As with my last visit, we started with the clear ox bone soup (清燉牛骨湯), which wasn't quite enough to go around. Nevertheless it was very delish, with plenty of collagen in between the crevices. Loved it.
Susan also insisted on the deep-fried salmon skin, which were done oh-so-well with the salt and pepper. Apparently she likes to dip the pieces in the soup, which I suppose is exactly what locals do with deep-fried shark's skin and noodle soup.
Then came the first of the piggies. We had asked for the stuffed roast suckling pig (金陵全豬烤金苗) to be cut into 8 slices so that we wouldn't have to fight over any pieces, but the waitress didn't listen and we ended up with something like 10 thinner slices. While this was still tasty, the pig was definitely sub-par today. The glutinous rice inside was lukewarm, and in general just didn't provide the same joy that it used to. Others agreed with me.
We had a second pig just about the time we were done with the first one. This time it was cut properly into 8 slices, which meant each slice is almost double the usual thickness. Despite my declaration before dinner that I was only going to have one slice of the pig today, I found myself with absolutely zero will power to hold back. I took the second slice down, and pretty quickly, too.
I was pretty stuffed. I found it incredible that the lot of us had pretty much consumed 2 entire piglets. We even forgot to order the veggies... But someone had generously brought along some macarons from L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon for dessert. Not a bad way to end the meal...
I had already warned a friend that this wasn't a wine crowd, and not to bring something extravagant. I was right. We opened two bottles and couldn't even manage to get rid of 3/4 of a bottle, combined.
God, you're right - we forgot the veggies!
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