Eating with chefs: lunch with Tara

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A few of us have been posting pictures and videos of the roast suckling pig at Seventh Son (家全七福) over the last few months, and it's certainly one of the best in town.  When my friend Gaggan Anand saw my last picture of it 2 weeks ago, he let us know what he was coming into town with his family, and that he wanted to go check the place out.  So here we are...

First order of business was, of course, the barbecued whole suckling pig (大紅片皮乳豬全體)! Gaggan was clearly looking forward to this, as was his daughter Tara. In fact, the Great One, Hello Kitty, and I were probably more excited about meeting Tara than anything else...

For The Dining Austrian (and myself, of course) this makes it the third day in a row that he's having Cantonese-style roast suckling pig for lunch...

Crispy pork belly (脆皮燒腩仔) - of course, one pig just wasn't enough for the 8 of us, so we needed other pork, too...

Deep-fried chicken kidney mixed with egg custard (雞子戈渣) - both Gaggan and The Dining Austrian found the custards tasty and interesting.  As the Kat was also at the table, we chose not to divulge the "secret ingredient"...

Pan-fried radish pudding (香煎蘿蔔糕)

Pan-fried rice flour rolls with scallions (蔥花煎腸粉)

Crispy dumplings with crab meat and chives (蟹肉韭菜盒)

Spring rolls with shredded chicken (雞絲炸春卷) - can't come here without having some of my favorite spring rolls...

Steamed beef tripe with ginger and scallions (薑蔥牛柏葉)

Steamed vegetable dumplings with pine nuts (崧子仁素菜粿) - with bamboo piths, shiitake mushrooms, pea shoots, carrots, and toasted pine nuts.

Steamed prawn dumplings (七福鮮蝦餃)

Steamed scallop and coriander dumplings (瑤柱香茜餃) -

Stir-fried pea shoots (清炒豆苗) - gotta get our veg... and these were very tender.

Stir-fried rice noodles with beef (乾炒牛河) - as this is one of Gaggan's favorite dishes from Cantonese cuisine, of course we needed to have it...

Braised beef brisket with radish (蘿蔔清湯腩) - always a good idea here...

Black sesame roll (懷舊芝麻卷) - I always want to introduce this desserts to people, because it's fun to play with one's food, no?  I'll always unroll it before eating - like a roll of film.

Coconut milk jelly (椰汁糕) - I remember Gaggan nibbling on these the last time we saw him in Hong Kong, so I ordered it again.

Gaggan was a little disappointed that the restaurant doesn't offer the classic chilled sago cream with mango (楊枝甘露), so he and Tara made do with the mango pudding instead.  The Dining Austrian liked it, too... and was surprised how much of a difference a splash of evaporated milk on top could make.

I wanted to ply The Dining Austrian with more German riesling during his time with us, so I brought along a lone bottle for lunch.

1989 von Schubert Maximin Grünhäuser Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett - nice and flinty, with white flowers and good acidity balance.

A pretty happy meal overall, and great company. Soooo happy to have finally met the #ThaiIndianbaby!!!  Wish we could see her more often...