A double cross evening

Our friend from the Big Apple is back in town, fresh off his wedding bash in Bali with his wife in tow. It's her first visit to Hong Kong so we kinda wanted to show her around a little. Our evening started with some pre-sunset cocktails at Sugar on top of East, which was easy for me to get to. I think they got some pretty good pics of Victor Harbour at sunset.

For dinner, our friend decided he wanted some Chiuchow cuisine, and Foursheets booked us a table at Noble Imperial (尚御潮滷居) on the recommendations of a few people. We crossed the harbor to an area I don't visit often, but the minute we arrived and saw the marinated goose hanging in the windows we knew this place was legit. I only wish we had come with more mouths so I could try more dishes!

Goose liver marinated in Chinese wine (極品酒香鵝肝) - this was very, very soft and silky... getting to be like tofu in terms of texture. Definitely melt-in-your-mouth, and the marinade was really, really fragrant.

Oyster omelette (酥炸蠔餅) - first of all, this was YUUUUUGE! We had heard that they do a fine job with this classic dish, but this was beyond our expectations. The oysters they used were huge in size, and this was deep-fried at high heat to deliver an amazingly crunchy and tasty batter. In fact, I'd love to just scrape up all the loose bits and put them into a bowl of udon like tenkasu (天かす) and turn it into tanuki udon (たぬきうどん). DAYAM! This was hands down DA BEST deep-fried oyster omelet I've had in Hong Kong!

Marinated goose wings and webs (滷水鵝掌翼) - this is always a good idea, and the bits are well-marinaded and very flavorful.

Noble Imperial marinated slice goose and cuttlefish (尚御鵝片「起片」拼墨魚) - the marinated goose was very good, both in terms of texture and flavor.

Chiu Chow style chilled threadfin fish (潮式凍馬友) - one doesn't find Chiuchow-style chilled fish easily in the Big Apple, and I'll bet threadfins are nonexistent there, so this made our friend happy. The flesh was tender like cotton, and very nice with the fermented soy bean sauce.

Marinated pork belly (滷水豬腩肉) - I spotted a couple of beautiful chunks of fatty pork belly while we were waiting outside for our table, so I made the executive decision to order it up. Very, very happy with it.

I brought a magnum to dinner, and the restaurant was kind enough not to charge us corkage.

2010 Lucia, en magnum - popped and poured. Silky smooth tannins, with delicious ripe black fruits along with oak and woodsy notes on the nose. A little sweet on the palate, too.

We were satisfied but the night was still young, so we crossed back to the island side for drinks at Le 188° Restaurant and Lounge at Harbour Grand Hong Kong, and even got ourselves a corner table for the fantastic view of Victoria Harbour. That was a nice experience for our first-timer.