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My former coworker told me that she had some of these "economic rice" in Penang for lunch. Cost... only RM 1.50 (US$0.40).... my gosh...

I agree with Pan. Sorry if that scared you Tepee. The typical US dine-out price is around US$15 to $25 per head. At Denny's (one of the chains here, you can find them everywhere), you can order a dinner entry from US $8 to $10. But if you order drinks (e.g. beer/wine), appertizers, desserts and all that, they will add up. Because most Chinese restaurants offer dishes for only US $6 to $9 an entry, some Americans consider going to Chinese restaurants to dine as a "cheap date". The recent uprise of Chinese restaurant chains such as Panda Inn, PF Chang's and Fat's seem to want to break out of that mode.

Yes it is! I wouldn't trade it for those that they sell at $4.95 a bowl (wonton soup, egg drop soup, etc.) Pork neck bones and some kind of vegetables (ours was fun got [Cantonese] - don't know the English name (help! someone please help!), simmered for probably a good 4-5 hours.

Stay with the Chinese food and you will be just fine! That's what you plan to do anyway (or else someone will die I heard ). This protection envelop can only be found in the Los Angeles basin and San Francisco areas. Can't help you when you visit San Diego or Santa Barbara. Perhaps those nights would be designated as US cultural nights (MacDonald's, Taco Bell, Pizza Huts, etc.)... P.S.: Don't count on having lunch inside Disneyland. A hot dog would cost US $5.00 and a soda US $3.00. May be bring in some Man Tou...

Dejah: it seems that we just had this discussion on ham yue (salted fish) not too long ago. You like it so much that you want to re-visit the topic every few months? Oh... perhaps that was a different forum. Last week I was cooking some gai choy (Chinese mustard green). I usually just use garlic and oyster sauce. Stimulated by this thread, I just diced up some mackeral ham yue (the kind that's kept in a jar of oil... I know you like the dried kind), cook with some garlic over some cooking oil for about 15 seconds first, then throw in the vegetable. The result was very good. We like it! Gai choy is just so versatile. I probably wouldn't cook ham yue with Chinese brocoli or choy sum though.

Los Angeles is populated more with recent immigrants (since the 70's), who may not be familiar with the term. For those Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area, most of them know dai fau ("big city") is San Francisco and yee fau ("second city") is Sacramento, and saam fau ("third city") is Stockton. These rankings were quoted from the historical development (movements) of Chinese immigrants in the new world back in the gold rush days.

Watch it, laksa! There are ladies on board! There are even "better" deals in San Francisco. US $3.88 an entry - from a selected list. That's the lowest I have seen. The going-competitive rate is about US $5.00 to $5.50 per entry. Complimentary desserts are a given. Complimentary soup... some offers it, some doesn't. Opportunity permitting, I will take some pictures of those diners/food in SF in my next trip.

Yes, Maam!!! You guys are *extremely serious* about your CKT. As for prices, it is quite a value in the US standard. To give you some perspectives: Take a look at some of the threads that mentioned restaurants in San Diego, San Francisco, etc.. (non-Chinese). Just the appertizer alone can be around US $7 to $10. Dessert: $3 to $6. Entres: $20 to $30 to even $40 depending on the restaurant class and type of food. Spending US $30 to $50 per head for dinner is the norm and not exception. Of course you can dine at fast food. A big Mac meal (hamburger, french fries, soda) at McDonald's can be over US$5. In US Chinese restaurants: take a Kung Pao Chicken entry as an example. In Sacramento and a few other places, they are typically selling at US$7 to $8. In places like San Francisco, Los Angeles where competition is fierce because of high Chinese concentrations, the prices can be as low as US $5. In other nice coastal towns such as San Diego and Santa Barbara, the prices can be as high as US $10 - $12. I think US $9.95 for a sit-down meal, dinner for two, with soup and dessert is a steal. Not as low as Malaysian prices, of course. But very good for US standard.

Oh my gosh.... I just looked at their menu. Chicken/kabob entres are only RM 13.00 (under US$4.00?)!! We can all eat there like there is no tomorrow at those prices!

There is a good picture of cheung fan (Hong Kong style) by blogger Chaxiubao on his website: http://chaxiubao.typepad.com/./photos/unca.../p1010024_2.JPG

If you have time, browse through some of the blogs by Chaxiubao: http://chaxiubao.typepad.com/chaxiubao/eat...kong/index.html He is local in Hong Kong. I enjoy his blog immensely. If you are not familiar with the locations of some of the restaurants, we can help you.

nycfoodie: Where (what area) will you/family be staying in Hong Kong? Can you order in Cantonese or Mandarin or some Chinese dialects? What kind of Chinese food would please you most? Stir-fried entres? Cantonese noodle soups? Hot pots? Clay pot dishes? Or other non-Cantonese varieties? Would you be willing to taste street food?

Yeung City Seafood Restaurant Address: 4940 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95822 Phone: (916) 736-3131 It is one of the nearby Chinese restaurants that we frequent. They serve mostly Cantonese and some Peking/Sichuan dishes. A bit of a mix. Here's what we had tonight: First, the waitress brought over a complimentary "house soup" (Lo Fall Tong) [Cantonese]. Tonight: pork neck bone, chicken feet, peanut and Fun Got. Simple. Delicious. Tepee: This is for you! This is the Hong Kongers' rendition of the Malaysian-origin Char Quay Teow. Note that they use curry power, shrimp, sliced BBQ pork, scallions, onions, red/green bell pepper, bean sprouts and egg strips. A house specialty dish: Chicken with shredded ginger and scallions. Gang Chung Bah Wong Gai [Cantonese]. Hot oil is poured on top, followed by a drip of light soy sauce. With an extra dish of grated ginger/scallions. They are selling this dish for only US $4.95. I don't know how they can maintain profitability (but I am shamelessly taking advantage of it...). It is customary for these restaurants to give away complimentary sweet dessert soup. Tonight, we had Ma Tai Lo [Cantonese] - waterchestnuts with egg drop sweet dessert soup. This dinner for two only costs US$9.95 + tax.

Even though it is the capital city of California, Sacamento - a modern metropolitan - is teased as a "cow town". Mind you, the real estate prices of this cow town are catching up with, or in some cases have surpassed those in the San Francisco/San Jose Bay Area. A 2500 sq ft, 3BR house - with no view and next to an abandoned railroad track - can ask for US $750,000. (Tongue sticking out) Sacramento is known as "The Second Town" by the old Chinese immigrants, second to San Francisco. This is where I live. While there are many Chinese restaurants in town, the real, authentically good ones are very far and between. It may be considered as pretty good for some (e.g. my in-laws), but to me they always seem subpar to those in San Francisco, San Jose, and recently Fremont, Millbrae and Daly City. I would like to share some of my Chinese food dining experiences.

I have a feeling that you were thinking of the shrimp paste that is the salted fermented shrimp paste (belecan) used for cooking.

Sorry, jo-mel. There are more coming... I haven't cut up my double yolk lotus seed paste moon cakes yet.

Well.... I usually only order things that we both like... out of respect... But... great idea... I may be a rebel next time. (And hope that I don't get my head chopped off.)

Some are *cough cough* more senior and experienced. Some are young. Hours? Don't know. Probably 10am - 7pm. If the bakery offers a coffee shop and kitchen-cooked something-over-rice kind of thing, they probably open at 7am (til 7pm). Otherwise, may open later.

Thank you Tepee and Pan. I know that Teochew style offers many more varieties. This particular eatery only serve noodles and some appertizer items (as from their name). I had those Teochew fishball and beefball rice noodles in Hong Kong. The freshly made ones are really really good. Unfortunately my DW is not a fan of any kind of meat balls... that limits our choices. Yes, the Teochew style portridge is more grainy - not cooked as long as the Cantonese style. Oysters with eggs (flour mixed in)... yeah... that's to die for. I also had the Teochew style duck and chili-leave diced chicken and many other things before... (the long lost memory is coming back to me now...) in Hong Kong. We have a term "Da Leun" [Cantonese] for those Teochew style dishes - served cold, such as boiled peanuts, pork intestines, duck feet, etc. (many others). P.S. I need to make a trip back to Hong Kong... just to eat!

Where to buy good mooncakes in San Francisco China Town? There were 3 bakeries mentioned in San Francisco China Town in this Mooncake thread. Last week I passed by all of them. I have taken some pictures. Eastern Bakery: (nn Grant) They said to be the oldest bakery in China Town. I wouldn't doubt. Could use some uplift work though. President Clinton was here... (sorry for the glare from the glass. The best that I could do.) The window display at Eastern Bakery. Note that they show some real BBQ pork baos and bo lo baos at the window. The baos look pure white because they had been bleached by the sunlight over the years. (I don't want to know how many) Last year they were showing some age-old mooncakes too. For some reason, the owner decided to change out the mooncakes this season. These are freshly wrapped. Good! Should last another five years. No line! They are eager to please, offerring free samples to tourists. "Sorry, I am just looking... (and have enough from the window display...)" Golden Gate Bakery: (Also on Grant) I saw a wall of people lined up outside Golden Gate Bakery - at least 20-30 waiting to buy something. (Must be good!) Tourists and local Chinese mixed. On the display window, they only showed a few pieces of mooncakes. Looked pretty good. Hmmm.... I am unwilling to wait for 10-15 minutes (at least) to get my bakery goods. I am hungry... but not that hungry... I will pass this time. Perhaps in my next visit. AA Bakery: (on Stockton Street) So here's my favorite bakery: AA Bakery. On Stockton Street. Oh, yeah... I know I may be biased. Whatever... My taste-bud is trained in Hong Kong. I just know what would please me. Hmmm... even a couple of tourists found their way to AA on their rental motor-tricycle! Display of their bakery items inside AA Bakery. Rows of mooncakes. After elbowing with other fellow patrons (that's one thing bad about some of these shops full of local patrons - there are only crowds and no line - you have to fight for your place: just like the motherland, they would say), I got my order in. Double york lotus seed paste mooncakes... The moon is just half-full tonight... 7 more days!

I went to try out this small noodle house in the new shopping mall in Richmond, California (Pacific East Mall): VH Noodle House In Pacific East Mall (I-80 exit Central Ave) 3288 Pierce Street, #B101 Richmond, CA (510) 527-3788 They advertise as a "Chiu Chou" (Teochew) style noodle house. We went in and ordered a few items. They tasted pretty good. Please comment if you know whether they are "Chiu Chou" (Teochew) specialties or not... Pacific East Mall, Richmond, California VH Noodle House inside the Pacific East Mall. Fried Fish Cakes. Pickled cabbage on the side. No special condiment. We just dip them with some Hoisin sauce that's on the table. The fish cakes were quite tasty. 8/10. Beef Fried Rice Noodle with Satay sauce (Sa Cha sauce). I didn't like their version. It seemed a bit too plain (and not salty enough) compared to the Satay sauce that I am used to. 6/10. This is the Duck Noodle Soup. The duck is "Preserved Orange Peel Duck" (Chun Pei Aup [Cantonese]). The duck meat was excellent, very fragrant, albeit a little bit too salty. 9/10. (It would have been a 10/10 if it wasn't overly salty).

Ah, you are right! Sorry I missed it. My eyes played tricks on me. They won't come out when I am not expecting them. When I saw the third line as "1 tbsp salt...", skipped right through it (thinking it's salt). Cantonese YTF does have things mixed-in, sometimes. e.g. dried shrimp or diced black mushrooms. Pre-soaked and mix them in with the minced fish meat. Putty on green bell pepper, eggplants, tofu, melon (jeet gua) and fried. Served with soy sauce or oyster sauce.

I read this recipe with intense interest. But it seemed that they use fresh fish meat and grind them to make a fish paste. They are not using ham yue though. The technique seems very similar to the Cantonese style. Or perhaps we just copied from the Teochew style?

Zen Peninsula is just right across the freeway I-101 from SFO, San Francisco International Airport. Just 5 minutes away. It could be your first meal when you land. Oh... you are flying in/out LAX... never mind! Hmmm.... perhaps you can just set up the camera and shoot a time-lapse sequence.

Hmmm... for your next dinner, if you do end up eating Poon Choi you would only need to take one picture for the whole dinner.