Californian toast

A night out with some of the boys, and with a fellow aficionado of Californian wines.  Our generous host decided to treat us to dinner at Fu Tung (富東粵菜), which is someplace I had never even heard of...  but I kept an open mind.  Our host ordered up a bunch of dishes which he felt would work well with our wines.

Crispy roast pork belly (脆皮燒腩仔) - a little disappointing, as it's too lean and dry... not enough fat for me.  And because of that, this was a little too salty.

Barbecued pork (蜜汁叉燒) - yeah, baby!  This was some pretty good shit!  Love the marbled fat here... I would have been happy with fewer dishes and just more of this to myself.  And the ends were nice and burnt.

Deep-fried bombay duck (椒鹽九肚魚) - the pieces were a little too big, which made these a little flabby instead of having the right ratio of crispy batter to the meat.

Beef tendon in superior soy sauce (豉油皇牛孖筋) - I think these were a little uneven.  While some of the pieces looked pretty tender, the piece I took wasn't cooked through as much, and was a little on the chewy side.  Flavors were pretty good, though.

Eight treasure chicken (八寶雞) - this was the dish that our host pre-ordered.  I didn't have much sense as to why this was something special, until our waitress took a knife to it...

...and this was inside... Whole abalones, shredded conpoy, shredded ham... etc.  The chicken was very, very good... even the white meat, and especially the skin.

Stir-fried fish maw with egg (阿林桂花炒深海魚膠) - we don't eat shark's fin so fish maw was used as a substitute.  Pretty good.

Braised pomelo rind with shrimp roe (蝦籽炆柚皮) - our host claimed that this pomelo skin was very good, and I have to agree with him.  The texture was very, very smooth... With some versions (and depending on seasonality) the fibers are really noticeable and detract from the experience.  The citrus flavors were also very crisp and on-point... without any bitterness.  The only thing I would ask for is a little more shrimp roe for extra flavor...

Sweet and sour pork (咕嚕肉) - Sheets requested this but asked for more lean meat... but how do you make a tasty sweet and sour pork without the fat?!  Anyway, the batter was nice and crunchy, and there was enough fat here to make it tasty... even if the sauce was made with ketchup.

Stir-fried kailan with ginger (薑汁炒芥藍)

Braised ox tail (古法炆鮮牛尾) - pretty good... definitely very tender, and just about falling off the bone.  Yum.

Petits fours - these were OK but I had no expectations anyway.  The "cheesecake" was bleh, the osmanthus and wolfberry jelly was OK, as was the cookie.

But tonight's gathering was really about the wines, and we had a pretty decent lineup of Calis!

2002 Kongsgaard Chardonnay - ripe and sweet on the nose, with a little honey, lemon citrus.  Very lovely and buttery notes, with a little flint.  Much more ripe and mature nose.  Ripeness on the palate, too... if a touch too much on the mid-palate and finish.

2006 Marcassin Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard - lighter and more elegant and delicate on the nose.  Nice and sweet, with caramelized candy which developed into a full-on, incredibly sweet cotton candy nose.  A little toasty but not as powerful and in-your-face as expected.  Later on the buttery notes came out.  Palate was initially more delicate, but later developed into something incredible.  Amazing length.

1985 Dominus - drinking surprisingly well and was much younger than expected.  A little pencil lead in the nose, slightly smoky, with some dried herbs, a hint of earthiness but in a nice way.  So smooth and silky on the palate.  Wow!

1983 Grace Family Vineyard - apparently needed a little time to throw off the funk in the nose.  Not bad at all.  A little medicinal nose, a little smoky with a bit of soy sauce.  Definitely a mature wine, but not yet over the hill.  Pretty smooth on the palate, too.

1997 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 - double-decanted for about 2 hours, then put into a decanter.  Absolutely not ready... as nose was very closed and would barely start to open after about an hour in the decanter.  Very tannic on the palate.  A little animal notes, a little minty, with some black fruits, and a hint of burnt rubber around the edges.

This was a pretty good evening, and I was pleasantly surprised by the food.  That pomelo skin and the stuffed chicken... definitely worth having again.