The first dish was stir-fried pig's heart and preserved sweet and sour vegetables (潮式甜酸菜伴心心相印). Right off the bat, we're having something out of the ordinary. I can't say that I've ever had pig's heart before, but I got no problems with trying it. It's a bit chewy, like some ligaments or the pig's throat that I've had at various restaurants in Hong Kong. There were also some bits of fatty pork mixed in, along with with yummy preserved veggies, celery, red and green peppers. Great start.
Deep-fried freshwater eel (椒鹽脆鱓球) - actually pretty light and crispy. Mr. Tam talked about how he treats the eel with cloves and cinnamon to rid it of the fishy taste.
Fishhead soup with Chinese herbs (天麻燉大魚頭) - really heavy smell and taste of the tall gastrodia tuber (天麻), even though I swear the smell is actually Chinese angelica (當歸). The soup was also boiled with chunks of pork and chicken feet, in addition to the fishhead. Nice and healthy.
Braised pig's knee (柱候醬扣豬膝) - what an awesome dish! It came in a big claypot and the whole table just went "Ooooooh!!!" Looking at the pile of bones covered in skin and tendons, glistening under the lights from all the melted fat and collagen, my mouth just started to water... And it was yuuuuummmy! I couldn't get enough of it. We asked for bowls of rice, only to be told off by Mr. Tam (this is a congee shop, after all). But we reached a compromise and they agreed to take half the portion and stir-fried some rice vermicelli with it. Of course the vermicelli would soak up all the oily sauce and turn this into the best dish ever. A couple of us (myself included) had multiple servings of this.
Braised fishhead in claypot (麵醬優質魚嘴煲) - I'm not usually a fan of fishhead, but I had to have some of this. Made from the heads of 18-month old grass carp (草魚/鯇魚) farmed by Mr. Tam, these fish feed on grass imported from Taiwan. A miso-like soy bean sauce (麵醬) is used to cook the fish, along with some garlic, organic ginger and cilantro. The ginger gives the whole thing quite a kick, in addition to neutralizing the fishy smells and tastes.
Pan-fried prawns in superior soy sauce (頭抽皇煎中蝦) - Mr. Tam confessed that he actually used second-run soy sauce (二抽) instead of the virgin/first-run soy sauce (頭抽). But in any case the soy sauce is homemade and organic. I've always liked prawns fried with soy sauce.
Salt-baked chicken (古法鹽焗雞) - this is wrapped in banana leaves (again grown by Mr. Tam) and baked in coarse sea salt. The chicken was raised locally although it's not free range. There's still plenty of flavor here, especially the skin. Certainly doesn't taste like the typical factory chicken...
Blanched seasonal vegetables (白灼時蔬) - mushrooms and ridged gourd (絲瓜) in a milky fish soup. Yummy.
Finally we get to the carbs, although we had some earlier with the rice vermicelli. We were served two dishes that constitute a typical Cantonese breakfast - thin noodles stir-fried in soy sauce (豉油皇炒麵) and plain congee (健味金牌粥). The noodles were great, albeit a tad salty thanks to the homemade soy sauce. The congee was cooked with fish stock, and with the addition of the usual condiments (roasted peanuts, spring onions and preserved vegetables) it was just delicious. I was really full by this point and didn't get around to trying some of the pig offal congee (豬雑粥).
We finished with plates of oranges and starfruit, but just couldn't fit anything more... What a great meal! Must return another time to sample other dishes...or just ask for the pig's knee stir-fried with vermicelli.
original blogpost with notes on wine: http://chi-he-wan-le.blogspot.com/2009/03/organic-evening.html
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