I didn't hesitate to choose a restaurant in Hong Kong for the New Year's Eve dinner. I directly ordered Good Wine and Good Cai. I like its quality, environment, taste, ingredients, and service. I didn't consider other restaurants at all. They confirmed with me in advance on WhatsApp what dishes I must eat, and also sent me a wine list. I emphasized that the three dishes of ginseng, fish maw, and pig's trotter must be served.
The special stomach-warming soup, a small bowl, with two small seasonal dishes, immediately opened the taste buds.
The first dish is the fortune ball, which is actually a fried meat ball. The meat sauce is mixed with seaweed and decorated with two strands of green onions. The fried meat ball is delicious and not greasy, but the taste is just average and not so eye-catching.
The second dish is the signature crispy ginseng, one of the protagonists. The fried ginseng has a thin layer of unusually crispy on the outside, and the ginseng inside has changed from the crispness of the past to a dense taste. It may be that I have never eaten ginseng cooked this way in other places. Every time I come here, I have to sigh.
The third dish is baked fish maw, which is thick and rich, made with top-quality ingredients, and cooked in the simplest way. The baked soup is extremely thick, and the fish maw is sticky. Every bite is full of collagen.
After the two main dishes, the green olive conch soup is served. The conch slices in the soup are also large and thick, and paired with green olives, it is delicious but not greasy. I drink it up quickly.
The fifth dish is crispy Spanish pork knuckle, which is also a dish I love very much. The skin is crispy and the meat inside is dense. I don’t know how it is made, and some bones are already soft. My lips are always sticky when eating this dish. It’s so happy.
The sixth dish is fragrant wolfberry leaves, paired with some mushrooms. The method is simple and original.
The main dish is the signature hot and sour noodles. There are no other toppings except some chopped green onions. The sour taste is in place, but the spiciness is still a little lacking. In addition, the flat machine noodles have lost that kind of strength. I have been to Haojiuhaocai several times and always feel that the staple food of noodles is average compared to other dishes.
Finally, there is the dessert, brown sugar cake with pistachio peach gum, pistachio mousse soaked in peach gum, sweet but not greasy, slightly cold, seemingly bland, but it is endless aftertaste.
The only dissatisfaction tonight is that after opening a bottle of good red wine that I need to decant, they directly poured it into the wine glass. This action scared me, but fortunately the manager greeted us and chatted with us later that night. The enthusiastic attitude made me think that the service here is still okay.
I have eaten at Haojiuhaocai many times. The dishes have not changed much, but I will miss these original flavors after a while. The shape and arrangement of each dish are mainly simple, and the ingredients are good, needless to say, the taste is mainly to restore the original taste of the food, without so many unreal fancy.
The environment is even more loved. Tonight is New Year's Eve. I didn't sit in a private room, but the whole restaurant was still very quiet. The quality of diners at each table is also very high. It is really very comfortable to eat.
I've always liked it here, and I continue to recommend it.