Tales from the Fragrant Harbour

[Duvel]

It has been a long day with some even longer discussions. That calls out for comfort food, preferably deep fried

So tonight "Jägerschnitzel mit Kartoffelgratin" (or deep fried pork cutlet with mushroom sauce and [very garlicky] scalloped potatoes), with a couple of Japanese fixings on the side (benishoga, tonkatsu sauce, curry) ... For tonight I am reconciled with the world

 

Edited August 1, 2017 by Duvel (log)

[Shelby]

Looks excellent!  How do you make the mushroom sauce?

[barolo]

I love the "this handle is disinfected four times a day" sign.  Very reassuring. 

 

Are there a lot of restaurants in Hong Kong still using carts for dim sum?  Here in Vancouver they are an endangered species.

 

 

[Duvel]

13 hours ago, Shelby said:

Looks excellent!  How do you make the mushroom sauce?

Garlic and some bacon pieces are fried in butter, half a pound of chopped champignons are added and sautéed. White wine is added, reduced, then cream, reduced again and some powdered porcini are added and everything is reduced to a proper consistency. Salt & pepper to taste ...

Edited August 2, 2017 by Duvel
Typo (log)

[Duvel]

12 minutes ago, barolo said:

I love the "this handle is disinfected four times a day" sign.  Very reassuring. 

 

Are there a lot of restaurants in Hong Kong still using carts for dim sum?  Here in Vancouver they are an endangered species.

 

 

Quite some actually. It's part of the experience and actually what the locals come for ...

[barolo]

1 minute ago, Duvel said:

Quite some actually. It's part of the experience and actually what the locals come for ...

 

Yes I like the carts too. All those temptations rolling by. 

[liuzhou]

12 hours ago, Shelby said:

I would so love to try a turnip cake.  Love turnips.

 

I wouldn't want you to be disappointed, so I feel obliged to point out that what is often (mis)translated as 'turnip cake' is, in fact, 'radish cake'. By radish I mean the Asian type. Huge radishes known as 'daikon radish' or 'mooli'.

 

Daikon Radish

 

The Cantonese name is 'Lo Bak Go' or 'Law Bock Gow' depending on your preferred transliteration system. The Chinese is 蘿蔔糕. The first two characters mean daikon radish. The third means cake.

Some dictionaries give 蘿蔔 as the translation of 'turnip' but turnip is more correctly 蕪菁 (Mandarin: wújīng). True turnip is unusual in Chinese cuisine and when it does turn up it is nearly always pickled.

 

Anyway, the daikon cakes are tasty, too. Mr. Google has some recipes.

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

I love dim sum. There used to be an old Chinese restaurant in Memphis that, on Sunday afternoon, did dim sum with traditional service. I only learned about it from a friend whose husband is a second-generation HK immigrant. I was immediately converted (she who prefers a cocktail buffet to almost ANY seated dinner), and went back often, until it closed.

 

At the risk of repeating myself, thanks so much for this glimpse of Hong Kong. Absolutely fascinating. And making me SO hungry.

[dcarch]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

but I would so love to try a turnip cake.  Love turnips

 

That might be daikon cake, which is more common.

 

dcarch

(Sorry, didn't see LuiZhou's post when I was typing)

 

Edited August 1, 2017 by dcarch (log)

[rotuts]

id just order more.

 

esp dumplings , buns, etc.

[dcarch]

Speaking of dim sum.

I was told that it really is supposed to be a breakfast thing.

When I was in Hong Kong, the hotel was nearby a park. Every morning from my window, I saw a very typical Hong Kong thing, people exercising in the park:

 

So beautiful. After exercising, then they would go and have dim sum.

Is that still happening?

 

dcarch

 

 

 

[KennethT]

It's funny - your photos of Maxim's Palace look almost exactly like mine from 2011!  We enjoyed our meal there, but dim sum is much more fun with more than 2 people so you can try more dishes without leaving tons of food.

 

While we thought the carts were a lot of fun, we thought the quality of food was better at places where you ordered off of a menu...

[Duvel]

Good morning from Central !

 

Today is the final day of this food blog and I decided that in order to provide a more diverse inside into Hong Kong's food offerings I had to step outside of my comfort zone. So, instead of my beloved dark green tea I purchased a bottle of cold Pu-erh tea at the convenience store. Rest assure, I will not do that mistake again  ...

 

(the warm ham & scrambled egg roll was good, though)

 

[Duvel]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I wouldn't want you to be disappointed, so I feel obliged to point out that what is often (mis)translated as 'turnip cake' is, in fact, 'radish cake'. By radish I mean the Asian type. Huge radishes known as 'daikon radish' or 'mooli'.

 

The Cantonese name is 'Lo Bak Go' or 'Law Bock Gow' depending on your preferred transliteration system. The Chinese is 蘿蔔糕. The first two characters mean daikon radish. The third means cake.

Some dictionaries give 蘿蔔 as the translation of 'turnip' but turnip is more correctly 蕪菁 (Mandarin: wújīng). True turnip is unusual in Chinese cuisine and when it does turn up it is nearly always pickled.

 

Anyway, the daikon cakes are tasty, too. Mr. Google has some recipes.

 

Yes, the English etymology of the humble turnip cake is a bit of a pickle. You find very few places that do not sell it as "turnip cake" here, but strangely when you ask your (local) friend as to what it is inside the answer is usually "white carrot"

 

Thanks for clarifying, @liuzhou !

[Duvel]

10 hours ago, rotuts said:

id just order more.

 

esp dumplings , buns, etc.

 

Yeah, won't happen to me. As you can see from most of my posts my inner strength lies in complete portion control and my ability to say no to any treat  

[Duvel]

10 hours ago, dcarch said:

Speaking of dim sum.

I was told that it really is supposed to be a breakfast thing.

When I was in Hong Kong, the hotel was nearby a park. Every morning from my window, I saw a very typical Hong Kong thing, people exercising in the park:

 

So beautiful. After exercising, then they would go and have dim sum.

Is that still happening?

 

dcarch

 

I would call it more like a brunch thing. Starting early, most places close after lunch and by lunch sometimes very popular items are already out. Maxim's Palace for example opens around 8.00h. The worst mistake you can make for these places is actually showing up at 13.00h or later ...

 

And for the early morning exercise: yes, definitely. All public places, the waterfront, public playgrounds - even in my street when you get up early enough. Whether they head out for dim sum afterwards I can't tell. But the fun of dim sum is to have a larger group (= more choices), so maybe individually they rather have a bowl of congee (or macaroni and ham ).

[Duvel]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

While we thought the carts were a lot of fun, we thought the quality of food was better at places where you ordered off of a menu...

 

I think its a bit of a trade-off: I love the carts and if the place is large and swamped, food from the carts is fresh and has so many different offers. In smaller places or at times with fewer customers, a la carte would be my choice as well. Needless to say, when I have guests from overseas a place like Maxim's palace is fantastic, and without having to go through a menu from which half of the names don't really give you anything everyone can just basically pick their choice from the passing-by carts - instant gratification!

[liuzhou]

32 minutes ago, Duvel said:

the answer is usually "white carrot"

 

The translation of daikon radish as 'white carrot' makes a sort of sense. Almost.

 

When carrots were introduced to China, they had no name, but were considered to resemble (in terms of shape) the daikon. So, they were called '胡萝卜 Simplified / 胡蘿蔔 Traditional', meaning 'foreign radish'. Alternatively, they are sometimes called '红萝卜 (S) / 紅蘿蔔 (T)', or 'red radish.

 

It is easy to see how this process could be reversed, resulting in 'white carrots'.

 

Just another example of how words don't always fall into matching categories across languages. Chinese considers asparagus to be a form of bamboo, and mice and rats are the same species, for example.

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[KennethT]

Noooo!!! Don't end yet!!!!

[Duvel]

I almost missed one iconic Hong Kong dish ... but was luckily reminded. Won ton noodle soup (Wan Tan Min) is a simplistic affair, drawing its appeal from a the perfect execution of the three ingredients: Won tons (purely made with shrimp), super-thin egg noddles that are barely cooked (and reamin crunchy, almost like shirataki noodles) and a lightly seasoned fish broth (from dried fish/shrimps, that sometimes has undertones of cured pork products). Occasionally gai lan or gau coi (garlic chives) are added.

 

For lunch I usually go to the Midlevels, which stretch uphill from Central along the slopes of Victoria peak. Alas, you don't have to climb thanks to the roofed midlevels escalator, that conveniently transports you via several stages up the hill.

 

While walking/riding up, you have good views over the streets and into the neigbouring buildings ...

 

Mak's Noodles is similar iconic, being located in Wellington street since somewhen in the 50's (the bottom of the picture).

 

Two chefs are happily working in the front kitchen of the shop, dishing out houndreds of won ton soups in the next two hours or so ...

 

Menu is simple and cosists of the won ton soup and its varaitions (with brisket, additional pork dumplings etc.). Alternatively, they offer all dishes "dry", e.g. without the broth but then accompanied by a brown sauce (if desired).

 

I took the classic (40 HKD). Very hot, noodles very crunchy, won ton slippery and soft and a very flavorful broth.

 

In order to make sure I get a seat I went early (11.30h) and I was successful. About thirty minutes later you would need to queue.

 

Strolling back to office you can take the little cobble stone alley downhill, where you can pick up daily necessities from little electric fans over second hand books to your next scary Halloween mask

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by Duvel (log)

[KennethT]

I loved the wonton noodle soup in HK... we had it every day for breakfast!

[Shelby]

I would give about anything for a bowl of that soup right now!

[Anna N]

 Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse into life in Hong Kong. I have so enjoyed myself following along. 

[IowaDee]

Let me add my thanks.  These wonderful blogs are the only way I can visit this places.  If there were only a way to make the amazing food photos into "scratch and sniff" ones, my world would be complete.  

[barolo]

Thank you for bringing us along on your food adventures Duvel!  You had me checking airfare to Hong Kong.