Great Chinese Restaurants Continue To Open

As many of you know a couple of years ago I came out with a Top 10 Chinese Restaurant in the United States listing for the Asia Society   , and which was reproduced as a sidebar to the Los Angeles Times article about my quest for 6,000 Chinese restaurants.   Unlike most best restaurant listings seen in print or on the air, I made no attempt to balance the list for geographic locale, regional cuisines, or any other factor to make the article more palatable to a wider group of readers.   Rather I gave my personal opinion as to what were in fact the best Chinese restaurants in the country.  As a result my list consisted of restaurants all located in California, the majority of which represented Cantonese style cuisine.  The reaction from two quarters was swift.  I was pilloried by New Yorkers, incensed that no New York restaurants were included, with innumerable internet comments that I was obviously a “homer” who was biased towards California food.  A lesser degree of complaint came from supporters of Sichuan and similar non-Cantonese Chinese food who made similar allegations based on my Toishanese/Cantonese ancestry.

As to the status of New York Chinese food it appears that while it had been previously unspoken, many people were thinking what I said.  After the original wave of outrage from New Yorkers, it is common to see concessions from New Yorkers on the restaurant message boards that New York Chinese food is behind the curve compared to California and Canada.   And my more recent comments on the second class state of New York Chinese food draw little negative reaction.  All this is not to say that Chinese food in New York is bad.  There are many excellent Chinese restaurants in New York, and I look forward to visiting Manhattan Chinatown and other venues in New York City to sample Chinese restaurants.  My only point is that, to use a boxing term, pound for pound the Chinese food in New York is clearly inferior to that in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas.

With regard to Cantonese vs. non-Cantonese food, the analysis is slightly different.  No question, there is outstanding Sichuan, Shanghai, Beijing, Dongbei, Taiwanese and other regional Chinese style restaurants to be found in California, New York and other locales.  However, at the time that the original Top 10 listing was published, there just weren’t enough signature restaurants in those categories to make a large dent in the Top 10, though some of the Sichuan style restaurants in various parts of Manhattan outside of Chinatown definitely deserved honorable mention.

However supporters of New York Chinese food and Sichuan style Chinese food can rejoice in that they now have recently opened restaurants that clearly are of Top 10 caliber.    Just weeks before my Top 10 list was published, the London based Hakkasan chain opened its first US branch in midtown Manhattan at 310 W. 43rd St.   At the time, many people assumed it was just another expensive Chinese restaurant that served Americanized Chinese food a la Mr. Chow.  However, it did not take long for observers of Chinese food to realize that Hakkasan was the real thing, and that their mantra of offering modern authentic Chinese food was a valid description.  While some of their fare may not seem like authentically Chinese fare, such as Peking duck with Kaluga caviar, it is certainly consistent with modern Chinese food trends in places like Hong Kong and other Chinese food centers.  Hakkasan has since opened branches in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Beverly Hills.

Meanwhile , in the San Gabriel Valley outside of Los Angeles, since its opening less than a year ago, Chengdu Taste has taken the food world by storm, becoming the hottest ticket in town both in terms of taste and buzz, and even capturing the attention of New York food writer Ruth Reichl.  With its mouth numbing Sichuan menu full of complex flavors, the lines at this relatively small restaurant at 828 W. Valley Bl. in Alhambra are ridiculous.  Prime time waiting time may be upwards of two hours and if you can get in with a wait of under an hour at anytime, consider yourself fortunate.  To accommodate its crowds, Chengdu Taste extended its closing time by two hours and is hastily opening up a second location a few miles east on Valley Bl.  As I have said many times before, Chinese food continues to evolve and the next great restaurant is waiting to raise the bar once again.

What We Ate In Hong Kong, Part IV - The Pictures

As regular readers know from reading this this blog, I am not a foodie and do not photograph my meals.  However, the descriptions of the food we had in Hong Kong last month has led to requests to see what some of the items described look like.  Fortunately my daughter, Supertina, is a foodie and does photograph her meals.  So since she was on the trip, we do have photographic coverage on my Picasaweb page.  The pictures are at https://picasaweb.google.com/117066920837972224028/HongKongFood

What We Ate In Hong Kong, Part III

Lung Hing Keen, Four Seasons Hotel, Central.  Needed to have somebody pull some strings to get us off of the waiting list for a reservation.  This was a definitely different type of upscale dining.  Tables widely spaced throughout the dining room, without the fuss or clatter typically associated with dim sum restaurants.  The look and the taste of the food was exquisite.  The steamed scallop dumpling came with a green wrapper and was almost creamy.  The gold leaf seafood dumpling in a brown wrapper was unique, though I can’t say that the gold had any particular taste.  We also had siu mai, pan fried beef buns (visually like Shanghainese shen jen bao), xiaolongbao (perhaps the most ordinary of the dishes), roast goose XO puffs, ha gow, abalone chicken puffs, crispy spring rolls with shrimp, mushrooms dumplings in a brown wrapper, XO rice noodle logs (incredibly delicate), egg puffs, poppyseed jello, steamed fois gras with abalone sauce and lobster fried rice.  Truly a meal to remember and surprisingly only $70 per person.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow, Grand Century Shopping Mall, Mong Kok.  The best shark fin soup I had ever eaten.  We also had the Chiu Chow appetizer plate (shrimp ball, crab ball, jellyfish and roast goose), gai lan, fried arugala with chicken, shrimp lettuce wrap, bamboo pith tofu casserole and two desserts, green bean taro and taro bars.  Not a Michelin star meal, but quite good, though at $70 per person (likely due to the shark fin) nothing close to Lung Hing Keen.

Aberdeen Fishball and Noodles, 242 San Yeung Choi St. S, Mong Kok.  Another random choice near the hotel.   The fish broth was by far the tastiest I had ever eaten.  The fish balls and noodles themselves were good, not great, in line with our previous experience of random Hong Kong restaurants. 

Tasty Congee in the Elements mall in the western part of Tsim Sha Shui.  We had fresh carp jook, shrimp dumpling soup, you tiao cheung fun, dark fish balls, gai lan and turnip cake.  Another excellent meal, though at $15 per person a little expensive for this category of food. 

Tsui Wah, 2 Carnarvon Road, in Tsim Sha Shui, another one of those restaurants with long lines of people waiting to get in.  Tsui Wah is a popular café chain and we had several favorites including curry beef brisket, milk buns, gai lan, vegetables with fish, mixed vegetables, tomato beef with egg, hot almond egg white drink, and Singapore mei fun.  Reasonably priced at $10 per person.

Other eats.  The egg tarts at Tai Cheong were fantastic.  But other bakery fare was a little disappointing.  In our last Hong Kong visit in 2009, I was impressed by the quality and variety of the buns and sandwiches.  But at least at the places I tried near the hotel it was like being back home.  I’m guessing that this shows that Los Angeles has closed the gap with newcomers like 85° Bakery and its imitators leading the way.   One morning I decided to drop by the neighborhood grocery store for a no carb breakfast, hoping to get some cold cuts.  Unfortunately they apparently haven’t heard of chicken or turkey lunch meat in Hong Kong.  Everything was pork except for chicken hot dogs, one from France, the other from California.The problem was that the French hot dogs indicated that they were uncooked.  While the California hot dogs made in Fresno had no indication that they needed to be cooked, could it be that Hong Kongers expected all hot dogs to be uncooked?  So having to choose between pork cold cuts or possibly uncooked chicken hot dogs, I chose the latter, guessing the California hot dogs were already cooked.  Fortunately, they were cooked.

Every scheduled meal was better than the food back in Los Angeles, so we finally achieved our desire to experience the superior brand of Chinese food.  Where Hong Kong excels is at the high end (there are no Michelin star Chinese restaurants in California) and the low end (who thought noodle soup or egg tarts could taste so good?).    Also Hong Kong has a superior variety and quality of fresh ingredients.    Otherwise there is a vast middle where the food is comparable to Los Angeles Chinese food.    In Hong Kong as demonstrated by the long lines outside of many of the restaurants we visited, the people know where the good food is.  But as the waiter at Ming Court, who had been a longtime resident of the San Gabriel Valley said, the Chinese food in Los Angeles is also very good, so Hong Kong’s advantage is in spots, not across the board.

What We Ate In Hong Kong, Part II

Our first venture onto Hong Kong Island and Michelin star restaurants.  

Kau Kee Restaurant, 21 Gough St., Central.  We got there 10 minutes before opening and there was a block long line waiting to get in.  The beef brisket noodle soup was fabulous.  The curry version not so good, though some people prefer that one to the plain.   Priciest of the street eats at about $7 per person.

                                                                                                                       

Fish Ball Chong Chai Kee, 2 Kau U Fong, Central.   This was probably the least outstanding planned meals of the trip, perhaps magnified by the fact that we came here immediately after the fantastic noodles at Kau Kee.  The highlight at Fish Ball Chong Chai Kee was the fish balls that had a crunch (if that’s possible) unlike that of any other fish ball we’ve had.

Gyu Jin,  a hotpot restaurant in the iSquare vertical shopping mall in the Tsim Sha Shui district.  The Gyu Jin hotpot was all you can eat, with the price depending on the particular grade of beef chosen.  Ours came to $40 per person.  There were also serve yourself items consisting primarily of vegetables, fish balls, and tofu and noodle items.  The broth was very flavorful and much better than what is typically found in Los Angeles

Seaview Food Shop, 72 Bute St., Mong Kok.  Another random eatery by the hotel.  Jook was quite good.  Cheung fun wasn’t. 

Tim Ho Wan, MTR Hong Kong Station, Central.  Though it’s a one star Michelin restaurant,  it was not a fancy place with a fancy menu, indeed being located in the shopping area of a transit station.  Very tasty, though common dim sum items.  The selections included fried beef rolls, beef balls, ha gow, chicken feet, the star-of-the-show a baked cha siu bao that looked like a biscuit, tofu wrap, egg roll, lotus leaf chicken rice, turnip cake, spare rib, ham sui guk, beef cheung fun, siu mai, malay cake, spinach shrimp dumpling, preserved vegetable with ground ground pork, lettuce and gojiberry jello.  Despite the lack of exotic varieties, the Michelin star was well deserved and many of the common items were the best versions we had.  Cost about $10 per person.

Under Bridge Spicy Crab, 421 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai.  On the menu were black bean clams, their signature crab, seafood soup, fried rice, mantis shrimp, egg soup, steamed turbot and shrimp in the nest.  By far the highlight was the deep fried garlic served with the crab and the mantis shrimp.  That garlic was totally delicious.  Particularly popular with tourists.

Lan Fong Yuen, 36 Nathan Road (inside), Tsim Sha Shui.   Another long line.  The menu at Lan Fong Yuen, a Hong Kong style café, is quite compact.  When we asked a waiter about  vegetable dishes he said there weren’t any.   We had all of their signature dishes–chicken on a bed of ramen, both with ginger sauce and also in lobster sauce.  Hong Kong style milk buns, and Hong Kong style French toast.  All of these items were terrific.  They only dish that wasn’t very good was the pork chop rice. 

Ming Court in the Langham Place Hotel, Mong Kok.  Two star Michelin.  The traditional Cantonese dinner at Ming Court was outstanding.  The Peking duck was the best I’ve eaten, with a delicious pancake wrapper (as opposed to the Mantou buns that we Californians are used to), as was the rest of the duck with pine nuts in lettuce cups.   The other entrees were all winners, steamed minced Australian waygu beef with tangerine peel, crisp vermicelli with minced waygu, tomato, and egg; and tofu with wild mushrooms in black truffle sauce.  The complimentary shrimp balls were also excellent.   About $40 per person.

What We Ate In Hong Kong, Part I

Mission accomplished!  Every meal planned by our hosts was better than the food back in Los Angeles, so we finally achieved our desire to experience the superior brand of Chinese food.   This is the first part of our trip.  

Won Ton Noodle King, 208 Sai Yeung Choi St. S., Mong Kok.  One of our few unchoreographed meals by the hotel.   The restaurant had a large selection of noodle soups pictured on the wall.  Prices were dirt cheap, ranging from about $1.50 to about $2.75.  My fish dumplings with rice noodle soup was fantastic, while everybody else was also pleased with their selections.  After so many ordinary meals at random Hong Kong restaurants in prior visits, we finally had a winner. 

Yamm buffet in the Mira Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui (118 Nathan Road).   We’ve never had such a high quality buffet before, though for a base price of $80 per person the quality better be high.  Top selections included fresh Maine lobster tails, seared foie gras, lamb chops (amazingly not gamey) accompanied by a delicious mint sauce, salmon, duck confit,  lobster noodle, uni, and oysters.  The sushi was high quality and there was an interesting array of desserts.

Australian Dairy Company, 47 Parkes Street, Jordan.  I was surprised to see a half block long line of people waiting to get in.  As it turns out, long lines don’t necessarily mean long waits, particularly at limited menu eateries like this one.  The scrambled egg and ham on toast was outstanding–I don’t know how they make scrambled egg so delicious.  And the ham macaroni soup was also good.  But we were in and out in probably 20 minutes, as our food arrived almost immediately, and the meal itself wasn’t that extensive.  About $4 per person.

Mak Man Kee Noodle Shop, 51 Parkes St., Jordan.  Mak’s Noodles is a famous noodle chain in Hong Kong   Mak Man Kee Noodle is a ripoff of Mak’s Noodles (which was two shops further down on the same street and which has a branch in Vancouver), but it’s better.  The noodles and wonton were outstanding.

Cheun Kee Seafood Restaurant, Sai Kung, New Territories.  (Pictured in previous on-scene post.) Greatest display of live seafood in tanks that I have ever seen.  The choices we had for dinner were phenomenal.  We had nine courses consisting of live boiled shrimp, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, razor clams in black bean sauce, individual sized South African whole white abalone, whole scallops served in the shell with glass noodles, geoduck sashimi style, geoduck jook, stir fried geoduck with celery, and steamed tiger fish.

Live Seafood in the New Territories

For those of you used to dining in the Hong Kong style seafood palaces of the San Gabriel Valley or the San Francisco Bay Area, seeing tanks of live seafood is de rigeur.  But nothing in the good old USA compares to our meal this evening at Chuen Kee Seafood in Sai Kung in the New Territories.  Because while one might end up ordering a few live seafood items as part of the dinner back home, at restaurants like Chuen Kee, your entire menu may consist of live seafood items.  For instance, tonight we had nine courses consisting of live boiled shrimp, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, razor clams in black bean sauce, individual sized South African whole white abalone, whole scallops served in the shell with glass noodles, geoduck sashimi style, geoduck jook, stir friend geoduck with celery, and steamed tiger fish.  Not exactly a balanced meal, but all I can say is "Wow!"  And have you ever seen tanks that look like this?

How I Turned Overnight From Mr. Sickly To Mr. Healthy

While fighting what appeared to be a head cold for a few days right before our currently in progress Hong Kong dining excursion, I stopped to think when was the last time I had been sick.  I think it was probably three years ago when I went on vacation to Nashville and developed laryngitis (and consequently had difficulty ordering at Chinese restaurants since I was unable to ask questions about menu items) and an uncontrollable cough.  Indeed for the past 40 years I’ve seldom caught any illnesses.  It’s been 25 years since I had the flu, possibly just as long since I had a fever, and perhaps I get a cold maybe every two years.

But if you knew me when I was in school you’d be stunned by this run of relatively good health.  I missed nine consecutive weeks of kindergarten, not with a major illness, but rather a continuous series of nagging colds. (However, in the next 10 week period I was only absent 15 of the 49 school days in that segment.)  I missed three consecutive weeks in junior high due to bronchitis, and even two straight weeks in law school due to the flu. 

So what is the reason for my change in health, which essentially turned on a dime in the mid-1970s?   Well it was just dumb luck (or extreme fortune).  I had just started working and one day I found this sheet of paper lying on an unattended desk in the staff room where I was housed.  It was a mimeographed review of a book entitled There IS A Cure for the Common Cold.  It detailed the author’s theory of how strategic use of vitamin C can ward off the onset of illness.  This book did not advocate recurring mega doses of vitamin C,or even daily year round doses of the vitamin, but rather periodic intake of increased dosages of vitamin C upon exposure to illness.  The author recommended just 625 mg of vitamin C every three hours after exposure, though I have altered that to 500 mg every hour.  

From that point I followed that advice and my health turned 180 degrees. I haven’t taken a sick day from work in over 25 years as I just work through the occasional cold.   In all these years I only got sick once from Mrs. Chandavkl (an elementary school teacher who often fell ill to her students’ germs) or my kids, and I think that one time was from shared food.. In more recent years, zinc has proven to ward off illness, so I’ve also added that to my arsenal. I’ve also attributed the few times that I’ve gotten sick to getting a chill, so I’m also paying special attention to staying warm, and also getting sufficient rest..