Closing day, part 1: that Chiuchow place

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It's the day of the big reunion, so a number of old friends are back in town for the event tonight. But it happens to be my birthday, and I told the organizers long ago that I wasn't gonna spend my birthday with this lot... Meanwhile, I hadn't seen the King in a little while, so we took the opportunity to catch up while he's in town. As Sheung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant (尚興潮州飯店) has decided to close their long-standing location next week before moving into new, more modern digs, my friend decided that he would like to come one last time.

The place has always been run down and didn't exactly look spanking clean, and the various adjoining shop spaces - which they all owned - weren't all that different in that respect. I guess that's one of the reasons why I never thought about going there much - especially when their dishes weren't significantly better than other Chiuchow restaurants in town.

As is their usual practice, we were offered small cups of gongfu tea (工夫茶) to start us off.

Cold crab Chiu-Chow style (潮州凍花蟹) - this was obviously a MUST for this meal, and coming in at HKD 1,600 it wasn't outrageously priced. Pretty nice.

Goose meat with soy sauce (潮州鹵水鵝)

Pig's stomach with pepper in soup (胡椒豬肚湯) - my only request as I just had to do it. Love this flavor combination, especially that big kick from the white pepper.

Deep fried crab meat ball and prawn ball (乾炸雙棗) - what's not to like about deep-fried balls?!

Fried Shantou cabbage with dried shrimp (蝦米炒汕頭白菜) - so classic and tasty, just comforting.

Oyster congee (蠔仔粥) - another classic that my friend requested. I always love the pieces of dried flat fish.

Green beans in sweet soup (清心丸豆爽) - classic dessert to finish. We were supposed to squeeze a little of the aged tangerine syrup into the bowl, but the squeeze bottle nozzle was blocked... when the manager squeezed hard, I ended up getting a big glop in my bowl. Still pretty nice.

We went for coffee after lunch when we couldn't get it at Shari Shari for some kakigori (かき氷) on a scorching day like this. It was good to see my friend and catch up.