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While we were able to nibble on some
dim sum during lunch on Monday, it felt wrong to not give dad a proper
dim sum lunch while the Parental Units are in town. As this wasn't planned early like the other meals, I made a late call to
Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) for a table. I have full confidence that they will deliver the experience I would want for dad.
But our lunch got off to a strange start. We were seated and offered tea. For a little while no one approached our table. The staff stared at us from afar, seemingly at a loss of what to do with us. I sat and chatted with the Parental Units, sipping my tea. All quiet on the western front.
Finally, after about 6 minutes or so. Someone came and asked whether there was anything we would like. Well, I explained that no one had given us the menu. While there was a short menu on the table, it contained only certain seasonal specials and was neither the
dim sum menu nor the regular menu. Then the manager decided it was time to stop staring at us and asked us for our order. Well... after we've had a look at the menu.
Deep-fried turnip cake with Iberico ham (西班牙火腿蘿蔔糕) - this came in very thick cut, and slightly more moist than expected. Nice amount of radish.
Steamed minced beef ball with dried mandarin peel (陳皮牛肉球) - an old school item for dad.
Steamed pork and shrimp dumpling with pork tripe (懷舊豬肚燒賣) - I ordered this for dad to try, since this is another old school item that's not so common nowadays. There's something very satisfying about seeing that big piece of tripe on top. The tripe was a little strong and pungent, so the white pepper was definitely necessary, and one might argue that they should have added more pepper.
Steamed pork bun with crab meat and crab roe (蟹黃小籠飽) -
de rigueur since we're in the middle of hairy crab season. This was not bad, but I wish the hairy crab roe had more flavor.
Pan-fried Huangqiao sesame cake (黃橋燒餅) - the perennial favorite. The thin outer wrapper was very crispy, which led mom to suspect it's been deep-fried. As for the filling, the chunks of pork lard were very, very tasty... as was the pork floss.
Pan-fried rice roll with Forum special sauce (千里醬煎腸粉) - so... I ordered the wrong rice flour rolls... But this was nevertheless pretty tasty. I did wish that these were more crispy, though.
Deep-fried taro filo pastry with hairy crab meat (蟹粉芋茸酥) - I saw this seasonal special and just had to order it. I love the fried taro puffs, and this had the bonus of having hairy crab roe inside. What I didn't realize, though, was that an order delivered 6 of these!
The shell was a little too hard, and certainly not just made of taro mash. Inside we've got taro mash and, of course, the mix of Shanghainese hairy crab roe and crab meat. This was very nice, and the flavors were stronger than what I tasted with the
xiaolongbao (小籠包) earlier. However, the roe needed the addition of vinegar to really bring out the flavors. Unfortunately on the last puff I ate there was just a hint of baking soda on the last bite. Pity.
Deep-fried sesame glutinous ball (黃金煎堆仔) - maybe it's because we ordered this late and they had been sitting around, but these didn't seem as fresh as I remembered from another meal.
Traditional black sesame roll (懷舊芝麻卷) - I was surprised to find powdered sesame sugar rolled between the layers. This was OK, but surprisingly mom was not a fan.
Pretty good meal and there were some surprises for mom. Happy to have come back here.
Michelin stars this meal: 3
Total Michelin stars so far this trip: 12
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