I had never been to One Harbour Road (in all honesty, I did not even know this place was on the foodie map...) and the dishes we had tonight were obviously not representative of the classic Cantonese fare this place normally whips up, as the guest Chef had taken over the kitchen. That said, one of the foodies in attendance (and whose tastebuds I fully trust) confirmed the regular menu had a few highlights worth a visit as well, which I will make sure to pay in the near future.
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| Foie gras marinated in Shaoxing wine One of my fellow diners once indicated in her photostream that the Chef uses French livers for this dish, which was absolutely delish. The flavours of the wine paired very nicely with the foie, which was very fatty indeed and coated the palate in creamy goodness. This dinner was off to a very good start... |
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Braised beancurd sheets filled with black fungus and bamboo shoots I love the texture of beancurd sheets, and these were particularly well done with a yummy filling. The contrast in textures between the crunchy bamboo/mushrooms and the beancurd was nice. |
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Tossed cold pork knuckle with Chinese peppers The skin was surprisingly not fatty or even collagen-y at all, just crunchy and slightly pickled from all the condiments (including some fierce green chillies and crunchy seaweed strips) - quite yummy. What possessed me to munch on one of the little green things on top of the dish, I'm not sure... these were fresh (!!) Sichuan peppercorns and *tingle*tingle* curiosity killed the cat's tastebuds for a good five minutes :o) |
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| Marinated beef shank and sweet potato noodle in sesame paste. Plenty of collagen in the meat obviously, which was nicely chewy as the dish was served cold. I am pretty sure they used peanuts on top of sesame in the sauce, which also had a nice chilli kick to it and also I think some cinnamon. Very good dish. |
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| Tossed gluten dough with black mushrooms in honey This was absolutely delicious. I love the way braised gluten captures sauces and flavours and this mix of spongy dough with slightly crunchy mushrooms in a yummy sauce was just perfect. I found the sauce had some liquorice flavours to it, which paired very well with the fragrant black mushrooms. The boiled peanuts added a nice nutty touch. |
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| Sweet potato starch sheets with spinach and sesame sauce Nice chewy texture and nutty flavours. That said, the sauce tasted very much of peanut to me (on top of the sesame) and the spinach was very discreet... |
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| Not sure what the name of this dish was, but the taste and texture were very close to the French fromage de tête - plenty of fatty bits, skin and savoury jelly in between tender, flavourful meat chunks. Delish. |
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| Martinated yellow fish in preserved black beans Chunky slices of tender yellow croaker, pan-fried, then served cold with fermented black beans after marinating in soy sauce, ginger and chilli oil. Delicious. |
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| OHR's take on beggar's chicken - this version was a de-boned half chicked, filled with bamboo shoots and pork, wrapped in lotus leaves and baked in the traditional coating of clay (which then gets broken at the table by the guests) |
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| Beggar's chicken, clay removed and lotus leaves open - the smell was wonderful. |
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| Beggar's chicken, plated. This version was very different from THL's from a fragrance, taste and texture point of view. Where THL's tends to have a lot more "earthy" flavours due to its mushroom filling, this version was more meaty (due to the pork in the filling) and lotus-leafy. The meat (as usual) always ends up being a bit stringy and dry (especially the white meat) but this was nevertheless absolutely yummy. I found it a nice touch that the chicken had been deboned - ready to munch, no sorting out to do on your plate... |
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| Traditional pork "Dongpo" style aka Khufu & Khafre :o) |
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| Traditional pork "Dongpo" style The Khafre pyramid, revealing its deliciously crypt filled with fragrant preserved veggies. This dish was absolutely divine. Thin layers of moist pork, full of collagen goodness which got more sticky as it cooled down (and a teeny tiny bit of fat too...), wrapped around crunchy vegs. The flavours were just heavenly and the textures perfect - and the presentation was absolutely beautiful. Now that's what I call a dish with the "wow" factor! |
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Pan-fried smoked duck fillet & glutinous rice Very very yummy. The duck meat was packed with flavour, and the glutinous rice topping was crunchy at the surface and moist inside. Delish. |
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| Braised beef tendon and beancurd in chilli sauce ("Ma Po" style) I absolutely loved this dish. The tendon was sticky and very slightly chewy as it should be, the tofu cubes were creamy and the sauce... aaah the sauce!! Three of my favourite things in one dish: collagen, tofu and chilli - could not ask for more :-) |
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| Braised crab coral with tofu and puff pastry |
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| Braised crab coral with tofu and puff pastry So good! Packed with flavourful crab roe and creamy tofu cubes - and nicely presented. |
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| Lotus seed paste puffs Although the waiter apparently introduced these as puffs, the pastry was actually not puff or choux pastry but very flakey, crumbly and buttery - yummy (the filling was very good too). |
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| Sesame puffs Not bad either... |
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| Steamed black sesame pudding Sticky-chewy, not too sweet and packed with black sesame flavours. Pretty nice. |
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| Condensed milk & chestnut soup I made a special request for this dessert to be ordered (total chestnut junkie, I am...) and it was absolutely delicious. Served warm, with a creamy taste of condensed milk and plenty of chestnut goodness, and not too sweet. I would love to learn how to make this at home... |
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| Pomelo, sago and mango in coconut cream A classic, nicely done. |
I'm sad to have missed out on the dinner, as the dishes look awesome. But in all honestly, I would probably have exploded at the table given the menu...
ReplyDelete...and can't believe you guys had TWO servings of Dong Po Pork!