Elegant Cantonese Cuisine, Hua Ting Restaurant, Orchard Hotel (Tel: 6739 6666)

October 07, 2007 (Sunday): I finally managed to squeeze my name into the list of reservations for lunch on Sunday. I was asked to turn up at 1:30 pm. Well, not too bad, I thought;at least I could still eat till three.

I went slightly earlier, at 1:15 pm. A couple was waiting to go in but they were told that they had another 20 - 30 minutes. I was also told to wait. The time went beyond 1:30 pm. I patiently sat on the sofa outside. More people came. Some went off disappointed; they had not made any appointments.

I was delighted when it came to my turn. When I stepped into the restaurant, what greeted me was a spacious, warmly lit room with a quiet crowd. It was a far cry from my lunch at Crystal Jade Golden Palace in Paragon last Sunday which was dark, crowded, noisy, and there were frowning waitresses brushing past you all the time. There, we were told in advance that we could only dine from 12:30 pm to 1: 30 pm -- obviously for table-turnover reason. But the food was served late then and the dishes terribly oily.

On the contrary, Hua Ting embraces you into its sturdy woody and tranquil interior. There were Vietnamese Bat Trang tea pots, bright Chinese embroidery framed in wooden frames on the walls with corner tables perched with pots of orchids. It was what most Japanese would say, ochitsuku.

After the long wait, compensated by the smiles of waitresses and the usher nonetheless, I didn't want to go through the dim sum list. Very quickly, I pointed to Set B on the set lunch menu. Before the first dish came, I saw a cook book resting on the glass wall panel shelves written by Chan Kwok, the chef, entitled A Culinary Genius. I really hope so he'd be, I told myself.

The first dish arrived: a seafood roll with nori, a steamed dumpling and another yam and shrimp paste cake. They were served the French way.

I liked the last piece of cake best. The last few bites were fresh garlic chips and it imparted some notes of healthy assurance. The other two morsels tasted ordinary but what impressed me was -- they weren't oily.

The second dish was a delicate bowl of soup with a lid. The lid was removed to reveal a fresh stalk of Chinese mustard green, fish bladder and chicken topped with two burgundy fragrant Yunnan ham. The combination was mildly fragrant, rather "unCantonese".

The next dish was one that accounted for the handsome price tag of the meal: SGD 170 for two. It was stewed sea cucumber (namako), abalone, and mushroom. They didn't fill up an inch of my stomach, however.

I thought the dish that arrived next was a huge abalone, but it was a piece of tenderloin topped with two soft Chinese mushroom (shiitake). It was succulent and tender, but it just couldn't beat Keyaki's fantastic kebabs. It seemed like that was the climax, and I prepared myself for fried rice. What a pleasant surprise when I discovered that only egg white was being used and skilfully whipped into fluffiness. It was still oilier than Keyaki's version though very fragrant.

Mochi were the last item and they were far from being delicious - although rare desserts to be served at Chinese restaurants. After sinking my teeth through the skin, I thought I'd rather have real Japanese mochi or just mundane almond jelly on crushed ice. Anything icy, cold and light would score better than these somewhat uncooked chilled dough with a light cream that was not easy to index on the scale of tastes. They were just balls of distressed flour.

However, overall, I'd send kudos to its healthy and elegant version of Cantonese cuisine minus those disastrous glutinous rice balls. But I am still wondering if the food here deserves all that reputation... (December 6, 2007: Until now, I haven't heard from the F & B Manager of the Hotel despite having written him an e-mail to complain about that dessert. I think this is just one of those not so reputable hotels in Singapore.)

Here's the report card:
Food: 3.8/5; service: 4.5/5; ambience: 4.5/5.

Feasting in Beijing (2)

September 23, 2007:
The air in Summer Palace was laden with the sadness of the Emperor Tong Zhi 同治, born on 23rd day of the third month, 1856 咸丰六年. The palace was built from funds meant to strengthen the Chinese navy by Ye Zhi Na La Shi 叶赫那拉氏, i.e. Empress Ci Xi 慈禧. The marble boat - an immobile vessel from where the navy watched the ships in operation - still floats sedately on the surface of the lake. Willows, peonies and chrysanthemums in the palace paint a tame environment where "danger" and "crisis" do not fit in. This alone speaks about the implausibility of training a powerful state navy.

We cruised in the lake; the breeze was blowing against us and the weather was very fine - the best weather in Beijing which is said to only last 40 days. The cruise reminded me of my passage down the Danube in Austria in 1992. Durnstein, also known as " Pearl of the Wachau" is a very pretty little baroque town on the bank of the Danube that you'd notice as you sail downstream from Melk. It was here that Richard the Lion-Heart of England was held captive in 1192.

The landscape of Summer Palace is just as charming as the Danube. From the lake, I saw the grand building on the hill where Empress Ci Xi received her foreign visitors. Before it were several gates (each collecting 10 RMB from the visitor, I was told) erected on the gradient.

When we reached the jetty, it was time to go back to our hotel. The bus was waiting for us at the entrance.

We dropped our load in our hotel room and went across the hotel to a Jajiangmian restaurant(Tel: 62136766). Each serving was huge, meant probably for two ladies. Each of us ordered one bowl for ourselves (6 RMB each=SG$1.20). At the end, we felt that the fresh vegetables in it had multiplied our enjoyment of the smooth noodle and sauce many times. It was delicious.

We caught a cab when we exited the restaurant to the Forbidden City. It was quite far away. The air in the taxi was sultry and the driver was panting from exhaustion. She was a fair-complexioned Beijing folk.

The entrance to the museum was under renovation for the Beijing Olympics; otherwise every building looks majestic. We hired a guide for 120 RMB- a Hunan native of about 23, patient and pleasant; she was rewarded a 20 RMB-tip. I particularly enjoyed her explanation of the origin of many Chinese maxims. The history of China never fails to awe me.

After the tour, I took bus No. 20 to Wang Fu Jing, the "Orchard Road" of Beijing or, the "Umeda" of Osaka. It was just a stop away from the Forbidden City. I'd wanted to buy books. After spending about 4 hours at Wang Fu Jing Bookstore, I only managed to pick three books. I bought a bottle of chilled Tong Yi brand green tea in front of the bookstore and then headed for Dong Fang Xin Tian Di Oriental Plaza where very characteristic of the building told me that Singaporeans had a hand in its construction. Bread Talk is among its many modern tenants, so is Humble House by Tung Lok Group. At that time, my feet ached and I walked to Entrance 1 of the mall at the far end to Kelly's Nail for a pedicure. I realised, looking at the prices, that pedicure and manicure services here in Singapore are value-for-money. I paid SG$32 for cutting, and cuticle and dry skin removal. That was all I got for SGD32 in Beijing! The girl named Ye Qing from Dalian (Shenyang) related her love story to me through the session, helping to spice it up a little, even if it was about her heart aches. Poor girl.

My colleague came back from her shopping to look for me. We were both hungry by then and briskly made our way to a small Olympics souvenir corner to pick up some gifts before sniffing our way to Quan Ju De, the famous restaurant for Peking duck not far way from the shop. We were instructed to walk straight and then make a right turn. On reaching, we didn't feel like eating duck after several gourmet meals with endless dishes in two days. Immediately across "Quan Ju De 全聚得" is "Gou Bu Li 狗不理", a chain outlet originating from Tianjin city. The latter really sounds strange for a restaurant name. My immediate response was why was it named as such?

A story on big placard at the side of the restaurant reveals that in a village in Tianjin, the wife of a farmer in his forties finally gave birth to a son, who was of course, a jewel to the family. According to Chinese belief, to ensure that a child does not meet any misfortune cast by some evil spirits, the farmer called his son "Gou zi 狗子" ("Dog" or "Puppy"). In Chinese, "Gou zi" does not have the nuance of the word "Puppy" like in English. The name was to ward off a spirit's interest in the child because of the coarse name. Sure enough, the child grew up strong and healthy and took an interest in making dumplings. Good fortune struck as he was a serious cook. He would usually knead the dough without being distracted by anything else around him, not even his customers. Words about this "uncaring" (不理) attitude spread, and hence the name of his restaurant came about.

Gou Bu Li's hot steaming soft dumplings looked tempting but the number of menu sets and choices were limited. We picked the set that came with three dumplings of each type of filling, mushroom and pork, vegetables, and pork. Together with the dumplings was a free flow of green bean porridge which tasted exotic and a dish of seasoning that appeared like dried shrimp sambal but was some kind of pickles to be mix with it. We ordered an extra side dish of boiled green mustard. The vegetables were very fresh; they needed no accompaniment.

We headed towards Giordano after feeling satisfied but most clothes on display seemed expensive. Across the courtyard from Giordano was an Olympic souvenir shop. We browsed through the gamut of souvenirs before entering Wang Fu Jin Xiao Chi Jie 王府井小吃街, a food alley offering fried starfishes, locusts, worms, handmade tofu, Japanese snack, candied fruit of Beijing, kebabs of Xinjiang, and so forth. Nothing seemed tempting as I was still full from those bao zi.

At about 9:30 pm, it was time to head back to our hotel. We took the subway and at Xi Zhi Men 西直门, we hopped onto an awaiting cab outside the station. I opted for another place when we stopped close to the entrance of our hotel -- this time to George's Bar.

There were European oil paintings hung on the ceiling - duplicates, of course. What striked me about this place was the predominantly British crowd. There's no doubt the Brits hang out here. There was only a group of about six Chinese men and a lady who came in black flip-flops. Badly matched,I thought, although her dress was pretty. The drinks were good- the pistachios,though small but really delicious, were the best.

We left for the airport at 12 pm. After checking in, we spent about an hour shopping inside. I bought a Great Wall Red Dry Wine (US$20) and nuts (US$9). Then we boarded. We were told when the plane was about to take off that there were some engine errors. The light flickered. We waited. Then we were told to wait for another half-an-hour while the engineers tried to ratify the problem. The wait was prolonged twice, half-an-hour each time. By the time it was seven something in the evening. We were told that there would be no SQ flight to take us home that night. We'd to go to a hotel. There were two coaches waiting for us at some walking distance from the airport. We were told we had to catch the plane probably at 8:30 am on the next day.

When we reached the hotel at 9: 30 pm, no one seemed to complain. It was Crowne Plaza, a five-star at 48 Wangfujing Ave, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100006, China. It is a short walk from Saint Joseph's Cathedral, half a mile from the Forbidden City, and approximately 25 miles from Beijing Capital Airport. The rooms were comfortable and well-designed. I knew I was going to sleep very well even if it meant only 5 hours!

I went straight to the Brazilian restaurant. I was famished and thought I saw a great salad bar. Indeed my eyes didn't fool me. There was a colorful display of veg, nuts, fruit and cakes. There was also a pot of hot steamed rice and black beans with pork- the typical Latin American fare- in the midst, with the chefs busying with their roasts behind it.

After tucking in the fresh veg and rather soft nuts, the chef came with a pole of roast viande. Yum. He made several rounds with chicken, beef, lamb, and sausages; chicken being the most delicious and beef, the toughest and least edible. I ordered a glass of Peter Lehmann Shiraz for 78 RMB (SGD 15.60, tax inclusive).

I'd a good soak and slept soundly till 5:30 am the next morning. Within 10 minutes, I hit the cafe for breakfast from the good spread of buffet made up of Chinese and western fare. The cafe was spacious; it has an atrium and glass panels looking into a park where a few people were jogging.

We left for the airport at 6: 40 am and this time after about an hour delay due to heavy traffic, the plane took off. We reached Changi Airport safely at 3:45 pm.