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2012-08-26
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Chef Table at Man Ho, tonight present with our Winemaker Steve, from Portrait Wines & Distilleries - .Appetizers: 牛展 & 炸九肚魚Beef Sheen and Fried Bombay Duck fish. 4/5. 順德煎魚餅併蜆芥、冰填百靈菇, 海蜇 - paired with Farm Girl Syrah Rose. 2009The 1st item of Fried River Carp Fishcake had a fresh taste and bouncy texture. This is paired with a traditional Fermented Clams mustard sauce which is slightly alcoholic. Pretty good. The Chilled Diced Bailing Mushrooms were surprisingly not sliced as usual, which
Chef Table at Man Ho, tonight present with our Winemaker Steve, from Portrait Wines & Distilleries - .
Appetizers: 牛展 & 炸九肚魚Beef Sheen and Fried Bombay Duck fish. 4/5
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順德煎魚餅併蜆芥、冰填百靈菇, 海蜇 - paired with Farm Girl Syrah Rose. 2009The 1st item of Fried River Carp Fishcake had a fresh taste and bouncy texture. This is paired with a traditional Fermented Clams mustard sauce which is slightly alcoholic. Pretty good. The Chilled Diced Bailing Mushrooms were surprisingly not sliced as usual, which means it retained more of it's textural experience. The Jelly Fish wasn't that Shunde Cuisine for me personally and could be more crunchy or seasoned. Would have been more impressed if it had some 大良野雞卷 somewhere! ~ 3.5/5
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淮杞螺頭燉竹絲雞 - paired with Belle Racer, Sauvignon, 2001Double-boiled soup with Black Chicken, Sea Whelk and Chinese herbs. Deliberately said to be not a Shunde soup - but nevertheless, always nice to start on a traditional Cantonese soup and this was thick in depth and taste, and the dark skinned chicken broth coated your lips! The Portrait wine maker deliberately paired this with a white Sauvignon which was green apple & citrusy yet quite sweeter than the norm, with a lightish body. Liked this soup a lot, I just have a penchant for chicken and sea whelk soups! ~ 4/5
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生啫魚雲煲 - paired with Debutante Melange, 2009 Garlic pieces were fried-softened in a claypot, then served with a piece of chili and ginger with Shunde style Grass Carp Fish head. This dish can go horribly wrong sometimes if not handled properly. It can either taste really fishy or having mud taste. The one here was really well handled and gelatinous in it's mouth feel, especially the meat from the fish cheek! Someone liked it so much, he had to encore it! Lovely stuff, paired with a wine blended with grapes that is influenced by Rhone whites, with a hybrid mix of a majority Viognier, Pinot gris, Semillon, Sauvignon. The high percentage of Viognier made this more of an aromatic wine upfront with a sweet peach flavour but felt slightly hot. ~ 5/5
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大良蝦仁炒鮮奶 配 炸江西米綫 - paired with Debutante Melange, 2009, as aboveShunde style Stir-fried Milk Curd with Shrimp is stir fried slowly, to become a scrambled texture. The milk is traditionally made using Buffalo milk but the taste might be too strong for most customers. Whilst the prawn was cooked really well, for some reason I thought this fried milk dish was a little too soft gooey compared to the ones I eat in Shunde. Having said that, not many shops in Hong Kong do this well nowadays and if they do they are super oily!! This is topped with some bashed Pinenuts, which is really essential to this traditional dish. Not bad! ~ 3.5/5
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順德煎排骨 - paired with Chorus Girl Grenache, 2010This was interesting because the Grenache based wine was quite bell peppery and ripe blackberries like but minus the typical sugary fructose sweetness I normally associate it with, so when paired with the slightly oily and spice rubbed pork ribs, this surprisingly worked as both a pairing in Marriage principles, as well as covering for one anoother's short falling simultaneously and cutting down on the grease. A genius of a pairing? This was probably my favourite dish of the night together with the above Fish Head. It was succulent, crispy outside, but moist and porky within. Furthermore the oil heated spring onion sprigs under the pork really contributed that additional aromatic satisfaction. The sides of strawberries and onions were more for garnishing but appreciated. ~ 5/5
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生啫薑蔥雞煲, 蝦醬唐生菜配絲苗白飯 - Paired with 2 wines of Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. Aviator Meritage, 2009 Ginger & Spring Onion fried, fresh Gami Chicken, was tender and absorbed in all the flavours you was cooked in. A well proven and trusted combo but executed well here. The Prawns Paste lettuce smelt really strong in the air, almost like salted fish. With 2 strongish dishes presented at once and 2 different tannicky wines, a bowl of steamed rice is almost a requisite. It looked simple, but it tasted great and you can't fault it basically. If anything, would like to see more of both chicken and chinese lettuce... ~ 4/5
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薑汁撞奶 - paired with Ice Wine made from New Zealand Riesling grapes!Somehow I was expecting a 順德雙皮奶, but 薑汁撞奶 is close enough. Old Ginger juice is mixed with Hot Milk, which the starches instantly makes a milky pudding! Personal taste is a strange thing. To me I am not a big ginger person as it makes me feel 'hot' so I thought this had quite a bit of gingeriness but just balanced. Some other diners thought the ginger was on the weaker side. So each to their own, but I have got to say this was done very well to my own liking, especially the silky smooth texture! ~ 4.5/5
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This Shunde Style Cuisine Course is being served from 27th of August to 16th of September. The Chef Table cost is $365 per head. The additional 7 glasses of wines requires only an additional $338 which is a bargain. There were some parts of the meal which can be improved but overall the execution was better than expected!
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