This is braised chicken with the essence of ca cuong. The Chinese name for it is "蟬油炆雞". To anyone who can read the Chinese menu right, this highly suggestive name can fool them to think the chicken is braised with the essence of some sort of cicadas that live with osmanthus (桂花蟬) because osmanthus is often used to rev up flavors.
Yet, oddly enough, like many finer things in life, nothing could be further from the truth. The dish, and ca cuong in this case, have gotten nothing to do with neither osmanthus nor cicadas. Truth be told, ca cuong, or lethocerus indicus, is a giant water bug and the essence of it is actually the pheromone produced by male to attract mates, collected from the water-dripping sacs of the adorable and horny bug.
Though it's a very rare dish to find in Hong Kong, its appeal certainly isn't universal: looks that express gosh-it's-so-overwhelming, this-smells-like-cheap-hash and dang-who-ordered-this were floating all over the place when we're having this the other night.
