Perrrty seafood

Tigger came into town today, and I managed to catch up with him for dinner.  It's been years since I was last in Pearl Liang Seafood (漂亮海鮮) at the Grand Hyatt, so I was curious to see what the food was like nowadays.

Ever the connoisseur, he chose from one of four set menus put together by the restaurant.  There was definitely a little too much food...

The appetisers combination (漂亮前菜開胃碟) came with three different bites:

Pan-fried scallop with radish cake - the single scallop was nicely pan-fried so that it was slightly brown on the outside.  There was a small piece of radish cake (蘿蔔糕) below the scallop, which was unfortunately a little mushy.

Chinese yam "noodles" with peanut sauce - thin strands of Chinese yam (山藥) were mixed with peanut sauce, and surprisingly good.

Drunken chicken (醉雞) - it might look a little different, but the taste was definitely what I expected of the classic dish.

Seafood noodle - this was ordered for our little guest, who apparently likes scallops and noodles.  I got to share a small bowl.  A little too late, perhaps, so the noodles had soaked up most of the soup.

I passed on the bowl of shark's fin soup, but I did enjoy the poached Australian fresh abalone, superior broth, sugar peas shoot (豆苗上湯浸鮮鮑).

Braised cod fillet, eggplant and mushroom, premium oyster sauce (茄子炆龍鱈) - I poked fun at Tigger by calling this dish "Chinatown".  The fish is battered and deep-fried before braising; the sauce is a little hot and sour... all elements popular with foreigners.  Truth be told, the dish was fairly tasty...

Wok fried Australian lamb chop with garlic and fragrant salt, black pepper sauce (蒜香淮鹽澳洲羊排) - not bad...

Braised sea cucumber with goose web, lin chi mushroom, abalone jus (海參靈菇扣鵝掌) - taste-wise this was OK, but the goose webs just haven't been braised enough, so they weren't anywhere close to melt-in-your-mouth.

Fried rice with abalone, assorted seafood, oyster sauce (鮑粒海鮮燴飯) - pretty good, actually... and I actually gave half my portion to Tigger, knowing how he can just suck this up like a Hoover...

There was a good selection of fruits, which I really enjoyed.  The desserts however were not really up my alley.  I am not a fan of frog fat (蛤士蟆), so I stayed away from my bowl of dessert soup...

1997 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Charlemagne Cuvée François de Salins par Louis Max - nose was extremely oxidized and sweet, with Chinese licorice (甘草), sweet grass, straw and plum (梅子).  Kinda metallic on the palate, especially when drunk with food.

Overall this was a pretty decent meal, but no thanks to Tigger's so-called "ordering skills."  Nevertheless it's always good to see him...