Like A Boss

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A few months ago someone from the office picked up a flyer/coupon about a new restaurant near the office named The Boss (波士廳).  They were impressed by the pictures on the flyer, and the claim that the restaurant was "created by the founder of Michelin Guide 3 Stars Restaurant (米芝蓮三星餐廳幕後班底精心策劃)".  Since I'm so used to people in the F&B industry over-inflating their associations with famous restaurants and chefs - especially when it comes to places with macarons - I naturally dismissed this claim without looking into it.

A few weeks ago my friend Susan was doing a review for the South China Morning Post, and asked me to join the gang at lunch.  I was into my salad phase at the time and turned down her kind invitation.  Turns out that they all thought the place was very good, and some of the gang have since gone back to get more helpings of the food.  Apparently the chef is ex-Sun Tung Lok (新同樂)...

Not wanting to let my discount coupon expire at the end of the month, I rounded up the troops for another meal scheduled for later this month.  Things quickly got out of my control and the gang decided to do it at lunch today.  Well, that doesn't really work for me... I've already got 3 cheat meals this week, and this can't be #4!  I reluctantly agreed to the lunch, but decided that I would control myself and try to stay within the boundaries of the diet... as much as possible.

Steamed rice flour rolls with barbecued pork (黑豚叉燒腸) - the char siu is finely diced, and this was pretty good.

Steamed barbecue pork buns (黑豚叉燒包) - they aren't the giant ones but I think just the right size.

This was pretty good... and happens to be on the "allowed" list.

Steamed spicy shrimps and pork dumplings (螞蟻上樹餃) - this was very good.  The chili and Sichuan peppercorn powder really picked up the flavors.  Couldn't resist having a second one.

Steamed rice flour rolls with spring roll (春風得意腸) - rice flour roll wrapped around deep-fried spring rolls with shredded radish filling.  The flavors of the radish was pretty pronounced, and I definitely tasted the bitterness which was unexpected.  Normally I'd be all over this but I allowed myself only one piece today, since deep-fried food is a no-no.

The Boss shrimps dumplings (波士蝦餃皇) - probably the best har gau I've had in a long, long time.  The shrimp inside was really crunchy with lots of bite/bounce, and I didn't taste any baking soda.  Of course I really didn't need to know that they use lard to make this...  Thanks a lot, ILL!

I decided to be a good boy and skipped the spring rolls...

Baked prawns with vermicelli and homemade sauce in casserole (奇香粉絲蝦煲) - they didn't have any crabs at lunch today, so prawns were substituted.  This was a shame, because I really didn't like the taste of the prawns.  There was something very off about the taste that I just couldn't pin down... I wanted to say that I tasted chemical, but I wasn't sure whether it was some type of spice that I just didn't care for.  Anyway... I tried two of the prawns and the second one was only marginally better than the first.  The vermicelli, though, was delicious as I had expected.

Deep-fried chicken pieces with homemade shrimps sauce (大澳蝦膏炸碎雞) - the gang had raved about this dish from their last meal, and it was definitely pretty kick-ass.  I was only gonna allow myself one piece of the chicken, since it was deep-fried with skin and all... but the piece that Susan picked for me was actually the ass... so I allowed myself to pick a second piece.  VERY yum, thanks to the shrimp paste.

The chicken came with cucumber sticks on the side, and since we didn't order any veggies and I needed to fulfill my veggie quota for this meal, I ended up eating most of the cucumber...

Baked chicken with rock salt sauce (古法鹽焗雞) - this had to be pre-ordered and the test was to see if it matched up with the version from Luk Yu Tea House (陸羽茶室).  Well... I was never enamored with this style of chicken, but I guess it wasn't bad.  I allowed myself one piece of chicken skin and took the skin off the second piece... and stayed with white meat this time.

Kung Fu Panda was a little late today because she had stopped by her favorite purveyor to pick up a supply of imported fruits and things.  She very generously shared these Ivory Star white peaches with us.  Very delish.

This was a pretty good meal overall, especially the dim sum items and the chickens.  I think I have to come back another day to try out more dishes.  One problem with the meal?  I didn't have enough grains/carbs so I left the restaurant only half-full...  Gotta remember to order a bowl of white rice next time.