Chubby piggy

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I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Chubby Hubby tonight.  CH and Cha Xiu Bao were the original two food blogs I followed, and these guys really know their food and - unlike yours truly - can actually cook.  Our hostess decided to take us to the Kimberley Chinese Restaurant (君怡閣) since she has heard all about the Kimberley Pig from us but has yet to try it herself.

We decided to keep to a small selection of dishes, so that we could have enough stomach space to fully appreciate the pig.  The dishes we ordered were all the usual suspects:

Deep-fried salmon skin

Braised pig trotters (鹵水豬腳)

Clear ox bone soup (清燉牛骨湯) - the big claypot was honestly a little big for us, and a few of us managed to have a second bowl later on during the meal.  While the soup was still delicious, I thought they didn't spend enough time cooking it as there wasn't enough marrow and collagen in the soup itself.  The consistency used to be much thicker but it was a little light tonight.  I also seemed to have gotten a good portion of the collagen tonight.  My lips were shiny and sticky...

As the pig takes a while to roast, and we didn't have any other dishes coming, there was somewhat of a gap in the middle of our meal.  Our hostess grew a little impatient, but I hope in the end she found the wait worthwhile. 

The stuffed roast suckling pig (金陵全豬烤金苗) was rolled out, and our hostess and the guest got up and took pictures - pretty much obligatory for anyone seeing this for the first time.  There was the familiar crackle of the pork crackling as the cleaver sliced through the tubular piggy.  How I love this pig...  Each of us was able to have two slices (or more for some...) without feeling really stuffed.  Another little piggy went to heaven so that we the diners could have a heavenly meal.

We also had some stir-fried kale with garlic (蒜茸炒芥蘭), just to have a more balanced meal...

Our hosts also brought two bottles of wine to share with us.  Unfortunately I wasn't much in the mood for wine, so my tasting notes were pretty basic...

2003 Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino - sous bois, pine needle and a little sweet.

2004 Marengo Barolo Brunate - some spices and potpourri.

The kitchen sent us a plate of fresh fruits as well as some osmanthus jelly (桂花糕), which I always enjoyed.  A nice way to finish up this simple yet wonderful meal.