HALF BAKED PORTUGUESE COOT

None of my favourite chachanteng in Chinatown do baked Portuguese chicken rice. There is one place to which I used to go, but I haven't been there since the waitress offered to introduce me to a friend of hers looking for a husband. That was three years ago.
I am still scared.

Now, if someone were to approach me and say "walk me home, harmless looking old coot, you have an umbrella and it's raining, I'll give you a cup of hot coffee (or tea) afterwards" or something like that, I might be piqued.
Especially if she also said that the smell of my pipe was nice.
Or at least not problematic.

Today would be a good day for baked Portuguese chicken rice. Last week a merchant mis-guessed that I was Macanese. Flattering, because it says that my accent in Cantonese is neither English (HK) or American (horrendous), but never-the-less considerably off the mark.

I'm not, but some of my tastes are.


Back when baked Portuguese chicken rice was still offered at two other restaurants in my narrow world, I could never finish an entire serving. One of those places no longer exists, and the other has modernized the menu and decor. Which, one hopes, will ensure their continued thriving.
Good people, nice atmosphere, comfortable, tasty food.
But no baked Portuguese chicken rice.



焗葡國雞飯

It's been over half a year. I have withdrawal symptoms. Some things are just too potent a drug for them to become unavailable, their disappearance should lead to riots. But one man rioting would just be a typical San Francisco street loony, and quickly locked up.

Kindly do NOT imagine me screaming in my padded cell.
It will not happen, and it would be quite ineffective.
Baked Portuguese Chicken rice wouldn't result.

'Guk pou gwok gai faan'

I could make it myself. Don't feel like it. Marinate chicken chunks in a little rice wine, soy sauce, ginger, and corn starch. Then brown in a skillet with a chunk or two of fatty sausage. Layer it on top of scallion & egg-fried rice in a casserole, add a little cooked potato, pour a mild coconut curry sauce over, add a sprinkle of grated cheese, and brown it under the broiler. A slight excess of the coconut curry sauce is highly recommended.
Serve with hot sauce on the side.

Something like that.


It's actually a Hong Kong invention. The Macanese had almost nothing to do with it. Mild coconut curry sauce is often called 'Portuguese Sauce' (葡汁 'pou jap'), hence the name.


Whatever I end up having in the middle of the afternoon will be followed by a pipe smoke. I'll have an umbrella with me, in case it rains again.

Winter came back.
It is cold.




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