Cheap & Good 大牌档 Dinner @ Keung Kee 强记鸡粥 at Tai Wai Hong Kong on 10May2013

chicken porridge-强记鸡粥

chicken porridge-强记鸡粥

<had another fun dinner at keung kee 强记鸡粥 on 28.9.2013>.

JK had been talking about this 强记鸡粥 in Shatin (which was located at Tai Wai 2 MTR stops from Shatin). 🙂

so we went there on our first night in Hong Kong on 10.5.2013.  JK ordered the popular dishes.

the chicken porridge – their 招牌鸡粥 (top photo) was the best dish for me..the chicken was so sweet juicy & tender like a very good chicken rice chicken & the porridge was so smooth & tasty. 🙂

红烧乳鸽 roast pigeon HK$58

红烧乳鸽 roast pigeon HK$58

椒盐濑尿虾 mantis shrimp HK$80

椒盐濑尿虾 mantis shrimp HK$80

the 红烧乳鸽 roast pigeon was to me just average.  we also had the 椒盐濑尿虾 mantis shrimp.  the 椒盐 deep-fry was actually very well done & tasty..however the shrimp were really “shrimp”, quite small so not fleshy & juicy..so the dish was passable just ok for me.

soy sauce beehoon 豆油米粉 HK$48

soy sauce beehoon 豆油米粉 HK$48

the simple soy sauce beehoon 豆油米粉 was really nice, & we duly polished off the pile of carbo with the porridge. 🙂

romaine lettuce 油麦菜

romaine lettuce 油麦菜

炸大肠 deep-fried big intestine HK$60

炸大肠 deep-fried big intestine HK$60

the romaine lettuce 油麦菜 in bean curd sauce was nice though JK felt it had not enough “wok hae”..I thought it was because of wet beancurd sauce whereas usual garlic fry would be “high heat dry wok” & good “wok hae”.

the only 败笔 (point of failure) in an otherwise quite wonderful dinner was, oddly, the 炸大肠 deep-fried big intestine – thought that was like the common standard food?? but looked like even the street stalls did better ones than these.

the whole dinner was HK$396 (S$64nett) for 4pax! 🙂 to me it was a really enjoyable meal & experience, and I would want to do more of these tai pai tong 大牌档 dinners when in Hong Kong. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Dimsum Lunch @ 迎 Joyous One on 11May2013

HK$38 BB pigeon

HK$38 BB pigeon

we completed our morning’s 5.7km 2hr hike at Dragon’s Back (Shek O Country Park) on 11.5.2013 a bit early & decided to make our way back to Tsimshatsui where we had made prior lunch reservation at 迎 Joyous One at Nathan Road. 🙂

we had wanted to take the HK$238pax 6-course set inclusive of a glass of wine, but that was not available so we settled down to a good dimsum instead, which could not go too far wrong in Hong Kong. 🙂

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we made the usual dimsum orders. the 潮州粉果. this was ok but i thought Timhowan was better. the steamed fu pei quin was quite good too.

steamed chicken feet

steamed chicken feet

steamed pork rib

steamed pork rib

the steamed chicken feet was good & much better than Timhowan (we later found the one at Lei Gardens was better than both). the steamed pork rib was also a lot better than Timhowan-the sauce was tasty but the pork rib pieces were just average but at least they were not mostly fat like at Timhowan.

mustard veg pig stomach soup

mustard veg pig stomach soup

mustard veg pig stomach soup was just HK$38! this was good we all liked it.:-)

the BB pigeon (top photo) was HK$38 & smaller than the one at 强记 which was HK$58..the skin was more crispy but overall i think 强记’s tasted better.

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the 香煎萝卜糕 was again below average.  it was really surprising that both Timhowan & here could not do this well. the steamed fishmaw was quite tasty, above average…I thought 糖朝 sweet dynasty was better. the 珍珠糯米鸡 was also below average, Timhowan’s much better though that had lots of glutinous rice & not enough ingredients.

char siew cheung 叉烧肠粉 -

char siew cheung 叉烧肠粉 –

the char siew cheung 叉烧肠粉 was good better than the liver cheung fun at Timhowan but i think many HK restaurants did this better.

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the 奶黄流沙包 custard egg bun was just average not as good as Imperial Treasure & Royal China. the 水晶包, a teochew dessert more commonly available in Hong Kong than Singapore was good, except they really should serve this & the custard bun last as a sweet but instead they served both first.

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we had 12 dimsum item + tea + 10% = HK$388 (about S$62 for 4pax). though I made many comparisons here, the lunch was really quite good overall with some pluses & minuses :-), very relax and very enjoyable, and of course it’s still much cheaper dimsum lunch c/w Singapore. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Degustation Dinner at My Favourite Restaurant @ Jaan on 8May2013

prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier

prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier

recent update = the-best-dinner-degustation-jaan-on-20jan2014

dinner at Jaan has always been a most enjoyable experience. we used to go Jaan quite a lot when Andre Chiang first arrived, and while we enjoyed his degustation dinners we liked his ala carte menu even more. 🙂

when Andre left (predictably) to set up his own restaurant & some swedish chef joined Jaan, we had given it a miss for most part of 1+ years, but somehow managed to rediscover Jaan a year+ ago when it was helmed by Julien Royer, the young current Jaan Chef, and we liked his degustation menu just as much now. 🙂

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7-course Menu Prestige

The Menu Prestige was a 7-course affair. as usual there were 2 great to super & very substantial amuse bouche, as well as a pre-dessert, so it was no less a 10-course meal. 🙂

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the first amuse bouche was 3 small items – a rye cracker with a very nice hummus dip, another cracker & a wonderful eel with jelly stick & croquette.

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the second amuse bouche was a cepes mushroom tea. this was truly sublime with such intense flavours & the best soup I had ever taken anywhere. 🙂 the bread basket came at this point as they baked them fresh. 🙂 I had truffle bread (very nice) and sour dough.

the FIRST course was prawn cannelloni on crustacean jelly decorated with ikura & topped with oscietra cavier. this was wonderful in taste as it was a beautiful picture to behold (see top photo).  I did though find the jelly just a little bit salty.

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the SECOND course was a 55min (at 60degC) rosemary smoked organic egg with iberico chorizo. It had wonderful smoked rosemary flavour. the texture & flavour combination of a very smooth, somewhat sticky egg yoke with savoury chorizo was excellent.

bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree

bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree

THIRD course was a bread & butter crusted Norwegian scallop with pumpkin puree, a great dish. the scallop meat was very sweet & totally consistent – looked like it was sous vide (vacuum low temperature cooking) then deep-fried.

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next, the FOURTH course was pan seared foie gras in 3 large bite-size pieces topped with strawberries & a very good fish broth or dashi stock – this was somewhat new variation to the usual caramelised version & it was easy to eat too with a spoon. 🙂

confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek

confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek

the first Main –  the FIFTH course was an excellent confit atlantic turbot with squid, grilled leek. they called it confit here but they were all sous vide to produce the very excellent consistency & sweetness. My wife liked this very much. I was a bit undecided as while it was good I might actually have preferred a good pan-seared version of this great fish. 🙂

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hay roasted bresse pigeon confit leg with barley & morel mushrooms

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the second Main – the SIXTH course – was hay-roasted bresse pigeon confit leg with barley & morel mushrooms. I had always loved this dish, very sweet & tender both the breast & leg. again, it was sous vide then hay roasted. the barley was excellent touch. 🙂

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very nice pre-dessert sorbet palate cleanser

this was followed by a very nice pre-dessert sorbet palate cleanser.

choconuts version 4 - different flavours of chocolates

choconuts version 4 – different flavours of chocolates

the SEVENTH & last course was a choconuts version 4 – different flavours of chocolates. every version at Jaan was good, basically it was just re-decoration of the same items but showing off the chef artistic plating skills. 🙂

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coffee was served with petite 4 – marshmallows, nutty chocolate, a rock melon sorbet stick, and a rosemary infused profitero lollipop.

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Jaan the restaurant – we had a window seat great view

we managed to get window seat for the evening. the view was great! MBS, Esplanade, the Flyer – very enchanting skyline. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy