Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Coming back - Jade Garden, Causeway Bay, HK

Over the past few months, I have been visiting Jade Garden in Causeway Bay plaza II. In March, they renovated this branch and also changed all the staff except 1-2 captains. I no longer see that lady who just kept smiling to me without attending to my numerous points of complaints. So the below are a summary on the past few visits. I am thrilled in having seen Jade Garden come back to its quality line of food and services. Also, they are getting 70% full, as compared to less than half full of last year. Here we go....

1/2. the decor. becomes more contemporary. These photos were taken before the rush time.

3. snack. Something new and creative too. Crispy peanuts with soaked soft beans in sesame oil. Good that they mix it when serving it. So you can chew the crispy peanuts with tender beans. 4. Pan fried pork buns HK$48. Very nice pan frying for both sides. The filling is very juicy.

5. Sizzling morning glory with 3 shrimps (fresh shrimp, dried shrimp 蝦米and semi-dried shrimp 蝦乾) HK$78. Wow when they put those veggie and 3 shrimps into the hot pot. The sound and smell really get you take it right away. The 3 shrimps made it in various flavour, from salty, aromatic to fresh. Very innovative! Must try! 6. Dai Leung stir fried milk with scallop with crab roes 蟹粉帶子大良炒鮮奶 HK$128. Pretty good control of quick stir frying as it could be quite watery. The milk is very thick and smooth. Aromatic too, but quite stuffy.

7. Pork filet with apricot in black vinegar HK$68. Highly recommended. Actually I tried this dish from the Chinese restaurant of Harbour Plaza hotel Hung Hom (also run by Maxim's). Good sauce mix and the apricot does go well with the pork and sauce. 8. Pomelo peel in shrimp roe蝦子柚皮 HK$88. Well, some may think it's expensive since one pomelo is just HK$10-15. However, the cooking time and technique is expensive. It takes more than 2 days to prepare it and shimmer it. Besides, the shrimp roe and sauce need to be balanced well, as it will make it bitter. It's my most favourite dish. Jade Garden did it perfect this time!

9/10. Ling Nan beef 嶺南牛肉 HK$88. The sauce is a very nice onion sauce with nice dark soy sauce and oyster sauce. It serves with some flat steam bread to absorb the sauce. So good! The beef is massage very well to be very tender. Not a trace of any soda powder.

11. pan fried almond coated tender chicken in lemon sauce 西檸杏片煎軟鷄 HK$88. I often try this dish to see how good a restaurant is. Quite a few major points. First the chicken needs to be pan fried at medium heat to make it not to dry out and so to have the juicy tender texture. Second is the lemon sauce. Can't be too sweet as it will overwhelm the zesty flavour. Lemon is also a selected one. Can't be too old nor unripe. This time it's coated with some crispy almond flakes which further gives the chicken a nice texture and even brings out the lemon aroma! So good! 12. Steamed fish filet with crunchy ginger in basket 籠仔蒸脆薑魚柳 HK$88. I was puzzled as to how to make the crunchy ginger on fish filet. So it's baked first and put on the fish filet when serving. Further surprised is that they use garoupa filet though it's a farm fish. Then a lotus leaf is put underneath. They even used some very selected choy sum. Check the stems are cut. This way it can absorb the aroma of the fish filet in the basket. A minor flaw is that the filet was steamed a bit over time, but I can put that up from the idea of crunchy ginger and the veggie. BTW, all the dishes are in quite a big portion.

13. Steamed egg plants in preserved (rock sugar) plum and minced pork 冰梅肉碎蒸茄子. When I noted they use preserved (rock sugar) plum, I ordered it without a second thought. This kind of preserved plum is so good for steaming with pork. Besides, it's not that sweet as rock sugar is not that "dry" sweet like white sugar. As the egg plant has a kind of "rough" flavour 削, the plum's sour can balance that out and further make the egg plant taste sweeter. Highly recommended to try this one! This is the essence of Cantonese cooking. Balancing of taste and flavour. Sweet vs salty. Sour to sweet. 14. Salmon egg white rice in mini basket HK$20. I am happy to see Jade Garden cook the rice to a perfect texture but not hard-to-chew. Now they really come back! This should be the Cantonese cuisine!

8 comments:

Stella said...

These look so delicious.
I can tell Jade Garden is quite consistent when it comes to quality and taste.
The price of each dish is in line with US price.

Anonymous said...

i think morning glory is poisonous, do you mean 'water spinach'?

in the sea said...

Stella, they weren't doing a good job before March. Remember my constant complaints I posted earlier.

Thanks Anonymous. I never came to this point as I was told about this term a long time ago and it was widely used in many restaurants in Asia. I just checked and the academic term should be Ipomoea aquatica. I guess if I call this one in a restaurant, no one knows what that is.

Thailand Club said...

oh the pan fried pork buns and braised pomelo peel r really nice, i can even smell the aroma from here :-)

Stella said...

Thank you Sea for the clarification.
I forgot what is the Chinese name of Morning Glory(Tung Choi?)
I like the Morning Glory in BKK.
A must eat veggie dish.
Would like to go at least once to Jade Crystal. Although the good is kind of salty, I like the dishes there. You can write down this on the "to eat" list. Sorry TC, you may need to rinse the food here.

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
the Chinese name of tung choi is 蕹菜 or 空心菜. Its scientific name is Ipomoea aquatica. The common name should be WATER MORNING GLORY or water spinach or chinese spinach. Some people usually shorten it by saying morning glory 喇叭花 or 牵牛花which is actually toxic to humans.
Quote another example, chestnut is chestnut, water chestnut is water chestnut ;)

regards

in the sea said...

Thanks Anonymous 9:36pm for the clarification. That's what I learned from the web about the various species of morning glory. I think it's all because we order it in Thailand for that shorten term and once assumed it's the term. I recall my Filipino friends telling me they don't eat this 蕹菜. Actually this veggie is not recommended by my grand mom./father/mother/aunts. I really feel what you feel, just like I bypass some mistakes made by most people....etc.

Good to know this after all. Thanks again.

Stella said...

Thank you Anonymous 9:36 and SEA for the explanation.