A pair of black dragons

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I met up with a couple of old friends in Taipei tonight, and went to a Japanese place I've been wanting to try out.  I've long read about Masa from Dreamfis' blog - and drooled over his collection of Japanese sake.  I finally got to see what all the fuss was about.

We sat at the sushi bar, and started with 前付 of diced tomato, yamaimo (山药) and cooked tuna.  Nice and refreshing start.

Next came a series of white fish sashimi, including some red snapper (鲷) and other variants.  All were fresh and delicious, with wonderful texture to some of them.

The grilled corn lollipop was pretty amazing.  I call it "lollipop" because it literally tasted like candy on a stick.  This has got to be some special Japanese corn - it was just amazingly sweet.  I'd never tasted any corn with sugar content this high.  Of course the grilling only helped caramelize some of the sugar... I can eat this all day!

The thin slices of dried mullet roe (カラスミ, 烏魚子) were really something.  I've eaten tons of this stuff in Taiwan, but what I got here tonight was neither dry and crunchy, nor did it hang on to my teeth for dear life.  These slices were creamy, soft, velvety and melted in my mouth.

Along the way we also had some small bowls of marinated seafood, such as little pearl oysters and an interesting combination of cooked cuttlefish with yellowed chives (韭黃) and celery.  The latter was definitely Chinese...

Some time during the evening the conversation turned to blowfish (河豚), and I mentioned that one of my least favorite experiences was eating blowfish sperm sac (白子) sushi at another restaurant in Taiwan.  My friend next to me was pretty disgusted by my graphic description of the white, sticky stuff all over my teeth.  Shortly thereafter, a little cube of tofu was presented in front of us.  I couldn't exactly figure out what it tasted like, only that it wasn't sesame as another friend suggested.  Turns out it was made from 白子...

A series of yummy nigiri sushi followed, but the highlight has to be the bonito (鰹) and the turbot (平目).  The slice of turbot has been seared with a torch, and part of this just melted and turned jello-like.  It just dissolved on my tongue!

I had kinda announced that I would stop eating tuna in order to do my small part in helping the species survive in the wild - especially bluefin.  The chef assured me - at my friend's behest - that the tuna was farmed, not wild.  I'm not so sure about that, but I did end up eating the double-layered toro (トロ) nigiri...

A nice salad of persimmon, okra, alfalfa sprouts and tomato followed.  The dressing was Thousand Island (surprise, surprise...) but the mix of ingredients was very interesting.

One of the highlights of the evening was definitely the grilled rock fish (紅喉魚).  This is a fresh local fish that I had earlier this year but did not enjoy.  Tonight I was wow'ed, and one of my friends had the same reaction.  While the skin was grilled to perfection, the flesh underneath was soooo succulent that the juices literally oozed out as I put pressure on it with my chopsticks.  I'd definitely have this again!

The last item to arrive before dessert was a bowl of clam soup with tofu and spring daisy (茼蒿).  Very nice and pure flavors.

Dessert was a bit of a non-event...some panna cotta with peanut paste.

But the main event of the evening was actually a pair of limited production sake from Kokuryu (黒龍). I had drunk both of these before, but tonight I would have them side-by-side and compare them.  Both are daiginjo (大吟醸) quality with semaibuai (精米歩合) of 35%, but the differences were immediately apparent.  The Shizuku (しずく) was nice and sharp, clearly much drier and spicier.  The No. 88 (八十八号) was smooth and sweet initially, before the ice bucket lowered the temperature significantly, and then turned drier as it got cold.  But as I noticed last time, the Shizuku isn't terribly complex...and was outclassed by No. 88 in this respect.  Given that I paid 3 times as much for the Shizuku compared to No. 88, I think the latter turned out to be a pretty good buy - something Dreamfis seems to agree with.

I really enjoyed both the food and the sake tonight, but then again I always have a good time with this crowd in Taipei!

The magical gold coin

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I finally got a chance to try out Manor Seafood Restaurant (富瑤酒家), a place that I'd been hearing about from my friends.  I'd been down with the flu for the last week, and also been cooped up at home studying for my exam, so this outing felt like being released from a prison.

The evening started out well enough.  What looked like ordinary cubes of fried tofu turned out to be deep-fried cubes of eggplant with salty egg yolk (咸蛋黃茄子粒).  This was a nice and yummy surprise.

Next came the highlight of the evening - the gold coin chicken (古法金錢雞).  This is of course not actually chicken meat, but a "sandwich" made of layers of char siu (叉燒), bacon (冰肉), and chicken liver.  We all loved this little thing,  The caramelized fat and the creaminess of the chicken liver worked very well.  I could easily have eaten a half dozen of these things.

We then had a giant flower crab steamed with chicken fat and Huadiao wine (雞油花雕蒸蟹).  This was a really big crab!  Consequently the shell was very thick and hard.  The piece I took was the section behind the claw, and I needed to send it back to the kitchen for them to break the shell for me.  The crab meat was fresh and delicious, but the real magic was the sauce!  Wow!

It was so good we had to ask the kitchen to take the leftovers - along with a section of the claw - to make a fried rice with conpoy (瑤柱) out of it.  That was damn good, too!

Next we had a pair of molluscs in claypots.  First came the abalone with ginger and scallion (姜葱鮑魚煲).  The fresh abalone was OK, and the ginger/scallion combination is always nice - although sometimes it tends to overpower the main ingredient.

Then another claypot arrived bearing oysters with ginger and scallion (姜葱焗蠔).  The taste of the oyster was pretty heavy and was not overcome by the ginger and scallions.

We took a steep nosedive into the abyss with the braised pomelo skin with shrimp roe, bamboo pith and gingko nuts (竹笙銀杏蝦籽柚子皮).  What happened here?!  There was way too much water, making the taste diluted and bland.  The pomelo skin was also surprisingly bitter.  I haven't seen a restaurant fail this badly on the dish in recent memory.

The tea-smoked soya chicken (茶燻雞) was rather to my liking.  Although the smoky flavor was a little light, I did really like the soft, moist flesh of the chicken.  Some of my fellow diners objected to the fact that the chicken was mediocre in quality but came at a significant price premium (or multiple, actually).

More carbs came at the end of the meal.  The signature stir-fried noodles with soy sauce (招牌豉油皇炒麵) was pretty damn good.  The noodles were very thin, fried with high heat so you could taste the 鍋氣, and came with lots of bean sprouts and scallions.

Rabbitfish congee (拆肉泥鯭粥) was pretty yummy.  Flavors were subtle, with some preserved orange rind (陳皮) for that added touch.  Great with some chopped scallions and deep-fried crullers.

We had some baked almond buns (雪影杏汁包) for dessert.  It's basically the same as some of the baked char siu bao (叉燒包) found around town with the flaky crust, but the filling was almond custard.  Not a fan, I'm afraid...

I brought two bottles of wine tonight, but unfortunately my system was out of whack, and I could barely detect the nose.  The 2001 Kistler Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard was not bad.  The nose was initially muted (or was it because of my diminished olfactory function?), but opened up to reveal minerals, toasty oak and apricot.  The palate was ripe with slightly high acidity, and a little alcoholic.

The 1999 Martinborough Vineyard Pinot Noir was a total disaster.  Not much in the nose, and body was a little on the light side.  Not one of my better buys.

By the end of dinner, my physical condition had deteriorated and I felt pretty sick.  So I decided to go home for a hot shower while the others moved on to some yummy ice cream for dessert.  Oh well... I'll return to the Manor another day to collect some more of those gold coins...

Dakota (sub)Prime - the incredible shrinking beef

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My colleagues and I passed our licensing exam for our SFC license this morning, which came as a relief to all of us.  We decided to celebrate by doing lunch at a slightly better place than our usual noodle shop or cha chaan teng (茶餐廳), and ended up at Dakota Prime.

I haven't been here for more than 6 months, ever since my last experience with the shrinking Reuben.  I guess one of the reasons why I went back today was to see whether things have changed...whether the shrinking process has been reversed.

Nope!  Instead of ordering my usual Reuben today, I tried out their beef and wagyu burger.  I had seen the size of this when my friend ordered it earlier in the year, and this one was definitely 3 sizes smaller - the patty used to be 1/2 lb but now looks more like 1/3 lb... And they overcooked my order for medium rare. My friends ordered the flat iron steak, which has now become 8 oz instead of 10 oz at the beginning of the year.

OK, I admit that I've left the trading desk for over a year so I no longer follow every single economic number that's published, but did I really miss the fact that we in Hong Kong have gone through a 20-25% inflation during 2009?!

Cart(less) dim sum

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I caught up with a couple of friends over dim sum today.  It's been a while since I was at Che's Cantonese Restaurant (車氏粵菜軒), so I thought it'd be a good idea to refresh my memory - and palate.

Che's crispy pork buns (酥皮叉燒餐包) - these were the first to arrive, and being the signature dim sum of this place, they were definitely the best way to start.  The exterior has been baked to become crispy and flaky, much like the ones I had at Tim Ho Wan (添好運) recently.  These were a little more plump, and the crust a little more golden.  The filling, however, was deliciously runny.

Steamed dumpling Chiu Chow style (潮州粉果) - the mix of ingredients - including some spicy preserved mustard greens (榨菜) - ensured an explosion of flavors.  While this dish scored high in terms of flavors, ultimately I was disappointed as it had been over-steamed (the same mistake made by Tim Ho Wan) so the skin became mushy, stuck to the chopsticks and kinda fell apart.

Che's shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoot (車氏筍尖鮮蝦餃) - this was alright, and the skin passed the test.

Steamed pork siu mai (乾蒸燒賣) - this was OK.

Pan fried rice noodle roll with XO sauce (XO醬煎腸粉) - the exterior was crispy and crunchy, kinda like the ones from T'ang Court (唐閣).  But there wasn't quite enough XO sauce so some of the rolls were a little bland.

Deep fried mashed taro puff (鬆化炸芋角) - a deep golden brown in color, the exterior was definitely very crunchy and flaky.  Pretty nice.

Old-fashioned spring roll (懷舊炸春卷) - these were OK, being a little thinner and more elongated in shape.

Pan fried turnip cake (香煎蘿蔔糕) - just realized that this item never came, even though we ticked it on the order sheet.  Wonder if we ended up paying for it...

I didn't have the steamed pork liver with meat ball (懷舊豬潤燒賣), since there wasn't enough to go around.  But the piece of liver looked pretty good, and there was a thin layer of tofu skin on top to keep everything moist while being steamed.

A waitress came by and dished out free mini egg tarts (蛋撻), which had pastry crust and were OK.  They were just too small for me to appreciate the skill of the chef...

It was a pretty good meal overall, and it's nice to get away from the usual lunch spots once in a while...

Eleven on fourth

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There was a gathering of winos tonight, and the outcome from such gatherings is never pretty.  I've never come away from one of these dinners unscathed, and as usual I was totally wasted...and still have a hangover as I type.

This pre-Christmas gathering was originally scheduled for the 11th but subsequently moved to tonight.  The venue was Sup 1 - same as the last gathering I attended.  The organizers seem to be on good terms with the owner, and like the mix of cuisines being served here.

As usual we started with some Japanese appetizers - grilled Japanese pepper (獅子唐辛子), grilled ox tongue, and fried chicken wings.  We moved on to the sashimi platter, with some flounder (平目), yellow tail, some fish I didn't recognize and a squid roll stuffed with sea urchin... Keeping with the Japanese theme, there was the soft shell crab salad with flying-fish roe (とび子).

A trio of meat mains followed - the wagyu steak was not bad, the roast suckling pig pretty decent but there was too much rosemary, and the roast chicken also came with rosemary, onions, garlic and potatoes.

The carbs came in the form of duck rice, which was similar to the Portuguese arroz de pato - with shredded duck meat inside. The rice grains were nice and chewy, with just a bit of rice crispies.

There was a chocolate tart with almonds and cashews, but the crème brûlée was pretty yum.  I initially thought they were using vanilla extract, but as I grabbed the ramekin to scrape the bottom clean I saw some vanilla seeds.  I guess they just didn't put a lot of it in...

But honestly, who cares about the food?!  This was a gathering to drink ourselves silly!  Speaking of which...I was a little annoyed at the restaurant in the beginning.  We were upstairs in the private area with lots of bottles of wine, and they knew we were serious winos.  So why did they insist on using these scented air freshener thingies?  I was so distracted by all the artificial smell of flowers I had to ask the owner to take these things away to clear the air.  They should have known better.

1988 Pol Roger Brut Chardonnay - nose of toasty oak, caramel, vanilla, cinnamon apple, and slight minerals on the finish.  Pretty flat as there weren't many bubbles left, and the acidity was pretty mild for a Chardonnay.

1988 Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut - I remember this wine well from another dinner earlier this year.  This bottle was even better! Notes of apricot, minerals, toasty oak, caramel and that lovely oxidized nose coming from an old Champagne... A little more fizz than the Pol Roger with a hint of sweetness on the palate.  This one won against the Pol Roger tonight.

1970 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Marquis - nose of stewed prunes, a little bit of smoke, brett and sharp alcohol.  Smooth on the palate with reasonable length on the finish.

1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes - I brought this bottle tonight because I remember drinking this wine last year with Nicolas Potel, and it blew me away.  Not quite the same performance tonight, but it got better after being "released from prison" - when we poured the wine from  the original small Sauvignon Blanc glasses into the large red Burgundy glasses.  Slightly oxidized nose of sweet grass, corn, citrus, minerals, beeswax and green nashi pear (水晶梨).  Good acidity balance.

2003 Nicolas Potel Charmes-Chambertin - a beautiful wine with a very sweet and fruity nose.  Slightly alcoholic.  Very smooth on the palate.

1996 Pascal Doquet Blanc de Blancs Le Mesnil-sur-Oger - I carried this back from Reims earlier this year, and it was recommended to me by Fabrice, the owner of Les Caves du Forum.  This was very, very nice.  Nose of marshmallow, caramel, a little toasty oak, lots of yeast, citrus and a little oxidized.  Coming from the great 1996 vintage, the wine was very vibrant and drank very well.  Now why didn't I buy more bottles of this?!

2005 Marius - I was prejudiced against this wine as I've tried their first vintage (2004) and wasn't very impressed.  The wine's pedigree is impeccable, however.  This is the family winery of Frédéric Engerer, the Director and President of Château Latour who graciously hosted us this past April. The vine cuttings were from the Latour nursery, so one would expect this to be a pretty awesome Cab.  The 2005 vintage is better than the 2004, with a sharp alcoholic nose, brett and smoke.  The wine was sweet on the palate, and showed good concentration.  I would expect this wine to improve with a little more age.  But truth be told, I think there are better buys for the price...

2004 Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin - eucalyptus, sweet fruit, a little jammy, tangerine...really rich with very sharp alcohol in the nose.

2001 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli - smoky with good amount of sweet fruit. Sharp alcohol with good concentration.

2001 Pierre Usseglio Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - very alcoholic and sweet nose.

2004 Musar Rosé - this was surprisingly good, with nose of caramel and ripe fruit, and a reasonably good acidity balance.

2002 Drappier Cuvée Charles de Gaulle - oxidized with a bit of toast, yeast and citrus.

2001 Clos des Papes - sweet, smoky with a bit of alcohol.  Reasonably smooth.  Contribution from the restaurant's owner...

There was another bottle of Pierre Morey Meursault that was opened late, but I just couldn't drink anymore. I think I was lucky enough to stagger home in one piece...