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2009-07-28
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Eating 炭燒煲仔飯 in mid July is weird indeed but I convinced myself its more a matter of desiring over certain 'cooking methods' rather than seasonality. Afterall, we all still consume hot rice with stir fries or 碟頭飯 daily during Summer months The 煲仔飯 in this restaurant isn't news to me, but only this time did I notice that its ain't completely cooked by 炭燒 method. Its firstly cooked on the ultra powerful fire stove (a very hot flame reserved for wok stir-fry), the high heat not possibly emulated
The 煲仔飯 in this restaurant isn't news to me, but only this time did I notice that its ain't completely cooked by 炭燒 method. Its firstly cooked on the ultra powerful fire stove (a very hot flame reserved for wok stir-fry), the high heat not possibly emulated by the dodgy 6 or 12 'gas stove heads' sharing a single gas pipe as installed outside most other 煲仔 shops! Later, this is transferred to be finished off on the 炭燒爐. One couldn't help being suspicious why the 1st step was necessary. Afterall, charcoal normally burns at quite high temperatures right, in the 500-1000C range, sometimes upto 1500C? But that's the thing - not all charcoals or coal burn hotter than gas flames (gas burns in the 900-1600C range), its a common misconception popularised by exaggeration by magazines... Using low quality coal or charcoals for HK BBQs isn't always hot enough for searing purposes each and everytime too. But that isn't even the main point. Charcoal does produce an abundance of evenly distributed Radiant Heat, also a much nicer aroma from the burning process: perfect for making evenly cooked 煲仔飯 or steaks or yakitori, these not achievable with 1) Electricity Heater elements with also radiant heat but at lower temps, usually for replacing 炭燒 Robatayaki nowadays, nor 2) Gas Flames' burning at high temps but via direct uneven heating, with sometimes too small a stove head setup with too small a flame also suffering from uneven heat distribution as well as not enough heat.
They all have their own pros and cons but at the end of the day, it all depends on the setup. Since the 瓦煲 is already a good medium for re-distributing the heat evenly and also acts as a capable heat capacitor, also the lid is closed during cooking anyway so the Charcoal flavour doesn't penetrate into the rice itself but remains on the outside of the cooking pot, I think 炭燒 might not benefit the 煲仔飯 as much as it does for steaks, burgers and yakitoris requiring more direct Radiant Heating. But compared to the small flames all sharing a narrow gas pipeline at most shops, it can have its advantage.
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咸蛋黃土魷肉餅煲仔飯 - The waitress added the 'sugary soysauce' automatically on our table, then closed the lid for a while. When it was time to eat, I noticed there was an aroma from both the food/rice, as well as a separate unpleasant 'burnt' smell. This 'burnt' smell was mostly from the over caramelization of the sugared soy sauce - I know this because in the 2nd bowl that arrived after, I stopped the lady pouring too much sweet soysauce in at such an early stage and this problem was solved.
I thought the Pork in this rice was quite nicely done, despite a lack of pork taste it was fluffy and pleasant. The 土魷 however was disappointing as it completely lacked the strong seafood smell and taste I had expected, I think this was definitely frozen 土魷.
The Salted Egg yolk was probably slightly overy cooked. Altogether - I thought the 餸 & 飯 were not integrated at all somehow, they were separate entities, where the flavour from the 餸 above did not penetrate into the rice. There was also a lack of rice taste. A rather bland 煲仔飯.
鱲肉荔茸肉碎飯 -
This suffered similarly to the above. The Taro balls were okay, but probably had too much lard taste within. The 肉碎 was I think mainly minced pork and some mushrooms, it did not carry a lot of taste and it certainly didn't combine with the rice. The additional 鱲肉 was ordered to try enhance the flavour but these were also surprisingly a bit bland rather than gamey, without dripping much 'oil' back into the rice. I believe both the toppings and rice were cooked separately until the later stages.
There was some 飯蕉 in both bowls but it was burnt in taste in the first one, due to the sugary soysauce burning against the bowl's hot surface. I really think I was slightly disappointed in a way, as there wasn't a lot of rice aroma or taste... unlike the 紫砂盅 rice in 精點心 which used similar Thai rice grains. The toppings and the rice were kind of 貌合神離. I sometimes eat the Beef and Raw Egg one at 永合成餐廳餅店 close to work but that's only because the meat is good there but the whole rice pot is also disappointing in terms of integration.
I've had better in the distant, I'm sure of it - ones that fills and satisfies all the sense. But where are the good ones these days? Might need to do some research soon for autumn/winter! However I would still recommend this shop because the owners come up with new interesting combinations once in a while. They even have a Rose Tea flavoured rice version on the menu.
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