Home Sweet Home

I'm back in my hometown of Vancouver for a couple days before embarking on a cruise to Alaska with my family. Feeling slightly jet-lagged but that hasn't stopped me from enjoying some Chinese 'comfort food' with my parents.

Nancy Wonton House


Yesterday I tried 'shui kau' dumplings for the first time at Nancy Wonton House. Shui Kau (or sui kau) are like 'wonton on steroids', stuffed with shrimp, pork, mushrooms, water chestnuts in a golden-hued wrapper:

We also ordered some chow mein (fried egg noodles) with beef & broccoli. I always try to eat chow mein (thin Cantonese egg noodles, not the 'East meets West' rice dish that masquerades as chicken chow mein in certain areas of the US) whenever I'm in Vancouver because it's impossible to find in New Jersey where 'lo mein' dominates Chinese-American take-out menus. There was an slight upcharge for substituting broccoli for the generic vegetable (ie. bok choy) that normally comes with it, but my dad likes to know exactly what vegetable he's getting:

Lean pork with century egg congee (Kris' favorite):

The congee was accompanied by Chinese donuts - warm, slightly crispy, but tender inside:

Finally, braised bean curd on rice (a bargain at $5.95):


Well, I know I'm back in Vancouver when 'assorted beef guts' is a regular menu item:

And I totally know I'm back in Canada when I hear Gowan playing on the radio (those darn Canadian content rules) but I digress... my mom enjoyed the food so much she said she wanted to go back for Mother's Day.

Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant


This morning, we made an effort to arrive bright and early at Western Lake for dim sum and still found it mobbed at 10 am. We tried going there yesterday around noon but left after waiting for almost half an hour. Normally, you'll find my parents at Golden Harvest for dim sum, but we were determined to find out whether Western Lake was worth all the hype. My mom says you have to be aggressive when trying to get a table, otherwise you'll just be ignored and other guests who arrive after you will be seated before you. If you happen to have a Cantonese-speaking person in your party, have them get the number from the hostess, otherwise they might give you an imaginary number that never gets called (like the number they gave my non-Asian husband yesterday). Today, I had my tough-as-nails Chinese mother harass the hostess every few minutes and she managed to get us seated after only 10 minutes.

At Western Lake, you mark what items you want on a checklist (rather than waiting for old-school steam carts to come around). All dim sum dishes ranged from $2.75 - $4.95.

#2 Steamed Prawn Dumplings (har gow):

#3 Steamed Shui Mai Dumplings:

#11 Steamed Beef Tripe & Beef Tendons:


#18 Steamed Mini Sticky Rice Wraps with Dried Scallops:

#31 Pan Fried Chive Dumplings:


#32 Deep Fried Prawn Spring Rolls:


#34 Pan Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Paste:

#39 Baked B.B.Q. Pork Pastries


We found all the dim sum at Western Lake to be of high quality and everything was served piping hot. The shui mai were some of the biggest and juiciest I've had. Kris was mighty impressed with the size of the stuffed eggplant but a little disappointed that they didn't have wu gok (deep fried taro turnovers). Despite a good experience overall, I highly doubt Western Lake will replace Golden Harvest as my parent's standard dim sum restaurant. My mom said that she doesn't feel like fighting with crowds whenever she wants to have dim sum, plus my dad enjoys the preferential treatment and the quieter environment of Golden Harvest. But it's always fun to change things up once in a while.

Nancy Wonton House
5257 Victoria Dr
Vancouver, BC V5P 3V4
Tel: (604) 327-1862

Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant
4989 Victoria Dr
Vancouver, BC V5P 3T7
Tel: (604) 321-6862

Golden Harvest
4818 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5V 3R8

Tel: (604) 321-4448

Tomorrow, we're headed to the 4th Annual Spot Prawn Festival kickoff, from 12 - 3pm at False Creek Fisherman's Wharf. See you there!

Home Sweet Home

Dim Sum at Sunny Palace, East Brunswick NJ

As Chinese New Year approaches, I start getting mad cravings for Asian food.

Last weekend I was DESPERATE for dim sum. YEARNING for yum-cha. And willing to drive 40 miles for it.

I started grabbing items off dim sum carts before Kris could even sit down.

har gow (shrimp dumpling):

siu mai (pork dumpling):


scallion cakes:


shrimp spring rolls:


lo bak goh (pan fried radish cake):


bible tripe:


lo mai gai (sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf):


stewed beef tripe:

congee w/ pork & century egg:


stuffed eggplant:


Yes, 10 dishes is a lot for 2 people. But I kinda lost control (this is what happens when I don't have dim sum for over 6 months). Thank goodness the dishes were reasonably priced from $2.50 - $4.

Despite being a dim sum 'snob' from Vancouver, I found the quality of the food at Sunny Palace fairly decent. Hubby was also impressed with the restaurant's cleanliness and ample parking. We'll definitely be back.

Kris had to literally drag me out of the restaurant, as I couldn't get enough of the giant aquarium located in the main entrance, especially this cutie-patootie puffer fish:

Sunny Palace
1069 Route 18
South East Brunswick, NJ 08816
(732) 651-8668
http://www.sunnypalace.com/

Dim Sum at Sunny Palace, East Brunswick NJ

Weird Food Wednesdays: Tripe

Beef tripe, one of my top 10 favorite foods! For real.

If tripe is on the menu, I will order it. I have such a weakness for it that my husband has used it to bribe me (usually to get me to spend time with my in-laws).


Yes, it's the stomach of a cow. Get over it. Do I have to remind you what's in a hot dog? There's just something so unique about the flavor of tripe that keeps me coming back for more. So unique, in fact, that I'm kinda at a loss for words on how to describe it (tripe lovers, please help me out here!)

I've seen tripe described as gamey or barnyard-y, but I think those words tend to be overused when referring to offal or leftover cuts of meat and only result in scaring people off. 'Gamey' makes me think of mutton. And 'barnyard-y' is how I might describe a fresh goat cheese, but not tripe. The flavor's actually really mild. Earthy? No, mushrooms and truffles are earthy, not tripe. Grassy? Not really, but I do find something kinda bright and fresh about it. And the texture will vary depending on the cooking method and the kind of tripe used (a cow does have 4 stomachs, afterall) but can range from pleasantly crunchy to melt-in-your mouth tender.


I usually satisfy my craving for tripe at dim sum restaurants or Asian noodle houses, but I've also enjoyed a hearty tripe gratinée at Pastis (NYC) and a tender stewed tripe in marinara sauce at an Italian wedding in Long Island.

Growing up in a Chinese family, I probably ate tripe more often than hamburgers. And from what I can remember, I've always liked tripe and never had to acquire a taste for it. But I couldn't help but wonder whether my fondness for tripe is purely nostalgic.

This is where Hubby Kris comes in handy, he's still an offal 'novice' but always such a good sport when dealing with one of my weird food obsessions. I've made Hubby Kris try beef tripe several times at dim sum, and since he's never objected, I've always assumed he liked it. I managed to get in a quick Q&A session while hubby was getting ready for work this morning:

Phyllis: Tell me how you feel about tripe.

Kris: Good morning to you too. Tripe, well...um...it's just OKAY. I don't hate it or anything. But it's not something I would ever order on my own.

Phyllis: Why not?

Kris: Is this for Weird Food Wednesdays?

Phyllis: Just answer the question!

Kris: Well...cause it doesn't really taste like anything. And it's chewy, like calamari.

Phyllis: But you LOVE calamari!

Kris: Yeah, but that's because it's battered and deep fried. How come no one ever deep fries tripe?

***end of Q&A***

So what I've gathered from this conversation is that my hubby is currently indifferent about tripe but would probably love it if I battered and deep fried it for him (flashback to tempura gefilte fish). Hmmm...maybe my undying love of beef tripe does stem from childhood memories.

Well, perhaps I can entice you with some yummy dim sum photos...

Beef Tripe stewed in a delicate ginger and scallion sauce at The Orient Restaurant, Bethpage NY:

I almost ate the entire dish myself! Fragrant ginger and scallion, crunchy, chewy, and texturally interesting with the tiny bumps of the bible tripe:


Stewed Beef Tendon with Beef Tripes at Golden Harvest Restaurant in Vancouver, BC:

Juicy succulent pieces of honeycomb tripe stewed in a glistening curry garlic sauce (natural nooks and crannies deliver more of the mouthwatering sauce in every bite):

Golden Harvest used to offer this dish with beef tripe only, so I was initially upset that some of my beloved tripe was replaced by tendon. But the tendon was awesome - gelatinous melt-in-your-mouth perfection (and hubby's favorite):

An interesting surprise in the bottom of the dish - french fries to soak up the excess sauce (or what my cousin Francis jokingly referred to as 'Chinese poutine'):


So I bet you're dying to try it now, right?

No?

Seriously, guys...just trust me on this one, it's really GOOD. Yeah, I know, I still haven't given you a good answer about the flavor of tripe. But you know who'd be a good person to ask? The person who developed the simulated tripe flavor for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. I mean, there can't actually be ground up tripe in a Jelly Belly, right?

And my darling hubby will be thrilled to learn that people actually do deep-fry tripe:

Here's the recipe: Deep Fried Tripe from UK chef Fergus Henderson

Well, if dim sum and deep fried tripe don't float your boat, check out Wikipedia for an extensive list of international delicacies that feature tripe (menudo, mondongo, and pacalpörkölt are next on my list). So go out and get your tripe on!



p.s. This will be my last weekly installment of Weird Food Wednesdays :(

p.p.s. I'm not retiring WFW for good, I just won't be doing it on a self-imposed weekly deadline anymore :)

Weird Food Wednesdays: Tripe

Chinatown Brasserie - Upscale Dim Sum

Chinatown Brasserie

380 Lafayette St (at Great Jones St), New York, NY

http://www.chinatownbrasserie.com/

(if you're not interested in reading my personal dim sum story, skip the first section and go directly to the review below)

I'm from Vancouver, which arguably has the best dim sum in North America, so I often find myself desperately craving the stuff, especially around Chinese New Year. For the uninitiated, dim sum is Chinese "high tea", a lively brunch with friends and family where you share small plates of savory dumplings and other tasty delights. I had dim sum almost every weekend growing up. Then I moved to New York, tried dim sum a few times in Manhattan's Chinatown and was utterly disappointed. Several years ago at the Nice Restaurant on E. Broadway (now CLOSED), Kris found it bizarre when we were seated at a table with another family (sharing tables is common during busy weekends). The servers pushing the traditional dim sum carts were avoiding us like the plague, probably because Kris was the only white guy in the restaurant and I was the Chinese girl who couldn't speak Cantonese (the shame!). So I was forced to chase the carts around the crowded restaurant, wildly gesticulating to the servers to get the dishes I wanted. The quality of the food wasn't terrible - although the dumplings were a bit heavy on fat and filler, they were still tasty (probably from MSG). However, the situation went from bad to worse when someone started smoking at our shared table while we were eating! And don't even get me started on the horrifying condition of the bathrooms. To be fair, I've been back to Chinatown recently and had a positive experience at the Vegetarian Dim Sum House (24 Pell St). There's also a few Chinatown dim sum restaurants I haven't tried yet that have gotten decent reviews, like Dim Sum Go Go, Jing Fong, Golden Unicorn and the Peruvian/Chinese fusion newcomer, Red Egg.

Chinatown Brasserie Review

OK, back to present day. I needed a dim sum fix badly, and since I refused to go back to Chinatown, Kris and I found ourselves at the non-Chinese owned Chinatown Brasserie last Saturday. What? A dim sum restaurant not owned by Chinese people?! Relax - executive chef Joe Ng, formerly of New World Tong in Bensonhurst, is supposedly the best dim sum chef in New York. Despite the restaurant's name, it's actually located on a quiet corner in NoHo. The main dining area is a stunning space adorned with elegant Chinoiserie. A grand red staircase leads downstairs to the lounge and koi pond. At 2:30 on a weekend afternoon the restaurant was only half-full, so I guess we didn't actually need our reservation, but perhaps planning ahead got us seated at a spacious table for 4 (perfect for the 7 dishes I planned to order). The crowd was diverse - Asians, non-Asians, couples, large groups, even a few families with children. I told Kris to put away his menu, I'd done my homework and knew what to order:

Curried Chicken Dumplings: Delectable curry chicken & veggie filling in a crisp pastry shell. One of our favorites.

Fried Oysters with Sweet & Sour sauce (background) & Crispy Taro Root Shrimp (foreground): Perfectly fried oysters were heavenly with a thin crispy shell, plump and juicy on the inside, possibly our favorite dish (and Kris' doesn't even like oysters). Taro Shrimp were also executed well, crispy taro just melted in our mouths, jumbo shrimp were styled to looked like little swans (cute!) We enjoyed the shrimp but still prefer the traditional taro ball filling of minced pork.

Lamb Dumplings: Pan fried crispy edges, super tender lamb/veggie filling with a hint of satay. Mouthwatering!

Shrimp & Snow Pea Leaf Dumping: "Honey, my dumpling won't stop staring at me!" Translucent wrapper and shrimp filling were very traditional, but we enjoyed the pleasant bitterness from the addition of the pea leaves.

Turnip Cake: Served with sweet hoisin sauce, crisp on the outside, soft and luscious on the inside. Tasty savory morsels of ham scattered throughout. The spicy XO garnish packed an intense seafood punch (but I ate it all anyways).

Barbecue Duck Spring Rolls: crispy wrapper (perfectly fried and not greasy) with shredded duck/veggie filling, but nothing to get excited about.

Overall, we had a really nice experience at Chinatown Brasserie. Chef Joe Ng did not disappoint - the dim sum was delicious, expertly prepared, and beautifully presented. The only catch is that the dishes are 2-3 times more expensive than Chinatown, but I guess that's the price you have to pay for good service, a gorgeous setting, and clean bathrooms. Cost:$63 (inclusive of tax) for 7 dim sum dishes. Even with our healthy appetites, we rarely spend more than $25 in a typical dim sum restaurant.

The Verdict: Wish I could have dim sum there every week, but too pricey (sigh) for our current recession budget. But maybe if I only get the fried oysters...

I love Koi!

Chinatown Brasserie - Upscale Dim Sum