Big Group Gathering

Our CHF big group gathering went upscale this time with dinner at Wing. Our friend G was bemoaning how difficult it is still to get a table at this restaurant so we made plan months in advance to eat in one of their private rooms on a weeknight.

We made some specific requests before the meal and Chef Vicky and his team sorted out the rest of the menu for us. This time we focused more on the tried and true signature dishes with a handful of new ones along the way. 

The "Blanched Pork Jowl Meat" sounded ordinary but turned out to be amazing. Meat arrived the same day after butchered without chilling hence it's as fresh as it got, and I love the strong meaty flavor and the bouncy texture from the jowl meat - it really was delicious just by a quick blanch in boiling water and serve immediately with soy bean sauce, Swatow-style. 

I am usually not a fan of eggplants but you got to admire how they were served - "tied in knots", smoked and presented with homemade sour sauce on the side. The oyster and century egg dish is the one I don't mind having over and over again with bombs of flavor and textures coming out from each bite with the salivating sichuan chili sauce. Drunken mud crab was a new dish, pairing two seasonal ingredients - mud crab and winter melon - together with the piece of winter melon steamed and topped with picked mud crab meat and roes.

Early August is always the best time for seafood with fishing boats resumed operations from summer break in nearby waters. This time we had wild macao sole steamed and served the old-fashioned way with finely chopped preserved turnips, Chinese celery and tomatoes. The beautiful presentation deserved extra bonus. Sea Cucumber Spring Roll is the dish we requested. We have tried a perfectly cooked braised sea cucumber and a perfectly crispy spring rolls before, but it took some work of genius (and some crafty skills and repeated experiments) to combine two together for this unique creation by Chef Vicky. Nice contrast of textures, with the soft, tender piece of giant braised sea cucumber infused with the rich flavor from the thickened superior broth.

Haven't had their crispy chicken in my last 3 visits and it's even better than I last tried with the skin still perfectly crisped with a nice bronze color, and the meat cooked just right to the bone. Chef Vicky returned with an off-menu dish with squid and rice cake sizzling in a claypot with black bean sauce. The squid and rice cake was cut into similar size and shape but with different textures. Both were well coated with the salivating spicy sauce, ginger and leeks in a casserole. 

The last savory course of claypot rice was another good dish we had, prepared with assorted Yunnan mushrooms (ganba and chanterelle) and slices of house-cured pork. Both mushrooms were known to be aromatic with earthy hint and worked well with the pork dried and cured by the traditional method. Dessert was the sweet soup with pear, snow gum and mandarin peel and the egg puff with lotus seed paste. 

More photos are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72177720310584264

When? August 10 2023
Where? Wing Restaurant, 29F, The Wellington 198 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? Sea Cucumber, Spring Roll, Spring Onion
Drinks? Champagne Eric Rodez Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Ambonnay Brut NV
Web: wingrestaurant.hk