Who cares about Tokyo being the new gastronomic capital of the world? Because, let's face it, Hong Kong is the Wong Tai Sin for all your gustatory wishes!
While the noodlicious "heaven in a bowl" writeup I did for SCMP last month leaves us in no doubt about the lure of these charming noodles joints, we must face a fact even the blind can see before we move on to plan another rewarding noodles jaunt forward: the piece is written for, well, N2N, novices to noodles.
I mean, look at the list. It practically bears no difference than pointing Robert De Niro or Al Pacino's when people asked for acting tips. For suave diners hankering a good nosh of noods, it's like -- my editor's gonna give me a nasty stare for saying this -- tickle your itchy foot without taking off the boot. List is full of shops so famed, hyped and so out-there that readers may doubt someone is just channeling a fabulous feast with leftovers. "Chaxiubao, that's it?! I can get a way better one from any celebitchy magazine selling on newstands."
But wait, doing things by halves isn't the Chaxiubao way -- and so -- allow me the indulgence to present you all "the best noodles in Hong Kong you've never heard of" series to redeem my reputation. Dare me to say, this is the list to make you feel like six inches tall even if you think you know noodles-dining in Hong Kong like the back of your hand!
I have been wanting to partake in one of these books2eat/edible book festivals for ages, so it's absolutely delightful to know that we're accepting the mantle of edible readership on our own turf this Saturday.
Date : Saturday, April 5th 2008 Place : The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Central Open Viewing : 12-3pm (free of charge) Winners announced : 3 pm Afternoon Tea : 3-5pm (HK$150 for adults, HK$30 for children aged 3-10)
I don't know about you but my chewchew entry is simple -- I don't even need to wet my hand making it; yet it's extraordinary intellectual at the same time! All I need is some kumquat, apple and ume and voila, a famed Chinese literature masterpiece is there for everyone's drooling pleasure before you knew it!
Friends are complaining about my debut write-up for the South China Mourning Post this week, saying the piece is packed with too much clarity of style -- sound commentary -- moral proses and -- hardboiled investigative and explanatory reporting... in short, too much a serious contender for the next Pulitzer Prize rather than the arrant nonsense from me as always...
Well, what can I say? This is distinguished journalism we're talking about here, right?! It's not like I'm writing with impulses on the nearest bogroll I managed to find or something...
Anyways, food always gives me tons of elan. I am actually having a good time doing this and hopefully many more will come. Last but not least, thanks goes to my editor Susan for the wearisome ordeal of patching everything together.
When I read that workers from the sex industry and concern groups marched to the police headquarters, demanding the police to end discrimination against sex workers last week, I was aghast. Not that I work in the industry myself, but I can empathy with the wrath of the our fellow sex workers. 100 per cent.
I mean -- let us not argue the matter -- whose slate is clean anyway? If you look at the homepage of Zi Teng, a local consciousness raising group for the sex trade, you'll see why a sex job is just about as respectable as any other job in this world -- it might even seen philanthropic of high distinction to some -- reasons include, among others: family burden, loneliness, or even upkeep of stray animals (shame on you PETA people who knows nothing but mooching around naked)! That's why I find it absolutely terrifying there is people who still look down on hookers and think them deserve lesser. As years rolled away, prostitutes are slighted and the imbalances they suffered received scant attention in our society.
A fact you simply can't deny is, like the banner says -- no matter how cheap and filthy you find it to be -- sex work is work; just like there's no denying that cheap food is food!
That's why I'm sharing with you the Sun Den Restaurant from Mongkok, yesh, the slum that reigns all the cheapnesses of Hong Kong. At a time when any fancy-pancy hangout in town can cost you a phallic spasm with a stratospheric bill, Sun Den is only asking a tiny fraction of that (around HK$100 per head) to give you the same level of gustatory satisfaction; just like what anyone of the hostesses from the 'one-woman' brothels around are doing when call girls from Russia checking in some 5-star hotels try Blue Bar of Four Seasons after 10 are asking upwards of HK$4,000 for comparable services.
So next time when you're in Shanghai Street of Mongkok, look out for the "divine beacon" (what Sun Den literally means in Chinese) of yummy Cantonese nosh from afar. Truth be told, deep down in the wild bushes of fluorescent signs is where a towering palace of cheap food erected. Signature dishes include sauteed fish belly with eggs, chicken feet soup, baked fish guts with deep-fried dough sticks, stir-fried beef marrow and stir-fried frog's stomaches (takes more than 40 frogs to make one plate); night in and night out, good, enrapturing food are serving here at dirt cheap prices with dedication, showing how there's nothing bad about spending low once you realize sometimes good thing in life never needs a price tag to prove it...
The only snag is, with so much captivating signs of brothels and massage parlors nearby, you'll really need to mind your step. Por una cabeza, you don't want your thirst for good food be mistakenly driven to the scent of a woman...for that'll really drive you crazy, right? [News picture to the left courtesy of SCMP]
The first shop from our cocoa maestro is finally here, the first one outside anyway of Japan and France. It's a bit on the smaller side for the moment but the second coming of JPH in the form of so-called "flagship" or "concept" store is a soo-in if you ask me: just look at the size of crowd swarming outside!
Conspicuously missing is his aperitif cheese chocolate collection (where's the pont-l'eveque, roquefort, and epoisses?! Why, why are you doing this to humanity?!), as do the soft, plum lips of his chocolate cakes to kiss. Aarrrh, where's the Guayaquil, Longchamp and Safi?! Mr. Hevin, stop teasing us!
The most poetic piece of chocolate mastery, the infamously heart throbbing stiletto is graciously here but for display only (note: I know, it officially makes me the gayest crossdresser in town). Anyways, check out the photostream below to see what happened.
The Japanese must have thought they've got all the cacao glories in the world. Well, well my friend, time to kiss your sweet "choko" illusion goodbye (sorry for the bun: the word "choko" in Japanese sounds the same as toddling and naive).
Look what I've just dug up...look who's coming to town?! Check out here for a sneak preview of our sweet revenge.
My my, my spying perfection as a vigilant foodie certainly has no limits, nor does my affixation that Hong Kong is the Wong Tai Sin to your stomach, not less than Tokyo is the so-called new gastronomic capital of world (as claimed by a food critic in France in the wake of the 2008 Tokyo Michelin Guide release -- but does he know the fact that Tokyo is three times the size of Paris as a city?), as I found one more song to chorus my sweet aspiration (sorry, in Cantonese only)!
To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of this good-for-nothing blog, I am going to write this Shanghai crustacean feast in the most fashionably nostalgic way, ditching all those PictoBrowser and Slideshow thingy to have food-blogging in its most basic form, dish by dish like food blogging was invented way back in the 80's!
The first dish for the dinner was the drunken chicken elbows. In Chinese it is figuratively coined as "雞轉彎", (lit. chicken turns in English). Many chicken connoisseurs in China consider this part the best for a chicken -- truth be told, chicken breast has a very low self-esteem in China when compared with their counterparts in the West.
When a chicken dish is served (always chopped to pieces because we are a civilization of chopsticks, as you can sense it from my last post), guest will wait for the host to clutch his share first. The precious two pieces of chicken elbow (unlike the bespoke one showing here) are saved for the most honorable guest of the host as token of respect. For instances, in a going away party it's the person leaving and in a dinner celebrating promotion the rising star. Tenderness and sweet flavors noted, the elbows (turns) also symbolizes turning a new page in life.
Today is the day of "chasing the moon" (追月), the day after the full moon at Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a day for nostalgia by definition, a day for the remembrance of something forgotten. And thus, from my Chinese blog, 2005, a resonance for evermore:
Kwan Kee Pork Knuckle Noodles Add: G/F, 5 Luen Cheong Street, Luen Wo Market, Fanling, New Territories Tel: 2675 6382 Open hours: 11am to 5:45pm Setting: Communal table and folding chairs, and inhumanely without any air-con!
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