Dim sum delights from Mott 32 Cebu
Hong Kong-famed contemporary Chinese restaurant Mott 32 opened a branch in Cebu last year. Mott 32 brings traditional Chinese techniques and cuisine with Cantonese, Sichuan and Beijing influences, with a dash of New York flair through a more modern presentation.
Their menu line ranges from varied and inventive dim sum fare to an extensive main course selection. Mott 32 is known for its applewood-smoked Peking Duck, its pork Iberico baked buns and the smoked black cod. However, they have so much more to offer. Chef Lee Man Sing, executive chef of Maximal Concepts, says he gets inspiration from using sustainable, seasonal ingredients with the objective of consistently delivering the same quality or product and service across all branches.
Mott 32 Cebu carries about 80 percent of the original dim sum menu, making small ingredient adjustments to what’s easily available locally. Mott 32 Cebu serves dim sum lunch four times a week. Here’s a preview of what Mott 32 Cebu has in store for you.
For starters, we had the shredded Peking Duck salad with pink radish, tossed in citrus truffle dressing and topped with crispy taro. We also tried the stir-fried cubed Australian M9 Wagyu beef in a lettuce cup and mustard oil. My favorite starter was the cold free-range chicken, Szechuan peppercorns in chili sauce.
The dim sum selection started with the hot and sour Shanghainese soup dumplings with scallop and prawn, which was one of my favorites. It was served in a steam basket, each with a wooden handle to easily carry the dumplings to your plate. Next were the Iberico pork siu mai with black truffle stuffed with a soft-boiled quail egg. This is a very delicate dish to prepare since the soft-boiled quail egg has to be parboiled for a minute or so before carefully peeling each one and stuffing them in a siu mai. It takes a lot of skill and practice to perfect handling the quail egg alone since cooking and peeling it perfectly are essential to the dish.
The Szechuan-style minced pork dumplings were swimming in a bowl of this savory, umami sauce made of soy sauce and chili oil. I again had three of these dumplings, and honestly I could have had more. The next was the colorful garoupa, prawn and vegetable dumpling with chopped chili. A taro puff which is called a chicken, prawn and taro croquette. Another personal favorite of mine was the crispy rice paper cheung fun with prawn and asparagus. A layer of crispy rice paper was incorporated into the roll which added texture to the dish. It was so unique yet very familiar that aside from having three pieces during the media lunch, I went back and ordered it again for lunch the next day. And toward the end of the meal, we were able to try the wok-fried glutinous rice with preserved sausage, topped with crispy taro and Japanese dried shrimp. It’s such a pity that I was a bit too full when the rice arrived that I couldn’t have more than I wanted.
For dessert, we were able to try the fresh mango in glutinous rice roll, which was like a mango pudding mochi, wrapped in a very thin layer of glutinous rice and rolled over desiccated coconut. Although mango pudding is one of my favorite Chinese desserts, I was absolutely enamored by the sesame chocolate tart, with lime and sea salt and a pine nut brittle on top. I believe this isn’t on the regular menu as of yet, but keep an eye on this one.
The very next day, a couple of friends and I came back for more. Although this was no longer part of the media invitation, we figured we couldn’t leave Cebu without trying Mott 32’s signature dishes. Yes, you got that right, we ordered a whole Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck for just the three of us. It was served with freshly steamed pancakes or wrappers, cucumbers, scallions, raw cane sugar for the skin and house-made special hoisin sauce. The presentation was off the charts. It was almost ceremony-like. I’ve had Peking Duck numerous times in my life, but the Mott 32 experience is really something unique. From the little things such as being served a finger towel, how the hoisin sauce was made at your table and how the tableside carving techniques for the Peking duck built up anticipation for the main event. We ordered a couple more dishes as well such as (again) the crispy rice roll cheung fun, crab fried rice with crab roe, and a few more signature dishes, the incredibly tender and juicy barbecue Iberico pork with yellow mountain honey, and crispy sugar-coated barbeque Iberico pork bun.
Mott 32 is named after the first Chinese convenience store located on 32 Mott St. in 1891, as it pays homage to the early Chinese settlers in New York. Chef Lee, a Hong Kong-based chef has been in the F&B industry since the age of 14. He has worked at various restaurants including Man Wah at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, which earned two Michelin stars under his leadership. Chef Lee’s recipe to success is hard work, perseverance, consistency and having the drive to keep learning. He believes that to be a chef, you not only have to be proficient in the basics and skilled in the kitchen, but you need to understand operations as well as garner management skills. Chef Lee takes pride in having built systems in place in order to ensure consistency throughout all the Mott 32 branches. Frequent trips to each location, plus inviting over the chefs to Mott 32 Hong Kong every year for alignment is crucial to the brand’s cohesive messaging down to the menu execution and delivery of service. They currently have eight locations worldwide namely Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Vancouver, Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Dubai and, of course, Cebu.
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Mott 32 Cebu will be offering dim sum lunch four days a week from Thursday to Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For reservations and inquiries, email mott32.cebu@nustar.com.ph.
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