Stretched like a drum

We have a visitor in town wanting to visit a few restaurants, and one of the places on the itinerary is Flower Drum (鋒膳). I had heard about this place a lot from friends for a long time - in fact one of the owners is a friend - but have only managed a casual lunch visit a few years ago. Now that I've been asked to join a table, curiosity got the best of me... and I wanted to see what the hubbub was about.

Our VIP friend had arranged the meal, so we were seated in the private room that connects to the terrace where one can enjoy a cigar or two after a meal. A "short menu" was already set for us, but little did we know what we were in for...

These candied cashews were pretty nice with all the sesame.

But they were nowhere as popular as the potato chips that were really crunchy and tasted of fragrant olive oil.

Crispy char siu with aged mandarin peel (脆皮陳皮黑叉燒) - the minute this dish came into our room, the aroma from the aged mandarin peel filled the air. We have a bloc from the belly of a Marumiton (まるみ豚) from Miyazaki Prefecture (宮崎県), sprinkled with ground powder made with 50-year-old aged mandarin peel. Interestingly, the flavors of the peel had developed into something more plum-like, and reminded me of all the chen pi mei (陳皮梅) mom used to love eating when I was a child.

How could I not love tender, fatty pork belly? The taste was definitely on the sweet side. Really damn tasty.

Bottarga, seaweed and fish maw spring roll (烏魚子紫菜花膠春卷) - this looks impressive but didn't work that well for me. Yes, there was plenty of gooey fish maw inside, but it was just disappointingly under-seasoned... at least in my book. Where were the flavors - the salinity, the umami, and that bitter after-taste - of the Taiwanese bottarga that I love so much?! And how could it be that I tasted the Korean laver more than the bottarga?!

Roast suckling pig (金豬大紅袍) - much have I heard about said piglet, and finally, I feast upon thee with mine own eyes... Instead of using piglets imported from Vietnam like many top restaurants in town, this one came from Meizhou (梅州) in Guangdong Province - a much closer source. Not sure about the description of "梅州小耳朵" for the pig... but the ears did look kinda smaller than other suckling pigs.

This was very, very nice. Love the way this is cut so that the crackling comes with all of the fat underneath as well as the tender meat. Very satisfying. Someone decided to get some steamed rice to make "sushi" by quenelling the rice and putting the pork on top, but today I chose to be a purist and love the fatty piglet on its own.

Eight treasure mini winter melon soup (八寶迷你冬瓜盅) - it's always wonderful to have winter melon soup in the summer, but DAYAM! Serving up individual melons in a multi-course menu was just too much... Unfortunately none of us wanted to waste any of it so we kept digging and scraping the melon - something that we would come to regret later.

Chapon with aromatic ginger and red shallots (鮮沙薑紅蔥頭霸王大扇雞) - this was not a preparation I see often... since Cantonese chicken dishes are usually much more simple. There's a lot going on here, and the aromatic ginger (沙薑) was very nice.

The chicken was pretty tender, and came with some giblets. Our VIP friend even made sure that the kitchen left the ass on the plate, and once again we witnessed The Great One acting giddy like a 3-year-old when she dug it up.

Handcrafted noodles in bone broth and black garlic oil with triple beef delight (三牛黑蒜油牛骨濃湯手工麵) - well lookee here... in the bowl we had Kagoshima (鹿児島) A4 wagyu tendon, USDA Prime short ribs, and fresh beef brisket with skin sitting on a bed of handmade noodles. There was a big dollop of black garlic paste on top of everything.

The bone broth is poured into the bowl in front of us.

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The next step would be to mix it all up so that the heavy garlic flavors blend in with the broth.

In terms of flavors, everything here seems heavy-handed. The tendons came with some star anise flavors, and I couldn't believe we got the thick, gelatinous skin. The flavors were so heavy and gamey I started to wonder whether I was chomping down on mutton skin from a mutton hotpot (羊腩煲)...

Wonton skin and pigeon egg in sweet ginger soup (薑汁雲吞皮鴿蛋糖水) - kinda new experience eating slippery wonton skin in a dessert soup, but I suppose this was just a deliberate alternative take on beancurd sweet soup (腐竹雞蛋糖水)... The ginger flavors and the fragrance of osmanthus flowers (桂花) were very nice, but by this time I really didn't have more room in my stomach for additional liquid...

Homemade coconut ice cream with freeze-dried coconut and pineapple with Malibu (自製椰林飄香冰淇淋配涷乾椰子及菠蘿伴Malibu椰子冧酒) - this has got to be the longest name for a dessert. I did enjoy it, though, because I love coconut desserts, and pouring that Malibu on top made all the difference.

When I first found out that the booking was under our VIP friend, I figured this would be a boozy lunch. When I heard that a certain wine merchant was also coming, I knew this would be a drinking session. Much to my surprise, there were only two other bottles besides the two I brought along... and I made sure there was at least one bottle of bongwater for Haokoufu.

1989 Maximin Grünhaüser Herrenberg Riesling Spätlese - right away we have nose of white flowers. The palate was initially soft and gentle, but with good amount of acidity on the back. There was also a little bit of caramelized sugar as the wine opened up. Delicious.

2008 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie - decanted 30 minutes after opening and started drinking 45 minutes after opening. On the nose there were some sweet fruits, a bit of leather, with a lovely floral nose showing violets. The nose was almost Burgundian and alluring. Around 1½ hours after opening, the wine was drinking really nicely.

2013 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - decanted around 2 hours after opening and started drinking around 2½ hours after opening. This was a much bigger wine, with much more concentration. Notes of grilled meats, and definitely a little bretty. Showing earthy notes some 3½ hours after opening.

2020 Marthe Henry Boillot Bourgogne Aligoté - toasty notes on the nose. Definitely tart and grippy on the palate, with acidity on the high side but not too sharp. Definitely an aligoté.

This was a ridiculous lunch. The menu looked deceptively small, but everyone got done in by the "mini" winter melon soup. Then the beef noodle soup. AND we had two desserts - with one of them being a soup. I was kinda in pain when I left the restaurant, and all I wanted to do was to get home, lie down and stretch out my tummy. Which was exactly what I did. But I was happy. And I think I need to find an occasion to go back with Foursheets, along with a few friends.