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2009-07-09
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Walking into 明記 I was not expecting any gourmet meal. If so I would have walked a few steps over to Fook Lam Moon instead. All I wanted are simple dishes with a little "wok chi", and seafood that isn’t like those chain production of which you can only detect the sauce without seafood freshness or sweetness. 明記 was able to deliver exactly just that.For a simple dinner we started of with the house soup 粉葛鯪魚湯(例湯) . Very standard 老火湯 with the sweetness of the fish and earthiness of the 粉葛 compl
Walking into 明記 I was not expecting any gourmet meal. If so I would have walked a few steps over to Fook Lam Moon instead. All I wanted are simple dishes with a little "wok chi", and seafood that isn’t like those chain production of which you can only detect the sauce without seafood freshness or sweetness. 明記 was able to deliver exactly just that.
For a simple dinner we started of with the house soup 粉葛鯪魚湯(例湯) . Very standard 老火湯 with the sweetness of the fish and earthiness of the 粉葛 completely extracted to the concoction with long hours of simmering. We had high expectation for the Premium Soy Sauce Jumbo Prawns (豉油王海蝦) as the fragrance of the soy sinfully permeated the air when it descended to our table. We were not disappointed, as every bite of the bouncy and succulent prawn carried the ocean freshness complemented by the savory soy sauce. This is definitely finger-licking good even down to the prawn shells!
The Steamed Crab with Egg White and Chinese Wine (花雕蛋白蒸花蟹) was just as good, if not better than the prawns. Although the crab wasn’t very large in size, once again the brininess and sweetness of the crab was intense and alluring. The perfectly steamed egg white custard infused with the crab “liqueur”( crab juice and wine 花雕) was divine! It’s like my favorite soothing kani chawanmushi, but one step further!
For the greens, we ordered a Chinese Broccoli Claypot (啫啫芥蘭煲), which was essentially Chinese broccoli sauteed with ginger and wine. The clay pot filled with only the thickest, juiciest part of the Chinese broccoli was sizzling hot (and we could hear the sound) when it arrived at our table. The ginger and Chinese wine once again created an incredible scent that could just be the next best-selling aromatherapy! We were all surprised that this unassuming dish could be so enjoyable!
The only misstep of this dinner was the Tofu Vegetarian Delight (麒麟豆腐). There was nothing wrong with the ingredients used, which included tofu (布包豆腐), shitake mushroom, bamboo fungus (竹笙), and some greens, but the gooey brown sauce was bland and pretty much destroyed the whole dish. It was the only dish that we couldn't finish that day.
The staff was really nice and was chatting with us and a lot of regulars. They were funny at times and one conversation after another we were even chatting a bit with the table next to us. I really like this kind of homey, comfy environment where everyone was down to earth and friendly, like your long-time neighbors! There were also a lot of people getting takeout orders of their BBQ items such as boiled chicken and clay pot dishes. I even saw someone returning an empty clay pot which was given to the customer with the takeout order! With nice food and nice people, I am sure I will just be one of those people if I live in this neighborhood!
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