Slip and slide

Ninja's making her move out of town, and Hello Kitty and I met up with her tonight to catch up.  Not surprisingly, she wanted some "real Cantonese" food... and preferred to go to Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) even though I suggested several alternatives.  I did understand her rationale, though, as she associates most of the other places I suggested with work-related meals.

Since there were only three of us, I didn't think we needed to pre-order anything special.  So we picked out a few simple dishes we thought would be representative of the place.

But our evening started with a surprising disappointment.  At 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night, when the 2nd floor of the restaurant (read: the floor where stragglers and nobodies get seated) is only half full, we were told that the kitchen had run out of barbecued pork (叉燒).  SERIOUSLY?!  A top Cantonese restaurant, with no char siu?!  AT PEAK DINNER HOUR?!  And all they have is roast pork belly...

I am instantly reminded of my disastrous dinner at Lei Garden (利苑) in the International Finance Centre all those years ago, when nothing I wanted was available.  And I never spent another dime of my money at that restaurant ever again...

Deep-fried frogs' legs (椒鹽田雞腿) - these were crispy and delicious as always, with that nice sprinkling of deep-fried minced garlic and chopped chili.

Crispy pork belly (脆皮燒腩仔) - at least they have this. But wait, this tasted like it's been re-heated.  The fat had seeped out and soaked through the crispy crackling, making it feel greasy.  This was disappointing.

Baked stuffed crab shell with onions and fresh crab meat (釀焗鮮蟹蓋) - still one of my favorite versions in town, even though the price has gone from HKD 90 a few years ago to HKD 180 now.  At least they gave us more crab for jacking up the price.  Still like the creamy filling with those slightly crunchy shredded onions.

Steamed pork patty with salted fish (鹹魚蒸肉餅) - I was glad that Ninja also wanted to have something simple and comforting like this.  Perfect with some steamed rice.

Lettuce with bean sauce in sizzling clay pot (麵醬唐生菜) - we had wanted to have lettuce with shrimp paste in clay pot, but our waiter must have misunderstood us.  Or maybe they don't do it with shrimp paste (蝦醬) here, the way many other places do around town.  In any case, we ended up with fermented soy bean paste (麵豉醬) on our veg...

It was good to have caught up with my friend, but honestly the food was below par.  It only reinforces my conviction that as a nobody, these days it's better to dine at Seventh Son (家全七福) and not here...

P.S. We weren't planning on drinking wine so I didn't bring any, but I was curious to see the restaurant's wine list - because I've never read through it.  While they have a good selection of very fine wines befitting their tycoon clientele (who probably have their own collections anyway...), I was surprised to see a written policy where they will refuse to accept any return of wines which cost HKD 1,000 or more.  So... if I order a nice bottle of 1982 Petrus and it turns out to be corked, am I fucked??

This is just all kinds of FUCK NO.  And there's no fucking way I'm ever ordering anything off their wine list.