Canto-Chiuchow lunch

There was a last-minute call for a team lunch today, and I scambled to find a suitable venue to fit our requirements. After weighing a few options, I settled on Chiu Tang (潮廳), a place I haven't patronized in a number of years. In fact, I have not been to their current location.

With a minimum spending requirement for our private room, I made sure to order a few big-ticket items to help us get over that threshold...

Signature marinated goose's liver (馳名滷水鵝肝) - can't come to a Chiuchow restaurant and not order something lo shui (滷水)! Can't go wrong with the goose liver here.

Pig's tripe clear soup with pickled vegetable and white peppers (胡椒鹹菜豬肚湯) - when it comes to soup at a Chiuchow restaurant, this is my pick. Love pig tripe, and gotta love that big kick from the tons of white pepper.

Braised whole sea cucumber with shrimp roe (蝦籽炆原條遼參) - honestly a little disappointed. The spiny sea cucumber wasn't braised long enough, and the texture was still a little too crunchy. It really should be very soft but with just a little bit of crunch so that it's not completely mushy or flabby. I did like the shrimp roe flavors, though.

Steamed fresh crab claw with Huadiao wine and egg white (花雕蛋白蒸生拆大蟹拑) - one of us got an absolutely ginormous crab claw that was probably the biggest I've ever seen. Mine was significantly smaller, but still decent size. Sadly, though, the quality of the claw left something to be desired. Almost certainly previously frozen, and over-steaming meant the texture of the meat was too stuff. Flavors were also a little bland.

Steamed four kinds of vegetables with sliced Yunnan ham in bouillon (金華四寶蔬) - a nice way to finish the meal, with veggies in lieu of carbs.

As we needed to get to the minimum spending limit, we decided to pick out a casual bottle of white Burg:

2014 Jean-Marc Boillot Puligny-Montrachet - riper than expected, more tropical and fruity with pineapple notes.