Text 24628, 109 rader
Skriven 2007-12-27 16:58:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Winter feast 1 608
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Winter Feast at Royal East
[my additions are in brackets]

December 21, 2007

[Our table, clockwise: Gunther, Jackie, Nathaniel, myself,
Elizabeth Morse, John Kochevar, Sheila Perry, Ron Feldman,
Elizabeth Riely, and Lee. I had them seat Jackie next to
Gunther (I told people that I was pimping her out) so that
she could pick his brains on her Ph.D. thesis or on an
article she's thinking of writing.

The other table: Nicholas, Mary, Irene, the Davols,
Mary Newman, Ted Smith, Lil Kemp, David Marks, Steve
Friedlaender, Nancy O'Connell, not necessarily in that
order, as I wandered over there only after dinner, by
which time people may have been switched around.]

Fading light and growing cold.  The memory of last year's Feast for the
Year of the Pig inspired us to ask Otto Chang for a reprise.  Here is
his menu for a banquet of dishes the Chinese consider heaty - foods that
build strength and warm the blood - to sustain us in the coming winter.

Time:  7:00 pm.  Place:  Royal East, Cambridge

Price:  $37 per person, not including gratuity.  Includes Shao Shing
wine and tea. [ended up $50 even a person, as we had additional wine - a
rather nice Barbera d'Asti and a Chardonnay of no great distinction. The
Shao Shing wine was extremely strong and acrid, and I ended up drinking
most of Jackie's and Elizabeth's as well as several more of my own: the
rest of them had theirs in these little ceremonial thimbles; I drank mine
out of a teacup, which was John's suggestion to the waiter]

Cold Appetizers

Appetizer plate including: Vegetarian goose / Spicy cabbage / "wild food"

[Vegetarian goose was a rollup of crisp fried tofu skin
(the goose skin) around shiitake mushrooms cooked in soy
(the goose flesh). It was very good. Lee said that the
tofu skin was really egg yolk, and John and I hooted him
down rather enthusiastically. Otto the owner came up and
gave Lee the whatfor.

Spicy cabbage was the usual, nappa slices soaked in a
pickle of vinegar, sugar, and hot pepper.

The wild food was slices of venison loin sauteed with
ginger and scallions in a soy-based sauce. It was excellent.]

Hot Appetizers

Salt and pepper scallops / vegetarian spring rolls

[The scallops were nice, though halved across in the standard
Chinese restaurant style, deep-fried in a dusting of cornstarch
and then tossed with salt, minced red and green chiles, and
minced garlic and ginger. I'd have preferred shrimp or soft-
shell crab done this way, but there was something about the
theme of this meal that required scallops. I'm not sure what.

The spring rolls were spring rolls.]

Poultry

Squab Soong / Crispy Faux Poulet de Bresse

[The former was what has become a cliche in the upscale Chinese
food biz, though usually the meat involved is chicken or pork
(my sister made it with turkey) - you saute minced meat with
scallions and water chestnuts in hoisin sauce and then serve
this mess in Peking doilies or lettuce leaves (the latter in
this case). Interestingly, the rich pigeon flavor came out
very well even despite this strong treatment; the latter
involves taking a white chicken, steaming it briefly, then
frying it whole until the outside is crispy. Then you hack it
into bits and serve it with salt and five-spice. I ate the head
and the tail, which amused John, intrigued Elizabeth, tickled
Nathaniel, grossed out Jackie, and made Gunther jealous. The
chicken was of excellent flavor. I don't know if I'm going to
get mad chicken disease, though.]

Meat

Rack of lamb / Baby bok choy with black mushrooms and fresh bamboo shoots

[The lamb was done medium-rare with soy and a little hoisin.
This is not an authentic dish. Nicholas got bent out of shape
about this, but too bad, it tasted fine.

Fresh bamboo shoots are hard to come by; baby bok choy and the
mushrooms used to be luxury items, though they're fairly common
nowadays. The dish as a whole is a paean to luxury. All of these
were delicious: the difference between a fresh bamboo shoot and
the canned guck that you get is amazing.]

Fish

Chef's special grey sole / Pea tendrils with Chinese ham

[The fish is filleted, the fillets sliced and cooked in a white
sauce with scallions and ginger, the bones fried crisp, then
the fillet meat piled atop the bones. Also a luxurious dish.
Gunther got the head this time.

Pea tendrils were delicious. The ham, however, was an ordinary
ham, not Chinese at all.]
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