FOR THE WHITE PEOPLE

Their menu has a lot of things that look interesting, including variations on familiar themes, like pickled cabbage with chicken rice stick noodle soup (雪菜雞肉湯粉 'suet choi gai yiuk tong fan') which echoes a familiar Shanghainese favourite (雪菜肉絲湯 'suet choi yiuk si tong'), or porkchop rice stick noodle soup (豬扒湯粉 chü baa tong fan'), ditto.

[For that last think pork chop thick noodle: 豬扒粗面 ('chyu baa chou min'). At Shanghai eateries in Kowloon.]

Even several seafood items that looked appealing: 粟米燴龍脷魚 (corn and fillet of sole; 'suk mai wui lung lei yü'), 香煎杏仁龍脷 (fried sole amandine; 'heung jin hang yan lung lei'), 鮮茄燴大蝦 (fresh tomatoes with shrimp; 'sin ke wui taai haa'), 焗芝士粟米蝦 (baked cheese and corn shrimp; 'guk ji si suk mai haa'), etcetera.

But what I had was a fried fish burger and French fries: 香酥魚柳包 · 薯條 ('heung sou yü lau baau, sue tiu'). Precisely like a white person at a theme park might order. Very, very white. Also very HK Canto when at a chachanteng during the lunch rush.
It was delicious! Top notch. A winner.

The term 香酥魚柳 ('heung sou yü lau') means a crispy (breaded and fried) fillet.
By itself (柳 'lau') means 'willow', btw.


Hong Kong folks, and Cantonese in general, are passionate about seafood. Obsessively so.
I was reminded of this by the nearest person on the bus, who had a live fish in her shopping bag, which was twitching and fiercely wriggling. When fish is very fresh, it is best steamed as it will be sweeter thus (如果好新鮮，魚最好蒸嘅，係甜啲 'yü gwo hou san sin, yü ceui hou jing ge, hai tim di'). Just add some cilantro and a minor drizzle of soy sauce.

Other than the Dutch and Belgians, white people generally are not that way. And the English and Americans prefer it fried and boneless, or canned and oily. They aren't very food-aware.

I am in my own way quite a barbarian. I like it with hot chili paste, as I think that brings out the sweetness and delicacy of the fish. Quite irrespective of how it's cooked.
Shanghainese programmers in Silicon Valley do too, I believe.


Yes of course I had hot milk tea with my meal and smoked my pipe afterwards.
No need to ask.




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