Another northern expedition

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Someone thought it would be a good idea to take S all the way up north for some local flavor, and got us a booking for one of the private rooms at Sun Hon Kee Restaurant (新漢記). Foursheets and I love the place, but it's kinda far even for us locals, nevermind someone who is visiting. Well... somehow I ended up taking over as organizer, and invited The Great One as well as a couple of friends who were checking the place out for the first time.

As it was drizzling a little, we decided to make the long journey in a taxi. Funny that it was also a rainy night the last time we came...

Brother Hon seemed pretty happy to see Foursheets, even know I doubt he remembers our names. Nevertheless, we knew we were in good hands and there would be lots of food coming our way. Sure enough, there was a flurry of "small(ler)" dishes which arrived at our table in rapid-fire style...

Foie gras in 5 spice marinade sauce (鹵鵝肝) - never had this here before. Tasty, but the texture was a little on the dry and firm side. Still very smooth, though.

Pork tendon with shallot oil and soy dipping sauce (白烚豬前腿筋) - one of my perennial favorites here. I just can't resist tender, jiggly pork. That dipping sauce is just so tasty.

Homemade prawn cake (自家製蝦餅) - fresh made and always very tender and tasty.

Stir-fried baby mustard greens (炒兒菜) - I was surprised to find this at my table for the second time this week, but very happy. Gotta look for them at the markets, then, for our home cooking.

Blanched baby squid with chives - this was so, so, soooo beautiful... These local baby squid were just so fresh and delicious, all that was needed was a quick blanch to retain their tenderness. The accompany chives had just a touch of oil to add some flavor. Wonderful when dipped in a little soy sauce.

Pork ribs in shrimp paste (金牌蝦醬骨) - I wasn't surprised that this was a crowd favorite, as the pork is always tender and that shrimp paste coating on the outside just packs so much flavor. This was the dish that everyone kept going back for seconds (and thirds for some people), so the plate got empty very quickly.

Slow-cooked goose in 5 spice marinade sauce (客家慢煮滷鵝) - this was pretty tasty as always, but relative to other dishes on the table, this was perhaps seen as not so special...

Stir-fried cucumber seedling with bean paste (豆醬炒青瓜苗) - oh we love these! S and I just had some a week ago, and as usual Brother Hon fried these up with some bean paste that he called "best paste of love (愛心豆醬)". S seemed to have taken a liking to this.

Spicy tofu (香辣豆腐) - a rare spicy dish here.

Deep-fried spinyhead croakers with salted egg yolk (黃金獅頭魚) - Foursheets was practically giddy at the sight of these babies, as they don't show up on the table at too many places these days. These were coated in light layer of salted egg yolk, so slightly more wet than what I'm used to. Very tasty, though.

Deep fried marble goby with sweet soy sauce (油浸大筍殼) - I love, love marble goby since I grew up with it, and this deep-fried dish is a welcome alternative to the usual Cantonese steamed fish.

Pan-fried dried oyster (蜜汁煎金蠔) - this was another special treat... semi-dried oyster (金蠔) from Chenzhou Village (晨洲村) in Shanwei (汕尾), Guangdong. These were pan-fried with a honey glaze coating, so the edges were a little nice and crunchy. Very yummy.

Brother Hon had a special pairing for the oyster... and he poured us a little shot of Johnny Walker Red Label from this 4.5 liter bottle acquired from Japan. I can't tell you the last time I drank a shot of Johnny Red, but this had a fragrant nose with nice caramel notes. I don't know how old this bottle is, but it's definitely got a few decades on it.

Pan-fried kuruma prawns in premium soy sauce (豉油皇竹節蝦) - always nice to have local tiger prawns (花竹蝦), simply fried with soy sauce.

Cuttlefish balls (自家製鮮墨丸) - Brother Hon took one look and realized the kitchen had over-steamed these balls, but they were still tasty with bits of tangerine peel (果皮), with leafy amaranth (莧菜) underneath.

Stir-fried crab in spicy sauce (一品香辣蟹) - Brother Hon made sure to let us know that this mud crab was local and not flown in. The sauce really was spicy, at least for me, and eating the noodles which had soaked up all the sauce was definitely not a smart idea... But the crab was pretty tasty.

Steamed black sugar pudding (自家製黑蔗糖蜂巢糕) - I just had to order this dessert, because I really do love the flavor from the sugar. I probably could have finished at least half of it myself, but I didn't want to look like an asshole...

Deep-fried glutinous sesame balls with taro (芋頭煎堆) - and no surprise that the kitchen also brought these out. They do taste pretty awesome when they're still piping hot and crispy outside.

We were pretty light in the alcohol department as someone had driven up, and we just popped two bottles I brought along. That meant we didn't really have any good shit to drink with Brother Hon.

Laherte Rosé de Meunier, dégorgée en Mars 2023 - lively, fresh, with plenty of juicy red fruits.

2005 Konsgaard Syrah - decanted 15 minutes after opening, and started drinking 45 minutes after opening. This was so fragrant with wonderful woodsy notes, along with eucalyptus. Smooth on the palate, with sweet and ripe fruit. About 2 hours after opening the wine started to show some floral, violet notes. Simply lovely.

I dunno about S, but it was totally worth it making this trek for me. None of the food tonight was fancy schmancy, but it was all honest and delicious. Pretty happy to have introduced some friends to another place, and hopefully this was a good way for S to round up her trip to Hong Kong.