Encore @Tim's Kitchen

Not too often did we find ourselves returning to the same restaurant in quick succession, but we did draw exception every now and then, and this Monday evening was one such occasion. It's my father's bday and when we suggested two decent Chinese restaurants to pick from for celebration, that's what he chose, so Tim's Kitchen that is. (the other one's The Chairman, just in case you wonder)

Since our last visit in June, Tim's Kitchen has undergone quite a number of changes actually, so in a way it's somewhat new to us - it's moved to a bigger and nicer venue a few blocks down the street with a more upscale decor, and the menu has greatly expanded (I also heard whispers saying that they inevitably raised the price for some items in the menu). Presumably with a larger kitchen and staff team, they are now able to serve dim sum daily for lunch, and have more choices of a la carte dish for dinner.

Nonetheless, we ended up repeating some of its signature dishes, plus a few more new ones. The Steamed Crab Claws in Egg White (蛋白蒸蟹鉗) is still my favorite of the evening - the claw was de-shelled, exposing the meat inside, and was steamed with superior broth and egg white. It's delicately prepared, nicely presented, with melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich flavors. This time we also tried to do a crab claw 2-ways course, with the second dish being the deep-fried stuffed crab claws (百花炸釀蟹鉗). Even though we probably had this dozens of time before as this is a common dish in banquets, I think this one just blew the rest of competition away by a long mile.

Water melon soup (冬瓜盅) has always been our favorite summer "dish" - and its portion is just perfect for four of us and is full of various ingredients - we enjoyed that as much as we did the first time. We completed our meal with three additional a la carte dishes - chicken with black beans , stir-fry chinese cabbage with garlic, and satay beef rice rolls. They are not fancy but nonetheless delicious.

For dessert, we ordered 4 huge Chinese birthday buns - which unfortunately, weren't as good as some others we had elsewhere. I don't know what's a bigger problem - not enough filling, or slightly undercooked dough. That certainly discouraged us from returning a third time for its newly introduced dim sum menu any time soon.

The old free corkage policy's long gone after they moved but at $80 per bottle we still found it reasonable. We brought a lovely vintage champagne in that matched well with the dishes, with pleasant complexity and smoothiness to show forth. It's no doubt an enjoyable evening and we will certainly come back again - actually we are already plotting to do so when their famous snake soup's in season - but I think we will likely stick with the tried-and-true old dishes next time around.

details:
when? September 20 2010
where? 桃花源 tim's kitchen, G/F, 84-90 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan
menu highlights? Steamed Crab Claws in Egg White again! (蛋白蒸蟹鉗)
drinks?
Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame 1996