翠華餐廳 (Tsui Wah Restaurant)

I guess I'll finally get around to posting about the 2 days I spent in Hong Kong. Starting with 翠華餐廳 (Tsui Wah Restaurant). I can't really think of an equivalent for comparison, but I suppose it would be the equivalent of IHOP in America, or 永和豆漿大王 in Taiwan (sort of), in the sense that it's basically a breakfast/brunch chain that also serves dinner type entrees. I guess it's kind of silly that the first restaurant I'd go to would be some sort of commercialized chain restaurant, but I kept complaining that I hadn't eaten anything all day (which is a lie, since they gave us lunch on the flight), so naturally I ate at the first place that I saw. So about the food...

Like I said, Tsui Wah is basically a pseudo-HK diner. They serve a pretty wide variety of things (most of which I can't recall), but mostly brunch type food. I ordered their Malaysian beef curry (which at 42 HKD is basically ~$6). Holy Jesus, it's like the greatest curry ever. Hrm, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's certainly very good. You're given a plate with a giant scoop of white rice on a plate, and another big plate of curry beef. Awesome... two plates. The beef curry is made with an assortment of different cuts of beef, lots of tendon, and some lean pieces, all cooked to a degree of softness that they fall apart when picked at with chopsticks. This sits in a pool of heavenly orange curry that is remarkably strong in flavor, and spicy to say the least. I'm bad at describing things, but if you mixed Indian curry with Japanese curry, you'd be getting close to what this dish tastes like. It doesn't really matter, it tasted real good... that's all that matters.



One of the other things I got was condensed milk - butter toast (I don't know why the colors are wonky... I tried fixing them, but evidently I failed). Genius. Whoever was the first person who decided "putting butter on my toast isn't quite that fattening, let me drizzle condensed milk on too" is my hero. The taste of savory sweet breads isn't really foreign to Asian bakeries, but having a semi-crunchy roll with warm sweet goo is quite the experience. QUICK! Go grab toast and make it now. You're welcome.

As far as this restaurant? It's pretty easy to find since there's multiple locations, and despite the conventional thinking of avoiding chain restaurants when traveling, well... screw that. They have condensed milk - butter bread... and curry to die for.
Read more...

More fermentation (stinky tofu from 深坑)

Yes, stinky tofu on a stick is awesome, but what if you're craving soup (I guess this is more appropriate for a Winter type post)? They have that too, in the form of 麻辣臭豆腐 (mala stinky tofu). For around 50 NT (~$1.60), you can get stinky tofu cooked in a blazing hot soup in virtually every single restaurant found on 深坑老街. Essentially, the same semi-firm tofu that goes on skewers (sans frying) is tossed into a pot of pork bone broth, dyed bright red from the 麻辣 flavoring, and left to stew continuously for hours. When served, it's combined with 'red tofu,' made with pig's blood, and left over a burner to continue cooking throughout the meal. How was my red pot of oil?

I probably would've enjoyed this more if it weren't 35 degrees Celsius outside. The entire meal, I was sweating bullets. The color of the soup is deceptively vibrant. The soup isn't all that spicy despite the thick layer of chili oil that sits atop the broth. What kills you is the fact that there's a mini burner underneath the pot, so the dish never actually cools off. I made a few attempts to put out said fire, but they were ultimately futile. Despite my discomfort whilst eating, the variation on the grilling and frying is definitely welcome. The aroma associated with stinky tofu is much more prevalent without the aid of frying covering it up, and it truly allows for the flavor to sing. Fear not about being overpowered by the scent, the mild spiciness will distract you from that.



Of course I also got fried stinky tofu. It's pretty much 50 NT everywhere as well. I don't know what I have to say about this. It's fried... so I like it a lot? In all seriousness, the frying dampens the flavor, so despite smelling like someone just rammed a gym sock in your nose and punched you in the stomach, actually eating it is a whole different experience. Anyhoo, these are pretty much the standard ways that stinky tofu is served, I just thought I'd make a couple posts explaining them.

What I can't explain is why Asian people like foods that smell rank. Durian lovers, I'm looking at you too.
Read more...

Stinky tofu on a stick (金大鼎)

Seeing as there's an entire street of vendors selling nothing but tofu, if your cart is famous, you must've done something incredibly right (or I guess wrong, if we're talking about stench). Near the big tree at the entrance of 深坑's 'old street,' there's a cart called 金大鼎, which translates to 'Gold Big Pot.' I agree, it's a dumb name, but supposedly their stinky tofu is the best in Taiwan. Given their strategic location at the beginning of the street, there was a line about 15 deep even though it was 10 am (who else freakin' eats stinky tofu at 10 am?!). Naturally my curiosity was aroused. BRING ON THE STINK.



Sorry about the out of focus picture, I was playing with manual focus for a while, then I couldn't for the life of me figure out why AF wasn't working. Have I mentioned I'm somewhat of an idiot? Anyway, that's the OG stinky tofu cart owner and his cart. Given the demand, he basically has a factory line operation where he has a line of skewered stinky tofu blocks sitting over a grill contraption (which actually reminded me of a gyro spit). When people order, he just slides the appropriate number of skewers down the line and prepares each one to order. Like a machine, the line was whittled down within 10 minutes, so despite the popularity the wait time isn't stupid absurd.



Like I said, each skewer (OT: I like the Chinese word for skewer... '串') is made to order based on what flavor you want. That's right, he'll destroy your olfactory senses in a multitude of flavors! There's plain pickled veggies, peanut flour & cilantro (pictured at top), original, or mixed veggies AND peanut flour + cilantro. With none of the prices topping 40 NT ($1.25), you can afford to buy more stinky tofu than you'd ever want to eat at once easily. Hmm, I wish someone would make a stinky tofu eating contest, I would rock the shit out of that competition.



So how were the two I got? The peanut flour and cilantro flavor is a tribute to pig's blood cake. Savory from the soy sauce applied during grilling, sweet from the peanut flour, refreshing cilantro, and stinky to boot, I liked this combination of flavors more. While I love pickled veggies too, there's just something so irresistible about the complexity of flavors in the peanut flour one that made it the clear winner (don't get me wrong, the pickled vegetable variety is worth trying). Sigh, if it weren't so damn far away, I would get this for breakfast like everyday.

Conclusions... not everyone likes stinky tofu. Some people can't get over the stench long enough to actually take a bite into it. If you can though, it's a wonderful symphony of conflicting flavors for your mind. Honestly, you'd be confused how something that smells so wrong can taste so right. If you've never had it before (and have the opportunity to go to 深坑), this stand would probably be the best introduction possible to the world of fermented soy foodstuffs.
Read more...

Tofu ice cream (深坑豆腐冰淇淋)

Before I start my nibbling away at the backlog of things I ate in HK (and after), I figured I'd make a few short posts about a mythical place of tofu, called... 深坑 (Shen Keng). Located about 45 minutes outside of downtown Taipei, there's a singular street that serves nothing noteworthy aside from tofu and other soy related products. Known primarily for their stinky tofu (which is worth another post entirely on its own), they're also kind of famous for making tofu ice cream. I like pork as much as the next Asian person, but I also have a deep love for curdled soy, mmm. Naturally, I was pretty excited to have found the 'tofu ice cream parlor.'



For 30 NT a cup (just a shade under $1) they have 4 different flavors... traditional soy, sesame, caramel, and unflavored soy. Sesame and caramel are obvious, but what's the difference between traditional and unflavored? Traditional soy has the flavor of 豆漿 (soy milk). There's a characteristic aroma with soy milk that's been cooked in metal containers, that can only be described as... burnt. I know that sounds awful, but it's essentially a nuttiness that extracts the true earthy tones of soy. A good burnt if you will. The unflavored is just soy that's been made into ice cream, barren of any redeeming qualities. I don't know why they even bother making it, when I peeked in the case, it didn't appear that anyone had bought any.



If you're curious what it looks like, well... I bet you're disappointed. It looks just like vanilla ice cream. Except it tastes like soy, that's slightly burnt. As for what I thought? Caramel actually tastes pretty good, although the subtle flavor is lost in the addition (I assume sesame is more of the same, but I didn't get it). The original actually tastes like tofu, and I guess it's up to personal opinion whether or not that's a good thing, but I thought it was okay. Basically... cool in concept, not jaw dropping by any means.

PS - don't be alarmed by the date on the label. I did not eat expired ice cream (although that wouldn't be beneath me either). In Taiwan, it's actually just the 99th year of existence for the Nationalist party. Hm, in retrospect, I shouldn't have mentioned that. It'd be pretty epic if I ate 11 year old ice cream.
Read more...