Birthday dinner, troisième chapitre

It's G's birthday and I'd been planning on cooking her dinner at home. I've been thinking about doing something new when a recipe was thrown in my direction. It looked interesting and was something I've never done before, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I went off in search of the main ingredient. It might sound simple, but try finding some beef cheeks or boneless short ribs, especially from wagyu. I went through 4 of the local premium supermarkets and came away with nothing. I was on the verge of giving up but decided to give my neighborhood meat shop a try. Thankfully I was able to pick up a mix of USDA Prime and wagyu short ribs.

I followed the very simple recipe and prepped all the ingredients. Unfortunately I had to resort to my stock pot as I didn't have anything in the right size. This means that some of the beef chunks were left partially exposed. For the final step, I poured a half bottle of a 2005 Chianti Classico into the pot, then shoved the pot into my oven. The apartment smelled pretty good for the next two hours.

I served the braised beef with some rye bread from Poilâne. I'm sure my execution was far from perfect, but it tasted alright. Needless to say, the wagyu was very tender, although a few pieces of the US beef were slightly tougher from being exposed to the air.

Tonight we drank a bottle of the 1971 Camille Giroud Clos de Vougeot to celebrate the birthday. I had very little expectation for the wine, for although 1971 was a good year in Burgundy and we were drinking a Grand Cru, I really wasn't sure about the winemaking at Camille Giroud all those years ago. But the wine was actually pretty nice once it opened up. Initially there was a bit of chalk, then the core of sweet fruit came out, with smoky, grilled meat notes. Later on the classic bacon fat and farmy nose really showed. Not bad.

It's a nice change to be at home for a birthday. Maybe I'll do it again next year!

A second day of birthday dinners

I'm dining out again tonight with a group of friends. Originally it was to be a belated celebration for my birthday, but subsequently turned into a birthday dinner for another friend as well as an early celebration (by a day) for G - a triple birthday dinner. I would be going back to the Green Mouse for more of Dimitri's cuisine.

Once again I'm puzzled by the staff's reluctance to provide each of us with a menu. The restaurant's not exactly packed with customers, so why didn't I get a menu when there was a stack of them right next to me?

I brought a bottle of the 1995 Etude Cabernet Sauvignon, a favorite wine of a couple of my friends. The wine has now become pretty mellow, with a smoky nose, a bit of mint and a hint of green pepper. There's a solid fruit core but not overly sweet. Very smooth on the palate.

We were given a thin slice of duck and pistachio terrine as the amuse bouche, which was OK but just a tad salty.

Since I didn't try it out last time, I ordered the chef's specialty foie gras trio. This would consist of pan-fried, crème brûlée, and terrine variations. The crème brûlée was OK and a little bit fun, while the pan-fried pieces were kinda so-so... The terrine was rolled with a piece of nori seaweed, and went nicely with the toast. Execution was OK, but it was quite a bit of foie.

I ordered the special duet of lamb as it sounded pretty good. The leg of Pyrénées lamb was done the traditional way with rosemary, but honestly this isn't my favorite preparation. The pan-fried New Zealand rack of lamb, in contrast, was very yummy. Those of us who ordered it knew exactly why we all preferred the rack - all that delicious, succulent caramelized fat. I tried to be good and leave some of the fat on the plate, but couldn't resist picking up the bones and stripping them bare with my teeth. The scene is familiar - one that two others at the table had witnessed all those years ago across the oceans in Napa.

Once again special mention has to be made about the very yummy sides on the plate. There was just so much variety - broccoli; caramelized shallots; snap peas; a roll made from sliced zucchini; a dollop of pumpkin mash; roasted potato; potato gâteau; cherry tomato and mushrooms.

I took the lemon tart for dessert, as it's nice to have something like this to finish up the meal. Pretty yummy.

It's a shame that the service here just fell flat. The waitstaff was just completely clueless... with each question posed, they would have to go ask the manager. They didn't know the specials of the day, nor they did seem capable of doing very much other than bringing and taking away trays.

I think we are all getting old... Three couples celebrating three birthdays on a Friday night, ending their evening out with dinner and nothing else afterwards! Sigh...

A very casual birthday

Today was my friend's birthday and two of us decided to keep her company. She wanted to have a casual dinner, so we ended up at Fu Sing (富聲) for some Cantonese. I've been wanting to come and try this place out, after hearing so much about it for so long.

I brought along a bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Cuvée Spéciale Jean-Paul Gaultier, with the special red corset that just screams JPG... The curvaceous lines of the Champagne bottle is wrapped with the red PVC corset, tied with a very long, black string... very sexy. The Champagne itself is not too shabby, either.

We started with the signature char siu (和哥炭爐叉燒), which I've been told is one of the best in Hong Kong. I don't think I'd call it the best in town, but it's pretty damn good. It's very tender but needs more of that caramelized fat.

The beef brisket with turnip in soup (清湯蘿蔔牛腩) was a bit of a surprise. Instead of a simple clear broth, the restaurant decided to dump tons of deep-fried diced garlic into the soup, turning the soup brown and making the taste a bit heavy. But the fatty brisket was tender and yummy for sure.

Since we are celebrating a birthday, a noodle dish was in order. The 'SO' Good fried crystal noodle (阿'蘇'乾燒粉絲煲) was pretty interesting. The claypot held a stir-fried heap of mung bean vermicelli, bean sprouts, cilantro, egg drops and diced dried shrimps. I thought this was pretty tasty.

The soy sauce chicken in Fu Sing style (富聲鮑汁豉油雞) was very delicious. The chicken was drenched in a sauce that was made with abalone and sweet, dark soy sauce. It's a shame we had too much food and couldn't finish this.

Finally there was the morning glory stir-fried with fermented tofu sauce (腐乳通菜). I was kinda surprised that the morning glory they used was not the young kind and came in big chunks.

I was a bit full, so I decided against a soupy dessert. Instead I picked a plate of deep-fried twisters with honey (炸麻花). Unfortunately this was a far cry from the really good stuff found at the Kimberley Hotel.

I'm really glad to have finally tried out Fu Sing, where the overall quality was fairly high. Now I just need to come back for dim sum...

...so is it Italian or French??

I'm back in Hong Kong today, and I've made plans for dinner at the Drawing Room. It was a chance for me to re-test the restaurant's cuisine while my friends got to try it for the first time.

We didn't bring our own wines this time, so I ordered a bottle of 2005 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley off the list. This just couldn't get any more Californian... huge nose of iron & minerals, orange, tropical fruits, very sweet and jammy, extremely ripe both on the nose and the palate. The nose was also very alcoholic, although it weighs in at just under 15%. A very different beast from the likes of Kistler and Marcassin.

For food I ordered the 4-course menu instead of the 6-course, as I've been eating way too much in Shanghai. Apparently each menu item can also be ordered a la carte. We were first served the amuse bouche - a mixture of long strands of seaweed which I mistook for homemade pasta and diced cauliflower. The taste of the ocean dominated and I kinda liked it.

Quail and foie gras with fig - the quail was really tender and juicy, done just about perfectly. The foie gras was very interesting - very charred on the outside and almost black - but really creamy and runny inside, almost liquid-like. The fig was actually not very sweet, which was a bit disappointing.

Angel hair with sea urchin, porcini mushrooms and asparagus - all the ingredients were there: wonderfully cooked angel hair, yummy porcini and very fresh-looking sea urchin that was very creamy and sweet. Individually the execution of each was very well done. But somehow the combination didn't quite click. The flavors were pretty heavy and it just didn't feel really harmonious in the mouth. It wasn't a bad dish, but I just wish it were better.

Challans duck breast and duck leg confit and duck ravioli - the duck breast was tender and moist, but looked just like any other duck breast I can find. The duck leg "confit" was a different matter...the meat was dry and tough, but it didn't have that traditional confit taste or consistency. My friend who ordered the same dish left most of it untouched. I think both of us were disappointed with this one. But the one saving grace here were the three little raviolis floating in a nice consommé. Take one bite and all the juices burst out into your mouth, much like some of the Chinese dumplings.

Since I've OD'd on this dessert many years ago, I gave away my molten chocolate cake.

Service here was a bit mixed. While some of the staff were attentive and impressed us, a few of them turned out to be pretty useless. The worst part is that we had problems understanding their English and had to ask them to speak to us in Cantonese, then realized things actually didn't get much better...

After the second visit, the same question still lingers in my mind: is this really an Italian restaurant? I heard about the Drawing Room a couple of months before it opened, and it has always been classified as Italian. But take one look at the menu and you'll find that half of what's on offer actually sounds more French. OK, so you get the same solid food regardless of how you want to classify the cuisine, but it's still a bit confusing...

Dinner in the clouds

I was invited to dinner at the Dining Room at the new Park Hyatt Shanghai by my friend Kevin. I was glad to have an excuse to go see the new hotel, and dine on the 87th floor just overlooking the top of Jinmao Tower next door.

Kevin graciously shared a bottle of 1989 Margaux with us. It was a beautiful wine, and I'm sure that it was every bit as good as the bottles that Paul Pontallier served us back in April.

I started with scallops with a lemon cream. While the scallops themselves were sweet, I must say that I didn't care for the lemon cream. It was simply too much and too sour for me.

The pan-fried pigeon with green pea mash was very good. The pigeon was very moist and tender, full of the gamey flavors that I love so much. The mash was delicious as well as pretty to look at.

Overall it was a very pleasant meal, and quite an experience to be so high above the city of Shanghai.