So this is part II of our Tim Ho Wan visit... crystal shrimp roll with century egg. At first, I thought it was some vermicelli roll (chee cheong fun) on steroids... but I realise the starch skin they used was the kind usually used for dumplings instead. So maybe it's a hybrid... and heavily pregnant.
Now that's a pun because besides being so swollen with ingredients, it's got two kinds of eggs under the membrane - century egg and tobiko (flying fish roe)... at least, I think it's tobiko because I've cooked tobiko before and it looked exactly like that - same size, colour and opacity.
The Visuals
This time though, the actual food presentation differed from the menu picture. The century eggs have their cut surface facing down, which I thought was a pity because the internal layered pattern of the egg yolk and egg white (or should I say "egg black") gave more texture and intricacy to the overall aesthetic experience.
Not to mention, the crystal roll skin tore and one of the century egg pieces is about to be shed. Still, I guess with the smooth curved external surface of the egg facing out, the skin is less likely to tear, so maybe this was precisely the problem they were trying to prevent. Well, they failed anyway.
What was worst was that they gave just one stick of asparagus despite the picture showing two.
There were also large patches of white compared to the ingredient-crowded picture, but this was its redeeming point in my opinion. It's actually due to the bed of shrimp below the conspicuous ingredients, but under the crystal skin and next to the bright colours, it looked white. I thought the more spaced out look gives it a zen and refined look, like y'know in ikebana? And the slender streak of asparagus gives it a lovely colour contrast to the tobiko - vibrant green with pastel peach. So overall, not bad, if you forgive the feeling of being cheated of asparagus lol.
The Gustatory Experience
It was difficult to eat! Too large for one mouthful, which is a pity since it would have been nice to experience all the ingredients together. But too fragile to bite, so one bite and the whole thing falls apart. It appears you can only pick two combinations of the ingredients on top - either the asparagus with the tobiko, or the asparagus with the century egg.
The dominant flavour was hands down the century egg. It went well with the shrimp flavour though, where the pungent and dark taste of the century egg blended well with the tasty and light seafood flavour.
The tobiko was more for the popping texture I think, but its subtle and savoury roe taste complemented the shrimp.
The asparagus was lost in all of that. ^^;; Although, I suppose it would also provide the vegetable crunch element. I doubt you would really notice its taste under the almighty century egg's shadow though.
Overall an interesting experience I guess, especially for the century egg and prawn combination. But nothing groundbreaking otherwise.
Now that's a pun because besides being so swollen with ingredients, it's got two kinds of eggs under the membrane - century egg and tobiko (flying fish roe)... at least, I think it's tobiko because I've cooked tobiko before and it looked exactly like that - same size, colour and opacity.
This time though, the actual food presentation differed from the menu picture. The century eggs have their cut surface facing down, which I thought was a pity because the internal layered pattern of the egg yolk and egg white (or should I say "egg black") gave more texture and intricacy to the overall aesthetic experience.
Not to mention, the crystal roll skin tore and one of the century egg pieces is about to be shed. Still, I guess with the smooth curved external surface of the egg facing out, the skin is less likely to tear, so maybe this was precisely the problem they were trying to prevent. Well, they failed anyway.
What was worst was that they gave just one stick of asparagus despite the picture showing two.
There were also large patches of white compared to the ingredient-crowded picture, but this was its redeeming point in my opinion. It's actually due to the bed of shrimp below the conspicuous ingredients, but under the crystal skin and next to the bright colours, it looked white. I thought the more spaced out look gives it a zen and refined look, like y'know in ikebana? And the slender streak of asparagus gives it a lovely colour contrast to the tobiko - vibrant green with pastel peach. So overall, not bad, if you forgive the feeling of being cheated of asparagus lol.
It was difficult to eat! Too large for one mouthful, which is a pity since it would have been nice to experience all the ingredients together. But too fragile to bite, so one bite and the whole thing falls apart. It appears you can only pick two combinations of the ingredients on top - either the asparagus with the tobiko, or the asparagus with the century egg.
The dominant flavour was hands down the century egg. It went well with the shrimp flavour though, where the pungent and dark taste of the century egg blended well with the tasty and light seafood flavour.
The tobiko was more for the popping texture I think, but its subtle and savoury roe taste complemented the shrimp.
The asparagus was lost in all of that. ^^;; Although, I suppose it would also provide the vegetable crunch element. I doubt you would really notice its taste under the almighty century egg's shadow though.
Overall an interesting experience I guess, especially for the century egg and prawn combination. But nothing groundbreaking otherwise.
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