Eating with chefs: no Cronuts, just crab

The Great One planned a few meals for Dominique and A while they're in town to open their new bakery, and asked Hello Kitty and I to join them at The Chairman (大班樓).  How interesting to note that my first meal at The Chairman in 2019 was also on this very date...

We did have someone with us who is in Hong Kong for the first time, and this is definitely the right place to get your first exposures to proper Canto cuisine.  As usual the menu was left up to Danny.

Szechuan pickles and cured smoky pig head (良薑豬頭肉) - this was something new to us.  We've got pickled ginger, galangal, and very crunchy pickles (醬瓜).  The slices of pig's head were pretty smoky.

BBQ chicken liver with Chinese bun (古法金錢雞配饅頭) - always so sinful and delicious.  Love that layer of pork lard (冰肉) at the bottom just above the deep-fried bun.

Flipper lobsters poached in rice broth and shrimp oil (魚米湯煮琵琶蝦) - always an elegant dish, the smooth rice-less congee has been strained so that only the viscous liquid remains.  The slipper lobsters were smooth and tender, and as always, the addition of a few drops of shrimp oil along with a light sprinkle of dried shrimp roe added more intensity.

Steamed garoupa with sundried mandarin peel (古法陳皮咸肉蒸老鼠斑) - a very nice steamed humpback grouper (老鼠斑), especially with the fragrance of the dried mandarin peel as well as the presence of those strips of cured lard.

Steamed fresh flowery crab with aged Shao Xing wine, and flat rice noodles (雞油花雕蒸大花蟹配陳村粉) - this dish needs no introduction, and I think we all enjoyed the sweet crab meat along with the delicious sauce.  I was allotted a reasonable amount of the rice noodles, and ended up eating too much because I didn't want to waste them after they've soaked up all the sauce...

Traditional pork belly stew in preserved vegetable (梅乾菜陳皮扣肉煲) - there were three Taiwanese people at the table, and this just felt so right...

Loved the traditional preserved leafy mustard (梅乾菜)!

Bean sprout cooked in homemade fish broth (魚湯浸豆苗) - always an elegant dish, and very much under-appreciated by many.  Happens to be one of Dominique's favorites.

Crab meat and sakura shrimp sticky rice (櫻花蝦蟹肉糯米飯) - we were all pretty stuffed by the time this arrived, so I allowed myself half a bowl.

Desserts trio (甜品三味) - first up was the usual hawthorn berries pudding (山楂糕).

Herbs and mung bean cake (臭草綠豆餅) - another item familiar to the Taiwanese at the table... except we're not used to having rue (臭草) thrown into the mix.

Almond soup (杏仁茶)

I didn't have much wine lying around, so I only brought this magnum... Unfortunately I took my eye off the ball, and the waiter ended up decanting the whole bottle... including all the sediment!

1990 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Clos les Epeneaux, en magnum - smoky, leather notes.  Some fruit here.

Dominique and the team hadn't slept in the last few days as they worked very hard to ensure a successful opening.  Working in the hospitality industry, they sure do put up a lot of crap from many entitled people.  I was pretty shocked at the stories they told us, especially concerning spoiled and entitled kids who obviously weren't taught by their equally-entitled parents.  Sigh...