Discerning food buffs know that Man Wah, the 25th-floor Chinese restaurant at Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is the place to go for excellent traditional Cantonese cuisine and seasonal specialties. However, while one may occasionally savor the elegant and luxurious fare and ambience of Man Wah during trips to Hong Kong, it will be overly expensive and impractical to fly abroad each time the cravings grip the Chinese-food devotee.
Fortunately for local aficionados, executive Chinese chef Hann Furn Chen of Mandarin Oriental Manila makes some of Man Wah’s specialties available at the hotel’s Tin Hau outlet. Until May 27, chef Chen will prepare the delicious dishes that he learned during a two-week training stint at the celebrated Chinese restaurant.
Our Man Wah meal at Mandarin Oriental Manila’s Tin Hau started with crispy crab claw with kataifi. The delicious crab claw was coated with strings of dough and deep-fried until the kataifi was crisp. Kataifi, also known as knafa, knafe or kadaifa, is a soft uncooked wheat dough similar to shredded wheat used for pastries in Middle Eastern cuisine. The kataifi was light and crisp, and provided a perfect contrast to the moist crab meat within.
A warm soup of double-boiled conpoy and mushroom with heart of green quickly followed. Although it was not much to look at, the broth was both soothing and familiar. Conpoy are amber-colored dried discs of a type of sea scallop used as flavoring in Chinese and other Asian cuisines to lend a faint scent and taste of ocean to soups and vegetable dishes.
The menu seemed to center on seafood and stir-fried prawns and stir-fried fillet of spotted garoupa quickly made their way to our table. As expected, the prawns were excellent. They were not the extremely overgrown specimens with tough meat. Rather they were harvested at the perfect size — tender, fresh and faintly sweet. The addition of Chinese wine made them already very savory, so that the chili dipping sauce that came with the dish remained untouched and unnecessary. On the other hand, the fillets of garoupa or grouper were tender, firm and tasty. Unquestionably, freshness is essential when dealing with fish and all types of seafood.
Chicken casserole with shallots in black bean sauce was the next course. Unfortunately however, the dish paled in comparison to the superior seafood dishes that we previously had. Perhaps, a better choice would have been a dish without too much sauce. The apple wood-smoked soy sauce chicken or wok- fried fillet of lamb with garlic and dried chili would have been good. Even better, the stir-fried diced beef with spring onion that is served with jellyfish would have made the transition from seafood dishes smoother.
For me, the most appealing in terms of appearance, flavor and texture was a dish with braised baby abalone, Chinese mushrooms and vegetables. These were arranged beautifully on a plate so that the end result resembled a colorful and artistic jellyfish. The bokchoy was steamed so that it remained bright green and slightly crisp, the Chinese mushrooms were tender and chewy at the same time, the bamboo piths lent interesting texture to each bite, and the conch meat was delicious, tender and guilt-free. To end the excellent meal, there was a double-boiled pear in tangerine tea and Chinese beignets or banana fritters dusted with powdered sugar.
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You can enjoy the mouth-watering delights of Man Wah at Tin Hau of Mandarin Oriental, Manila, until May 27. The best of Man Wah’s dishes are arranged in two-set menus ranging from P1,188++ to P1,688++ per person, for a minimum of two persons. An a la carte menu is also available. For details, call 750-8888.