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2011-01-23
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our dinner took place at the memorable yan toh heen (欣圖軒), the 30-year old flagship cantonese restaurant at intercontinental hotel (previously known as regent hotel). the kitchen is run by chef lau yiu fai (劉耀輝), who has been with yan toh heen for over 23 years. chef lau worked at a number of top chinese restaurants such as fook lam moon and tai sam yuen before moving to then regent hotel’s banquet kitchen, and later transferred to lai ching heen to work under executive chef cheung kam chuen. on
amuse bouche: filo basket of pinenuts and minced pork - the “filo”, more appropriately was deep-fried wonton skin, was thin and crispy. pinenuts and minced pork were yummy.
barbequed pork (“cha-siu”) - a huge disappointment. i have tried bbq pork at literally hundreds of eateries in hong kong, and i know it’s unfair to compare yan toh heen with some of the best i’ve had (such as fu sing and island tang), but the cha-siu here was worse than average. the meat was way too lean and not the part near the neck as good any cha-siu should to be made of. the honey glaze was applied too early in the grilling process and lost all aroma.
shark fin soup with hairy crab roe and oyster - i am not supportive of eating shark fins but the japanese seems to have a thing for sharks and whales thumb-sized oysters with fat belly were swimming in a lucious shark fin soup filled with hairy crab roe fragrance. this was an extremely filling dish, and i thought it could actually do better without the hairy crab roe which was slightly overpowering. but overall still a very delightful soup.
baked crab shell - shredded onions and mushroom with minced crab meat, stuffed inside crab shell and thinly battered before baking. it’s a very common dish among upscale chinese restaurants, and i was glad the batter was very thin here at yan toh heen, which lent to a light, crispy skin (similar to the outer layer of a very good tonkatsu). the crab flesh was very aromatic and carried a fresh brine flavor.
tiger prawns with white asparagus and spring onions - the prawns were crispy and flavorful, but the highlight of this dish was actually the white asparagus – which is one of my favorite vegetables but so difficult to find in hong kong!
fried chicken - an example where taste gave way to health… the chicken was too lean and dry, and the skin fell a bit on the soggy side.
fruit platter - like some other upscale chinese restaurants, yan toh heen serves fruit platter in a huge mountain of shaved ice. the shaved ice stood almost 30cm tall, but there was only one slice each of watermelon, melon, strawberry, pineapple, and cantaloupe. the pineapple shell on top was inedible. pretty interesting presentation nonetheless.
chinese petit four - consisted of some chinese pastries that we usually eat during chinese new year or at wedding banquets. but the rack was soooo cute! it was like a mini antique display shelf.
it was a scrumptious dinner with only premium quality of ingredients used. for the more sophisticated dishes, i liked the formula and flavor generally paired pretty well. however, execution seemed to fall short for the traditional dishes as in the bbq pork and deep-fried chicken – i do not expect a 27-year old kitchen with 20 cooks can miss on them. i guess that’s because those dishes were not common orders?
service was excellent and the staffs knew the menu inside out. our tea cups were always kept full that night and we did not have to move a finger other than working our chopsticks. the waiting staffs even speak better japanese than i do!
full post with pics: http://randomnomad.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/yan-toh-heen/
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