Ho-hum Halloween

Pin It

A long-lost friend of mine was in town and wanted to get together. I suggested Island Tang (港島廳) as an alternative venue to his favorite Peking Garden, since I've always liked the food on my previous visits.  I let my friend do the ordering so that I don't end up eating the same dishes again.

We started with deep-fried frog legs with chili garlic and seasoning salt (椒鹽田雞腿).  For some reason I wasn't quite happy with this dish.  Not that it was done poorly, but I felt there was something missing.

Then came wagyu beef cubes with garlic (蒜片和牛粒).  Yes, the beef cubes were fatty and tender, but they didn't cook it enough and the center was just too raw, making it hard to chew.  This was simply poor execution.

The stewed sliced goose with bean curd stick and lotus root (家鄉炆狗仔鵝) was OK.  The goose was tender after having been cooked in a claypot, and the addition of lotus root was interesting.  But where was the tofu?

Oven baked silver cod fillet with Peking scallions (京蔥燒焗銀鱈魚) was probably the best dish of the evening. The thick cuts of cod were lightly battered and were very juicy, tender and tasty, as were the leeks.

My friend's young daughter loves rice, so we had some beef fried rice (生炒牛肉飯).  The fried rice here was done properly, with the individual rice grains separated and remaining a little chewy.  This is the proper Cantonese way and I'm glad they got it right.

I brought a bottle of 2002 Comtes Lafon Volnay Santenots-du-Milieu 1er Cru.  This also turned out to be a little disappointing.  The nose was very muted initially, taking a good hour to open up in the decanter.  Hint of caramel and a bit of fruit and game.  Reasonable concentration with a slightly acidic finish.

Despite the mediocre food and wine, I was glad to have caught up with my friend and met his family.  Hopefully I'll see him again when I'm up in Shanghai next week.