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2012-01-02
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So one day we received a flyer to say that some Chiu Chow chef from a famous restaurant in Shantou was going to set up at Moon Koon for 3 weeks. By Chinese definition, I am a Chiu Chow descendent even though my Mum is not from that province. And my husband's family, they are all pure Chiu Chows. So it seemed that it was our duty to check out this chef and his dishes.Moon Koon normally serves Cantonese food and dim sum at lunch time. During the promotion, they has a separate menu of the Chiu Chow
Moon Koon normally serves Cantonese food and dim sum at lunch time. During the promotion, they has a separate menu of the Chiu Chow dishes on offer. We decided to only order from this menu.
The first dish is Soy 8 Treasures. This will give a good indication of the standard of the chef since the soy pot is most important in the Chiu Chow cuisine. It is the same pot of sauce that is used throughout, for years and years. The soy base was very good. The 8 treasures included goose, goose liver, gizzard, neck, bean curd, intestine, goose neck, blood and web.
Salt fried Mantis prawns with whole garlic. The prawns were shelled which was a relieve as I am not good and lazy with getting these prawns from their shells. The prawns were soft and sweet, however none of us liked to eat whole pieces of garlic
One of my favourite Chiu Chow dishes is oyster omelette and there is a lot of skill in making a good omelette. Apart from pearl oysters and eggs, there is a glutinous flour that is added to give a chewy texture and the portions of flour to egg to oysters is very critical. The dish had a good balance of each and smelt, looked and tasted delicious, better than the same dish at the local Chiu Chow restaurants. Also to note was that it was not overly oily
Fried Kai Lan stalks seemed like an awful waste of food. The leaves and skin of the vegetables were all discarded leaving some leafless stalks which was fried. It's tasty but I can't support the way the rest of the vegetable was wasted
This next dish is not to everyone's taste. The mustard heart is slightly bitter and it is braised with dried shrimps and stock. They used a young mustard plant and it was cooked just to the right texture. Not too soft but tender enough. Even the bitterness was masked by the stock
Bar Lang fish is from the Chiu Chow waters and not normally found in HK. The chef had ordered many fresh ingredients to be transported to HK every day from the mainland. I had never seen this fish before but my Chiu Chow in laws know it. I have to say I didn't know how to appreciate the dish since it was just fried, a bit salty and dry. It makes me think of fish that cat eat
Deep fried bean curd was interesting. The bean curd was soft and a bit springy inside. I wasn't sure whether I really liked it. The dipping sauce was salted water with chives, the way Chiu Chows like to serve with bean curd
Another dish not necessarily appreciated by most people is Spring vegetables in clear soup in hot pot. I always find this vegetable bitter and tasting of grass so I hardly ate any.
Fried black dumplings. I didn't have any of this as I was full and not keen on the looks. It is a dessert and has sweet red bean paste inside. The Chiu Chow locals said it was lovely but I think it's a bit heavy for dessert
The last dessert is yam stick in hard sugar coating. This dish demands is hard to make and is dependent on the quality of the yam. When yam is in season, it can be delicious and it seems yam must have been in season
The Chiu Chow family were very happy with the meal as they had many dishes that are not normally available in Hong Kong and brought back many old memories. It's a good idea to run these types of special promotions once in a while.
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