天外天 Above & Beyond [ Hong Kong ] - Shunde Cuisine, the Epitome of Cantonese Food from 13th to 24th June 2016 at Hotel Icon

 Above & Beyond 天外天 at Hotel Icon, is currently promoting a Shunde 顺德 Cuisine Menu which will last just for around 2 weeks time from today with the help of two Shunde Celebrity Chefs. Shunde Cuisine is one of the founding fathers of our general Cantonese Cuisine, with its delicate touch and sensibility. In HK, Shunde cuisine is instrumental in shaping our Cantonese dishes, although from my own experience I did find dishes in Shunde itself to be more balanced. Here at Above & Beyond for this Shunde Promotion, even the Buffalo milk used in some dishes were imported directly from that region.

Shunde Tasting Menu -

One of the most important micro-regional contributors to Cantonese Cuisine in Southern China

Toasted Honey Walnuts with White Sesame - 

With Chili Sauces and Vinegar. The walnuts today seemed a bit softer than normal compared to my past visits, I guess its the Hong Kong Summer's humidity, as it approaches 85-90% almost on a daily basis..

均安煎魚餅, 大良野雞卷, 新派香煎爽蝦餠 Trio -

Pan Fried Fish Patties with Preserved Sausages, Crispy Fried Pork Roulade with Pork Back Fat and Meat, and Prawn Patty.  Served with a Fermented Beancurd sauce on the side with Chives.   Lovely starters and very Shunde style in spirit.. ~ 9/10 

大良野雞卷 -

Named as a Chicken roulade roll, but in fact it is made up of pure minced pork meat and fat.   Back in the days, Chicken was more precious and Pork was used to emulate the taste of chicken in the Shunde Region,  and it especially appealed to the children apparently.   It is hard to get an authentic tasting version in Hong Kong,  here this time this was as close to as one can get to the ones we normally eat in Shunde region, fried to a grease free state. ~ 9/10

Fermented Clams sauce with Chinese Wine,  to go with the River Carp Fish Patties above -

順德焗魚嘴 - Pan Fried Fish Head & Mouth 

Another famous Signature dish from Shunde, and one of my favorites. They normally eat a lot of fresh water River Carp fish within the region, and the gelatinous mouth and head part is part of the delicacy served with a light starchy batter.    ~ 8/10

沙薑銅盆焗走地雞 - Baked Free Range Chicken in Foil, Ginger, Pickled Turnip Root & Garlic

This was quite yellow skin oily tasty, and a homely traditional dish.  When we cut open the baking aluminium foil, it released the chicken and wine aroma like a French or Italian En Papillote dish. Great when paired with white rice.. ~ 8/10 

均安蒸豬肉 - Steamed Marinated Pork with 5 Spice & Sesame

A very traditional steamed pork dish in that region, usually this is served as a whole with the pig's head present as eaten in Shunde or surrounding areas.   In this presentation, it only comes with the Pork Belly meat and looks neater presentable. Very amazing taste and I thought this had some Chinese Miso in it as well.. with a hint of sweetness. ~ 9/10

樂從魚腐 - Pan Fried Fish Mousse Puffs in Soup, with Chinese Yunnan Ham and Vegetables

This is another Shunde signature item, other eaten with Rice Noodles. The version here was less dense than the norm, well whipped up fluffy then lightly fried for color before being boiled. ~ 8/10

懷舊生炒水魚 - Stir Fried Soft Shell Water Turtle with Ginger, Spring Onion and Shallots 

Usually made into a soup, this Shunde recipe stir fried up the gelatinous turtle meat into a healthy dish. We even spotted the feet and the tail on the plate.   Quite an acquired recipe, but most of us on the table were used to eating some occasionally since young.   It also had some Chinese Galangal Powder 沙姜 to elevate the taste. ~ 9/10

順德拆魚羹 - Fish Soup with Black Fungus

This is another favorite of mine. The Freshwater fish is marbled gelatinous and made into a Soup, topped with some Kaffir Lime leaves and White Pepper to bring out the fragrance. Very lovely concoction and the Veggies within the soup always make this rather refreshing as a smart balancing act. ~ 8/10

生拆黃鱔羹 - Braised Yellow Eel Soup

Another soupy dish on top of the Pulled Fish soup above. This requires quite a bit of manual labor to remove the meat and bony bits. The soup base is boiled using the eel bones themselves for many hours.  Lovely and quite traditional in recipe once again. ~ 9/10

雞蛋煎倫教糕 - Pan Fried Shunde 'Lun Jiao' White Sugar and Rice Sponge Cake 

A relative of 白糖糕,  this time fried with an Egg Yolk Coating and I believe is an improvised recipe? We all loved how this fermented rice cake was slightly sour but not overly so, and the egginess and texture made this unique and lovable. ~ 9/10

Steamed Sweetened,  Fresh Water Buffalo Milk Curd - 双皮奶

Although Italy is well-known for its Buffalo Mozzarella cheeses, historically, their swamp or water buffalo's are known to have been introduced to Italy from Asian regions like China and India. Ok back to the topic, real buffalo milk desserts or soups are ultra rare to find in HK since we don't have buffalo's much.  But here during their Promotion, the real buffalo milk were imported by the litres directly from Shunde region to emulate the real taste for June 2016. ~ 8/10

Our Private Dining Room -

With some Sea Urchin lookalike Lights above which I thought was pretty cool.  The Shunde Regional Cuisine runs from 13th June to 24th of June 2016, for both Lunch and Dinner. Personally I always believed sub-regional Shunde Cuisine pretty much shaped our higher end Cantonese Cuisine in general, and many of the most famous Chefs in Canton region all the way from Canton, HK or Macau are trained from there. So to really understand real Cantonese cuisine, eating authentic Shunde cuisine will be the 1st step for me definitely.. !

Price: HKD $400 - $800 + 10% Per Person
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Address: 28/F, Hotel ICON, 17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀科學館道17號唯港薈28樓
Ph: +852 34001318