The usual canteen stuff

It's been a while since our last birthday gathering, so the troops were rounded up for another dinner.  It came as absolutely no surprise that no one wanted to pick the restaurant, and the inevitable result was that we once again found ourselves back at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門).  It would seem that this gang just doesn't wanna eat anywhere else...

One of us was running late because of work, so we tried to wait for him while sipping on some wine.  But I had a pretty small lunch, and already had a beer before I showed up at dinner, so I was starving pretty badly and practically on the verge of passing out.  And as we know, they ain't go no bread at Chinese restaurants... so I finally decided to order something to tide us over.

Barbecued pork (蜜汁叉燒) - you can't go wrong by starting dinner with this, and there was plenty of delicious, melt-in-your-mouth fat in the pieces that I picked up.

How I love to squeeze the fat out with pressure from my teeth...  This put a smile on my face.

Deep-fried frogs' legs (椒鹽田雞腿) - more things to nibble on,,, and easy to grab with my fingers.  Very yum.

Roast suckling pig (大紅片皮乳豬) - as good as it's ever been, with that wafer-thin crackling.  Oh and the other parts of the pig were yummy, too.  Tonight the ribs weren't over-seasoned, and the neck was nice and marbled.

Double-boiled soup with winter melon and duck (冬瓜火鴨湯) - we wanted winter melon soup (冬瓜盅), but were told that they had just sold out of the last one.  When we subsequently asked what the soups of the day were,  we were then told that this was available... Anyway, this was very good.  I particularly liked the pork belly that was also used in the soup, and in fact couldn't help but eat a few of the pieces... with the fat and the rind.

Steamed humpback grouper (清蒸老鼠斑) - very, very good.  And I would expect nothing less than flawless execution.  Alas, not the most sustainable catch...

Hairy gourd with conpoy (瑤柱節瓜) - pretty simple comfort food, but very homey and satisfying.

Fook Lam Moon's famous crispy chicken (當紅炸子雞) - never had cause to complain about this here chicken, and tonight the pieces I took were very moist inside that amazing crispy skin.

Yolk and sesame paste birthday buns (蛋黃麻茸壽飽) - well, it's a birthday celeberation so you can't do without these birthday "peaches" (壽桃).  We ordered both types of fillings, but everyone (except for the guy who was too slow) went for the sesame paste version instead of the more common lotus seed paste variety.

Gotta love that filling...

I was really full, so I passed on the other desserts that the gang ordered.  I had already taken in way, way too many calories for the day.

As usual I supplied the wines for our dinner - picking out bottles that were easy to fish out of my overcrowded cellar - which may explain why I was being slightly more generous than usual...

2005 Kistler Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard - took out 2 bottles of this baby.  Very ripe on the nose with some lemon citrus, and good amount of oak.  Ripe and sweet on the palate.

1985 Hospices de Beaune Mazis-Chambertin Cuvée Madeleine-Collignon par Bouchard - opened up two of these and decanted them just before serving.  Very ripe on the nose, with plenty of stewed prunes, a little forest, and a little salty plum.  Clearly getting a little tired.  After extended aeration the palate died pretty badly.