By Joseph L. Garcia, Senior Reporter
FANCY a quick lunch in Hong Kong (without having to fly)? Thanks to the Grand Hyatt Manila, one can have lunch at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong’s Ona Harbour Road — sort of.
This month, The Grand Hyatt Manila’s No. 8 China House is hosting One Harbour Road’s Edmond Chan Chi Man who has brought in new menu items, based on those of its Hong Kong sister’s, for a limited time run. At first, it was said that the dishes would be available only for the duration of the chef’s visit, which would end on Oct. 18, but it was later announced that they will be available until the end of the month (and there are hints at a longer run).
The dishes served during a preview lunch on Oct. 12 included Crispy Hiroshima Oysters with nori and spicy pepper salt; Wok-fried Prawns with spicy crab roe sauce; Deep-fried Crab Shell filled with crab meat; Deep-fried Patagonian Toothfish with red pepper and garlic; Wok-fried Iberico pork with black pepper, red wine and oyster mushrooms; Stir-fried Australian Mulwarra Angus Reserve Striploin with purple yams; Poached Vegetables with wolfberries, fungi, egg white and almond soup; and, finally, Boiled Rice with pork and mushrooms in lobster broth.
LUXURIOUS
The meal kicked off with a powerhouse introduction: the Fried Oysters. The fact that the soft flesh was concealed within a fried shell gave the burst of the oceanic flavor a little more pressure and urgency, waking up the tongue. This was followed by the Toothfish, not as spectacular as that opening act, but bursting with flavor too (just not with the same textural qualities).
Next came a Double-boiled Hawaiian Papaya Soup with crab meat, chicken, and roasted duck. It included lotus seed, an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine that helps the lungs. Slowly cooked for six hours, it resulted in an almost opaque but thin, silky broth, with a very layered taste — the six hours of its making very evident. It proved to be just as restorative as promised.
The Deep-fried Crab Shell was stuffed with crab meat cooked in butter, coconut cream, and onions. A fancier version of the traditional Hong Kong crab cakes, we were told to dip it into Worcestershire sauce, resulting in sweetish delicate flesh contrasting with the crispy breading.
We got a taste of true Hong Kong luxury with the Prawns in the Crab Meat sauce, a double dose of seafood that still maintained its elegance thanks to the almost creamy texture of the prawn’s flesh.
On to lighter fare, the Poached Vegetables used almond broth (savory but subtle) as a poaching liquid, with the addition of a novelty (for us), lily bulbs. It was our first time encountering the vegetable, which would have matured into lovely flowers in a different situation. Eaten in this form, it tasted starchy like a potato, but with more structure and snap.
We were also served the Stir-fried Beef, bouncy in its tenderness, and the sauce aggressive with the flavor of pepper, a quality it shared with the Iberico Pork dish (the mushrooms there were a nice touch). The meal ended with the Boiled Rice in lobster broth, mild, filling, and reminiscent of comfort food, though undoubtedly luxurious.
TRADITIONAL QUALITIES
In a Q&A session after the meal, the chef said that he did not have a particular favorite ingredient, though we note that his seafood dishes were treated with an affection not seen in the other dishes.
While the presentation for the other dishes changed a bit, he said through an interpreter that he maintained their traditional qualities: “He’s working on everything traditional. One Harbour Road is one of our most authentic Cantonese cuisine restaurants. All the menus there bring out the most authentic Cantonese cuisine as much as we can.”
As for the choice of bringing some of his signature dishes across the sea, he said, “It’s really depending on the ingredients. Some of the food that is very unique to Hong Kong, cannot be brought here, or they can’t find similar (ingredients) here. It’s all the food that they could find here locally.”
This set menu for 12 is available for P48,888, though versions of the dishes are also available a la carte. For more details, contact Grand Hyatt Manila at 8838-1234 or via manila.grand@hyatt.com.