Food | SOUTHEAST ASIAN INSPIRED CANTONESE DELIGHTS

The holiday season is just around the corner and it’s a great time to enjoy a wonderful meal with family and friends. Recently, I came across a seasonal menu that is too good to be missed and perfect for gatherings. From now until December 13th, JW Marriott Hotel Macau’s Man Ho Chinese Restaurant is hosting guest chef Wilson Chun, Chinese Executive Chef from sister hotel Renaissance Shanghai Caohejing Hotel. His Southeast Asian inspired Cantonese dishes are indeed truly amazing.
Chef Wilson’s very own signature dishes are heavily influenced by Southeast Asian flavors – a taste that he has acquired travelling extensively for his work in the industry over the past 30 years. Out of the many choices on the exquisite menu, the deep fried crispy butter floss crab is my favorite, a dish which requires an expert control of oil temperature to create golden jumbo crab pieces, coated in a crisp light layer of curry-infused salted egg yolk batter. A creamy butter sauce is then poured over to intensify the flavors of the dish – a technique popularized in Malaysian cooking in recent years. The Singapore-style chili crab is another take on the crustacean and will be served with a side of steamed rice buns so that not a single drop of the spicy and tangy tomato sauce goes to waste.
The classic Hakka dish galangal sesame roasted chicken is a must-try. Zhanjiang chicken meat is first brushed with a layer of egg-white and coated with roasted sesame seeds then left to dry overnight. Baked then fried, the chicken is tender and moist while the skin is extra crispy. Last but not least, guests will be sure to enjoy braised pork ribs with onion – a meaty dish that has been marinated and braised in Japanese teriyaki sauce then grilled.
Chef Wilson’s seafood fried rice features a classic egg-white fried rice cooked to perfection, with generous portions of scallops and shrimps evenly stirred in. The al-dente rice is complemented with a smooth and creamy spinach gravy and topped off with crab roes and rice crispies for extra crunch. The fried squid noodle with mushroom and black truffle is a further testament of the chef’s craftsmanship. Blended squid paste is expertly piped into hot water to make squid noodles, which is then carefully stir-fried in a hot wok with mushrooms, garlic, dried onions, black truffle sauce and seasoning for a fragrant seafood dish.