Some people often claim they don't like hotel food because it's not local. However, I would differentiate all the various Chinese cooking in their own style. Can't say which one is good or bad. Just like BBQ pork, I enjoy the fast and classic BBQ style of Zhoy Hing (再興) while I find another detailed and refined taste of BBQ pork of Man Wah Heen of Mandarin Oriental HK. It's just a point to what style of cuisine we feel like on the day, just like in some morning you would feel like wearing a plain T-shirt but then taking a nice suit on some other days.
Last Saturday 8th August, I got to find out Man Ho Chinese restaurant of JW Marriott on Sukhumvit Bangkok. I was also given a very thoughtful surprise!
1. Here we go for our first dish - Peking Duck - nice table setting. 2. steamed wrapping for the Duck. It's quite moist and not too soft - goes well with the crispy texture of the Duck roasted skin.
3. the peeled Duck's skin. I can tell it's a hand-grilled. Why? See some part of the skin is not evenly burnt. Hand-grilling is important as you can adjust which part should be closer to the fire and get it more-done. 4. When I turned the roasted skin over, I got a shock! Yes, no exaggeration. The Chef's cutting skill is immaculate and yet very fast! First, he sliced it very thin without any fat on it and sliced it so evenly. Second, it's still warm and so crispy when I put the whole wrapping in my mouth. So he sliced that very fast in order to keep it warm and crispy! A minor comprehendible flaw - they should use the Peking scallion (京蔥) as that one is stronger to bring out the blast taste of the roasted skin together with the seafood sauce. If using the local scallion, it had better be sliced vertically (like those they did on the fish as posted below) instead of cutting it in an inch length. That way the scallion can release stronger aroma of scallion especially when eaten raw or put with burning hot oil (normally for steamed fish).
5. Deep fried shrimp paste ball and drunken chicken. The deep fried shrimp balls are quite crispy dry on the outside and juicy inside - that told the frying oil is good and the final step was done properly. Nice skill! However, the drunken chicken is not that much with wine taste. Perhaps my personal preference for this should be stronger in wine taste. 6. Deep fried spare ribs in strawberry sauce. A bit disappointing as the ribs were a bit too dried inside - over-cooked. The sauce is nice though.
7. Fish maw in shark-cartilage soup. The soup is a bit too thick and I guess it's boiled for long hours. Look at the thickness of the fish maw. It's an expensive one! Good fish maw should be first thick, light-rice-yellow transparent and without the small blood vein in it. This one is an example. Actually the price of fish maw has been increased almost 10 to 15 times. The last time I bought nice fish maw it cost me HK$4-500 a catty and I made the soup for my younger sister during her pregnancy. Her girl is now 13 years old. Lately I checked on the same quality of fish maw and it is HK$4-5,000 a catty! I think Man Ho BKK might have stocked some nice fish maw and not too many locals appreciate fish maw. So you had better take this good chance of eating expensive fish maw at cheap price. The soup is around B350 (I forgot the exact price actually), which is US$11. With this quality, it can be sold for more than B1,000. Besides, preparing fish maw is very time consuming. Soaking in cold water for 8 hours and boiling it for a minute and subtly soaking (暗焗) it in the gradually hot to room temperature water in another 5-6 hours. Then put it in boiling water with some ginger slices, scallion and wine. This final step is important as it can help take out the smelly taste of fish maw. The best ingreidents to go with fish maw soup are the Japanese dried "flower" mushroom （花菇), Chinese Golden Ham, Aged chicken and pork. And the stem part of Bai Choy (白菜胆) should be put in the last hour of double-boiling - it will help balance the thick tangy texture of fish maw with the fresh sweetness of Bai Choy.
1. Here we go for our first dish - Peking Duck - nice table setting. 2. steamed wrapping for the Duck. It's quite moist and not too soft - goes well with the crispy texture of the Duck roasted skin.
3. the peeled Duck's skin. I can tell it's a hand-grilled. Why? See some part of the skin is not evenly burnt. Hand-grilling is important as you can adjust which part should be closer to the fire and get it more-done. 4. When I turned the roasted skin over, I got a shock! Yes, no exaggeration. The Chef's cutting skill is immaculate and yet very fast! First, he sliced it very thin without any fat on it and sliced it so evenly. Second, it's still warm and so crispy when I put the whole wrapping in my mouth. So he sliced that very fast in order to keep it warm and crispy! A minor comprehendible flaw - they should use the Peking scallion (京蔥) as that one is stronger to bring out the blast taste of the roasted skin together with the seafood sauce. If using the local scallion, it had better be sliced vertically (like those they did on the fish as posted below) instead of cutting it in an inch length. That way the scallion can release stronger aroma of scallion especially when eaten raw or put with burning hot oil (normally for steamed fish).
5. Deep fried shrimp paste ball and drunken chicken. The deep fried shrimp balls are quite crispy dry on the outside and juicy inside - that told the frying oil is good and the final step was done properly. Nice skill! However, the drunken chicken is not that much with wine taste. Perhaps my personal preference for this should be stronger in wine taste. 6. Deep fried spare ribs in strawberry sauce. A bit disappointing as the ribs were a bit too dried inside - over-cooked. The sauce is nice though.
7. Fish maw in shark-cartilage soup. The soup is a bit too thick and I guess it's boiled for long hours. Look at the thickness of the fish maw. It's an expensive one! Good fish maw should be first thick, light-rice-yellow transparent and without the small blood vein in it. This one is an example. Actually the price of fish maw has been increased almost 10 to 15 times. The last time I bought nice fish maw it cost me HK$4-500 a catty and I made the soup for my younger sister during her pregnancy. Her girl is now 13 years old. Lately I checked on the same quality of fish maw and it is HK$4-5,000 a catty! I think Man Ho BKK might have stocked some nice fish maw and not too many locals appreciate fish maw. So you had better take this good chance of eating expensive fish maw at cheap price. The soup is around B350 (I forgot the exact price actually), which is US$11. With this quality, it can be sold for more than B1,000. Besides, preparing fish maw is very time consuming. Soaking in cold water for 8 hours and boiling it for a minute and subtly soaking (暗焗) it in the gradually hot to room temperature water in another 5-6 hours. Then put it in boiling water with some ginger slices, scallion and wine. This final step is important as it can help take out the smelly taste of fish maw. The best ingreidents to go with fish maw soup are the Japanese dried "flower" mushroom （花菇), Chinese Golden Ham, Aged chicken and pork. And the stem part of Bai Choy (白菜胆) should be put in the last hour of double-boiling - it will help balance the thick tangy texture of fish maw with the fresh sweetness of Bai Choy.
8. Ginseng with black chicken soup - it's quite nice and big portion. Suggest to share it with another one. It took me an hour to finish it, even after I gave one bowl of soup to the other. Note they also put the thick fish maw in. :)
9. Honey beans stir fried with mixed mushroom. Pretty nice and I am glad they used the genuine honey beans. Last time Crystal Jade in Siam Paragon gave us some string beans but on the menu it claimed as honey beans. When checked with them, their answer is that's the only beans they could find. Next time I shall go ask Crystal Jade to check with Man Ho for the source of honey beans. :) 10. Stir fried scallop with mixed mushrooms. A bit disappointing. They shouldn't use the frozen scallop. Even if they use, they should marinate it a bit with some salt, soy sauce, wine and white pepper.
11. Stir fried beef filet in dried shrimp roe - this one is pretty nice. The beef is not that "soda-powder" marinated. Quite fresh and massaged well to make it tender. 12. Mixed veggie casserole - it's also pretty nice but they made a mistake. Supposed we asked for a mixed veggie with dried (deep fried) bean curb (支竹). Actually I was very busy with my soup from paying attention to this one. When I went pick it, I found out there was no dried beancurb.
9. Honey beans stir fried with mixed mushroom. Pretty nice and I am glad they used the genuine honey beans. Last time Crystal Jade in Siam Paragon gave us some string beans but on the menu it claimed as honey beans. When checked with them, their answer is that's the only beans they could find. Next time I shall go ask Crystal Jade to check with Man Ho for the source of honey beans. :) 10. Stir fried scallop with mixed mushrooms. A bit disappointing. They shouldn't use the frozen scallop. Even if they use, they should marinate it a bit with some salt, soy sauce, wine and white pepper.
11. Stir fried beef filet in dried shrimp roe - this one is pretty nice. The beef is not that "soda-powder" marinated. Quite fresh and massaged well to make it tender. 12. Mixed veggie casserole - it's also pretty nice but they made a mistake. Supposed we asked for a mixed veggie with dried (deep fried) bean curb (支竹). Actually I was very busy with my soup from paying attention to this one. When I went pick it, I found out there was no dried beancurb.
13. deep fried sandy goby in soy sauce - pretty nice. The soy sauce was cooked with some chicken soup to make it taste not that salty only. 14. Stir fried duck meat with preserved veggie (咸酸菜) and bean sprout - this one came a bit too late but I could still take quite much of it.
15/16. Yeung Chow fried rice - it's so so and I am disappointed that the prawn is too "soda-powdered" marinated. Supposed this one is with smaller shrimp and green beans too.
17/18. E Fu Noodle with crab meat. The noodle is a bit "aged" (dry) and they should put some yellow leek (韮黃) and sliced mushroom in it to take out the "oil" taste of E Fu noodle.
19/20. the restaurant inside.
21/22. Bears for the Chinese moon cake festival.
23. Pan fried red date paste pancake - I rarely tried this one and got told sometimes red date paste was used. 24. Mango pudding - pretty nice and there is a bed of mango slices at the bottom.
25. the lobby of JW Marriott.
15/16. Yeung Chow fried rice - it's so so and I am disappointed that the prawn is too "soda-powdered" marinated. Supposed this one is with smaller shrimp and green beans too.
17/18. E Fu Noodle with crab meat. The noodle is a bit "aged" (dry) and they should put some yellow leek (韮黃) and sliced mushroom in it to take out the "oil" taste of E Fu noodle.
19/20. the restaurant inside.
21/22. Bears for the Chinese moon cake festival.
23. Pan fried red date paste pancake - I rarely tried this one and got told sometimes red date paste was used. 24. Mango pudding - pretty nice and there is a bed of mango slices at the bottom.
25. the lobby of JW Marriott.
6 comments:
Yes the best dish is the Peking Duck. That is the best best Peking Duck I ever had, even better than Shang Palace's.
And the soup looked very delicious with lots of ingredient.
August 8 is Father's Day in Taiwan.
But it's a very sad day in Taiwan. I chatted with my Taiwan colleagues and they were really in such a bad mood. 2000 mm rainfall dropped in one day (which is equil. to a total rainfall of a whole year).
i also heard about the rainfall disaster in southern Taiwan, HK entertainment business ppl just staged a charity show to show their care to them, ifpi is of the co-sponsor to the charity show
the world is sick now, we need to go green
Yes I did watch the charity show run by HK and Taiwan actors and singers till 2 am last Monday or Tuesday night.
From,
SS
Yes, pls tell the others to turn off the tap water during brushing their teeth, and turn off the shower when they are applying bathing gel on their bodies or shampooing their hair....etc. Turn off the light of the bath room when nobody is in. I find out many HK households turn on their lights in kitchen/bathrooms...etc. even they are in the living room, watching TV. Somehow I am claimed "wow how come your room is so dim...., as I used one 9W and one 12W energy-saving light bulbs. I told them it's good to train your eyes in a dimmer light.
Yes it is a good habit to converse energy when we don't need it. We can save a lot by doing this and also for cost effective reason, environmental awareness, and also for the sake of our next next generations.
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