Casual Valentine

I found out this morning that it's Qixi Festival (七夕) today, which is the traditional celebration of the myth of a romantic couple who are only allowed to meet once a year on this day. Since we didn't have a proper Valentine's Day this year, I proposed that Sankala and I should at least have a casual dinner out with a bottle of wine. At her suggestion, I booked at table at ENVY Restaurant and Bar, a cozy little place in Tai Hang (大坑).

The menu is kinda eclectic, with lots of Japanese influence along with some Indian. Since there were only two of us, we couldn't order too many dishes.

Japanese sashimi jellyfish - not as exotic as it sounds... just jellyfish head served with various raw seasweed in a marinade. A refreshing start to dinner and rather aromatic with dill.

Fried plum fried chicken skin - the deep-fried skin of Japanese chickens was paper-thin, having been air-dried overnight. The plum powder was a little overpowering, but this would work better as a snack to go with beer or umeshu (梅酒).

French beef tartare with shiso - the perilla sauce was not too strong, there was a little bit of fragrant sesame seeds, but the best thing was the texture of the hand-chopped beef.

Cuttlefish pappardelle - the "noodles" were thin slices of cuttlefish. Texture was nice and springy, and the sauce delivered some delicious garlic flavors. I wasn't sure how much the raw egg yolk added to the dish other than thickening the sauce...

Tunisia hot harissa style sauce slow cooked chicken breast - the slices of chicken breast were OK, but I did like the harissa and diced eggplants.

Creamy crab croquette - this was a little too watery for my taste, which meant I wished I tasted more crab...

I thought a rosé Champagne was in order...

Laherte Frères Rosê de Meunier, dégorgée en juillet 2021 - great palate, lots of strawberries. Beautiful color.

Not a bad casual meal, and the quirky menu kinda worked for us on this occasion. Sankala is now busy recommending the place to her friends who are focused on their keto diets...