Long time no pigeon

Foursheets' bestie is in town from the Land of Maple Syrup, and we've decided to take them out for a nice dinner to welcome them back to Hong Kong. Given a few options to choose from, it was decided we would be enjoying some pigeon tonight... so off to Stellar House (星月居) we went.

This is a rare chance for our visitors to have Shunde (順德) cuisine, and I'm not even sure if they know what the area is famous for, so I made sure to order a few classic dishes which, from experience, the kitchen executes well.

Crab and winter melon soup (鮮蟹肉冬茸羹) - this was a hit with the ladies, but I really didn't understand the presence of undercooked and crunchy loofah, as they introduced some green flavors that I didn't care for. Also got some diced mushrooms. The white pepper was pretty noticable.

Deep-fried crab claws in salt and pepper (椒鹽鮮蟹拑) - this is always nice and impressive. The batter is very crispy.

Daliang fried milk (大良炒鮮奶) - this is always interesting for anyone who's never had it. The onions were pretty sweet, and while it's nice to add a little black vinegar into the mix, it unfortunately tends to overpower the onions. As usual the toasted black olive kernels (欖仁) were really nice.

Pan-fried king prawns with soy sauce (豉油皇香煎大蝦) - this has always been my preferred prawn here, over the classic crystal king prawns.

I was pretty surprised it was still slightly raw in the middle. Nicely done.

Signature roasted pigeons (紅燒脆皮妙齡鴿) - BABY, THIS IS WHAT YOU CAME FOR. I made sure there was a spare bird tonight, as I couldn't imagine someone being content with just one.

This is STILL my favorite Cantonese-style roast pigeon. The juices that run down the bird when I start to rip the legs off... they're just so tasty that I had to try to suck it up. And yes, they still have that magical milky flavor, although tonight my bird was showing a little less of it.

Stir-fried glutinous rice with Chinese preserved meats (生炒臘味糯米飯) - I'm so happy that with my last few visits, the kitchen has been delivering decent versions of this. The rice now has enough bite, is on the dry side, and no longer soggy as it was in the earlier days. Really tasty.

Walnut cream with lotus seeds (蓮子核桃露)

I only brought out one bottle to dinner tonight:

Laherte Rosé de Meunier, dégorgée en mars 2023 - lots of red fruits in the nose.