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2017-02-03
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HXFC! Although we wish that CNY holiday would never ever end, it's not to bad to end the traditional Chinese festival with a traditional classy Chinese meal, curated by the chef who used to work at the Government House preparing the finest cuisine for some of the very important people in the world including George W. Bush and Ms. Thatcher. Chef Mr Chong continued his journey by expanding his expertise in traditional Chinese cooking for the public. Using exquisite ingredients and skilful cooking
HXFC! Although we wish that CNY holiday would never ever end, it's not to bad to end the traditional Chinese festival with a traditional classy Chinese meal, curated by the chef who used to work at the Government House preparing the finest cuisine for some of the very important people in the world including George W. Bush and Ms. Thatcher. Chef Mr Chong continued his journey by expanding his expertise in traditional Chinese cooking for the public. Using exquisite ingredients and skilful cooking methods, Chef is determined to bring smile on customers' face.
The interior is bright with a main colour tone of white and gold. Square and rectangle tables are used instead of the traditional round table in Chinese culture, but it still embraces a bonded environment for diners to interact with their companies. Some playful and somewhat traditional decorations can be found on the table and on the wall. There are some cute little traditional compasses for you to play with. We have also found some black Derby hats hanging on the wall as the light bulb which is pretty interesting.
Today, we are here for a proper celebration for the Lunar New Year so we must go all-in! The restaurant serves a wide selection of Chinese seafood and meat dishes, while an updated "Tasting Menu" at $580+10%/per head is also available for customers to enjoy their dinner with the hassle of picking their dishes, yet still be able to experience the scrumptious delicacies using all kind of cooking style including deep fried, double-boiled, braised, pan-fried, stir-fried, boiled, and more. $580+10% looks like a very reasonable price for this 8-course Tasting Menu at this sophisticated dining place. Join me to this journey to see if it is worth it.
Mini toast top with braised abaloneStarting a meal in a luxurious way which is a abalone starter. An "OK" size abalone has been braised until really flavourful. Its' savoury but not too savoury that would overpower the original seafood taste from the abalone. It's also extremely soft and tender after being braised for a long time. The abalone itself is absolutely delicious but that's not it.
Underneath the cute little piece of abalone, there is a piece of crispy cucumber to act as a balancing agent between the deep fried crispy toast and strong flavoured abalone. Then it comes to a perfectly crispy toast which has been sweetened to bring out the distinguished taste from the main character, abalone itself.
It's a bite size but it would be better for ladies to enjoy that in half. It's a literal mouthful of explosion with that hint of sweetness from the crisp bread to cut through that abalone, a very enjoyable flavour that would last in your mouth for a long time.
Deep fried chicken wing stuffed with bird's nestI have had a few good pieces of stuffed chicken wings lately but I must say that Lai Bun Fu has nailed the stuffing technique because the bird nest has been packed inside the very limited space inside a decent size of chicken wing that has been seasoned in soya sauce and deep fried until perfectly golden and crispy on the outside.
The bird nest basically doesn't have much taste so this dish is rather lightening although it is deep fried. The chicken flavour complimented that traditional Chinese delicacy nicely and you would have never imagined that deep fried salted chicken meat can actually go well with bird nest! It's surprisingly good and I highly recommend you to try it. p.s. by this second course, we found that this Tasting Menu is a good deal because this dish costs $168/head if you order it from the a la carte menu!
Double boiled black garlic and conch soup with pork As a soup lover who lives alone, it's almost impossible to prepare myself some nice soup with my busy schedule. Therefore, it's always comforting to drink a bowl of hot soup to nourish our bodies.
Double-boiled is my favourite kind of cooking method to prepare soup because it's clear and not fatty at all. Yet, every little flavour from each single ingredients from the soup would have been cooked into the soup, giving it a complex aroma between the quirky black garlic, sweet conch and a hint of porky taste.
Braised Angus beef brisket in pumpkinI was pretty skeptical about this dish because beef brisket with pumpkin is not a common dish in Cantonese cuisine. I see why though as the menu embraces an array of elements including treasure delicacies, meat, soup, seafood, veggies, and of course some rice, so this dish can definitely please those meat lovers as these chunks of briskets are hearty and meaty !
The Angus beef briskets are chopped into big pieces and braised in just a light savoury thin sauce. It's moist but still has a chew to it. It's not the pork breaking kinda type you can literally feel some ligament parts in the meat. They are rather fatty cut which makes me wanna order a bowl of plain steamed white rice to go with it but I do need to save my stomach for the rice in soup later in the menu.
Pumpkin can be easily cooked until completely softened but not disgustingly mashed. It's flavourful after absorbing all those Chinese spices like star anise from the seasonings.
Traditional pan fried prawn with spicy soya sauceThen, we were served with a big piece of prawn that has been fried until just done! The fresh prawn is coated with a powerful spicy soy sauce with just a kick of spiciness but not too hot to my liking and I think most of the people can handle this level of heat.
We were not provided with a fork and knife for this dish so it's a little bit difficult for me to eat it with a pair of chopsticks. (Or maybe it's just me who doesn't know how to hold chopsticks properly).
The prawn meat itself is indeed super fresh with a good crunch to it. The sauce complimented the seafood nicely which lifted up the prawn taste. As I mentioned before, the prawn is just cooked until done. If you are a prawn head person, you may find that the head is still very runny which is full of prawn roe, so make sure you suck that juice out if you fancy.
Stir fried pea sprout with crab sauceWe gotta have some veggies and it is the pea sprout season in Hong Kong right now. They are in dark green colour and very young. The leaves of these veggies are very soft with a smooth texture, comparing to the stems which are pretty thick and slightly rough.
A whole plateful of young delicious and nutritious veggies are covered with a slap of slightly thickened clear starch sauce mixed with some shredded crab meat. The amount of crab meat is pretty generous and they are in big chunks. It's a very refreshing dish with a light enjoyable sea water taste from the seafood.
Assorted seafood and lobster rice in soupAt this stage, we are already pretty satisfied but in Chinese saying, we must have some rice in a meal to give us energy and warmth especially in this chilled weather. Compared to their staple Lai Bun Fu fried rice (abalone fired rice), this is a much lighter way to enjoy rice. A few spoonful of jasmine rice is cooked in a clear seafood soup made with shredded prawn and lobster meat. Most importantly, a trace amount of celery flower is sprinkled on top giving a superbly on point refreshing grassy taste. A touch of thoughtful detail showed the experience of chef, knowing how to use fresh ingredient cleverly, to bring out each of every single unique scent for your taste bud.
Plus, the restaurant doesn't mess up with the food temperature because it is very important to serve the dishes hot in Chinese culture. After this bowl of rice, our body instantly warmed up to protect ourselves from the cold.
Daily dessert (Walnut Sweet Soup) Lastly but certainly not least, we are pretty excited with this daily dessert which is their housemade walnut sweet soup, undoubtedly the best kind of dessert you can possibly during the winter time. Pieces of healthy walnuts have been ground into a smooth paste but you can still see some very fine pieces of crushed walnut in the soup.
We liked that because it is not too sweet and it has a very nutty taste from the pure walnut. Who would want to have a bowl of powdery sweet soup when you can have a fresh bowl of healthy yet delicious nourishing soup?
So what do you think of the menu? In terms of the quality and ingredients they used, $580 per person + 10% is a reasonable price. It's more valuable when comparing to the a la carte menu as one dish may cost you close to $200. Tasting menu is kind of a no brainer and it is a great way to test out the skills of the chef and the quality of the food. You can always come again for their a la carte if you like their food from the tasting menu. Or you can order some extra dishes if you think that the tasting menu doesn't satisfy your big appetite. But for us, we are more than happy with this meal and I can't wait to come back for more!
張貼
