I never went to Spring Moon in all my six and a half years in Hong Kong because I feared that the receptionists, servers, and the fish in the tank were all more refined than I am. I'm terribly intimidated by fine dining establishments, mostly because I come from a family of eight where "fine" and "dining" just never went together. It's hard to develop proper table manners when all you want, really, is the same piece of chicken that everybody else will fight you for: the drumstick, what else!
So when I was given a Chef's Seasonal Tasting Dinner Menu for Two (6 courses, HKD1,028 per person) Gift Certificate as "payment" for MC-ing Salon de Ning's Open Mic Night, I was ecstatic. There was no other way I'd have made the conscious decision to go to Spring Moon, otherwise, because of its frighteningly awesome reputation.
I wanted to bring my camera so badly. It just sucks that the nicest restaurants you'd have wanted proper photos of are exactly the sort of places where it's uncool to be taking a photo of every dish. It's a tough choice:
Do I want to enjoy a fabulously snobbish meal absent of any encumberances? Or do I want fabulously snobbish photos of dishes that would have gone cold or stale by the time I managed to get the photo I wanted?
Fuck snobbish photos; I chose to eat - and properly!
Spring Moon looks like somebody's 1920s mansion in Shanghai. It's decorated with a sweet mix of Chinoiserie and Art Deco pieces: vases, exotic rugs, lamps, black and white photos. The waiters float around the restaurant in ivory brocade jackets, looking inifnitely smarter than I could ever be in life, in general. The chopstick holders are silver sampans that must cost more than my savings after an entire summer working in my family's photo studio in Tuguegarao.
Chris picked the wine, a refreshingly crisp Pinot Grigio that allowed the meats and beautiful sauces to shine. Dishes were carefully prepared, elegantly presented and satisfyingly substantial. My favourite thing ever were the leafy greens on which the crab claw rested. They were wilted whilst managing to retain some crunch, bitter whilst managing to retain some sweetness. Exquisitely balanced - and yes - orgasmic. Who woulda thunk that cooked veggies could turn me on???
But really, truly, everything was magnificent.
It was a doubly meaningful dinner for Chris and myself because not only were we dining in, well, one of Hong Kong's fine dining institutions. We were also celebrating Chris' retirement from Oxfam after 17 long years of service.
Thanks to the great staff of Spring Moon for the memorable meal.
Heart, heart!
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| Deep-fried crispy spare ribs with spicy salt |
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| Bird's nest and shredded eban curd in thick soup |
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| Sauteed garoupa fillet with assorted fungus |
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| Pan-fried stuffed crab claw with black truffle sauce |
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| Fried rice with conpoy, Yunnan ham and egg white topped with olive kernel |
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| Chilled almond pudding |
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| Hyperactive with the non-hyperactive husband |
// SPRING MOON . The Peninsula Hong Kong //
