An American in Hong Kong

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In a casual conversation a couple of months ago, a friend and I discussed the idea of going to American Restuarant (美利堅餐廳) for some old-fashioned Pekinese food.  It's an institution in Hong Kong that has been around for years, but somehow I have never gone out of my way to pay them a visit in all these years.  The subject came up again a couple of weeks ago, as news surfaced that a neighboring restaurant was due to close.  So I made a reservation and rounded up a couple of people for dinner tonight.

I had done a little homework online, and figured out the dishes which I wanted to avoid.  One doesn't often get the chance to have Pekinese or northern Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong, so I'm looking for a few old favorites tonight.  My friends very kindly let me do the ordering, which is something that would come back to bite me at the end of the evening…

Monk goose (素鵝) - simple and decent.

Stir-fried beef with scallions (蔥爆牛肉) - a classic dish, and not bad at all.  Very hearty with the big slices of beef.

Stir-fried vegetables with egg crêpe (合菜戴帽) - I've missed this dish a lot, so I was pretty happy having this.  A mix of bean sprouts, carrots, dried tofu, bamboo shoots, vermicelli…etc.  This is often used as filling for a pancake - much like the way one eats Peking duck - but we didn't do that tonight.

Crispy lamb ribs (京燒羊排) - steamed and then fried for that crispy exterior.  I love lamb and anytime you gimme lamb fat, plus something crispy and fried… you've got me in your corner.  Yummy on its own, but even better with the astringent sauce and its accompanying spices.

Deep-fried scallion pancakes (蔥油餅) - seriously thick, which inevitably means that the center is still kinda mushy.  If only I had the capacity to have another quarter…

Steamed vegetarian dumplings (蒸素餃) - very nicely done, although in more of a rustic way.  The skin wasn't as thin as you'd find in more refined restaurants, but this retained its elasticity and bite.  Everyone had a quota of two dumplings, but poor C had to take four of them because his wife didn't contribute…

Roast Peking duck (北京填鴨) - finally, the main event.  Pretty traditional, and the duck was actually fairly lean.  It was sliced up away from us, so I didn't see if there was a river of oil coming off the duck… but I suspect not.  The pancake was a little on the dry side, but never mind…  Happy.

Stir-fried duck rack (醬爆鴨架) - for a little more money, you can get them to chop up the carcass and stir-fry it with green bell peppers, chili and "brown sauce".  Not bad.  If we weren't drinking wine, I would have asked for them to make soup out of the rack…

Done with the savories, it was now time to move on to dessert.  First up was the pan-fried pancakes with red bean paste (豆沙鍋餅).  Not exactly earth shattering…

Egg puffs with red bean paste (高立豆沙) - kinda medium-grade in terms of puffiness, so this was OK.

Walnut cream (核桃露) - well, kinda watery and not exactly "creamy".  But it was nice to see that they used nice chunks of roasted walnuts, and the flavors were definitely there.

OK, not that the clientele would be vastly different on any other given Sunday, but it IS Sevens Sunday.  I would guess that 80% of the patrons tonight were gweilos, and many were strolling in after the  Cup final match had ended.  As the evening went on, my friends realized that there was almost no overlap between what they were having and what we had…

First of all, everyone else had the kung pao prawns (宮保蝦球) on the sizzling plate.  Every few minutes we would hear the sizzle from another table, followed by the smell of garlic, onions and ketchup floating in…  My friends were (jokingly) getting upset with me, as I've obviously missed out on one of the signature dishes of this place!

There were also a number of other dishes which were popular, and it seemed that every table were having the same few dishes… leading us to believe that there was a set dinner menu that we weren't aware of.  Looks like we need to come back another day…

This crowd can't get together for a meal without a few bottles of wine, and everyone contributed something tonight.  It was tough to get much of a nose out of the small glasses you often see at very local Chinese restaurants, but oh well…

2007 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Puligny-Montrachet - the first pour seemed pretty bland, but improved to show a little oak and lemon.  Etienne de Montille usually makes pretty good wines.

2011 George Pinot Noir Leras Family Vineyard - I do love George's wines, and this was drinking very well despite its young age.  Lots of sweet fruit, eucalyptus, and kinda oaky.  Lots of sweet fruit, eucalyptus, and kinda oaky.

2003 Château Fortia Cuvée du Baron - nose of forest, a little farmy, a little sweet and grapey.  Still reasonably concentrated on the palate.  My contribution.