Connoisseur 美食

My wife and I arrived at the restaurant at 1:30 pm without any reservation. The restaurant was half-empty and we were seated immediately. The dining hall is beautiful and my wife thought we were in the movie set of the Chinese Kung-fu movie Dragon Inn (龍門客棧).

The set lunch includes the following six items:

1. Spinach with sesame sauce 芝麻醬菠菜. A layer of sesame and peanut sauce was sandwiched between the spinach and the sesame seeds. I like this dish because it is new to me, but my wife dislikes anything with peanuts.

2. Crispy shrimp 酥皮大明蝦. This is the signature dish of this restaurant. The shrimp is lightly battered and fried to perfection. It is super tasty and crunchy. Leemay told me that the shrimp could be eaten whole including the shell. I did devour the whole shrimp with no problem. While my wife hesitated at first but she finished the shell too. Highly recommended.

3. Dry-braised sea bass with chili sauce 那府乾燒魚. The braised fish is prepared in a traditional fashion, nothing fancy nor extraordinary. But the ingredients to make the chili sauce and the fish itself are all very fresh. Any traditional dish with high quality ingredients and skillful preparation is more than good enough for me. Recommended.

4. Braised brisket with quail egg 鵪鶉蛋燒牛腩. This is a surprise dish. Its taste is light and simple. There is no saltiness from the soy sauce, nor any herb flavor commonly found in such dishes. You tasted the brisket flavor when biting into one. You also tasted the egg when you had one in your mouth. Simple taste, simple pleasure. We were impressed with the lightness of this dish we asked the waitress how this dish was prepared. Highly recommended.

5. Stir-fried mushroom with mustard cabbage 口蘑小青菜. A simple dish with fresh vegetables.

6. Small dessert combo 京四件. Four kinds of traditional Chinese dessert, many made with mung beans. They were all very good.

The portion of the dish for the four-person set lunch is just about enough for two persons, who opted to not order steamed rice. We only got a little bit of food left to take home. For a party of four, the set lunch for 6 may be more appropriate.