A shroomy Friday

It's been a while since I last saw the Mushroom Supplier, so I was pretty glad when he extended an invitation to join them for dinner at Man Ho Chinese Restaurant (萬豪金殿). Chef Jayson Tang has been doing a mushroom themed menu for some time now that is supplied by, of course, the Mushroom Supplier. I had missed out on joining the big gathering a while ago, so it was very kind of our friend to arrange another gathering for us.

We have an expert in Chinese tea in attendance, and he very kindly shared some Puer tea whose vintage dates to 1983.

We started with the Four Views of J's Garden (菁雲四景), which are based on vegetables from Yunnan Province imported by J's Garden:

Chilled bean with preserved vegetable (欖菜毛豆) - the preserved black olive greens (欖菜) were very flavorful.

Chilled melon with black vinegar (黑醋小脆瓜)

Chilled yam with osmanthus (桂花紫淮山) - the osmanthus sauce was really fragrant and lovely.

Chilled pepper with Yunnan ham (諾鄧火腿拌皺皮椒) - the Nuodeng ham (諾鄧火腿) from Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture (大理白族自治州), which I definitely did not have enough of, was paired with some shredded Yunnan wrinkled skin pepper (皺皮椒). The latter came with some spicy kick.

Next came the Grilled Yunnan wild mushroom platter (鹽燒野生菌拼盤), which showcased three different varietals of mushrooms that are popular:

Catathelasma mushroom (老人頭) - I have only tasted catathelasma laorentou once before and couldn't remember the taste. Can't say the taste was particularly remarkable after grilling.

Termite mushroom (雞㙡) - this has always been one of my favorite mushrooms to come from China, and tonight these were pretty sweet. We actually got a batch of them at home a few days ago, and they were also very sweet after Foursheets pan-fried them.

Matsutake (松茸) - the fragrance of these shrooms were definitely more pronounced than most of what I've tasted from Yunnan before.

Sautéed minced goose with ganbajun mushrooms and leek with crispy duck skin (「乾巴甲/我•鳥」乾巴菌韭菜鵝香鴨盞」) - GOLD! YASSS!!! All kidding aside, we have essentially a 鴨崧 but made with diced goose, Chinese chives, and ganbajun (乾巴菌), and the flavors of both ingredients were powerful - and the intensity of the mushroom was fully expected but still amazing when one bites into it. While Jayson has been known to cook other birds in the style of Cantonese roast goose, this time around the meat was actually goose, but he decided to use the crispy skin of roast duck as it worked better. The fat underneath the duck skin was just so, so tasty. Of course, crunchy fried rice noodle "bowl" made the dish more sinful.

Deep-fried wagyu beef roll with marinated porcini mushrooms and deep-fried flour stick with porcini mushrooms (「石蕈映霜脆」油牛肝菌和牛面頰春卷 牛肝菌脆油條) - the porcini sauce spread on the deep-fried cruller was pretty sweet, and reminded me of jujube purée (棗泥).

The wagyu cheek inside the spring roll was, needless to say, very tender and tasty.

Sautêed lobster with termite mushrooms (「油龍影樅尋」雞㙡菌油撥龍蝦) - lobster is always a good idea, and we've got shredded termite mushrooms that are just sweet and lovely. What makes the dish even more interesting was that the sauce for the lobster came with a light mala (麻辣) seasoning, which tingles one's tongue ever so slightly without bringing so much heat that it detracts from the flavors of either the lobster or the shroom.

Fish maw broth with matsutake mushrooms, sliced catathelasma mushrooms, and shredded winter melon (「松竹冬花羹」松茸老人頭冬絲花膠羹) - a lovely soup with very clean and light flavors thanks to the winter melon and bamboo pith. There was just enough shredded fish maw to provide an interesting textural contrast to the shredded matsutake and the catathelasma laorentou that's been shaved on top tableside.

Braised catfish maw with morel mushrooms and duck (「金鑲玉荷包」羊肚菌野鴨鮰魚金肚) - Jayson loves using the Chinese longsnout catfish maw, and the texture was pretty soft. We've got a nice piece of morel on top.

The fish maw was stuffed with a combination of minced duck, morels, aged tangerine peel, and a little bit of goose liver. Very, very tasty.

Braised bamboo piths with lychee mushrooms and quail egg in chicken stock (「紗窗鳳回鸞」鴿蛋荔枝菌濃雞湯燴鮮竹笙) - floating in the middle of the bowl on top of the thickened chicken soup was a "sunny side up" pigeon egg, along with a crunchy piece of bamboo pith. We also had shreds of the rare delicacy known as lychee mushroom (荔枝菌) - termite mushrooms which sprout under lychee trees. This was, in fact, only the second time I've ever tasted some.

Braised pork knuckle with sarcodonaspratus mushrooms and black garlic (「虎掌定乾坤」黑虎掌黑蒜豬手) - oh man... any time you gimme some braised pork knuckle, you can be sure you've just put a big smile on my face. The trotter tasted like it had been braised in masterstock (鹵水), with fragrant spices in the mix. The shredded sarcodon aspratus (黑虎掌菌) came with a wonderfully strong fragrance, too. Oh, and that rice at the bottom... Slurp!

Well, someone - who wasn't our host - obviously thought that even with all the optional dishes ticked off on this special menu, there just wasn't enough food. So we ended up ordering 2 extra dishes...

Sweet and sour pork (咕嚕肉) - I do have to say that Jayson did a fantastic job here. Crispy batter, coated with just enough sauce. Quality pork with a good spring to it. What's not to like?!

Fried rice rolls with sliced beef chuck (牛頸脊炒陳村粉) - amazing skill to deliver this wok hei (鑊氣). Very tender slices of beef, and delicious flat rice rolls (陳村粉).

Chilled panna cotta with porcini mushrooms, yellow fungus and osmanthus (「雲豐酪」桂花黃耳牛肝菌奶酪) - this was pretty interesting as the panna cotta was made with mushrooms, and the pairing with fragrant osmanthus syrup was pretty nice.

We've also got some diced golden ear (黃耳) fungus, which was only my second time tasting them, along with these 'pearls' from J's Garden which pop to reveal either mung beans, Job's tears (薏米), or water chestnuts in the center.

As it was only a few days until Mid-Autumn Festival, the meal ended with four different kinds of mini mooncakes. I'll leave those for another post with all the ones I tried this season.

DaRC and I coordinated on wines tonight, and we both brought pinot noir to match the shrooms.

2013 Dom Pérignon - really lovely and toasty nose, so fragrant, and this was so nice on the palate with such a wonderful balance. Quelle surprise!

Devo MV02, disgorged April 7, 2021 - the nose was much more yeasty. This was very fresh and lively, with slightly higher acidity, and not as fat and rounded on the palate. Also showed some pineapple on the nose after some 45 minutes.

2010 Domaine de la Pousse d'Or Clos de la Roche, en magnum - decanted about 15 minutes after opening and served another 15 minutes later. I brought this to pair with mushrooms and we weren't disappointed. This was really fucking awesome with the ganbajun, as the flavors of the fungus just exploded in the mouth after a sip of this wine. The nose showed nice notes of leather and, not surprisingly, mushrooms. More than 1½ hours after opening this was beginning to show some toasty oak on the nose, and the acidity was now getting higher.

2005 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir Evenstad Reserve, from magnum - this was showing much sweeter fruit on the nose along with some eucalyptus. Definitely fresher and more vibrant compared to the Clos de la Roche, despite being 5 years older.

Creative and delicious food, nice wines, and lovely company. Can't ask for much more for this gathering for a Friday night. Many thanks to the Mushroom Supplier for this wonderful treat!