Goodbye, Tim

After a short break or one evening, I resumed the string of birthday/farewell dinners with another group of old friends.  The Pale Indonesian was the very first friend I ever met in Hong Kong, back in 1995, through an introduction of a mutual friend.  I met his wife shortly after meeting him, and we have known each other for a long, long time.  He likes to joke that he's been to all my housewarming parties - when I was still bothering to throw them - and yes, even the one I threw in Singapore back in 2004.  The next challenge will be my housewarming in Taipei...

Reservations were made at Tim's Kitchen (桃花源), which these days is probably the one "fancy" restaurant I dine at the most.  While I had just visited them at the start of the month, I figured it'd be good to go back and enjoy some of the signature dishes... as it may be a while before my next visit.

It's always good to start with some century eggs and pickled ginger (皮蛋酸薑).

Braised pomelo skin with shrimp roes (蝦籽炆柚皮) - my favorite in Hong Kong, and today there was a lot of sauce on the plate.  This is when you wish for a bowl of rice or plain noodles so you could just drizzle the sauce on top...

Steamed whole fresh crab claw with winter melon (冬瓜蒸原隻鮮蟹拑) - my favorite preparation so I that's what I went for tonight.  Not exactly cheap but I've never left thinking that it wasn't worth the money I paid.

Double-boiled winter melon soup with shrimps, Yunnan ham, fresh crab meat and fungus (鮮蓮冬瓜盅) - very yummy, and great during the summer.  Lots of ingredients here, with both winter melon and lotus seeds helping to cool down our bodies and restore balance during the hot summer.

Braised goose web and pork tendon in oyster sauce (豬腳筋扣鵝掌) - always loooved this dish, and couldn't wait to have it again.  LOTS of collagen and yumminess.  Surprisingly the goose webs hadn't started to lose their shapes yet...

Oven-baked chicken with preserved vegetables wrapped in lotus leaf (荷香焗雞) - pretty good local chicken with lots of that yellow fat.  The preserved veggie was from Yunnan, which tasted a little like preserved mustard green (梅菜) but tasted crunchy.  Very nice.

Sautéed rice rolls with minced beef, bean sprouts in satay sauce (沙爹牛肉炒腸粉) - very, very delish... lovely little kick from the satay sauce.  If I weren't so full I'd have a few more bowls of this!

We were pretty full, and as I was never impressed by the desserts here, I decided we should skip it.

2000 Chartogne-Taillet - yeasty, caramelized, with salty plum notes that I love.  The century egg brings out the sweetness and ripeness of this wine... pretty amazing.

A very good dinner with fond memories.  Goodbye, Tim... I'll be missin' ya!