a fan of stinky tofu and never voluntarily ate any. I was pushing my boundaries last night with the fermented soy beans, but this... this was more than I ever asked for. We have the "stinky three treasures (臭三寶)" which were stinky tofu, stinky winter melon, and stinky leafy amaranth (莧菜).

The stinky tofu was apparently sourced from some alley in the old part of town by Chef Neal, and supposed to be pretty special. Unfortunately it's just not my thing.

Braised pork | nori | pumpkin pancake (苔条小方㸆南瓜夹饼) - this... THIS was a real sight to behold! I LOVE braised fatty pork belly, and I couldn't stop drooling at this nice little cube of it. To be honest, I think that's absolutely the right size for a single serving. Just look at how the thick sauce glistens under the light! And they chose to serve it with sweet peas!

The pork was braised with red bean curd (南乳) and seaweed (苔條), giving it more depth of flavors.

And putting a slice in the pumpkin pancake to make a guabao (刈包) made this into the perfect bite. Not that I ate the whole thing in one bite...

Braised lotus seeds | chanterelles (鸡油菌家烧鲜莲子) - the fresh lotus seeds come from Jiangyin City (江阴市) in Zhejiang Province. They were so sweet and crunchy.

We loved the dish so much that they brought us fresh lotus seeds for us to taste, since some of us hadn't realized these were available in our rooms at our last stop...

These dishes were paired with Night Jasmine Phoenix Dancong Oolong (夜来香凤凰单丛).

The end of the savory section comes as Homecoming (归舟一釜):

Fried rice | ribbon fish | celery | spring onion (舟山带鱼咸饭) - the bones of the cutlassfish were removed to make a fish stock, which was then added back to the wok when frying the rice.

There was also diced potatoes together with the rice. As this was served in a clay pot, naturally there were some rice crispies at the bottom. The sauce for the cutlassfish tasted somewhat similar to what I used to get with freshwater eel (鱔魚)... tasting of garlic together with soy sauce.

We have a Duet (双甜作颂) of desserts to finish:

Glutinous rice wine yogurt | osmanthus (桂花酒酿冻) - this chilled dessert was maybe like a panna cotta, made with milk and fermented rice wine lees. Pretty refreshing.

Seaweed tofu cheesecake | shredded chicken floss (苔菜豆腐芝士蛋糕) - this was unfamiliar but interesting. I normally wouldn't find tofu cheesecake interesting, but when it comes with seaweed powder and also chicken floss for some savory flavors... I had to get in a mouthful or two.

The desserts were paired with Jiuqu Hongmei Black Tea with osmanthus (桂花九曲红梅).

This was... a ridiculous amount of food. Seventeen savory dishes and two desserts. Chef Neal really tried to show us some special flavors from Ningbo, and as expected this was a real education for me. The common phrase 长知识了 seem crude in this situation, but I really love learning about cuisines which I think I have some base knowledge in, and finding out during the process exactly how little I actually know.

Really grateful for the pampering from Chef Neal and the Four Seasons team. Now I need time to digest...