ROAST DUCK IN CHINATOWN: FOUR PLACES

Earlier this week I had just finished a delicious lunch (糯米雞、豬肉燒賣、同其他 'lo mai kai, chü yiuk siu mai, tong kei ta') when a curvy young Chinese girl came in with her black boyfriend. They had been discussing something serious just outside the door, while smooching, and I had enjoyed the view immensely.

Indeed, I live life vicariously. Other people's smoochies are educational, and lovely sights inculcate rigid moral fibre. Which may also serve as suppressed envy, or a dirty mind. But let's not go there.


粥 JUK

She ordered one bowl of jook. Jook is rice porridge, also known as congee. This jook was made with preserved egg and lean pork (皮蛋瘦肉粥 'pei daan sau yiuk juk').
Apparently her boyfriend had promised he would try to eat something Chinese.

Just one spoonful later, he reneged on his promise.

Just wait till he has to eat with her folks.

That ought to be plenty interesting.

Nothing but Chinese food.


Jook is darned good stuff. It's comfort food, and easy on the digestion. perfect for breakfast or a light lunch, suitable as a late afternoon snack, and superlative as a late night before or after drinkies bowl of gentle sustenance.

She asked him incredulously "you really don't like it?"

Nope, no idea what he answered. I was distracted by her very lovely face.
A combination of softness, warmth and concern mixed, and hidden hurt. Her boyfriend is no doubt dense as a lump of concrete. I hope for her sake the relationship never even gets to the eat-with-the-folks stage.
Besides, he's black. That probably won't sit to well with the older generation.
And her being Chinese just isn't going to please his mom or his aunties either.
Jook is the least of the hurdles.

Eat the damned jook, dumbass!


Many non-Chinese just don't understand what Chinese food means to some people. For instance, the reason why there is a China Town in many larger cities is because nothing says reassuring comfort than the stuff you know you like. Americans in Europe belly-ache about the lack of ketchup and flock to the nearest McDonalds, even if it takes a two-hour train journey. Cantonese don't complain, but will organize to import dried fish, oyster sauce, and a variety of noodles into the blighted wilderness where they have settled.

And, of course, they will open a restaurant. If it's the only Chinese place in the territory, they'll research what foreigners eat and serve that, as well as some much more edible stuff for the adventurous types and distant relatives who are also hacking it in the backwoods of the universe.

Or, if there are sufficient Chinese around, it will be a place that does meats; roast pork, poached chicken, charsiu, and roast duck.

Roast duck is the lunch you've been waiting for, or the meal at the end of the day that puts the moron throng far behind you.


燒鴨 SIU NGAAP

A few weeks ago I told the waiter at a late night eatery that their menu really didn't suit me, as I was eating by myself, but could I please have some roast duck rice instead?
He understood where I was coming from.

It was a lovely dinner.

Roast duck is, like jook, immense comfort food. Why are the rest of you eating sweet and sour pork? What's with the eggrolls? Fried rice?
Good heavens and dang, you lot are limited.
Explore a bit, why don't you.


There are a number of great places in Chinatown for roast duck.


The following four are personal favourites.


港新寶燒腊小食 GONG SAN PO SIU LAAP SIU SIK
KAM PO (H.K.) K. - KAM PO KITCHEN
801 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-982-3516
["Harbour new treasure roast meats eatery"]

This place often has a line out the door right around dinner time, when people have the urge to augment the family table with some delicious proteins. The take-out business is immense, but you can also eat in. Haven't been there since my ex started taking her new love interest there years ago, but I still have a warm spot for this place because of their delicious duck, as well as the Toishanese fellow behind the counter who good-naturedly engaged me in conversation, despite the fact that while he had no trouble understanding my horrible Cantonese, I couldn't understand his dialect if my life depended on it.


新凱豐燒臘店 SAN HOI FUNG SIU LAAP DIM
GOURMET DELIGHT BARBECUE
1045 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
415-392-3288
["New triumphant surfeit roast meats shop"]

Buy half a duck to go. Take it home, spread newspapers on the table, pour yourself a little saucer of hot sauce, then eat it all. The newspapers are to protect the table and wrap up the bones. You'll also need plenty of paper towels. So good, so good. Feel free to NOT look guilty, it was delicious and worth it. You'll take a long walk tomorrow to recitfy the balance. You can also get some stirfried yauchoi for the vegetarians in you household. If there are any.


新月燒臘小館 SAN YUE SIU LAAP SIU GWUN
NEW MOON RESTAURANT
1247 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-434-1128
["New moon roast meats small establishment"]

Superlative meats at the front counter, half a dozen tables in the back. Their riceplates and lunch specials are inexpensive, and pretty darned good. A bowl of lofotong comes with. People bring their mom to this place, because they've been coming here forever. The folks who work here are happy. For some reason it isn't well known to white people. I would've thought that the sight of smiling men expertly wielding cleavers and chopping meat would have pulled them in, but maybe American Caucasians are weird.
Oh well. More for me.


文仔記燒臘茶餐廳 MAN CHAI KEI SIU LAAP CHA CHAN TENG
Yee's Restaurant
1131 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-576-1818
["Manny's roast meats and tea restaurant"]

Yes, they do duck, as well as many other things. Their roast goose over rice is very delicious. Many of the patrons seem to be middle-aged Cantonese, although I've seen Filipinos happily devouring plate after plate of good stuff. I go here irregularly but often, as I like to pig out on goose. Mmmm, goose!



后感 AFTER THOUGHTS

Today I had the roast duck rice at New Moon on Stockton. Utterly delicious! Afterwards I went up to Trenton Street (登頓街 'dang deun kai'), where it is shaded and leafy, to enjoy a pipe. The wind is softer there, and the sunlight dappling through the boughs threw flickering disfocus leopard spot glows on the building walls. Someone had dropped a small bag of brown rice on the sidewalk, and noticing nearby pigeons, I tore it open and scattered the contents. Within minutes the ravening brutes had eaten all of it, leaving naught for the hungry sparrows who looked on enviously.


Later I bought some yau choi miu (油菜苗) and waai saan (淮山) at a vegetable stall. I shall feast again this evening, before going out for a quiet pipe or two at the cigar bar.

Roast duck gives a glow to the day.
It's quite nearly religious.
A sacrament.



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