Naftal
-
Posts
677 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by Naftal
-
-
After more reading I would say that there are various grades of match (some probably better than others) but IMHO all matcha , as a rule, is much better than koncha. Koncha always begins with a lower quality leaf . Matcha. can be made with low-quality leaves, or processed poorly. Either of these would lower the quality of the matcha. Thank you for stimulating me to do more research, it was a humbling experience
-
I have never seen a low quality matcha or heard of one. The Matcha site above says "Matcha is a fine-ground, powdered, high quality green tea and not the same as koncha". Everything I have ever heard supports this statement. If you can quote a legitimate source that contradicts this, please tell me and I will change my view.
-
Hello- Konacha is indeed a very low- quality tea see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konacha But, it is very different from Matcha ( which is of a much higher quality) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha
-
Probably. ;-) Perhaps you might start a separate thread on that?
Great Idea
-
huiray- BTW would mentioning my local (DTW) faves here be OT? I thought that might be the case.
If that is not so, I will be happy to list them -
Naftal,
GTA = Greater Toronto Area. Markham & Richmond Hill are areas with concentrations of good Cantonese restaurants.
SGV = San Gabriel Valley. Said by many to be THE premier area for Chinese food of widely varying regionalities (and including Taiwanese) within the USA (note, NOT North America)
For Cantonese food (which includes dim-sum) in North America, Vancouver & the GTA are said to be the best.
The concept of going to "Chinatown" for anything good in terms of Chinese cuisine or supplies is gradually fading as the East Asian populations spread out and move into the larger population in many metropolitan areas nowadays. In some cases the "old" Chinatown even ceases to be the go-to place for excellence and new areas (more spread-out, even) take over.
Yes, I've read about the exploits of folks in eating well in various Chinese restaurants in DTW and Ann Arbor on another (cough) food forum. I wondered about your experiences in an earlier post here.
"" The clerks may not speak English, but if you show them what you want they can steer you to a good buy:) ""
exactly the same in Chinatown Boston.
huiray-My comments about DTW were indeed a response to your earlier post
rotuts- IMHO Pointing is the universal human sign for: "I have absolutely no idea what this is called"
:smile: -
Cai is listed as choice #1 in the TimeOut list I referenced in my post above. ;-) Glad you enjoyed it. Perhaps one day you might sample dim-sum in Vancouver/GTA/SGV/(even SF) and perhaps in Hong Kong. :-)
Hello- It does not surprise me that Vancouver and SF have good dim-sum. Please elaborate; I am not familiar with the abbreviations: GTA/SGV. I imagine (though I have no proof) that one could get good dim-sum in Toronto. And, of course, I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than dim-sum in Hong Kong:)
Also, I live in the Detroit-Ann Arbor area and know many fine Chinese places(but I am always on the look-out for more).
Lastly, did you know that Metropolitan Detroit (the TriCounty Area) has a small China-Town area of its own? It does not compare in size to any you have mentioned, but it does have a few interesting sites. And we do have one particularly good dim-sum place, and a very traditional Chinese TeaHouse that would compare favorably with any I've seen.
-
Speaking more as a history-buff than as an expert on spirits (I am not), I would say that a gimlet is a very manly drink!
-
Hello- Cai was wonderful beyond words. Truly, I cannot describe how wonderful it was. and my nephew agreed. For the record, we also discovered a liquor store in Chinatown that sells Shao Hsing, and they sell a variety of brands at a variety of prices! The place is called "China Place Liquor. Inc." The address is 2105 S. China Place #A (sic), and the phone number is 312-225-8118. The clerks may not speak English, but if you show them what you want they can steer you to a good buy:)
-
Hello- I will admit that my definition of a favorite tea room is very specific and one might -rightly- criticize it as elitist. But, I will admit that it is only MHO. I look for teashops that have a traditional Chinese atmosphere and have an extremely informed staff. And, by that I mean one that knows more about tea than I do! On my recent trip to Chicago, I was joyously surprised to find such a place in Evanston, called Dream About Tea, see
The owner is a true Master of Tea and an exceptional host. He served me a special tea that was not on the normal menu. It is called "Kai Hua Long Ding" ie "Dragon Top". I had never had this tea before and drinking it was one of the highlights of my tea-tasting life.
-
Hello- My research seemed to indicate that Cai is the most popular dim sum place among the Chinese. So, tomorrow we do China town and Cai!
-
BTW Is the High Mountain green a "Mao Feng"?
-
BTW the grocery stores (the bigger ones) often also have a selection of teas. Check them out. I currently drink a high mountain green tea from Taiwan which I get from my local Chinese grocery, as well as other stuff like Ti Guan Yin or Westlake Dragon Well teas.
I also assume you know of these websites?
http://www.worldoftea.org/chicagos-chinatown-not-a-tea-mecca/
Read the comments.
Boba tea (non-traditional):
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/saints-alp-teahouse/Location?oid=1025585
Directly under Phoenix.
Consider having "kook-pou" when you are in Phoenix having your dim-sum: a mixture of po-lei (pu-erh) (ask for "leng po-lei" ("beautiful" po-lei)) and dried chrysanthemum. The last time I had it there it was a decent pot of tea, not outstanding but a nice change from the standard stuff dim-sum places give people in these parts. You're supposed to be concentrating on the dim-sum, anyway. :-)
Thanks! I love pu-erh straight, and I love Dragon Well. So now I am even more excited!!!!!
-
Hello- Yes, I looked at that forum, thanks. Now I have another, perhaps even more crucial question: I check a site that lists teahouses in Chicago, and I could not find one in the Chinatown area. Now I do not know Chicago that well, and I could have seen the address and not realize its location. So help me! Is there a traditional Chinese Teashop in that part of Chicago? I also am aware that some of the dim sum places may have particularly good tea. If that is the case, please let me know.Naftal, have you searched the Chicago-based LTHForum?
Thanks!!
-
huiray, rotus, basquecook, thanks for your advice. Is anyone else familiar enough with the culinary joys to be experienced in Chicago's Chinatown to offer some advice?
-
I know. The food stores only carry "cooking wine", which I always avoid:)not the food stores !
-
go to any liquor store in Chinatown. that's what I do.
Well that's easy enough
-
Oops. Another correction. It's on the west side of S Wentworth, not the east side. I took a look at Google Maps and the name of the place is Tai Wah Grocery, at the SW corner of S Wentworth & W 22nd Place. I check them out because they often have open crates of the veggies they get (such as the gai lan I mentioned) rather than already-packaged stuff and I can pick through it. It's not much good for most other stuff IMO (although I have picked up roast duck & some odds and ends on occasion before).
What time do you plan on going to Phoenix for dim sum? On a weekday or on a weekend? (It makes a difference) On weekends cart service (if you like that sort of thing) starts around 9-ish more like 10 am. Order-by-card otherwise, and on weekdays. I'd try to get there before 11 am on a weekend otherwise the queue becomes horrendous.
Grocery shopping - I usually go to Chinatown Market, that stand-alone building up a bit from Phoenix on S Archer, just before the corner, with its own "car park" on the NE side. I also like to drop by the first "grocery store" on the east side of S Wentworth just south of Cermak - they often have very nice gai lan. :-) Otherwise I pick up stuff along Wentworth or Archer as catches my eye.
I also never leave the place without picking up roast duck and roast pork and char-siu and sometimes some form of whole chicken (spring onion, soy sauce, etc) from Great Wall, the second shop NE from the "middle split" of the arcade on the NW side of Archer opposite Phoenix. I might also pick up those inimicable "Chicago Chinese-'Murcan spring rolls" w/ peanut butter in them from the place. :-) I wouldn't choose that place to have a sit-down meal but I like their charcuterie. :-D Yum.
Consider swinging by N Broadway & Argyle. (Will you have a car?) Little Vietnam, sort of, but the overlap w/ Chinese stuff is great. Try Tai Nam Market, in the mini-mall off Broadway just south of Argyle. Have you also considered having a meal at Sun Wah BBQ and having their Cantonese rendition of Peking Duck? :-) Or have a nice bowl of phở at one of the Viet places for this. Or pick up Thai sweets from the place just south of Tank Noodle. :-)
Hello- I plan to be in Chinatown Thursday 9/25. Thanks so much for all your valuable info! Do you (or anyone else) know of a place where I could get shaohsing/shaoxing without salt added? I do not want the variety labeled "cooking wine". I only cook with the real stuff:)
-
Hello- My 4-day trip to Chicago will include one day in Chinatown. I plan to go to the Phoenix for dim sum, but I need some recommendations for other must see places. Specifically, I am looking for the best grocers, wine shops (that sell Chinese wine) and traditional tea-houses in that area.
-
Hello- Please see my thread
http://forums.egullet.org/topic/149277-tea-caffeine-the-2nd-steep-the-data/
-
I hear a lot of talk about the amount of caffeine in the second steeping of tea, and I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the hard research data on the subject. A number of sites deal with this issue and I will eventually list more. But this is a good place to start the discussion
http://39steeps.blogspot.com/2009/07/tea-myth-busted-90-of-caffeine-comes.html
-
1
-
-
Hello-Thanks for the link. That goat looked amazing!!!!!!I've been very happy with this recipe from Simply Recipes: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/jamaican_goat_curry/
I've also done indian lamb dishes, like Madhur Jaffrey's Rogan Josh and Saag Gosht, with goat meat.
-
Hello- Of course, I should have seen that. Thanks so much for the recipe and the insights. I bought some goat recently!I kind of gave you one, a karahi "curry" is probably the simplest and one of the most satisfying to make. But beyond that, almost all Subcontinental "lamb" dishes are really meant to be goat, so just swap the meat and cook longer, because in my experience goat takes foreeeeeeeeverrrr.
-
Hello- Does anyone have a curried goat recipe?
[SE Mi.] Asian Restaurants-What do we love?
in The Heartland: Dining
Posted
Hello- Asian food/Chinese tea is my passion. I love all the Asian styles from Western Asia (often called the Middle East) to the Orient. I have my faves in all categories and I know they are subjective. So, I am willing to share and to learn. I will not begin by listing my faves in all categories and styles that will come in time. But.....
Chinese in A2-Kai Garden
Thai-Bangkok Café
Dim-Sum- Shangri-La
Tea Shop (Chinese)- Goldfish Tea
So, what are your favorite/special places?