26706 Tue Nov 25 18:47:25 -0800 2003 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 109056 Hong Kong Pavilion - 1671 El Camino Real, Millbrae. It’s sad to lose a cherished chowhound to the Other Coast; but we’ll relish his reports on the Manhattan board. Eight of us gathered to feast on the set dinner offered Mondays - Fridays only, and due to Melanie’s largess we enjoyed the matching of food/wine with two interesting Rieslings: Reichsgrof von Kesslstatt Riesling 2001, dry and crisp, Estate Qualtatswein ; and Dr. Burklin-Wolf Forster Riesling Kabinett 1998. 11.5% alcolhol - 5% residual sugar. Thank you, Melanie! Snatches of conversations bounded round the table; out of state speeding tickets - be sure to pay them, Bach on accordion in The Metro, 16 Euro room at Hotel Medici in Paris, bi-coastal romance, white truffle Fringale dinner, hot dogs and Italian beef in Los Gatos, Pipes and Pizza, mom’s fried chicken. Chowing always with good-hearted vigor. Roasted spiced peanuts were no challenge to the chopstick adepts. Roast Squab, meaty with a seasoned tamarind and dried orange peel sauce A choice of two soups to start: Chicken Velvet Bird’s Nest in a delicate broth or the rich intense flavors of Fish Swim Bladder 5 Snake soup with strands of fungus, orange peel, ginger and lemongrass and other crunchy tidbits. Dried Abalone Supreme, plumped with braising in oyster sauce and garnished with tender mustard greens. Imagine! One whole small abalone just for you. Chiu Chow preserved vegetable (lan cai) minced pork and crisp-fried Green Beans, well-received at the table XO lean pork slices with Celery and chili pepper flakes, a favorite dish Garlic and Supreme Soy Sauce Frog, silky and falling from its tiny bones, another favorite Honey Pepper-Chili Oysters and Broccoli, deeply flavored yumminess, served with hot and crisp edges. Earth-covered in Gold Baked Shrimp, crunchy goodness, ocean sweet and briny Claypot of Chicken and Chestnuts, rich and redolent of garlic, much enjoyed Gai Lan broccoli Silver and Gold eggs with pork and vegetables - delicate,deserving to be served as an earlier course DoFuFa, a light sweet ending Tue Nov 25 18:47:25 -0800 2003 0 Cynthia 1 109061 Could you discuss the "Silver and Gold eggs with pork and vegetables"? What did the eggs refer to? Tue Nov 25 19:11:35 -0800 2003 109056 0 cabrales 2 109104 There were two types of egg on top of stir-fried bok choy. One was preserved egg (pidan) and the other was salted egg. The dish was the most ordinary of the lot (the bok choy really watered it down) and perhaps the only one I wouldn't order again. On the other hand the frogs legs and the oysters were excellent. Fresh from the kitchen, both had delightful crisp coatings that were neither heavy nor oily. Wed Nov 26 11:33:15 -0800 2003 109061 0 Peter Yee 1 109100 Sounds like a great meal, wish I could have attended. But wish squid-kin well on the right coast. Will be checking his post in New York. Wed Nov 26 10:42:36 -0800 2003 109056 0 Yimster 1 109105 For those curious, the restaurant, although called the "Hong Kong Flower Pavillion" in English, the Chinese name seems to be more like "Hundred Happiness at the Door". Wed Nov 26 11:35:09 -0800 2003 109056 0 Peter Yee 1 109269 Sorry for the tardy response. I am just emerging from a couple days in packing crate hell. That was a wonderful dinner, and a lovely description. Thanks to all -- including Chibi and Limster for the menu translations. I enjoyed . . . well, just about everything, but I keep thinking about the snake soup, with its play of contrasting flavors; the green beans (ditto); and the slightly smoky flavor and meaty texture of the abalone, very nice against the mustard greens. That second riesling especially was a good match for the various intense flavors on the table. Oh, and the pork dish: I've thought of XO mainly as a seafood flavoring, but it was delicious here, too. I may have to start carrying around a bottle in my backpack. I'm still in town, throwing stuff out and cramming other stuff into boxes, but this seems a good time to thank all of you on this board for your savvy, informative and entertaining reports. You've added dozens of pushpins to my mental chow map, and it's been great fun foraging in your footsteps. I'm just sorry I won't have time to chase down more of your leads. I'm also sorry to be leaving just as I've begun to meet some of you. For anyone who is kinda, sorta tempted to attend a chow gathering, three words of advice: Do drop in. I'm a relative newbie and not much of a joiner, yet I've felt perfectly welcome at the few chowdowns I've been to. Everyone has been friendly and generous with their knowledge. And of course there's always that built-in area of common interest: crispy pata. (Excuse me, I meant food in general. Just had an uncontrollable urge to type "crispy pata.") Anyway, thanks again and see you on the boards. -- Mark Sun Nov 30 02:04:54 -0800 2003 109056 0 Squid-kun 2 109648 Mark, I hope you did tuck a few jars of XO sauce in your crates - Yank Sing packages a good one that you can buy in Chinese grocery stores. If not, here's a link that tells you where to find it in NY. Thank you for your tips and good company on these boards. Manhattan is so unworthy. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/290124#1573463 Image: http://www.yanksing.com/images/hot_sauce-three_copy.gif Thu Dec 04 00:37:17 -0800 2003 109269 0 Melanie Wong 3 109665 Hey now! Thu Dec 04 11:30:46 -0800 2003 109648 0 Caitlin McGrath 4 109722 SF was undeserving too. Fri Dec 05 05:37:54 -0800 2003 109665 0 Melanie Wong 1 109553 Thanks for your thorough report. My favorite was the snake soup. It just felt like it was good for you. Not medicinal in the way that some herbal soups can be, but had the same refreshing, restorative effect. The mix-ins of lemon grass and the crunchy bits were a nice touch to add fresh aroma and crunch at the table. William handed them to me and said, “don’t forget the fritos”. (g) We switched soups mid-way through. The bird’s nest soup was nice, but much more delicate in constitution. William commented that bird’s nest tasted much better when restaurants still used a lot of MSG. The presentation of the abalone was precious, offset with jade green plump mustard greens. It was luxurious to have an individual serving to attack with fork and steak knife. And, I took our waiter’s advice and didn’t let them take my plate away until I’d poured the remaining tasty oyster sauce over my rice. Like others have mentioned, the double eggs with baby bok choy was the dish that fell out, but only because the others were so good. The amount of pork in the XO dish was a bit skimpy with lots of celery as filler, but man, this was tasty! The little bits of fresh chili mingled with the dried chili flakes and compoy were a nice touch. I loved the frog…did you notice the larger than everyone else’s pile of tiny bones on my plate? (g) Paul H missed out by not tackling this one. The oysters were my brother’s favorite dish. He’s still talking about it. Sort of like oyster fingers, about the size of steak fries, cut a bit smaller for us to share them. The sweet-tart honey sauce with the black pepper and fresh jalapenos was great. I didn’t get to try the broccoli garnish, but I heard Paul H exclaim how good it was. “Earth covered in gold” on the shrimp refers to salt and pepper style preparation accented with garlic and a bit of salted duck egg yolk. This was less salty and a more subtle note than the frog legs that “chibi” and I had the last time we were here. The chicken and chestnut claypot offered deep, fully caramelized, concentrated flavor. Couldn’t ask for more in a claypot preparation. At one point, “suekiyaki” said, “I just ate a delicious roasted garlic morsel, where’d it come from?” This is the dish. The whole roasted garlic cloves, and chicken-infused roasted chestnuts were treasured nuggets of flavor. The fish and gai lan (broccoli) was kind of a surprise. The waiter had said the fish was sautéed, so we were expecting some kind of fish filets. Instead the fish were crunchy brown confetti bits that had a smoky and salty flavor. If I hadn’t been told it was fish, I might have assumed they were bacon bits. The gai lan was little firmer than I prefer, yet some folks probably like it this crunchy. The quantity of each dish was just enough to serve eight people, which was the size of our party. I’d suggest a table size of six to eight to be able to try a good assortment and for the size of the servings. Of course, one can order the set as a single too. After this fine showing, I’m ready to go back to order the rest of the dishes we didn’t try! For good measure, I’ll include the menu again for the special set dinner, available Monday-Friday. This literal and ungussied-up translation of the special dishes to choose from on the Chinese menu comes courtesy of “chibi” and Limster. The price is $30.88 per person, which includes a choice of soup, one individual abalone, and one dish from the list. The ones we ordered are marked with an asterisk (*). A: chicken velvet bird's nest soup/ oyster sauce supreme whole abalone or B: fish swim bladder five snake soup/oyster sauce supreme whole abalone Plus, one dish per person from the following list from left to right: secret sauce garlic fragrant ribs (this is made with pork chops) *chiu chow preserved vegetable (lan cai) minced pork string beans some kind of pepper and mustard pickle stir fried minced fish. salt fish, minced chicken, eggplant claypot *XO pork neck bones (but no bones) *garlic & supreme soy sauce frog *honey pepper/chili live oysters japanese style eggplant and beef short ribs *"earth covered in gold" baked shrimp *fish and kai lan (not sure which kind of fish -- it translates as "big land *chestnut and chicken claypot dried scallops, prawns, and napa cabbage claypot "gold sign" fried spareribs (this is a sweet and sour dish) French style beef stew *silver and gold eggs, pork strips, seasonal veggies scallop and tofu in black bean sauce Wed Dec 03 04:43:11 -0800 2003 109056 0 Melanie Wong