Adventure #50: Xiao Nan Guo (Central)

This weekend was Rugby 7 weekend.  So we avoided Causeway Bay and had dinner at Xiao Nan Guo (Central) instead.  The food quality at both Time Square and Central are pretty much the same but the atmosphere is very different.  In Central, it is less noisy and definitely a more relaxing place to have dinner.

We had some of the usual dishes and a couple of new ones.

Stuffed lotus root with lotus seeds - one of my favourites

Drunken chicken 花雕醉雞 - one of the older one's favourite, this time even the little one loved it



One of the must haves 外婆紅燒肉



Stir-fried scrimps 清炒河蝦仁 - haven't ordered this for some time.  Still as good as I remembered

Tofu in crab roe 蟹粉豆腐 - heavenly

Fried fish 椒鹽小黃魚, never ordered this before but they were delicious!

We also ordered the standard Xiao Long Bao 小籠包, it was OK

And the kids' favourite noodle

And finally finished off with 桂花酒釀丸子 - Yum

Shanghai Xiao Nan Guo Cuisine

3/F., Man Yee Bldg
60-68 Des Voeux Rd Central
Central
Tel: 2259 9393

Adventure #49: The Krug Room

It was truly an adventure to dine at The Krug Room at The Mandarin Oriental.  An adventure of sight, smell, touch and of course taste.  The private dining room is situated behind the Chinnery and has a view of the kitchen.  Created by the House of Krug, this is one of only three Krug Rooms in the world.

Upon entering the beautiful dining room (too at awe to take a photo of the whole room but found a great one taken professionally from the net), I was immediately drawn to the decoration above the long marble dining table. 
  

The Krug Room

This was inspired by the river that ran through the Krug estate in Champagne - I think it is called Reflection of the Dishes

Apparently, the wood on this wall is imported and is the same oak used to ferment Krug champagne.

View of the kitchen from the dining room

There is no menu for the Krug Room, guests are served whatever Chef Uwe creates.  And the dishes he created for us this evening were written in chalk on the slate wall by the entrance.

Oak barrel signed by Olivier Krug, the CEO of the House of Krug

Tonight, our dinner consisted of 12 dishes - 8 "starters", 2 main courses and 2 desserts! And of course all "washed down" with Krug Champagne! Can't wait!!

Course 1 - Fruit
We were served a Pear and a piece of brioche

Sliced open the Pear to reveal foie gras - melt in your mouth delicious!

Course 2 - Caviar
Counter clockwise from top left: Olive oil flavoured mock caviar (tasted horrible, like drinking oil), real caviar (yummm), Kumamoto oyster on a bed of lychee flavoured sago (best of all!), another dollop of real caviar, apple flavoured mock caviar (interesting)

Course 3 - Leaves
Different coloured leaves made from mushroom (the brown one), beetroot (the red one) and pumpkin (the orange one).  I liked the beetroot one the best but G preferred the mushroom one.

Even after we finished, the plates all looked like pieces of art.

Course 4 - Benedict
Steamed duck egg topped with caviar and crab meat hidden inside the egg eaten with a mother of pearl spoon. Nice! 

Course 5 - Papillote
Scottish Salmon. This one needs a bit of DIY.

We were to put the salmon cube onto the rice paper, garnish with the sauce (I forgot what sauce, result of too much champagne), caviar and edible flowers. Finally, lift and pop in mouth.

Course 6 - Tea
First a cup with what looked like a gold nugget.

Then hot water was added - and I watched with horror as my gold nugget melted away!

Voila! Morel and porcini mushroom broth with edible gold flakes.  Unfortunately, most of us thought this one tasted a bit like Bovril......

Course 7 - Soap
This was one of the most interesting dishes.  We were first served a sponge, then a bar of soap, followed by a "bubble bath" with blue lobster from Brittany in it.  To make the "bath", we then add the soap to the tub and stir.  To take the bath, we were served a "towel" made of egg white and macaroni. Such fun!

Course 8 - Goose
First of the 2 mains.  Roasted goose served on a bed of pickled cabbage, whole egg yoke and topped with truffles.  The whole dish was served on cider wood that had just been burnt to give off the BBQ smell while we ate! Amazing! G enjoyed this as the egg yoke was cooked to perfection.

Course 9 - Leather
Second of the 2 mains.  First we were served a piece of cow skin made of onion puree (the white bits) and truffle puree (the black bit).

Then came the ribeye steak with sauce.  I am not a steak fan but this one really is melt in your mouth delicious! Never thought I would use "melt in your mouth" to describe a piece of steak but that's what it was!

Course 10 - Vacherin
Mont D'or with potatoes and walnut bread.  I think this is to prepare the pallet for dessert but I think we were all rather full by now and have no interest in any unnecessary carbs.  Besides, the Mont D'or was very strong leaving behind a rather bitter taste which didn't go down well with us.

Course 11 - Light Bulb
Dessert number 1.  A light bulb made of sugar and filled with coconut cream and served with a bed of ginger flavoured ice-cream. This was most innovative and was such a delight to eat. 

Finally, course 12 - Krug on the Moon. The finale. 
The waiter rolled out a mat onto the marble table and brought in a tray of equipment. This dessert is a piece of art made entirely of chocolate!

The black ball was made of chocolate and filled with berries.  When hot melted chocolate was poured over it, the black ball started to melt and mix with the berries.  My favourite part of this dessert.

Master piece done and we are ready to eat!

It took us a long long time to eat through this dessert but we were no where close to finishing it.  We were told that this dessert had never been finished..........

The Krug Room
1/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road Central
Central
Tel: 2825 4014

Adventure #48: The Pawn

I am not a fan of The Pawn. Been there a few times and thought that the food was acceptable but nothing great. So when I was asked to lunch at The Pawn again, I wasn't very enthusiastic.  As it turned out, the food from the set lunch menu was better than I had expected (maybe coz my expectation was very low) but still not out of this world.

The spinach salad with walnuts, bacon and Stilton was surprisingly nice

This is the first time I ordered Fish n Chips here - I think this is their best dish - fish is soft though a bit oily

The apple parfait with wild berries was ok

The Pawn
2-3/F, 62 Johnston Road
Wan Chai

Tel: 2866 3444

Adventure #47: Good Forture (Chai Wan)

Every year the girls' ballet school put on a formal concert.  This year, the venue was in Chai Wan.  To us, Chai Wan is just the last stop on the Island MTR line.  We have never been to Chai Wan.  Anyways, today we found ourselves in Chai Wan.  After dropping the girls off at the theatre, we went round looking for pre-show dinner and we came across a restaurant by the name Good Fortune.  The name is a bit "leong" but we don't have a lot of choices.......

G has been craving for roast goose for some time, so we today we were able to satisfied his craving.  The roast goose was not out of the world but at HK$75, it's OK.

The mandatory vegetable dish.

Don't know why but G ordered the Sichuan 水煮魚.  It was not authentic but tasted OK considering this is a Cantonese restaurant.

The dish of the day turned out to be the deep fried prawns in salty egg yolk.

Not a restaurant I would come back to but if you were in the neighbourhood and looking for a bit to eat, this is not a bad choice.