Dinner at Luk Yu

NO, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. It takes me ages to write this entry. Partial reason/excuse is that my brain is blocked and I couldn't think of anything except work.

I paid my first visit to Luk Yu last Friday.

For those of you who are not familiar with the place. It is well-known for being the tycoon's cafeteria, notoriously arrogant waiters, old school dim sum, creaky ceiling fans, domestic 70s gangster movie, and of course, the homicide happened last year.

It is one of those classic restaurants that're nostalgic of the times when HK started gaining prosperity in the 60s/70s, when money defined social status, and a series of tycoons amassed their fortune with property development.

Everything inside the restaurant stays intact to commemorate the flourishing times. They seem only offer classic dishes, their main concern probably is to retain old customers rather than attracting new ones.

I LOVE its sweet red bean soup for dessert. This is the best red bean soup I have ever had. They are very generous with the red beans and you can tell they must have been cooking the soup for a long time b/c the ingredients are all integrated, red beans and lotus seeds are very chucky and so soft!!

One dish that struck me the most is the pig lung and almond soup. I am not a big fan of animals' organs and I have never tried savory almond soup before..this is interesting, but I don't think I will order it again.

ToTo was our guest speaker for the dinner. He gave us a detail teach-in of how differently he does business nowadays, incorporating the western style cooking into traditional Chinese cuisine, utilizing different countries' ingredients to create cost-effective and delicioius dishes, detecting tricks that new tea houses' use to churn customers and make bigger bargin. Not only a professional chef and a renowned food critic, he is also a restaurant owner with good business sense.

His passion for food is indisputable. He loves to eat and constantly strive for innovation up to a point which may jeopardize his health. He looks so much chubbier than on TV probably because he is always seated and his chef uniform is able to cover up his big tummy.