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V's back in town for a few days, and we decided to catch up over a few bottles. I didn't have any ideas of where we should go, and I didn't think there were any places that I had wanted to check out, so we were all set to get ourselves a table at a familiar Italian spot... until I suddenly remembered
Table by Sandy Keung. They have recently moved to their posh new digs, so I figured it gives me a good excuse to visit.
I've only tasted Sandy's cuisine once, more than 8 years ago. While not everything was to my liking back then, I remember being impressed by their Hanwoo - at the time, they were one of the few places in town to offer that breed - and that crab roe and garlic rice. Somehow I've never been back, although I've thought about it a few times. Well, I got my chance tonight.
What was to be a romantic date between V and I turned into a threesome when Monsieur Jamin decided that he'd like to come join the fun. While I had made the booking online, I had to call the restaurant to change it to a table of 3. No big deal. As there were initially just the two of us, I figured we'd do everything
à la carte and not take a tasting menu. I also didn't think we needed to pre-order anything, even if I remembered the garlic rice with fondness.
Our
welcome drink was a warm cup of chamomile and fig leaf tea.
We had some
foccacia and grissini, both of which were oily to the touch...
...and accompanied by a
dried shrimp oil and a herb butter.
Txogitxu tenderloin steak tartare - the meat came from a animal that was at least 12 years' old, which is how I like my Spanish beef - older with more flavor. Made with diced
cornichons, cheese, and my favorite beetroot...
Brioche Scamorza toast - we were told that the tartare came with
one piece of brioche, and we could either add another piece or just take the beef with the bread that was in our basket. We opted for another two pieces of brioche. What we didn't realize was that this would be basically a 'grilled cheese", and while I admit it was very tasty, these came at HKD 38 a piece... And honestly, some slices of melba toast or baguette would have sufficed...
S.A. abalone confit, burnt Mimmolette, potato foam, peanut - the abalone cooked
sous vide for 9 hours was nice, and came with a
"brûlée" of Mimolette on top. It worked well with the potato foam, but I scratched my head at the little dab of peanut butter on the side.
Japanese firefly squid, 63°C Taiyouran egg - I was so happy to see firefly squid (螢烏賊) from Toyama Prefecture (富山県) on the menu, and just had to order some.
This came with a soft-boiled Japanese egg, potato foam, and deep-fried shredded potato giving some crunch. Very tasty. Very happy.
They didn't have the
onglet tonight, and when we asked for the salted tile fish, the staff recommended something else instead.
Mixed clams, vino blanc, wild pennel pollen - I must say that this was pretty meh. I wasn't really happy with the condition of these local clams, and we all thought the serving temperature was slightly on the low side, which was surprising given the sauce had been heated in a clay pot on the side before being poured over the clams.
Flower crab meat handmade tagliolini - the soft tagliolini came with a sauce made with chicken stock, Chinese yellow wine, and what we were told to be Sichuan peppercorn oil (花椒油).
Well... that tasted more like chili oil to me, because it was spicy without the numbing sensation that usually comes from Sichuan peppercorns. Nevertheless, this was pretty tasty with the sweet crab meat and a rich, satisfying sauce.
"HK typhoon shelter" angel hair - I was triggered by the description of "HK typhoon shelter (避風塘)", and I imagined pasta sprinkled with a mix of deep-fried garlic and chili. That wasn't at all when came before us.
Instead we had a pile of burnt leeks on top, hiding some herring roe in the middle. To be honest, when I was told that the pasta had herring roe, I somehow imagined chunks of the crunchy Japanese herring roe (数の子)... Reading the menu a little more carefully, it appears that the noodles were tossed in olive oil which had been infused with crab, chili, garlic, and black beans... Well, this did taste kinda spicy, and I guess the garlic was somewhat there, but a far cry from the in-your-face flavors one typically gets from a typhoon shelter crab. Oh and the herring roe was completely unnecessary. Was it there as a sturgeon caviar lookalike?
I brought a Napa cab so we needed a nice piece of meat to go with it. While I was tempted to get some Hanwoo to make up for missing out on it when I should have been in Seoul this week, we opted for Spanish instead.
Txuletón bone in ribeye - I love, love, love Spanish beef, and this Txogitxu
txuletón from an old cow was beautiful! We've got slices which were still rare in the middle, along with edges which had been fully-cooked with wonderful charring. Thanks to the age of the animal and the aging process that comes along, I tasted some of that blue cheese flavor that I love so much in my beef.
Oh, I took the bone and stripped it clean. Slurp.
The
coriander salad that came on the side with onions and vinaigrette was refreshing, and complemented the beef perfectly.
Blackened Brussel sprouts - these always come with Vietnamese fish sauce, which is also how Foursheets likes to do them at home.
Something strange happened next. We were told by the staff that the garlic rice we had pre-ordered would be coming next. HUH?! WHAT PRE-ORDER? I did no such thing when I booked our table. And if anything had been pre-ordered, this should have been re-confirmed by the staff tonight as we were placing orders for the other dishes. That definitely did not happen.
Well... Monsieur Jamin
had talked about getting this dish earlier tonight, and I had reminded him that we couldn't have it because it required pre-ordering. Since he kinda wanted it and V had never tried it, we did not object to having it served.
Mud crab meat and roe, garlic rice - so this was a "half portion" with one mud crab.
The roe inside the crab shell was promptly scooped out along with the garlic sauce, and mixed together with what I had been told to be "sushi rice" but Koshihikari (こしひかり) 8 years ago on my first visit. I was really looking forward to this.
Well... the rice grains got a good amount of bite, and yes, the crab and garlic flavors were there. But somehow this wasn't nearly as moreish as I had remembered. To make matters worse, we thought the crab was on the light side and was what the Cantonese would call "water crab (水蟹)" - meaning that the crab had molted not long ago and was still going into its new, bigger shell. And I thought I tasted a little ammonia on my last bite of one of the claws. So... that was disappointing.
Mini croquembouche - this almost never shows up on menus in this town, so I happily ordered it. While it certain looked the part with a small mountain of
choux, held together by caramel sauce and decorated with caramel threads, the pastry cream inside wasn't soft but frozen. Oh well... not great but still happy that I got to have
croquembouche.
Of course, tonight was really about popping a couple of bottles. Not having been here in a long, long time, and knowing I have an old bottle requiring extra care, I asked a friend about the wine service here... and was told that Zack would be more than capable. Well... I guess it was fine, but I was surprised that my old bottle was completely emptied into the decanter without leaving more sediment in the bottle.
2023 Fermier Denen Chardonnay - the nose was very fragrant with lots of tropical fruits and flint. Really ripe and sweet on the nose, and we've got ripeness on the palate, too, along with a small amount of acidity. Absolutely lollywater...
1980 Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve - this bottle was in excellent condition with level into neck. Started drinking after around 45 minutes in decanter. Very fragrant nose with lovely notes of leather. The wine was still very much alive, perhaps I wouldn't call it vibrant but certainly very good. Minty with a little smoke. After 1 hour and 15 minutes in decanter, this was showing savory notes like soy sauce. I had my second pour some 2 hours after decanting and the nose was really smoky by then. Drinking pretty damn well tonight, and I'd say better than the 1976 I had earlier this month.
2022 Fermier Pinot Noir - really sweet and candy-like on the nose, with a little bit of leather. So sweet like strawberries, or was it cherry-flavored cough syrup? Someone thought this was like watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher...
It was good for the boys to catch up tonight. While I didn't like everything we had, the dinner was mostly fine up until the extra dish was kinda pushed on us... and it would have been fine, too, if the quality of the crab had been up to standard. So, yeah, we kinda left with a bad taste in our mouths. Such a shame.
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