The rebound

The King was making a rare appearance in Hong Kong, so naturally the bunch of us dutifully answered his call for dinner.  As it turned out we had a second visitor coming in from another city, making this gathering even more special.  Not surprisingly, we were back at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) despite the disastrous performance the restaurant delivered on my last visit.  No doubt BM had given them a piece of his mind, and told them to shape up or else…

Steamed xiaolongbao with crab roe (蟹粉小籠包) - I've always been a believer that one should eat xiaolongbao (小籠包) in one bite, and was pretty happy with my one mouthful.  Can't say that I tasted the crab roe all that much…

I skipped the snake soup (菊花燴蛇羹) tonight, as I'm happy to take in fewer calories.  I'd rather get my snake soup elsewhere…

Roast suckling pig (大紅片皮乳豬) - one does not come here without indulging in this… and I happily indulged.  The crackling was still very thin, crunchy and awesome.

I did have a couple of pieces of the tender and succulent meat, but left the legs and ribs for the others.

Steamed humpback grouper (清蒸老鼠斑) - no, not the most environmental friendly of seafood, but this wasn't my choice.  Of course this was very tasty…

Salt-baked chicken (鹽焗雞) - served with the chicken's liver and gizzard.

Stir-fried pea shoots and winter bamboo shoots (豆苗炒冬筍) - very young and tender bamboo shoots, and really, really young pea shoots.  Wonderful.

Claypot rice with preserved meats (腊味飯煲) - it's been a while since the last time I had this… and this was soooo good.  You just can't beat rice that has had fatty oil drizzed on it.   And the different type of preserved meats as we enter the winter season… Just had to have a second bowl.

Stir-fried kale with ginger sauce (薑汁生炒蘭度) - I didn't have enough veggies, so I asked for a plate of this.  The old man among us complained that these were a little "tough".  I think a few pieces were a little crunchier than usual, which was probably a combination of the ingredient itself as well as perhaps being slightly undercooked.  I didn't really care, and happily scooped up whatever I could into my mouth.

Finally there was a fruit plate for me to get my fulfill my fruit quota of the day.  No dessert for me today…

With a large enough crowd, I decided to bring out 2 magnums for dinner.  Unfortunately that wasn't enough, and for the wrong reasons…

1994 Chapoutier L'Orée en magnum - a bit vegetal, grassy, straw notes.  A little sweet from ripeness but not what I had hoped for.  Over the hill, or something had gone off like the other magnums from the same case.  No real palate and no finish.

1995 Vieux Château Certain en magnum - a little spicy, exotic spices, smoky, black fruits.  Medium bodied.

I'm glad the food was pretty good tonight, as I was pretty shocked at the last visit.  I guess we can keep going back to FLM, then...