aprilmei
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Posts posted by aprilmei
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Oh, I missed the initial post about yellow oil crabs. Yes, they're entirely different from hairy crabs. Yellow oil crabs are larger and completely filled with roe. They're only available for a brief period in the hottest days of summer. The crabs are sunburnt which causes the roe to flood the body.
And unlike hairy crabs, which can be either male or female (I prefer the males), yellow oil crabs are always female. They're much more expensive than hairy crabs.
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Oh, I love the Ningbo Resident's Association. Good food and quite inexpensive. Even my cousin-in-law who's half Shanghainese (other half is Taiwanese) approves of it. It used to be that anybody could eat there but now they've been more strict about admitting only members - which I'm not. Is it difficult to join?
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I'm not sure why they're so expensive in restaurants because yes, you're right, they're very simple to make. They just have to be steamed (belly up so the "roe" doesn't escape) then served with brown vinegar with shredded ginger. The traditional accompaniment is warmed rice wine with dried plum (to cut the awful taste of the rice wine although I once had them with aged rice wine that was almost as rich as sherry) and then "tea" made with lots of fresh ginger and rock sugar to taste. Not difficult at all - and usually the hairy crab vendor sells all the stuff so you can buy everything at one place.
I wonder if they're expensive in restaurants because the diner takes so much time eating them - it ties up the table for at least 30 minutes per crab (sometimes longer), and in the meantime, the diner isn't ordering anything else. Also the ceremony of presenting the crab whole and then the waiter/waitress will separate the shells for you. Me, I'd rather have less ceremony and more crabs. I don't know why more people (including myself) don't cook them at home more often - I even have all the implements.
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Oh dear, you missed out on hairy crabs. Can you get them in the States? I'd expect they'd be even more expensive.
I love hairy crabs but don't eat them that often, mostly because they are so expensive in restaurants. The best are said to come from Yang Cheng Lake. But as annachan says, there's a counterfeit industry of hairy crabs that are just given a brief "baptism" in the lake. Even things like laser printing on the claws and special bands with an ID number on it don't discourage the counterfeiters - they put the same things on the "fake" crabs.
The best way to eat the crabs, in my opinion, is to get together with a group of friends and buy a whole or half basket of them from a trusted vendor. That way you can have as many of them as you want without worrying as much about the price (it's still expensive but not as much as it would be eating that many in a restaurant). No, that's not true - that's the best way to do it in Hong Kong. I was lucky enough to be in Shanghai once during hairy crab season and they were so cheap in restaurants - we were able to order crab roe dishes (somebody did all the work for us!) at really inexpensive prices. It was heaven.
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Ah Leung: I wonder if your father knew that cilantro is good for reduction of high blood pressure?
I don't think he did. He, like many others in that generation or before, was not that health conscientious. He insisted on eating duck fat when he was 80, despite our dismay.
He's strictly after the taste and simplicity.
I think if your father made it to at least 80, he did quite well, despite not watching his diet.
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Oh, did they move? Didn't know that - last time I was there was about two months ago.
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Is it necessary to switch entirely? I learned to use imperial weights during my pastry apprenticeship at a hotel in SF, at my next hotel (in New York) they used metric for weights but farenheit for temperatures. When I moved to Hong Kong I continued using metric weights and switched to Celsius for temperatures for some things (ovens and the weather). but just last night I was tempering chocolate and I still used farenheit for the melting, cooling and working temperatures because that's the way I first learned and besides, my Taylor thermometer only has farenheit measurements on the dial.
I'm no longer cooking professionally but for home recipes I use teaspoons and tablespoons for small amounts of dry ingredients (ie 1 tsp baking soda) - I don't bother to weigh those. I use weights if it gets past five grams.
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Chuen Cheung Kui used to be in CWB near Times Square - it was there for ages. Then it closed and I never knew where it moved to. Can you give me the address in Wan Chai? I loved that place - the food was excellent (and cheap). The waiters were so grumpy, though. I love Hakka food. Do you still have to wait for a table during busy tijmes? They don't take bookings.
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Oh, I love it that we can still buy coke in glass bottles - it tastes better that way.
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This morning I went to yum cha at Victoria and yes, the hairy crab dumplings are HK$30 each. We had two each (we were being austere today; the friend I was with isn't as greedy as I am). They were wonderful. They also had some gorgeous shrimp and pea shoot dumplings - so beautiful, you could see the colours - bright green and pink - through the skins.
I always go to Sun Hung Kai Centre. There are three other locations - Citic Tower, the Repulse Bay and Harbour City - but I've never been to those.
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There's also a dish of "deep fried milk" which is seriously rich and delicious. Milk is mixed with something to help it set up solid when it's chilled then it's cut into large piece, battered and fried. It has a very tender, custardy texture. I love it but can only eat one piece because it's so rich. It's eaten as a savoury dish although it's slightly sweet.
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Oh, I wasn't so ill that it put me off ever eating them again; in fact I'm going to Victoria again this Sunday!
At On Lee, when you say fish skins, do you mean jah yu pei? I never even knew they sold that. Their beef ngau lam is very good too.
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Oh, isn't Victoria great? I once ate six hairy crab dumplings which was excessive - I felt ill afterwards.
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Oh, I like turtle jelly too. It's very cooling so I tend to eat it in the summer. It's supposed to be good for the skin.
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Oh, the see dan at Farm House is so good - so subtle and smooth; who knew steamed egg whites could be so flavourful? (and yes, I know why it's called see dan but I'll let you tell). Was your chicken wing huge? I don't know where they get chickens that have such large wings - maybe they put them on steroids?
re: Whampoa food court, there's a really good Hainan chicken rice place there.
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Hi Ah-Leung,
Oh, you went to Farm House too. Every time i've been there the appetisers have been braised beef shin and jah choi (pickled mustard green) - separate dishes, not together. Did you have the chicken wings stuffed with glutinous rice?
Did you know that many places here charge for XO sauce that's on the table - even if you don't ask for it.
And almost all restaurants automatically add 10 per cent service charge - but the money doesn't necessarily go to the staff, not as tips, anyway. The money goes towards staff meals, cleaning the uniforms, staff parties etc - stuff the restaurant owner should be factoring into the cost of running the place.
And if you want white rice you pay for it per portion - you don't automatically get a big container of rice as you do at Chinese restaurants in the States.
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Oh, glad you tried the yun cheung - isn't it the best? As is their pei dan. did you also have the mutton clay pot and the sea cucumber stomachs? Yung Kee also makes amazing hairy crab dishes.
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Yup, I squeezed out the water in the pith every time I changed the water. The flavour of the pith seems to be fine, it's more the texture that seems to be the issue.
All the pomelo pith I've eaten here has a spongy texture (although not stringy). What kind of texture are you looking for?
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Ah Leung, I love those sugar cakes. You have to eat them immediately so all the different textures contrast - if you let it sit around the crunchy cake goes soggy and chewy.
They're not easy to find anymore, though - the government is trying to get rid of the street food vendors.
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Ah Leung, if you're going to eat at McD's, you should try the spicy wings. They're actually quite good; I get a craving for them about once every three or four months. I don't think they're sold in the States. They're very salty though. Also, the McD fries in HK are still cooked in beef fat.
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The best way to enjoy all that fried garlic is to order a bowl of plain jook then use the garlic/chillies to flavour it. But even then, I've never been able to finish all of it - it's just too much. We sometimes box up the garlic and take it home and eat it with rice. I think it contains MSG because I'm always desparately thirsty after eating those crabs.
The other major crab "chain" (is four or five branches a chain?) in that area of Wan Chai is Hee Kee. There are about 15 crab restaurants all very close to each other.
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Ah Leung, it's a pity I"m in California while you're in HOng Kong - what bad timing.
If you're ever in my old neighbourhood of Sai Ying Pun, there's an excellent little noodle shop that I used to go to all the time. It's on High Street at the corner of Centre Street - it's right across the street from a flower shop. They make yau jah gwai and cheung fun on the premises and therefore their jah leung are excellent. They also make yu pei gau - they don't contain fish skin and I can't remember why they're called that. Their ngau gun/ngau lam is also very good (I usually order the former). It's a very neighbourhood-y place; one time I popped in for a bowl of ngau gun hor fun but had forgotten my wallet (it was only HK$15) and the woman said to pay next time I was there. On weekends they add congee to the menu. If you're there at the right time you can watch them frying their yau jah gwai. But there's not much in the neighbourhood so don't make a special trip out there just for that.
If you can make it out to the area where the old Kai Tak airport was, there's a lot of good food - huge variety, including some excellent Chiu Chow. Frank Sun of Tribute (one of my favourite restaurants) and Bricolage took Anthony Bourdain there when he was filming the HK episode (which I'm on very fleetingly [so my friends say - I haven't seen the episode]). A couple weeks ago Frank organised a trip to the same restaurnant for several of us, including Cha Xiu Bao and Sui Mai. We had a feast.
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I was doing a little research on the Internet about different good eats and came across this web page/site:
http://www.go2yl.com/food.asp?id=f04〈=tra
If you read Chinese, it is a good source. But it only mentioned places in the Yuen Long area.
Anybody knows of any sites/pages that have similar info on restaurants in the Causeway Bay/Wan Chai/Central or Kowloon areas?
I am also hoping to find some good San Chow Nor Mai Fan (fried sticky rice with laap cheung). Is this the season for it (I know it's more for the winter). Any place you have tried?
Yes, it's the season for it. The best I've ever had is street food - a vendor pushing a cart with a huge vat of nor mai fan. Wah, it was so cheap too - something like HK$15 for laap cheung/yuen cheung, an extra $5 if you wanted salted duck leg. But I don't see them around any more. Try jardine's crescent in Causeway Bay - there's a little street near Sogo where all the mini buses line up to wait for passengers. There's heaps of good cheap food on that street but some of the places are moving out because rents are rising. Pity.
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... mandarin oranges etc? And what's the difference between them all? has anyone ever done a taste/size comparison?
TIA
Reports on Hong Kong dining
in China: Dining
Posted
God, I hope it's a one-off bad (or rather, mediocre) meal at Farm House. I've always found it such a dependable place - one of the restaurants I don't think about for several months then someone comes to visit and suggests a meal there, and it's as good as ever.
Have you ever tried a place called Sky View in Causeway Bay near Times Square? That's one of my new favourite places; I took my relatives there and even they loved it!