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2009-04-22
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My friends said that they would bring me to a good seafood restaurant. At first I thought we would need to go to Sai Kung or Lei Yu Moon, but it was actually 金山at Yau Ma Tei. While there was no al fresco dining or exotic concoction like starfish, 金山 won me over with the rustic décor, simple and non-pretentious food, the old-world yet genuine service from the tenured staff, and a surprised dish that wasn’t even from the sea.I was late to the dinner so dishes were already ordered. As soon as I
I was late to the dinner so dishes were already ordered. As soon as I arrived, one of the older staff gave me a warm greeting and suggested to start the meal with 是日例湯: 霸王花琵琶葉煲豬肺湯. It wasn’t exactly 老火湯as the soup lacked the depth in flavor, but the real star was the 湯渣. I was very impressed by the piles of super tender pork lungs(豬肺), especially the ones with the soft tubes (軟管) which added another dimension to the spongy texture. Do you know that pork lungs are banned in the US so you can’t get pork lung anywhere (at least, not in the legal way)? Using deprivation of pork lung as an excuse, I happily chowed down half a plate.
Other dishes came out shortly as they were mostly quick stir-fried and steamed seafood. The stir-fried giant razor clams with black bean sauce (豉椒炒聖子王) was a very popular dish and understandably so as the meaty razor clams were cooked to perfect tenderness without losing its sweetness. The best part of the steamed scallops with garlic and vermicelli (蒜蓉粉絲蒸扇貝)was the vermicelli which absorbed all the essence from the scallops and the garlic flavor. With the briny coral scallop roes I could simply forget about the actual scallop meat. The only disappointment among the seafood was the steamed tiny conches (白烚東風螺) as some of them were not fresh and had a nauseous smell.
My friends seemed to be having relatively healthy life as they ordered a bunch of vegetables for the meal. While many raved about the fried tofu(椒鹽豆腐),I thought it was just standard good fried tofu, not particularly outstanding. Perhaps no one ever ordered the vegetarian delight with fermented tofu(南乳齋煲) as it was poorly prepared and bland when compared to the stir-fried gai lan(清炒芥蘭) which was simple, crunchy, and extremely satisfying. Pomelo skin with shrimp roes(蝦籽柚皮) was normally my favorite, but this time the skin was a bit sour (though not bitter) and the unremarkable shrimp roe sauce couldn’t save the dish.
The highlight of the meal, surprisingly, wasn’t the seafood. It was their signature 雲英雞that seriously amazed me. The half chicken with gizzards and livers (雞潤和雞腎) was arguably the best chicken I had since I came back from New York. While not every piece passed my 雞啫喱spot test (see my 三巡 post for details), this chicken, upon tasting, was full of chicken flavor (雞味十足). Other than a few of the breast meat, all of the pieces were tender and juicy. Compared to 三巡, it might not be as silky and with less 雞啫喱. But the aromatic flavor from the chicken skin and fat, combined with the essence from the chicken meat(雞皮的油香和雞肉的鮮味), made this a far superior chicken to 三巡's. If the ginger and scallion dipping sauce on the side could be a little more pungent, this dish would have been perfect. My friends were hesitant to dig into the chicken livers and gizzards. Buddy, you know how hard it was to have fresh chicken offals? If they didn’t want them, more for me!
Upon asking the old server, he told us that it was indeed fresh chicken (新鮮雞) that they got and he started whining about how their chicken wasn’t as good earlier this year because they were forced to use frozen chicken, blah blah blah . No wonder it was full of chicken flavor (雞有雞味), the same kind that I used to enjoy when I was small. He also said that fresh chicken wasn’t always available, so we were lucky to get a fresh one. I loved to chat with old folks in these kinds of homey restaurants as they were full of food wisdom and the interactions always became informative and entertaining learning experiences in the end.
We were too full to finish all the dishes, but the staff insisted on giving us free dessert (紅豆沙) and even asked us if we wanted extra to bring back home. How nice!
Overall, the seafood at 金山was great and value for the money, but the 雲英雞 was the true exceptional dish and had become my must-order at 金山. I asked the old folk if I could come here and just order the chicken next time. He said, “Sure, and I will give you free soup and dessert!” There is nothing that you can beat the sincerity from these little old-schooled restaurants.
張貼
