B's detour day 2: three years late

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It's B's second and last night in Hong Kong, so this is when I choose to bring out the big guns for her. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were all foolishly hopeful that it would be over soon, so we discussed getting her to detour to Hong Kong so that I could open up a special bottle of wine for her. Well... Hong Kong's borders remained effectively closed for almost 3 years, and it took until now for my friend to return to Hong Kong.

During this time, I managed to acquire another special bottle of wine that I thought I could share with my friend. The bottles are so special that I would want a competent sommelier to handle them, and given that I want to go to a Cantonese restaurant, there are only 3 in Hong Kong whose sommelier I trust. So... it's back to Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) we go... the day after they retained their 3 Michelin stars.

I've been told not to order too much food, but I still want to showcase a few classic Cantonese dishes to my friends.

Pan-fried cuttlefish cake (黃金墨魚餅) - the texture was very soft yet very springy. Fantastic dish to start with.

Chef Adam homemade roasted barbecued pork (滔哥靚叉燒) - we needed some meats to go with the pair of old wines, and I could think of no better dish to match than the beautiful char siu (叉燒) here. So tender. So flavorful.

Baked conpoy and crab meat in crab shell (瑤柱焗釀蟹蓋) - this is always one of my favorite dishes in high end Cantonese cuisine, and they do a fantastic job here.

The onions in the mix were very, very sweet, and the flavors from conpoy (干貝) were very prominent. Love it.

Roasted chicken wing stuffed with minced shrimp (百花燒釀雞翼) - I foolishly forgot to pre-order the wings stuffed with birds nest, so I had to settle for this version stuffed with minced shrimp mousse.

This turned out to be my friend's favorite dish. She absolutely loved how succulent the stuffed wing was as she bit into it. I can't say I disagree with her assessment.

Braised ox tail (燒汁焗牛尾) - always something we need to order, especially when we are drinking some nice reds. Very, very tender and so much flavor from the spices.

Bamboo fungus roll filled with vegetables (竹笙釀素卷) - not a veg dish that my friend is likely to find in Switzerland or Spain...

Deep-fried boneless duck stuffed with mashed taro (荔茸香酥鴨) - I really love duck with taro so I just had to order this. It was very tasty, and how could it not with both deep-fried taro mash and that thick layer of fat under the duck skin?! But it did feel a little too greasy at times, so definitely not for the health-conscious.

Longevity bun (壽包) - as we are celebrating my friend's birthday, so naturally I arranged for this.

Deep-fried sesame glutinous ball (黃金煎堆仔) - despite protestations from my friend about not being able to eat another bite, she took down two of these. I'm so happy that she got to eat ones that were freshly made and still piping hot, because that's definitely not happening for her at home.

So we uncorked a few more bottles tonight, including ones from the birthday girl's vintage:

Ulysse Collin Les Pierrières, dégorgée en 16 Fevrier 2022 - nice acidity on the palate, as one would expect. Later on the wine showed candied pineapple, a little flint, and minerals on the nose.

2014 Keller Westhofen Kirchspiel Riesling trocken - classic petrol and polyurethane. Reasonably dry but definitely a little soft and rounded by now.

1961 Ducru-Beaucaillou - level was a tad below top shoulder. Drank 20 minutes after opening without decanting. The nose was more floral and elegant, with notes of leather, a little smoke, and a little graphite. After a little more than an hour the wine was still holding up somewhat, with more prominent nose of smoke. About 1½ hours in the wine was really, really open and showing beautifully, with loads of leather and a big, toasty nose, along with some coffee, too. Very happy with this bottle, and in the end it turned out better than my previous bottle from 3 years ago.

1961 Pichon Baron - level was a tad below top shoulder. Drank 20 minutes after opening without decanting. Definitely smoky on the nose, initially showing well and better than the 61 Ducru, bigger and more concentrated on the palate, but there was perhaps a tiny hint of wet cardboard. Love the complexity here, with lots of woodsy and cedar nose, and still got the fruity cassis.

A very happy evening for us, and I got to congratulate chef Adam on retaining three stars for the restaurant. Many thanks to Jacky for taking such good care of us with the rest of the team.