ChengDu, April/May 2009 - Report

Argh! I'm so jealous! Great report. I'm standing in a puddle of... drool. So happy you went to Chen's - and ordered the dad dan mien too. Did you get a chance to try their fried fish sticks? One of the spiciest but best dishes I've had i my life. My tongue is tingling and my forehead prickling on the verge of sweat just thinking about it. I don't mean to sound greedy, but did you take any pictures?

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

3 days in HK for a NYC chef...

Sorry, for the late reply. Yeah, Gongdelin's become an old and tired place. Food is akin to what you'll find in any run-of-the-mill vegetarian places in HK. Didn't know they had a branch in Beijing too.

Other than a mostly straight Cantonese restaurant (a place serving Canton chow with maybe a Peking duck here and xiao long bao there) it's hard to compare HK with US when alot of chinatown joints there serve bastardized food like general tso's chicken or beijing beef - stuff any self-respecting HK chef wouldn't be caught dead serving. Funny, I heard Tso was actually a real general in Qing dynasty. I'm sure the poor general and his descendants have no idea such disgraceful mockery have been bestowed upon their family name halfway around the world by shotgun-totin' red-necks. In America, you'll just have to call it Chinese food 'cause it sure as hell ain't Cantonese, Beijing or Shanghai. Anyhow, you would not be able to walk into a Phoenix or Columbus restaurant and get bai ling mushrooms or something as simple as pork bone congee. On the other hand, Cantonese cuisine in general has come a long way in LA and NY (much in the last 5 to 10 years). Not to mention simple but excellent Hunan, Szechuan and even Dongbei (best spiced lamb skewers I've had since the street stalls in Beijing) popping up in San Gabriel valley, east of downtown LA. If you enjoy all the amazing distinctive cuisines of different provinces I recommend you take a food tour - Chengdu, Xi'an, Qingdao, Guilin and countless others. Although HK offers alot variety it is in no way a good yardstick for what you'll be experiencing in the rest of China.

And no, I'm not a chef. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Honestly, I can't even operate a microwave.

P.S. Just in case you didn't get the Holiday Inn joke...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgX7i0C-IK4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCLuIwuVgQ

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

3 days in HK for a NYC chef...

I agree with you 100%... why would you eat vegetarian dim sum when you can have the real thing - cha siu, goose, seafood - some of the best HK has to offer, that is, until I tried Lok Cha.

Halo says he's a chef and one of most important aspects of being a chef is to appreciate good produce - be it meat, vegetables, fruits, etc.. and to prepare dishes that showcases these components (as opposed to overcooking, overdressing). This is where Lok Cha shines the brightest displaying great balance of technique and creativity. A perfect example of this is their chiu chow fun guo. It's wrapper dough is firm yet delicately paper-thin. When you pick it up with your chopsticks the weight of it's contents does not distort its form yet when you bite into it, the dough yields without effort. The silky smooth mushrooms, chives and peanuts are skillfully diced and proportioned. Not one ingredient outshine or dominate another - working in perfect unison to the taste and touch.

The same cannot be said of the Fu Sing's steamed mushroom and pork dumpling. The skin is soft and soggy (thankfully not thick) and when you pick it up it flops over your chopsticks like dead weight. If not consumed in one bite the contents spill as the wrapper rips around once the skin breaks. Not bad but not good either. Same lack of care is evident in several of their dishes including the glutinous rice with spare ribs in lotus leaves and steamed vegetable dumplings. Whereas the only flat dish I've tried at Lok Cha is their curry, which although not bad tastes more like portuguese sauce. The bean curd puff that goes with it is excellent nonetheless.

Don't get me wrong Fu Sing serves some great dishes - I haven't had a better cha siu bor lor bao in HK or anywhere else. Their fried shrimp rice roll hits the mark with the use of yellow chives and the siu mai's sweet mushrooms pair well with the juicy pork. Their pan fried turnip paste is smartly layered with shrimp cake. Much of the menu is strong. Which brings me to another point you brought up, Gomez, that unless Halo occasionally travels to HK you wouldn't recommend vegetarian dim sum. I also agree with you 100%, that is, if it was a few years ago.

In NY, there's already Joe Ng's Chinatown Brasserie on lafayette and great jones serving up some very competent traditional and creative dim sum (their mushroom and corn dumplings in leek purses are phenomenal). They also had some of the best egg rolls I've had since HK's Golden Leaf. Madeline's Sasur Lee also just opened Shang in Lower East Side (to mixed reception I heard but his dim sum apparently is the highlight of the place). For a solid all around eating hall there's Jade in Flushing. NY's dim sum scene is getting better and I don't see the trend reversing anytime soon. Sure Fu Sing has some delectable dishes but overall, is their quality unmatched by anything in NY? Yes... a few years ago but not now. And talking about meat places, I personally prefer Golden Leaf (Sundays only) and Victoria Harbour over Fu Sing. The menu's small at GL but the flavors are anything but. Food's top-notch across the board, even dessert. Service is spectacular. Victoria Harbour's consistent with oustanding dim sum with top quality ingredients. Yet, I still recommend Lok Cha to Halo. Why? Why? Why?

I've been talking about food alone. I have yet to mention the other half of why some of us - if not most - enjoy dim sum so much. The tea. Lok Cha is a teahouse in the truest sense where much of tea - with more than a hundred to choose from - is directly supplied by farmers from the 9 major tea provinces. Unless you bring your own tea or you're buddies with the captains at Fu Sing I doubt you're gonna get more than several choices of cheap stuff (ok, ask for May at Fu Sing be nice to her and she will hook you up ;-).

Now, I normally take clients, friends and family out to GL and VH. Hard to go wrong. But when I have a foodie or chef with me I'm heading straight to Lok Cha. Why do I think it's the best? Maybe it's the disastrously low expectation of eating at a vegetarian place or the beautiful tea house setting or it's the smiling down-to-earth lady chef covered rice flour? No, I don't think so. I think it's the food... and the tea.

Here's a link to Foodie's visit to Lok Cha and pictures.

http://www.worldfoodieguide.com/index.php/postcard-from-hong-kong-day-2/

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

3 days in HK for a NYC chef...

For peking duck, try Summer Palace at Island Shangri-La. I prefer it over Peking Garden. The skin is delicately crisp and the meat is succulent, almost melts in your mouth. Still not as good as what you get in Beijing (li Qun, Made in China, Quan Ju De) but the best I've had in HK.

Fu Sing's good too but the best dim sum by far is Lok Cha teahouse in Admiralty. The menu's small (twelve, fifteen items) but it changes daily with the freshest ingredients available that day. Here's the catch: it's vegetarian. I'm a big meat-lover and was skeptical when recommended by another visiting chowhound... until I was dragged and had my very first bite. Just be careful, on certain days they get fully booked so call ahead of time to get a table.

Above the places mentioned above, the only place I would skip is Lung King Heen. Been there for lunch and dinner. Lunch dim sum is hit and miss. Steamed rice rolls, lobster and scallop dumpling and beef buns aren't bad. However, most of the dim sum is a letdown. Dinner on the other hand was disaster. There was absolutely no consistency - few plates were competent and others were clumsily put together. Service is another story altogether. Personally, I find the petit fours and elegant tea holder/warmer to be the best thing at the restaurant. Ah, and the view too.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

Best fois gras in HK?

Not sure how much they're charging now but I don't remember the prices to be staggering high like Can$180. You can get a tasting menu at a 3 star restaurant at that range. Unfortunately, their website only features a set lunch menu - no info if they still serve the dish. I'll definitely head back there for dinner when I'm in HK next month. All this liver talk has got me curious.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

Hong Kong and Macau: favorite dishes

Wow, I've never had that experience at Matsubishi. I was just there 2 months ago - still freshly toasted. Were yours just sliced in advance and dumped on the grill or were they pre-toasted. I would've cried bloody murder. Pre-made toasted garlic? Even a shitty ass-crack like Benihana serves it fresh. How hard is it to slice garlic and leave it on a grill until toasted.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

Hong Kong and Macau: favorite dishes

I had the same reaction when I tried the Kam Chung version. It was a bland, dry piece of cardboard stuck between two slices of stale bun. Fortunately, the one I had Tai Lei was pure greasy goodness. The meat was not plump by any means but it was moist and packed with flavor. With the rich meat juices buttering the bread no condiments were needed. Perfect comfort food with a tall glass of milk ice tea.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

Hong Kong and Macau: favorite dishes

Thanks, Charles. I'm actually based in LA but head out to HK often. Yeah, I'm down for the chowmeet. When are you guys meeting next? I'll be back in May, hopefully just in time to catch Christian Le Squer at Amber and pasta dinner at Macau's Don Alfonso. Keeping my fingers crossed.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia

Best fois gras in HK?

Caprice was serving an excellent poppy seed-crusted foie gras with white asparagus last week (was a special not sure if they have it now). They also serve the best terrine I've had in HK. My friends like their butter roasted one on the current menu but I find the sauce to be too tart. Sebastien, their sommelier, has a great sweet red cab to pair with it though.

I remember my eyes almost bulged out of my sockets the first time I had foie gras at Amigo's a few years back. Tasted incredible but it was the size of a freakin porterhouse. They could've told me it was ostrich liver and it would've made more sense. Don't know about the quality now.

If by any chance you're going to Macau with your pal, please order the pintade fermiere au foie gras roti. They can sub it for the red meat main if both of you are doing the tasting. They should also have it at L'Atelier HK but other than the price it's not the same and nowhere as good. Sad, I'm a big fan of the Paris and NY branches.

archiek in China & Southeast Asia