Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Taking a risk

For a friends 70th Birthday we alerted Guy Burgess, the terrific chef, at the "Oriental; Wok - Hyde Park" ( Dana and Madison, in the Regency). I really like putting ourselves in his hands and once again he did not disappoint.
I am going to try to discribe the meal, with out any notes or prompting from Guy, so if I use too much Poetic (food) licence please forgive.

After salutations and drinks we started with a first course, which I describe as a boiled and then fried egg. Guy told me that in the preparation he takes the eggs and boils them for exactly 7 minutes and then ices them for an hour to "set the white". After carefully peeling he coats them, sightly, with powdered bread crumbs and stir fries them in the Wok until they have a slightly golden crust. The warm egg is placed on a piece of molded toast and criss-crossed with duck sauce. The toast is surrounded with cooked sliced mushrooms, onions and sprouts and has it's own light sauce. When the egg is cut the yellow is still warm and runny. Some opening dish.
Next came 2 crisp sauteed Soft Shell Crabs on a bed of greens and chopped fruit, with a citrus dressing. The slight saltiness of the crabs made a perfect compliment to the sweet and tangy salad.
Third course consisted of several slices of Duck Brest, pink to brown, which had been grilled to form a slight, crispy  coating. On the same plate were cold rice noodles, seasoned with herbs and a few green leaves of Chinese Broccoli.
Finally, and we had asked Guy not to over feed us, or we would still be eating, he produced two steamed and grilled fish, turned inside out and de-boned, covered with a rich sauced of cubed Chinese vegetables and fish stock and possibly a hint of rice wine. The rich sauce is perfect with the white fish and the ginger fried rice that accompanies the seafood.

I can't go there for my 70th, which has passed, but I can hardly wait until we have other friends to entertain.

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