A farewell lunch of sorts

I've been watching Hairy Legs do lunch at One Harbour Road (港灣壹號) at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong for some time now, and I always wondered why this particular restaurant has become his chosen venue - in addition to the Chairman (大班樓) and, of course, Wing (永). I'm a creature of habit like many people, and for some reason, this place just isn't on my radar. I can count 3 visits over the last 10 years - and all for special menus or events. Anyway, Hairy Legs seems to really like the place, and today he's invited me to come along.

I showed up to find the executive chef of the hotel at our table. Well... now it's starting to make sense. I took a backseat and let the others order.

Steamed shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings, vegetables (碧綠鮮蝦餃) - this was a little more interesting than the "regular" har gar (蝦餃) due to its green wrapper.

Wok-fried rice flour rolls, dried shrimps, spring onions, homemade X.O. chilli sauce (X.O.醬炒蔥花蝦米腸粉) - glad to see they do a pretty good job here.

Crispy suckling pig (脆皮乳豬件) - OK la... crunchy crackling is always nice.

Honey barbecued pork (蜜糖汁叉燒) - decent.

Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings, crab roe (蟹皇蒸燒賣)

Steamed shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings (冬筍鮮蝦餃) - the "regular" version.

Steamed pork dumplings "Shanghai" style (南翔小籠包) - this feels more "old school". Flavors are decent but the wrapper is certainly thicker and not as delicate as the ones I normally get from Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐).

Spinach in superior broth (上湯浸菠菜) - Foursheets' request for veg.

Stir-fried rice flour noodles with beef (乾炒牛河) - Hairy Leg's favorite. Why do so many non-Chinese chefs love this dish? Well, OK... so I'm also a big fan of this dish.

Crispy "Loong Kong" chicken (脆皮龍崗雞) - this was pretty good, and certainly better than the one I used to have at Lung King Heen (龍景軒) as it's not crazily salted.

Baked egg tarts, Hong Kong Style (焗酥皮蛋撻)

When the invitation came for lunch, I thought I would miss the chance to watch one of the duckies from Florentijn Hofman's Double Ducks swim around the harbor for their early farewell. I had planned to be at the East Coast Park Precint when the duckie left its anchor spot in Admiralty around 1pm, but that would not be possible when I'm lunching with Hairy Legs. Thankfully our table by the window afforded me a view of the duckies during the first part of our lunch.

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I even got to watch the swimming duckie move around the harbor.

Even though it was just lunch, we did have Frenchies and Aussies in our midst, so there was a reasonable amount of bottles...

2016 Tellier Les Massales, dégorgée en mai 2022 - pretty lean with acidity on the high side.

2009 Hospices de Beaune Corton-Vergennes Cuvée Paul Chanson, elevé et mis en bouteille par Lucien Le Moine pour El Bulli, en magnum - nice lemon citrus notes, with the typical flint and a slight hint of toast. Later on this showed more buttery notes.

2009 Roger Sabon Le Secret de Sabon - a little savory, still a little tannic and somewhat tight. A little sweetness showed on the palate.

2014 Grange des Pères Rouge - this was beautiful! Fragrant and floral.