Yuki

Choy Poh omelette is a staple in Teochew restaurant in Hong Kong, where people would order it to go with the plain congee(the choy poh that I get don't have to be reconstitued with water). I think in different region of Asia, people get different Teochew dishes. I never knew that cilantro is a Teochew thing since I don't really see it in Hong Kong's teochew restaurant.

I am not exactly sure what is missing, but I know that some teochew fishes are steamed with 欖菜. From my finding online, it seems like that 欖菜 = Kale. I love steamed white eel with 欖菜. Edit: I also remember one more thing that can be added to steamed fish, it is 烏欖角. I don't think you would add that though since I personally don't enjoy the olive-like taste of it.

Yuki: (1) Do you cut the slit along the long edge of the tofu, or across the long edge of the tofu? (2) Do you use corn starch to dust the tofu, or to dust the fish paste? ← I cut the slit along the surface of the hypotenuse(the longest side of the triangle). I usually have no trouble sticking the paste into the tofu, but corn starch on the tofu would help it stick better. Other than just stuffing the paste into the tofu, try spreading some on the surface of the hypotenuse(this is because you can't stuff much into the hard tofu, so if you want more paste, then you have to spread some on the tofu).

I am not happy with the quality of fish paste in the store so I stuff eggplant, tofu, and green pepper with a pork mixture. I have tried stuffing fish paste on fried firm tofu by cutting the square piece of tofu into two triangles. Cut a slit into the tofu and stuff it with the paste, if it is still not sticking then dust the paste with a bit of corn starch.

What are you suppose to do with the 2/3 left on your plate? Don't tell me that you are going to throw it away. I think it is more reasonable to just take a sample of each food item and if you are still hungry after that, then take another sample until you don't feel hungry. Of course, when I am dining out, I would pack all the leftovers home if they would taste good the next day.

Hold the egg with two fingers, then use your other hand to flick the egg. If you can feel the egg bouncing inside, then the yolk is soft. Yeah, I can't find good pei dan here too since all of them are packaged. In Hong Kong, the only place(other than restaurant) to find good pei dan is at those egg stall but they are starting to disappear now. I remember how all the wife would crowd up the egg store and check each egg under the bright lamp to make sure all the eggs are perfect.

Are they really supposed to be runny? The ones I have eaten in Japan always have very firm yolks, like this. DO you think they are old? ← A Thousands Year Egg with a soft centre is regarded as a better product. If restaurant want to serve thousand year egg and ginger as appetizer, they better go search for some eggs with a soft centre. I think the softness is due to the amount of time that it is buried(someone please check this). I know that in the traditional Hong Kong wet market, there are stores that sell eggs. The owners would separte the thousands year eggs into different piles, the eggs with soft yolk are always the most expensive. Edit: I also want to say that there is also a large difference regarding the softness of the eggs. Some yolks woud just be soft, but the best one would be kind of like the texture of glue.

Great Job!! My grandma does soya sauce chicken too but in a different method. She would start the chicken raw in the wok and keep frying it until it is done. During that time, she would pour soya sace on the chicken so it would absorb the flavor. I didn't want to try that method because it takes a long time for the whole chicken to get done and I don't like standing in front of the hot wok. I am wondering why she doesn't use the soaking method since it is much more convenient than frying up a raw chicken?

Rice served with lard and soya sauce is something that lots of Hong Kongers grew up with in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Since people are so poor back then, anything can be served on the table. For my mom, one of her greatest joy in childhood would be her mother buying a block of lard. Grandma would fry the lard in some oil and after a while, all the pork fat would come out. The lard is then cooled down, then it would be placed on hot rice with some soya sauce. I went to Tai Wing Wah but I didn't think their lard was flavorful. My mom told me that they probably used the dripping oil from the roasted meat, therefore it should be more flavorful than regular lard but it was not. I like Taii Wing Wah for its value, atmosphere, and the old style dishes. The chicken is one of the best deal in town(for around HK$50, you get a whole chicken, can't really complain about that although it is still missing the some chicken flavor), the dessert(I love the salty eggs in their thousand layer cake, not sure if they still have the salty egg in there), and all the fat. They are not afraid to use fat there so you will see lots of pork neck meat (super fatty), lard, salty egg, and fat. I think most of the good food in HK are either concentrated in the Hong Kong Island(the traditional richer area, but the food aren't necessarily expensive because the quality is very high) and future up in the New Territories(the best place to find cheap and good food). I live in Kowloon and it is not as easy to find good food here...... I remember living with my counsin for a couple days in the New Territories and all those nice noodles shop 10min walk from the house. If you are looking for a more rough style of dinning in Hong Kong. I would recommend Tung Po in the top level of the market building in North Point. They are close to the tai pai don style but they just have a roof on top of them. The place is clean and it is close to the MTR station, so I think you can go there with little trouble(print out the address and ask people if you need to). Even though they are Chinese, but they are quite creative and always come up with some new dishes. Some food that I like from them: Salty Egg Yolk Fried Shrimp Fried Chicken with Garlic Fried Pork Feet (this is the best ) Cold Pork with Garlic Stir Fried soft bones of chicken Fried Rice and noodles (any place that have good dishes would have good starches since it is the fundamental part of good cooking) I think they have fried durian now..... and I didn't know about it when I was there. I must try it next time, if they haven't completely changed the special by then. My mom thinks I am going crazy now since I keep talking about all the food that I would like to eat next summer. I can't find a place that have good pig feet in Calgary and I miss them.

I think the English site does not represent the current food trend in HK.... How can TGI's Friday be voted as one of the best restaurants in a couple of categories?

Yuki dear, how does one access the site in English? My chinese is not velly good leh. ← Okay, I can't help with that part....they do have most of the important stuff in English on the side bar and such. But since they have no control in what language people write the review in, it is up to you to find the English review I know that even in the Chinese version, they have some people posting in English too. I wonder if the post that is made in English will also go on the openrice English page(most likely not)?? You can also go to the other English version of the openrice site, but of course it won't be as comperhensive since there are much less people writing in english. Here is the english version. Open Rice English

I guess my typo last night did provide lots of entertainment. I guess I won't go back and change it.

I think I know about the famous(or rather infamous...) building that you are talking about. That building is known for its inexpensive room, and concentration of non-Chinese people. I've been warned by relatives not to go there by myself and must be accompanied by a group of people. The restaurant in there that is known by Hong Kongers would be the The Delhi Club. I think The Delhi Club are not authentic (but it still taste good) since most of their clients are not Indian. If you really want the true Indian flavor then just go to the little Indian store at the ground level and get a rice box(You only see Indian people lining there, unlike the restaurant where they have Chinese, American, and Japanese). You are also right about Hong Kongers not liking strongly flavored food.... but I guess the authentic restaurant would stay with the local Indian population and adventurous Hong Kongers. I would recommend a website for the largest amount of restaurant reviews in Hong Kong. Most people write their review in Chinese but some do it in English. The site can be navigated using both Chinese and English. Open Rice

Our family used to go to Lei Yu Muen for seafood but recently we have been going to Lau Fau Shan. We go to the Happy Seafood Restaurant(you can't miss it because it is right beside the bus stop with fish tanks in front of the store). It is a bit harder to get to than Lei Yu Muen but it is a great place to go. After you are done with the seafood meal, walk along the narrow street to the seaside. On your way, you will see lots of vendors selling dried seafood. I really like the traditional oyster sauce(it is quite different from commercial oyster sauce since it is thinner and has a much stronger oyster flavor) and golden dried oysters(between fresh and dried oyster, you can pan fried them and dip in sugar to eat, November is not exactly the best month to get the golden oyster but it is still okay, you need to wait until December and January for the best). Once you get to the seaside, you will see stalls cooking oysters, shells, and sting ray over charcoal. Recommendation for ordering in Happy Seafood Restaurnt Shrimps -if you like small and sweeter shrimp, get the plain boiled nine shrimp(it is only available in Lau Fau Shan) -if you like bigger shrimp, pick some out of the tank and ask them to pan fried it with soya suace Squilla, cook it in the traditional way with lot of garlic and chili or try their sweet sauce. Soft shell crab should be appearing in November so try some Shells -scallop steamed with garlic and vermicelli -a type of stick shape shell, steam it with black bean and garlic Fish -if you like a more delicate fish then pick a small fish for steaming -our family like bigger fish but we are often not able to finish the huge fish but restaurant might sometimes portion out the fish for sale. If you are able to get a portion, ask them to prepare it in two style(stir fry the meat and deep fry the bony part and put it in a dark sauce.) If there is any dish or food that you particularly want to try, I can send their Chinese name to you so you can show it to the vendor.

Hehe, I forgot some major ingredients... It is a paste made that is made with shrimp, and some fatty pork. The paste is then wrapped with bean curd before flying. I think most places just use shrimp in the paste now and they came up with crab paste too.

I miss all the teochew food in HK too, I like the teochew style of satay beef noodles since they have eggs in it(I think they do..). I miss: -Cold crab with all those delicious roe -Pork Stomach soup with peppercorn and preserved vegetable (of course they need some bean curd for the soup base, extra peppercorn for me please) -the whole range of meat, organ, feets, and tofu soaked in soya sauce and other seasoning (I have discovered that thin slices of lotus root are also very good when prepared in this style) -cold fish served with bean sauce(it is yellowish) -fried shrimp paste -Stir fried fish noodles -oyster egg pancakes -oyster and some kind of dried fish congee -crystal dessert bun with taro, red bean or green bean -steamed taro paste -the grean bean dessert soup with the chewy jello The teochew people are really good when dealing with seafood and organs meat. We used to go for midnight snack at the Teochew restaurant near the old airport, and they still have lots of teochew related store around that area. When I went back to HK this year, I had some freshly fried fish balls and amazing teochew dumplings while shopping for dinner.

I guess you probably would not enjoy the combination of yaki-udon and mayo.

Wow, that's the first dish that my grandma taught her daughters when they got married. It is a dish that is pretty basic in Cantonese comfort food but it is hard to make a good one. Of course I still couldn't make a good one........ My family makes a version with pork, dried squid, and a bit of preserved vegetable. Grandma says that everything must be chopped by hand because the patty would be more "sticky". The patty is seasoned with sugar, salt, soya sauce, and corn starch. Also, add a bit of water to the patty. At last, grab the mixture by your hand and throw it down at a surface for a couple times.

Well, for goodness sake! Ben Go-Gaw! You don't HAVE to eat it all by yerself! What about your many mui-muis? We've been enjoying bison jerky here. While travelling long distances, I like to keep jerky on hand, the stringy spicy kind. Tepee's first question has me bewildered tho': You grill this yuk gon? Why? Isn't it cooked already? I want to know how, so I can try it! ← I think grilling the yuk gon again is popular because it softens the meat and gives off a nice aroma(even better if you use charcoal). In Macau, one of the streets sell lots of souvenir, the store would set up little grill in front of the store to attract customers.

I only know about the price of the four yolks, lotus seed paste mooncake(actually my family usually get the double yolk kind). I miss my childhood where we would go to the park and have a celebration. The adults would bring mooncakes, pomelo, starfruits, and strong tea. There would be traditional lantern(which I always manage to burn a couple down each year), battery powered lantern(sailormoon was very popular at that time), glowsticks, and kids burning candles but eventually burning themselve and the trees........ Let's not talk about what we threw in the burning candles to make the flame go higher.

Actually I was at Shanghai River around a week ago and they only have the crab san jeen bao on the dinner menu. Since our relatives told us that their crab pastry are not that good so we asked for the regular version but was told that the regular version is only available during lunch time. I don't blame them for selling the more expensive food during dinner time, but I guess they should at least put some crab in it? I think that you have mistaken something, san jeen bao is pan fried buns and not steamed juicy buns. If you want the steamed juicy buns, then it is called xiao long bao. They have both the regular and crab xiao long bao in the dinner menu.

Since I was eating out so much this couple weeks, my aunt made a soup to get rid of all those "hotness". She made us finish a huge watermelon to get rid of some of the hotness and saved the rind to make a soup with some herbal medicine.

Yesterday was my last day in Vanouver so I had to get some good japanese food before my departure to Calgary. Since my sister had tried Guu, so we went to Hapa Izakaya. We ordered negitoro, a crispy rice dish with eggplant and pork (I love anything that is made with eggplant), and a salad to start. The negitoro was okay but we thought the crispy rice dish did not meet our expection. The eggplant and pork sauce was so Chinese-tasting that it is very similar to a dish that my grandma make(Stir fried eggplant with pork bits). I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that but we didn't really expect something that is so Chinese tasting in the menu. Finally, we have decided that Hapa Izakaya style is not suitable for us so we went over to Guu to continue our dinner. I think that Hapa Izakaya is leaning more towards fusion and nice decoration with large spaces. Hapa would be a nice place to bring guest but for partying with close friends and sister, I prefer the food and warm environment of Guu.

I know that most of my relatives are not used to tipping in Hong Kong but they try to tip 15% at restaurant in Canada. In Hong Kong, most restaurants do not expect tips but some nicer restaurants do charge a 10% service charge. I don't think that Hong Kong waiter or waitress is doing a bad job but maybe this is just because I am used to the Chinese standard of service. We usually don't like people coming around the table asking as about the quality of food and service, and certainly don't want to know about the waitstaff unless we are regular customers. Although tips might be pooled but it is also common for Chinese customers to secretly put money into their favourite waitstaff's pocket. Wait staff would also have their yearly bonus(well, you have to be good to get it) through new year money from the customers. I know that some popular waiters/waitresses can earn 1-3 months of salary from new year pocket money.

From the research on google, it says that lye water allows the flour to absorb water better and makes it more elastic. The lye water can also be used as a preservative and neutralize the acid. Since lye water is a bit bitter, it is common to add vinegar when eating wonton noodles to cover the bitterness. Lye water can be found in Southern style noodles, zonghi, and dumpling skins.