Ming Court - Hong Kong

Ming Court, Mong Kok

Mong Kok is well known for its red light district, street food and outdoor market. Who would think that the Langham Hotel group would open a hotel in this area? Not only has the Langham Place Hotel become one of the landmarks this side of the harbour, its contemporary Chinese restaurant Ming Court has been awarded two Michelin stars for three consecutive years. Two Michelin stars means ‘Excellent cuisine, worth a detour’, and to me Ming Court is definitely worth a detour.

The restaurant is made up of two main dining areas - Ming Sun and Ming Moon. They are both decorated with Chinese fine arts, and walls of Ming Dynasty pottery replicas. In addition to the regular menu, there is also a section of award-winning and signature dishes, featuring some unexpected ingredients such as truffles and cheese. Ming Court is also well known for its extensive selection of wine, and there are more than three hundred bottles of wine stored in the 'Ming Cellar'. Each of the featured dish has a recommended wine, which is rarely seen in a Chinese restaurant.

Moving on to the food...

Stir fried fresh prawns with egg white – A good plate of Chinese fried egg has to be fresh and silky smooth ’嫩滑’, which is hard to achieve using a wok. The chef in Ming Court has showcased this skill in this signature dish. The prawns were shelled, and lightly fried with part of the egg white. The remaining egg white was gently cooked to form several snowy layers, before being placed on top of the prawns to form a wobbly mountain. The prawn heads were deep fried to provide an intense flavour from the brown meat, which was a big contrast to the subtle taste of the eggs and prawns. I loved the idea of the crispy Shiso leaves, where the citrus flavour and saltiness brought the whole dish together beautifully.

Braised flaming Japanese Kurobuta pork loin in red wine sauce – Although I am not sure how much the flame contributed to the taste, it was certainly an impressive display. The main ingredient, Kurobuta pork, was of high quality and extremely tender. It is uncommon to use red wine in Chinese cuisine, but the chef has brilliantly brought this into the sauce to give depth of flavour. It was relatively sweet compared to a western red wine reduction.

Stir fried minced pigeon and pine nuts, served with lettuce - A twist on the common ‘lettuce wrap’.

Braised sliced giant garoupa with wheat gluten in sweet bean sauce - The meaty garoupa was caramelised on the outside before being braised with the wheat gluten in the sweet bean sauce. The gluten was elastic and tasted a bit like tofu, soaking up all the essence of the sauce. It was heavenly.

Award winning fried rice with silky chicken and dried scallops in Shao Xing wine - Silky chicken is normally used in making Chinese soup, which claims to help maintain good health because of the higher protein content compared to a normal chicken. The fragrance from the dried scallops, together with a hint of Shao Xing wine, made this a perfect end to the meal.

Ming Court is a fine dining restaurant featuring modern Cantonese cuisine at its best. There are no noodle making performances, no beautiful sea view, just magnificent cooking with quality ingredients.

This is the last Hong Kong post of 2011. I have a back log of London restaurants to cover before the end of this year, so I am putting the rest of the Hong Kong posts (mainly Japanese restaurants) on hold. Please see here to read what I have covered so far.

明閣 Ming Court

Yu Chuan Club - Hong Kong

Yu Chuan Club, Wan Chai

I adore Yu Chuan, simply because it does the best Sichuan food in Hong Kong. It is a private kitchen hidden away on the first floor of a commercial building in the heart of Wan Chai, just behind the Southron basketball court.

There is something unusual and interesting about this place - I remember phoning to make the reservation, the lady who picked up the phone just said ‘Wei?’ (meaning ‘Hello’) without mentioning the restaurant’s name. I did wonder if I had got the right number for a second. Once I enquired about a reservation, the booking process went pretty smoothly. I also nearly missed the restaurant on my first visit, as the building is on a quiet street with few lights, and there was only a small sign pointing up to the first floor of the building. All of these things made me very curious, and eager to try their food.

I could smell the unique Sichuan peppercorn aroma as soon as I stepped out from the lift. ‘Members only’ was written on the door of the restaurant, but I was never asked to apply. We were greeted by the same lady who I had spoken to on the phone. She patiently explained the menu, and recommended some dishes according to the ingredients which they had been able to buy fresh from Wan Chai market that day.

The menu (available in English) consists of six sections - cold starters, ‘home style’, non-spicy, pickled pepper, fish, and shellfish, each section containing five to thirty dishes. There is a set price of HKD200 per person, the number of cold (涼菜) and main dishes (熱菜) you can order depends on the number of guests. There were thirteen of us, so we were able to choose six cold starters and ten main dishes.

Here are the highlights...

Century eggs - Century eggs are not everyone’s cup of tea, they are preserved in ash, salt and rice, etc (NOT horse urine as some people believe!) for months to develop a distinct alkaline flavour. You may find the dark green egg yolk discouraging, but I just could not fault the rich and creamy texture. You have to try it at least once in your life :) In Yu Chuan, the eggs were served with chopped green and red peppers, spring onions and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Sichuan cold noodles - This mountain of egg noodles was dressed lightly with Sichuan pepper, chilli oil and soy sauce, then topped with a mixture of toasted peanuts, spring onion and plenty of garlic. It was not spicy but slightly numbing, which was the perfect ‘warm up’ before the main dishes arrived.

Husband and wife lung slices - They are actually slices of beef and offal, in fact lung is rarely used these days. I like the combination of the toothsome tripe and the tender beef, which together with the crunchy celery stalks gave this dish a variety of textures.

Pickled green chillies and beef - It had the most normal look, but this could not have been more misleading. My tongue started to burn a few seconds after the first mouthful, giving me just enough time to taste the beef. If you want a challenge, this is the one to order.

Sweet and sour pork - We ordered this dish from the non-spicy section of the menu. Although it was a pleasant break from all the crazy hotness, I could hardly find anything exciting about it. The sauce was a tiny bit too sweet, and there was too much of it.

Ma Po tofu - A powerfully spiced dish made with silky smooth tofu, minced pork, and a sauce made from fermented bean paste, red chillies and Sichuan peppercorns.

Water braised fish - This is always the ‘wow’ dish of a meal in a Sichuan restaurant, there are countless red chillies and Sichuan peppercorns swimming in a large serving bowl. The fish was first poached in a broth, and then placed on top of a bed of Chinese cabbage. The peppercorns and chillies, along with star anise and cinnamon sticks were thrown into almost-boiling vegetable oil to generate an incredible aroma, before pouring into the bowl to serve. It was not as spicy as it looks, but the numbing sensation was insane. The fun part was to avoid the peppercorns when you try to get the fish out of the bowl. Some say the cabbage at the bottom is the best bit, do you dare to try it?

Spicy deep fried chicken with dried red chillies - The volume of the dish looked exactly the same before and after eating as there were so much chilli in it. The chicken pieces were deep fried on the bone until crispy, and although it was a relatively dry dish, the chicken was tender and juicy.

Do not be put off by the oily dishes, the flavour of the spices is infused within the oil, which brings the food to life. Our meal at Yu Chuan was thoroughly enjoyable, we were able to try authentic Sichuan cuisine at a very reasonable price. If you want to try a style of Chinese food which is totally different from the local Cantonese one, this is the place to go.

渝川菜館 Yu Chuan Club, 1st Floor, Hundred City Centre, 7 - 17 Amoy Street, Wan Chai