After spending the past couple of months winding down from a substantial and exhaustive food crawl vacation of the Orient. I started to make a slow gradual come back onto the GTA culinary landscape and food scene. With a whole slew of ‘yet-to-try’ new places sprouting up on my radar screen awaiting for me to investigate and try. It is therefore only natural that, for dining out, I put aside a few of my past favorites and focus on the new blood instead.
Prior to tonight’s dinner gathering, I was glad to hear that, for once, I will be relieved of my normal planning responsibility and let others do the organizing and reservation. Star-Chiva Cuisine, a past favorite, which I have not frequent for months, was picked as our chow-rendezvous!
In addition to a few of the restaurant’s perennial house specials, a few new and never been tried dishes were added.
The following dishes were chosen for our party of 6:
- Whole, house-special, braised ‘5 flavor’ Duck ( Plenty of this huge, wonderfully tasty and off the bone tender bird to go around. The accompanying lip-smacking, dark, savory sweet, multi-level complex marinade was a gem of a sauce! Some rice to go with it, a must! )
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Sauteed whole BC Dungeness Crab in supreme soy, paired with stir fried rice vermicelli and aromatics, served in a piping hot clay pot. ( Well executed and finger licking good. Should have splurged and ordered two of these for our party?! The use of Chinese celery to pump up the taste profile of the sauteed noodle, a masterful touch! )
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Deep fried Ocean Yellow-Fin Grouper filet and Pumpkin slices with salted duck egg yolk batter coating. ( How can one go wrong with deep fried dishes that were finished off with salted duck egg yolk as a coating?! Perfectly cooked, the plump, delicate and sweet fish inside the savory, salty and crunchy shell was moist and juicy, a perfect textural combination )
- Steamed minced pork patties with preserved salted fish ( made famous by the now defunct O’Mei. This reproduction possessed the correct consistency and texture but was sadly under-seasoned. Result from the chef skimming on the priced salted fish components? )
- Stir fried Chinese Lettuce with sliced garlic and fermented bean curd ( Packed full of attractive, smoky wok-hay aroma and taste. Rare achievement for a leafy green dish! )
Complimentary desserts of Mango and Matcha sponge cake, Almond butter cookies and Mung Bean and Kombu Seaweed Dessert Soup.
For food pairing, I brought along a versatile bottle of off-dry Alsace Gewurztraminer - 2017 Dopff au Moulin, Grand Cru Sporen. Perfect compliment for most of the dishes…..from the duck to the dessert!
