Another Great birthday

The Great One was out of town on her birthday, so we had to wait until she got back to do a belated celebration with her.  Surprisingly, she wanted to try out my new favorite Shanghainese/Huaiyang restaurant - Jiang Su (江蘇薈).

I left the ordering up to Kung Fu Panda and Da Jam, as I didn't want to keep ordering the same dishes whenever I'm here, but Hello Kitty did want to make sure she got her usual dose of veggies...

Marinated celtuce stem with spring onions (香蔥萵筍) - Hello Kitty can't get enough of the cool and refreshing crunch, but I think most of the dish was devoured by the two of us.

Marinated organic radish (天水有機醬蘿蔔) - I think everyone was impressed by how delicious these were, probably given their low expectations from pickles.

Phoenix tofu in claypot (鳳凰豆腐煲) - I'm glad the Great One liked this, and the more concentrated, lightly roasted flavors of the soy beans were definitely a nice change from the usual bland stuff.  I'm happy with the slices of pork belly, too... and the soy beans.  But for some reason - maybe the kitchen just got lazy - the tofu came in huge square chunks tonight.  Would have been better with thinner slices...

Nostalgic old school tea-smoked duck (懷舊地道樟茶鴨) - we had a hard time tasting much smokiness from this duck, so in that respect it kinda failed.  The skin is also not the right texture, as normally it is very similar to duck confit.  Not very interesting.

Slow-cooked veal (炆火小牛肉) - as it has been on previous visits, this was very, very fatty and tender.  But in terms of flavors, this was a little heavy... both pretty sweet and pretty savory.

Steamed pork dumplings with soup (鮮肉小湯包) - these were damn good!  The wrappers were thin and delicate, although perhaps they were a little too delicate... as a couple of them broke despite our careful efforts to extract them from the steamer.  Plenty of delicious, fatty pork broth inside.

Braised pork knuckle (沈萬山大元蹄) - not bad.  Fatty and tender, as expected, but I'm not sure that this was more outstanding than other versions found around town.

Shredded tofu with hairy crab roe (蟹粉撈干絲) - as Kung Fu Panda was looking for a noodle dish to complete our birthday dinner, I suggested this as an alternative.  I really liked it the first time I had it, and it did not disappoint tonight.  The tofu strands were just as tasty as the squares we had earlier, and of course the hairy crab roe and meat didn't hurt.  I thought it was a pretty good substitute.

Eight-layered jujube cake (八層棗泥糕) - this was pretty damn good, thanks to the jujube paste in between all those layers.

Eight treasure rice (發財八寳飯) - I'm glad we ordered this again, because this was the most delicate version of this dessert I've ever had.  Dried apricots, candied pineapple, raisins, jujube, lotus seeds, red bean paste, sunflower seeds, and that one cherry on top right in the middle of the pineapple ring.  This wasn't sickly sweet, and there was just the right amount of red bean paste to add a moderate amount of sweetness  The osmanthus sauce also added to the elegance.

I figured we should pop open a couple of bottles for a birthday dinner, so I brought along some whites:

2005 Vincent Girardin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatieres - very ripe, with apricot and acetone notes.

1995 Joh.Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese - lots of petrol, polyurethane, and marmalade.  Good amount of sweetness on the palate, balanced by some acidity.

As we were getting ready to leave, I made the spur-of-the-moment suggestion that we hit Cafe Malacca for some of our favorite desserts.  We were, after all, only 2 stops away on the subway...

Musang King durian pudding - very, very good as usual.  Love the thick and creamy texture, and that flavor!  I just looooove durian.