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2010-05-22
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We have a love-hate relationship with change, especially when it comes in the wrong time. Let me correct this, it's here and there, all the time, but it happens when you least expect it -- which is the time you think will happen but didn't. It has a tendency to sneak up on all of us, and often times, leaves us wondering what we have done wrong to deserve the outcome. There are things you really wish will never change, because it's been working out fine, and there are the changes that come bit b
A group of many picked out a place for dinner, from a facebook group where the list ran long. One of many benefits to join big dinners is that you get to taste many dishes while the downside is the quality may not be on the same level when the kitchen needs to turn out 5 dishes at a time instead of 25. This, was no problem for Keung Kee. Several tables of our group taking over a great part of the dining space, and the crowds were happy as the clinking of wine-filled glasses were heard before the first dish arrived.
DEEP FRIED OYSTERS are fried crispy with a blazing aura of heat when served. The coating was thin, but crunchy enough when fried in the hot oil. Seasoning was made on top of the oysters after they were fried and the oyster itself is creamy, almost like molten freshness on its own. CHICKEN IN CLAY POT arrived sizzling hot, and while the bony bits of chicken were meaty and tasty, it was the thick slabs of pig's livers that got the most attention, before they were snatched all gone within seconds. The pig's liver pieces, thick with a crunch to it, were nowhere near the tough stingy bits in many dishes of the same kind. DEEP FRIED SHRIMPS ON VERMICELLI is an interesting dish that features deep fried shrimps, tossed in a brown sauce and rested on top of a bed of fried vermicelli. The shrimps were butterflied and despite deep fried, the sauce has softened up the crust but the vermicelli were picked up as broken golden shards of crispiness that coated the shrimps.
RAZOR CLAMS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE was ok, as the clams are of the right texture while the black beans were too hard and the sauce too gooey. The BRAISED GAROUPER FIN, the only dish that wasn't photographed, was in fact the fin of a gaouper -- deep fried until a golden crust is formed, and with a brown sauce made with chock full of shiitaki mushrooms and pork shreds on top of it. The fish is tender but again, if a crusty exterior is desired, one must wonder, why the sauce on the top and extended waiting time so that the sauce can permeate the exterior, making the intended crunchiness disappear? (while it's the traditional cooking method, and I don't doubt any part of that!) The FRIED MEATS PLATTER consist of duck tongues, which are rarely fried like this, and were crunchy with a little bit of chewy meat within. The squid was heavily seasoned but had the best texture, while the pork neck was slightly bland and somehow 'too tender', in a way that ordinary pork neck doesn't have that texture. CUTTLEFISH CAKES that followed were popular choice -- smashed cuttlefish flesh blended with little bits of chopped waterchestnut for the sweetness and crunch, followed by the crusty breading that made the cuttlefish cake all the most desirable to be served at any feasts.
BAKED FISH INTESTINES arrived in a shallow bowl, where fried donut slices floated atop the baked crust of savoury custard. Beneath the custard were the intestines -- starchy but fishy at the same time, but without any bit of metallic aftertaste. Ground white pepper was optional, but certainly would be recommended for those who don't like any trace of fishiness at all. The two vegetables were just as good. The AMARANETH WTH TWO EGGS adopts the 'black' and 'white' eggs. The WATER SPINACH WITH PRESERVED BEANCURD was slightly too runny on the sauce and too sweet. Yet the crunchy texture of the water spinach was refreshingly welcoming. GLUTINOUS RICE at the end rounded up an otherwise scrumptious meal. The rice, with granules still wet and unlikely to be stir-fried in the wok from the beginning as claimed, was generously bejeweled with chopped mushrooms, preserved sausages and chopped scallions. It tasted right, except that drier rice granules would benefit a great deal on the texture of the dish!
POW! The onslaught of dishes presented like fireworks at a festive celebration. Some were good with raves, while some were slightly off the best performance. The wonderful thing about dinners is that the dishes carefully selected to construct the menu were highlights of what the kitchen was capable of doing, and that the dinner has not disappointed. So nice did we not want it to change the slightest.
Further experience at Keung Kee has proven inconsistency to be the issue in question. One must wonder what has changed in other times, when specialties didn't arrive crispy, or instead of golden brown it became toasty brown. Every little detail counted, and it is the little detail that lies beneath the surface that makes up the change that buds and seemingly out of nowhere.
One year has passed, and countless meals and gatherings later, many things have changed, on a personal level some things have turned for the better, and in an instance regarding to this meal in particular, have taken a wrong turn along the downward spiral. While understanding change is inevitable, what we can do is to look on the sides where we can cope, not necessarily the bright side, but deal with it the way we know how. For what came that didn't change for the better, for one who wishes to undo but can't, one can consider standing right here, pondering, against all odds, that a miracle would happen as change will happen on the change for the worse into something better, perhaps back to where it used to be.
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