Saturday, March 13, 2010

Spring Review: Jade Garden, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Last year, I tried various Jade Garden but it turned out something not right and made my suggestions to the managers. It turned out those managers are just like the "me at 10 years old" who had a "wind" ear. :)

1. ok, check this order list and see what I got later. Amazing Jade Garden! 2. The table setting.

3. preserved turnip - quite nice. 4. Chilled romaine lettuce in peanut sauce. This one is still good and the sauce is very aromatic. Highly recommended.

5. All right. This is the one I complained about. Last time I brought up my concern about using baby cabbage (娃娃菜) instead of Bai Choy. Baby cabbage isn't right with this soup and in fact, baby cabbage is a bit too fake in the sweetness. Anyone having tried this soup should know it's with Bai Choy. So I called the captain and simply brought up my 2nd complaint about it and further told that "don't tell Bai Choy is not in the season, as last time you told me so when it was the fall Autumn time which is the season for Bai Choy. Now it's still also the season. Why still baby cabbage?....". If it's a new and trendy hip restaurant, I wouldn't bother to complain but it's a well established restaurant having had its roots in HK for over 3 decades. That really upset me. 6. Stir fried fish maw with bean sprouts and egg. This one is stir fried pretty dry but it should have been more aromatic if the fish maw could have been even more burnt. New Light in Siam Bangkok did a very nice job with this kind of classic stir-fried with shark's fins.

7. Another complaint! Check the order list. It should be "nine belly" fish with chili/salt. Of course, I also told the Captain what's wrong. This one is what my most-hated cooking way "shelter stir fried(避風塘)". It's very misleading to those who haven't tried the original and classic way of this dish. The funny thing is the captain just keeping her fake smile on her face without doing any remedy. So my final word to her "all right, forget it. Your food is very nice. Thank you.". 8. This dinner is quite extreme and my eating mood is like a roller coaster and I should be thankful that it's not easy to have a meal on a mental roller coaster. The deep fried chicken is awesome! You know what. I used the salt with this chicken to go with the fish. :)

9. Chicken soup in clay pot. 10. chopped dried oyster stir fried. Nice presentation.

11. Somehow this one is still half and half classic. The main was stir fried nicely and I like the way they didn't forget putting chopped water chestnut. So at least something to go with my steamed rice. 12. The other half disappointing is this steamed wrap. Supposed this one is with crispy lettuce as lettuce's sweetness goes well with the oysters and yet delivering a crispy texture.

2 comments:

Stella said...

These still look very good to me.
I never tried "9 belly fish" before.
Let me check if this is available in LA.
Eating with a roller coaster ride is fun once in a while. :)

in the sea said...

I think if I didn't bring up the original style of those dishes, these are still ok but personally I really don't recommend using baby cabbage.

'9 belly" fish is quite fishermen fish and you might not eat it even when you were in HK.

BTW, the captain would have thought I was making jokes with him because he checked me from head to toe and wondered how come a cult leather jacket guy coming in talked about cooking.. haha :)