Half and Half

After seeing Chef Jayson’s post about the special Mushroom Feast menu they were having at his restaurant Man Ho, I asked whether we could have a customized version with only half the mushroom dishes on the menu and half something else. So a couple of weeks later, we came with some other friends for this “Half Mushroom Feast”. 

Eating at Man Ho is always a delightful experience with nice ambiance and solid execution, even better when they put us up in one of their private rooms. We started with a series of small bite appetizers – the chilled razor clam is a modified version of “Sang Cheung”, a local street food style snack originally made with pig fallopian tubes, served with the traditional condiments of mustard and hoisin sauce. It did have the same texture but with more of the umami taste. The baked roast goose pastry was cute when chef made it like a mini roast goose completed with neck and head and all. 

The braised catfish maw with chanterelle mushrooms could have been mistaken as a western style dish, with the soft braised maw diced and served with sauteed mushrooms, the sauce and a deep-fried egg yolk on top. Mixing everything together you got quite a spoonful of rich, oozy flavor. The shredded duck meat soup was done like the traditional Cantonese snake soup with ingredients such as shredded fish maw, mushrooms and bamboo pith – duck meat was rich in umami and have a similar texture as snack meat so one would argue the “imitated” version might just be as good (or even better) than the original version. 

I love the braised eel dish I had the last time so I asked for an encore. Taste was still good for this dish that required special order in advance, but I do wish it’s served piping hot – after all in Chinese the dish was said to be served with “sizzling oil”. Back to the mushroom theme dish was the baked abalone, chicken and matsutake mushrooms done a la beggar chicken style. All the ingredients were wrapped in lotus leaf and then bread pastry and baked in oven to finish. So the intense flavor of the mushrooms was well infused into the chicken and abalone. 

The stuffed suckling pig was the one dish I most looked forward to and it didn’t disappoint. The cavity of the suckling pig was stuffed with pearl barley, sticky rice and black truffles, and then carefully roasted for the super crispy skin. More black truffles were shaved on top as the pig was carved into thick slices to serve. Everything was so perfectly done that I asked for a second portion even though we were so stuffed by then. 

I appreciate the adventurous and creative minds of the chef’s team when they created two desserts with rather unusual ingredients - first the chilled coconut milk with porcini mushrooms, apple and caramel, followed by the baked rose and mashed Yunnan ham pastry served in the shape of a porcini mushroom. The porcini mushroom in the first dessert added to the overall texture, and the Yunnan ham pastry got this unique savory sweet flavor which was much enjoyable too. Only available with the mushroom menu, we were told. 

Went through quite a few nice bottles this time around too. Juyondai Shichidare Nijikkan Junmai Daiginjo got most of the attraction, for obvious reasons, but one would argue the Raifuku Fantastic 7 Junmai Daiginjo was a close second, brewed with rice polished down to 7% with a subtle floral aroma and a slightly dry note. Both were great with the first few courses, and then we moved onto the more traditional pairing with a Burgundy white and a Barolo. The Barolo was great for the suckling pig, well matured, nice ripe red fruit characters with a slight hint to earthiness. 

More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72177720311694887/

When? August 25 2023
Where? Man Ho, Level 3 JW Marriott, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? Crispy Roasted Suckling Pig stuffed with pearl barley, glutinous rice and black truffles
Drinks? 

Juyondai Shichidare Nijikkan Junmai Daiginjo - Takagi Shuzo, Yamagata Prefecture
十四代七垂二十貫純米大吟釀- 山形県 高木酒造

Raifuku Fantastic 7 Junmai Daiginjo － Raifuku Shuzo, Ibaraki Prefecture
来福Fantastic 純米大吟釀－茨城縣 来福酒造
2019 Domaine Michel Niellon Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru "Les Vergers"
2011 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 
Web: marriottbonvoyasia.com/restaurants-bars/jw-marriott-hotel-hong-kong-man-ho-chinese-restaurant