One Last Meal in Shenzhen

We started our dinner at Gem Garden slightly earlier than usual so we could catch our ride back to Hong Kong at reasonable hours. Spending a weekend in Shenzhen without a taste of Chinese food seems strange but we had a good time trying different things, but then we were glad we finished with something more traditional in our last meal. 

Weekend Brunch American Style

There’s definitely a modern American chophouse vibe at Stonesal, the Shenzhen restaurant we stopped by for lunch on the second day of my weekend trip. The 2-level structure on the ground level of a commercial building in Nanshan District featured a large meat aging room, a well-stocked centerpiece bar in the center of the dining area, a spacious patio with the perfect view of the park right outside, the open kitchen laced with state-of-the-art equipment, and a few private rooms carefully decorated in various themes… all of these spelt upscale and quiet luxurious, something I didn’t quite expect to see in our neighboring town up north. 

The Trip That Keeps On Giving

Another eye-opening meal awaited at Fumee not far away from where we stayed for the evening. Through door at the entrance on the side of the stone and wood façade inside the lower level of an office building in Nanshan District on the west side of Shenzhen, we were led into our seats at the long bar counter in front of the kitchen studio, where part chefs, part owners Janet and David and their teamwork and where culinary magic was created. With the natural style décor with dark wooden color theme, I felt like sitting in a modern hut in the forest but with a soft ocean breeze, well suited for the contemporary cooking style using ingredients from land and sea that Chef Janet specializes at.

Venturing Up North

Spending the weekend in Shenzhen turned out to be quite a revelation for me. While most people travelled to our neighbor north to the border in the hunt of bargains, we went in search of some finer things with many new restaurants and hotels opening even before and during covid that easily rival those of similar caliber in town. 

Meal in Shenzhen

It did seem a bit over the top when I made a quick trip to Shenzhen in a Sunday afternoon to try out some food by Chef Ricardo Chaneton (of Mono), but then I was curious about this special menu in collaboration with Chef Miles Pundsack-Poe of Ensue Shenzhen only available during this one-night event. And it’s also my first trip to Mainland China in more than 3 years. 

Cross Border Fine Dining

"Wanna join us for dinner in Shenzhen this coming Tuesday night?" Crazy propositions such as this will normally be politely turned down, but when my friend RC asked this very question just a few days before, within a minute I told him yes and cleared out what's originally on my diary that evening to make the long trip across border for the meal with a few good friends of ours.

Yumcha at Ritz Carlton Shenzhen

We spent the maximum amount of time in our hotel (up until when we were required to check out) chilling in our room and at the library before heading out for lunch during our staycation weekend in Shenzhen. It’s been a while since I last spent significant amount of time in Shenzhen and I am amazed at all the new hotel and restaurant openings in town for the last decade or so – still not at the same rate in the neighboring Macau but now they have all the global hotel brands you could think of making a presence here with different ranges from the most luxurious to the simple boutique hotels.

Chaoshan Beef Hotpot

We thought about just stay in for dinner nearby for a completely lazy vacation but at the end decided to go out to eat in the city center of Shenzhen. I was curious about the ever-popular Chao-shan Beef Hotpot scene in town so we hopped on a taxi and head towards one specialist restaurant called Fu He Cheng. We may have well passed the season for winter hotpot with temperature now in mid-20s but the place was still packed when we arrived slightly after 8pm.

Staycation of Doing Nothing

We figure we should stay put during the Easter long weekend since half of people in Hong Kong were gone elsewhere so we could enjoy some much-needed tranquility in town, but it didn’t stop us from hopping onto the bus and head just north of our border to Shenzhen for a short overnight break for a staycation of sorts. Especially there’s a certain new hotel we would love to visit in town.

Meeting Maria

When I heard my favorite tennis player Maria Sharapova was going to start her 2018 season with the tournament in Shenzhen in early January, I felt a trip up there was in order. So with the help of my friend, I bought the ticket for the game and with a bit of a minor drama (had to fight back from one-set down in the previous round), she made it through to the Quarter Final, which was the round I was attending.

Worth a detour - Mission Chinese Food in Shenzhen

We are the kind of people that are quite willing to go the distance in search of good food but this one is still quite a stretch by all means. After accepting an invitation from our foodie friend j for this one-night only dinner event north of our border served by a visiting kitchen crew from Mission Chinese Food of San Francisco, I admit there was this moment when we wondered whether it's worth such a detour and hassle. With the original invitation email asking us not to publicize the event before it happened, and the address will only be provided in the morning of the event, we wondered whether this is just a cheap stunt or worse, a scam.

Anyway, we departed from Hong Kong at 4pm on this one Sunday afternoon and one long bus journey, 2 border checkpoints and a taxi ride later, we arrived at a random residential neighborhood in west of Shenzhen at an elegantly-decorated restaurant, where this special dinner event was held.

We did do a little due d beforehand trying to get a better idea what we are getting into. Mission Chinese Food is the brainchild of 2 talented restaurateurs, Danny Bowien and Anthony Myint. It's a "pop-up restaurant" housed within another old-school Chinese restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District, each shared a common dining room with separate menus and separate chefs. Since its opening in 2010, MCF has attracted quite a following with its creative (and somewhat twisted, mostly in a better way) interpretation of Americanized Chinese food, not only among local diners, but critics as well - San Francisco Chronicle named it a Top 100 Restaurant in San Francisco this year and its chef Danny Bowien a rising star. Mark Bittman of New York Times raved about it in his column.

For a good part of June, the entire kitchen crew closed down their shop in San Francisco and ventured around Asia - made their way to Tokyo, Beijing, and then Shenzhen/Hong Kong. Towards the end of their journey, they borrowed a corner of this nice restaurant in Shenzhen (owned by a family friend of theirs) and played host to this one-time event with a selected group of invited guests. Our friend J happened to receive the invitation and she's so kind to ask us (and 6 of her other friends) to join. This is how this event came along and how we ended up here. Well, a pop-up restaurant from San Francisco doing this one-time secretive pop-up dinner event in Shenzhen... hope you are still with me by now.

Anyway, our meal began soon after everyone arrived at around 6-something. The dinner started on a delightful note - the "Nobu-esque" geoduck sashimi served with a piece of ginger-infused cantaloupe and a dash of tomato-flavor is just the perfect summer appetizer I need. It set the tone of what MCF is all about - the dish is clearly Asian-inspired but with a unique, creative touch that is unlike everything we have had before. 

The sashimi's followed by steamed eggs served in a cappuccino cup. This is my favorite dish of the evening - the eggs are steamed chawanmushi-style, with chicken confit at the bottom and a thin piece of scallop and green apple on top, and they are all bathed in a superior broth infused with chrysanthemum. Refreshingly flavorful - the well-cooked confit plus the strong flavor of the broth made this a standout against the traditional version.

After that we were served with 2 main courses. The prawn dish was met with mixed comments across our table. Fresh prawns are salt-baked by the table side, and served with sauteed razor clams and mushrooms. I found it a bit uneasy to see the prawns being "buried alive" - literally - in piping hot salt bath in front of us, but I like its taste and appreciate how the chef tried to contrast the texture and flavors of prawns and razor clams. But the prawns are a little bit undercooked and some might find it a bit too salty to their liking. The duck "3-ways" is decent - duck confit was wrapped in a "money-bag" - a egg flour crepe as the wrap with pulled duck meat inside, along with seared duck breast and deep-fried duck tongue. I would probably prefer the wrapped duck confit be a bit smaller and deep-fried but overall it's still good.

Tonight's soup dish is a fish roulade wrapped with chicken liver in a ginseng broth on a bed of barley. I can't personally taste much of the ginseng flavor, and I found the fish a bit tough and less the delicacy I would expect. Nonetheless I found the combination of flavor and texture very interesting.

Two desserts were served at the end of the meal. First is a glass of sauternes infused with chrysanthemum and mango steen. I am sure wine connoisseurs may shrugged at the attempt to mess up their "heavenly drop" with extra flavorings, but we all thought this is nicely executed and well-balanced. The last course - the cornmeal cake - has more of a southern flavor (of the States, not China) than anything else. It's soaked with cognac and served with chinese pears, whipped cream and again, a hint of chrysanthemum flavor. To me, it's of just the right sweetness, and I wonder how they would match up against the sticky corncake commonly found in everyday Northern Chinese cuisine.

Yes, it's an awfully long journey home after we finished our meal, but with eye-opening food, good company and this being a one-of-a-kind experience, we felt it's worth the detour.

when? June 12 2011
where? Capistrano, Futian District, Shenzhen
menu highlights? Steamed Eggs: Scallops, Apples, Chrysanthemum
web: www.missionchinesefood.com

You can also check out more pics on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/sets/72157626947475022/