Tim again?

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A mere four nights after I was last here, I'm back at Tim's Kitchen (桃花源).  Both dinners had been booked weeks in advance, and of course I've actually done something like this before at this very same restaurant.  And I don't mind coming back so often, as I can choose to order different dishes from the menu.  Tonight it was to introduce the place to another member of the extended Tigger family.

Some of the others arrived early and were apparently hungry, so had gone ahead and ordered a couple of starters.  I nibbled on the very last little piece of deep-fried frog leg with peppercorn salt (椒鹽田雞腿), but was not a fan.  Just not that tasty.

I wasn't a fan of the century eggs and pickled ginger (皮蛋生薑), either.  Where was the soft and runny yolk?  And the pickle just wasn't sour enough, and tasted a little more salty than what I'm used to.

After everyone was assembled, it was time to bring on the rest of the food, including a couple of dishes that I've been missing sorely…

Steamed whole fresh crab claw with egg white (蛋白蒸原隻鮮蟹拑) - I've always loved the way they steam these big crab claws here, although I thought that the claws tonight may have shrunk a little in size compared to what I can remember.  And of course the price has gone up a little since I first started order this back around 4 years ago…

Supreme snake bisque (太史五蛇羹) - almost my favorite version of snake soup in town.  The knife skill required for this is truly something, and there's definitely a lot more stuff in the bowl compared to what is served at places like Fook Lam Moon (福臨門).  I did think, though, that it was a little over-seasoned tonight.  Flavors were intense, for sure, but could have dialed down a little on the salt.

Sautéed pig tripe with pickled vegetables and bamboo shoots (七彩炒豬肚尖) - this has always been one of my favorite dishes here…  Crunchy and tasty.

Sautéed pork chop and bitter cucumber (涼瓜炒排骨) - the dish that failed tonight.  Not sure what happened here, but the pork was simply soft and mushy.

Fried glutinous rice with preserved pork sausage and liver sausage (生炒糯米飯) - I was disappointed with this just a few days ago, but ordered this at the request of Tigger's family.  This place was better than what I had last Friday, but still came in clumps.  Very puzzling.

Since I had foolishly under-ordered this dish, we decided to order up another serving.  The second plate arrived, and the difference was drastic.  The second plate was obviously freshly fried and tasted that way, with stronger flavors.  It now seems that the first plate was fried some time ago and left sitting around a little…

Poached pea shoots in supreme soup (上湯浸豆苗) - this was incredibly awesome… The pea shoots were so young, tender and sweet.  The ham-flavored broth was really tasty, and complemented the sweet pea shoots perfectly.  We ordered a second plate of this, too.

It seems that some of us were still hungry, so a plate of roasted crispy baby pork belly (脆皮燒腩仔) was ordered.  Five alternate layers of soft and delicious fat and lean meat, with a cripsy layer of crackling on top.  Yum.

We passed on dessert, since I can't remember the last time I enjoyed anything sweet here.

1994 Von Schubert Maximin Grünhauser Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese - there's that petrol and polyurethane again… with a nice amount of sweetness on the palate that I've come to love.

1990 Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde - sweet nose, plummy, farmy, animal, leather, smoky, minty and floral.  Lovely to drink now.  Palate has started on its downward slope.