Wineshark Weekly - 6 May 2012

This week we went to Queens Street Food Centre in Sheung Wan, originally wanting to revisit the Chiu Chow Lane stalls that we used to go when we were young. Actually that place brought a lot of fond memories for me, as my parents used to bring me to Queens Street to have the hotpot at the hawker stall there. Of course, that was a long time ago and now the place was a commercial building and the road was no longer having any hawker stall...

When we arrived it was full of people, but found that the Chiu Chow style stalls were closed (?) on the day. But having heard that one of the stall is also good, so we went to Chan Choi Kee. We had the White Pepper Pig Stomach and Intestine Soup, Golden Prawn and Steamed Garoupa Head and Stomach.

The soup was good, with the minced meat added to the soup which is their signature way of preparing this dish. The intestine was cleaned properly and no strange smell was associated.

The prawn was nice, with the salty egg yolk cooked in the way that it was coated on the prawn without solidifying.

The steamed fish was cooked at the right level, and I particularly like the shredded dried citrus orange peel, which brought a totally new dimensions to the fish.

Overall, a nice, family-style restaurant. With beer and soft drink the bill was $280. For the sophisticated people who cannot eat in such food centre, it may pose a problem but my belief always go to the quality of the food as the top priority, and cleaniness the second. If both are met, then I will go anywhere to try.

With a holiday this week I spent it to cook at home. This week I made two dishes, the South American Seafood Soup and a Grilled Duck Breast in Orange Sauce.

To make the proper fish stock, I went to the wet market to buy fresh small fishes and the effort paid off handsomely. The soup was so good and full of flavor that actually you need to be careful how much salt and seasoning you add, or will become too strong. The duck breast was easy to make, but the trick was to pan fry a bit on the skin before putting it into oven. Both recipes can be found in my blog as always.

With all the wines delivered to me now, I am becoming short of space seriously at home to keep all those. I have to speed up the drinking of the wines in order to get prepared for my examination also. Unfortunately with the traveling I did not get much chance at home to enjoy...

Chateau de Sales 2006 (Pomerol)

Good quality Pomerol with a fairly deep ruby color. Reasonably intense on the nose, the wine has developing and fairly complex aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar, earth, bilberry, cloves and violet. Medium in acidity, the tannin is ripe and velvety. Fairly full-bodied, the reasonably intense palate has black cherry, plum, cedar, coffee and hints of savory notes, relatively more simple than the nose. Finishing with a reasonable length, the wine is in good balance with firm structure. It is ready to drink now but can benefit from further ageing of another 6-8 years.

Chateau Moulin du Cadet 2005 (St-Emilion)

Good quality St-Emilion with a deep ruby color and garnet rims. The nose is reasonable intense, with good complexity, showing developing characters of blackberry, black cherry, bilberry, liquorice, cedar, oak and earth. Medium in acidity and tannin, ripe and silky in texture, the wine is of medium body with a fairly intense palate of blackberry, cedar, prune, chocolate and walnut. Finishing with a reasonable length, it is in good balance and smooth, showing typical right bank characters without much outstanding features however. Ready to drink now and can benefit from further ageing of another 2-3 years.

Last night we had good time celebrating couple of my MBA classmates birthday. Though I had been sneezing heavily (and now basically can't smell anything) I enjoyed the company. Wish you all healthy and happy forever!