[Review] Tai O delights found at North Point

If you have been to Tai O, it is fishing village famous for prawn paste, seafood and salted seafood.
At Tai O Tak Fat, they serve delights from Tai O Village as well as local Hong Kong stuff so it makes sense to try Tai O dishes here.
There were so many Tai O delights to choose from on the menu.
They also sell jars of home made Chili oil which can be found on the shelves.
Started with some salted lemon drinks.
For food, tried the signature salted fresh fish which is like Chinese style Bacalhau but you get a whole fish here.
The texture of the fish is firmer and tastes salty so it goes well with rice.
We also had the steamed fish head in two ways, one side was black beans and the other side was chili.
It's nice but too many bones so you don't get much fish out of it however the vermicelli beneath was delicious having soaked up all the delicious flavours from the fish head and the black bean flavouring.
Finished with the dried prawn glass vermicelli pot which was light and healthy.
As well as the food, the staff there are such a friendly and lovely bunch.
They speak English as well and there is an English menu.

Fish glorious fish!!

I love the fish sets at this place!!
It is only $40 including rice, soup and dessert!!


Dessert:
I don't like Chinese desserts anyway! but it came with it.

Soup:
There was no MSG, so the soup was quite good.

Tried the fish twice, they were fresh and steamed just right because the fish was soft and supple.
Black beans were my favourite.



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Let's Dine Together 飯聚
G/F, 18-20 Man Tai Street, Whampao Estate Phase 2, Hung Hom

Delicious Fujian fish

真真美食店 (North Point)

After trying the savoury rice I was craving for it again, I tried to go in April, but they were grave-sweeping in China and closed for a week.

Finally went and tried the fish which I did not try on my last visit.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Savoury rice:

The savoury rice was just as delicious as my first visit and I felt it tasted even better this time.
It was packed with goodies, such as fish, sweetcorn and peanuts.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pickled vegetables:

I have not tried this before so I just ordered it and it was quite nice, they were probably pickled cucumbers or courgettes with pieces of pork.
The pickles were quite salty and delicious with the rice but probably tasted better when paired with congee.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fujian style fish:


I did not know what this was, but alot of people had it so I ordered it too.
The texture of the fish was really nice, it was flakey and similar to WHITING.
The fish was fully flavoured and quite salty which was perfect with the rice but the fish contains really fine soft bones.
The type of fish varies depending on what fish they have that day.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

All-aboard Dot Cod for fine fish and seafood catch

I was so privileged to be invited to the newly renovated Dot Cod restaurant organized by a really good communications company.

It was no ordinary tasting event, it was well thought and planned out, alot of research was conducted on the restaurant and the participants which I am sure everyone who attended would agree.

I really liked the way they did not focus on the same dish for everyone because the readers would not know about the other great dishes and it might not be everyones tastes.

I was really impressed that they even took time to find out about our dietary requirements and what we liked and did not like beforehand to ensure the food was fit for us.
All the seafood was freshly imported and flown over.

DotCod is headed by Excecutive Chef Mr Jeffrey LeBon and we had the pleasure of meeting him.

He gave a detailed talk about each dish, how he came up with them and how he chose the ingredients.

Even though we each had our specially created menu infront of us, all the dishes turned out as great surprises with delighted reactions just like the reactions on the Heston Blumental feast show.

 

Started off the dinner with a basket of assorted bread.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Assorted breads with olives, tuna paste and olive oil:

 

Started off with a selection of breads. There was creamy tuna paste, olives and olive oil to compliment it.
The breads were extremely crispy and had a lovely smell.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Amuse paired with Champagne Joseph Perrier N/V
Charred Salmon with spanner crab and sweet ginger vinaigrette

 

This was elegantly presented with cress and crabmeat on top.
The ginger vinaigrette was a great compliment with salmon because salmon is an oily fish so the salmon texture did not feel oily. The cress and crabmeat on top added some delicate flavour and balance to the salmon.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
First course:
Smoked eel and mizuna with pickled carrots, curry creme fraiche, green apple paired with Chablis Brocard 2010

 

In Hong Kong I have never had the intention of ordering eel because in the Chinese cuisine it is not boned properly and in the Japanese cuisine it is always grilled/roasted and drenched heavily with sweet teriyaki sauce.
I was thrilled to try it as I have never tried eel in its near natural form before without strong sauces.
From this tasting I discovered that eel has a natural oily layer between the eel and the skin but the chef has appropriately served it with thinly sliced apple which I ate with the eel and balanced it out.
As well as the apples there was also pickled baby carrots with stalks to balance out the oilyness of the eel which also added some colour to the dish in contrast to the delicious Mizuna greens from France. The Frisee in the salad made it more earthy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Main Course:
Sautéed John Dory with Mushroom Consommé / Baby Turnips / Oxtail Ravioli / Shimeji Mushroom paired with Pinot Noir - Mt Difficulty 'Roaring Meg' Central Otago 2010

 

This was beautifully presented, there was an oxtail ravioli hidden beneath the John Dory fish.
Non of the elements overpowered each other but all complimented the delicate taste of the John Dory especially the clear mushroom consomme.
I loved the baby turnips which I have not tried before and they had a gorgeous gentle crisp and nutty flavour.
The asparagus was tender too and the ravioli with filled with finely chopped oxtail.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Pre-dessert:
Strawberry spider

 

I thought this was some pre-fun for Halloween because it was the eve of Halloween that night.
Anyway surprise was yet to come.
Soda water was poured into the cocktail glass and it fizzed up with lovely efffervescing bubbles and the quiet noise of fine bubble bursting when they reached the surface.

 

As well as the bubbles you could also see tiny vanilla seeds that had gushed to the surface giving it some contrast on the white foam.

 

You were meant to stir it but I just could not resist the fine foam on top and ended up trying some which was light and delicious, after satisfying my sparkling bubble craving, I made sure there was still quite a bit left before stirring it.
After I stirred it the taste was amazing, there was vanilla icecream in the glass and it tasted like Cream of Cornish.
The use of soda water was so appropriate because it does not add any other artificial tastes to this pre-dessert.
The fizz in this also cleansed and refreshed the palate ready for the dessert.
As well as the soda and sweet vanilla ice cream, there were pieces of deliciously crushed strawberries in it
Although the pre-dessert was cold because of the ice-cream and chilled soda, the coolness was really relaxing and calming that I thought I saw a rainbow.
There really was a pretty rainbow from the refraction of the two glasses which you can see on the left upper side of the photo which was hard to photograph.

 

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Dessert:
Berry sorbet paired with Sauternes – Chateau de Bastard 2008

 

I tried the dessert wine before starting the dessert and I was really surprised by the taste. It was really sweet and put the mind ready for dessert.
The sorbet was presented in three scoops each served on top of a meringue surrounded by berries, there was also some mango sauce to contrast the pink and purple colours of the sorbet.
Anyway, I had each flavour separately because I did not mix up the flavours. I tried miniscule amounts of each flavour before digging in the sorbet to see which flavour I should start off with.
From left to right as shown on the photo the flavouirs are: raspberry, blueberry and strawberry.
Raspberry was my favourite so I started eating the strawberry first, then the blueberry and then the raspberry.
To complement the sorbets there were strawberries, blueberries and raspberries as well.
All the sorbets were extremely smooth and slightly viscous, it was not at all icy. The meringue balanced out the twinge of sourness of the fresh berries. The centre of the meringue was deliciously chewy too.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Once again I would like to thank Dot Cod, Chef LeBon and last but not least the organizer Covatta communications and their detailed information packs and the lovely apron which I shall use.

I am not an expert on wines nor do I drink so I did not mention much on the wines in this review.
However I must admit all the wines that night tasted nice because the ones I have tried before did not taste as nice as these ones.
The wines here all had distinctive tastes ie dry, bitter and sweet.

Dot Cod is located right next to exit K in Central and the restaurant entrance stands out imediately with the light and logo which reminds me of the stairs going down the deck on large ferries.

 

It was also raining that day and it reminded me of the good old british weather and the wet deck on the choppy seas!