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A gathering of local foodies took place tonight at a very down-market location. Tang Lung Street (登龍街) is pretty "local" as far as locations go on Hong Kong island, but it is known for good eats. We were introduced to Tam Keung's Congee (健味粥), run by Mr. Tam who made his name as a pig-farmer with 健味豬. The twelve of us had the entire space upstairs to ourselves, and we were treated to a very delicious special menu.
Due to heavy traffic (it's race day in Happy Valley) and other factors, I arrived very, very late, and faced a table-ful of hungry diners... Thankfully they found it in their hearts not to tear into me to satisfy their hunger.
The first dish was stir-fried pig's heart and preserved sweet and sour vegetables (潮式甜酸菜伴心心相印). Right off the bat, we're having something out of the ordinary. I can't say that I've ever had pig's heart before, but I got no problems with trying it. It's a bit chewy, like some ligaments or the pig's throat that I've had at various restaurants in Hong Kong. There were also some bits of fatty pork mixed in, along with with yummy preserved veggies, celery, red and green peppers. Great start.
Deep-fried freshwater eel (椒鹽脆鱓球) - actually pretty light and crispy. Mr. Tam talked about how he treats the eel with cloves and cinnamon to rid it of the fishy taste.
Fishhead soup with Chinese herbs (天麻燉大魚頭) - really heavy smell and taste of the tall gastrodia tuber (天麻), even though I swear the smell is actually Chinese angelica (當歸). The soup was also boiled with chunks of pork and chicken feet, in addition to the fishhead. Nice and healthy.
Braised pig's knee (柱候醬扣豬膝) - what an awesome dish! It came in a big claypot and the whole table just went "Ooooooh!!!" Looking at the pile of bones covered in skin and tendons, glistening under the lights from all the melted fat and collagen, my mouth just started to water... And it was yuuuuummmy! I couldn't get enough of it. We asked for bowls of rice, only to be told off by Mr. Tam (this is a congee shop, after all). But we reached a compromise and they agreed to take half the portion and stir-fried some rice vermicelli with it. Of course the vermicelli would soak up all the oily sauce and turn this into the best dish ever. A couple of us (myself included) had multiple servings of this.
Braised fishhead in claypot (麵醬優質魚嘴煲) - I'm not usually a fan of fishhead, but I had to have some of this. Made from the heads of 18-month old grass carp (草魚/鯇魚) farmed by Mr. Tam, these fish feed on grass imported from Taiwan. A miso-like soy bean sauce (麵醬) is used to cook the fish, along with some garlic, organic ginger and cilantro. The ginger gives the whole thing quite a kick, in addition to neutralizing the fishy smells and tastes.
Pan-fried prawns in superior soy sauce (頭抽皇煎中蝦) - Mr. Tam confessed that he actually used second-run soy sauce (二抽) instead of the virgin/first-run soy sauce (頭抽). But in any case the soy sauce is homemade and organic. I've always liked prawns fried with soy sauce.
Salt-baked chicken (古法鹽焗雞) - this is wrapped in banana leaves (again grown by Mr. Tam) and baked in coarse sea salt. The chicken was raised locally although it's not free range. There's still plenty of flavor here, especially the skin. Certainly doesn't taste like the typical factory chicken...
Blanched seasonal vegetables (白灼時蔬) - mushrooms and ridged gourd (絲瓜) in a milky fish soup. Yummy.
Finally we get to the carbs, although we had some earlier with the rice vermicelli. We were served two dishes that constitute a typical Cantonese breakfast - thin noodles stir-fried in soy sauce (豉油皇炒麵) and plain congee (健味金牌粥). The noodles were great, albeit a tad salty thanks to the homemade soy sauce. The congee was cooked with fish stock, and with the addition of the usual condiments (roasted peanuts, spring onions and preserved vegetables) it was just delicious. I was really full by this point and didn't get around to trying some of the pig offal congee (豬雑粥).
We finished with plates of oranges and starfruit, but just couldn't fit anything more...
What a great meal! Must return another time to sample other dishes...or just ask for the pig's knee stir-fried with vermicelli. The proprietor is clearly very passionate about ensuring his customers get the best possible natural ingredients, although he definitely has an attitude there...
With this group of foodies/winos, of course there would be wine, even when we're eating in a congee shop! Given that the ingredients are all organic, most of the wines tonight were organic, too.
1988 Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut - toasty and yeasty nose with caramel notes. Smooth with a sweet mid-palate and a slightly acidic finish.
2005 Touchstone Chardonnay - nose of rubber, plastic and toasty oak. A bit ripe with nice acidity balance.
2006 De Villaine Bouzeron - this white wine from the estate in the Côte Chalonnaise is made from Aligoté, the "other white grape" of Burgundy. Serious wine buffs will no doubt recognize the name of the domaine as being that of the director of DRC. A clean, crisp nose with pear and banana notes. Again the acidity balance was nice. The best Aligoté I've tasted.
2004 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon - lots of sweet fruit with vanilla and slight metallic nose. Very full-bodied, concentrated with a long finish.
Dewazakura Daiginjo (出羽桜大吟醸) - 2007 vintage with some banana notes. Very nice and smooth.
2006 Temple Breur Riesling - surprisingly big nose of smoke, petrol, minerals, urethane plastic - all typical of older Rieslings. Ripe on the palate but not overly sweet.
2006 Bonterra Cabernet Sauvignon - fruity and concentrated, the wine is ripe and a bit "hot" with toffee notes. Fairly typical for the Cali Cab.
March 11, 2009
March 10, 2009
I-kill-you-later!
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Since sometime last year, there have been a number of articles in the press - both general and financial - about the financial product known as accumulators. They have earned the unfortunate moniker "I-kill-you-later" in Asian financial circles, due to the number of private clients who have lost significant chunks of their fortunes as a result of trading this product. I recently came across an article appearing in the leading English newspaper in town, and I just have to set the record straight...
As a former derivative product banker, I am naturally defensive when I encounter unjust attacks upon my work or the works of my peers. Derivatives has been a dirty word ever since the days of Proctor and Gamble, Gibson Greetings and Metallgesellschaft (how many people know or remember what I'm talking about?), but I've always felt that the instrument itself was not to blame, but rather the leverage embedded in the product. This is true of most of the big blow-ups that we have seen, and is certainly the case with accumulators.
Accumulators, like most derivative products, was created as a means to express a particular view. In this case, the investor wishes to purchase a block of shares, and instead of giving a large "buy" order, the order is spread over a period of time such that the shars are "accumulated" slowly. The underlying premise is that the investor likes the stock enough to, say, own up to $1 million of it. And an important pre-requisite is that the investor has the financial means to pay for the shares.
At this point the investor has three choices: 1) purchase $1 million worth of stock all in one go at today's price; 2) spread out the purchase over a period of time, buying a small chunk each time, at the prevailing market prices at the time of purchase which can fluctuate; or 3) contract to purchase up to $1 million over a period of time, at discounted price that is fixed today, with the possibility of not purchasing the full $1 million under certain market conditions - namely the stock price rising above a certain trigger.
If this were a blue-chip stock that can be a long-term core holding in the investor's portfolio, and the discount were significant enough (10% or more, for example), it's easy to see why investors would choose option #3. You will always buy shares at a cheaper price compared to option #1, and your biggest downside is the possibility of having purchased only a small amount of shares at discount before prices run up and the transaction is "knocked out". I've personally recommended the structure (as well as its counterpart, the "decumulator") to both private clients as well as corporations and institutions. I see nothing wrong with using this strategy to achieve the goal of buying or selling large quantities of shares. So what went wrong with the countless investors who lost their shirts?
Well, to put it simply: greed. Or a manifestation of that greed: leverage. Somewhere along the bull market run, investors decided that they weren't happy with getting a single-digit discount. They wanted more. So to achieve the desired double-digit discount, the structures had to be leveraged - two or even three times. The result is that the investor would continue to buy shares at the discounted price, but now they would have to buy two or three times the original number of shares as the share price fell below the discounted price. What used to be a $1 million exposure suddenly became 2 or 3 times that. An investor who has the risk appetite for $1 million on a certain stock may not feel the same way if the amount were $3 million, and the same investor may not be able to put up enough cash to settle the $3 million purchase.
Another way to achieve a larger discount was to choose stocks which were more volatile. So instead of accumulating blue chips, investors were turning into ever more speculative names. Obviously this increased the risk of share price falling below the discounted price - at which point your exposure multiplied. And you would be buying more shares just as prices are falling. Picking up blue chip stocks in a falling market can be a good investment strategy. If the companies are fundamentally sound, long-term investors can wait for the markets to recover. If you were looking at speculative stocks, however, that may not be such a prudent strategy...
The long-running bull market simply fooled many investors into thinking that they can't lose. They had done so many transactions where it was easy to make money, so naturally no one thought about the downside. In a bull market, accumulators kept getting knocked-out early so nobody ever thought that they'd be in a situation where they would be stuck buying the entire $1 million (or $3 million if leveraged). All they could think about was how little stock they managed to pick up on the last trade at the discounted price, which probably led to the decision to increase the size of the next trade so they can REALLY make money...
In the end it is the investors' own greed that became their downfall, not the derivative product which was simply a tool. The banks may have provided the gun but it was the investors who loaded the bullets and shot themselves - and they even asked for a gun capable of firing three-round bursts instead of a single shot... My opinion is that the fault lies squarely with the investors.
Of course journalists would never write anything that puts the blame on the investors. It is simply too easy to paint the banks into villains who victimize the poor investors. As the article claims: "...The investor's risk is unlimited; the bank's is fixed." The author also writes: "...the upside is limited and the downside is unlimited."
Well that is completely false. Anyone who knows anything about investing knows that when you go "long" and buy an asset, your loss is limited to the price you paid for the asset (in most cases anyway). It is your upside that is unlimited because the asset price can theoretically keep going up and up. The only time you may be faced with a theoretical unlimited loss is when you go "short" and the price of the asset rises to infinity...
The bank also takes on more risk than meets the eye. There could be situations where the bank can lose on its hedging positions due to sudden and large moves in the market. But then the author of the article wouldn't know anything about that, would he... even though he is reported to be a "senior investment banker in the Hong Kong office of an international bank" according to our friends at Wikipedia. I understand our author was trying to be witty, being a "satirical business writer and humorist". But I don't see the humor in inflaming public sentiment with statements which are blatantly false.
Oh, and he also needs to work on his understanding of the rate of return, as his math is clearly wrong. Either he doesn't have a clue about how to calculate this number, or he is deliberately distorting viewpoints to paint a picture other than the simple facts. Either way I am not amused.
Since sometime last year, there have been a number of articles in the press - both general and financial - about the financial product known as accumulators. They have earned the unfortunate moniker "I-kill-you-later" in Asian financial circles, due to the number of private clients who have lost significant chunks of their fortunes as a result of trading this product. I recently came across an article appearing in the leading English newspaper in town, and I just have to set the record straight...
As a former derivative product banker, I am naturally defensive when I encounter unjust attacks upon my work or the works of my peers. Derivatives has been a dirty word ever since the days of Proctor and Gamble, Gibson Greetings and Metallgesellschaft (how many people know or remember what I'm talking about?), but I've always felt that the instrument itself was not to blame, but rather the leverage embedded in the product. This is true of most of the big blow-ups that we have seen, and is certainly the case with accumulators.
Accumulators, like most derivative products, was created as a means to express a particular view. In this case, the investor wishes to purchase a block of shares, and instead of giving a large "buy" order, the order is spread over a period of time such that the shars are "accumulated" slowly. The underlying premise is that the investor likes the stock enough to, say, own up to $1 million of it. And an important pre-requisite is that the investor has the financial means to pay for the shares.
At this point the investor has three choices: 1) purchase $1 million worth of stock all in one go at today's price; 2) spread out the purchase over a period of time, buying a small chunk each time, at the prevailing market prices at the time of purchase which can fluctuate; or 3) contract to purchase up to $1 million over a period of time, at discounted price that is fixed today, with the possibility of not purchasing the full $1 million under certain market conditions - namely the stock price rising above a certain trigger.
If this were a blue-chip stock that can be a long-term core holding in the investor's portfolio, and the discount were significant enough (10% or more, for example), it's easy to see why investors would choose option #3. You will always buy shares at a cheaper price compared to option #1, and your biggest downside is the possibility of having purchased only a small amount of shares at discount before prices run up and the transaction is "knocked out". I've personally recommended the structure (as well as its counterpart, the "decumulator") to both private clients as well as corporations and institutions. I see nothing wrong with using this strategy to achieve the goal of buying or selling large quantities of shares. So what went wrong with the countless investors who lost their shirts?
Well, to put it simply: greed. Or a manifestation of that greed: leverage. Somewhere along the bull market run, investors decided that they weren't happy with getting a single-digit discount. They wanted more. So to achieve the desired double-digit discount, the structures had to be leveraged - two or even three times. The result is that the investor would continue to buy shares at the discounted price, but now they would have to buy two or three times the original number of shares as the share price fell below the discounted price. What used to be a $1 million exposure suddenly became 2 or 3 times that. An investor who has the risk appetite for $1 million on a certain stock may not feel the same way if the amount were $3 million, and the same investor may not be able to put up enough cash to settle the $3 million purchase.
Another way to achieve a larger discount was to choose stocks which were more volatile. So instead of accumulating blue chips, investors were turning into ever more speculative names. Obviously this increased the risk of share price falling below the discounted price - at which point your exposure multiplied. And you would be buying more shares just as prices are falling. Picking up blue chip stocks in a falling market can be a good investment strategy. If the companies are fundamentally sound, long-term investors can wait for the markets to recover. If you were looking at speculative stocks, however, that may not be such a prudent strategy...
The long-running bull market simply fooled many investors into thinking that they can't lose. They had done so many transactions where it was easy to make money, so naturally no one thought about the downside. In a bull market, accumulators kept getting knocked-out early so nobody ever thought that they'd be in a situation where they would be stuck buying the entire $1 million (or $3 million if leveraged). All they could think about was how little stock they managed to pick up on the last trade at the discounted price, which probably led to the decision to increase the size of the next trade so they can REALLY make money...
In the end it is the investors' own greed that became their downfall, not the derivative product which was simply a tool. The banks may have provided the gun but it was the investors who loaded the bullets and shot themselves - and they even asked for a gun capable of firing three-round bursts instead of a single shot... My opinion is that the fault lies squarely with the investors.
Of course journalists would never write anything that puts the blame on the investors. It is simply too easy to paint the banks into villains who victimize the poor investors. As the article claims: "...The investor's risk is unlimited; the bank's is fixed." The author also writes: "...the upside is limited and the downside is unlimited."
Well that is completely false. Anyone who knows anything about investing knows that when you go "long" and buy an asset, your loss is limited to the price you paid for the asset (in most cases anyway). It is your upside that is unlimited because the asset price can theoretically keep going up and up. The only time you may be faced with a theoretical unlimited loss is when you go "short" and the price of the asset rises to infinity...
The bank also takes on more risk than meets the eye. There could be situations where the bank can lose on its hedging positions due to sudden and large moves in the market. But then the author of the article wouldn't know anything about that, would he... even though he is reported to be a "senior investment banker in the Hong Kong office of an international bank" according to our friends at Wikipedia. I understand our author was trying to be witty, being a "satirical business writer and humorist". But I don't see the humor in inflaming public sentiment with statements which are blatantly false.
Oh, and he also needs to work on his understanding of the rate of return, as his math is clearly wrong. Either he doesn't have a clue about how to calculate this number, or he is deliberately distorting viewpoints to paint a picture other than the simple facts. Either way I am not amused.
March 9, 2009
Menu change
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Another meal at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) with a group of guys (and girl) that seems to only dine here when we meet. Tonight, however, there would be changes to the menu. We had gotten tired of ordering the same old dishes - however delicious they might be - and asked for something completely different. So here goes...
Chicken soup with sea whelk and bird's nest (螺頭雞湯燴官燕) - OK so there was no sharks' fin today, but we had bird's nest instead. It's a pretty darn good chicken soup, except there are expensive ingredients. I'm not big on bird's nest but at least it's more environmentally friendly than sharks' fin...
Shredded soft-shell turtle stir-fried with pickled mustard stem (榨菜絲炒水魚絲) - I haven't had turtle in a very long time as I normally don't order it, but this was pretty nice, especially with the pickles. Yet another dish that's out of the ordinary...
Pan-fried twin eastern star garoupa (煎封雙東星斑) - I really liked this dish, even though this isn't the most popular Cantonese preparation for fish. I have always liked the way fish is braised, having been pan-fried first to have a bit of crispy and crunchy skin. Really enjoyable and a nice break from the normal steamed fish.
Deep-fried crab claw (百花炸釀蟹拑) - these giant claws must have come from Sri Lankan crabs, because there is no way they could be this big otherwise. The shell has been removed, then the claw was coated in a layer of shrimp paste and deep-fried. As we were armed only with chopsticks and spoons, the only way to get at this is to pick it up my hand and chomp... But I have to say that this was really delicious.
Wolfberry leaves in ham broth (上湯浸枸杞菜) - no pig liver this time, but I'm really happy that this veggie is back in season.
Steamed goose with plum and taro (梅子芋頭蒸鵝) - a really delicious dish. The taro was done separately and so nice, even for a guy like me who doesn't normally eat it. The goose was fatty and yummy - is there any other way to have it? There were also lots of goose kidneys inside the claypot, and it's been a while since I've had it at a restaurant (instead of mom's). I think this was generally very well-received.
Wontons in soup (上湯韭黃粒雲吞) - really nicely done here. The wontons were plump with a good amount of shrimp packed into them, and the flavors of the yellowed chives was just classic.
I was already stuffed (again) but couldn't leave without having a bowl of the almond cream with egg white (蛋白杏仁茶).
I didn't realize we were celebrating a birthday today, or else I would have brought much nicer bottles of wine... But these were meant for casual drinking:
2006 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese - from the great 2006 vintage and still pretty young, a sweet, honey and caramel nose with hint of orange blossom. Sweet on the palate, this was somewhat surprising to people who don't drink German Rieslings.
1997 Beringer Merlot Bancroft Ranch Private Reserve - hint of coffee, vanilla, toasty oak, red fruits with a bit of smoke. Still drinking pretty well.
2006 Mollydooker Merlot the Scooter - this was my first bottle of Mollydooker, even though I've bought a bunch of them. This was a stereotypical Aussie wine... Very sweet nose, with toasty oak, vanilla, coffee notes. Really sweet on the palate and a spicy finish, and very "hot" from the high alcohol. It is not difficult to see why Parker gives high scores to these wines but for my taste... let's just say that even I prefer something with a little more finesse...
I'm happy to have come to Fook Lam Moon and tasted some of tonight's dishes, so that I can mix it up in the future...
Another meal at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) with a group of guys (and girl) that seems to only dine here when we meet. Tonight, however, there would be changes to the menu. We had gotten tired of ordering the same old dishes - however delicious they might be - and asked for something completely different. So here goes...
Chicken soup with sea whelk and bird's nest (螺頭雞湯燴官燕) - OK so there was no sharks' fin today, but we had bird's nest instead. It's a pretty darn good chicken soup, except there are expensive ingredients. I'm not big on bird's nest but at least it's more environmentally friendly than sharks' fin...
I was already stuffed (again) but couldn't leave without having a bowl of the almond cream with egg white (蛋白杏仁茶).
I didn't realize we were celebrating a birthday today, or else I would have brought much nicer bottles of wine... But these were meant for casual drinking:
2006 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese - from the great 2006 vintage and still pretty young, a sweet, honey and caramel nose with hint of orange blossom. Sweet on the palate, this was somewhat surprising to people who don't drink German Rieslings.
1997 Beringer Merlot Bancroft Ranch Private Reserve - hint of coffee, vanilla, toasty oak, red fruits with a bit of smoke. Still drinking pretty well.
2006 Mollydooker Merlot the Scooter - this was my first bottle of Mollydooker, even though I've bought a bunch of them. This was a stereotypical Aussie wine... Very sweet nose, with toasty oak, vanilla, coffee notes. Really sweet on the palate and a spicy finish, and very "hot" from the high alcohol. It is not difficult to see why Parker gives high scores to these wines but for my taste... let's just say that even I prefer something with a little more finesse...
I'm happy to have come to Fook Lam Moon and tasted some of tonight's dishes, so that I can mix it up in the future...
March 8, 2009
Moroccan flavors
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Yet another evening of gathering with friends and finding somewhere interesting to eat. I dragged everyone to the "dark side" so I can have another taste of the Arabic/Moroccan food at Malouf's. It's been over half a year since my last visit, and I was ready to relive some fond memories...
We had three starters to tide us over, beginning with the mezze. The cheesy ladies fingers were OK, and the smoky baba ganoush was not bad with the homemade jou jou bread. The almond falafel was nice as to be expected, while the salt cod and preserved lemon fritter had a nice, soft texture like one would find in a Portuguese or Spanish restaurant.
Batt moubakhar - the duck leg was marinated in "7 year master stock"...not quite sure what that means. While the frying made it look like a duck confit, the cumin salt used reminded me of Chinese 5-spice. The accompanying carrot salad matched the duck nicely.
Laban immor - the lamb dumplings were pretty good, with the interesting tastes of garlic mint yogurt with spinach and chick peas. A second round of ordering added another starter and some mains. I didn't take any of the shawarma as it's been made into a modern salad.
We had two orders of the bistayeea, since we would have been fighting for the pigeon pie otherwise. However these fell a little short of my expectations, given how yummy they were on my last visit. The flavor of the pigeon meat was less intense, and although there was still the almond and the sweet filo pastry, it was just a bit anti-climactic.
Malouf's Mouhrabieh bi kraides - this prawn and mussel tagine was interesting, with caramelized fennel and giant cous cous that look like white BB shots. Not sure what these balls are made of, but they sure are chewy.
Mozat bi baharat - the veal shank looked gigantic sitting in the tagine pot. The meat was tender although just a tad dry for my taste. The butternut pumpkin base was sweet and good. We can't walk out of the place without sweets, so here goes a third round of ordering...
Spiced pomegranate ganita with minted watermelon salad and lime syrup pistachio halva - I had a tiny spoonful and it seemed pretty good.
Mahallabia - I had this on my last visit, but the jelly on top of the cream is now made with rose scented strawberries. Still had the Iranian candy floss on top which is just dragon beard candy (龍鬚糖) to the Chinese...
Syrian apricot and almond tart with caramelized orange and orange blossom clotted cream - pretty yummy actually, and the caramelized orange was especially interesting as this isn't something we usually see.
Burnt honey ice cream and kataifi and toffeed figs - delicious caramel flavors.
I had the Moroccan mint tea, but unfortunately the tea had neither enough flavor nor enough sweetness...
Overall it was a pretty decent meal, if a tiny bit below my expectations in terms of food quality. However the real let down came in the form of service. The staff seemed poorly trained and generally slow, perhaps even a little nonchalant. We were a bit put off by this. The whole dining experience would be so much better - resulting in more customers - if the staff could just care about service a bit more... Oh well...
Yet another evening of gathering with friends and finding somewhere interesting to eat. I dragged everyone to the "dark side" so I can have another taste of the Arabic/Moroccan food at Malouf's. It's been over half a year since my last visit, and I was ready to relive some fond memories...
We had three starters to tide us over, beginning with the mezze. The cheesy ladies fingers were OK, and the smoky baba ganoush was not bad with the homemade jou jou bread. The almond falafel was nice as to be expected, while the salt cod and preserved lemon fritter had a nice, soft texture like one would find in a Portuguese or Spanish restaurant.
Batt moubakhar - the duck leg was marinated in "7 year master stock"...not quite sure what that means. While the frying made it look like a duck confit, the cumin salt used reminded me of Chinese 5-spice. The accompanying carrot salad matched the duck nicely.
Laban immor - the lamb dumplings were pretty good, with the interesting tastes of garlic mint yogurt with spinach and chick peas. A second round of ordering added another starter and some mains. I didn't take any of the shawarma as it's been made into a modern salad.
We had two orders of the bistayeea, since we would have been fighting for the pigeon pie otherwise. However these fell a little short of my expectations, given how yummy they were on my last visit. The flavor of the pigeon meat was less intense, and although there was still the almond and the sweet filo pastry, it was just a bit anti-climactic.
Malouf's Mouhrabieh bi kraides - this prawn and mussel tagine was interesting, with caramelized fennel and giant cous cous that look like white BB shots. Not sure what these balls are made of, but they sure are chewy.
Mozat bi baharat - the veal shank looked gigantic sitting in the tagine pot. The meat was tender although just a tad dry for my taste. The butternut pumpkin base was sweet and good. We can't walk out of the place without sweets, so here goes a third round of ordering...
Spiced pomegranate ganita with minted watermelon salad and lime syrup pistachio halva - I had a tiny spoonful and it seemed pretty good.
Mahallabia - I had this on my last visit, but the jelly on top of the cream is now made with rose scented strawberries. Still had the Iranian candy floss on top which is just dragon beard candy (龍鬚糖) to the Chinese...
Syrian apricot and almond tart with caramelized orange and orange blossom clotted cream - pretty yummy actually, and the caramelized orange was especially interesting as this isn't something we usually see.
Burnt honey ice cream and kataifi and toffeed figs - delicious caramel flavors.
I had the Moroccan mint tea, but unfortunately the tea had neither enough flavor nor enough sweetness...
Overall it was a pretty decent meal, if a tiny bit below my expectations in terms of food quality. However the real let down came in the form of service. The staff seemed poorly trained and generally slow, perhaps even a little nonchalant. We were a bit put off by this. The whole dining experience would be so much better - resulting in more customers - if the staff could just care about service a bit more... Oh well...
March 6, 2009
Izakaya dining
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It's been a while since I last met up with a couple of friends for dinner, so I caught up with them on a Friday over a casual meal at Irori (いろり), my favorite Japanese izakaya (居酒屋). Our last dinner together didn't work out so well, but I was excited to go back to Irori for another visit.
My friends arrived early and ordered the grilled marinated blow fish (ふぐみりん干し) and the gyoza (餃子) - both standard fare at any izakaya. From then on I took over and got us a bunch of my old favorites from the joint.
Aji tataki (鯵たたき) - haven't had this for a while, and it's nice having it with all the chopped spring onions. The deep-fried bones were good, too!
Tomato in sesame sauce (胡麻ﾄﾏﾄ) - this is a classic that I always order, and my friends were surprised that every table had a plate of this. Always love the cold, refreshing tomatoes.
Grilled ox tongue with spring onions (牛タン葱焼き) - I can't go to an izakaya without having some ox tongue, and this is buried under a mound of spring onions that neutralizes the "heat" of the grilled meat.
Deep-fried chicken cartilage (軟骨唐揚げ) - just about my favorite dish here, but this seemed a little sub-par today. Maybe not enough batter? As usual I doused shichimi (七味) all over to give it a good kick.
Crab miso (蟹味噌) - this is crab roe that was seasoned with a bit of lemon juice. I love the intense taste but would have preferred it raw, without the lemon juice. But I suppose that wouldn't go well with the Hong Kong palate...
Pirate cheese (海賊ﾁｰｽﾞ) - read about this on the internet so decided to order it. No clue why people rave about this. It's just blocks of Philly cream cheese topped with some spicy, mushy chopped seafood. Definitely not popular with the group.
Mochi pizza (もちﾋﾟｯｻﾞ) - always cool to order, these bite-sized mochi pieces are topped with ham, cheese and tomato sauce just like a pizza. Pretty fun to eat.
Deep-fried fishcake (薩摩揚げ) - this is actually pretty good, and my friends couldn't stop eating it.
It appears that appetites weren't satiated by this point, so a few more dishes were ordered...
Deep-fried sweet potato chips (薩摩芋ﾁｯﾌﾟ) - these are actually pretty good since they are freshly fried. The plate was decorated with some pine needles and looked pretty.
Braised fatty pork (豚の角煮) - the menu called this Japanese 東坡肉, which really isn't too far from the truth. You can take this into a Chinese restaurant and I would have definitely called it Chinese...
I always like to finish an izakaya meal with a grilled rice ball (焼きおにぎり). The grilling was well done, but I wish there was a bit more flavor to it. Had to drip some soy sauce and shichimi on top.
I did bring along my bottle of sake, this time it was Kakunko Junmai Daiginjyo (花薫香純米大吟醸) from Sudohonke (須藤本家). This unfiltered brew has always been one of my favorite sakes, having ground the rice grains down to 27% seimaibuai (精米步合). I was excited to drink this again, and I decided not to ice the bottle since it came from the wine fridge.
This turned out to be a mistake. The warmer temperature of the sake meant that the nose was much more pronounced, and as it turned out I didn't like it so much. While there were lots of tropical fruits such as banana, pineapple and orange in the nose, it also distinctively smelled like the Chinese white wines (白酒) that I dislike so much. Just smelled so "artificial". I started to wonder whether I had aged the sake for a bit too long. It's been 3 1/2 years since this was bottled... Definitely cloudy, and smelling like Chinese fermented rice (酒釀). I decide to ice the bottle, and the experience improved dramatically, as the lower temperature restrained the nose. I guess I'll stick to icing my sakes from now on...
A great meal for a Friday night, and a happy return visit to Irori after a prolonged absence...
It's been a while since I last met up with a couple of friends for dinner, so I caught up with them on a Friday over a casual meal at Irori (いろり), my favorite Japanese izakaya (居酒屋). Our last dinner together didn't work out so well, but I was excited to go back to Irori for another visit.
My friends arrived early and ordered the grilled marinated blow fish (ふぐみりん干し) and the gyoza (餃子) - both standard fare at any izakaya. From then on I took over and got us a bunch of my old favorites from the joint.
Pirate cheese (海賊ﾁｰｽﾞ) - read about this on the internet so decided to order it. No clue why people rave about this. It's just blocks of Philly cream cheese topped with some spicy, mushy chopped seafood. Definitely not popular with the group.
It appears that appetites weren't satiated by this point, so a few more dishes were ordered...
Deep-fried sweet potato chips (薩摩芋ﾁｯﾌﾟ) - these are actually pretty good since they are freshly fried. The plate was decorated with some pine needles and looked pretty.
I did bring along my bottle of sake, this time it was Kakunko Junmai Daiginjyo (花薫香純米大吟醸) from Sudohonke (須藤本家). This unfiltered brew has always been one of my favorite sakes, having ground the rice grains down to 27% seimaibuai (精米步合). I was excited to drink this again, and I decided not to ice the bottle since it came from the wine fridge.
This turned out to be a mistake. The warmer temperature of the sake meant that the nose was much more pronounced, and as it turned out I didn't like it so much. While there were lots of tropical fruits such as banana, pineapple and orange in the nose, it also distinctively smelled like the Chinese white wines (白酒) that I dislike so much. Just smelled so "artificial". I started to wonder whether I had aged the sake for a bit too long. It's been 3 1/2 years since this was bottled... Definitely cloudy, and smelling like Chinese fermented rice (酒釀). I decide to ice the bottle, and the experience improved dramatically, as the lower temperature restrained the nose. I guess I'll stick to icing my sakes from now on...
A great meal for a Friday night, and a happy return visit to Irori after a prolonged absence...
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