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This is awesome, sheetz! I admire your skills and attempted this one. And did you have a guest of honor to break open the cacoon? What is the key? The bread dough is to make sure all the heat and moisture stay inside the lotus leave?

I just read another recipe that goes like this: - 10 cups of water - 4 lb chicken - some green onions, salt, sugar Boil the mixture over high heat. Place chicken in pot breast side up. Bring the water to a boil. Then lower heat, simmer for 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over in pot, cover pot again and simmer for another 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Allow chicken to rest in the pot with cover on for 30 minutes.

California Pizza Kitchen, being that they want put a lot of non-traditional (Italian) toppings on the pizzas, offers "Peking Duck" pizza. Though I haven't tried it.

Interesting, I never knew that! Don't they sell them in the mom and pop places dim sum shops in SF Chinatown? There are still a handful of places that sell them in LA Chinatown. I should try making them myself. They don't seem too hard. ← You are probably right that they still sell them in Chinatown. I have shyed away from eating dim sum in Chinatown (both in SF and LA) for many years.

WillLack: Your pictures look awesome! Thanks the sharing! The Cantonese BBQ looks very good, and the fresh seafood at the market is so fresh, and INEXPENSIVE! I wish there is a kitchen at the Harbor Plaza Hotel where I stayed. Or to see a Residence Inn in Hong Kong. Maybe I should advertise to cook dinners for a host in exchange for a place to stay next time I go to Hong Kong.

I just saw the episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" on "Hong Kong", in which he visited a restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong (I think) where the owner/chef is a Chinese but he cooks/prepares the Chinese food ingredients in a anti-traditional way. Anthony described him as "taking the traditional Chinese ingredients or recipes but completely turning it upside down to create something new". One example is: (If I heard it correctly) he takes the Chinese sausage (laap cheung), grind it up, and mix it into ice cream? I think that's quite an idea. Has anybody eaten at that restaurant or something similar to it in Hong Kong (or elsewhere)? What is your impression of those traditional Chinese ingredients/recipes prepared in an anti-traditional way? Do you like it? I think running such a restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong makes sense because it is a place frequented by foreign visitors who may like innovative ideas. But I don't think such eateries would be easily accepted by the locals.

I think "zhu zhang" sounds like pork knuckle.

This sounds like a different dish than the one I was questioning. Perhaps that restaurant just used the same name "Empress Chicken".

In the original Polynesian/Hawaiian version of Pu Pu Platter, is the fire at the center functional or just for the atmosphere? I have seen Chinese restaurants named this "Po Po Platter" instead of Pu Pu. "Po" in Chinese (Cantonese) means "treasure" or "goodies".

I am not sure if Empress Chicken and Hainanese Chicken are the same, Tracey. If not the same, they are very similar. But the Chinese restaurants who serve Empress Chicken do not serve it with the flavored rice though.

I don't understand. What is the sterno/burner for? All 5 appertizers are ready to eat. One wants to burn the wonton skin or dumpling wrapper some more? (I noticed that there was no satay beef in the platter.)

I am afraid some restaurants may use the term "Empress Chicken" for different dishes. Would you describe your hot Empress Chicken? Is it one whole chicken (or half a chicken), chopped Cantonese style, with bones in and skin on?

This "Empress Chicken" seems to be a classical dish. I would imagine the recipe existed from way back when... predating the refrigeration technology. How would they have served this 100 years ago? Maybe the restaurants just keep them in the refrigerator for sanitory reasons only?

Thanks for your kind words, Zoe. I found that if Chinese chives cannot be found, leeks can also be used. Green onions would be a distant cousin but can be used too - I hope the garlicky-onion taste would not dominate the taste of the filling. There are recipes for potstickers that use all kinds of other fillings too I think. I haven't done any research to find all of them.

A few restaurants in our town serve the dish "Empress Chicken" ("Kwai Fai Gai" in Cantonese). Invariably, they serve the chicken chilled. Not in room temperature, but chilled in the refrigerator. To me it seems that Empress Chicken is just the same as White Boiled Chicken (Bak Jum Gai). Am I off? What is the difference? And why chilled? I can understand serving it in room temperature. But why deliberately refrigerate the chicken before serving?

The sugar is malt sugar. The boy was eating the malt sugar on a stick. Malt sugar is sold in the US/Canada Asian markets too, in plastic jars. In room temperature it is a bit hard and sticky. Heat it up and it will turn soft. Putting melted malt sugar between two crackers... that's a good old treat for kids. Have a good trip Lee! Thanks for the photos! Pissing shrimp: the name came from the yellow belly of the shrimp, I believe... which resembles you-know-what. That's just psychological. There is no funny taste to the shrimp. But they are not my favorite because they are too "shelly" - too many sharp shells, not enough meat.

You know... in the old days, dai pei dong patrons used to sit on one of those small 4-legged stolls (in the center of the picture) on top of the big 4-legged A-frame stoll. 3 people eating in front of the dai pei dong. Quite a scene. (Most Chinese are used to and are comfortable with crouching down.)

I remember watching an episode of Kylie Kwong's "Simply Magic" series, in which she cooked a 3-4 lb chicken as (if I remember it correctly, and I like this recipe): Boil a pot of water, just enough to cover the chicken. Add salt (1/8 of a cup, maybe?), a few whole green onions, some ginger slices, and some star anises. Add the whole chicken. Continue to cook for exactly 13 minutes (maybe adjust from experience and the size of the chicken). Turn off the heat and let the chicken continue to cook in the residual heat of the water for an hour or so (???). If to marinate the chicken... perhaps to rub the cavity with some salt and crushed star anises?

No soy sauce? Interesting.

Should this dish be dry and crispy, or soft and saucy? Or can it be either style - even with the same name?

I hear you. I grew up in these kinds of environments so I would feel just like home! It's the days like those we ate at Farm House that I felt really uncomfortable... never had 5 waitstaffs by my side attending to everything! LOL.

Is the Hawaiian Teahouse that good? I passed by it a couple of times, but didn't know... List for next time...

Yeah. Me too. Perhaps we can do a eG "meet to eat" in Hong Kong next year! Eating for eight days, eight nights!

Thank you for the info Feng Yi. I knew it was probably reviewed/mentioned before but I just couldn't tie a name to the restaurant.

I have just seen the episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" on China. They featured a noodle house in Beijing. It is very modern. And they have an open kitchen where the chefs do all kinds of fancy things to make noodles. For example: they throw the noodle threads from 3 to 4 feet away to a pot of boiling water. And some cut the noodle into 2 inch pieces and throw them from 6 to 8 feet away into a pot of boiling water. Does anybody know the name of that restaurant in Beijing (and address)? They separate the noodle from the sauces so you can eat the noodle with different sauces. Is this restaurant really good? Or that's all just for shows?