Dim sum piggy

She's finally back!!! Mikacina is in town this weekend, her first trip since before the pandemic, and she's introducing us to her beau. I wasn't at all surprised when she requested a roast suckling pig, so naturally, I booked us a table at Moon Bay Chinese Cuisine (灣悅 賞 • 中菜) for the occasion.

Mikacina had invited a number of friends to come along, which included the Man in White T-shirt. I was trying to wager with a few friends on whether he would show up... or end up going to the wrong restaurant. Given his recent record, I guess I wasn't too surprised when he was a no-show... But I was glad that Kutsuyama was in town from Seoul and could join us.

Barbecued suckling pig (皇牌大紅乳豬全體) - as is customary, we asked for the suckling pig to be served first. Dim sum could come later.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED? Why did the restaurant decide to stick these glowing "heart eyes (心心眼)" in the sockets?! Why are we turning the clock back to the 1980s???

The crackling was very thin today, and it was just OK... I prefer it when it's a little thicker and there is more of a satisfying crunch.

But these bits also had crunchy and charred crackling - AND a layer of fat underneath - so I also made sure to get myself some.

Steamed shrimp dumplings, bamboo shoots (筍尖晶瑩鮮蝦餃) - the execution failed today... The wrappers were more sticky than usual and broke.

Wok-fried, rice-roll, X.O sauce (灣悅X.O.醬煎腸粉)

Steamed rice-roll, minced beef, aged tangerine peel (遠年陳皮手剁本地鮮牛肉腸粉)

Steamed minced pork dumplings, crab roe, shrimp (蟹籽鮮蝦蒸燒賣)

Moon Bay crispy chicken (灣悅脆皮雞) - the skin and very thin and crispy, but unfortunately this suffers from the same problem as Lung King Heen (龍景軒), where they over-seasoned the bone side and it's just really, really salty on the underside of the chicken.

Steamed barbecued Iberico pork buns, honey sauce (明爐蜜汁黑豚肉叉燒包)

Stir-fried Chinese kale (炒玉蘭遠)

Deep-fried spring roll, shrimp filling (鮮蝦炸春卷) - the spring rolls are always worth ordering at any of the restaurants whose lineage traces back to Fook Lam Moon (福臨門).

Black sesame roll (懷舊香滑芝麻卷) - I'm happy our visitors enjoyed this. I do love how fun (and tasty) this is to eat.

Steamed mille-feuille, salty egg yolk, black olive kernel (蛋黃欖仁千層糕)

Baked egg tart (即焗蛋撻仔)

It was fun seeing my friends just a few weeks after hanging out with them in Seoul, but I wish they had come when I was in better health and not recovering from the flu... Next time!