Hong Kong Food

Hong Kong Food

Hong Kong is a shopping heaven. Since my trip wasn’t for shopping, I avoided those fancy shopping malls, instead I went straight to the markets. There are many night markets listed in the Lonely Planet travel guide. As usual, food is everywhere in Chinese cultural. Being disadvantage of traveling alone, I can only try one dish at a time without wasting them. Fresh seafood are displaced on the table, so that they can cook your order on the spot (Pic 1).

I went to another market near Nu Ren Jie (Woman’s Street) during the day. I saw the food I have been craving for a long time: Toad (Pic 2). Since Chinese call them frog, sometimes is misleading. I sometimes buy frozen frog meat in Toronto’s China town, of course the frozen ones are not as good as when they are alive. Those toads look ugly but meats are tender and skins are fatty. You could say it taste like chicken, but fattier. My mother simply stirs fry them with green pepper, wine, salt and grounded pepper. They are considered as Ying food (the food have cold characteristic, such as snake, crab (Pic 6); in the contrary, Yang represents Hot food, such as goat, deer, etc. Ying Yang is also related with traditional Chinese medicines).

I believe turtle is Ying food, but I never tried them (Pic 3). They supposed to be really good for your health that is what Chinese always says. I remember once some rich kid told me that when she was preparing exams, his father will cook one turtle soup every week, just for her. Turtles are commonly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine also. I found an interesting article about turtle imports to China. Sadly, turtle species are declining because this Chinese appetite. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/environment/24216

Snake is a Ying food. Hong Kong is famous for snake soup which I have been longing to try for a long time. Luckily, there are one snake specialty restaurant just right across the place I stayed. It was a tiny cheap restaurant but full of people at night. One bowl of snake clear soup costs 5 HKD. Snake meat soup is a bit more, cooked with mushrooms (Pic 5). At the corner, there are clear glass jars filled up with dead snakes and alcohol (Pic 4). Both soups are so good that the next day I had them again for lunch. In the market I discovered a “snake-skin fruit” (pic 8). The name comes from its’ appearance obviously. I regret that I didn’t try it.

I didn’t get a chance to try Geoduck clam either (Pic 7). In Chinese it is called “elephant trunk clam” and they are expensive (about $ 30 /lb). I will love to try it someday: both Chinese hot pot style and Japanese sashimi style. It is interesting that geoduck clam is native to Canada, however I never see them in Toronto. There are more details if you want to read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoduck

It was my first time to see pig snout alone for sell (Pic 9). I couldn’t imagine how would you cook it. I was also surprised when my friend Jerome told me his grandfather (French) cooked the pig snout, with potato and salad around it. It is visually interesting dish, but according to Jerome, the taste was not so good.

BangKok-Thailand

Bangkok- Thailand

As a tourist, of course I visited most popular sight-seeing spot at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in Bangkok (pic 1). They sell almost everything on the small boats. I can never forget the golden color of mangoes and bananas under the sun. The Floating Market is already packed with tourists by 9am. Not enjoying with crowds, I went to much quieter streets to get some Jack fruits (pic 3). Jack fruit has an unique subtle taste, not very juicy. They sell it in Toronto’s China town also, at Spadina and Dundas Street.

Luckily my stomach has no problem with street food. I tried small portion of variety street foods all day long. Quail eggs weren’t something new to me (Pic 7). A quail egg is roughly one-fifth the size of a chicken egg and it taste just like chicken egg for me. But they have beautiful black spotted shell and internal of the shell is pale sea foam color. I was surprised they have a table of fried quail eggs lined up for sell. They sell 10 quail eggs on each plate. In a hot summer day, it wasn’t something that I really want to eat for lunch; besides, I know I can get them easily in Toronto.

More interesting street food would be local bugs and worms. I ran into someone who only sells insects at the night market. With language barrier, I couldn’t chat with the locals. I heard the stories of farms catch fresh bugs at their houses and cook “the bug of the day”. I wasn’t brave enough to try them and I am not regret either. People who tried them told me the worm taste like French Fries. You have to try it yourself to know it for sure. My friend Jérôme told me that he ate bat in Thailand. I would try it if I see them next time.

I have to admit I am not really interested in worms at all, neither those shopping mall food (Pic 2 & Pic 6). I didn’t spend too much time to inspect what are those things: fruit dessert on thin bread (maybe another version of Japanese pizza?) and highly food-colored flour jellos.

The last 2 days in Bangkok, I visited my Korean friend who works there. He brought me to a Korean restaurant in Korean community in Bangkok. I was recommended to try a very traditional dish: raw minced beef mixed with a raw egg, onion and some sauce. All they told me that is a special cut of the beef. I am surprised it is very tasty. I hope I can find them in Toronto’s Korean town. Speaking of which, I eat quite often Korean food in Toronto. I was quite happy that restaurants always give free small dishes of appetizers to accompany the main dish (normally is 3-5 small dishes). Until I saw Korean restaurant in Bangkok gave us almost 15 small dishes besides the main meal. My Korean friend told me that it is a tradition to cover the table with dishes to show hospitality to guests. I guess they are cutting corners in Toronto.

Shanghai - Xiao Long Bao

Shanghai

Speaking of Shanghai (my home town), you can't say you have been there without having some juicy Xiao Long Bao (pic 1. generally is a pork dumpling with a lot of fat, so that after steaming, the fat becomes the juicyliquid that determine if it is an authentic Xiao Long Bao. )

Xiao Long Bao is so famous and popular in shanghai, there are tons of restaurant serving them nowadays. But for nostalgic reason, my parents and I went the one specialize in Xiao Long Bao in old town: Cheng Huang Temple. The restaurant has three stories and they selling take-out as well, for those who didn't have patience to wait or fight for a decent table. The crab meat Xiao Long Bao suppose to their specialty, however,this time we find it is disappointing because they don't use as much crab
meat as before. It taste almost like the regular pork ones. I will be very disappointed if that just an old fame, but nothing real like the way used to be when I was a child.

When I feel homesick, an authentic Xiao Long Bao can totally comfort me,however, I have never had any good ones in Canada. Too many flour, not enough juicy liquid. Maybe they are adjusted to Canadian taste, but again if you are on diet, this is not the food I recommend to order.

Conclusion, the really good Xiao Long Bao: very thin flour skin, a lot of meat and juicy liquid. It serves with hair-thin ginger in vinegar. The art of eating them is: first bite a tiny hole, then sucks out the juicy liquid before put the whole thing in your mouth. Just be careful, don't burn your tongue.

Besides Xiao Long Bao, Shanghainese also madly love Shen Jian Bao(pic 2). Instead of steaming, it is cooks in a big flat wok with oil. In the morning, you can see a long queue in front of restaurant. Those people are no doubt waiting for fresh cooked hot Shen Jian Bao, with sesame seeds and green onion on top. Again, it is served with vinegar and if you want, a hot seaweed soup to accompany with.

Those are the two things I first searching for when i go back Shanghai.
Just writing about them makes my mouth water...

It is my first time to see a black corn (Pic 3). I am not sure if it is the same as Black Aztec Corn. I am not sure either if it is necessary to wrap them in plastic bags (Chinese seems to wrap everything in plastic). For sure that I don't pay much attention to the veggies, compare to MEAT. It would be interesting to try them, just like the purple cauliflower in Quebec city.

There are tons of food in Shanghai worth to talk about, next time I will
be better prepared and taken a lots of pictures.