Not exactly star worthy

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While in Taipei two days ago, I found out that Uncle Last Minute was going to be in Hong Kong with Sporty Cousin this weekend. Since Sporty Cousin had mentioned some time ago that he really wanted to dine at The Chairman (大班樓), I figured I would grow some thick skin and ask Danny if there was any possibility of fitting us in. Well... the answer was, not surprisingly, no.

Since Uncle Last Minute was already expecting dinner with me, I had to find another restaurant quickly... and it had to be in Tsim Sha Tsui as they were staying in the neighborhood. After getting no joy with my top choices, I settled on Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (御寶軒). I'd gone to their restaurant in Causeway Bay a couple of times for dim sum in the last couple of years, but I haven't been back to TST since before the pandemic. This seems like the perfect opportunity for a refresher.

We got ourselves a table by the window, with views overlooking the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and, of course, Victoria Harbour. I tried to get Sporty Cousin and Uncle Last Minute to do the honors of ordering, but somehow the menu came back my way.

Marinated beef shank with five spices (五香滷牛腱) - I ordered this to start because Uncle Last Minute used to make it at home himself. This was pretty good and worked well with the reds I brought, and I noted that the flavors of 5 spices were present, and this was a tad on the sweet side.

Deep-fried silver fish with pepper and salt (椒鹽白飯魚) - I was a little surprised that this was the only dish Uncle Last Minute wanted, but since I love deep-fried whitebait, I was only too happy to get some.

Roasted suckling pig with glutinous rice (糯米釀脆皮乳豬) - one of the main reasons for coming here was to taste this signature dish again. There are a few places in the Greater Bay Area that do stuffed suckling pig, and I really liked this the last 2 times I had it. The good thing was that I could order just half a pig for the four of us.

The crackling was nice and crunchy, and this time the kitchen kept the layer of fat underneath the crackling, so that's always very tasty and satisfying. Unfortunately, the glutinous rice stuffing was pretty bland tonight. Not sure what happened, but it definitely needed more seasoning, along with more bits of preserved sausage and fried spring onions.

Braised wagyu beef cheek in oyster sauce (紅燒和牛面頰肉) - I needed something else to go with the big cab I brought, so this seemed to fit the bill. Very tender, with wonderful collagen. Not sure I cared for the spinach underneath, but the dish was still tasty.

Sautéed prawn with dried chillies and cashew nuts (宮保蝦球) - I was told to order something spicy for our American guest, so here we are. OK la...

Kailan with shrimp paste in claypot (啫啫芥蘭煲) - Sporty Cousin heard the staff mention this and seemed interested, so that's what I asked for. This was pretty damn disappointing for a restaurant that has been awarded a Michelin star for a number of years. Just look at the kailan (芥蘭) they used in the pot... Much too big, certainly not young and tender enough, and they didn't even bother separating the different "branches" of the stem, never mind peeling. Yes, the flavors of the shrimp paste was fine, but the bitterness of the vegetable was obvious. Something like this would never show up on the table at a place like The Chairman...

Steamed longevity bun (賀壽蟠桃) - our American guest seemed intrigued by this, so I ordered up a basket. Pretty nice sweetness from the lotus seed paste inside, balanced by the egg yolk in the middle.

I brought along two bottles of red, and the staff did a pretty good job with decanting them.

2010 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Rousseau-Deslandes, mis en bouteille par Lucien Le Moine pour MNSC - started drinking after 10 minutes in the decanter. The big familiar toasty nose showed up right away, along with wonderful fruit that was not quite jammy like a Cali, but fresh and lively nonetheless. Delicious.

2004 Harlan Estate The Maiden - started drinking after 45 minutes in the decanter. Initially the nose was a little more muted than expected, with perhaps slightly more Asian spices. Second try showed a bigger nose along with stronger alcohol, now opening up more and packing a punch. Got that big, woodsy nose with smoke and grilled meats. This was really nice now. Plenty of sweet fruit left, too... and got the sweetness on the palate.

The food wasn't terrible tonight, but I must admit the experience was somewhat disappointing. I had wanted to order some nice seafood dishes, but neither the baked crab meat and onions on crab shell (法式釀蟹蓋) nor the steamed crab claw with Chinese rice wine and egg white (雞油花雕蒸鮮蟹鉗) - dishes common at high end Cantonese restaurants - were available. In fact, I was told that I could only order whole crabs... which wouldn't have worked for us. The veg dish really left me with a poor impression of this place, as that's something a cheap eatery would do. Finally, there was a clear translation fail on the dessert menu - where I find the restaurant offer us a "milk Mike pudding"...

I guess I can stick to the sister branch in Causeway Bay, then, in the future...