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2011-04-18
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As promised, i managed to gather a bigger crowd for a group family dinner at the HKUAA clubhouse. With the count of head tripled from three to ten, we had the capacity of ordering more and the weighty dishes, including the salt-baked whole chicken and the lotus leaf rice.The place was more crowded than i last visited and our big round table was at the far end of the small yet cozy place. It was not hard to decide what to order as there were quite a number of 'signature' dishes offered.The lapse
The place was more crowded than i last visited and our big round table was at the far end of the small yet cozy place. It was not hard to decide what to order as there were quite a number of 'signature' dishes offered.
The lapse of time was extremely short after we placed the order, with the almond and pig lungs soup(菜胆杏汁白肺汤) being the first to arrive. We ordered a medium serve and it was not enough for us ten people, and we had to order one extra order to have our bowls all filled. There were quite a lot of ingredients in the soup and the taste/smell of the almond was significantly stronger than what i had last time - the distinct smell provoked me to throw up as i HATE almonds. Anyway, the pig's lungs was pretty smooth but i personally do not quite like its fishy texture, so i skipped that and focused on the veggies that had been stewed to absolute tenderness in the soup.The soup was quite thick and thus we were all 30% full after drinking it - that was the (bad) time when the rest of our dishes came in a rush. The kitchen could have slowed down a BIT as the lazy susan was soon filled with big plates of food - not very nice cus many of the dishes would taste best when tasted fresh, and if i were to try a bit of everything at their best, i would have to eat as quickly as the kitchen...not quite possible right?
Anyway, the first to past the post was the signature prawn on the toast(虾多士). Served on a long plate, the prawn merged extremely well with the crispy toast. The flesh was still spongy, well seasoned and very fresh; the toast underneath was fried until crispy and yet it was not oily at all. Tasted even better with a dash of salt.
We ordered two veggie dishes for the sake of health. One was the braised tofu with jok-san(竹笙红烧豆腐) and the other one being Spinach with century and salted eggs in broth(金银蛋浸苋菜)(not phorographed). I like the tofu better as it was really tender, yet the taste of the soyabean could have been stronger. In contrast the dish with century egg was just so-so as the veggie tasted a bit like grass, and the broth looked awful as the century egg yolk melted into the yellowish soup, tainting it into a murky inky grey.
The waiteress recommended the stir-fried promfret with veggies(菜胆炒仓片). The fish was extremely tender and juicy; the veggie was, well,veggie. Quite a surprisingly good dish, as i thought fish stir-fried must be tough and tasteless, while this is the exact opposite of my prejudiced opinion.
Whole chicken cooked in salt(盐焗鸡) - a must-try at HKUAA, and i saw groups of varying size (from crowds as big as 12 ppl to small ones as of 4 ppl) enjoying their chicken that night. The appearance was not spectacular and the chicken was quite coarsely chopped: however the meat was so heavenly tender and flavoured that made you basically forgot about its not-so-perfect appearance. The skin was thin and yet crispy; the meat was tender and my dad said they must have used a fresh chicken in order to achieve the juiciness and flavourness. I tried a bit of the fleshy as well as the boney part - the ribs were so thin that were chewable, and the flavour was intense at such position. Yummy. No wonder the chicken was said to be the best-or perhaps second best in town after Luk Yue Tea House!
Another signature dish here being the Lotus Leaf Rice(荷叶饭). Both this and the baked chicken require a pre-order when you book the table, so be aware! The serve was a huge one and it was so aromatic when the waiter cut the lotus leaf open, exposing the rice beneath. The rice grains were full of flavour and the distinctive aroma of the leaf. They were quite dry, not shining with oil nor sauce,and the rice was not juicy. Yet the taste was intense-god knows how long they have been wrapped in the leaf and cooked/steamed/braised/whatever. The dish was a rich one as other ingredients such as ham, shrimp and spring onion were blended into the rice, enriching the texture of it. The serve was really huge as the rice had been hardly stuffed in - and yet we managed to eat the thing clean as it was just too delicous to be unfinished and wasted!
A regular order of sweet and sour pork(咕噜肉) sneaked between the huge dishes and got tucked in among the big round plates. It was still as delicious and skillfully made, the sauce being of just the right consistency and fluidity to 'hang' upon the nicely deep-fried chunks of pork. Too bad that the ginger variation was still not available - i would come again and again until i could finally try that version which was said to be really good!
The kitchen was so quick in preparing the dishes that we basically finished everything within 30 minutes. Then what? Dessert time! The dessert menu was hardly a 'menu' at all as only 3 choice were available: either the almond soup(蛋白杏仁茶), walnut paste(生磨合桃露) or the sesame sweet soup(养颜芝麻糊). That's it. Lucky that my favourite Chinese dessert was available and i ordered one without hesitation! The sesame sweet soup arrived pipping hot and soon a thin later of coat had clotted on the top.
A stir of the soup surprised me as i had not expected it to be that thick! It would be more appropriate to call it a 'cream of sesame' soup as it was even thicker than many 'cream soup' served at western restaurants. Anyways....after some stirs to even out the consistency of the soup, i tried a spoonful and was even more surprised by its sweetness and aroma! It smelt great of black sesame and yet was not over-sweetened at all! This was definitely the best sesame sweet soup i had ever tried- others either fail at the thickness test or the sweetness test. This one has passed, with flying colours too!At around 8pm we were already ready to leave - this place was basically flawless in terms of the charge(pretty reasonable given the quality of the dishes),service(the waitress had been extremely helpful and responsive), decor and atmosphere(very cosy and comfortable), ease of booking a table(was surprised by the easiness of securing a table on a sunday night), location(at the heart of central, period.) and everything else except the speed of serving - if only it cold slow down a BIT so that we could eat with less haste. Now that we felt urged to compete with the kitchen and finish the dishes before they go cold under the blowing air conditioner!
张贴
