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2010-03-05
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...by by topic, I mean it sort of reminds of what typcial Westerners think and do enjoy about Chinese food and Hong Kong in general, when Cantonese food is often mixed-up with other well known dishes from further up North or to the West of China. Its the convenience of serving all types in one convenient location to please expectations, much like a mini food court stall and to me, the China Club kitchen plans their menu around this philosophy - but fortunately also retaining some old-school aut
But before you 屈我, don't take it as me stereotyping about eaters - quite the contrary in fact if you try not to read between the lines only. I have met MANY foodies, including overseas eaters from Westerners to Koreans or Japanse, who actually fully understand Chinese food and their provincial differences, its certainly more than what many Hong Kong people are used to believing otherwise. Sometimes, I think we need to show mutual respect to fellow foodies from overseas, please.. If you think about it, what are the CHANCES that us Hong Kong people really can distinguish the differences between various types of regional cuisines served in different parts of France or Italy or Belgium or the UK or even India? From my observation upto this point - the majoritive don't bother distinguishing between them, which is sarcastic considering we often look down upon fellow overseas diners who don't understand HK food either, when we commit exactly the same thing ourselves in a hypocritical way. A good example can be - a lot of Southern French food overlaps with Italian food, or Basque cuisine or Spanish, or Mediterranean or Israel, and I can think of many dishes throughout Europe... In my opinion, if we are really true Foodies and HK is a genuine melting-pot, we should strive to try showing foreigners what they really could explore and learn more about Cantonese food - just as you would want the same when you travel to Japan or Finland or Alsace, and you will find it annoying if your host tries to stereotype what they think you would like and accept, therefore bringing you to those touristy places rather than the real local stuff. Just to put words into action, I have actually tried doing this before, showcasing specialty Cantonese Food to my overseas friends whether it be in Japan, Australia or in Hong Kong, and everytime it was quite successful and they will learn to appreciate it 1 day. Except the chicken feet or or duck tongues, of course, haha!
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Had a variety of dishes here, sorry about the lack of food photos as its rude taking some when DINING WITH OVERSEAS GUESTS, I guess lunch is is more relaxed? Besides, this club is a Members only venue and I didn't want to get into trouble taking pics only to have some staff come and tell me to stop afterwards - can u imagine the scene or consequences, embarrassing me infront of my dining companions. I won't take the gamble. (Therefore only sneaky pictures haha when they are not looking! )
The Stirred Fried Angus Beef with Garlic -
Is admittedly a Westernised Idealised Cantonese dish, but here it was done pretty well in a way, in fact better than more so-called AUTHENTIC Cantonese executions of this dish, because it wasn't even 'soda-tenderised' at all, like 99.9% of Hong Kong Cantonese restaurants. 4.5/5
The half a Peking Duck -
Here, was pretty poor in comparison - I know it's unfair to rate Peking Ducks when you only order a half-carcass rather than a full-bird, because almost all Peking Duck's are partially pre-roasted, then re-heated again unless u special order it to come out at a certain time. Half-a-Peking-Duck don't like being re-heated unfortunately, as it tends to run drier than full ducks without skin pre-cut open, and in this night's case, it had began to 'curve upwards' like a 月彎刀, a very sore sight. The meat was too dry, understandably. Having taken into consideration the half-a-duck limitation however, I felt the meat could still carry more fresh duck gamey taste, either that or better marination flavours, or more wood-grilled flavours (which it wasn't!) or more crispy skin too. The sauce and scallions were ok-good, the pancakes way too cold and floury. 2.5/5
Grilled Pork Neck Thai style -
This wasn't very good in a way too. The pork neck although fatty, hasn't started to develop any fat flavour, nor meat flavour, not grilling flavour. It was also marinated in some spice which is strange - not authentically Thai, not truly Cantonese either, somewhere in between. This dish was also very cold by the time it got to the table. 2.0/5
Soup Braised Young Vegies Sprout -
This from memory came with some shaved Yunnan ham on top, which are of great quality. The stock it was cooked in was good too, not the usual Chicken Powder based chicken stock. Its not hard to get this type of dish completely wrong but on the other hand not many places get this perfect - even Lung King Heen stuffed up the similar dish big time the last time I tried it. Here it was enjoyable but not top notch. 4/5
Braised Yee-Fu Noodles -
This was half braised and half stirred-fry in my opinion, with the politically correct base of mushrooms, oyster and also abalone sauce. The version served here was very satisfactory, relatively speaking. I say this because I've had some pretty ordinary versions locally. In comparison the version here stood out because it wasn't over-cooked and mushy, it carried mushroomy taste, the sauce although ordinary was balanced and enhanced the dish, the noodles themselves had proper noodles taste. Could it get any better? Yes it could. But in comparison, someone can tell me where I can eat a better version first, before I downgrade this score. 4.5/5
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The Bar upstairs is quite attractive in a way - they serve alcoholic drinks with Cantonese 蝦子花生, which is quite a novelty. OVERALL, this restaurant on the whole though still reminds me of food served a bit past their useful date, kind of like older-style 1st wave immigrants run overseas 唐人街's restaurants or Chinese foodcourt stalls which still survive, thanks to Customers who always buys this type of food. A bit like the Panda or Noodle-in-a-Box chains of America in a sense. Except, the executions here are honestly pretty good in a way. It reminds me of Colonial style British-Chinese food too, or in a way the style is too similar to some 港島廳 offerings which are more geared towards the a cross-over between satisfying both Western or Japanese customers as well as local Hongkies. In fact - both restaurants attract exactly the same mix of crowd.
But that's not to say, it will be satisfactory for every overseas visitor - because as far as I am concerned, a certain group of foodies have already been educated beyond and developed beyond this stage of preliminary Chinese or Cantonese food knowledge. Don't believe it if you don't want to at your own peril. I'm not forcing you. At least I have read, met, seen and dined with them before and not making pure assumptions.
If you think about it, wouldn't you feel proud if you could convince your friends to become more educated about OUR PROUD CANTONESE FOOD, AND TEACH THEM HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN GOOD WONTONS (OR LONG SOUPS LOL) OR CONGEES, OR A REAL SWEET & SOUR PORK DISH, OR THE EQUALLY ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO NORMAL RED CHINESE SAUSAGES, OR WHAT REALLY MAKES A DAMN GOOD CHILI SAUCE !
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