The usual good stuff

We have a friend in town for the first time in 8 years, and a mutual friend who dined with us last month while he was in town insisted that we must take this friend to Noble Imperial (尚御潮滷居). This happened to make total sense, as our visitors were staying in an area not far from the restaurant.

Unfortunately I had to navigate rush hour traffic across the harbor in a Friday night, so I ended up being pretty late... and quite a few of the cold dishes had already arrived at the table before I even stepped into the restaurant. I'm grateful that everyone waited for me.

Goose liver marinated in Chinese wine (極品酒香鵝肝) - after our experience last time while comparing the two different versions of goose liver, we decided that the one marinated in wine was superior. And indeed, not only is the liver really smooth in texture, but the marinade was just much more fragrant in the mouth.

Layered pig's ear (特色千層豬耳) - I wasn't surprised when our visitor requested this, as it's probably not that easy to find pig's ears in Torontonian restaurants

Cuttlefish (滷水墨魚) - still love how crunchy the texture is.

Razor clam with Chinese hot sauce (川味麻香蟶子皇) - we figured this would be interesting for our visitors, and we enjoyed it on our last visit.

Chiu Chow style chilled threadfin fish (潮式凍馬友) - this classic dish is a must, and we were so surprised when our friends' young daughter kept eating this. Love the silky flesh of the fourfinger threadfin, and I was happy just tasting it with only the at under the fish skin for flavor. I know it's common to use Puning fermented bean sauce (普寧豆醬) as condiment for this fish, but I never felt the need to.

Marinated pig's neck (滷水豬頸肉) - one can never go wrong with pork collar, thanks to the marbling. Love the masterstock marinade.

White marinated chicken (鹽香雞)

Oyster omelette (酥炸蠔餅) - our third time ordering this, and I still love how crunchy the batter is. This time, though, they didn't spend enough time draining the oil... so some parts got slightly soggy at the bottom. Still very, very tasty with some very big oysters. Our visitor clearly enjoyed this very much and kept reaching with their chopsticks!

I decanted and brought a bottle of wine to dinner, but Foursheets felt it would be best if we drank it back home where we could be more relaxed. Oh well...