Abalone feast

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My friend KC has been organizing dinner gatherings for years, but I haven't had many chances to join him.  Over the years I've only been able to jin him on a handful of occasions - the last one being the roast pig feast up in the boonies which turned out to be really special.  When I found out he was putting together a dinner at Dynasty (滿福樓) featuring South African abalone, I put my hand up immediately.

I was running late because of work, but thankfully arrived just as they were about to serve the appetizers.

Baked diced chicken puff with abalone (鮑魚雞粒酥) - with diced mushrooms inside.  Ok lah...

Barbecued pork (蜜汁烤叉燒) - love the fatty bits connecting the different lumps.  The texture was rather more dry and firm, and reminded me of cooked honey-glazed ham commonly found in America.  Very tasty.

Steamed whole South Africa abalone flavored with jasmine tea (桑拿南非鮑) - the abalones had already been cooked, then they poured liquid (was it jasmine tea?) on top of the jasmine tea leaves placed on top of what must have been hot stones.  This released jasmine-scented steam and became a "sauna" once the lids were put in place.  So fragrant and sweet like honey.

The texture here was actually very firm and very springy. Served with some chili paste on top.

Steamed assorted asparagus in black truffle paste (肉抹黑松露蒸雙筍) - as it's white asparagus season, the chef has graciously added an extra dish to our menu.  We've got both German white asparagus as well as green ones, topped with a big pile of minced meat flavored with black truffle paste.

The spears of white asparagus were kinda alright, but the green one I got was totally limp.  What the hell happened there??

Deep-fried diced South Africa abalone with avocado and minced salted egg yolk (金沙牛油果南非鮮鮑角) - I was surprised to see avocado battered and deep-fried, and even more shocked to see it lathered with salted egg yolk.

But DAMN!  It was good!  And I don't even like avocado!  Of course, the abalone was even better.  Underneath that crunchy shell was some delicious and very springy abalone.

A whole South Africa 27 heads Yoshihama abalone braised with Chinese lettuce (蠔皇原隻二十七頭南非吉品鮑伴唐生菜) - so this was the pièce de résistance.

Done very, very nicely.  Wonderful flavors.  Great texture.

Baked chicken with mushrooms in bean paste sauce (豆醬雑菌焗雞) - the meat was pretty tender, and even the breast meat was OK.  The flavors from bean paste was pretty interesting.

Steamed rice simmered with assorted seafood and vegetables in fish soup (魚湯四寶泡飯) - now this... this was an incredibly homey dish.  It's just rice in soup, and the fact that it's fish soup made it even better.

But wait!  It gets better!  There was a bowl of golden rice crispies, which we greedily sprinkled into our bowls.  So we've got diced scallops, prawns, crunchy veggies, and both simmered (and soft) rice as well as deep-fried rice.  So, sooooo good.  Wish I had more space in my stomach!

Egg fritter glazed with honey sauce (香蜜蛋散) - DAMN!  I looooove these egg fritters, and they do a really good job on them here.  Very, very good.

Baked egg custard tart (蛋撻仔)

Chilled mango sago cream with pomelo in mini style (迷你楊枝甘露)

I just grabbed whatever I have in the office on my way to dinner:

2008 Joh.Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese - lots of polyurethane, flinty, white flowers.

A very nice dinner with an interesting theme, with all those varied cooking techniques on the same ingredient.  Slurp...