Lunch with brokers: I Ding you ah!

Another day, another lunch treated by a friendly neighborhood prime broker.  I was kinda surprised when they chose Ding's Club (鼎・會館), but intrigued as I've largely stayed away from the hype surrounding restaurants featuring Steve Lee Ka Ting (李家鼎).  After all, I didn't grow up watching him on TV, and while I'm happy that he's found a second career, I was in no rush to check out whether he can really cook...

As there were only 4 of us, we tried to take things easy.  Emphasis on the word "tried".

Barbecued pluma pork in flame, Ding's Style (秘製火焰叉燒) - this was flambéed while we watched.

Pretty fatty for sure, but that's never been an issue for me...

Wok-fried de-boned pig trotter, mashed ginger, chili, crispy garlic (避風塘無骨豬手) - there was no universe in which I would fail to like this dish.  Crispy, fatty pig trotters covered in a layer of deep-fried diced garlic and chili.  Yes, the flavors are pretty in-your-face, but damn!

Wok-fried green kale, minced pork, XO sauce in sizzling casserole (兩味芥蘭煲) - technically this was a veg dish, but it wasn't exactly on the light side... with pork floss and XO sauce.  Very, very tasty.

Crispy marinated wagyu beef cheek (脆皮和牛臉) - and to continue with our string of not-exactly-light dishes... the tender beef cheek was battered and deep-fried.  Nice.

Fried rice, shrimp, crispy rice, conpoy, egg (桂花黃金炒飯) - pretty nice.  Decent wok hei (鑊氣) here.

Chilled red dates pudding, dried konjac (蒟蒻紅棗糕) - pretty ho-hum... and the color certainly didn't look very appealing.

Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked for a light lunch... but I gotta admit that the food wasn't bad at all.  It's not fine dining, but I thought most of the dishes were pretty well-executed and the flavors were good.  Maybe Ding can cook, after all...