A very fine Cuisine

A friend from London is in town this week, and as (for once...) she did not express the urge to go munch on some sushi, I set about finding a gweilo-friendly Cantonese restaurant with a decent view. I always find it a pity that people coming to our beloved Honkie always seem to be willing to try any of the many Asian dining options available around town (or worse - Western... whatever that means), but that almost none of them ever expresses a desire to try some Cantonese food (or, maybe, as a last resort once they have been satisfied that all the other places are booked solid and that, no, sorry, there will be no Peking duck tonight, my friends...). As I love Cantonese food myself, I never miss an opportunity to inflict some on my overseas guests. To be honest, I cannot really blame European visitors for their apparent lack of curiosity. Unless they are genuinely well traveled, most of them will assume that Chinese food, as is commonly experienced around Europe, is a one-dimensional universe where brightly coloured fried items float in nauseating amounts of sickly sweet starchy sauce (like the ubiquitous sweet and sour pork), where "Cantonese rice" reigns supreme (a dish made of stir-fried white rice with - preferably frozen - green peas, tiny cubes of ham, thinly minced onion, shredded omelette and lots of oil, and which does not exist anywhere but in the perverse imagination of deviant European cooks), calamari in basil sauce (huh ?) and pineapple fritters (errr...). Chinese food in Europe, with the exception of maybe a handful of very high-end eateries, is a truly horrific experience - period... but this misconception can be easily cured by a few days of field therapy in the Fragrant Harbour.

Having left booking to the last minute (for a change... ahem), I was lucky to find a table at a reasonably early hour at the IFC branch of Cuisine Cuisine (Podium 3, Central, HK). The branch at the Mira hotel had been on my radar for a while, but I settled for the IFC one as I did not really feel confortable asking my jet-lagged guest to trek over to the Dark Side on her own. After a quite painful phone conversation with the bookings gal trying to confirm the said booking (do "confirm" and "cancel" sound the same or is my English really that bad dammit !?!), I proceeded to pick up my guest at her hotel and walked into the place with carefully managed expectations. If the booking is already that painful, I thought, what on earth is the service going to be like...  I was wrong - random element, she was, this one... All of her colleagues at the restaurant were professional and efficient, and the service was attentive and friendly without being intrusive. As for the food, it was just delicious, and as we (very slightly...) over-ordered, I ended up with a lot of goodies to take home. I will definitely consider returning and/or trying the Mira branch.

Traditional braised assorted snake soup

I was tipped-off by a fellow foodie that the Chef at Cuisine Cuisine used to be running the corporate kitchen at Hang Seng bank headquarters, which is reputed around town for excellent food (I can confirm this first- hand), and particularly for "house specialties", like snake soup and Buddha-jumps-over-the-wall. The Cuisine Cuisine version above was absolutely delicious, possibly even better than the one I had at Tim's Kitchen a few weeks ago, as it was a lot meatier in taste and thicker in texture. Obviously this was served with the usual condiments (chopped coriander leaves, chrysanthemum petals, fried crackers and thinly shredded kaffir lime leaves). The soup is served only in portions for 4 people, so I luckily ended up with a lot of take-away :-)

Braised gluten puffs stuffed with assorted fungus and vegetables

I love braised gluten, so I could not resist ordering this dish. The puffs were actually medium-thick spongy gluten sheets wrapped around a center of fragrant mushrooms and crunchy veggies, which offered a nice contrasting texture. The brown sauce was surprisingly full of umami for a vegetarian dish. Very good. Note the careful presentation with the nicely carved greens in the sauce.



Honey-glazed barbecued pork

oh-my-gawd... one of the best char siu I have had (recently or ever, possibly). The meat was tender and moist, with a nice fatty bits and collagen, and very tasty (very high-quality meat, obviously, enhanced by caramelised barbecue flavours), and the honey glaze was delish. The balance between meat and fat was perfect. I think this was possibly even better than the one I had at The Golden Leaf back in July, and which had already set the bar pretty high. Wow...



Braised beef brisket with leek and special sauce

SO GOOD. The tasty brisket was cut in rather large, thick slices, and was veined with plenty of collagen, which had turned perfectly sticky thanks to a lengthy braising time. Some pieces tender, succulent tendon had found their way into the sauce, which was definitely special and delicious. What a great dish!

Baked assorted mushroom with mashed taro in organic pumpkin

I figured this would be appropriate as Halloween was just over... more seriously, pumpkins are in season, and so is taro, so that sounded like to good a proposition to pass. And good it was, excellent even! The pumpkin was tender and nutty-sweet, and we carved out and devoured large chunks of it. The mushrooms (white caps and rice straw) were mixed with some baby bok choi and broccoli, and topped with a totally awesome runny taro mash, which was perfectly smooth and creamy and tasted almost like a light chestnut puree. Plate-licking good.

Poached fillet of garoupa and bean curd with fish broth in casserole

Slices of excellent fish, poached, skin-on, mixed with creamy tofu cubes and plenty of mushrooms and greens in a very fragrant and tasty, milky fish broth. Very good.

Chilled herb jelly and almond curd with mango sauce

The mango sold me on this one... not. The herb jelly was pretty intense and very, very good. The almond curd was a bit light in fragrance, and would have probably needed to be a bit stronger in order to support the heavier flavour of the herb jelly better. Why the chef felt necessary to smother the whole thing in mango sauce, I am not sure (ah ...*ding* forgot - this is a gweilo-friendly place, of course!!), but this was still a pretty good and refreshing dessert.