I'm still part of the Weddings at Work egroup and can't seem to make myself sign off. I'm still very interested in wedding preparations, and to be frank - enjoy the drama of it all.

The hot topic during the last couple of days has been "Stag Parties". I'll spare you most of the hooha. It was really something like "Oh no, fiance is having a stag party and I know there'll be naked girls, evil whores!, possibly SEX OMG! OMG! Boo hoo hoo and all that" "Trust him its all an issue of trust" "But temptation!!??? I trust him but not the girls...." "Sex is sex and he can get it if he wants even without the party" and on and on and on et cetera et cetera.
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I've got my own version of the "Stag Party" and if I remember right it's at what used to be the famous Thunderdome.
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It was with some trepidation that I buzzed Berts and told her that we should visit Hong Kong Spring Deer Restaurant. We've been mylked quite a bit recently, but I guess I am just a bit of a lemming. Couldn't resist the thought of a good food place that stayed open till late.
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Visiting Spring Deer really took me back to the days when I was working in Shanghai. It could have been any of the restaurants near my apartment building. Places where I would eat by my lonesome -- both marvelling at the food, and gaping a bit while watching the locals chew and spit bones on the table. No fine dining establishment this was.

This was almost the real deal:

1. Flowery pastel wallpaper
2. Ubiquitous leatherette and chipped chrome seats
3. Used tablecloths
4. Dubious Water (the water would inspect each glass after pouring, and then would peer into his water pitcher -- to check for what? bugs? leaves? dandruff????)
5. A rodent scurrying along the side of the room
6. Sea smell from the fishes and seafood waiting for death from the confines of their cloudy aquariums
7. Server in his undershirt
   

Not that we cared much. It was 1am, we were hungry, the reviews were promising, the food was cheap.
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Chicken with Cashew Nuts (about 200PHP)


A few months back I was reminiscing about a chicken and cashew nut dish that my uncle and I would eat in this little kainan in Chinatown. I loved the nuttiness of the dish, and would sometimes leave most of the meat for my uncle to eat.

The Spring Deer version comes with LOADS of Cashew nuts. They probably emptied an entire pack of Toby's into the dish :D The chicken was soft and flavorful, and the sauce was soy-sauce based, but thicker and less salty. The nuts were a bit old, but acceptable. And really, the quantity of nuts made up for the lack of crunch.

Shredded Beef and Carrots (200PHP)
with Sesame Bread Pockets (80PHP)



The review I read said this was a "heaven food moment". I disagree. Heaven is when you bite into something and it is so delicious your eyes roll into your head and you spasm and froth at the mouth. Just kidding.

I have to say I was quite alarmed at the redness of the dish. What was that? Blood? Achuete? Food coloring?? The cooks hand???

The shredded beef is a sweet spicy dish, served steaming hot and best ordered together with this weird cuapao/croissant hybrid pictured above. The shape is cuapao like, and the bread is cut horizontally so you can peep in to see the flaky croissant like layers inside. The cut isn't just for peeking though, you actually place the shredded beef inside the bread, take a bite of it, and chew chew chew. Warm crisp bread with the added nuttiness of sesame seeds, sweet-spicy beef filling that has a slight crunch when you bite it.

Very good, but not "better than sex".

Steamed Fish (200PHP)


We weren't planning to order this but Mr. Waiter said they had a special on the live fishes and an entire fish cost only 200 bucks. How could we resist.

I love steamed fish, especially if it's Lapu lapu. This wasn't Lapu lapu but was still nice and soft and white and flaky. A steal at 200. And yes, the fish was alive. Mr. Waiter showed it to us before it got taken to the kitchen. No double dead fish here :)

Slightly OT, but Steamed Fish is one of my mom's few cooking specialties.

Really simple.

• Clean the lapu lapu. Place in a double broiler. Steam.
• Cut leeks and kinchay into slivers. Prepare some peanut oil and soy sauce.
• When steamed fish is ready. Place on a plate. Put the greens over it. Heat the peanut oil in a pan, add soy sauce using a 1:1 ratio.
• When sauce boils and pops, take the pan off the fire and pour over the fish and greens.

Gobble gobble.

Fried Weird Sea Creature "Alupihang Dagat" (420PHP approx 120PHP/100g)


I can't say for certain if this is a crayfish or a rock lobster, but the Alupihan Dagat is definitely related to them. It came lightly coated in batter and with a sweetish vinegar based sauce on the side. Meat soft and tender, shell thin and crisp (I think it is possible to eat the shell, but I didn't...) , some garlic and chili sprinkled on top. Yummy, but at 420 bucks the most expensive item we ordered.

Fried rice. No pic, sorry. We ate it too quickly.

Cokes go at 25bucks each. Not bad at all, since you are compelled to drink canned beverages once you glance at your water glass.
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Well...well... what more can I say. I had expected a bit more, based on the glowing review I read. The food approximates what you can get in Shanghai and it's got that whole mainland China vibe, but frankly I've eaten better in some of the local places there.

Still, it's quite a find - fresh food, authentic cooking, reasonable prices, helpful servers. Worth more visits to try the other items.

And here's the dealmaker -- it's open until 5am.

This entry was posted on 6/09/2005 at 6/09/2005 07:19:00 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.