Chopstix

Chi Ka Yan

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:59:06 +0000

Last week I visited Chi Ka Yan, which has just opened in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. My Time Out review is now online.

Dim sum: dish up a dinner with a difference

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 12:49:35 +0000

'Small and intricate, dim sum may be fiddly to make, but with a little practice you'll soon be dazzling guests, says Bill Knott.' I'm not so sure. The recipes in this feature, from London's Shanghai Blues restaurant, are seriously cheffy, requiring ingredients such as roast duck and jellied chicken stock. One of the recipes also fails to advise readers to wear gloves when slicing taro, a problem when the majority of the population will get itchy hands without.

Fuchsia Dunlop on how to eat like Chairman Mao

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 12:43:50 +0000

More from Observer Food Monthly: Fuchsia Dunlop on how to eat like Chairman Mao. There's a recipe for Chairmain Mao's red-braised pork in this excerpt from her new book on Hunan cooking, The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. I guess this means I can talk about the book now - Fuchsia asked me to hold off until the Observer published.

Alan Yau's top five UK Chinese restaurants

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 01:13:31 +0000

Restaurateur Alan Yau has named his top five Chinese UK restaurants for Observer Food Monthly. They are Maxim's (Ealing), Royal China (Bayswater), Dynasty (Bristol), Dragon-I (Glasgow) and his own Yauatcha - he claims he was forced to include it by the OFM team. Sadly my own recent meal there was abysmal.

Hunan in Pimlico also gets a mention in the piece, as does Singapore Garden in South Hampstead. Alan also recommends Bayswater's Four Seasons and their 'deserved reputation for its chef's ways with duck'. This is unfortunate - the place changed hands well over a year ago and promptly went downhill. The chef moved on... just down the road to 'Gold Mine'.

Dragon Castle the best Cantonese Giles Coren has seen in ages

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 09:17:18 +0000

Giles Coren reviews Dragon Castle, not once but twice. Unusually, I agree with Giles - this is the best London Cantonese in ages. I'll provide an update to my original review for Time Out here in the next week or so.

Bar Shu

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 00:50:46 +0000

The key strength of Bar Shu is the involvement, as consultant, of Fuchsia Dunlop, author of the critically-acclaimed Sichuan Cookery'.

Her influence is most evident from the beautifully-written, but gaudy, pictorial menu - it covers the gamut of Sichuan cuisine, including dishes that most Chinese restaurants would dismiss as being unsuitable for westerners.

Our first dish, man-and-wife slices, really packed a punch - cold, thin slices of tongue, tripe and other offal doused in a fiery chilli oil then sprinkled with mouth-tingling Sichuan pepper. Wonderful. Another appetizer, numbing and hot dried beef, also excited - but it was tamer, sweeter and reminiscent of beef jerky.

Sadly the mains were patchier. Gong Bao chicken, which I'd loved on a previous visit, was this time overwhelmed by sugar. Specially imported bamboo shoots were also wasted, accompanying tender but tasteless braised beef. Twice-cooked pork was better - a little too salty, but very, very tasty.

Spirits were lifted by a small portion of Dan Dan noodle with flavoursome ground pork and balanced sesame sauce. We also loved the dry fried green beans, showered with diced pork and dried shrimp.

Despite slow and occasionally amateurish service, Bar Shu is a welcome addition to London's culinary landscape. Just a little more attention and consistency in the kitchen would justify the enthusiastic praise from Fuchsia's fellow food writers.

Bar Shu, 28 Frith Street, London W1D 5LF. Tel: 020 7287 6688.

Tony Tan's 2006 Gourmet Tour of China

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:11:06 +0000

Fancy the trip of a lifetime?

Talented chef and instructor Tony Tan is hosting another excellent gourmet tour of China this year. It takes place in September and encompasses visits to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Beijing.

I couldn't think of a better guide for my first China trip. I'm saving the money now.

Waiter Rant

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:45:43 +0000

Waiter Rant is one of my favourite weblogs. The author, a waiter in a high end restaurant in New York, writes with authority, humanity and humour on serving joe public. One day my own writing will almost be as good. If you visit, don't forget to tip.

Rumble in Hong Kong (and Malaysia)

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 18:35:20 +0000

Sorry for the recent lack of updates - I have just returned from three weeks in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Before I left the UK I planned to chart my journey here. Unfortunately (or fortunately) common sense took over when I arrived in Asia - I really needed a break so a break is what I had.

Of course, I did make plentiful notes and took many photographs - so do expect to hear more over the coming weeks.

Steamed Scallop

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:20:12 +0000

This is one of the best ways to eat scallop.

At Chinese Experience in London, chef Gun Leung steams the scallop with a few mushroom shreds, home-made cellophane (bean thread) noodles, garlic and soy sauce. Wonderful.

Chinese Experience, 118-120 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5EP. Tel: 0207 437 0377. Fax: 0207 437 0378.

Kowloon Bakery

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 22:57:49 +0000

Kowloon Bakery is one of my favourite places in London's chinatown but you won't find it in your fancy restaurant guides.

The front of the shop is loaded with shelves of Chinese pastries - everything from egg custard tarts to curry puffs, but you'll normally find me at the back where there are a handful of plastic tables. Sit down, eat what you want from the bakery and drink tea, coffee, or iced horlicks...

When I do this, I feel like I'm really in Chinatown, particularly when I hear the clack of mahjong tiles from the room next door.

Kowloon, 21-22 Gerrard Street, London. Tel: 020 7437 0148

Quicklinks for Sunday, 13 November 2005

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 19:49:18 +0000

The Breath of a Wok (Alternate UK link) has been named joint best food book in the 2005 World Food Media Awards. Judges said it was one of the tightest competitions in the competition's 10-year history.

Fuchsia Dunlop is on track to complete her second book by the end of December. The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook focuses on the cooking of Hunan. It's scheduled for publication in June 2006 (UK only).

Egullet's China and Chinese Cuisine forum has some great conversations going on at present, particularly Tips on Chinese cooking techniques.

Globe and Mail journalist Jan Wong picks ten of Toronto's best Chinese restaurants in Bye, Bye Chop Suey while in London, Toby Young recommends London's Ping Pong dim sum parlour.

Stock - the real secret of Chinese cooking

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:24:44 +0000

Nothing tells me more about a Chinese restaurant than its use of stock.

Stock is central to Chinese cuisine. It's not only used in soups - just a tablespoon will give stir-fries a real lift.

Chinese stock should be clear and golden in colour. Chefs will use chicken bones and occasionally a few pork bones or muslin-wrapped prawn shells.

The alternative to stock isn't as pretty, or tasty. A hurried mix of water, monosodium glutamate and dried chicken powder is never a valid replacement - and a good sign that the restaurant you're eating in isn't worth a second visit.

Many mainstream recipes for Chinese stock advise you to boil chicken bones with spring onion, ginger and other ingredients. Unless you're going to use (or freeze) the stock immediately, just stick to boiling bones and water. The fresher the bones, the clearer and better, your stock will be.

So how did I get here?

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 00:24:29 +0000

To tell the truth, my first memory of Chinese food is rather unpleasant.

During a visit to a Chinese supermarket, my parents bought a bottle of oyster sauce. A little later, the meal was served. Yeeeuek! With no instructions in English, my adventurous parents had used the entire bottle.

Years later I found myself sitting on a couch while my suitability as a boyfriend was queried. Did I have a job? Did I drive a car? My girlfriend answered truthfully to both questions. "No. No." Auntie Nancy puffed away on an untipped Marlboro before ushering me into the dining room where a gigantic feast, not a guillotine, was waiting.

I can't remember all of the spread - my brain has mischievously muddied the picture with every Chinese dish I've ever enjoyed. I do recall steamed fish, wonton soup, steamed rice, glutinous Rice and Chinese sausage, bok choy, roast belly pork and Cantonese roast duck.

And so began a very different love affair. Ever since that day, my interest in Chinese food has steadily grown. The website you're currently visiting is the result.