Our eating itinerary was pretty much decided by my dear husband. We solicited opinions from food-loving friends in Singapore and Hong Kong, kind friends like Josh and M made reservations and pre-ordered dishes that they felt we should try, and dear husband made an Excel plan of our day-to-day meals. The only condition I insisted on was that we should go eat the Kimberley Pig- as unanimously recommended by the Hong Kong food blogging community.
We made our way to the Kimberley Hotel on Kimberley Road in the early evening. Most of us had already eaten quite a lot throughout the day- lip-smacking cha siew, two big plates of it actually, delicious polo buns with extra butter etc etc, so we were only able to eat some pig and not much else. The pig was ordered on our behalf by Josh and we had made a deposit for it the day before. While waiting, we chewed on some green vegetables and sipped some soup.
Finally, the waiter pushed a trolley with a roasted suckling pig towards our table. A beautiful little piglet, with shiny crackly skin. Other diners turned around to stare and admire. We photographed the pig from many angles. The waiter took out his cleaver and cut the piglet up into generous slices.
What they did was to stuff the inside of the piglet with glutinous rice. The rice, already fragrant with shallots and garlic, readily absorbed any meat juices from the roasting meat. The crackling was just marvelous, crunchy all the way through, very addictive. It is outrageously unhealthy, this basic combination of crunchy savoury(baby) pig skin, pig fats and sweet chewy aromatic rice, but so very delicious. Dashes of sweet bean sauce and English mustard cut through the richness somewhat, and if I wasn't already so full I could have eaten more. The leftovers were still pretty yummy even after a day or two.
Full as we were, we still placed an order for their Ma Lai Kou, because I love this traditional cake. The Kimberley Restaurant does it right- not too dense, not too airy, just the texture I prefer, with just the right sweetness. No leftovers either...
