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2009-05-02
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I owe this to the organizer of the meal. It's a shame that he couldn't come this time, despite his whole-hearted planning from the location to menu and everything. Only on this first participation of his organized meal (despite all big and small former dinners I failed to attend...my bad), that I realize that I enjoy matching the reviews and the people who spend some time in front of the computer writing them -- You'll learn a lot more when you share these experiences with them, and for a relati
4 full round tables of people occupying one side of the age-old restaurant, American Restaurant has served fine Beijingnese food for decades. A often-packed place, popular among locals and guidebook readers, the organizers have written the menu featuring some classics I often read in cookbooks. I expected them to be carried out in such austerity and textbook accuracy. Aiming to meet under the commonplace of good food, the Big Boy and his accomodation has made everyone comfortable and the night enjoyable with equal parts of anticipation and awe.
First up with the menu is a set of 4 cold dishes. "白肉”（Cold Pork Slices)， ”醬牛肉”(Five-spice marinated Beef Shanks)， ”煙燻素鵝”(Smoked Soy-sheet rolls)， ”手撕雞”(Hand-Shredded Chicken). Pork slices were thinly sliced and fanned out atop mung-bean noodles and juliennes of cucumber. The dressing may look laden with garlic, but it's not the only flavour there was, in fact the tiny bit of tartness in the dressing got just enough to let my tastebuds open up for the next dishes. The beef shanks were sliced thinly, not enough to shine light through but you can certainly get some kicks in the well-rounded flavours in the marinade not to mention a pleasant blend of spices used in it. The Smoked Soy-sheet rolls contain shredded shiitaki mushrooms and carrots. The rolls, loosely rolled, tasted extra fruity from the smoking process. The Chicken, was a crowd pleaser. Sized of a small capon, the chicken was thick mealy shreds in a soy-based marinade that accentuates the mellowness of the meat. Scallion Pancakes (蔥油餅) were perfect round pastries laden with fresh green scallions. The flaky pastry is one of the best ones I've had here in Hong Kong.
Seated between a new Openricer freshly off the plane from the States and an British American Restaurant' veteran, my night was distilled to good food and lots of conversation switching between Cantonese and English. Sometimes lost in translation, both members of the International crowd were pleasant to talk to and knowledgable with stories to share. The British veteran shared with me his obsession over Gong-Pao Shrimps(宮保蝦球), served ironically on a sizzling iron plate which created that enough steam to smoke a chicken...His anticipation was high when Gong Pao shrimps arrived. Seeing his lips curled slightly with disappointment that the shrimps were battered, fried and rested on a plate instead of the sizzling plate, I couldn't help myself but reassured him that the shrimps would be equally good. Well, I must admit that the coating was a little thicker and the sauce tarter than anticipated.
Fried-Lamb (京燒羊排) arrived in a flash -- On a bed of lettuce with a blazing aura of heat glow surrounding it. One member of our table is a known lamb-fan, and to see him reassuring us that gnawing on it by the bone is the way to go, we soon decided to dig in quick. The lamb is crispy on the outside with the golden brown crust, the meat inside was moist and juicy. I was going to describe it as a really good lambchop, but I restrained myself from that description, simply because lambchops have never tasted so good -- simple flavours but good ones.
Chicken and Wonton Soup in Clay Pot (砂鍋雲吞雞) is next -- an enormous clay pot containing an entire chicken, wontons, plenty of Chinese ham and bokchoy to make this milky white soup simply should be considered "superb". The chicken has taken a dominant role in flavouring the soup, while the ham, despite being quite generous with it, was weaker as a flavoring ingredient. The wontons were slightly mushy but the soup somehow was a little too heavy on the salt. Then, the Roasted Duck (烤鴨) arrived next. The organizer has specially requested leaner ducks for this meal. The skins, neatly fanned out with bits of meat clinging to them, were crispy and glowing with its own fat. The meat part of the skin may have been more dry and tough but the skins were good at the very least.
Vegetable-Filled Egg rolls (炸春段) and Fried Vegetables topped with Egg Crepe (和菜戴帽) to me, were like variations of one dish. The egg rolls were similar to spring rolls, except the wrapper was prepared in advance and replaced with egg crepes; while the fried vegetables topped with egg crepe was more like vegetables fried for a group, and topped with a gigantic egg crepe. This gigantic egg crepe may have been drier than I expected it to be, and the vegetables were rather wet, and not to mention the flavours are lighter than the previous meat courses.
By the time the potstickers (鍋貼) were served everyone was pretty much full. They made their ways into the takeaway boxes of many. I did have one while it's still hot. Disappointingly so, the base was not crispy and the filling was too generous with the meat. It seemed a little too oily as a potsticker too, not to mention the floury dough made the dumpling so filling that no one wanted to proceed to have any -- because they looked filling enough.
Desserts were served to round up the evening. Who would be at a Beijingnese Feast with the Caramel-glazed fried apples/ bananas (拔絲蘋果／ 香蕉)? Apples were cut into wedges, while bananas in angular cuts and dipped into a batter and fried until golden. They were then quickly tossed into a hot caramel to toss. When served, these hot fruits were immersed quickly into iced water to harden the caramel. It's as much theatrics as it is food on its own. Biting into each piece, getting past the brittle amber-colored caramel coating and into the batter coating, the apples are slightly tangy but the bananas are honey-sweet, not to mention the feathery softness of the bananas that made the dessert less cloyingly sweet and heavy. This also went perfectly with a friend's homemade icewine. A fabulous element to accompany this fantastic dessert as well!
This dinner has started with a bang, and through the course of the night the dishes somehow has gotten tired and the quality couldn't keep up with the impressive standards we have anticipated them to be. I wouldn't go so far as to consider this another modern interpretation of "The Big Bang Theory" (The Big Bang being the entrance of the onslaught of fabulousness in the cold dishes). The dishes were executed quite well and I'd say, a dinner like this is something to be enjoyed -- with friends who truly care for food for qualilty. The experience is pleasant and fun throughout...I wouldn't know why I didn't decide to join this earlier...
Note: This dinner wouldn't be made possible without the efforts of KC and 惡男兄. Thank you for making this possible, and for a first dinner gathering, I think it has opened a window for some future opportunities too...
張貼
