Pre-CNY lunch with friends

Chinese New Year = about a month ago.
Pre-Chinese New Year = more than a month ago.
This post = Late post.

The day before Chinese New Year, a few of our friends were kind enough to invite us along to their place for a group lunch. “Nothing fancy,” she said. “We’re all cooking something so feel free to bring something along.”

We decided to bring along the roast duck from Gold Mine in Queensway. Good choice too because the people who cooked and brought along their home-cooked dishes were top-class cooks. If we had cooked (not even suggesting that we even considered it for a second), our dish would have been The One That No One Ate.

To illustrate the point, this was the Roast Pork (Siew Yoke) made by our friend, A. With nothing more than an oven, some pork, and some spices he made this huge piece of lovely, crackling piece of roast pork.

When he cut it up into little, bite-sized pieces, we could actually hear the lovely crackling sounds from the skin which had been roasted to a perfect ten. Not only was it really crispy and dry, but it tasted really awesome too.

A huge bowlful of siew yoke (that went pretty quickly).

Our friend’s family friend brought along chicken curry she’d made, and this would have put our dish to shame too (so thankfully we didn’t actually make anything). Only using chicken drumsticks and thighs, she managed to make a perfectly spiced, rich and flavourful tasting chicken curry. Lots of soft, fluffy potatoes finished the dish off perfectly. Actually, we finished the dish off perfectly.

The duck we made, er, bought. £19 for a whole duck, which was more than enough for the 10 people we had at lunch. The sauce that came with it was plentiful, though we did ask for more. We prefer the duck from Gold Mine to the one from Four Seasons, because we find the skin crispier and less rubbery. Sauce-wise, they’re both similar, but these days the duck from Four Seasons seems to be more skin than meat.

Ginger chicken made by my friend, the host of the lunch. This is one of those confinement period food, enjoyed mainly by women after childbirth according to Chinese tradition. The ginger and wine in the dish provide the nutrition and ‘heat’ because ginger is one of those food considered by the Chinese to be ‘heaty’ food.

Stir-fried brocolli, very fresh and cooked just enough to maintain the al dante texture of the crunchy, green vegetable.

We had a great lunch that day; lots of great food, fantastic company, and an amazing session of competitive games after all that eating. Thanks again, A & D!