This was probably the most memorable dinner I had in Hong Kong thus far! Jiangsu Club (江蘇薈), located at Alliance Building in Sheung Wan, is a private dining club operated by the Federation of Hong Kong Jiangsu community organization, which is for its members only. Thanks to my brother’s mentor, I had the opportunity to get a taste of the most authentic Jiang su cuisine without visiting the province in China!

In Chinese banquet cuisine, there will always be a plate or two of snacks on the turning table before the guests arrive. It’s kind of like an “amuse-bouche”, which people can munch on while waiting for the dishes. Normally, it would be things like peanuts, but at Jiangsu Club, it’s their freeze-dried figs! Figs are expensive in Asia. These dried figs were not extremely sweet, yet has a floral scent and quite appetizing!

The pork trotter aspic is the most famous cold appetizer of Jiangsu cuisine. It is my favorite! It a bit like the western head cheese! It’s typically made by boning and pickling pig trotters with brine and alum. The jelly melts in the mouth, and the pork was tender! It’s smooth but not greasy.

The other cold appetizer that is a must, in my opinion, is the pickled daikon, which the daikons are marinated in soy sauce and sugar. It’s super crunchy, hydrating, and sweet!

Soup in Chinese cuisine actually takes a lot of effort! It’s more than just bringing the ingredients to boil. The soup is double-stewed, and is believed to seal the nutrients and flavor of the ingredients in the soups. The ingredients are covered with water and put in a covered ceramic jar and the jar is then steamed for several hours (at least 4 hours!) on low heat. This technique ensures there is no loss of liquid or moisture, aka its essences, from the cooking process. This soup was slow cooked with bamboo shoots and duck. The broth was super milky but not too greasy! It also requires to reserve at least one day in advance!

It may seem like quite redundant from the previous dish, but not at all! Though this is another soup, but it was creamier and richer than the previous one. The soup base is made with soy milk, and with lots of tofu in there. The texture of the tofu is somewhere in between firm and silken tofu, with a bit of burnt/charred flavor, which added a bit of smokiness to it!

I normally don’t eat any deep-fried food. However, occasionally, I’ll give it a try! This Su-style silver carp cake was very crisp outside, but the inside was juicy and tender! I liked how the batter wasn’t too thick. The carrot shreds and other vegetables in there give a nice crunch in contrast with the delicate fish meat.

This pot of goodies was a bomb! The direct translation of the name of the dish can be very misleading, even when it is read in Chinese! It’s called “Sichuan Boiled Fish“, however, have to be smart when the name is associated with Sichuan – aka it might be spicy! The dish is pretty heavy on the chili and Sichuan peppercorns, which gives the redness and the numbness yet not too spicy. There’s also green Sichuan peppercorns in there, which are more numbing and a bit more herbal than the red ones!

This dish was definitely one of my top favorites of the night! This dish, braised pig’s trotter and chicken,  requires pre-order too. The pig’s trotter was super tender but not greasy, and fell off the bone so easily! You might feel like I’m describing ribs, but it was exactly how it tasted like! As the pig’s trotter can either be very bone-y or fatty, but it was a perfect balance between meat and the fats!

This might seem like any ordinary greens or resembles baby bok choy, but it’s actually a type of Cruciferous vegetable! It’s a seasonal vegetable found near Shanghai during the winter. It tasted a bit earthy, bitter yet sweet aftertaste.

A classic of Jiang su/Shanghaiese cuisine – the Scallion oil noodles. As someone who loves noodles way over rice, this was definitely a comfort dish that I crave for all the time!

It is a basic dish of Su-style cuisine, yet hard to master it. The oil is infused with scallions, and seasoned with fresh and aged soy sauce. Top with eggs, shredded cucumber, and more scallions. The noodles were still springy, and the soy sauce was not too over-powering that completely masked the fragrance of the scallion oil!

I’m sure everyone knows what these are! People often view Din Tai Fung as a standard for xiao long bao, but honestly, these aren’t even comparable. They are way much better!

In the end, xiao long bao are originated from Shanghai, not Taiwan. These xiao long bao are the ones that I’ve had with thinnest wrapper, yet hold the most broth.

When dining with huge group of people, of course, there’s always room for dessert! The “eight-treasure” rice pudding is a famous traditional Chinese banquet dessert. The base is made with glutinous rice and layered up with a combination of eight kinds of dried fruits and nuts, which are dried red dates, lotus seeds, candied plums, raisins, dried longan, red bean paste, assorted beans, assorted nuts, and etc. I’m not really a fan of this kind of dessert, but my mom loves it! She said they did it very well!

Thought the rice pudding was the only dessert? No! This red bean cake was absolutely delicious! I don’t have a sweet tooth, and would normally say no to dessert in the evening. However, I had two, and wanted more! It was very flaky, and even though this kind of dough is made with lard, but it wasn’t greasy at all! The red bean paste inside was very smooth and not too sweet! Definitely a perfect ending note!

Overall, this dining experience had raise the bar for Jiang su cuisines! There are actually quite a few private clubs houses in Hong Kong like this that serves authentic Chinese cuisines from various provinces, which helps the immigrants to get a taste of home when homesickness kicks in.

Jiangsu Club (江蘇薈)
2/F, Alliance Bldg, 130-136 Connaught Rd Central, Sheung Wan
Tel: +852 2866-8300

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