Tan Cang Newport Seafood – One Of My Favorite Restaurants In Orange County

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Tan Cang Newport Seafood is basically an institution at this point in Little Saigon (Santa Ana and Garden Grove) and the San Gabriel Valley (San Gabriel and Rowland Heights).  They are known for several dishes, but famous for their lobster.  I’ve been eating here for several years now, but a recent really good meal prompted me to write a post about it.

To clarify the SGV restaurants are still affiliated with each other, but neither of the OC restaurants are affiliated with any of the others.  According to their SGV restaurants’ websites the Orange County ones are the originals, but were sold.  According to the Santa Ana restaurant’s website they are the original and the others are imposters (their site is no longer up).  This review is for the Santa Ana branch which I think is excellent.  The Garden Grove one is not as good.  The San Gabriel one was similar to the Santa Ana branch in quality.  I have not eaten at the Rowland Heights one.

Now that we got that out of the way, the food they serve here is billed as Teochew (Chao Zhou / Chiu Chow) food.  Teochew are Chinese from the Chao Shan region of China, which is eastern Guangdong.  They have their own language and their food is known for their fresh seafood and generally light cuisine (not a lot of oil, lots of steaming, braising and poaching).  It’s one of my favorite types of Chinese cuisine although it’s quite rare in the US.  Anyhow, this is not traditional Teochew food but rather is a mix of Teochew, Cantonese and Vietnamese.  The people who run the restaurant are Chinese from Vietnam and they speak a ton of languages (I’ve heard Cantonese, Teochew, Mandarin, English, Vietnamese and an Asian language I couldn’t figure out what it was).

The restaurant used to be smaller, but they renovated and doubled the size of the restaurant.  While it’s not going to knock your socks off its not a total dump like it used to be before.  The servers are generally reasonably nice although service is quick and brisk.  The short Chinese boss lady who I believe is the owner is really nice if you talk to her.

On to the food:

Kung Pao Chicken:

Most people associate kung pao chicken with Americanized-Chinese food, but it actually is a real Sichuan dish.  However, this is Tan Cang’s own take on the dish, which resembles the Americanized-Chinese version, but it’s drier without any gloppy sauce.  The chicken is very tender, slightly crispy on the outside and the sauce is a bit sweet and spicy.  I find it quite delicious.  8/10

Fried Tofu:

This is battered fried blocks of tofu topped with sautéed onions, green onions and chili.  It served with a dark soy sauce and a dish of salt and white pepper.  You can also squeeze a lime on it, which I recommend doing.  The batter is quite thin and while it looks really oily it’s actually not that heavy.  The batter is nicely crispy while the tofu retains a great soft texture.  By itself it’s rather plain, but with all the toppings, soy sauce and salt and pepper it’s delicious.  8/10

Spicy Basil Clams:

This is another popular dish, but I’m not that big a fan of it.  The clams are generally decent although not amazing quality.  However, but I find the sauce rather bland; it’s a brown sauce that is slightly spicy with black bean, basil and green peppers in it.  It’s an okay dish, but a bit of a dud.  6.75/10

Sauteed Snow Peas:

This is a classic rendition that is snow peas leaves sautéed in oil, salt and garlic.  The thing that is different is they use the really small skinny snow peas, which is not that common.  I like these small skinny snow peas more than the regular one.  7.75/10

Salt & Pepper Squid:

This is classic Cantonese style salt and pepper squid, which is squid battered in a salt and pepper battered and fried then topped with jalapeno.  Most of the time this dish is pretty decent with a good crispy batter and reasonably tender squid, but occasionally it can come out too oily. 7.75/10 (7.25/10 when they make it too greasy)

Salt & Pepper Shrimp:

Same dish as the salt and pepper squid except with shrimp.  They also give you a lime and a mix of salt and white pepper.  They do a better job on this dish as it’s always pretty delicious and never seems to be too oily. 8/10

Bo Luc Lac:

This is the French style beef in a black pepper sauce.  They don’t always cook this the same way; sometimes it’s more sauce-y and sometimes it’s drier.  The beef is nicely tender and the sauce is slightly sweet and peppery.  I like the version here better than most versions I’ve had in Little Saigon and it’s quite tasty with white rice. 8.25/10

House Special Lobster:

This is the house specialty and you will see it on every table.  You order it by the pound and the lobster are big ranging from 4-6 lbs.  They are battered in a sweet and spicy batter that is really delicious.  The lobster meat is sweet and tender and I really love the sweet roe (they are the red stuff in case you’ve never seen lobster roe).  The quality of the lobster can vary a bit; sometimes you get a great lobster and sometimes it’s just a decent lobster, but the way it’s prepared it always ends tasty.  8.5/10

Boiled Live Prawns:

This was a special from my latest trip.  These were classic Cantonese style boiled prawns served with a dark soy sauce with sesame oil and sliced jalapenos in it.  The prawns were live, huge and very fresh.  The meat was sweet with good texture and tasted great with the sauce.  I prefer slightly smaller prawns, but this was still quite good. 8.25/10

Geoduck Soup (Part Of Geoduck 3 Ways):

This was part of a special that was actually the reason I wrote this post.  The waiter told me they had live geoduck and the quality was especially good that day (I got upsold for sure).  The first way they served it was in a light soup where they had boiled the geoduck parts along with cabbage, mushrooms and other vegetables.  The result was a broth that was very light and tasted similar to a clam broth.  It was a nice light flavored soup, but it definitely needed a little white pepper to kick it up. 7.75/10

Spicy Geoduck (Part Of Geoduck 3 Ways):

This was sliced geoduck that was very quickly blanched then topped with a hot and sour sauce with basil and bean sprouts.  Everyone at the table was shocked at how good this was.  The hot and sour sauce was light and paired perfected with the basil and didn’t overpower the geoduck at all.  The geoduck meat was nicely tender and it was just generally a really good dish. 8.5/10

Geoduck Sashimi (Part Of Geoduck 3 Ways):

As a disclaimer since this was the only time I’ve had this dish here, I can’t say that it wasn’t a fluke, but wow this was amazing.  It was the standard geoduck sashimi that is sliced, put on ice and served with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.  This geoduck was so fresh; it had a good crunchy texture and tasted briny with no fishy taste whatsoever.  It was honestly a lot better than the geoduck I’ve had at top sushi restaurants in NY and LA.  It’s so simple that I can’t tell you much more to describe it other than it was really good.  Also as a side note, the geoduck 3 ways was $35 per lbs and we got 4 lbs, so it wasn’t cheap.  8.75/10

Overall, while it’s certainly not fancy, I really like the food at Tan Cang.  It’s always just delicious and really satisfying.  I highly recommend coming here.

Address:
4411 W 1st St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 531-5146
tancangnewportseafood.com

Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha – Amazing Bak Kut Teh (If You Like The Peppery Bak Kut Teh)

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Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha is an old and famous bak kut teh restaurant in Singapore.

Bak kuh teh is a soup made from simmering pork ribs for many hours with various spices.  It directly translates to “meat bone tea” (rou gu cha 肉骨茶).  There is also more than one version; there is the Teochew version that is very peppery and has more garlic in it, there is the Hokkien version which is darker because of soy sauce and has a more herbal flavor and there are also other versions in Malaysia particularly in the Klang Valley, but I’ve never been there so I can’t really comment on what the difference is with their bak kuh teh.  Most people have a strong preference for one kind versus the others; I prefer the Teochew version as I love the peppery flavor.

The restaurant is located off Keppel Road on the ground floor of this residential building.  There isn’t too much décor to the place as it’s kind of a coffee shop setting, but it’s not rundown and it’s clean.  The service was fast and efficient and my server was nice as well.  I’m not sure how good or not good their English is, but the menu is totally translated into English and they give you a paper checklist, so you just check off what you want.

I found this video of the restaurant which you can see here.

Stewed Peanuts:

I love boiled peanuts; I never understood why they aren’t more popular in the US.  Anyhow, these are stewed in a lu wei 鹵味 sauce, which is a braising technique uses a master stock that is constantly re-used (i.e. they keep filling it up).  The peanuts were very soft and had a nice flavor from the lu wei sauce which was slightly sweet and salty.  These were a nice condiment.  8.25/10

Salted Cabbage:

This is called kiam chye in Teochew I believe. It’s diced up salted that cabbage has been boiled.  It’s a bit salty and sweet.  It’s a nice condiment as well. 8/10

Bak Kut Teh:

They serve the Teochew style bak kut teh here, which is peppery (think black pepper not like spicy pepper) that I really like.  However, some people find it too peppery, so not everyone may like this as much as I do.  The broth is very light, not oily or heavy at all and has a great flavor that you can only get by simmering bones for hours.  The ribs were quite tender and tasted good although I did sort of mess up because I forgot to ask them for long ribs (chang gu 長骨) as it’s not on the menu and you have to specially ask for it, but the ribs were still nice anyhow.  They give you a you tiao (fried crueller) and a dark soy sauce with cut up chili in it.  The you tiao wasn’t very good because it wasn’t fresh, so it was a bit soggy.  I liked the dark soy sauce with chili in it, but I tried not to use it too much since I thought it overpowers the soup a bit.  Overall, I really enjoyed this a lot as it’s the type of thing I could eat every day and be totally happy.  Fyi, there are free re-fills of soup.  9/10

Ter Kah:

Ter kah are pigs feet braised in a lu wei sauce.  Here you have the option of getting the lean or fatty kind.  Since it was pretty early in the morning I decided to get the lean version. The lean version is much less collagen-y / fatty and had more meat as opposed to collagen.  The meat was nicely tender and I like the lu wei sauce which was a bit sweet and salty.  This was a nice accompaniment to the bak kuh teh, it would’ve been really good with some rice, but I was going to other places that day so I didn’t want to fill up on rice.  Overall, this was quite good and I’d get it again.  8.5/10

I’m not a bak kut teh or ter kah expert, so it’s totally possible there are better places that this (and please tell me if you know them), but I really enjoyed my meal here and this was one of my most satisfying meals this trip along with Sin Huat and Nam Sing.

Address:
7 Keppel Road
#01-05/07 Tanjong Pagar Complex
Phone: 6222 9610

Hua Kee Hougang Famous Wan Ton Mee – Famous, but Ultimately Disappointing Wonton Mee

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Hua Kee was another famous stall I went to at Old Airport Road Food Centre.  They specialize in wonton mee and there are actually three famous wonton mee stalls all in the same row; one with a red sign, one with a yellow sign and one with a green sign.  We decided to go to the one with the red sign (#01-02) which is covered in various news articles and awards.

Wonton mee is wonton noodle soup and you can order it “dry” or “soup”.  The “dry” version has noodles that are tossed in sauce with broth on the side and the “soup” version has noodles in broth that are not tossed with sauce.  In Singapore, the “dry” version noodles are tossed in a sweet chili sauce that I believe uses ketchup as well although you wouldn’t be able to tell if you didn’t know.  This is different than in Hong Kong where the noodles are usually tossed in oyster sauce.

I found a video of the stall which you can see here.

In the video, he talks about how they used to make their own noodles, but now they don’t and basic stuff about the history of the stall and his technique.  This stall is also very old as it started in the 50s, but the owner’s father.  I also believe the owner is a Teochew (I actually heard you have to be Teochew to have a stall at Old Airport Road, but I’m not sure if that is a myth or not).

Wonton Mee:

I got the “dry” version which I usually prefer to the “soup” version.  I found the noodles to be pretty decent, they were reasonably al dente and had decent flavor.  I also thought the wontons were pretty good as well.  The cha siu was not good at all; it was sliced incredibly thin, was very dry and had no flavor (looks nothing like the cha siu in the video).  The chili sauce was also too sweet and I didn’t think it had that great of flavor either, which was a disappointment because the reviews said the sauce was great.  Now the video says that it was is suited to Teochew tastes and I think Teochew people like their food a bit on the sweet side, so maybe it’s just a difference in taste, but I just found it be pretty mediocre.  The broth on the side was okay, but nothing special and it was a bit too salty as well.  Overall, I found this to be a pretty mediocre bowl of wonton mee.  Now I will caveat this with the fact that I much prefer the Hong Kong style wonton mee to Singapore wonton mee.  However even with that said I’ve definitely had better bowls of Singapore style wonton mee than this one.  7/10

I wouldn’t bother with this place if you happen to be at Old Airport Road Food Centre.

Address:
Old Airport Road Food Centre, #01-02
51 Old Airport Road
Singapore

Pok Pok Phat Thai – A Thai Noodle Specialist, But It’s All About The Crepe

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Pok Pok Phat Thai is one of Andy Ricker’s restaurants.  I wrote about the predecessor when it was called Pok Pok Wings and specialized in chicken wings, which you can see here.  However, it changed this year and now focuses on pad thai because apparently the kitchen was too small and was making it difficult to cook the wings properly (the kitchen is tiny).  I’m not going to give too many details about the restaurant because I already did in the original review.

Here’s what we got:

Phat Thai Ruam (Pad Thai with Shrimp and Pork):

This is supposed to be the authentic version of pad thai.  Its rice noodles cooked in rendered pork fat with tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar, peanuts, dried tofu, dried shrimp, preserved radish, egg, garlic chives, bean sprouts and chili powder.  You can choose it plain, with shrimp, with ground pork or with both.  I got the version with both shrimp and ground pork.  It’s much drier and less sweet than the sloppy sauce-y Americanized version.  The flavors are a bit subtle although it’s not bland by any means.  The various condiments were all quite good and definitely make the dish better.  Overall, while I’m no pad thai expert, I found the dish to be pretty tasty and a little extra fish sauce and chili powder definitely kicks it up a notch.  7.75/10

Kuaytiaw Khua Kai (Stir Fried Rice Noodles):

This is wide rice noodles stir fried in rendered pork fat with chicken, cuttlefish, egg and green onions.  According to their website this is a Bangkok Chinatown specialty, which makes sense since kuaytiaw is actually a Chinese word for noodles in the Hokkien / Teochew dialect (粿條 guo tiao).  Southeast Asia has a ton of Chinese influence (mainly Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese) and Thailand has a substantial Chinese population, which you can read about in this Wiki article.  This is somewhat similar to char kway teow which is a common dish in Singapore and Malaysia.  Anyhow, it tastes just like it sounds.  I liked it a bit better than the phat thai as it had a bit of the smoky “wok hai” type of flavor that you get from cooking food in a very hot wok.  Overall, I liked this dish and thought it was good.  8/10

Hoi Thawt (Mussel Broken Crepe):

This is a starch-y broken crepe with steamed mussels, eggs, garlic chives and bean sprouts served with Shark Sri Racha sauce.  I’m almost certain that this dish was taken from Teochew Chinese as it tastes very similar to the oyster omelette / crepe you find in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and certain parts of southern China.  Although I’d say it’s more similar to the Taiwanese version.  Anyhow, it’s sort of starchy, but with lots of crispy bits, egg and mussel and topped with the tangy slightly spicy sauce.  I thought this was shockingly good; it actually tastes very similar to what you get in Asia.  In fact, this is the only time I’ve had this dish done well in the US.  I’ve even gone back three times in total to make sure the first time wasn’t a fluke.  This is the dish that is worth coming here for.  8.75/10

Overall, I enjoyed this place a lot and it’s definitely a good spot to check out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Address:
137 Rivington Street (between Norfolk & Suffolk)
New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-1299
http://pokpokphatthai.com

Tak Kee Chiu Chou Restaurant – Excellent Chiu Chow Food in Western District, Hong Kong

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Tak Kee Chiu Chou Restaurant 德記潮州菜館 is a popular Chiu Chow (Teochew / Chao Zhou) restaurant in Western.  It is a full family style restaurant as opposed to the Chiu Chow noodle soup and braised meat specialists that are very common in Hong Kong.

As I’ve stated several times on this blog, Chiu Chow food is one of my favorite types of Chinese food.  It’s known for relying on the freshness of ingredients and tends to rely on lighter methods of cooking like steaming and braising.  It’s one of the Chinese cuisines that would be easy to eat daily.

The restaurant is located in Kennedy Town in Western District; Kennedy Town is located fairly far away from the more mainstream areas of Hong Kong Island such Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and isn’t easily accessible via MTR (subway), so the restaurant is very “local” with few if any tourists.  The restaurant is a reasonably large room that while not having particularly exciting décor is very clean and isn’t a dive.  The restaurant’s walls are lined with multi-colored banners that list various specials and there is also a display area showcasing their various cold dishes such as fish, crabs and braised meats; this is a common sight in Chiu Chow restaurants and I love seeing all the stuff they have to offer.  I didn’t see an English menu, but I read that they do have an English menu.  Any which way, I wrote the Chinese characters so you could order what I ordered easily.

Here’s what we got:

Tofu and Pickled Vegetable:

This was served as a complementary dish at the beginning of the meal.  It was pickled cabbage (suan cai) and tiny pieces of fried tofu in a sweet chili sauce that was very slightly spicy.  The combo of sour flavor pickled cabbage and the sweetness of the sauce was really nice together.  Also the texture from the crunch of the cabbage and the fried tofu was great.  While very simple, I thought this was really good.  8.75/10

Vinegar Smoked Anchovies (Chen Cu Xun Feng Wei Yu 陳醋燻鳳尾魚):

These were whole fried anchovies in aged vinegar (chen cu 陳醋) served at room temperature.  The aged vinegar is fairly sweet with a thick consistency somewhere in between water and syrup.  The fish is eaten whole and you don’t notice the bones at all.  The texture is jerky-like, which makes me think they smoked then fried the fish.  These were pretty tasty although a bit on the sweet side for me.  8.25/10

Braised Goose (Lu Shui E 鹵水鵝):

Braised meats are a staple of Chiu Chow cuisine; the braising style is called lu wei 鹵味, but Hong Kong they refer to it as lu shui 鹵水.  This technique uses a master stock that is constantly re-used (i.e. they keep filling it up).  I didn’t have any expectations of this, but it turned out to be some of the best braised goose I’ve ever had.  The cut I got is the breast and it’s a fairly lean cut, so sometimes I find it can be a bit too dry, but here it was really tender and juicy with slight pieces of fat that were great.  The braising sauce was outstanding; it was light with a good balance between being salty and having a slight sweetness to it.  The vinegar cuts the fat from the meat perfectly.  I actually thought it was better than the version I had at Hung’s Delicacies, which is a one star Michelin restaurant known for this dish. 9/10

Baked Fish in Plum Sauce (Mei Zi Shao Wu Tou 梅子燒烏頭): 

I was going to order a steamed fish since that is traditional Chiu Chow style fish, but the waitress told me that the baked fish is one of their specialties.  They took a fish called wu tou 烏頭 (crow head) and baked it in foil in a sweet plum sauce.  The result was excellent; the fish was really nice and tender and not fishy whatsoever.  The sauce was a bit sweeter than I was expecting, but still tasted good with the fish.  Overall, this was a solid dish.  8.5/10

Oyster Congee (Hao Zai Zhou 蠔仔粥):

Chiu chow style congee is very different than Cantonese style congee.  It’s very watery as opposed to Cantonese congee which is very thick.  I believe Chiu Chow people say something about it being like mountains and oceans because of the rice popping out from the surface of the water. Also, unlike Cantonese they don’t call it zhou 粥, they call it mi 糜 (mue in Chiu Chow).  The version here had oysters, pork and pickled vegetables in it.  The ingredients were excellent; the oysters were fresh and clean tasting, the pork was tender and the pickled vegetables gave it a nice sour flavor.  This was a very good version, but I prefer Cantonese style congee as I find it much more flavorful and like the texture better as Chiu Chow congee just feels like rice with too much water in it. 8/10

Fried Oyster Pancake (Zha Hao Bing 炸蠔餅):

This was another dish the restaurant was known for.  It’s a fried oyster pancake with lots of chives in it.  It looked really oily, but it was surprisingly not oily and was more airy than dense.  The oysters they use here are very fresh and don’t taste fishy at all.  It was served with vinegar that was similar to the vinegar for the goose; it was a nice compliment as it didn’t over power the flavor of the pancake, but cut the oil from frying.  Overall, I thought it was pretty good although it was a little lighter in flavor than I was expecting. 8.25/10

This was an enjoyable meal and probably one of the better Chiu Chow restaurants I’ve been to in Hong Kong, definitely recommend checking it out.

Address:
G/F, No 3 Belcher’s Street
Kennedy Town, Western District, Hong Kong
西環堅尼地城卑路乍街3號G益豐大廈地下
Phone: 2819 5568

Hung’s Delicacies – One-Michelin Starred Chiu Chow Braised Meat Specialist in North Point, Hong Kong

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Hung’s Delicacies 阿鴻小吃 is a well heralded Chiu Chow braised meat specialist restaurant. It’s probably one of the most praised restaurants that I’ve been to in Hong Kong and has received a Michelin Star three years in a row, which is kind of weird considering you don’t associated Michelin Stars with tiny shop specializing in braised meats, which is very middle class type food. The chef-owner, Ah Hung 阿鴻, was a high-level chef for many years at well-known Cantonese restaurants such as Yung Kee and Maxim and finally decided to strike out on his own to create this restaurant.

The restaurant is located far from the main areas of Hong Kong in North Point, which is a mainly residential area. It’s located on a non-descript street that has a lot of restaurants on it. The restaurant is tiny and probably sits 20-25 people. The restaurant walls are plastered with pictures of Ah Hung with various celebrities and awards he’s won.

The wife works as a server and hostess. I’d heard she was mean, but she was pretty nice to me and was telling me what was good. The menu is completely translated into English and while I didn’t hear any English spoken, I’d assume they can speak at least a little bit of English. Also, they are only open Wednesday through Sunday from 1pm to 10pm (I almost made the mistake of going there on a Tuesday but luckily I called). I got there at 12:55pm and there was already a line of 5-6 people and there was probably a line of 10-12 people when I left.

Here’s what I tried:

Braised Goose (Lu Shui E Pian 鹵水鵝片):

This was the reason I came here. Braised meats are a staple of Chiu Chow cuisine; the braising style is called lu wei 鹵味, but Hong Kong they refer to it as lu shui 鹵水. This technique uses a master stock that is constantly re-used (i.e. they keep filling it up). Ah Hung is famous for his master stock and their menu even shows you some of the main ingredients he uses. It was one of the lightest and cleanest tasting master stocks I’ve ever tried. It’s slightly sweet and salty and has this really excellent flavor to it. The goose meat was good, most of the pieces were nicely tender although I thought a few were a little drier than I would like as goose breast can be a little dry since it’s less fatty than other parts of the goose. The vinegar compliments it well and helps cut the fat from the meat. It also comes with fried tofu which also tasted good in the master stock. Overall, I thought it was very good although I’d give a slight nod to Tak Kee because the meat was more tender, but his master stock deserves its praise. Also, if I went again I’d get a mix of this and “marinated goose chopped in pieces” as that was a fattier cut which looked really good (the table next to me ordered it). 8.75/10

Chua Lam Noodles (Cai Lan Lao Mian 蔡瀾撈麵):

Chua Lam is a celebrity food critic personality in Hong Kong, I think he’s been referred to as the Anthony Bourdain of Hong Kong for his pretty liberal views. Ah Hung named this noodle after him because apparently Chua Lam was one of his early fans. Its thin egg noodles stir fried in a mixture of soy sauce and lard with bean sprouts, sesame seeds and green onions. Clearly not something you’re eating for your health. It wasn’t nearly as oily as it sounds, but still had a lot of flavor. The soy sauce they used was slightly sweet and the lard and wok hay from stir frying gave it a really nice flavor. The noodles were really QQ (springy) and cooked perfectly. It came with a small bowl of soup that was quite good. Overall, this was really nice and I’d definitely recommend ordering this. 8.75/10

Chili Oil:

The chili oil here is amazing. It’s the Chiu Chow style with ground up dried shrimp, but they also added whole tiny fish as well. It’s definitely one of the best chili oils I’ve ever had and was really good with the Chua Lam noodles. 9.25/10

Overall, it was very good although my expectations may have been too high given the amount of praise sung about it. That said this is an excellent restaurant and I’d like to come back to try more dishes as I saw a lot of stuff that I would go back to try and I’d also really love to do that private dinner they offer, which you can see here.

Address:

Shop 4, G/F, Ngan Fai Building, 84-94 Wharf Road, North Point
北角和富道84-94號銀輝大廈地下4號舖

Phone:

2570 1108 https://www.hungsdelicacies.com/indexen.html

Tak Kee Chiu Chou Restaurant – Excellent Chiu Chow Food in Western District, Hong Kong

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Tak Kee Chiu Chou Restaurant 德記潮州菜館 is a popular Chiu Chow (Teochew / Chao Zhou) restaurant in Western. It is a full family style restaurant as opposed to the Chiu Chow noodle soup and braised meat specialists that are very common in Hong Kong.

As I’ve stated several times on this blog, Chiu Chow food is one of my favorite types of Chinese food. It’s known for relying on the freshness of ingredients and tends to rely on lighter methods of cooking like steaming and braising. It’s one of the Chinese cuisines that would be easy to eat daily.

The restaurant is located in Kennedy Town in Western District; Kennedy Town is located fairly far away from the more mainstream areas of Hong Kong Island such Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and isn’t easily accessible via MTR (subway), so the restaurant is very “local” with few if any tourists.

The restaurant is a reasonably large room that while not having particularly exciting décor is very clean and isn’t a dive. The restaurant’s walls are lined with multi-colored banners that list various specials and there is also a display area showcasing their various cold dishes such as fish, crabs and braised meats; this is a common sight in Chiu Chow restaurants and I love seeing all the stuff they have to offer. I didn’t see an English menu, but I read that they do have an English menu. Any which way, I wrote the Chinese characters so you could order what I ordered easily.


Here’s what we got:

Tofu and Pickled Vegetable:

This was served as a complementary dish at the beginning of the meal. It was pickled cabbage (suan cai) and tiny pieces of fried tofu in a sweet chili sauce that was very slightly spicy. The combo of sour flavor pickled cabbage and the sweetness of the sauce was really nice together. Also the texture from the crunch of the cabbage and the fried tofu was great. While very simple, I thought this was really good. 8.75/10


Vinegar Smoked Anchovies (Chen Cu Xun Feng Wei Yu 陳醋燻鳳尾魚):

These were whole fried anchovies in aged vinegar (chen cu 陳醋) served at room temperature. The aged vinegar is fairly sweet with a thick consistency somewhere in between water and syrup. The fish is eaten whole and you don’t notice the bones at all. The texture is jerky-like, which makes me think they smoked then fried the fish. These were pretty tasty although a bit on the sweet side for me. 8.25/10

Braised Goose (Lu Shui E 鹵水鵝):

Braised meats are a staple of Chiu Chow cuisine; the braising style is called lu wei 鹵味, but Hong Kong they refer to it as lu shui 鹵水. This technique uses a master stock that is constantly re-used (i.e. they keep filling it up). I didn’t have any expectations of this, but it turned out to be some of the best braised goose I’ve ever had. The cut I got is the breast and it’s a fairly lean cut, so sometimes I find it can be a bit too dry, but here it was really tender and juicy with slight pieces of fat that were great. The braising sauce was outstanding; it was light with a good balance between being salty and having a slight sweetness to it. The vinegar cuts the fat from the meat perfectly. I actually thought it was better than the version I had at Hung’s Delicacies, which is a one star Michelin restaurant known for this dish. 9/10

Baked Fish in Plum Sauce (Mei Zi Shao Wu Tou 梅子燒烏頭):

I was going to order a steamed fish since that is traditional Chiu Chow style fish, but the waitress told me that the baked fish is one of their specialties. They took a fish called wu tou 烏頭 (crow head) and baked it in foil in a sweet plum sauce. The result was excellent; the fish was really nice and tender and not fishy whatsoever. The sauce was a bit sweeter than I was expecting, but still tasted good with the fish. Overall, this was a solid dish. 8.5/10

Oyster Congee (Hao Zai Zhou 蠔仔粥):

Chiu chow style congee is very different than Cantonese style congee. It’s very watery as opposed to Cantonese congee which is very thick. I believe Chiu Chow people say something about it being like mountains and oceans because of the rice popping out from the surface of the water. Also, unlike Cantonese they don’t call it zhou 粥, they call it mi 糜 (mue in Chiu Chow). The version here had oysters, pork and pickled vegetables in it. The ingredients were excellent; the oysters were fresh and clean tasting, the pork was tender and the pickled vegetables gave it a nice sour flavor. This was a very good version, but I prefer Cantonese style congee as I find it much more flavorful and like the texture better as Chiu Chow congee just feels like rice with too much water in it. 8/10

Fried Oyster Pancake (Zha Hao Bing 炸蠔餅):

This was another dish the restaurant was known for. It’s a fried oyster pancake with lots of chives in it. It looked really oily, but it was surprisingly not oily and was more airy than dense. The oysters they use here are very fresh and don’t taste fishy at all. It was served with vinegar that was similar to the vinegar for the goose; it was a nice complement as it didn’t over power the flavor of the pancake, but cut the oil from frying. Overall, I thought it was pretty good although it was a little lighter in flavor than I was expecting. 8.25/10

This was an enjoyable meal and probably one of the better Chiu Chow restaurants I’ve been to in Hong Kong, definitely recommend checking it out.

Address:

G/F, No 3 Belcher’s Street
Kennedy Town, Western District, Hong Kong
西環堅尼地城卑路乍街3號G益豐大廈地下

Phone:

2819 5568

Chiu Yuen Chiu Chow Noodle – Delicious Chiu Chow Style Beef Patty and Fish Ball Noodle Soup in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

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Chiu Yuen Chiu Chow Noodle潮苑正宗潮州粉麵 is a chiu chow (teochew / chao zhou) style noodle soup restaurant.  While there are tons of chiu chow style noodle soup restaurants in Hong Kong, Chiu Yuen is a little different because they specialize in a beef patty that I haven’t really seen at other places and they also advertise how everything is handmade.  The restaurant is pretty well heralded as you will see by many newspaper and blog articles they have pasted on their window when you walk in.

It’s located on Spring Garden Lane in Wan Chai.  Wan Chai generally has a lot of great restaurants and within Wan Chai, Spring Garden Lane has a concentration of good local style food (i.e. you won’t find a lot of non-Chinese at these restaurants).  I actually wasn’t planning on going to this place even though I knew about it, but I was at Kam Fung and decided to try it since it was next door.

The restaurant is a narrow restaurant with typical décor for a local place (i.e. there isn’t much) that said it was very clean and wasn’t rushed and crazy like a lot of local spots.  The servers were also quite nice.  I have no idea whether or not anyone speaks any English, but nothing was written in English.

Beef Patty and Fish Ball Noodle Soup:

This is their signature dish.  You have a choice of three noodles and I got the he fen, which is medium thickness rice noodle.  The broth was very good.  I was expecting a broth that was going to be clean, but light in flavor.  However, while it was light, it was slightly tangy and sour, which I thought was a nice touch.  The noodles were good rice noodles cooked perfectly.  The fish balls were amazing, some of the best fish balls I’ve ever had.  They had a good clean flavor and the texture was outstanding, softer than factory made fish balls, but not mushy.  The beef patty was different than what I was expecting; I was expecting them to be very tender, but instead they were pretty springy.  They had a good flavor and weren’t too beefy in flavor.  The condiments were diced green onions served in a spoon and I also added fried garlic and chili oil, which went very well with it.  Their chili oil was excellent chiu chow style chili oil, which has ground up dried shrimp in it and was surprisingly kind of spicy, which is weird since Hong Kong people aren’t too big on spicy food.  I’m not sure if they have an English menu or not, but in case they don’t I took a picture of the menu and it’s the third dish down (the first one just has fish balls and the second one just has beef patty, but the third one is the combo).  8.5/10 (9/10 for fish balls, 8.25/10 for beef patty, 8.5/10 for broth, 8.5/10 for noodles)

Overall, while I don’t think this will be a revelation, it is quite good and it’s the type of dish I could eat on a regular basis as it’s not too heavy, but still delicious.  Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Address:
G/F 37 Spring Garden Lane
Wan Chai 灣仔春園街37號地下
Phone: 2892 2322

New Chiu Chow (Formerly New Chao Chow) – Another Taste of Chao Zhou Cuisine

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**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED**

In my post on Bo Ky, I mentioned that there are only 3 places in NYC that serve Teo Chew food (潮州, Chao Zhou, Chiu Chow) cuisine and New Chiu Chow is one of them.  I gave some background on Chiu Chow cuisine in my Bo Ky post which you can see here.

I also mentioned that I generally like New Chiu Chow a little better than I like Bo Ky although both are pretty decent.  That is generally still true although I think New Chiu Chow changed chefs as the food was a little different on my latest visit.  Although this was the first time I’ve ever eaten there on a Sunday night so it’s possible it’s just a different chef on Sunday nights.  I plan on going back soon to see if that is the case or not.

The restaurant is typical Chinatown décor that is there is no décor to speak of.  The waiters are reasonably nice, but the service is standard brisk Chinatown service.  They do speak English and the menu is in English so you will have no problems if you don’t speak Chinese.  I believe one or two of the older waiters are Teo Chew, but most of the waiters are Cantonese.  They have Vietnamese writing all over the menu and the restaurant, so it’s possible the original owners / waiters are Teo Chew people from Vietnam like Bo Ky.

Anyhow, on to the food:

Chili Oil:

Formerly, I would’ve said that New Chiu Chow had the best chili oil in Chinatown, but it seems to have changed a little bit and I’d actually give the edge to Bo Ky now as there isn’t as much shrimp paste in it, so it was a little less flavorful although still quite good. 7.75/10

Chao Chow Style Duck (Chao Zhou Lu Shui Ya):

As mentioned in my Bo Ky post this is a type of soy sauce braised duck.  The meat is tender and has great flavor from the braising, the skin is delicious and the vinegar sauce they give you really cuts through the fat nicely.  This is my favorite dish here and is definitely better than Bo Ky’s version. 8.25/10

Wonton Noodle Soup (Chao Zhou Yun Dun Mian):

New Chiu Chow makes a decent wonton noodle soup, it’s not going to blow your mind away, but it’s certainly most of the places in Chinatown.  7.25/10

Combination Rice Stick Soup On The Side:

This is mee pok ta / bak chor mee, which I talked about in my Bo Ky post.  The version at New Chiu Chow is a little better than Bo Ky although it’s not as good as before.  The noodles were good, nice and al dente.  All of the ingredients tasted fresh and good (pork, shrimp, liver, squid, scallions, fried onions and bean sprouts); I think they are a little better than Bo Ky.  The reason I say that it was not as good as before is that the soup broth used to be really fragrant and nice and this time it wasn’t as fragrant and was a little too salty although still good overall.  7.75/10

Chao Fried Prawn Balls Shrimp (Chao Zhou Xia Su):

This is another Chao Zhou dish that as far as I know you can only get at New Chiu Chow.  It’s called hae chor in Teo Chew.  For some reason their version went from mediocre to being pretty decent.  For Taiwanese people, it will remind you of a chicken roll (ji juan雞卷).  It is pork and shrimp paste, seasoned with five spice powder, wrapped and rolled in a beancurd skin and deep-fried.  It is served with a sweet orange sauce that is reminiscent of duck sauce you find out in take-out Chinese restaurants. The outside was nice and crispy, but not oily and the inside was tender and flavorful.  I don’t know why, but these just got a lot better than what I had here in the past. 8/10

Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce:

This was a pretty standard rendition, but it was good.  The vegetables were cooked perfectly and the oyster sauce tasted good with it. 7.5/10

Overall, I still enjoy New Chiu Chow even though the food seems to have changed a bit (some for the better, some for the worst).  I’d recommend trying out New Chiu Chow to get a taste of a cuisine that is rare to find in NY.

Address:
111 Mott St
New York, NY 10079
(212) 226-2590

New Kim Tuong / Kien Tuong – Hard to Find Singaporean / Teochew “Carrot Cake” in NY

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I noticed New Kim Tuong walking through Chinatown and thought it might be interesting because of it’s got a Vietnamese name even though it was clearly a Chinese restaurant. I thought it might be Chinese people from Vietnam like Bo Ky and New Chao Chow that serve some Teochow (Chiu Chow / Chao Zhou) dishes.

I went home, did some research on yelp and menupages and low and behold it does have a few Teochew dishes, but what was more interesting was this post on yelp that mentioned they serve chai tow kway (菜頭粿 / cai tou guo). Chai tow kway is translated to “carrot cake” in Singapore, so I decided I had to try this place as soon as possible (more on this dish later in the post).

The restaurant is a typical low end Chinatown restaurant with zero ambiance.  The place seems to have a pretty bustling take-out business with locals who seem to be pretty friendly with the staff. The service was quick and the servers are quite nice.  It is also exceptionally cheap ($3.50 for a bowl of noodle soup)

On to the food:

Complimentary Soup:

They gave us complimentary bowls of a pork bone soup with barley in it. It was actually quite good, clean flavor, not too salty and with reasonably good flavor. 7.25/10

Minced Beef Congee (Rice Porridge):

This was interesting.  The consistency wasn’t like normal Cantonese-style congee as it wasn’t nearly as thick rather the consistency was in between Cantonese-style congee and Teochew-style congee which is very watery, so much so that you can still make out the grains of rice.  It was pretty decent although not amazing. The you tiao (fried crueller) was pretty standard, but good. 6.75/10

“Pi Pa” Duck:

This is a type of roast duck called pi pa ya (琵琶鸭). Pi pa is actually a type of Chinese musical instrument. It’s called this because it’s a pressed roast duck, so it’s sort of flat like the instrument. I’m not sure whether it’s Cantonese or Teochew because I’ve only had it a few times.  It is listed in english as “pi pa duck” on the menu.  The meat was tender, juicy and had good flavor and the skin was nice and crispy. They gave you a red vinegar chili sauce that was quite good and helped cut the fat. It was pretty good if you like fattier meats although I prefer the duck at New Chao Chow or Bo Ky.  7.25/10

Chou Chiu Style Noodle Soup:

This was a typical Teochew noodle soup with rice noodles, cha siu (roast pork), sliced chicken, fish balls, beef balls, cabbage and scallions. The soup was just okay, it wasn’t too salty, but it lacked complexity.  The condiments all tasted fine, but none were particularly outstanding. Overall, I thought it was okay, but you can get a much better bowl at New Chao Chow or Bo Ky. 6.25/10

Fried Rice Flour Cake (Qian Dan Gao):

Chai tow kway is extremely hard to find outside Singapore, Malaysia and Chao Zhou (although I’ve never been to Chao Zhou). Even though it is translated to “carrot cake”, it actually has no carrots in it.  It’s cakes made of rice flour and minced radish similar to Cantonese lo bak go (蘿蔔糕 / luo bo gao) that you get at dim sum except that instead of big rectangle squares its cut into much smaller pieces that are pan fried with a sweet minced preserved radish, egg, garlic, dried shrimp, fish sauce and spring onions are sprinkled on top. Although at New Kim Tuong they do serve it as rectangles instead of smaller pieces. It’s a very popular dish at hawker centers in Singapore. The radish cakes were perfectly crispy on the outside, perfectly minced and soft on the inside. The condiments went really well with it and I particularly like the sweet minced preserved radish. It was a pretty good rendition although I would prefer if they cut it into smaller pieces.  I also wish they had a good chili sauce like at Bo Ky or New Chao Chow as that would definitely kick it up a notch.  I definitely recommend trying this dish out as it’s very hard to find. 7.75/10

Overall, this is definitely an interesting place and while some of the dishes were just okay, it’s definitely worth trying for the carrot cake.

Address:
83 Chrystie St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 966-2878

Bo Ky – Good Chiu Chow Noodle and BBQ Restaurant in Chinatown

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I never really understood why Bo Ky and New Chao Chow never really get mentioned when people talk about Chinatown.  They are two of the better restaurants in Chinatown.  They are also the only restaurants that serve Chiu Chow food (潮州, Chao Zhou, Teo Chew).  Chiu Chow is a city in Eastern Guang Dong.  Even though they live in Guang Dong, Chiu Chow people have their own dialect that is much different than Cantonese and their own cuisine.  They are known for many dishes such as their rice porridge, lu wei 卤味 (soy sauce braised meats), noodle soups and use of fresh seafood among other things.

It’s definitely one of my favorite Chinese cuisines, but it is quite difficult to find it in New York.  In fact there are only three places in NY that serve it: Bo Ky, New Chao Chow and Chao Zhou in Flushing. I grew to really appreciate it when I studied abroad in Asia.  It is probably the second most popular food in Hong Kong after Cantonese food and it is probably the tied for first place as the most popular food in Singapore along with Hokkien food.  Generally, their food is a little lighter than Cantonese food.  You can see a couple of other Chiu Chow posts on my blog as well (http://www.lauhound.com/category/chiu-chow/).  The Chiu Chow restaurants in NY have some Chiu Chow noodle soups and lu wei meats, but the rest of the menu is mainly Cantonese.  So unfortunately the breadth of Chiu Chow food is not really available in NY.

Bo Ky is owned by Chiu Chow people from Vietnam (hence the Vietnamese listed on their sign and menus).  There are a lot of Chiu Chow people in Southeast Asia, so you will often find them in Vietnamese areas.  For example, there are many Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants in Little Saigon in Orange County, CA where the food is technically Chiu Chow, but definitely has some Vietnamese influence.  It also happens to be delicious.

Bo Ky has typical Chinatown décor, which means there isn’t much.  The waiters are nice although the service is quite brisk.

On to the food:

Chili Oil:

Bo Ky has the second best chili oil in Chinatown (New Chao Chow has the best), the reason it’s so much better is partly because they make it themselves (you can buy it to go at the restaurant), but also because they use ground up dried shrimps in the chili oil which makes it so much better.  They also have some ground peanut and sesame seeds in it.  I use it quite generously when eating their noodle soups a long with the vinegar that has peppers in it, it really takes their noodle soups up a notch. 8.25/10

Cambodian Noodle:

I’m not sure why this is called Cambodian Noodle on the menu as it is definitely a Chiu Chow dish.  In Singapore, this is called bak chor mee (in Mandarin its called rou zuo mian).  It’s a noodle dish that is served in a bowl with noodles, minced pork,  bean sprouts, slices of pork, shrimp, scallions, these golden fried onions and fish balls (there is some variation in toppings, but this is how they serve it here).  They then serve a fragrant semi-cloudy pork stock soup on the side.  The noodles are called mee pok (麪薄 mian bao in mandarin).  However, for some reason the menu only offers rice noodles or thin egg noodles.   What you need to do is ask them for the soup on the side and for mee pok and then you will get this.  The version here is pretty decent although the soup is a bit saltier than it should be and not quite as fragrant as it should be (New Chao Chow’s is a bit better).  The noodles are served nice and al dente and the toppings are good.  I wish they put in the vinegar and chili oil like they do in Singapore, but I highly suggest adding both to this dish as it is an integral part.  Overall, it’s very tasty. 7.75/10

Here it is with the thin egg noodles (I definitely prefer it with the mee pok as opposed to the egg noodles)

Fish Ball Noodle Soup (Yu Wan Tang Mian):

Same thing, but only has fish balls, scallions, minced pork and golden fried onions.  It’s good but I prefer the bak chor mee. 7.5/10

Country Style Duck (Lu Wei Ya):

You will see ducks and chicken hanging up in the window here except you will notice they look different than other Cantonese BBQ places in Chinatown as they are a dull brown sort of color, they actually look much less appealing than Cantonese versions.  However, this a case where looks are very deceiving.  The reason for the dull brown color is that these are braised in a soy sauce.  The result is great, the meat is very flavorful and the skin is really delicious.  The flavoring here is excellent, the meat and skin are delicious.  The only knock is that there isn’t enough meat on the duck (New Chao Chow’s is better).  They also give you sweet pickled radish on the side which really goes well with the duck.  This is a very solid dish. 8/10

Country Style Mixed Meat:

This is the same thing, but it’s all offal, so liver, intestines, tripe etc.  It’s good as well, but I prefer the duck.  7.25/10

Fried Tofu:

I’m not sure this is on the menu, but it’s listed on the wall with pictures of it posted everywhere.  It’s freshly fried tofu triangles with broccoli served on top of a tangy soy sauce.  This dish is quite good, but I think my GF liked it more than me.  It is still worth trying though. 7.25/10

Overall, Bo Ky is quite good although New Chao Chow is better and I’ll be reviewing them soon.  I definitely recommend trying it out.

Address:
82 Bayard St (between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 406-2292

y – Good Chiu Chow Noodle and BBQ Restaurant in Chinatown

I never really understood why Bo Ky and New Chao Chow never really get mentioned when people talk about Chinatown.They are two of the better restaurants in Chinatown.They are also the only restaurants that serve Chiu Chow (潮州, Chao Zhou, Teo Chew) which is a city in Eastern Guang Dong.Even though there are in Guang Dong, Chiu Chow people have their own dialect that is much different than Cantonese and their own cuisine.They are known for a many dishes such their rice porridge, lu wei 卤味 (soy sauce braised meats), noodle soups and use of fresh seafood among other things.

It’s definitely one of my favorite Chinese cuisines, but it is quite difficult to find it in New York.In fact there are only three places in NY that serve it: Bo Ky, New Chao Chow and Chao Zhou in Flushing. I grew to really appreciate it when I studied abroad in Asia.It is probably the second most popular food in Hong Kong after Cantonese food and it is probably the tied for first place as the most popular food in Singapore along with Hokkien food.Generally, their food is a little lighter than Cantonese food.You can see a couple of other Chiu Chow posts on my blog as well (http://www.lauhound.com/category/chiu-chow/).The Chiu Chow restaurants in NY have some Chiu Chow noodle soups and lu wei meats, but the rest of the menu is mainly Cantonese.So unfortunately the breadth of Chiu Chow food is not really available in NY.

Bo Ky is owned by Chiu Chow people from Vietnam (hence the Vietnamese listed on their sign and menus).There are a lot of Chiu Chow people in Southeast Asia, so you will often find them in Vietnamese areas.For example, there are many Chinese-Vietnamese restaurants in Little Saigon in Orange County, CA where the food is technically Chiu Chow, but definitely has some Vietnamese influence.It also happens to be delicious.

Bo Ky has typical Chinatown décor, which means there isn’t much.The waiters are nice although the service is quite brisk.

On to the food:

Chili Oil: Bo Ky has the second best chili oil in Chinatown (New Chao Chow has the best), the reason it’s so much better is partly because they make it themselves (you can buy it to go at the restaurant), but also because they use ground up dried shrimps in the chili oil which makes it so much better.They also have some ground peanut and sesame seeds in it.I use it quite generously when eating their noodle soups a long with the vinegar that has peppers in it, it really takes their noodle soups up a notch.

Cambodian Noodle: I’m not sure why this is called Cambodian Noodle on the menu as it is definitely a Chiu Chow dish.In Singapore, this is called bak chor mee (in Mandarin its called rou zuo mian).It’s a noodle dish that is served in a bowl with noodles, minced pork,bean sprouts, slices of pork, shrimp, scallions, these golden fried onions and fish balls (there is some variation in toppings, but this is how they serve it here).They then serve a fragrant semi-cloudy pork stock soup on the side.The noodles are called mee pok (麪薄 mian bao in mandarin).However, for some reason the menu only offers rice noodles or thin egg noodles.What you need to do is ask them for the soup on the side and for mee pok and then you will get this.The version here is pretty decent although the soup is a bit saltier than it should be and not quite as fragrant as it should be (New Chao Chow’s is a bit better).The noodles are served nice and al dente and the toppings are good.I wish they put in the vinegar and chili oil like they do in Singapore, but I highly suggest adding both to this dish as it is an integral part.Overall, it’s very tasty.

Here it is with the thin egg noodles (I definitely prefer it with the mee pok as opposed to the egg noodles)

Fish Ball Noodle Soup (Yu Wan Tang Mian): same thing, but only has fish balls, scallions, minced pork and golden fried onions.It’s good but I prefer the bak chor mee.

Country Style Duck (Lu Wei Ya): you will see ducks and chicken hanging up in the window here except you will notice they look different than other Cantonese BBQ places in Chinatown as they are a dull brown sort of color, they actually look much less appealing than Cantonese versions.However, this a case where looks are very deceiving.The reason for the dull brown color is that these are braised in a soy sauce.The result is great, the meat is very flavorful and the skin is really delicious.The flavoring here is excellent, the meat and skin are delicious.The only knock is that there isn’t enough meat on the duck (New Chao Chow’s is better).They also give you sweet pickled radish on the side which really goes well with the duck.This is a very solid dish.

Country Style Mixed Meat: same thing, but it’s all offal, so liver, intestines, tripe etc.It’s good as well, but I prefer the duck

Fried Tofu: I’m not sure this is on the menu, but it’s listed on the wall with pictures of it posted everywhere.It’s freshly fried tofu triangles with broccoli served on top of a tangy soy sauce.This dish is quite good, but I think my GF liked it more than me.It is still worth trying though

Overall, Bo Ky is quite good although New Chao Chow is better and I’ll be reviewing them soon.I definitely recommend trying it out.

Address:

82 Bayard St (between Mott St & Mulberry St)

New York, NY 10013

(212) 406-2292

Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle – Great Bak Chor Mee in Singapore

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Bak chor mee (rou cuo mian 肉挫面) is a great dish that was one of my “must have” dishes on my latest trip to Singapore as I remember it very fondly from when I studied abroad in Singapore.  It is a chiu chow (chao zhou / teo chew) dish that consists of flat yellow noodles called mee pok (mian bao 麪薄) that is garnished with minced pork, pork slices, pork liver slices, sliced mushrooms, bean sprouts, bits of deep-fried lard and a piece of sliced fried fish.  It’s usually served “dry” meaning the soup is on the side and you can get it with or without chili sauce.  There is also a really good vinegar on it.  It’s a pretty popular dish in Singapore.

Tai Hwa is a really old vendor that I think started in 1932 according to their website.  It’s very famous and I decided that I would try this place as my one place to get bak chor mee (unfortunately, I was only in Singapore for 3 days, so I had to pick wisely).  The restaurant is located in a hawker center that is sort of in an apartment building, it’s not really close to anything so we took a taxi there.  The place seemed pretty local and is totally jammed, I had to wait around 20 minutes to get to the front of the line.  A guy comes and takes your order in line, they don’t really speak English from what I can tell, but you could definitely just point if you don’t speak any Chinese.  It’s quite an interesting scene once you get close enough to watch them as there are four guys going at a break neck speed preparing the ingredients and cooking the food (you can see it around 2:20 of this video).

Bak Chor Mee (Rou Cuo Mian):

The noodles here are awesome; they were perfectly al dente and springy.  The version here is a bit different than other versions as it’s not sweet whatsoever; other versions that I’ve had were slightly sweet.  You really just taste the vinegar and the chili oil, both of which are excellent (the chili sauce is particularly good).  The pork slices, minced pork and pork liver slices were good although they were a bit drier than I like.  The soup on the side is quite good as well, a pork stock soup that is sort of cloudy, goes really well with the noodles.  My gf didn’t like it that much as she was turned off by the liver, but I like liver so it suited me well.  Overall, I thought this place was very good. 8.75/10

Address:
Blk 466 Crawford Lane
#01-12
www.taihwa.com.sg
phone: 62927477

Seafood Village – Great Chao Zhou seafood, a taste of Hong Kong

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Seafood Village is a Chinese seafood restaurant in Temple City that specializes in Chao Zhou (潮州) cuisine.  Chao Zhou, also known as Chiu Chow or Teochew, is an region in Guangdong province where better known Cantonese food is from; it is distinct in that they have their own language and cuisine.

Chao Zhou food is generally known to be lighter and less oily than Cantonese food.  It also relies on a lot of fresh ingredients.  When I was young I ate various Chao Zhou dishes, but mistakenly thought it was just Cantonese dishes.  I only started to understand the difference when I lived in Singapore and stayed in Hong Kong for an extended period of time (there are a lot of Chao Zhou in Singapore and there is a large population of Chao Zhou people in HK and it is among the most popular cuisines there).  I really came to appreciate it as one of my favorite Chinese cuisines.

Seafood Village looks like a typical Chinese banquet type of restaurant with high ceilings, chandeliers, white walls with pictures of the specialties on the wall.  It gets crowded as many families will come to have dinner there.  The service is fine and servers were reasonably nice and attentive.   Our server didn’t really speak English, but if you don’t have anyone that speaks Chinese it should not be a problem as the entire menu is translated into English and there is plenty of pictures in the menu, so pointing should work just fine.

On to the food:

Braised Duck and Tofu (Lu Wei / 卤味):

This is a very famous style of Chao Zhou braising preparation called “lu wei” in Chinese.  It’s prepared braising meats in a mixture of soy sauce, star anise, water, spices and sugar.  It’s very popular and in Hong Kong you’ll see lots of small Chao Zhou restaurants with various lu wei meats hanging in the windows.  Although it looks similar to it’s Cantonese BBQ meats, it is much lighter, less salty and less fatty.  The version here is fairly typical in that it is sliced duck with the skin on over a bed of sliced tofu and boiled peanuts all over which have been thoroughly braised in the lu wei sauce (hence their yellowish color although it can also be a very brown color).  The flavor was good, it was nice and light and not salty (it should not be very salty).  The meat should have been a bit more tender, but it was still good.  The peanuts and tofu were excellent.  Overall, a good dish. 7.75/10

Beef and Radish casserole:

I believe this is more of a Cantonese dish, but this is a home style dish that I have a soft spot for, so I decided to try it here.  It is a very light flavored dish consisting of beef and radish (daikon) stewed in a slightly cloudy beef broth garnished with green onions and some crispy golden fried onions.  The beef was tender although not quite as tender as a really good version should be, still good nonetheless.  The daikon was excellent and had a good soft texture without being mushy.  The beef broth had a good flavor and wasn’t overly salty, but didn’t quite have the deep beef flavor that a really good version has.  I liked this dish although I think my family liked it less than I did. 8/10

Spicy Clam Casserole:

I ordered this dish because my girlfriend thought it sounded good.  It’s clams in a spicy broth with green onions and chilis diced up into it; at the bottom there was a bed of glass noodles.  It was spicy, but not overly spicy (there isn’t much spicy food in Chao Zhou cuisine).  The clams tasted fresh and were not overcooked, which is good because in a lot of casserole dishes I find the clams to be overcooked.  The broth was quite good, a bit more salty than I like, but still good.  I really liked the glass noodles as they complemented the spicy broth well.  Overall, another good dish, I think my family liked this dish better than I did though. 7.75/10

Garlic Fried Crab:

This is the dish that Seafood Village is famous for, you will see it on every table.  The dish consists of a large crab (I got a 4 lb crab) cut into pieces and battered in a garlic and salt batter then covered in delicious finely diced fried garlic and green onions.  This dish is so good, the crab is easy to eat as you can literally just bite into the crab shell and it cracks easily.  The meat is sweet and the batter is delicious.  I particularly love the  fried garlic on top, I eat it by itself.  Everyone loved this dish. 8.75/10

Golden Fried Rice:

Although the garlic crab is the most famous dish at Seafood Village, my favorite dish here is the golden fried rice.  It is a very simple preparation done really well.  It’s fried rice using egg whites only with thinly diced green onions, small golden fried onions, small bits of shrimps and meat in it as well.  It is so light and fluffy, not remotely oily or overly salty with a good wok flavor to it.  I ate like 3 bowls of it, I highly recommend this dish. 9/10

Green Bean Soup (Tang Shui):

This was complementary sweet green bean soup that most banquet restaurants give you.  It was pretty standard, just a sweet soup of green beans. 7.25/10

Crystal Buns:

These are small glutinous buns filled with various sweet fillings.  There are 4 varieties consisting of black sesame, custard, melon and lotus paste.  I’m not a huge fan of these as I don’t really like the oily glutinous exterior.  The fillings were pretty decent although I didn’t like the melon flavor as it tasted too artificial. 6.75/10

Overall, I like Seafood Village a lot.  The food is quite good and it’s a great place to go with a group of family or friends.  Highly recommend.

Address:
9669 Las Tunas Dr
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 286-2299

(there are also branches in Monterey Park and Rowland Heights as well)