Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Mid Autumn Festival Seafood Dinner

Mid Autumn Festival is approaching.  Due to various reasons, our family had an early bird festival dinner gathering. Being tired of set menus, we decided to go a la carte.  I suggested the 'star' restaurant that I went few months ago.  Its name is Star and its quality is also star-grade.  Although we shared the bill, I volunteered to sponsor seafoods, which all of us enjoy.

Prawns Baked in Broth 上湯焗海中蝦


Sea Garoupa (dual style) - Stir Fried Meat with Vegetables
大海班(花鬼) 兩味- 西蘭花炒球

This was the giant fish that I sponsored.  It was over 3 kilo costed HK$2,800 (contributing almost half of the entire bill).  In Hong Kong, value of a fish is primarily decided by the type of the fish and whether it is manually feed or free range from the sea.  This one was fresh from the sea and rather a rare breed, hence expensive.  I need to pre-order it.  Restaurant manager showed me a video of the swimming fish on the dinner afternoon for my approval before he actually sent the fish to the kitchen.

Professional eaters can always tell the difference between manually feed and free range sea fishes.  Nevertheless, my fish had everyone's thumb up!

Sea Garoupa (dual style) - Steamed Head and Bone
大海班(花鬼) 兩味- 蒸頭腩


After eating the meat, head and bone were never wasted. They were turned into another dish.  Ohh, the silky smooth fish skin was so yummy and al dente! Although we had to deal with the bones, we all appreciated the authenticity of simplicity.  Both dishes (stir fried and steamed) applied the most simple Cantonese cooking method to the highest standard and fully reflected the freshness of the fish.

Cantonese Old Fire Soup - Almond, Pig's Lung, Fish Maw, Chicken, Pork...
杏汁花膠豬肺湯
Very rich fragrance of almond.  The soup's main ingredient is pig's lung and almond, accompanied with plenty of delicious ingredients such as chicken, pork, fish maw...and so on.  After the soup was being served, the waiter brought to the table a dish of ingredients like the size of a small hill.  We all enjoyed choosing and picking whatever we loved. After all, the small hill only reduced about 20% in size.  Lucky that I was prepared.  I brought a big plastic box and took some left-over home.  Believe it or not, the 2nd-hand soup that I cooked with these same ingredients were equally yummy as what we had at the restaurant.  Finally I pulled the pork and made into porridge.  Thought next time I should bring two more boxes.

Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple 菠蘿生炒骨

This is a signature dish of the restaurant - almost appears on every table. I generally do not enjoy sweet and sour food, but this one is exception. Very yummy! I like the pineapples in particular.

Lotus Stewed with Pork Belly 蓮藕炆腩仔
It is quite a home-style dish.  It won't appear in any set menu.  It was only because we went on a ala carte that we can enjoy this yummy hot pot.  Although we can make it at home, but the taste here is outstandingly good.

Pan Fried Salty Chicken 輝哥煎咸雞

This recipe is invented by the chef master. There are many ways of cooking chicken, but stir fried is really new and unique.  All of us prefer this to steaming or deep frying.  Again, another signature that appears on almost every table.

Assorted Mushroom with Tofu 珍菌脆豆付
If you tried this dish the first time, you would want it the second time and so on. The restaurant has a quota to sell each night.  If you don't pre-order, there is no chance that you can enjoy this signature dish.  The two tofu in the size of a thick toast is filled with assorted mushrooms, served with delicious gravy.  The manager said due to the complicated cooking procedures, they can only sell six dishes every night.

Steamed Dry and Fresh Vegetable with Minced Pork 梅菜肉鬆蒸菜心

As I said, we were tired of the vegetables on the traditional set menus.  The manager recommended this, quite a fresh combination - dry and fresh vegetables steamed together with minced pork.  The salty dry veggie added extra fragrance and the dish itself was not oily at all, yummy and healthy!

Free Dessert

HK$6,514 (US$835) all inclusive for 16 persons.
We were offered the largest table good for 16 persons and we had a semi private dinning area as well.  All of us were extremely happy with the quality and quantity of the foods. After all, the waiters were friendly and provided very good services. 

Sing Kee Seafood Restaurant
3/F, The Phoenix, 23 Luard Road, Wanchai
Hong Kong
+852 2528-9028

Hong Kong Food Blog - Mid Autumn Seafood Dinner