Eating with chefs: Goh with the Flo

Half a day after stuffing ourselves, a few of us reconvened at Seventh Son (家全七福) for a pig-out session. We were joined by Chef Kawate Hiroyasu (川手寛康) from Florilège, who had just landed in town for a couple of days' vacation. His is yet another restaurant on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list which I had yet to visit, but thankfully I already have an upcoming reservation...

A couple of dishes had been pre-ordered by The Great One, so The Man in White T-shirt and I figured we would just add a bunch of dim sum items - as Goh-san had expressed interest in trying dim sum during last night's dinner.

Gold coin chicken (金錢雞) - The Great One pre-ordered this classic, which has neither gold nor coins.  The round medallions of chicken liver, char siu, and cured pork fat (冰肉) are roasted on a skewer, and a hole appears in the center when the layers are removed - thus giving the resemblance to old Chinese coins.  This was nice, but ideally the thickness of each layer should have been at least double of what we got...

Honey roasted crispy eel (蜜汁燒鱔) - didn't taste much muddy flavors today.

Steamed prawn dumplings (七福鮮蝦餃)

Steamed squid in curry sauce (咖喱蒸土魷)

Barbecued whole suckling pig (大紅片皮乳豬全體) - this was the pièce de résistance, so we asked the two visiting chefs to pose for a picture...  I think the chefs enjoyed the piggy... from the crispy, wafer-like crackling to the short, stubby legs.

Steamed pork dumplings (蟹皇蒸燒賣)

Steamed vegetarian dumplings (花素蒸餃) - a replacement for the other dumpling that they ran out of.

Tofu skin rolls in satay sauce (沙爹銀絲卷) - not bad at all.

Steamed riceflour rolls with barbecued pork (蜜汁叉燒腸)

Fried wontons with crab and chives (韮王炸蟹盒) - pretty damn good.

Spring rolls with shredded chicken (雞絲炸春卷) - always reliable here.  So crispy and delicious.

Deep-fried chicken kidney mixed with egg custard (雞子戈渣) - we told the chefs upfront that the custard is made with, among other things, chicken testicles.  Goh-san must have been wondering why we (or some of us, at last) are so obsessed with testicles, as it's the second meal in a row where he's been served some 金玉...

Deep fried frog legs with garlic and chili (椒鹽田雞腿) - I told Goh-san that he was eating Keroppi... Anyway these were about as good as I've always had it.

Pan-fried radish pudding (香煎蘿蔔糕)

Braised pomelo skin with shrimp roe and tofu (豆腐蝦子柚皮) - I didn't realize that The Man in White T-shirt had pre-ordered this... and it was a new experience for the visitors.

Walnut cookies (核桃酥) - always one of my favorite desserts here.  Just leaves a beautiful fragrance in the mouth.

Black sesame roll (懷舊芝麻卷) - another dessert I always order.  I showed our visiting chefs the proper way to eat "film (菲林)", and soon they were getting asked to pose for pictures and videos.  Kawate-san even tried to eat it like he would slurp ramen...

Steamed traditional brown sugar sponge cake (欖仁馬拉糕)

Leaf wrapped glutinous dumpling with red bean paste (豆沙蘋葉角) - basically steamed mochi (餅) or daifuku (大福).

Steamed lotus seed paste bun (蓮蓉金沙包) - with salted egg yolk wrapped in lotus seed paste.

This was a lot of food, but the 8 of us managed to pretty much polish it off.  I'm glad that Goh-san finally made his first trip to Hong Kong, and I look forward to seeing him again soon.