After returning from a family trip to Bangkok and a short business trip to Korea, we came to visit Chef Zinc for his special event, a dinner featuring local produce. While typically we got to enjoy different local seafood in prior visits, today every course does have its local element to feature. The price of the menu remains the same at $2,400 each.
To start is a Clear Soup, featuring extracts of Tomato grown in local farm, together with Asia Moon Scallop 日月貝. The soup has a nice acidity on top of the umami flavours, plus additional fragrance from Thai Basil Flowers. A crisp is made from the residue of the tomato, allowing us to enjoy on its own, or dip into the warm soup. Delicious.
The first sake I have is The Sazanami from Abe Shuzo in Niigata ($250). The sake is quite light in body, having a refreshing vibrancy with its acidity and slight fizziness. An easy to drink sake, suitable to start dinner with.
Tonight, we also have Davey Wong, the buyer who are the source for all these great local produces, introducing them throughout the dinner. The next one features an 8-catty Madai 赤鱲, paired with a sauce using its bones and milt from local sea bream. Scattered on the side are ground dried sea bream roes as seasoning, a true wonder with fantastic taste.
Next one features a gigantic 20-catty Ma Yau 馬友, caught in Sai Kung, with Chef Zinc using the traditional method of smoking over hay to infuse the meat with a nice fragrance while not ‘cooking’ the flesh. With different thickness of cut to compare texture, the ground fermented salted fish is sprinkled as condiment, as well as homemade pickled plum paste that had been aged for one year, exhibiting nice mellow flavours.
Then comes Chawanmushi. The shells of the Red Swimming Crab 紅花蟹 are toasted and prepared into broth, mixing with the stir-fried crab roes and tomalley, before blending with egg yolk and steam to form an intensely flavoured egg custard. With the delicate sweet crab meat and fresh dill on top, another amazing dish.
Coming next is the Grilled Green Rock Lobster 青龍蝦. Cutting in half, the lobster was marinated in miso, before grilling on its shell, to impart the flesh with wonderful smoky aromas. These wild lobsters are usually smaller in size, not easy to catch, and have great texture and sweetness.
The second sake I have is Abe Yellow イエロー ($250), also from Abe Shuzo in Niigata. With a more juicy and richer umami taste than the previous one, this sake has got good acidity and is nice match with food.
The first sushi on the night comes from a 5-catty Blacktip Grouper 紅斑, having aged for three weeks, with a clean and delicate taste. Chef Zinc added just a little bit of wasabi, without any other seasoning, for us to taste its original flavours. Known as the best local fish, it has a special fragrance that is truly memorable.
The second sushi uses a 5.5-catty Cuttlefish 墨魚, and inside Chef Zinc has added some Mentaiko from Fukuoka, to give a touch of spiciness and savoury taste on top of its sweetness. The tender texture, yet also having a good bite, is mind-blowing, and I agree it is superior in quality than any we have tried in Japan or elsewhere.
The third sushi features Kasugo 春子鯛. With each tail only able to make for two pieces, the young seabream has been marinated in Sakura Tree leaves, to infuse the delicate meat with a good note of Sakura taste. As the fish is locally caught and processed, the freshness and texture remains impeccable. A seasonal treat only available for a short period of time.
The fourth sushi is a rarely seen ingredient, Spiny Oyster 車蠔 from Sai Kung. A type of cockle, with a drip of perfume lemon and a bit of salt to season, it has nice sweetness and crunchy. Davey has engaged divers to get these from the seabed, to ensure the quality and safety of the food, which we appreciate his effort.
Transition from sushi, next is Cherry Tomatoes, of different colours, which are grown locally. Each is decorated with a clover leaf, and are served on fermented tomato consommé, with drizzle of sweet basil oil for fragrance. From this dish we can see a glimpse of Chef Zinc’s earlier life as an Italian chef before turning to Japanese cuisine.
Then comes Red Shrimps 赤米 Tart, using the shrimp heads, together with tomato, to cook a sauce and placed underneath the shrimps that had been aged for three days, with a bit of Tai O shrimp paste to bring forth tremendous savoury flavours that are in perfect harmony with sweetness of the shrimps, finishing with a marigold leaf on top.
The third sake is 交酒 花風 ($250), a craft sake from 稲とアガベ in Akita, integrating the traditional sake with the fragrance of hops used to make beer. On the first smell, the unmistaken note of beer is interesting, and upon the sip, the lychee aromas and good crispness on acidity is very pleasant.
From the kitchen the team brings out what looks like roasted pork, but in fact is the belly of a 10-catty Banded Grouper 青斑 that has been dried for 15 days before grilling over charcoal, to a golden, crisp skin. The fish bone is used to prepare a sauce with mustard seeds, giving a touch of acidity, with some mustard sprouts on the side.
Returning to sushi, the fifth piece is Filefish 沙鯭. While in Japan most of this fish used is farmed, the local ones in HK are still caught, with a sweeter taste, but with a smaller liver though. Putting a bit of liver inside the sushi, together with some chopped chives, the rich fragrance and taste of the sushi is amazing.
The sixth sushi features local Mantis Shrimp 長頸瀨尿蝦. Compared with the short-neck type, this species is recognized of better quality and sweeter. After cooking, the shell has been meticulously removed, presenting the flesh in a neat, good shape. The taste is very sweet, and each bite provides me with pure joy and happiness. Not to be missed.
The seventh sushi goes back to Ma Yau 馬友, but this time Chef Zinc uses the belly of the threadfin to marinate in shoyu, infusing the flesh with extra layer of savoury. A very different experience compared with the earlier one on hay-smoking, the fantastic taste of its fish oil is more profound in this case, truly memorable.
The eighth and last piece features Kuruma Prawn 花竹蝦. After slow-cooking the prawn, Chef Zinc then removes the shell and innards to prepare the sushi. With a bouncy texture and unbelievably sweet taste, the prawn head was used to extract the prawn oil and brushed onto the prawn to enhance the flavours to the next level.
A special treat from Davey, to thank for our patronage, is the Fresh Fish Maw from a 25-catty Sea Bass 白花鱸. After cooking in ginger and spring onion, and soaked for a day, the fish maw is immersed in dashi and shoyu for half a day and then drizzled with a bit of chicken oil upon serving. Softer in texture, with also a more delicate, refined taste.
The Tamagoyaki 玉子焼 also has a twist. Chef Zinc first smoked the Star Snapper 石蚌, creating a special effect of having the fish oil forming a layer of jelly under the skin. The fish bones are used to make an intense broth and mixed with whisked egg to prepare the omelette, using the fish oil in the process.
The Soup features Pike Conger 門鱔, and after big effort to remove the bones, they are used to prepare two broths. One is a clear broth with kombu and the other a more intensely flavoured one. The latter one is then used to braise the fresh fish maw of pike conger, before rolling with the meat, and pouring the clear broth on it to just cook it through. Amazing in taste.
The last sake I have is 風の森 25周年記念 未来予想酒Ⅲ 時の重なり三重奏 ($250). The sake has a surprising rich vanilla and oaky character, clean and elegant despite its high alcohol level at 19%. During mid-fermentation a shochu aged over 10 years in barrel is added, along with 10-year-old aged sake, to create this unique style. Must try.
The dessert features some local fruit and produce. Using fresh strawberries grown in Tai Tong, and together with mascarpone, Chef Zinc made a pink mousse. On top is a sauce made from Yuen Long white strawberry and lychee honey, scattered with homemade plum powder, with lemon verbena leaves to add fragrance. At bottom is a piece of crispy cake from the Sau Kei Wan neighbourhood. Not too sweet, a happy finale to finish a great meal.
Service is good as always, with Chef Zinc very interactive with the customers, and with Davey joining to share with us all the knowledge it is a great evening with good food and learning. The bill on the night is $6,380. Considering the overall experience, I would rate this restaurant an Excellent 85. Worth returning, especially not to be missed on any upcoming special event like this one featuring local produce.
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