Wah So Good

christina ko tries to practise restraint at the newly Michelin-starred Man Wah, only to find her chopsticks have a mind of their own…

IT WAS LAST March at a press lunch for Pierre that I was seated next to David Collas, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s executive assistant manager for F&B, and he divulged ambitions to return the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, Man Wah, to its former glory. It isn’t that the restaurant hasn’t done constant brisk business since opening over half a century ago – more that because it has been open for five decades, it has somewhat dropped off the culinary radar, especially with the rash of haute Chinese tables opening at hotels in the last year or so: Sing Yin at W Hong Kong, Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, Above & Beyond at Hotel Icon.

The hotel’s more mass-market sister property, The Excelsior, revamped its Yee Tung Heen to excellent reviews. But instead of a stylistic overhaul, or even a rehabilitation of the menu, Man Wah was given a different strategy. Chef Lee Mansing joined the staff just over a year ago, and while he’s stuck to the restaurant’s raison d’être of sleek interpretations of traditional Chinese dishes, he’s made some behind-the-scenes changes, namely to the quality and provenance of ingredients sourced.

And though many – including the team at Man Wah – know that the Michelin guide in some ways offers only a very arbitrary definition of what’s worth eating in Hong Kong, the fact of the matter is that this is the first year the restaurant has earned a star. Mercurial the reviewers may be, but even local foodies have noticed the renaissance.

The reason that gastronomes have been flocking back is smart little promotions concocted by the F&B team: in April, dishes from Beijing’s Da Dong restaurant were brought in, including its famed low-fat, crispy-skinned roast duck. In October, it did the same with Shanghai’s Cheng Long Hang Crab Palace, the guest chefs astounding diners by turning crab de-shelling into a performance (they did it in under three minutes). A series of wine dinners, curated by fun and feisty Man Wah sommelier Benson Yap, have also generated interest, as well as being quite timely given that wine connoisseurs are beginning to get a feel for the experimental area of wine-pairing with Chinese cuisine (both Simon Tam and Jeannie Cho Lee have released their thoughts in print and electronic media over the last two years).

Today I’m here to check in on chef Lee’s preparations for Chinese New Year this month. Almost a dozen dishes have been prepared as specialities for the occasion, in addition to an eight-course set menu. I’m about to taste four of Lee’s top picks.

The first is an adaptation of a traditional lo hei, a festive dish whose name translates roughly to “mix it up” (on the English menu, that colloquial moniker cleans up as “chilled abalone, smoked salmon, sweet and sour dressing”). The constants among myriad variations are some kind of raw fish – the term in Chinese is a homonym for an increase in prosperity – as well as raw vegetables and other condiments. Man Wah’s features salmon with julienned melon and cucumber, abalone and a tangy sweet-and-sour sauce touched with a hint of spicy – the better to whet the palate, Lee says. The dish is pristine when served, but the intention is for all members of the table to drag their chopsticks through the ingredients for a vigorous mixing session – the higher they can neatly fling the components, the better. Since I’m alone, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong PR Manager Helen Cheung kindly aids me in our celebratory toss.

As I taste the dishes immediately after a heavy dim-sum lunch, I politely and rationally suggest nibbling on just a small portion…but my plans for a humble meal are dashed when, as we sit and wait for the perfect light to shoot interiors, I realise I’ve single-handedly finished most of a dish intended for family consumption.

Before the chopsticks of greed unleash their beastly impulses, there are three other dishes to try, among them the crowd-pleasing apple-wood-smoked soya chicken. If last month’s trial at Yardbird gave me a new appreciation of ways to season and prepare chicken, Man Wah’s specimen allows me to comprehend the simpler pleasures of poultry smoked to perfection. It’s crispy-skinned, with an under-layer of fragrant meat so succulent its virtually dripping, and I’m reminded of Chicken on the Run (the Soho lunch takeout favoured by the denizens of Prestige Towers), not because it bears any resemblance to fast-food chicken, but because the stuff is practically running into my mouth, aided of course by the sturdy trajectory of my tightly gripped chopsticks.

Braised whole spotted garoupa, wild fungus and fresh bean-curd sheets prove that Lee’s ability to capture perfect texture is not a one-off. The fish is portioned into bite-sized pieces that fall apart in the mouth, and is complemented by the most intensely flavoured bean-curd sheets I’ve ever had. Wok-fried lobster with egg white and gold leaf is even more of a winner – the gold leaf makes for a luxurious-looking dish, whose appearance is backed by smoothly textured local lobster meat. This time, the chopsticks stay valiantly on the table, but only for a while, and when Chef Lee escapes to the next table for his portrait shoot, I venture a few more bites. And guess what – it tastes good cold, too.

Like most great chefs, Lee attributes the success of his food to good ingredients, plus the fact that his last job was at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Fortune Room, where finicky members gave him a good tongue-lashing if anything wasn’t up to standard.
Compare that with Man Wah, whose roll call of diners is only half local and, he suggests, slightly less vocal when it comes to complaints. I certainly have none, except that the head of the garoupa seems to be staring at me judgementally.

The clock hits 5pm and, as the restaurant opens in an hour, it’s time for Chef Lee to return to his station in the kitchen. The rest of the staff begin their preparations for dinner service as the photographer and I wait for the light to hit that sweet spot, properly illuminating the interiors of the restaurant, so that the golden glow of the lantern lamps sets off the deep burgundies of the soft furnishings. The preparations, inevitably, include clearing our table of the tasting platters already so mangled by my appetite and those chopsticks with a mind of their own.

I watch the retreating dishes with the futile wistfulness of a movie heroine gazing at her love lost – it’s Kate Winslet in Titanic all over again, watching Leonardo DiCaprio being carried away into the current, but actually sad this time. Luckily, they take the chopsticks away too, those weapons of mass destruction that have wreaked such havoc on my diet. So what if the Michelin guide is a little bit of subjective hype. In this case, I’m buying.