Recently a reader posted a question in my 'letterbox' (which is linked at the bottom of this and other posts), writing: "I just moved to SF and was wondering if you knew of a place to find Dong Gu 冬菇 the Chinese Winter Mushrooms. I'm not Chinese and don't know the city too well but it seems like you might know. Thanks so much! "
Of course I promptly wrote back.
Because it's a food quest.
Food is great.
[Begin cite]
Hi G.L.,
Almost any grocery store that caters to Asians will carry those. In C'town, check the places along Stockton Street that have bottled sauces and dry goods. But there are also shops on Jackson between Stockton and Grant.
Wing Scene: 898 Stockton Street, corner of Clay Street, is as good a place as any, as well as at the Stockton Seafood Center (green awnings) across Clay at 900 Stockton, which sells only dry goods, including herbs and tonics. But further down Stockton between Washington and Broadway is filled with food places that are good for browsing.
BTW: on Jackson, between Stockton and Powell, north side of the street, are butcher stores that sell the preferred Cantonese cuts of meat, including the Wah Hing Market (華興公司), where a number of basic Chinese grocery store items can be found, including odd sauces and dried ingredients.
Note that none of these stores have much of a visible English language sign presence; for their customers, that isn't necessary.
The very best kind of dong gu (冬菇) are thick, beautifully puffy looking, and have an even crackly skin on the cap. These will cost a lot more. For regular purposes, lesser grades are just as useful, however.
You might find those at Nan Hai Corporation, 919 Grant Avenue, between Washington and Jackson. They're good to keep in mind for many Chinese dried goods, as well as an extremely impressive selection of teas.
There are also numerous Chinese-Viet grocery stores in the Tenderloin, and along Clement Street, as well as in the outer Sunset and Richmond.
Good luck.
[End cite]
NOTES
A) - First two stores mentioned
Wing Scene
永勝食品公司
['wing sing sik-pan gung-si']
898 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108
A multitude of groceries. Dried goods, wafers, biscuits, crackers, Chinese candies and snacky things, sauces, etcetera. One can also find imported mooncakes here, during the season, as well as patent remedies and eggroll cookies.
Stockton Street Seafood Center
蟲草城海味店
['chung-chou seng hoi-mei dim']
900 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Mostly dried fish of various types, dry shrimp, dry oysters and other bivalves, tonic herbs and bulk dried vegetables, canned abalone, and similar things. Plus some staples.
The dried mushrooms (冬菇 'dung-gu') are arrayed opposite the bins of sea cucumber (海參 'hoi-saam'); they also have Indonesian pure white swallows nest (印尼白燕窩 'yan-nei baak yin-wo'), beautiful humongous dried African abalone (非洲鮑魚 'fei-chau baau-yü'), Japanese purple ling zhi fungus (日本紫靈芝 'yat-pun ji ling-ji'), fish belly (魚肚 'yü tou'), San Wui aged dried orange peel (新會陳年舊陳皮 'san-wui chan-nin kau chan-pei'), Yunnan tienchi (雲南田七 'waan-nam tin-chat'), and Guangdong ji red fruit (廣東吉紅果 'gwon dung kat hung gwo'；a type of hawthorn). Plus, for tea purposes, Hangzhou tribute chrysanthemum flower (杭州貢菊花 'hong-jau gung guk-faa'), Xinjiang Kunlun snow chrysanthemum (新疆崑崙雪菊 'san-geung kwan luen suet guk-faa').
And of course American ginseng (花旗參 'faa-gei saam').
B) - Places along Stockton Street
Just walking down from the tunnel to Broadway, a number of shops strike the eye. Not all of them will sell dried mushrooms, but many of them do. Besides numerous fascinating condiments, dried goods, and fresh foods.
Between Sacramento and Clay Street:
Won Kow Food Products
環球海味食品公司
['waan-kau hoi-mei sik-pan gung-si']
814 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Dried seafoods, and a variety of other things. Nowadays, mostly magazines, movies, fifty-part television melodramas, and doodads for your cell device.
Wycen Foods Inc.
祥發臘味
['cheung faat laap mei']
832 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Excellent preserved meats, sausages, cured pork. And of particular note: delicious beef jerky (美味的牛肉幹 'mei mei dik ngau yiuk gon').
Wing Scene
永勝食品公司
['wing sing sik-pan gong-si']
898 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Between Clay and Washington Street:
Stockton St. Seafood Center, Inc.
蟲草城海味店
['chung-chou seng hoi-mei dim']
900 & 902 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Between Washington and Jackson Street:
Tai Sang Trading Co. Inc
大生堂
['taai sang tong']
1018 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Hop Hing Ginseng Co.
合興參茸藥行
['hap hing saam-yung yuek hong']
1027Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tonic herbs and quality dried ingredients.
Rainbow House
彩雲軒
['choi wan hin']
1014 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh fruit and vegetables galore.
Golden Way Trading Company
偉恆貿易公司
[wai-hang mau-yi gung-si']
1024 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Booze, dry goods, cookies, candies, tea. Teabags especially. Friendly owners.
Mei's Groceries Inc.
嘉美雜貨公司
['gaa mei jaap-fo gung-si']
1037 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Dry goods, vitasoy drinks, lots of condiments.
Kang Hua Trading Inc.
康華參茸藥材行
['hong waa saam-yung yuek-choi hong']
1040 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Mostly herbs and patent remedies, plus tonics.
Wan Cheong Ginseng Company
萬昌參茸行
['maan cheung saam-yung hong']
1043 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Ginseng, herbs, and sea-flavour dried goods. Particularly sea cucumber (海參 'hoi saam'), octopus (章魚 'jeung yü'), and Japanese dried oysters (日本蠔豉 'yat-pun hou-si').
Vegiland Market
橙地蔬果店
['chaang dei so-gwo dim']
1055 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Lots of fresh vegetables and fruit.
Between Jackson Street and Pacific Avenue:
Little Paradise
多樂趣
['do lok-chuk']
1101 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Vegetables, fruits, groceries, juices, candies.
Sheng Hing Market
生興孖結
['saang hing maa-git']
1105 -- 1109 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh and dried goods, condiments. But by far, mostly lots of fruits and vegetables.
City Super
Lien Hing Supermarket Inc.
聯興超級市場
['leun hing chiu-kap si-cheung']
1108 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
D & T Market
大同超市
['daai tung chiu si']
Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh fruit and vegetables.
New United Supermarket
新聯華超級市場
['san luen waa chiu-kap si-cheung']
1117 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Kin Sun Market
健新雜貨
['gin san jaap-fo']
1118 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
"SEAFOOD WORLD"
海鮮世界
['hoi sin sai-gaai']
1135 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh fish, shellfish, pork, lamb, and poultry (家禽 'gaa-kam'). Please note that this business does not appear to have an English name, but is never-the-less an excellent resource.
Pacific Ave. Seafood Trading Co.
新同發魚翅海產
['san tung faat yü-chi hoi-chaan']
1143 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
An excellent place for lobster and live eel.
Liang's Food
梁生生海產
['leung saang saang hoi-chaan']
1145 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Seafood.
Kwong Cheong Tai
廣昌泰
['gwong cheung taai']
1199 B. Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Dried sea flavours, fermented fish, and mixed goods.
An enjoyable place to shop, particularly for desiccated shrimp and oysters.
Between Pacific Avenue and Broadway:
"GREAT CHINA HERBS"
大中華參茸行
['daai jung waa saam-yung hang']
1201 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
A big bright herbs and dried goods emporium, with no English name.
Dates, ling zhi, fish maw, and shrimp.
Sun Sang Market
永豐燒臘肉食公司
['wing fung siu-laap yiuk-sik gung-si']
1205 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Fresh meats, roasted or barbecued meats like duck, pork, and chicken, and prepared dishes to take home.
Liang's Seafood Inc.
魚蝦蟹
['yü haa haai']
1207 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
High quality fresh seafood. Reliable.
Sun Wah Trading Co.
新華集團有限公司
['san-waa jaap-tuen yau-haan gung-si']
1211 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
New Louie's Inc.
新雷氏孖結
['san leui si maa-git']
1213 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Mostly fruits and vegetables.
Sunnyland Produce
新發食品公司
['san faat sik-pan gung-si']
1215 - 1217 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Fresh fruits and vegetables, plus condiments and canned food.
Chung Chou City
蟲草城海味店
['chung-chou seng hoi-mei dim']
1230 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
Dried foods: beche de mer, seahorses, shrimp, dried fish.
On the awning:
鮑參翅腸，急凍海產。'baau saam chi cheung', 'gap dung hoi chaan'.
蟲草總匯，燕窩參茸。'chung-chou jung-wui', 'yin-wo saam-yung'.
Basically, that's abalone, ginseng, fins, stomach; flash frozen ocean products.
Company harvested products; swallow's nest and traditional tonics.
Inside the store certain things stand out, like "country bumpkin dried bokchoi" (鄉下佬白菜乾 'heung-haa-lou baak-choi gon'), dried flounder (大地魚 'daai dei yü') for stock, firewood fish (紫魚肉 'ji yü yiuk') for a yummy saveur, and a marvelous selection of dried mushrooms in apothecary jars: "monkey head mushroom" (猴頭菇 'hau-tau-gu'; hericium erinaceus), "slick kiddie mushroom" (滑子菇 'gwat ji gu'; possibly a relative of the common champignon), "precious concubine mushroom" (珍姬菇 'jan gei gu'; perhaps a relative of the tree oyster), "abalone mushroom" (鮑魚菇 'baau yü gu'; pleurotus cystidiosus), "dancing antlers mushroom" (舞茸菇 'mou yung gu'; grifola frondosa, maitake), and "goat belly mushroom" (羊肚菌 'yeung tou kwan'; the morel).
One other thing caught my eye, namely Jilin deer tendons (吉林鹿腳筋 'kat-lam luk keuk gan' ), and I can only hazard a guess what those are good for.
Kin Tat Co.
祫逹公司
['haap daat gung-si']
1248 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Fresh produce.
No, I don't know where the pronunciation 'kin' comes from.
It may be an alternate reading of which I am ignorant.
Sun Sun Trading Co.
新新參茸海味行
['san san saam-yung hoi-mei hong']
1252 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Jing Ye Co.
景業公司
['ging yip gung-si']
1254 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Best Food Produce
新頂好
['san ding hou']
1262 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables
Kum Luen
金錀
['kam luen']
1265 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Between Broadway and Vallejo Street:
Chung Kui Imports & Exports Co.
中僑參茸公司
['jung giu saam-yung gung-si']
1306 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Medicinal and tonic herbs.
Pang Kee Bargain Market
平記平價市場
['ping gei ping gaa si-cheung']
1308 & 1310 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Canned and bottled items from South East Asia, and a vast variety of crunchy snacky things. Plus the flaky eggroll cookies (蛋卷;'daan kuen') in large red tins that you really need to buy for Chinese New Year.
Tian Shan Ginseng and Herb
天山參茸藥行
['tin saan saam-yung yuek hong']
1341 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
New Nature Herbal Line
佰草堂
['baak chou tong']
1341 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Sun Kau Shing Co., Inc.
新國興公司
['san gwok hing gung-si']
1352 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Good selection of condimenta.
Between Vallejo and Green Street:
Lee's Market
百佳超級市場
['baak gaai chiu-kap si-cheung']
1401 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Fruits, vegetables, and crowds.
Asia Herbs
亞洲參茸藥材
['ngaa-jau saam-yung yuek-choi']
1418 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
C) - On Jackson, between Stockton and Powell
JC Trading Company
華興公司
['waa hing gung-si']
830 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Various cuts of pork much preferred by Cantonese people, and a good selection of dried ingredients and noodles.
Hang Seng Meat Market
恒生肉鋪
['hang saang yiuk pou']
834 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Good meat.
D) - Nan Hai Corporation and Grant Avenue
Nam Hai Corp
南海集團參茸行有限公司
['naam-hoi jaap-tuen saam-yung hong yau-haan gung-si']
919 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Probably the best place for loose-leaf teas in Chinatown, well-laid out and organized, with a friendly staff. There are also raw herbs, tonics, and patent remedies, as well as the usual naambaakhong clutter of ginseng and standard dry ingredients.
Look for 毛蟹王 ('mou-haai-wong'); the "hairy crab king".
It's a type of semi-fermented tea.
A lovely product.
Not strictly speaking relevant, but it should definitely be mentioned:
Ming Kee Game Birds Inc.
明記家禽
['ming gei gaa-kam']
1136 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133.
For all your ptarmigan and grouse needs.
Treat your friends to something fabulous.
AFTERWORD
You will have noticed that I did not include any of the small eateries on Stockton Street or its vicinity. Those are detailed here: snacky things, in an article that also mentions places elsewhere in Chinatown.
Nor are any of the bakeries listed. Many bakeries can be found in this post: pastries and milk tea; and again, not only Stockton Street.
Roast meats, particularly fowl, will be listed in dream duck. Quack.
Kam Po Hong Kong Kitchen (港新寶燒腊小食) at the intersection of Powell and Broadway, and Gourmet Delight Carousel (新凱豐燒臘店) between Pacific and Jackson on Stockton.
Lastly, a place where you can eat roast goose:
Yee's Restaurant
文仔記燒臘茶餐廳
['man-chai-gei siu-laap cha-chan-teng ']
1131 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133.
They have a pretty darn good selection of both roast meats to go as well as hot dishes to eat there, and can accommodate larger groups. But the single diner will be treated as well as anyone else.
Their name brings up another subject: the cha-chanteng (茶餐廳 "tea restaurant"). That being a style of eatery where strong milk-tea (港式奶茶 'gong-sik naai cha') is served, or half tea half coffee with condensed milk (鴛鴦 'yuen-yeung'), plus unique Hong Kong interpretations of food may be found in such a place, such as syrup bombe HK French toast, dolled-up insta-noodle, fried spaghetti, and baked dishes.
Decent list here: milk-tea, and full ideal menu here: cha-chanteng.
Live well. Go ahead.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Showing posts with label 市德頓街. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 市德頓街. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
XO SAUCE -- WHAT AND WHEREFORE
One of the pervasive ingredients in the Cantonese kitchen of the present age is a melange of convenience. All cooks are, in essence, short-cut takers. And the substance in question is one hell of a shortcut.
Basically, it's umami up the wazoo.
Cantonese cooking requires fresh ingredients cleanly cooked, with often a touch of a concentrated seafood or savory element. Most likely you are already familiar with such things as soy sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste, and various dessicated ingredients like dried shrimp, oysters, and scallops.
What if you combined all of those and gave it a hip name?
XO SAUCE!
It can be added to vegetable dishes, pork preparations, fried rice, and boiled noodles. And it can be made ahead. There is no need to buy bottled versions, though if you live by yourself that certainly is an avenue to explore.
海味或乾海產
Hoi mei waak gon hoi chaan
[Sea flavour OR dried sea produce]
If you live in San Francisco, there are a number of places where useful and worthwhile non-caucasoid ingredients can be found, and the staff will be happy to try to explain how to use them. Go explore.
The four main seafood stock-items (四大海味 'sei taai hoi mei') which every properly run Chinatown should have are 鮑魚 ('bau yü'; abalone), 海參 ('hoi sam'; holothurid, trepang or sea cucumber), 魚翅 ('yü chi'; shark fin, which has been outlawed in California, dammit), and 魚肚 ('yü tou'; fish maw, which is actually an air-sac or buoyancy device internal to the beast).
Collectively these are referred to as 鮑參翅肚 ('bao sam chi tou').
Other standard ingredients will also be offered, including 鹹魚 ('haahm yü'; salt fish), 蝦米 ('haai mai'; dried shrimp), 公魚仔 ('gong yü chai'; spratlings or smelt), 乾貝 ('gon pui'; dried scallop), 乾魷魚 ('gon yau yü'; dried squid), 蠔豉 ('hou si'; dried oysters) 蜇皮 ('jit pei'; jelly fish), et autres.
All of the ingredients for XO Sauce can be bought on Stockton Street or Clement, as well as shops in the outer Richmond and Sunset districts, if you live in the fog. Look for business that say 海味 or 乾海產 on the signboard.
From my quarters C'town is only a short walk away. Close enough that one can amble across the hill in the time it takes to contemplate dinner.
Personally, I believe that precisely like the properly run Chinatown should have at least one 海味店 ('hoi mei dim'), the well-ordered household must ALWAYS have a dried fish on hand.
Preferably more than one.
They're good.
Useful.
食譜: XO醬
Recipe for XO Sauce
12 TBS dried scallops.
8 TBS dried shrimp.
8 TBS chilipaste (sambal ulek).
4 TBS oyster sauce.
2 TBS sugar.
2 TBS soy sauce.
1 TBS shrimp paste.
½ TBS salt.
One small onion.
One bulb of garlic (a dozen cloves, more or less).
An amount of ginger equivalent to the garlic, or more.
Half a cup cooking oil.
One TBS sesame oil.
Soak shrimp and scallops for a few hours in water, till softened. Drain, reserving liquid, and chop to a somewhat granular state, not too fine.
Mince the garlic, ginger, and onion.
In a capacious pan fry the onion till golden. Add the garlic, ginger, shrimp paste, and chilipaste. When the shrimp paste is cooked (a minute or so) and the garlic and ginger have begun to colour, add the chopped scallop and shrimp. Stir-fry till the oil comes out and the mixture is aromatic. Add everything else including the reserved liquids, and again cook till the oil comes out, thus concentrating the flavour from the soaking liquid in the mixture. Cook a little longer on low to darken, which caramelizes it slightly.
Let it cool completely, and distribute it over containers. There should be a layer of oil on top.
Place one container in the refrigerator, and the others in the deepfreeze.
If all the water has been cooked out, it will keep for several weeks in the fridge.
Use either sparingly or liberally.
Most recipes for XO Sauce will include Chinwa ham or Chinese sausage, some substitute preserved pork-belly or even bacon. Seeing as those are things which every well-stocked larder should have (erm, why do you think it's called a 'larder', eh?), it seems rather contra-indicated to dump those into the compound. Especially as moisture is the great enemy of a substance such as this.
Smoked bacon is not a bad idea, however.
It seldom is.
XO Sauce can be used much like any other cooking concentrate in Cantonese cuisine. Add it after the main ingredient, before the liquor, stock, and glaze. The idea is to imbue the fragrance in the dish, while letting moisture re-meld with the flavouring matter. One or two tablespoons is sufficient for a dish.
By itself it makes a pleasant sambal, not too hot.
Good with mixed blanched vegetables.
Or in Indo-style snacks.
GLOSSARY
Dried scallops: 乾貝 gon pui, 乾瑤柱 gon yiu chyu, 江瑤柱 gong yiu chyu. Dried shrimp: 蝦米 haa mai. Chilipaste, sambal ulek: 辣椒醬 laat chiu jeung. Oyster sauce: 蠔油 hou yau. Sugar: 糖 tong. Soy sauce: 醬油 jeung yau, 豉油 si yau. Shrimp paste: 鹹蝦醬 haam haa jeung. Salt: 鹽 yim. Onion: 洋蔥 yeung chung (可以用四、五頭小蔥). Garlic: 蒜 suen. Ginger: 薑 geung. Sesame oil: 麻油 maa yau. Chinwa ham: 金華火腿 gam-waa fo-dui. Chinese sausage: 臘腸 laap cheung. Preserved pork-belly: 臘肉 lap yiuk. Bacon: 煙肉 yin yiuk ("smoked pork"), 醃肉 yim yiuk ("preserved pork"), 鹹肉 haam yiuk ("salt pork").
Indo: 係印度尼西亞嘅荷蘭或華僑後裔，咁佢哋常常係多元文化主義啲。
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Basically, it's umami up the wazoo.
Cantonese cooking requires fresh ingredients cleanly cooked, with often a touch of a concentrated seafood or savory element. Most likely you are already familiar with such things as soy sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste, and various dessicated ingredients like dried shrimp, oysters, and scallops.
What if you combined all of those and gave it a hip name?
XO SAUCE!
It can be added to vegetable dishes, pork preparations, fried rice, and boiled noodles. And it can be made ahead. There is no need to buy bottled versions, though if you live by yourself that certainly is an avenue to explore.
海味或乾海產
Hoi mei waak gon hoi chaan
[Sea flavour OR dried sea produce]
If you live in San Francisco, there are a number of places where useful and worthwhile non-caucasoid ingredients can be found, and the staff will be happy to try to explain how to use them. Go explore.
The four main seafood stock-items (四大海味 'sei taai hoi mei') which every properly run Chinatown should have are 鮑魚 ('bau yü'; abalone), 海參 ('hoi sam'; holothurid, trepang or sea cucumber), 魚翅 ('yü chi'; shark fin, which has been outlawed in California, dammit), and 魚肚 ('yü tou'; fish maw, which is actually an air-sac or buoyancy device internal to the beast).
Collectively these are referred to as 鮑參翅肚 ('bao sam chi tou').
Other standard ingredients will also be offered, including 鹹魚 ('haahm yü'; salt fish), 蝦米 ('haai mai'; dried shrimp), 公魚仔 ('gong yü chai'; spratlings or smelt), 乾貝 ('gon pui'; dried scallop), 乾魷魚 ('gon yau yü'; dried squid), 蠔豉 ('hou si'; dried oysters) 蜇皮 ('jit pei'; jelly fish), et autres.
All of the ingredients for XO Sauce can be bought on Stockton Street or Clement, as well as shops in the outer Richmond and Sunset districts, if you live in the fog. Look for business that say 海味 or 乾海產 on the signboard.
From my quarters C'town is only a short walk away. Close enough that one can amble across the hill in the time it takes to contemplate dinner.
Personally, I believe that precisely like the properly run Chinatown should have at least one 海味店 ('hoi mei dim'), the well-ordered household must ALWAYS have a dried fish on hand.
Preferably more than one.
They're good.
Useful.
食譜: XO醬
Recipe for XO Sauce
12 TBS dried scallops.
8 TBS dried shrimp.
8 TBS chilipaste (sambal ulek).
4 TBS oyster sauce.
2 TBS sugar.
2 TBS soy sauce.
1 TBS shrimp paste.
½ TBS salt.
One small onion.
One bulb of garlic (a dozen cloves, more or less).
An amount of ginger equivalent to the garlic, or more.
Half a cup cooking oil.
One TBS sesame oil.
Soak shrimp and scallops for a few hours in water, till softened. Drain, reserving liquid, and chop to a somewhat granular state, not too fine.
Mince the garlic, ginger, and onion.
In a capacious pan fry the onion till golden. Add the garlic, ginger, shrimp paste, and chilipaste. When the shrimp paste is cooked (a minute or so) and the garlic and ginger have begun to colour, add the chopped scallop and shrimp. Stir-fry till the oil comes out and the mixture is aromatic. Add everything else including the reserved liquids, and again cook till the oil comes out, thus concentrating the flavour from the soaking liquid in the mixture. Cook a little longer on low to darken, which caramelizes it slightly.
Let it cool completely, and distribute it over containers. There should be a layer of oil on top.
Place one container in the refrigerator, and the others in the deepfreeze.
If all the water has been cooked out, it will keep for several weeks in the fridge.
Use either sparingly or liberally.
Most recipes for XO Sauce will include Chinwa ham or Chinese sausage, some substitute preserved pork-belly or even bacon. Seeing as those are things which every well-stocked larder should have (erm, why do you think it's called a 'larder', eh?), it seems rather contra-indicated to dump those into the compound. Especially as moisture is the great enemy of a substance such as this.
Smoked bacon is not a bad idea, however.
It seldom is.
XO Sauce can be used much like any other cooking concentrate in Cantonese cuisine. Add it after the main ingredient, before the liquor, stock, and glaze. The idea is to imbue the fragrance in the dish, while letting moisture re-meld with the flavouring matter. One or two tablespoons is sufficient for a dish.
By itself it makes a pleasant sambal, not too hot.
Good with mixed blanched vegetables.
Or in Indo-style snacks.
GLOSSARY
Dried scallops: 乾貝 gon pui, 乾瑤柱 gon yiu chyu, 江瑤柱 gong yiu chyu. Dried shrimp: 蝦米 haa mai. Chilipaste, sambal ulek: 辣椒醬 laat chiu jeung. Oyster sauce: 蠔油 hou yau. Sugar: 糖 tong. Soy sauce: 醬油 jeung yau, 豉油 si yau. Shrimp paste: 鹹蝦醬 haam haa jeung. Salt: 鹽 yim. Onion: 洋蔥 yeung chung (可以用四、五頭小蔥). Garlic: 蒜 suen. Ginger: 薑 geung. Sesame oil: 麻油 maa yau. Chinwa ham: 金華火腿 gam-waa fo-dui. Chinese sausage: 臘腸 laap cheung. Preserved pork-belly: 臘肉 lap yiuk. Bacon: 煙肉 yin yiuk ("smoked pork"), 醃肉 yim yiuk ("preserved pork"), 鹹肉 haam yiuk ("salt pork").
Indo: 係印度尼西亞嘅荷蘭或華僑後裔，咁佢哋常常係多元文化主義啲。
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
THE QUIET PLACES
The first day of the year was peaceful. My apartment mate left the house early to spend the morning, afternoon, and evening, with her boyfriend. In consequence of which I could take a long undisturbed bath, and read for several hours.
One negative aspect of the season is that it is rather cold outside. Which means that wandering around Nob Hill with a pipe is not quite as appealing as it should be.
Maybe I need to develop a pelt.
For the new year.
I left the apartment in mid-afternoon and wandered up to Jones and Washington, where I intended to catch a cablecar down for a few blocks to Chinatown. Would have done so, except that some Muni employees are grumpy, irritable, and arrogant, at the end of their shift. Such as the two troglodytes manning the cablecar.
Ended up walking.
Except for the gaggle of Europeans on the trolley, there were almost no people about. The city seemed at rest. Almost empty.
遲午餐在新檀島咖啡餅店
LATE LUNCH AT NEW SANDALWOOD ISLAND COFFEE SHOP AND BAKERY
Maybe next time I'll try the German pig knuckle (德國鹹豬手). But on the very first day of a new year it is best to stick to the tried and true. 凉瓜猪肉飯 (bittermelon & pork curls over rice) with two cups of milk-tea. And a large sploodge of Sriracha hot sauce - bitter melon is cooling, chilipepper is heating, so the result is the perfect gustatory balance, as well as being one of my favourite breakfasts.
[The way they do it here is exceptional. The bittermelon (苦瓜 fu gwa) is sliced thickly, at an extreme slant, and barely salted at all, so it is still quite bitter. Like everyone else they use salted blackbeans (豆豉) to flavour the dish, but the tausi are left whole, so they provide an elegant visual contrast to the intense grass-green of the vegetable. Flamboyantly fast stir-frying yields exceptional fresh toothsomeness. It explodes on the palate. Yes, it is yummy.]
Remarkably, there were not very many customers there at tea-time. Normally that is just about when the third or fourth flush of the day flocks in for hot hot tea and a snackipoo. The place appeals to both elderly Cantonese and young Taiwanese. Clean, comfortable, a selection of fine baked goods, and a kitchen which does an excellent job at Chinatown favourites as well as the strange selection of vaguely Anglo-Euro dishes customary at "tea restaurants"(茶餐廳 cha chan-teng).
The typical Hong Kong "tea restaurant" is an institution that reflects both the environment that gave it birth and the shifted culinary tastes of a metropole where east met west, mostly at the working-class end of the social scale, and both sides committed culinary mayhem in consequence.
Hot milk-tea made with condensed milk and boiled black tea. Ham and eggs. Choice of spaghetti or rice with your New York steak. Borscht. Clam chowder. Potato salad. Fish head in claypot. Baked tongue Portugaise, pork chops with rice and steamed veg, chicken cutlet with mushroom sauce, peanut butter and condensed milk toast.
As well as rice plates, wonton noodle soup, and chow fun.
Plus Cantonese baked goods, and cupcakes.
The New Sandalwood Island (New Café Honolulu) is one of the best in Chinatown.
NEW CAFÉ HONOLULU 新檀島咖啡餅店
888 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
"San Taan-Tou Ka-Fei Bing-Dim"
The fossilized gentleman at a table near me ordered himself a second lunch. The remnants of his first lunch indicated that he had already eaten well, but I suspect he was merely dining for entertainment's sake at that point. He dropped one of his chopsticks on the floor again, and continued slowly eating with a fork while the waitress brought him another pair of chopsticks. This time she did not remove the extraneous chopstick. Which reflected good thinking: if he drops one more, he'll still have two. And there are as yet five salt and pepper chickenwings (椒香雞翅) remaining on his plate so there is a good chance of that happening. Whether he enjoyed the taste of the food more, or the sheer crapshoot of keeping chopsticks and utensils off the floor till the end of the second meal, is hard to say. An old lady at the table near the back, who had already finished her lunch, was observing him with avid fascination. She must have been close to a hundred, but I swear there was an element of love or lust in her look. Either that or familial concern.
Possibly Mr. Fossil was a cousin or nephew of hers.
Chew, chew, fumble. Chew, chew, crash.
No, not on the floor this time.
She smiled.
They had both already eaten by the time I got there. They were still there when I left. Even after dawdling over my second cup of milk tea.
Two more chicken wings to go.
Plus some lettuce.
The six Taiwanese at the round table near the pillar scarfed down their several culturally mixed orders in record time - one of them inundated her meal with hot sauce, I could see that the bottle was an inch less full after she was finished - and amid a flurry of shayshays (謝謝 xièxie) they paid and departed, anxious to continue exploring before dark.
The waitress had barely wiped the table when a crabby middle-aged gnome came in and ordered something with shortribs and green stuff in a claypot, bowl of rice on the side. When it came, he hunted and pecked with considerable pleasure, spearing the tasty meaty bits with his fork, and taking tiny bites of rice in between. When he first sat down he had been tired and grouchy. After the first few mouthfulls he seemed years younger, and considerably more elfin.
An amazing transformation.
Two women at the baked goods counter quarrelled with each other in English, while calmly asking for this and that in Chinese. Fluently unaccented in both.
I wonder if bad-temper simply sounds better in the language of Shakespeare?
Forsooth.
I should know by know to not fill up the Peterson System Standard all the way. Especially with pale pressed Virginias, which must be smoked slow and calm. Ended up walking all over Chinatown, even down to the stretch between Bush Street and California where there are nothing but tourist shops. It took over an hour to finish the entire bowl, and I really wanted to get back to my book.
Got home shortly after seven.
Fixed myself a four-bagger of milk-tea at around ten o'clock.
Fast asleep by one.
As good a start to the new year as can be imagined.
How was yours?
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
One negative aspect of the season is that it is rather cold outside. Which means that wandering around Nob Hill with a pipe is not quite as appealing as it should be.
Maybe I need to develop a pelt.
For the new year.
I left the apartment in mid-afternoon and wandered up to Jones and Washington, where I intended to catch a cablecar down for a few blocks to Chinatown. Would have done so, except that some Muni employees are grumpy, irritable, and arrogant, at the end of their shift. Such as the two troglodytes manning the cablecar.
Ended up walking.
Except for the gaggle of Europeans on the trolley, there were almost no people about. The city seemed at rest. Almost empty.
遲午餐在新檀島咖啡餅店
LATE LUNCH AT NEW SANDALWOOD ISLAND COFFEE SHOP AND BAKERY
Maybe next time I'll try the German pig knuckle (德國鹹豬手). But on the very first day of a new year it is best to stick to the tried and true. 凉瓜猪肉飯 (bittermelon & pork curls over rice) with two cups of milk-tea. And a large sploodge of Sriracha hot sauce - bitter melon is cooling, chilipepper is heating, so the result is the perfect gustatory balance, as well as being one of my favourite breakfasts.
[The way they do it here is exceptional. The bittermelon (苦瓜 fu gwa) is sliced thickly, at an extreme slant, and barely salted at all, so it is still quite bitter. Like everyone else they use salted blackbeans (豆豉) to flavour the dish, but the tausi are left whole, so they provide an elegant visual contrast to the intense grass-green of the vegetable. Flamboyantly fast stir-frying yields exceptional fresh toothsomeness. It explodes on the palate. Yes, it is yummy.]
Remarkably, there were not very many customers there at tea-time. Normally that is just about when the third or fourth flush of the day flocks in for hot hot tea and a snackipoo. The place appeals to both elderly Cantonese and young Taiwanese. Clean, comfortable, a selection of fine baked goods, and a kitchen which does an excellent job at Chinatown favourites as well as the strange selection of vaguely Anglo-Euro dishes customary at "tea restaurants"(茶餐廳 cha chan-teng).
The typical Hong Kong "tea restaurant" is an institution that reflects both the environment that gave it birth and the shifted culinary tastes of a metropole where east met west, mostly at the working-class end of the social scale, and both sides committed culinary mayhem in consequence.
Hot milk-tea made with condensed milk and boiled black tea. Ham and eggs. Choice of spaghetti or rice with your New York steak. Borscht. Clam chowder. Potato salad. Fish head in claypot. Baked tongue Portugaise, pork chops with rice and steamed veg, chicken cutlet with mushroom sauce, peanut butter and condensed milk toast.
As well as rice plates, wonton noodle soup, and chow fun.
Plus Cantonese baked goods, and cupcakes.
The New Sandalwood Island (New Café Honolulu) is one of the best in Chinatown.
NEW CAFÉ HONOLULU 新檀島咖啡餅店
888 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
"San Taan-Tou Ka-Fei Bing-Dim"
The fossilized gentleman at a table near me ordered himself a second lunch. The remnants of his first lunch indicated that he had already eaten well, but I suspect he was merely dining for entertainment's sake at that point. He dropped one of his chopsticks on the floor again, and continued slowly eating with a fork while the waitress brought him another pair of chopsticks. This time she did not remove the extraneous chopstick. Which reflected good thinking: if he drops one more, he'll still have two. And there are as yet five salt and pepper chickenwings (椒香雞翅) remaining on his plate so there is a good chance of that happening. Whether he enjoyed the taste of the food more, or the sheer crapshoot of keeping chopsticks and utensils off the floor till the end of the second meal, is hard to say. An old lady at the table near the back, who had already finished her lunch, was observing him with avid fascination. She must have been close to a hundred, but I swear there was an element of love or lust in her look. Either that or familial concern.
Possibly Mr. Fossil was a cousin or nephew of hers.
Chew, chew, fumble. Chew, chew, crash.
No, not on the floor this time.
She smiled.
They had both already eaten by the time I got there. They were still there when I left. Even after dawdling over my second cup of milk tea.
Two more chicken wings to go.
Plus some lettuce.
The six Taiwanese at the round table near the pillar scarfed down their several culturally mixed orders in record time - one of them inundated her meal with hot sauce, I could see that the bottle was an inch less full after she was finished - and amid a flurry of shayshays (謝謝 xièxie) they paid and departed, anxious to continue exploring before dark.
The waitress had barely wiped the table when a crabby middle-aged gnome came in and ordered something with shortribs and green stuff in a claypot, bowl of rice on the side. When it came, he hunted and pecked with considerable pleasure, spearing the tasty meaty bits with his fork, and taking tiny bites of rice in between. When he first sat down he had been tired and grouchy. After the first few mouthfulls he seemed years younger, and considerably more elfin.
An amazing transformation.
Two women at the baked goods counter quarrelled with each other in English, while calmly asking for this and that in Chinese. Fluently unaccented in both.
I wonder if bad-temper simply sounds better in the language of Shakespeare?
Forsooth.
I should know by know to not fill up the Peterson System Standard all the way. Especially with pale pressed Virginias, which must be smoked slow and calm. Ended up walking all over Chinatown, even down to the stretch between Bush Street and California where there are nothing but tourist shops. It took over an hour to finish the entire bowl, and I really wanted to get back to my book.
Got home shortly after seven.
Fixed myself a four-bagger of milk-tea at around ten o'clock.
Fast asleep by one.
As good a start to the new year as can be imagined.
How was yours?
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Saturday, June 23, 2012
SORT OF A GENTLE FOOD FILLED ESSAY
For nearly two years now I rise late on weekends, pad around the house in my sleepwear drinking coffee, and have a nice hot bath. Then I go into Chinatown for something to eat. It is not good for the soul to hide in the apartment all day, one has to get out and do something. But I have far more routine than imagination in that regard, and, as you can guess, snackipoos followed by several hours at the office are a great good. The lively crowd of people on Stockton, followed by quiet in the financial district - these complement each other.
Plus weekends are for pipe-smoking. Can't really do that at home.
3:45 PM
When I got off the bus at Clay and Stockton, a mother and her little girl disembarked also. Both were shorter than me, of course.
Other than that the woman was probably only five foot one or two, I cannot remember much about her. Young, with gentle eyes. Cheerful.
But the kid I remember distinctly. Three, maybe four years old, bright and very intelligent looking, wearing a pretty red jacket with little yellow flowers. Sparkling dark brown eyes, mop of black black hair. Small hands.
An extremely beautiful child.
She had the most engaging hopeful expression that I have ever seen.
Without speaking, she seemed to say that good things would happen.
Surely there were interesting adventures ahead?
A fine sunny day downtown, yay!
At the place where I ate a bowl of fish-slice rice porridge, the owner’s little son was saying farewell to a new best friend. At that age, children do not need much of a language in common. Both boys were the same height, barely three years old. One spoke Cantonese, the other something that sounded very much like Teochew. While the father of the little non-Cantonese speaking fellow was getting him ready to go, his new companion kissed him.
Very sweet. It was the cutest thing.
An elderly gentleman purchased two hargau and a cup of tea, then sat down and started unwrapping tea-eggs. Possibly the hargau and tea-eggs were the only thing he was going to eat today. He did not look like there was any superfluous money in his life. Gaunt, with very worn though clean clothes; clearly he wasn't a rich capitalist. Shrimp pockets and boiled eggs cannot be a very satisfying repast.
He ate calmly, not rushing, nor excessively dawdling over each bite.
Rinsed his mouth periodically with tea, then wiped his lips.
He thoroughly enjoyed his tiny meal.
Smiled afterwards.
[Fish-slice porridge (魚片粥): fresh fish curls that poach just barely in a large bowl of hot rice porridge, with shredded ginger added. Hargau (蝦餃): shrimp bonnets, being fresh chopped shrimp wrapped in a translucent skin cleverly tucked at the top and steamed. Tea-eggs (茶葉蛋): the eggs are first boiled till hard, cooled, rolled to crack the peel, then simmered again to allow the flavouring to seep in through the cracks and marbleize the surface of the egg within. Often they are kept in the tea-spice liquid for several more hours for the best flavour. Use two TBS black tea or pu-erh in a pan of water, add a hefty jigger of soy sauce, whole five-spices plus extra star anise, a slice of ginger and a large piece or two of dried tangerine peel. The first simmer is for twenty minutes after the liquid has come to boil, the second simmer will be about three hours - prolonged cooking eventually re-tenderizes the proteins.]
4:15 PM
While puffing on a post-lunch pipe on Jackson Street I saw that the windows of Yong Kee are now papered-up. The owner of the shop next door informed me that 'yes, they’re closed, all gone'. A very great pity, their haahm dan sou and gai bao were excellent. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will miss them. They probably retired at last, and there isn’t any point in passing on the business to the Americanized generation.
So many of the familiar places are gone, the neighborhood has changed.
When people move out now, it’s usually to go to the avenues.
Only old people still embrace these streets.
[Yong Kee (容記糕粉店): a bakery and dim sum shop that dated from before the war, which had a stellar reputation and made some truly marvelous items. Mostly unknown to outsiders, as the awning was only in Chinese. Nothing in the trays was labeled. You knew what you wanted when you went in, and asked for it by name. Haahm dan sou (鹹蛋酥) are salt-preserved egg yolks, very rich, inside a flaky pastry crust with a little sweet lotus seed paste (莲蓉) to anchor them in place. A gai bao (雞飽) is a steamed chicken-filled bun, than which there is naught finer when the mood strikes.
Regarding the post-lunch pipe, note that I have several pipes and three different pipe-tobaccos with me today: a matured red and black Virginia with Perique, a blend of red Virginia ribbon and matured red Virginia cake plus Orientals and air-cured leaf, and a profoundly fumigational pressing of red Virginia with Latakia and Turkish. I'm heading to the Occidental later this evening for a few bowls. Red Virginia dusk.]
Outside the New Orchid Pavilion a cluster of retirees were discussing the opera poster in the window. I’ve seen the same one all over Chinatown, some well-known artist from HK is going to perform. Seven entirely different plays! Seven Cantonese operas I’ve never heard of, and of which I have no recordings at all in my collection. Maybe these are unique rarities, but more likely they're minor theatre pieces that allow a greater interpretational range – the other ‘stars’ are probably amateurs from the local opera clubs.
I’ve heard folks practicing in the basement on Sacramento Street, as well as at the club near the Broadway. Some of them have far more enthusiasm than skill. Few have less.
The retirees were animated, and probably looked forward to a good show.
Behind the window pane, one of the people who works at the New Orchid Pavilion was intently observing them.
Would they come in? Were they going to eat?
Hey, how about some business here!
There’s an empty table in the rear. Two empty tables!
Eat, eat, eat! Oh please!
4:45 PM
Having been unable to satisfy my craving for a haahm dan sou at Yong Kee, I stopped by another bakery instead. They didn’t have any haahm dan sou, so I ordered a lo po bing (老婆餅) and a cup of coffee. While enjoying my flaky wintermelon pastry, a young mother and her little child came in, got stuff at the counter, and sat down at the very next table.
I recognized them as being the two that had gotten off the bus at Stockton.
The mother asked the little girl about her lo po bing.
“Ho m-ho sik-ga?”
The tyke beamed up at her.
“Dee! Lishus!!!”
Yep.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Plus weekends are for pipe-smoking. Can't really do that at home.
3:45 PM
When I got off the bus at Clay and Stockton, a mother and her little girl disembarked also. Both were shorter than me, of course.
Other than that the woman was probably only five foot one or two, I cannot remember much about her. Young, with gentle eyes. Cheerful.
But the kid I remember distinctly. Three, maybe four years old, bright and very intelligent looking, wearing a pretty red jacket with little yellow flowers. Sparkling dark brown eyes, mop of black black hair. Small hands.
An extremely beautiful child.
She had the most engaging hopeful expression that I have ever seen.
Without speaking, she seemed to say that good things would happen.
Surely there were interesting adventures ahead?
A fine sunny day downtown, yay!
At the place where I ate a bowl of fish-slice rice porridge, the owner’s little son was saying farewell to a new best friend. At that age, children do not need much of a language in common. Both boys were the same height, barely three years old. One spoke Cantonese, the other something that sounded very much like Teochew. While the father of the little non-Cantonese speaking fellow was getting him ready to go, his new companion kissed him.
Very sweet. It was the cutest thing.
An elderly gentleman purchased two hargau and a cup of tea, then sat down and started unwrapping tea-eggs. Possibly the hargau and tea-eggs were the only thing he was going to eat today. He did not look like there was any superfluous money in his life. Gaunt, with very worn though clean clothes; clearly he wasn't a rich capitalist. Shrimp pockets and boiled eggs cannot be a very satisfying repast.
He ate calmly, not rushing, nor excessively dawdling over each bite.
Rinsed his mouth periodically with tea, then wiped his lips.
He thoroughly enjoyed his tiny meal.
Smiled afterwards.
[Fish-slice porridge (魚片粥): fresh fish curls that poach just barely in a large bowl of hot rice porridge, with shredded ginger added. Hargau (蝦餃): shrimp bonnets, being fresh chopped shrimp wrapped in a translucent skin cleverly tucked at the top and steamed. Tea-eggs (茶葉蛋): the eggs are first boiled till hard, cooled, rolled to crack the peel, then simmered again to allow the flavouring to seep in through the cracks and marbleize the surface of the egg within. Often they are kept in the tea-spice liquid for several more hours for the best flavour. Use two TBS black tea or pu-erh in a pan of water, add a hefty jigger of soy sauce, whole five-spices plus extra star anise, a slice of ginger and a large piece or two of dried tangerine peel. The first simmer is for twenty minutes after the liquid has come to boil, the second simmer will be about three hours - prolonged cooking eventually re-tenderizes the proteins.]
4:15 PM
While puffing on a post-lunch pipe on Jackson Street I saw that the windows of Yong Kee are now papered-up. The owner of the shop next door informed me that 'yes, they’re closed, all gone'. A very great pity, their haahm dan sou and gai bao were excellent. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will miss them. They probably retired at last, and there isn’t any point in passing on the business to the Americanized generation.
So many of the familiar places are gone, the neighborhood has changed.
When people move out now, it’s usually to go to the avenues.
Only old people still embrace these streets.
[Yong Kee (容記糕粉店): a bakery and dim sum shop that dated from before the war, which had a stellar reputation and made some truly marvelous items. Mostly unknown to outsiders, as the awning was only in Chinese. Nothing in the trays was labeled. You knew what you wanted when you went in, and asked for it by name. Haahm dan sou (鹹蛋酥) are salt-preserved egg yolks, very rich, inside a flaky pastry crust with a little sweet lotus seed paste (莲蓉) to anchor them in place. A gai bao (雞飽) is a steamed chicken-filled bun, than which there is naught finer when the mood strikes.
Regarding the post-lunch pipe, note that I have several pipes and three different pipe-tobaccos with me today: a matured red and black Virginia with Perique, a blend of red Virginia ribbon and matured red Virginia cake plus Orientals and air-cured leaf, and a profoundly fumigational pressing of red Virginia with Latakia and Turkish. I'm heading to the Occidental later this evening for a few bowls. Red Virginia dusk.]
Outside the New Orchid Pavilion a cluster of retirees were discussing the opera poster in the window. I’ve seen the same one all over Chinatown, some well-known artist from HK is going to perform. Seven entirely different plays! Seven Cantonese operas I’ve never heard of, and of which I have no recordings at all in my collection. Maybe these are unique rarities, but more likely they're minor theatre pieces that allow a greater interpretational range – the other ‘stars’ are probably amateurs from the local opera clubs.
I’ve heard folks practicing in the basement on Sacramento Street, as well as at the club near the Broadway. Some of them have far more enthusiasm than skill. Few have less.
The retirees were animated, and probably looked forward to a good show.
Behind the window pane, one of the people who works at the New Orchid Pavilion was intently observing them.
Would they come in? Were they going to eat?
Hey, how about some business here!
There’s an empty table in the rear. Two empty tables!
Eat, eat, eat! Oh please!
4:45 PM
Having been unable to satisfy my craving for a haahm dan sou at Yong Kee, I stopped by another bakery instead. They didn’t have any haahm dan sou, so I ordered a lo po bing (老婆餅) and a cup of coffee. While enjoying my flaky wintermelon pastry, a young mother and her little child came in, got stuff at the counter, and sat down at the very next table.
I recognized them as being the two that had gotten off the bus at Stockton.
The mother asked the little girl about her lo po bing.
“Ho m-ho sik-ga?”
The tyke beamed up at her.
“Dee! Lishus!!!”
Yep.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Sunday, April 29, 2012
WARM COMFORT
What does a crotchety badger want? What makes his furry snout twitch with happy anticipation?
These are very good questions, and I'm so glad you asked.
Today the badger in question wanted rice porridge.
Because it's comfort food, and it tastes good.
Preserved egg (皮蛋 'pei dan') and lean pork (瘦肉 'sau yiuk') in smoothly luscious congee (粥 'juk'), with an airy deep-fried strip of dough for dipping in the bowl, is the perfect lunch. It is simple, filling, delicious, and cheap.
Do not bother asking 係唔係新鮮炸嘅咩 ('hai m-hai san-sin char-ge-me': "is this freshly fried"), as the chances are that the yau tiu (油條) was made in the morning, and the woman behind the counter will inevitably say that it is new, while thinking "stupid kwailo, of course we don't sell stale stuffs, we wouldn't stay in business long if we did!".
[By the same token, do not try to order a bowl of soy milk (豆漿) or bak kut teh (肉骨茶 meat and bone broth), to go along with your "cha-kwei" (炸粿) because this is neither Shanghai nor the Malay and Indonesian world. It is San Francisco. We have jook (粥) with our oil-strips.]
Sit down, and note that an old gentleman one table away is eating exactly the same thing, with quite as much enjoyment. Life is made for pleasing coincidences.
It would have been nice if instead he had been a nice young lady with sparkling eyes slowly savouring a bowl of creamy rice porridge. But then I would have definitely had drips of jook on my chin, and they're hard to wipe out of a beard.
This would not have made a good impression.
If I were a sprightly miss in an eatery on Stockton Street, facing a furry-snouted badger with congee in his beard, would I find him attractive? Would my nipple twitch? Or would I pay him no mind, as the creamy porridge demanded all my attention?
Methinks I'd concentrate on the food. And perhaps have some hoimei fan (海米粉 steamed rice sheet noodle with dry shrimp) to round out my meal.
While ignoring his sneaky glances in my direction as he fills his pipe before leaving.
He's got rice grains in his beard. Does he not know?!?
That's a handsome briar, by the way.
It looks stylish.
Suffice to say there was no nice young lady there. There are, in fact, no such people in my life at all.
Which is a very great pity, as they are far far better than food.
FYI: the pipe tobacco I'm experimenting with at present has a decadent perfume added to the otherwise fine leaf. Not a strong fruity scent, being instead a whiff reminiscent of floral car freshener when lit. Most of it burns off in the first few puffs, so I don't think I'll be turning any heads with this. But it is a pleasant and unassuming smoke, good for spring days.
The soft feminine aroma may be influencing my mental processes.
Ghost-like traces of a woman's fragrance.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: Washington Street, Montgomery Street, quiet afternoon. Later, back over the hill, twilight at the abandoned church, then a slice of Dundee Cake, strong milk tea, a bowl of aged flake before dinner, mild yellow curry seafood soup with cilantro and ginger, sherry and a cheroot after dark. Perhaps time with a book - Ada and Van Veen, OR the amber details of Speak, Memory. Snow-pear incense half an hour before bed, to chase away any mosquitoes.
BRILLIANT CREATIVE INSIGHT: a dusting of scented talcum inside bra cups for greater comfort during warm weather.
Let me know if it works.
What should I eat next weekend? Noodles? More jook?
Rice and various dishes?
And milk tea.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
These are very good questions, and I'm so glad you asked.
Today the badger in question wanted rice porridge.
Because it's comfort food, and it tastes good.
一碗皮蛋瘦肉粥同埋一根油條唔該
[Yat woon pei dan sau yiuk jook tong mai yat gan yau tiu m-koi.]Preserved egg (皮蛋 'pei dan') and lean pork (瘦肉 'sau yiuk') in smoothly luscious congee (粥 'juk'), with an airy deep-fried strip of dough for dipping in the bowl, is the perfect lunch. It is simple, filling, delicious, and cheap.
Do not bother asking 係唔係新鮮炸嘅咩 ('hai m-hai san-sin char-ge-me': "is this freshly fried"), as the chances are that the yau tiu (油條) was made in the morning, and the woman behind the counter will inevitably say that it is new, while thinking "stupid kwailo, of course we don't sell stale stuffs, we wouldn't stay in business long if we did!".
[By the same token, do not try to order a bowl of soy milk (豆漿) or bak kut teh (肉骨茶 meat and bone broth), to go along with your "cha-kwei" (炸粿) because this is neither Shanghai nor the Malay and Indonesian world. It is San Francisco. We have jook (粥) with our oil-strips.]
Sit down, and note that an old gentleman one table away is eating exactly the same thing, with quite as much enjoyment. Life is made for pleasing coincidences.
It would have been nice if instead he had been a nice young lady with sparkling eyes slowly savouring a bowl of creamy rice porridge. But then I would have definitely had drips of jook on my chin, and they're hard to wipe out of a beard.
This would not have made a good impression.
If I were a sprightly miss in an eatery on Stockton Street, facing a furry-snouted badger with congee in his beard, would I find him attractive? Would my nipple twitch? Or would I pay him no mind, as the creamy porridge demanded all my attention?
Methinks I'd concentrate on the food. And perhaps have some hoimei fan (海米粉 steamed rice sheet noodle with dry shrimp) to round out my meal.
While ignoring his sneaky glances in my direction as he fills his pipe before leaving.
He's got rice grains in his beard. Does he not know?!?
That's a handsome briar, by the way.
It looks stylish.
Suffice to say there was no nice young lady there. There are, in fact, no such people in my life at all.
Which is a very great pity, as they are far far better than food.
FYI: the pipe tobacco I'm experimenting with at present has a decadent perfume added to the otherwise fine leaf. Not a strong fruity scent, being instead a whiff reminiscent of floral car freshener when lit. Most of it burns off in the first few puffs, so I don't think I'll be turning any heads with this. But it is a pleasant and unassuming smoke, good for spring days.
The soft feminine aroma may be influencing my mental processes.
Ghost-like traces of a woman's fragrance.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: Washington Street, Montgomery Street, quiet afternoon. Later, back over the hill, twilight at the abandoned church, then a slice of Dundee Cake, strong milk tea, a bowl of aged flake before dinner, mild yellow curry seafood soup with cilantro and ginger, sherry and a cheroot after dark. Perhaps time with a book - Ada and Van Veen, OR the amber details of Speak, Memory. Snow-pear incense half an hour before bed, to chase away any mosquitoes.
BRILLIANT CREATIVE INSIGHT: a dusting of scented talcum inside bra cups for greater comfort during warm weather.
Let me know if it works.
What should I eat next weekend? Noodles? More jook?
Rice and various dishes?
And milk tea.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Sunday, November 13, 2011
DELICIOUS NOODLY THINGS - LUNCH ON STOCKTON AND WASHINGTON STREETS
One of the reasons that I like public transit is the opportunity to people-watch. You folks are fascinating!
If I were a space-alien temporarily posted to this planet to observe the local intelligent life, the bus would be the perfect place to collect data.
Prior to plundering earth’s precious resources of course, and hauling off the intelligent young females for breeding purposes.
Mars needs women!
Plus water and Icelandic bee-honey, among other things.
But mostly women.
COMMON COURTESIES 禮數
The California Street bus is particularly good in that regard, as once past Van Ness it picks up a large number of Cantonese on the way to Chinatown. Totally unconsciously they demonstrate levels of conditioning quite unusual nowadays among white people.
There’s a drang to concede seniority and superiority, almost always matched by a strong tendency to acknowledge the gesture but refuse the favour. Sit, sit! And unless the elderly person is truly several years older than the person getting up to offer their seat, they will vehemently refuse.
No no, you sit, you sit – ney tzoh, ney tzoh!
Young women with children will either themselves rise – usually an unsuccessful attempt at manners, as the grey-haired ones will not hear of it unless truly needful – or tell their offspring to stand up. Which provides an object lesson and an example that will subconsciously influence the youngster, and inform his or her conduct throughout their life.
I doubt that many white people have any such conditioning anymore – quite often some perfectly healthy young adult will be too preoccupied with their cell-phone or scratching their testicles to even notice that some tiny old lady is trembling while desperately holding on. Just like they fail to understand that when there is a ton of room in the back of the bus, it might be a good idea to move there, so that the dozen or so folks waiting at the bus stop can also ride.
阿姨, 嗰便可以坐 SIT OVER THERE, AUNTIE
I know I seem a bit puritanical about this, but I really do think that yielding your place to a lady or an old person is the right thing to do. Same goes for holding doors open for others, and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
It really isn’t that hard to be smooth to the people around you.
Pointing out an available seat to the auntie next to you made her life easier, and gave the rest of us a bit more space to stand.
The young fellow planted in front of the empty seat could’ve done the same, but he was far too busy with his i-pod to notice anything, so I can understand the oversight; electronic devices require one’s complete attention.
And it’s reassuring to know that he isn’t an outerspace alien observing us.
If his kind were interplanetary explorers, we’d be in real trouble.
They would NEVER understand that Mars needs women!
Instead, they’d steal our hip hop music.
And open up the Red Planet.
For Starbucks.
OKAY THEN, WE'RE HERE 到了, 大家落車嘅喎
Chinatown is also perfect for people-watching, especially at eating places. Precisely like young white adults with their cell-phones and other electrical toys, Cantonese people are totally pre-occupied when involved with food.
But with one crucial difference: they do not tune out the rest of the world. Instead they regard the passing throngs as a version of dinner theatre, keenly observing everything around them from behind a plate of something really tasty.
I arrived at the dim sum place when the ladies behind the counter where having their own lunch. Which was while the place was jumping, every table occupied. But that's not strange, as seeing other people cheerfully stuffing themselves stimulates the appetite - it's hard work!
Took my tray and sat down at a table where an elderly woman was savouring every silken spoonful of her 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pei dan sau yiuk jook - century egg and pork curls rice porridge) with slow ecstasy. A friendly nod served as a bon appétit.
By the time I had finished munching, most tables were empty again, so I ordered some of the fresh steamed cilantro sheet noodle (yuen sai cheung fan 芫茜腸粉) which had just come out of the kitchen.
Oh happy opportunism! I got it first!
[Dim sum place: 金華點心快餐 Yummy Dim Sum & Fast Food, 930 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.]
Strolled down Washington Street smoking an after-lunch pipe, past the young fellows from the kungfu school catching a ciggy out of sight of their sifu, past the ladies handing out menus for nearby restaurants on the corner of Grant Avenue. Caught the eye of a little girl whose mouth dropped open when she saw the pipe, as well as an elderly gentleman who stared in fascination at the object.
Totally understandable!
It's a handsome pipe, of very high quality - not at all surprising that they recognized that!
Calm and contemplative air-pollution. It's one of the joys of life.
Got to the office shortly before three. The day had started well.
Everyone should have something nice to eat on weekends, it makes the world fresh and bright again.
Don't you agree?
三陽咖啡餐屋 SAAM-YEUNG KAFEI TSAN-OK
I should mention, by the way, that the San Sun Restaurant (三陽咖啡餐屋), which had to move because of the metro line that will be built along Stockton Street, has relocated to where Sun Wah Kue (新華僑餐廳) used to be on the corner of Ross Alley and Washington (between Stockton and Grant).
Many people fondly remember Sun Wah Kue, especially their delicious pies, and diner-style dishes with a Chinatown touch - oxtail cooked with star anise, fried chicken with the best coating ever - and were unhappy when it closed down years ago. It had been a place where generations of Chinatown folks had enjoyed the food.
They'll be pleased to know that the old location now has a bright sunny new tenant with a positive attitude.
It is clean and fresh and inviting, and I anticipate going there for lunch tomorrow.
I will let you know how it is.
[San Sun Restaurant: 848 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.]
Fine tobacco, nice people, yummy dimsum.
And tomorrow, noodles!
Auntie!
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
If I were a space-alien temporarily posted to this planet to observe the local intelligent life, the bus would be the perfect place to collect data.
Prior to plundering earth’s precious resources of course, and hauling off the intelligent young females for breeding purposes.
Mars needs women!
Plus water and Icelandic bee-honey, among other things.
But mostly women.
COMMON COURTESIES 禮數
The California Street bus is particularly good in that regard, as once past Van Ness it picks up a large number of Cantonese on the way to Chinatown. Totally unconsciously they demonstrate levels of conditioning quite unusual nowadays among white people.
There’s a drang to concede seniority and superiority, almost always matched by a strong tendency to acknowledge the gesture but refuse the favour. Sit, sit! And unless the elderly person is truly several years older than the person getting up to offer their seat, they will vehemently refuse.
No no, you sit, you sit – ney tzoh, ney tzoh!
Young women with children will either themselves rise – usually an unsuccessful attempt at manners, as the grey-haired ones will not hear of it unless truly needful – or tell their offspring to stand up. Which provides an object lesson and an example that will subconsciously influence the youngster, and inform his or her conduct throughout their life.
I doubt that many white people have any such conditioning anymore – quite often some perfectly healthy young adult will be too preoccupied with their cell-phone or scratching their testicles to even notice that some tiny old lady is trembling while desperately holding on. Just like they fail to understand that when there is a ton of room in the back of the bus, it might be a good idea to move there, so that the dozen or so folks waiting at the bus stop can also ride.
阿姨, 嗰便可以坐 SIT OVER THERE, AUNTIE
I know I seem a bit puritanical about this, but I really do think that yielding your place to a lady or an old person is the right thing to do. Same goes for holding doors open for others, and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.
It really isn’t that hard to be smooth to the people around you.
Pointing out an available seat to the auntie next to you made her life easier, and gave the rest of us a bit more space to stand.
The young fellow planted in front of the empty seat could’ve done the same, but he was far too busy with his i-pod to notice anything, so I can understand the oversight; electronic devices require one’s complete attention.
And it’s reassuring to know that he isn’t an outerspace alien observing us.
If his kind were interplanetary explorers, we’d be in real trouble.
They would NEVER understand that Mars needs women!
Instead, they’d steal our hip hop music.
And open up the Red Planet.
For Starbucks.
OKAY THEN, WE'RE HERE 到了, 大家落車嘅喎
Chinatown is also perfect for people-watching, especially at eating places. Precisely like young white adults with their cell-phones and other electrical toys, Cantonese people are totally pre-occupied when involved with food.
But with one crucial difference: they do not tune out the rest of the world. Instead they regard the passing throngs as a version of dinner theatre, keenly observing everything around them from behind a plate of something really tasty.
I arrived at the dim sum place when the ladies behind the counter where having their own lunch. Which was while the place was jumping, every table occupied. But that's not strange, as seeing other people cheerfully stuffing themselves stimulates the appetite - it's hard work!
Took my tray and sat down at a table where an elderly woman was savouring every silken spoonful of her 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (pei dan sau yiuk jook - century egg and pork curls rice porridge) with slow ecstasy. A friendly nod served as a bon appétit.
By the time I had finished munching, most tables were empty again, so I ordered some of the fresh steamed cilantro sheet noodle (yuen sai cheung fan 芫茜腸粉) which had just come out of the kitchen.
Oh happy opportunism! I got it first!
[Dim sum place: 金華點心快餐 Yummy Dim Sum & Fast Food, 930 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.]
Strolled down Washington Street smoking an after-lunch pipe, past the young fellows from the kungfu school catching a ciggy out of sight of their sifu, past the ladies handing out menus for nearby restaurants on the corner of Grant Avenue. Caught the eye of a little girl whose mouth dropped open when she saw the pipe, as well as an elderly gentleman who stared in fascination at the object.
Totally understandable!
It's a handsome pipe, of very high quality - not at all surprising that they recognized that!
Calm and contemplative air-pollution. It's one of the joys of life.
Got to the office shortly before three. The day had started well.
Everyone should have something nice to eat on weekends, it makes the world fresh and bright again.
Don't you agree?
三陽咖啡餐屋 SAAM-YEUNG KAFEI TSAN-OK
I should mention, by the way, that the San Sun Restaurant (三陽咖啡餐屋), which had to move because of the metro line that will be built along Stockton Street, has relocated to where Sun Wah Kue (新華僑餐廳) used to be on the corner of Ross Alley and Washington (between Stockton and Grant).
Many people fondly remember Sun Wah Kue, especially their delicious pies, and diner-style dishes with a Chinatown touch - oxtail cooked with star anise, fried chicken with the best coating ever - and were unhappy when it closed down years ago. It had been a place where generations of Chinatown folks had enjoyed the food.
They'll be pleased to know that the old location now has a bright sunny new tenant with a positive attitude.
It is clean and fresh and inviting, and I anticipate going there for lunch tomorrow.
I will let you know how it is.
[San Sun Restaurant: 848 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.]
Fine tobacco, nice people, yummy dimsum.
And tomorrow, noodles!
Auntie!
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Monday, November 07, 2011
DISAPPEARING RESTAURANTS ON STOCKTON STREET IN SAN FRANCISCO
You may not have noticed, but Stockton Street has become somewhat poorer. Four good eateries have recently closed down, in order that we may dig a metro line. Their locations are vacant, and the long building at the north end of the block where they were will probably be torn down soon.
You's Dimsum. Little Paris. San Sun. Joy Hing.
Respectively: yummy cheap snackiepoos, Vietnamese sandwiches, oodles of noodles, and superlative hot chicken noodle soup (phở gà).
Plus Vietnamese coffee with ice and condensed milk (cà phê nâu đá) at two of them: Little Paris and Joy Hing.
There will be far less fun on Stockton now that they're gone.
But they have all found new spaces.
得意糕點
YOU'S DIMSUM
Old address: 937 Stockton Street.
New address: 675 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Tel. 415-781-6923
小巴黎咖啡室
LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP
Old address: 939 Stockton Street.
New address: 2305 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA 94122.
Tel. 415-681-7666
三陽咖啡餐屋 [麵飯粥粉]
SAN SUN RESTAURANT
Old address: 941 Stockton Street.
New address: 848 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tel. 415-296-8228
再興黄毛雞粉
JOY HING B.B.Q. NOODLE HOUSE
Old address: 943 Stockton Street.
New address: 710 Kearney Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tel. 415-981-0531
With the exception of Little Paris, they are within easy walking distance of their previous location. And Joy Hing will be a most welcome addition to my lunch or dinner list, as it is now only a stroll away from work. They plan to re-open on November 14.
I'll let you know if there are any delays.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
You's Dimsum. Little Paris. San Sun. Joy Hing.
Respectively: yummy cheap snackiepoos, Vietnamese sandwiches, oodles of noodles, and superlative hot chicken noodle soup (phở gà).
Plus Vietnamese coffee with ice and condensed milk (cà phê nâu đá) at two of them: Little Paris and Joy Hing.
There will be far less fun on Stockton now that they're gone.
But they have all found new spaces.
得意糕點
YOU'S DIMSUM
Old address: 937 Stockton Street.
New address: 675 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133.
Tel. 415-781-6923
小巴黎咖啡室
LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP
Old address: 939 Stockton Street.
New address: 2305 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA 94122.
Tel. 415-681-7666
三陽咖啡餐屋 [麵飯粥粉]
SAN SUN RESTAURANT
Old address: 941 Stockton Street.
New address: 848 Washington Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tel. 415-296-8228
再興黄毛雞粉
JOY HING B.B.Q. NOODLE HOUSE
Old address: 943 Stockton Street.
New address: 710 Kearney Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tel. 415-981-0531
With the exception of Little Paris, they are within easy walking distance of their previous location. And Joy Hing will be a most welcome addition to my lunch or dinner list, as it is now only a stroll away from work. They plan to re-open on November 14.
I'll let you know if there are any delays.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Thursday, September 29, 2011
THE BEST IN CHINATOWN
While scarfing down a chicken bun I heard the counterwoman vocalizing because her friend had left her umbrella, bag, and spectacles, on one of the tables, while going off to purchase something at a nearby store. Her lament more or less boiled down to "so crazy, lah, shouldn't leave them there someone will steal it you'll die if they take your nice umbrella how irresponsible!".
Grumble grumble grumble.
Often it seems that the longest and most complete sentences in a Cantonese woman's arsenal involve utter damnation and predictions of horrible bad things happening, frequently delivered with what can only be described as extremely happy premature gloating.
It's really very endearing.
Eloquent, evocative.
Very sweet.
A large Eastern European came in, examined what was in the steamers and hot trays, and asked what those things were. His problematic English and hers hit head on. He ended up ordering one of everything, despite not having a clue what it all was.
After finishing his plate of dim sum, he looked at the bakery display case speculatively.
Several more items utterly unfamiliar to him made their way into his life.
Very adventurous. He learned a lot while having a full meal.
And I'm pretty certain he enjoyed every moment.
JUST EAT IT!
I really have to give him credit for grabbing the bull by the horns and trying stuff. Many people are not nearly so brave.
The other day someone asked me for a good place to eat in Chinatown, then rejected every restaurant I offered for their consideration. Which did not surprise me, because often people think that the best Chinese food must surely be available somewhere in C'town, possibly a closely guarded secret.
Wouldn't a neighborhood that's overwhelmingly Chinese contain the finest delicacies?
No. It wouldn't.
There are indeed the finest ingredients for sale, and the greatest variety.
But the prepared food places cater primarily to people who live there. So most restaurants serve everyday food, regular items, nothing particularly fancy.
Yes, you can find sharkfin and birdsnest, as well as seacucumber and other fancy things, but only at a few restaurants, and you might have to order days in advance.
Most Chinatown people will look for convenience and familiar dishes.
They'll cook the good stuff at home for special occasions.
Such things aren't normal restaurant offerings.
And in any case, money is a serious issue for a lot of them, because Chinatown is a half-way house for people who are still working their way into the English language and have not yet attained a middle-class life-style.
So the restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and soup kitchens have decent food but nothing fancy, at affordable prices, for normal working people.
Still, if what you really want is stuff that the locals like, there are a few places to recommend.
New Fortune Dim Sum & Coffee Shop
815 Stockton Street, between Clay and Sacramento.
San Francisco, CA 94108
Telephone: 415-399-1511
富祥點心
[Fu Cheung Dim Sum: "abundant auspiciousness touch-heart"]
Right opposite Wonkow Food Products.
[環球海味食品公司 Wonkow Hoimei Sikpaan Kongsi: "worldwide sea-tastes food products company"]
Very good chicken buns, and their cheung fun is often exceptional - though tell the auntie not to pour the soy-sauce pot-liquor all over it, it's fine without. Both of the women who are most often behind the counter are our kind of people. One of them has a pleasant round face which betrays that she has a sense of humour and a keen interest in life. The other speaks excellent city Cantonese.
The charsiu so-peng, when fresh, are extremely good, but you have to hit it just right.
They also do fried rice of mixed flavours, and braised vegetables, as well as rice soup.
New Regent Café
638 Pacific Avenue, between Grant and Kearny
San Francisco, CA 94133.
Telephone: 415-392-6688
新麗晶西餐廳
[San Laitsing Sai Tsaan Teng: "new beautiful crystal western dining hall"]
港式西餐
[Gong sik sai tsaan: "harbour style western dining"]
Opposite Ping Yuen Housing East.
[東平園 Tung Ping Yuen: "east peace garden"]
Hong Kong style western food, good for breakfast, very good milk tea. Likely to scare super-westernized people, and white folks might not like it at all.
That, by itself, counts as a stellar recommendation.
It's an all-day diner. If you like diners, and you like Chinese food, and you like a bustling cheerful racket, you'll love this place. If you're a food snob or neurotically fastidious, you won't. But really, that's okay. We shan't miss you.
ABC Café Restaurant
650 Jackson Street, between Grant and Kearny
San Francisco, CA 94133.
Telephone: 415-981-0685
ABC大餐廳
[Ei Bi Si Taai Tsaan Teng: "ABC great dining hall"]
Facing the Great Eastern Restaurant.
[迎賓閣 Ying Pan Gok: "welcome honoured-guest pavilion"]
Chinese-American and Hong Kong altogether. Damned good milk tea, and good Chinese style buns of various types. An eclectic mix of Cantonese American dishes, Hong Kong western style restaurant dishes, and old-style Chinatown diner food. The interesting drinks are better than some of the food. It has good days and worse days, as do the staff. But it's the kind of place you used to go to when you lived nearby, and it still has that down-home feel. Their jook hits the spot, but for everything else, well, you may be risking it.
Even so, you probably can't beat the price, and if you know what you want, this is it.
They also produce the usual C'town baked goods, some of which are very good indeed.
Yummy Bakery & Cafe
607 Jackson Street, between Grant and Kearney
San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-989-8388
人仁
[Yan Yam: "humane benevolence"]
西餅麵包
[Sai Bing Min Bau: "western pastry wheat bread"]
Some extraordinary Chinese / Cantonese / Hong Kong style baked products, including probably the very best baked charsiu bao in the city. Three tables, of which one has the paperwork and proprietor's files stacked on it, so actually just two tables. Which is perfect if you wanted a nice quiet place for your white boy-friend to learn about stuff your people eat. He'll be pleasantly surprised, neither one of you will be disturbed, and you're not likely to be interrupted by your cousins or aunties and uncles, or even any of the home-town neighbors. Perfect for a discrete cup of coffee with a pal.
Clean and sweet. You could spend all afternoon here.
A-1 Restaurant
779 Clay Street, just below Grant
San Francisco, CA 94108
415-398-7918
華記小館
[Wah-Kee Siu Kwun: "elegance rising small establishment"]
Tablecloths, very clean, and friendly efficient service. The perfect place to take your boyfriend for exposure to your background and your food-culture. Nothing frightening, but it's all stuff that you know and he should learn. Small and not likely to get crowded, and the prices are low enough that it won't put you out much. Real Chinese food, but also a few things that white people like. Probably the best place for a quiet romantic meal, even if he doesn't know what he's eating.
Joy Hing Barbecue Noodle House
943 Stockton Street, between Clay and Washington
San Francisco, CA 94108.
再興黄毛雞粉
[Tzoi Hing Wong Mo Kai Fan: "again flourishing yellow fuzz chicken noodle"]
The menu is extensive enough that you can easily get lost, but what they really do well here is chicken-noodle soup, in the style of Northern Vietnam, but also very Chinese. Fresh chicken, good stock, thick rice-stick noodles, with fresh herbs. The chicken they use is a little tougher than normal birds, but a lot more flavourful. There are also several other choices on the menu, including many things that appeal primarily to non-Chinese, but exercising common sense and telling your companion to let you do all the ordering will prevent discord.
The staff is quiet, discrete, considerate. And they've seen enough diversity come through the door that their eyes no longer bug out at mixed race couples.
Gourmet Delight Barbecue
1045 Stockton Street, between Jackson and Washington
San Francisco, CA 94108.
新凱豐燒臘店
[San Hoi Fung Siu Lahp Diem: "new triumph surfeit roast meats shop"]
If not the best roast duck in Chinatown, very darn close. Buy it to go, then bury your face in it when you get home. Yes, they have other things, including squab, white poached chicken, and roast pork. All the usual siu-mei stuff.
But their duck is the bomb.
If the young gentleman courting you does not eat duck - let's say he's a vegan - you have made a mistake, and should probably consider dating a carnivore instead. Because this duck proves that vegans are limp pasty-faced wussies with no spunk and no zest for life.
Do not eat here, but take it home, and spread newspapers on the kitchen table.
For an overview of other establishments on Stockton Street, click here: 市德頓街.
For a selection of bakeries, this link: 'bing things'.
My personal choices are Joy Hing, because their quality and preparation is extremely impressive, and also most especially the A-1 on Clay Street, because at some point I would love to bring some nice young lady there. Tablecloths, small, good, and very nice.
I also like several other restaurants, because of dishes on the menu, but they tend to be bustlingly busy, and more suitable to a meeting with the relatives.
So not quite right for a comfortable private dinner and quiet togetherness.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Grumble grumble grumble.
Often it seems that the longest and most complete sentences in a Cantonese woman's arsenal involve utter damnation and predictions of horrible bad things happening, frequently delivered with what can only be described as extremely happy premature gloating.
It's really very endearing.
Eloquent, evocative.
Very sweet.
A large Eastern European came in, examined what was in the steamers and hot trays, and asked what those things were. His problematic English and hers hit head on. He ended up ordering one of everything, despite not having a clue what it all was.
After finishing his plate of dim sum, he looked at the bakery display case speculatively.
Several more items utterly unfamiliar to him made their way into his life.
Very adventurous. He learned a lot while having a full meal.
And I'm pretty certain he enjoyed every moment.
JUST EAT IT!
I really have to give him credit for grabbing the bull by the horns and trying stuff. Many people are not nearly so brave.
The other day someone asked me for a good place to eat in Chinatown, then rejected every restaurant I offered for their consideration. Which did not surprise me, because often people think that the best Chinese food must surely be available somewhere in C'town, possibly a closely guarded secret.
Wouldn't a neighborhood that's overwhelmingly Chinese contain the finest delicacies?
No. It wouldn't.
There are indeed the finest ingredients for sale, and the greatest variety.
But the prepared food places cater primarily to people who live there. So most restaurants serve everyday food, regular items, nothing particularly fancy.
Yes, you can find sharkfin and birdsnest, as well as seacucumber and other fancy things, but only at a few restaurants, and you might have to order days in advance.
Most Chinatown people will look for convenience and familiar dishes.
They'll cook the good stuff at home for special occasions.
Such things aren't normal restaurant offerings.
And in any case, money is a serious issue for a lot of them, because Chinatown is a half-way house for people who are still working their way into the English language and have not yet attained a middle-class life-style.
So the restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and soup kitchens have decent food but nothing fancy, at affordable prices, for normal working people.
Still, if what you really want is stuff that the locals like, there are a few places to recommend.
New Fortune Dim Sum & Coffee Shop
815 Stockton Street, between Clay and Sacramento.
San Francisco, CA 94108
Telephone: 415-399-1511
富祥點心
[Fu Cheung Dim Sum: "abundant auspiciousness touch-heart"]
Right opposite Wonkow Food Products.
[環球海味食品公司 Wonkow Hoimei Sikpaan Kongsi: "worldwide sea-tastes food products company"]
Very good chicken buns, and their cheung fun is often exceptional - though tell the auntie not to pour the soy-sauce pot-liquor all over it, it's fine without. Both of the women who are most often behind the counter are our kind of people. One of them has a pleasant round face which betrays that she has a sense of humour and a keen interest in life. The other speaks excellent city Cantonese.
The charsiu so-peng, when fresh, are extremely good, but you have to hit it just right.
They also do fried rice of mixed flavours, and braised vegetables, as well as rice soup.
New Regent Café
638 Pacific Avenue, between Grant and Kearny
San Francisco, CA 94133.
Telephone: 415-392-6688
新麗晶西餐廳
[San Laitsing Sai Tsaan Teng: "new beautiful crystal western dining hall"]
港式西餐
[Gong sik sai tsaan: "harbour style western dining"]
Opposite Ping Yuen Housing East.
[東平園 Tung Ping Yuen: "east peace garden"]
Hong Kong style western food, good for breakfast, very good milk tea. Likely to scare super-westernized people, and white folks might not like it at all.
That, by itself, counts as a stellar recommendation.
It's an all-day diner. If you like diners, and you like Chinese food, and you like a bustling cheerful racket, you'll love this place. If you're a food snob or neurotically fastidious, you won't. But really, that's okay. We shan't miss you.
ABC Café Restaurant
650 Jackson Street, between Grant and Kearny
San Francisco, CA 94133.
Telephone: 415-981-0685
ABC大餐廳
[Ei Bi Si Taai Tsaan Teng: "ABC great dining hall"]
Facing the Great Eastern Restaurant.
[迎賓閣 Ying Pan Gok: "welcome honoured-guest pavilion"]
Chinese-American and Hong Kong altogether. Damned good milk tea, and good Chinese style buns of various types. An eclectic mix of Cantonese American dishes, Hong Kong western style restaurant dishes, and old-style Chinatown diner food. The interesting drinks are better than some of the food. It has good days and worse days, as do the staff. But it's the kind of place you used to go to when you lived nearby, and it still has that down-home feel. Their jook hits the spot, but for everything else, well, you may be risking it.
Even so, you probably can't beat the price, and if you know what you want, this is it.
They also produce the usual C'town baked goods, some of which are very good indeed.
Yummy Bakery & Cafe
607 Jackson Street, between Grant and Kearney
San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-989-8388
人仁
[Yan Yam: "humane benevolence"]
西餅麵包
[Sai Bing Min Bau: "western pastry wheat bread"]
Some extraordinary Chinese / Cantonese / Hong Kong style baked products, including probably the very best baked charsiu bao in the city. Three tables, of which one has the paperwork and proprietor's files stacked on it, so actually just two tables. Which is perfect if you wanted a nice quiet place for your white boy-friend to learn about stuff your people eat. He'll be pleasantly surprised, neither one of you will be disturbed, and you're not likely to be interrupted by your cousins or aunties and uncles, or even any of the home-town neighbors. Perfect for a discrete cup of coffee with a pal.
Clean and sweet. You could spend all afternoon here.
A-1 Restaurant
779 Clay Street, just below Grant
San Francisco, CA 94108
415-398-7918
華記小館
[Wah-Kee Siu Kwun: "elegance rising small establishment"]
Tablecloths, very clean, and friendly efficient service. The perfect place to take your boyfriend for exposure to your background and your food-culture. Nothing frightening, but it's all stuff that you know and he should learn. Small and not likely to get crowded, and the prices are low enough that it won't put you out much. Real Chinese food, but also a few things that white people like. Probably the best place for a quiet romantic meal, even if he doesn't know what he's eating.
Joy Hing Barbecue Noodle House
943 Stockton Street, between Clay and Washington
San Francisco, CA 94108.
再興黄毛雞粉
[Tzoi Hing Wong Mo Kai Fan: "again flourishing yellow fuzz chicken noodle"]
The menu is extensive enough that you can easily get lost, but what they really do well here is chicken-noodle soup, in the style of Northern Vietnam, but also very Chinese. Fresh chicken, good stock, thick rice-stick noodles, with fresh herbs. The chicken they use is a little tougher than normal birds, but a lot more flavourful. There are also several other choices on the menu, including many things that appeal primarily to non-Chinese, but exercising common sense and telling your companion to let you do all the ordering will prevent discord.
The staff is quiet, discrete, considerate. And they've seen enough diversity come through the door that their eyes no longer bug out at mixed race couples.
Gourmet Delight Barbecue
1045 Stockton Street, between Jackson and Washington
San Francisco, CA 94108.
新凱豐燒臘店
[San Hoi Fung Siu Lahp Diem: "new triumph surfeit roast meats shop"]
If not the best roast duck in Chinatown, very darn close. Buy it to go, then bury your face in it when you get home. Yes, they have other things, including squab, white poached chicken, and roast pork. All the usual siu-mei stuff.
But their duck is the bomb.
If the young gentleman courting you does not eat duck - let's say he's a vegan - you have made a mistake, and should probably consider dating a carnivore instead. Because this duck proves that vegans are limp pasty-faced wussies with no spunk and no zest for life.
Do not eat here, but take it home, and spread newspapers on the kitchen table.
For an overview of other establishments on Stockton Street, click here: 市德頓街.
For a selection of bakeries, this link: 'bing things'.
My personal choices are Joy Hing, because their quality and preparation is extremely impressive, and also most especially the A-1 on Clay Street, because at some point I would love to bring some nice young lady there. Tablecloths, small, good, and very nice.
I also like several other restaurants, because of dishes on the menu, but they tend to be bustlingly busy, and more suitable to a meeting with the relatives.
So not quite right for a comfortable private dinner and quiet togetherness.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Sunday, July 17, 2011
YUMMY DIM SUM & FAST FOOD ON STOCKTON STREET - WHY HELLO, MISS 'NG!
I cannot understand how I didn't discover the place sooner. It's clean, the staff are capable, courteous, and friendly. And the food is excellent.
It's a narrow place, but it feels larger because of the high ceiling.
There are six tables that seat four along the wall facing the counter.
金華點心快餐
First time I went there I had something simple - fresh cilantro steamed rice sheet (香茜腸粉 heung sai cheung fan) and a chicken bun (雞飽 gai bao).
Plus coffee.
Unlike many places in Chinatown, the coffee was actually drinkable at that time of day. Chinatown coffee always comes out of a large cafeteria machine that is filled and turned on around seven in the morning, and by lunch time what's left is usually dark, bitter, pungent.
This was much better.
I drank the whole cup.
金華點心快餐YUMMY DIM SUM & FAST FOOD, LLC.
930 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Telephone:
(415) 308-3819
(415) 828-0856
(415) 986-2783
The steamed rice sheet was mild and very fresh, which let the fragrance of the cilantro (芫荽葉 yuen seui yiep, AKA 香茜 heung sai) come through. There is a subtle citrusy hint, almost of oranges, to fresh cilantro. Delightful.
The filling in the chicken bun was surprising - it included noticeable water chestnut chunks that provided an endearing crunchiness.
I would've wished for more meat, but it was nevertheless quite good.
At that time the only other steamed rice sheet they had was beef-shred rice sheet (牛肉絲腸粉 ngau yiuk see cheung fan).
I have an antipathy towards beef. But it too looked exceedingly fresh.
More than many other places, their cheung fan are objects of beauty.
Naturally it all sells fast once it's brought from the back.
They have most of the usual dimsummy stuff: siu mai (燒賣), haahm sui gok (咸水角), ha gau (蝦餃, and what looked like totally LOVELY jin-deui (煎堆)! Plus a respectable selection of baked snacky things and buns.
Additionally, they offer eat there or take-out 糯米雞 (lo mai kai: glutinous rice and chicken steamed in a lotus leaf), plus a reasonable selection of steamed dumplings (蒸餃 tsing gau), and steamed rice combinations (蒸飯 tsing fan) as well.
One dish I recommend is the 豆豉排骨蒸飯 (dau si pai gwat tsing fan - black bean sauce spare rib steamed rice).
The noise from the kitchen is lively in a professional way, a veritable hive of activity. Regularly a bright-eyed young man would come flying out with a new offering to add to the counter, or an auntie would hurry back to grab something.
Busy lah, ho sang yi!
羊肉腐竹煲
Among the take-out foods mentioned on the wall, the 炆羊肉腐竹 (man yeung-yiuk fu-dzuk: slow-cooked lamb with tofu skin) looks particularly intriguing.
Fu-dzuk (腐竹 "tofu bamboo") is one of those things you either totally love or maybe not-quite love. It doesn't have much flavour of its own, but absorbs sauces and juices most marvelously, and has an inimitable texture. Lamb is a particularly apt pairing for tofu skin.
As is ox tail, by the way.
The word 'man' (炆) for combined ingredients slow-cooked together is a Cantonese culinary term.
NOTE: This post came about because one of my friends in Holland (Vera Puichi NG) on her Facebook page asked if anyone wanted to go drink tea (飲茶 'yam cha' – enjoy snacks at a teahouse, usually with friends).
By which, in her case, she purely meant eating jook (粥) somewhere in R'dam. She particularly likes jook.
So whatever the rest of the crowd was having would be fine, totally fine, really, as long as she could have jook. She wanted company while eating her jook.
Sorry, Chi-djeh, I didn't bother checking to see if they had jook.
They probably do.
But ordering what looks very fresh means IMMEDIATE gratification.
我食得好滿意嘅喇! 你呢?
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly: LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
It's a narrow place, but it feels larger because of the high ceiling.
There are six tables that seat four along the wall facing the counter.
金華點心快餐
First time I went there I had something simple - fresh cilantro steamed rice sheet (香茜腸粉 heung sai cheung fan) and a chicken bun (雞飽 gai bao).
Plus coffee.
Unlike many places in Chinatown, the coffee was actually drinkable at that time of day. Chinatown coffee always comes out of a large cafeteria machine that is filled and turned on around seven in the morning, and by lunch time what's left is usually dark, bitter, pungent.
This was much better.
I drank the whole cup.
金華點心快餐YUMMY DIM SUM & FAST FOOD, LLC.
930 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Telephone:
(415) 308-3819
(415) 828-0856
(415) 986-2783
The steamed rice sheet was mild and very fresh, which let the fragrance of the cilantro (芫荽葉 yuen seui yiep, AKA 香茜 heung sai) come through. There is a subtle citrusy hint, almost of oranges, to fresh cilantro. Delightful.
The filling in the chicken bun was surprising - it included noticeable water chestnut chunks that provided an endearing crunchiness.
I would've wished for more meat, but it was nevertheless quite good.
At that time the only other steamed rice sheet they had was beef-shred rice sheet (牛肉絲腸粉 ngau yiuk see cheung fan).
I have an antipathy towards beef. But it too looked exceedingly fresh.
More than many other places, their cheung fan are objects of beauty.
Naturally it all sells fast once it's brought from the back.
They have most of the usual dimsummy stuff: siu mai (燒賣), haahm sui gok (咸水角), ha gau (蝦餃, and what looked like totally LOVELY jin-deui (煎堆)! Plus a respectable selection of baked snacky things and buns.
Additionally, they offer eat there or take-out 糯米雞 (lo mai kai: glutinous rice and chicken steamed in a lotus leaf), plus a reasonable selection of steamed dumplings (蒸餃 tsing gau), and steamed rice combinations (蒸飯 tsing fan) as well.
One dish I recommend is the 豆豉排骨蒸飯 (dau si pai gwat tsing fan - black bean sauce spare rib steamed rice).
The noise from the kitchen is lively in a professional way, a veritable hive of activity. Regularly a bright-eyed young man would come flying out with a new offering to add to the counter, or an auntie would hurry back to grab something.
Busy lah, ho sang yi!
羊肉腐竹煲
Among the take-out foods mentioned on the wall, the 炆羊肉腐竹 (man yeung-yiuk fu-dzuk: slow-cooked lamb with tofu skin) looks particularly intriguing.
Fu-dzuk (腐竹 "tofu bamboo") is one of those things you either totally love or maybe not-quite love. It doesn't have much flavour of its own, but absorbs sauces and juices most marvelously, and has an inimitable texture. Lamb is a particularly apt pairing for tofu skin.
As is ox tail, by the way.
The word 'man' (炆) for combined ingredients slow-cooked together is a Cantonese culinary term.
NOTE: This post came about because one of my friends in Holland (Vera Puichi NG) on her Facebook page asked if anyone wanted to go drink tea (飲茶 'yam cha' – enjoy snacks at a teahouse, usually with friends).
By which, in her case, she purely meant eating jook (粥) somewhere in R'dam. She particularly likes jook.
So whatever the rest of the crowd was having would be fine, totally fine, really, as long as she could have jook. She wanted company while eating her jook.
Sorry, Chi-djeh, I didn't bother checking to see if they had jook.
They probably do.
But ordering what looks very fresh means IMMEDIATE gratification.
我食得好滿意嘅喇! 你呢?
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly: LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Saturday, May 21, 2011
LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP ON STOCKTON STREET - VIETNAMESE SANDWICHES & ICE COFFEE
One of the places that's been around since Noah landed the Ark is a hole-in-the-wall on Stockton Street: The Little Paris Coffee Shop.
It has been a favourite haunt of Chinatown school kids, residential hotel dwellers, and local working folks for over a generation now, and people in their twenties and thirties nostalgically stop by when they revisit the old neighborhood.
It is exactly as they remember it, but it also isn't. They remember it better than it ever was.
Often it was their first taste of non-Chinese food, and they fondly recall the Vietnamese sandwiches, noodle-dishes, and sweet shloopy puddings.
[Shloopy puddings: tapioca pearls, bean starch globules, or strange-flavour gelatin squiggles in a cold syrup drink, often with coconut cream added. You can eat it with a spoon, or pour it into a glass of ice-cubes. Pandan, grass jelly, soaked basil seeds. Salt plum, longan, or jackfruit.]
For many, it was also their very first experience of being wired to the gills on real coffee - in most places in Chinatown, the coffee verges on repulsive by noon-time, when the cafeteria style percolators have kept it warm for several hours. It's drinkable if thinned down with plenty of milk, but you won't finish the cup.
Vietnamese coffee, on the other hand, is strong and fresh. You actually have to wait for it, as the boiling water was poured into the little drip device just after you ordered it.
Slow coffee, but it speeds you up.
[Coffee: cà phê (咖啡 ka-fei). Iced coffee: cà phê đá (咖啡冰 ka-fei bing). Coffee with condensed milk and ice-cubes: cà phê sữa đá (咖啡奶冰 ka-fei naai-bing ). Hot milk coffee: cà phê sữa nóng (热咖啡奶 yeet ka-fei naai).
Coffee filtering device: cà phê phin (咖啡濾器 ka-fei lui-hei).]
The Little Paris is a neighborhood place. It has a hometown feel, and the regulars know what they want, and what to expect.
For those who left before adulthood, the memories of this place are forever gilded, and their first time back may be disappointing.
They've had the same stuff elsewhere since then, better too. Though at higher price.
Little Paris does not pretend any superiority, and may seem almost pedestrian.
However, if your expectations are not inflated by imprecise recollection, and you accept it for what it is, you cannot be dissatisfied.
The noodle dishes are excellent, the cold meats are exactly what you wanted, and the sandwiches use real Vietnamese baguettes.
Where else in C'town can you enjoy good cup of cà phê sữa đá, scarf down a fresh sandwich, and surreptitiously listen to aunties quarreling?
[Vietnamese baguettes: bánh mỳ (餅麵). Biscuit bread. The dough is made with a mixture of wheat flour and rice flour, resulting in a lighter bread with a crust that benefits particularly from toasting without the interior becoming too moist or spongy.
That's why it's much better.
The regular Vietnamese sandwich, also called bánh mỳ, or bánh mỳ đặc biệt (餅麵特別) contains sliced pork, either liver paté or head cheese, cilantro, sliced cucumber, and đồ chua (sour stuff: daikon and carrots shredded into diluted tamarind with a little fish sauce, sugar, chili flakes).
Sliced green chilies or red hot sauce may be added to taste. Frequently the inside of the baguette is buttered a bit to add flavour.]
You may remember Little Paris from your childhood, when you hurried there from school to get a warm flaky sandwich and a small container of green dark dark green sweet squiggles in syrup, or to scarf down some rice-skin rolls ('gỏi cuốn', or 'món cuốn', using 'bánh tráng' sheets) with fresh shrimp.
Ten of you sat at a six person table, divvying up the goodies that your limited funds afforded, and it was utterly good!
[Sweet snacks: Bánh bò (glutinous rice flour and coconut milk confection), bánh da lợn (steamed pastry of alternating layers made from tapioca flour, rice flour, and various flavourings), bánh đúc xanh (cooked rice flour paste flavoured with pandan), bánh hấp (steamed glutinous flour pastries), chè chuối (banana & tapioca in coconut milk), etc.]
I remember the place from when I lived a few blocks away, and wanted a treat.
Back in those days, for three dollars including tip, I left filled with coffee, sugar, and meat. Oh boy.
And no Northbeach weirdoes were present to be a nuisance.
It's less than ten blocks from the office. Perfect for Saturday lunch.
BÁNH Mỳ
'Yat go tong yiuk mien-bau, tong mai yat pui Yuet-nam ka-fei, m-koi. Ni do sik.'
一個凍肉麵包, 同埋一杯越南咖啡, 唔該. 呢喥食.
["One 'regular' sandwich ('gelled-meat bread-bun'), one cup Vietnamese coffee, please. Here eating."]
'Yiu m yiu tong, ah?'
要唔要凍, 呀?
["Want-not-want cold?"]
'Yiu tong, m-koi.'
要凍, 唔該.
["Want cold, if you please."]
'Wah, gam lek-ge tong-wah.'
譁, 咁叻嘅唐話.
["Wow, such smart Cantonese."]
That last comment was delivered sotto voce to somebody off-side. It is not uncommon for speakers of Chinese to be surprised when someone who is clearly not related to them is actually able to say a few intelligible words.
[Note: Lek 叻 = 聰明. But also connotations of cool, hip, too clever by half.]
- - - - -
'Ho-m-ho-yi jor, ah?'
可唔可以坐, 呀?
["Can-not-can sit?"]
'Jor, jor.'
坐, 坐.
["Sit, sit"]
All tables were occupied. I sat down at a table with an elderly woman who had ordered a noodle soup dish that contained roast duck, very scrumptious looking. The both of us concentrated on our food and did not talk.
At the table in the back an old codger was being kept company by his daughter or granddaughter while eating noodle soup. He was riotously holding forth.
"Well of course Ah-Fong is sick ('peng-joh lah!'), what did you expect? What did anyone expect? The old devil ('lo sei kwai') is eighty six, that's when you're SUPPOSED to visit the hospital ('yi-yuen') all-time!"
Sluurrrrrrp!
"Him, ah, approximately gone dead already, still all time insists on walking, that sour bitter face very cringe every foot! Can't stand living, too shit-scared to die!"
Sluuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrp!!
"And his wife, ah, old bothersome hag! She can't WAIT till the stinky crow-smell passes life! Hope insurance pays her for years of putting up with his bad temper, rotten air! Greedy eyes, hah!"
Sllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrppp!!!!!!
"Hospital can't stand him either, cure him REAL good, so he never come back!"
With a satisfied clatter of utensils the old man finished eating.
His female relative had not had a bite. Maybe she was treating the old guy.
She got an earful of bad-luck talk for her trouble, poor woman.
The food and conversation cheered him up immensely, though.
He was smiling.
At a table near the door two customers had an exchange with the boss-lady.
"Wah, this coffee NOT good fragrance! Can change?"
"Why? All same, no difference!"
"But it so stink!"
"You not want? Miss, you why order? Big machine!"
"Huh!"
Listen, lady, if you wanted good fragrance coffee, you should've ordered the 热咖啡奶 (yeet ka-fei naai), only fifty cents more, ten thousand times better.
The proprietress cut the customer a fifty cent break off the bill, and the woman was happy.
She drank all of her 'so stink' coffee, too.
小巴黎咖啡室 (SIU BA-LEI KA-FEI SAT)
Little Paris Coffee Shop
939 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel : (415) 982 6111
Half a dozen types of Vietnamese sandwiches - regular, chicken, barbecue beef, barbecue pork, smashed meatball, vegetarian - iced coffee, chilled dessert-type drinkies. Hot noodle soups, the usual variety you would expect in a Vietnamese establishment, plus one or two more that will surprise you. Cold noodles, and small eats.
Tables for six along the wall, one table that only seats four in the back.
Fresh uncut short baguettes near the front, plastic cups of electric-coloured slooshy stuff on top of the counter, Vietnamese charcuterie in the chilled vitrines. Croissants, also.
Grab a menu and sit down. The waitress will ask you what you want in a moment.
She speaks Cantonese, English also can.
The place is clean, the service quick.
Sandwiches: $3.00 - $3.50.
Regular ('stink') coffee: $1.50.
Vietnamese drip-coffee: $2.00.
If you really REALLY want just regular stink coffee, you should come before nine o'clock, when the dust motes dance in the morning sunlight slanting in through the front. The machine coffee is fresh then.
But why not have a drip-coffee anyhow?
If it's that early, you'll need to wake-up.
Hot curry noodle soup for breakfast, cà phê sữa đá, and a seat near the front, so that you can watch the traffic on Stockton Street.
Packed buses slowly edging forward, parents walking their children to Gordon J. Lau Grammar School (劉貴明小學 Lau Kwai-ming Siu-hok) on Clay Street just up from Stockton, delivery trucks blocking the street so that merchandise can be unloaded, taxis honking frantically because some very important customer desperately needs to get to the airport or an equally important yuppie needs to get to a clerical job downtown.
Years ago you might have bought a pack of State Express 555 Virginia straights here, to smoke while you waited for your second cup to drip.
Many Việtkiều (越僑) and VietWah (越華) preferred the taste of the tobacco that they grew up with, and there was a lively trade in smokes from Hong Kong and Canada smuggled in.
Every Vietnamese shop sold non-filter Virginias.
One tin of 555 was cheaper than a pack of American cigarettes.
Far, far better quality too.
And you could still smoke indoors.
I haven't seen 555 in a very long time, several years.
But I had a Vietnamese sandwich only hours ago.
Yeah, I like the place.
Been going there for years.
It's somewhere to come back to.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly: LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
It has been a favourite haunt of Chinatown school kids, residential hotel dwellers, and local working folks for over a generation now, and people in their twenties and thirties nostalgically stop by when they revisit the old neighborhood.
It is exactly as they remember it, but it also isn't. They remember it better than it ever was.
Often it was their first taste of non-Chinese food, and they fondly recall the Vietnamese sandwiches, noodle-dishes, and sweet shloopy puddings.
[Shloopy puddings: tapioca pearls, bean starch globules, or strange-flavour gelatin squiggles in a cold syrup drink, often with coconut cream added. You can eat it with a spoon, or pour it into a glass of ice-cubes. Pandan, grass jelly, soaked basil seeds. Salt plum, longan, or jackfruit.]
For many, it was also their very first experience of being wired to the gills on real coffee - in most places in Chinatown, the coffee verges on repulsive by noon-time, when the cafeteria style percolators have kept it warm for several hours. It's drinkable if thinned down with plenty of milk, but you won't finish the cup.
Vietnamese coffee, on the other hand, is strong and fresh. You actually have to wait for it, as the boiling water was poured into the little drip device just after you ordered it.
Slow coffee, but it speeds you up.
[Coffee: cà phê (咖啡 ka-fei). Iced coffee: cà phê đá (咖啡冰 ka-fei bing). Coffee with condensed milk and ice-cubes: cà phê sữa đá (咖啡奶冰 ka-fei naai-bing ). Hot milk coffee: cà phê sữa nóng (热咖啡奶 yeet ka-fei naai).
Coffee filtering device: cà phê phin (咖啡濾器 ka-fei lui-hei).]
The Little Paris is a neighborhood place. It has a hometown feel, and the regulars know what they want, and what to expect.
For those who left before adulthood, the memories of this place are forever gilded, and their first time back may be disappointing.
They've had the same stuff elsewhere since then, better too. Though at higher price.
Little Paris does not pretend any superiority, and may seem almost pedestrian.
However, if your expectations are not inflated by imprecise recollection, and you accept it for what it is, you cannot be dissatisfied.
The noodle dishes are excellent, the cold meats are exactly what you wanted, and the sandwiches use real Vietnamese baguettes.
Where else in C'town can you enjoy good cup of cà phê sữa đá, scarf down a fresh sandwich, and surreptitiously listen to aunties quarreling?
[Vietnamese baguettes: bánh mỳ (餅麵). Biscuit bread. The dough is made with a mixture of wheat flour and rice flour, resulting in a lighter bread with a crust that benefits particularly from toasting without the interior becoming too moist or spongy.
That's why it's much better.
The regular Vietnamese sandwich, also called bánh mỳ, or bánh mỳ đặc biệt (餅麵特別) contains sliced pork, either liver paté or head cheese, cilantro, sliced cucumber, and đồ chua (sour stuff: daikon and carrots shredded into diluted tamarind with a little fish sauce, sugar, chili flakes).
Sliced green chilies or red hot sauce may be added to taste. Frequently the inside of the baguette is buttered a bit to add flavour.]
You may remember Little Paris from your childhood, when you hurried there from school to get a warm flaky sandwich and a small container of green dark dark green sweet squiggles in syrup, or to scarf down some rice-skin rolls ('gỏi cuốn', or 'món cuốn', using 'bánh tráng' sheets) with fresh shrimp.
Ten of you sat at a six person table, divvying up the goodies that your limited funds afforded, and it was utterly good!
[Sweet snacks: Bánh bò (glutinous rice flour and coconut milk confection), bánh da lợn (steamed pastry of alternating layers made from tapioca flour, rice flour, and various flavourings), bánh đúc xanh (cooked rice flour paste flavoured with pandan), bánh hấp (steamed glutinous flour pastries), chè chuối (banana & tapioca in coconut milk), etc.]
I remember the place from when I lived a few blocks away, and wanted a treat.
Back in those days, for three dollars including tip, I left filled with coffee, sugar, and meat. Oh boy.
And no Northbeach weirdoes were present to be a nuisance.
It's less than ten blocks from the office. Perfect for Saturday lunch.
BÁNH Mỳ
'Yat go tong yiuk mien-bau, tong mai yat pui Yuet-nam ka-fei, m-koi. Ni do sik.'
一個凍肉麵包, 同埋一杯越南咖啡, 唔該. 呢喥食.
["One 'regular' sandwich ('gelled-meat bread-bun'), one cup Vietnamese coffee, please. Here eating."]
'Yiu m yiu tong, ah?'
要唔要凍, 呀?
["Want-not-want cold?"]
'Yiu tong, m-koi.'
要凍, 唔該.
["Want cold, if you please."]
'Wah, gam lek-ge tong-wah.'
譁, 咁叻嘅唐話.
["Wow, such smart Cantonese."]
That last comment was delivered sotto voce to somebody off-side. It is not uncommon for speakers of Chinese to be surprised when someone who is clearly not related to them is actually able to say a few intelligible words.
[Note: Lek 叻 = 聰明. But also connotations of cool, hip, too clever by half.]
- - - - -
'Ho-m-ho-yi jor, ah?'
可唔可以坐, 呀?
["Can-not-can sit?"]
'Jor, jor.'
坐, 坐.
["Sit, sit"]
All tables were occupied. I sat down at a table with an elderly woman who had ordered a noodle soup dish that contained roast duck, very scrumptious looking. The both of us concentrated on our food and did not talk.
At the table in the back an old codger was being kept company by his daughter or granddaughter while eating noodle soup. He was riotously holding forth.
"Well of course Ah-Fong is sick ('peng-joh lah!'), what did you expect? What did anyone expect? The old devil ('lo sei kwai') is eighty six, that's when you're SUPPOSED to visit the hospital ('yi-yuen') all-time!"
Sluurrrrrrp!
"Him, ah, approximately gone dead already, still all time insists on walking, that sour bitter face very cringe every foot! Can't stand living, too shit-scared to die!"
Sluuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrp!!
"And his wife, ah, old bothersome hag! She can't WAIT till the stinky crow-smell passes life! Hope insurance pays her for years of putting up with his bad temper, rotten air! Greedy eyes, hah!"
Sllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrppp!!!!!!
"Hospital can't stand him either, cure him REAL good, so he never come back!"
With a satisfied clatter of utensils the old man finished eating.
His female relative had not had a bite. Maybe she was treating the old guy.
She got an earful of bad-luck talk for her trouble, poor woman.
The food and conversation cheered him up immensely, though.
He was smiling.
At a table near the door two customers had an exchange with the boss-lady.
"Wah, this coffee NOT good fragrance! Can change?"
"Why? All same, no difference!"
"But it so stink!"
"You not want? Miss, you why order? Big machine!"
"Huh!"
Listen, lady, if you wanted good fragrance coffee, you should've ordered the 热咖啡奶 (yeet ka-fei naai), only fifty cents more, ten thousand times better.
The proprietress cut the customer a fifty cent break off the bill, and the woman was happy.
She drank all of her 'so stink' coffee, too.
小巴黎咖啡室 (SIU BA-LEI KA-FEI SAT)
Little Paris Coffee Shop
939 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel : (415) 982 6111
Half a dozen types of Vietnamese sandwiches - regular, chicken, barbecue beef, barbecue pork, smashed meatball, vegetarian - iced coffee, chilled dessert-type drinkies. Hot noodle soups, the usual variety you would expect in a Vietnamese establishment, plus one or two more that will surprise you. Cold noodles, and small eats.
Tables for six along the wall, one table that only seats four in the back.
Fresh uncut short baguettes near the front, plastic cups of electric-coloured slooshy stuff on top of the counter, Vietnamese charcuterie in the chilled vitrines. Croissants, also.
Grab a menu and sit down. The waitress will ask you what you want in a moment.
She speaks Cantonese, English also can.
The place is clean, the service quick.
Sandwiches: $3.00 - $3.50.
Regular ('stink') coffee: $1.50.
Vietnamese drip-coffee: $2.00.
If you really REALLY want just regular stink coffee, you should come before nine o'clock, when the dust motes dance in the morning sunlight slanting in through the front. The machine coffee is fresh then.
But why not have a drip-coffee anyhow?
If it's that early, you'll need to wake-up.
Hot curry noodle soup for breakfast, cà phê sữa đá, and a seat near the front, so that you can watch the traffic on Stockton Street.
Packed buses slowly edging forward, parents walking their children to Gordon J. Lau Grammar School (劉貴明小學 Lau Kwai-ming Siu-hok) on Clay Street just up from Stockton, delivery trucks blocking the street so that merchandise can be unloaded, taxis honking frantically because some very important customer desperately needs to get to the airport or an equally important yuppie needs to get to a clerical job downtown.
Years ago you might have bought a pack of State Express 555 Virginia straights here, to smoke while you waited for your second cup to drip.
Many Việtkiều (越僑) and VietWah (越華) preferred the taste of the tobacco that they grew up with, and there was a lively trade in smokes from Hong Kong and Canada smuggled in.
Every Vietnamese shop sold non-filter Virginias.
One tin of 555 was cheaper than a pack of American cigarettes.
Far, far better quality too.
And you could still smoke indoors.
I haven't seen 555 in a very long time, several years.
But I had a Vietnamese sandwich only hours ago.
Yeah, I like the place.
Been going there for years.
It's somewhere to come back to.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly: LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
STOCKTON STREET: EATING THE WOMBAT!
Actually, wombat is NOT available on Stockton Street. I’m not entirely sure if wombat is even edible. Australian recipes for wombat do not prove anything, as Ozzies also eat spaghetti sandwiches and vegemite.
So perhaps the only thing that can be established is that they have a sense of humour.
EAT HERE NOW
There is no wombat on Stockton Street.
Try some dim sum instead. Noodles? Maybe phở gà? How about bánh mì thịt nướng?
All of that and more can be found within mere seconds of getting off the number one California bus.
There's a row of four honest food places just awaiting your happiness in that first block between Clay and Washington.
YOU'S DIMSUM 得意糕點
937 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Little more than a hole-in-the-wall, but there are tables at which you can sit while eating. This place defines 'lack of ambiance', unless you like unadorned eateries that make no apology for merely providing flat surfaces for your very temporary convenience.
Cheap, no-frills Cantonese snacky offerings. When the taro croquettes ('wu gok' 芋角) are fresh out of the hot fat, they are delightful little blobs of scorch-your-mouth heaven. Even cold, the yummy crust just flakes away.
Jindui (煎堆), which are fried balls of glutinous rice flour dough stuffed with lotus paste ('lienyong' 蓮蓉) and covered with sesame seeds, are also delicious when hot, though less so when cold. Still good, though.
The selection in the morning is far better than during the afternoon, but even then you will be able to find many of your favourites: shrimp hargau (蝦餃), siumai (燒賣), various types of rice-noodle sheet (cheung fan 腸粉), and especially charsiu buns (叉燒包), which most tourists cannot resist.
Standard items also usually available: spring rolls ('tswun kün' 春捲), radish cake ('lo bak gou' 蘿蔔糕) and water chestnut pudding ('ma tai gou' 馬蹄糕).
Prices are low, the quality and selection is decent, and the staff may not understand your questions at all, so just point.
Please don't ask about vegan edibles, they don't have any.
If you want vegan, you are in the wrong place.
Possibly even the wrong universe.
LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP 小巴黎咖啡室
939 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
A variety of Vietnamese sandwiches, including ones with ham (foh tui 火腿). Some of the best phở in town, also a selection of other dishes and snacks, and specialty drinks. But you should really come for the sandwiches, or pho, and a cold glass of cà phê sữa đá (ka-fey nai bing 咖啡奶冰 - Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and ice cubes).
The same people have been running it since the years when I lived nearby, and they still have the same customers.
A very comfortable place to just sit and relax while the coffee drips. You'll be wired to the eyebrows soon enough.
At times it is pleasantly noisy.
Go on, have something more to eat. And perhaps another coffee.
SAN SUN RESTAURANT 三陽咖啡餐屋
[麵飯粥粉]
941 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Mien - fan - jook - fan (wheat noodles, cooked rice dishes, porridge, and rice noodle).
A very extensive selection of noodle dishes, plus fish balls that are just about divine.
This place is quick, tasty, and affordable. Many people praise the satay sauce, but personally I know mine is better (a recipe may show up on this blog later - or not).
Excellent Hainan chicken ('Hoi-naam kai fan' 海南雞飯).
Their ingredients are fresh, their bowls and cutlery are stainless steel, their prices are low.
Because their menu is long and intimidating, and this restaurant is popular with both students and people revisiting the old neighborhood for the day, I don't go here often at all.
JOY HING B.B.Q. NOODLE HOUSE 再興黄毛雞粉
943 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
A small friendly place that specializes in soup made with 'yellow fur chicken' ('wong mo kai' 黄毛雞), which is a leaner and more flavourful free-range bird than the bland supermarket pullet. But they also have an extensive menu of other things.
The wong mo kai features in their phở gà: Vietnamese noodle soup (phở) made with chicken (gà) instead of beef. A superior dish, very comforting and satisfying.
They also do a nice version of wonton soup noodle (雲吞湯麵).
Particularly good offerings listed on the wall but not in the menu:
清湯牛腩粉 Clear broth brisket rice-noodle.
黄毛雞湯圓 Yellow fur chicken soup balls.
鮑魚粥 Abalone congee.
鮑魚滑雞粥 Abalone and chicken congee.
火鴨粥 Roast duck congee.
生滾蝦球粥 Freshly cooked shrimp curl congee.
生滾肉片粥 Freshly cooked pork slice congee.
香菇牛崧粥 Black mushroom and meat floss congee.
[Note: in the last-named, 崧 is used as an elegant substitution for 松, with which it is homophonous. And 松 (pine tree) is itself merely a script substitute for 鬆.]
The last time I was there I had fish with blackbeans over rice (豆豉龍利魚球) and Vietnamese coffee ('yuetnaam kafei' 越南咖啡 - cà phê sữa đá). I have no idea what kind of fish 龍利魚 actually is, but it's sweet in taste and not laden with bones. It was very good.
Watching the white couple at another table quarreling was also very good.
The gentle young waitress managed to keep a straight face during their snap & scratch fest.
She's a calm diplomat. I would've smacked them fiercely.
Kudos.
COFFEE, TEA, CHAOS
For a sweet snack and some hot milk tea or coffee, you also have a number of choices on Stockton Street. Cantonese people just love their snacky-time. They are very European in that regard. Surely it's always time for coffee and a pastry?
NEW CAFÉ HONOLULU 新檀島咖啡餅店
888 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
[Formerly the South Hollywood Café, to distinguish it from sister-enterprise North Hollywood on Pacific Avenue.]
This place has the usual selection of Cantonese bakery items, plus some nice pastries. Table service, or to go. Plus bubble tea, hot lunch specials, and some semi-American fast-food offerings. Hamburger over rice? That's about as old-school Chinese-American as you can get!
Sometimes the wait-staff seems a mite preoccupied, so I don't go here much.
They bake good bread, and they have charsiu bao in case you were wondering.
GOOD MONG KOK BAKERY 好旺角包餅店
1039 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
This is where you go to pick up mantou and large bao in Chinatown. My roommate swears by this place, but I seldom go there myself, as I do not wish to poach on her turf - especially since we're no longer romantic partners. It might prove sticky.
Even so, their steamed chicken buns ('kai bau' 雞包) and stew-meat and vegetable buns ('choi yiuk bao' 菜肉包) are something I am very fond of. There's often a line of people outside, and you'll have to be quite resolute. But it's worth it.
NAPOLEON SUPER BAKERY 拿破崙餠屋
1049 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh high quality baked goods, including some very interesting chive and cheese rolls if I remember correctly. Not so many traditional Chinatown pastries. This is a good place for you to try something new. I remember something crumbly and rich with red bean paste - sort of a rolled sweat bread with a texture halfway between cake and streusel, enfolding a blob of sweet paste similar in some ways to bakery marzipan.
The chestnut cake is highly praised, as are the egg-tarts.
There are tables, there is coffee.
THE AA BAKERY & CAFÉ 永興餅家茶餐廳
1068 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Marvelous cakes ('dan gou' 蛋糕) in various sizes, consisting of fruit chunks in whipped cream between layers of angel food. You can have a birthday wish enscribed while you wait, or you can special order a cake and really make a good impression at the party. In early autumn, they have a staggering selection of mooncakes, including some very weird fillings - durian and salted egg yolk?!? I'm sure that the quality of that last item mentioned is very good, nevertheless I think Hell will freeze over before I try it.
They have tables where you can sit and watch the tourists get all confused. The stuff looks very good, but the counter staff cannot really explain what it is to people who have never had it before.
Hint: just point and tell them you want one - it ain't gonna bust the bank. You can ask them what it's called at the same time, and figure out what it actually is later.
Usually there's a lady selling joong (粽) at the front door. Glutinous rice ('noh mai' 糯米) filling with pork and a salted egg yolk wrapped in bamboo. Because of the "disinfecting" qualities of bamboo, it will keep for a while.
Buy a few for snacking at home or lunch at the office.
MORE MEAT
After reviving yourself with a hot beverage and a bakery product, go off and pick up some roast meat product (siu mei 燒味) or savoury stewed odd meats (lo mei 滷味). You can take it home to fress as is, serve it along with other dishes at dinner, or incorporate some into a fabulous new creation never before seen.
Roast duck ('siu ngaap' 燒鴨), barbecue pork ('charsiu' 叉燒), roast pork ('siu yiuk' 燒肉), salt water chicken ('lo sui kai' 鹵水雞), white boiled chicken ('paak jek kai' 白切雞), soy-sauce chicken ('si-yau kai' 豉油雞), crispy chicken ('ja-ji kai' 炸子雞), painted octopus ('lo sui mak-yu' 鹵水墨魚), goose ('ngoh' 鵝), plus gizzards, and simple side dishes that go well with such things.
GOURMET DELIGHT B.B.Q. 新凱豐燒臘店
1045 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tender roast pork, delicious roast duck. Fried chicken also worthwhile.
My roommate prefers the roast duck and roast pork from a different place in Chinatown, which is indeed very delicious. But when I want to stuff myself on tender juicy full-flavoured roast duck, this is one of the places I think of. Man, I could eat an entire bucket of this! I have never been disappointed here. This place just about screams good old-fashioned 燒味 and 滷味 counter. 嘩, 真係好食!
Yeah, you can please be mighty glad that you don't see me feasting.
Duck grease all over my face. Oh lordy yes.
PREPARE TO PUSH
The next two places will probably not appeal to many Caucasians. This is the most crowded part of Stockton Street, so know what you want before you wade in, and it definitely also helps if you have an open mind and can spot what's good and fresh.
Other customers are not necessarily your friends, and the people who work here are far too busy to babysit you.
DUK HING CHINESE DELI & MEAT 德興燒臘肉食公司
1151 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
More 滷味 than 燒味. If you can't recognize what it is, just point.
WING SING DIM SUM 新永勝點心快餐
1125 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Crowded, cheap, and extremely popular. Lots of dim sum, plus low-priced lunch specials.
Yes, they have char siu bao.
* * *I'm hungry again.
That was predictable.
==========================================================================
Please refer to http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/stockton-street-your-other-food.html for previous mention of Stockton Street, and also note the clickable label 市德頓街 ("si-tak-twun kai") below.
Other useful labels: 唐人街 (Tong Yan Kai - Chinatown), 真好食 (delicious!), 腸粉 (cheung fan - sheet rice noodle).
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
So perhaps the only thing that can be established is that they have a sense of humour.
EAT HERE NOW
There is no wombat on Stockton Street.
Try some dim sum instead. Noodles? Maybe phở gà? How about bánh mì thịt nướng?
All of that and more can be found within mere seconds of getting off the number one California bus.
There's a row of four honest food places just awaiting your happiness in that first block between Clay and Washington.
YOU'S DIMSUM 得意糕點
937 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Little more than a hole-in-the-wall, but there are tables at which you can sit while eating. This place defines 'lack of ambiance', unless you like unadorned eateries that make no apology for merely providing flat surfaces for your very temporary convenience.
Cheap, no-frills Cantonese snacky offerings. When the taro croquettes ('wu gok' 芋角) are fresh out of the hot fat, they are delightful little blobs of scorch-your-mouth heaven. Even cold, the yummy crust just flakes away.
Jindui (煎堆), which are fried balls of glutinous rice flour dough stuffed with lotus paste ('lienyong' 蓮蓉) and covered with sesame seeds, are also delicious when hot, though less so when cold. Still good, though.
The selection in the morning is far better than during the afternoon, but even then you will be able to find many of your favourites: shrimp hargau (蝦餃), siumai (燒賣), various types of rice-noodle sheet (cheung fan 腸粉), and especially charsiu buns (叉燒包), which most tourists cannot resist.
Standard items also usually available: spring rolls ('tswun kün' 春捲), radish cake ('lo bak gou' 蘿蔔糕) and water chestnut pudding ('ma tai gou' 馬蹄糕).
Prices are low, the quality and selection is decent, and the staff may not understand your questions at all, so just point.
Please don't ask about vegan edibles, they don't have any.
If you want vegan, you are in the wrong place.
Possibly even the wrong universe.
LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP 小巴黎咖啡室
939 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
A variety of Vietnamese sandwiches, including ones with ham (foh tui 火腿). Some of the best phở in town, also a selection of other dishes and snacks, and specialty drinks. But you should really come for the sandwiches, or pho, and a cold glass of cà phê sữa đá (ka-fey nai bing 咖啡奶冰 - Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and ice cubes).
The same people have been running it since the years when I lived nearby, and they still have the same customers.
A very comfortable place to just sit and relax while the coffee drips. You'll be wired to the eyebrows soon enough.
At times it is pleasantly noisy.
Go on, have something more to eat. And perhaps another coffee.
SAN SUN RESTAURANT 三陽咖啡餐屋
[麵飯粥粉]
941 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Mien - fan - jook - fan (wheat noodles, cooked rice dishes, porridge, and rice noodle).
A very extensive selection of noodle dishes, plus fish balls that are just about divine.
This place is quick, tasty, and affordable. Many people praise the satay sauce, but personally I know mine is better (a recipe may show up on this blog later - or not).
Excellent Hainan chicken ('Hoi-naam kai fan' 海南雞飯).
Their ingredients are fresh, their bowls and cutlery are stainless steel, their prices are low.
Because their menu is long and intimidating, and this restaurant is popular with both students and people revisiting the old neighborhood for the day, I don't go here often at all.
JOY HING B.B.Q. NOODLE HOUSE 再興黄毛雞粉
943 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
A small friendly place that specializes in soup made with 'yellow fur chicken' ('wong mo kai' 黄毛雞), which is a leaner and more flavourful free-range bird than the bland supermarket pullet. But they also have an extensive menu of other things.
The wong mo kai features in their phở gà: Vietnamese noodle soup (phở) made with chicken (gà) instead of beef. A superior dish, very comforting and satisfying.
They also do a nice version of wonton soup noodle (雲吞湯麵).
Particularly good offerings listed on the wall but not in the menu:
清湯牛腩粉 Clear broth brisket rice-noodle.
黄毛雞湯圓 Yellow fur chicken soup balls.
鮑魚粥 Abalone congee.
鮑魚滑雞粥 Abalone and chicken congee.
火鴨粥 Roast duck congee.
生滾蝦球粥 Freshly cooked shrimp curl congee.
生滾肉片粥 Freshly cooked pork slice congee.
香菇牛崧粥 Black mushroom and meat floss congee.
[Note: in the last-named, 崧 is used as an elegant substitution for 松, with which it is homophonous. And 松 (pine tree) is itself merely a script substitute for 鬆.]
The last time I was there I had fish with blackbeans over rice (豆豉龍利魚球) and Vietnamese coffee ('yuetnaam kafei' 越南咖啡 - cà phê sữa đá). I have no idea what kind of fish 龍利魚 actually is, but it's sweet in taste and not laden with bones. It was very good.
Watching the white couple at another table quarreling was also very good.
The gentle young waitress managed to keep a straight face during their snap & scratch fest.
She's a calm diplomat. I would've smacked them fiercely.
Kudos.
COFFEE, TEA, CHAOS
For a sweet snack and some hot milk tea or coffee, you also have a number of choices on Stockton Street. Cantonese people just love their snacky-time. They are very European in that regard. Surely it's always time for coffee and a pastry?
NEW CAFÉ HONOLULU 新檀島咖啡餅店
888 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
[Formerly the South Hollywood Café, to distinguish it from sister-enterprise North Hollywood on Pacific Avenue.]
This place has the usual selection of Cantonese bakery items, plus some nice pastries. Table service, or to go. Plus bubble tea, hot lunch specials, and some semi-American fast-food offerings. Hamburger over rice? That's about as old-school Chinese-American as you can get!
Sometimes the wait-staff seems a mite preoccupied, so I don't go here much.
They bake good bread, and they have charsiu bao in case you were wondering.
GOOD MONG KOK BAKERY 好旺角包餅店
1039 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
This is where you go to pick up mantou and large bao in Chinatown. My roommate swears by this place, but I seldom go there myself, as I do not wish to poach on her turf - especially since we're no longer romantic partners. It might prove sticky.
Even so, their steamed chicken buns ('kai bau' 雞包) and stew-meat and vegetable buns ('choi yiuk bao' 菜肉包) are something I am very fond of. There's often a line of people outside, and you'll have to be quite resolute. But it's worth it.
NAPOLEON SUPER BAKERY 拿破崙餠屋
1049 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Fresh high quality baked goods, including some very interesting chive and cheese rolls if I remember correctly. Not so many traditional Chinatown pastries. This is a good place for you to try something new. I remember something crumbly and rich with red bean paste - sort of a rolled sweat bread with a texture halfway between cake and streusel, enfolding a blob of sweet paste similar in some ways to bakery marzipan.
The chestnut cake is highly praised, as are the egg-tarts.
There are tables, there is coffee.
THE AA BAKERY & CAFÉ 永興餅家茶餐廳
1068 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Marvelous cakes ('dan gou' 蛋糕) in various sizes, consisting of fruit chunks in whipped cream between layers of angel food. You can have a birthday wish enscribed while you wait, or you can special order a cake and really make a good impression at the party. In early autumn, they have a staggering selection of mooncakes, including some very weird fillings - durian and salted egg yolk?!? I'm sure that the quality of that last item mentioned is very good, nevertheless I think Hell will freeze over before I try it.
They have tables where you can sit and watch the tourists get all confused. The stuff looks very good, but the counter staff cannot really explain what it is to people who have never had it before.
Hint: just point and tell them you want one - it ain't gonna bust the bank. You can ask them what it's called at the same time, and figure out what it actually is later.
Usually there's a lady selling joong (粽) at the front door. Glutinous rice ('noh mai' 糯米) filling with pork and a salted egg yolk wrapped in bamboo. Because of the "disinfecting" qualities of bamboo, it will keep for a while.
Buy a few for snacking at home or lunch at the office.
MORE MEAT
After reviving yourself with a hot beverage and a bakery product, go off and pick up some roast meat product (siu mei 燒味) or savoury stewed odd meats (lo mei 滷味). You can take it home to fress as is, serve it along with other dishes at dinner, or incorporate some into a fabulous new creation never before seen.
Roast duck ('siu ngaap' 燒鴨), barbecue pork ('charsiu' 叉燒), roast pork ('siu yiuk' 燒肉), salt water chicken ('lo sui kai' 鹵水雞), white boiled chicken ('paak jek kai' 白切雞), soy-sauce chicken ('si-yau kai' 豉油雞), crispy chicken ('ja-ji kai' 炸子雞), painted octopus ('lo sui mak-yu' 鹵水墨魚), goose ('ngoh' 鵝), plus gizzards, and simple side dishes that go well with such things.
GOURMET DELIGHT B.B.Q. 新凱豐燒臘店
1045 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Tender roast pork, delicious roast duck. Fried chicken also worthwhile.
My roommate prefers the roast duck and roast pork from a different place in Chinatown, which is indeed very delicious. But when I want to stuff myself on tender juicy full-flavoured roast duck, this is one of the places I think of. Man, I could eat an entire bucket of this! I have never been disappointed here. This place just about screams good old-fashioned 燒味 and 滷味 counter. 嘩, 真係好食!
Yeah, you can please be mighty glad that you don't see me feasting.
Duck grease all over my face. Oh lordy yes.
PREPARE TO PUSH
The next two places will probably not appeal to many Caucasians. This is the most crowded part of Stockton Street, so know what you want before you wade in, and it definitely also helps if you have an open mind and can spot what's good and fresh.
Other customers are not necessarily your friends, and the people who work here are far too busy to babysit you.
DUK HING CHINESE DELI & MEAT 德興燒臘肉食公司
1151 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
More 滷味 than 燒味. If you can't recognize what it is, just point.
WING SING DIM SUM 新永勝點心快餐
1125 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
Crowded, cheap, and extremely popular. Lots of dim sum, plus low-priced lunch specials.
Yes, they have char siu bao.
* * *I'm hungry again.
That was predictable.
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Please refer to http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/stockton-street-your-other-food.html for previous mention of Stockton Street, and also note the clickable label 市德頓街 ("si-tak-twun kai") below.
Other useful labels: 唐人街 (Tong Yan Kai - Chinatown), 真好食 (delicious!), 腸粉 (cheung fan - sheet rice noodle).
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