Dim Sum Adventure

Maxim Palace in City Hall, Saturday, September 26, 2009

We arrived at the restaurant around noon and the line was already pretty long. We got number 46 and they were just calling out number 24. Hmmm, good thing we brought our books. The restaurant is housed in the 2nd floor of the City Hall. Massive space that could host a wedding reception or two at the same time. About half an hour wait, we were called and showed to a table at the very end of the restaurant around the corner next to the bar. We were isolated from the masses and the trolleys. My first impression is wow. It was bright, white and big. The plate setting is impeccable and first rate. But how about the food?

The trolleys start to come our way and we ordered har gau, sticky rice in lotus leaf and spareribs. The har gau was fine but the spareribs were seasoned with lots of pepper and reminded us of Korean BBQ. The trolleys all have Chinese and English names placards so both locals and tourists know what they contain. We also ordered Chinese broccoli and rice with chicken. Both dishes were okay. The dim sum came fast and furious with the ladies speaking in rapid Cantonese directed at me. I just shrugged apologetically and asked in English. I had no time to whip out my camera to take pictures. The other dishes were roasted pork and siu mai. We also ordered others that we forgot.

We found the service okay. We did feel hurried and not as restful. Barely had time to read my book! Being in the corner away from the main thoroughfare, we felt we missed some dishes and the action in being in a dim sum restaurant. The bill was astronomical at $700 for an experience that was just so-so. Maxim Palace is nice place for beginners and wary.



Tai Woo, Causeway Bay, Sunday, September 27, 2009

Feeling a bit unfulfilled with the previous dim sum adventure. I scoured the books and blogs for a recommendation. I was surprised by the lack of blogs that chronicles dim sum experience. I found two blogs that seem to like Tai Woo Restaurant. We hopped on a taxi and got to Causeway Bay in no time flat. We were at the restaurant by 10am.

It is unfortunate that the way to the dining rooms is in disrepair. Not appetizing at all. The dining rooms are chopped up in sections which made it feel like you are in a maze. We were seated in the back room and felt a bit better. Not many patrons yet (lucky for us). We were given tea and a Chinese menu. The server came by and inquired if we would like an English menu (whew!). The English version was easy to navigate but we also asked him if there were some in the Chinese one (more items in it) that he recommends. He took the time to point out some and we ordered some off that menu.

The first one came roughly 5 minutes later. It was a dumpling stuffed with scallops, shrimp and cilantro. It was beautiful as it is delicious. We also had baked bbq pork buns and steamed char siu buns (both luscious). One of the highlights is the bbq spareribs with pumpkin (a great spin on the usual spareribs fare). We did not quiet like the xiao long bau although it came prettily in a stacked steamer.

We waited a bit on the sticky rise in lotus leaf. I think there was mix up in the translation so we ended up with 3 orders. Fortunately, they were delicious that they were gobbled up happily.

The whole meal cost $240. Aside from the difference in the ambience (Maxims definitely wins)and price (Tai Woo by a landslide), the food in Tai Woo is seasoned well. The service (aside from the mix up) was attentive and friendly. Will come back again but will put blinders on until we get to the table.

Scallops,shrimp and cilatro dumpling














Xiao Long Bau in small individual steamer



















Taking a page from the locals. Locals read (books, newspapers, magazine) while they have dim sum as well as talk to their companions. They take a long time at dim sum but it is expected and they are not hurried at all by the restaurant. That's why the table turnover can be quiet long.


































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Innovative Dining

We had dinner with Carolina at Bo Innovation last week and I just had to write about it. The dinner went on forever - in a good way.

First course the Moutai Sour, a one shot drink that we were instructed to sip through the tiny straw and not to stir. Yummy. It reminded me of a foamy creamy margarita. Very refreshing.












2nd course: Sea Urchin with compressed watermelon, wasabi and corn. We were instructed to eat everything in one bite. Briny the way it should be.









3rd course: Caviar with smoked quail egg and crispy taro. Another one biter. The caviar explodes in your mouth backed with the creamy mashed quail egg. Had champagne. Unbelievable combination. We were clamoring for more of the caviar.









4th course: Toro with foie gras powder and freeze dried raspberry. The toro was very fatty and rich. The dried foie gras dusted on it and the sharp raspberry were good foil. A two biter. We are now 4 bites into our dinner.









5th course: Oyster with spring onion foam, lime and ginger snow. A one biter. Love the instruction manual. I unfortunately, inhaled the foam before biting into my oyster. But the oyster was briny and not mushy. The ginger snow (how do you make that?) was a great addition.









6th course: Sea Bream with “har mi” oil and sweet soy sauce. One biter. Kinda disappointing after having the intense flavors thus far. The fish was overpowered by the oil.

7th course: Iberico 36 with morel, vermicelli, and onion foam. Another okay dish. But paired with the Chardonnay…yum










8th course: Foie Gras with sichuan “jo lo”, woba and peas. We were all looking forward to this dish and we were not disappointed. The foie gras was luscious. Salty with the sweet to balance out the fattiness of foie gras. Excellent.

9th course: Molecular. This one is a head scratcher. The name itself is curious, the dish presented in front of me is interesting. It is “xiao long bao” or shanghai bun essence encased in a thin glutinous membrane. Served in a spoon, sitting like an egg yolk, the warm dumpling burst in my mouth and all the taste of the xiao long bao is released. It was poetry.










10th course: Shangri-la Yak’s milk cheese sauce over “cheung fun” and accessorized by black truffles. A 3-biter since there were 3 noodles. This was comfort food for adult palate. We can picture ourselves with a bowl (a big bowl) of this sitting in front of a tv and champagne in hand. The sharp cheese was silky.









11th course: Crab roe soufflé with marinated star fruit and aged chinkiang vinegar. At this point I was stuffed. We’ve had 12-13 bites so far and I’m feeling my limit. The soufflé was so so. A bit greasy cut down by the vinegar. The star fruit did not help. Could skip this one.

12th course: Ocean Trout in fermented black bean and honey miso served with pickled bak choy and ginger pellet. We were told to eat the trout first then the bak choy and ginger. But we found the trout (which strongly resembled salmon in taste and texture) to be too oily. Better to eat it with bak choy and ginger. A two-biter which brings the total to 14.

13th course: Sweetbread with enriched oyster, watermelon, dragon beard and artichoke. I’m sure that this is good but at this point my taste bud is overloaded. The accompaniments cut through the buttery taste of the sweetbread. One-biter.

14th course: Iberico Secreto with crispy sweet and sour, lychee jelly and dehydrated pineapple. I’m pretty overwhelmed by this course and did not finish. Just nibbled and sighed. A two-biter.

15th course: Blue cheese with braised lotus seed and lanzones syrup. The sharp blue cheese woke my palate (maybe a good course to have between 11th and 12th?). Didn’t eat much but it did the job of perking up my taste bud. The lanzones syrup is a good foil to sharp and salty cheese.

16th course: Almond cream infused with sandalwood smoke. One word to describe this course is: cool. It came in a smoke filled lidded jar. The moment I took off the lid, the sandalwood smoke was intoxicating. The almond cream was wonderful and reminded us of having ice cream at a campfire. I’ll classify this as a 2 biter but essentially we took our time with this one.



















17th course: Shui Jing Fang. Poached caramelized banana with dark chocolate ganache. We were again instructed to eat the banana then the ganache. We beg to differ and ate it together. Much better. 2 Biter.

17 1/2th course: Jasmine Kiss. Not a dish but an experience. Bowls of jasmine flowers were place in front of us then the server poured dry ice over the flowers. We were told (again, enough with the instructions!) to blow the smoke to our companions. We felt silly doing it but the fragrant was unbelievable.



















18th course: Chinese Petit Four of toffee, marshmallow, Thai basil macaroon and sesame ball with ganache. Good ending. The macaroon was so good we asked for another plate. So five bites takes the total to 27 bites more or less.









The overall experience was unbelievable. There were dishes that were innovative (Molecular for instance) and some small dishes that were just fine. Maybe if we opted for the Tasting Menu instead of the Chef menu (an expanded version at that), I would have gone the distance. The presentation was imaginative and fun. The service was attentive and not too pushy. The “instructions” were funny at first but became a bit tired towards the end (just let me eat it!). We had a great evening (a long one – 5 hours!) in a wonderful space. I would come back again but not so soon. Need to save up for it and to let my taste bud recover.

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Chinese Cuisine Training Institute

I joined the American Women Association tour of the Chinese Cuisine Training Institute last week. CCTI is a government run facility in Pokfulam to train new and experienced chefs in the art of Chinese cuisine. I had a glimpse of the training kitchens devoted to certain regions (Northern Region vs Southern) or certain preparation. I think in the "Southern" kitchen the woks have one handle so they can flip the food whereas the "Northern" kitchen woks have two handles.

We were also fortunate that they were holding the Best of the Best Competition that day. At the time, it was the Dim Sum category. It was fascinating to see the chefs create small wonders, being so meticulous so that each and every dumpling is as beautiful as the next. This could have been an episode out of Food Network.



A trainee was concentrating on making each slice as thin as could be but when the supervising teacher came by, he kinda fumbled. It was nerve wracking to see them cut the vegetables with huge cleavers.
















Chefs in training
















Best of the Best Competition Dim Sum Category
































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Hong Kong Once Again

Boxes, boxes and more boxes.

They came and we pretty much unpacked most of them. But yet, there are still some items that we can't figure out where they should go. Some items need places to call home. Some items need to be stored somewhere. And that's the magic word: SOMEWHERE. Somewhere is the place where all these items need to be. Not in a box on the floor behind the couch or not leaning against the wall or not on the counter. They all need to be somewhere. Problem is that somewhere is a bit lacking in a space that is half what we used to have.

The new place is smaller. Not just in floor square footage but, more importantly, in "cabinet" square footage. Our new kitchen in its modern sparsity has 1/6th of our old place. The new place has no basement (it is a flat after all) to store what-have-yous and whatchamacallits.

Nonetheless we are here. With boxes, unpacked and still packed.


Dresses should be hanging not an Emma!


















Lauren surviving her first day of school.



















Emma in her candy cane uniform on her first day.



















Emma pointing at our new home (left of the pink building).




















Oh, and the cats are also "unpacked".





























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