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2009-08-20
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香港大學校友會 has long been regarded as a reliable Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. Its food used to be just a notch below 陸羽 but with a more approachable price to attract customers. But recent downhill alerts left me worried about its quality maintainence. Were those rumors or were they true? I needed to find it out myself.The staff was very efficient in sending out dishes, with the pacing of the dinner so fast that one couldn’t help but to feel rushed. Deep Fried Shrimp Toast (蝦多士) is a popul
香港大學校友會 has long been regarded as a reliable Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. Its food used to be just a notch below 陸羽 but with a more approachable price to attract customers. But recent downhill alerts left me worried about its quality maintainence. Were those rumors or were they true? I needed to find it out myself.
The staff was very efficient in sending out dishes, with the pacing of the dinner so fast that one couldn’t help but to feel rushed. Deep Fried Shrimp Toast (蝦多士) is a popular dish these days and having had the same dish at 陸羽, 鳳城, etc., I think the version at 港大校友會 was quite good. The toast underneath was chrunchy and not greasy, but the shrimp was not as plump and juicy as the one at 鳳城, causing the proportion of shrimp to toast a bit off and compromising the mouthfeel. It was still delicious though certainly not the best.
Chinese Almond Soup with Pig’s Lung (菜膽杏汁白肺湯) is a best-seller here, but the soup tonight was rather disappointing. I didn’t mind it being a thinner version than the more concentrated rendition at 陸羽, but the indiscernible almond aroma and flavor (杏香和杏味皆欠奉) and the monotonous saltiness was what bothered me. The vegetable (菜膽) and pig’s lungs (豬肺) were very tender, but the latter wasn’t cleaned as good as 陸羽's and couldn’t be qualified as "白肺". I agree with 唔食都知唔好食 that when compared to 陸羽 this soup was relatively mediocre (比較之下).
Salt and Pepper Squids (椒鹽鮮魷) arrived piping hot and fresh. The squid was meaty and tender and the seasoning was spot on. The crispy coating was a tad too thick for my taste, and I rather focused my effort on the fried chili toppings to avoid the batter. The taste of Steamed Beef Patty with Dried Tangerine Peel (陳皮蒸牛肉餅) was rather confusing as we couldn’t figure out whether it was pork or beef at first. The flavor was alright but the patty was too dense with the meat minced too fine to feel the meat texture. The dripping from the patty was the best part of the dish.
Pan Fried Stuffed Dice Fish (煎釀鯪魚) was a disastrous dish as the minced dice fish was crumbly and dry. The fish flavor wasn’t robust at all possibly due to the excessive flour added to the minced fish. Even the sauce served on the side and the crispy skins couldn’t save the dish.
Salt Baked Chicken (古法鹽焗雞) was the most anticipated dish of the night as the version 港大 is often regarded as the best in Hong Kong. I certainly hope that we could find a better one as the chicken tonight was inconsistent. The skins weren’t particularly crispy with some of the skins very salty and other parts bland. The meat was rather dry particularly approaching the breast parts, and overall completely lacking fresh chicken flavor. To be frank I didn’t find anything impressive or appealing about this chicken and it would be embarrassing to call this 鹽焗雞 the best in Hong Kong.
Salt Baked Chicken Offals (鹽焗雞雜), on the other hand, was incredibly delicious as the savory note complemented well with the gaminess of the chicken offals. The livers were not as luscious as I wanted, but compared to the chicken they were miles more enjoyable.
Stewed Whole Duck with Pomelo Skin ( 柚皮炆全鴨) was the saving grace of the night as the duck was stewed to the point where the meat just fell off the bones and very tender. Normally gooey thick sauce wouldn’t be my preference but after the dry chicken the brown sauce was a nice lubricant to the duck and to my mouth. Best were the pomelo skin (柚皮) which was thick and soft with no bitter aftertaste (at least for the pieces that I tried).
I didn’t get to try Sweet and Sour Pork with Young Ginger (子薑咕嚕肉) as they were gone very fast. Judging from that as well as the very little oil residue left behind on the plate, I assumed it was a very well-prepared dish.
The savory portion of the meal ended with the Fried Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf (荷葉飯). This was reasonably tasty with the meat and vegetables evenly distributed in the fried rice and wasn’t a bit oily (乾身香口). The rice had a mild hint of lotus leaf’s fragrance which only testified the fact that the chef didn’t take any short cut to prepare the dish.
While I thought we had the better dishes towards the end, 港大校友會 managed to throw a tragic ending to the end. The desserts were 黑白鴛鴦糖水 (black sesame sweet soup and almond sweet soup). I tried the latter and it was like a cloying sweet muddle with thickened with tons of flour. I couldn’t recall the last time I had 蛋白杏仁露 that bad and the version at 海景軒 was like 100 times better.
If this dinner was at a neighborhood restaurant, I wouldn’t be complaining as the dishes were mostly at an average level (not disgusting but not impressive). Given the reputation of 港大校友會 and the fame of their 古法鹽焗雞 and 菜膽杏汁白肺湯, the execution of our dinner regrettably didn’t meet my expectation. Of course it didn’t take away the effort of the organizer who took his personal time to create this meal and I want to give my deep appreciation for his work. I hope it was an off-night but with the recent reports there seems to be some quality slip at this once-reliable establishment. 港大校友會, please get your game back as we cannot afford to lose yet another quality Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong.
張貼
