Fruitless fruit.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Recently my family did the traditional trek to find some good oranges for the Chinese New Year. This year we got lucky and found the following brand we bought at Luckys several years back. And Luckys for reason is still not carrying it again this year. I guess they do not value their Chinese customers.

As you can see we buy a lot of oranges and this brand has special meaning during the Chinese New Years. However after eating several of these sweet delicious oranges, I noticed that they are seedless. They are in a sense a bunch of fruitless fruits. How do they grow and farm these fruits? What happens if something wipes them out, how does one try and rebreed this? It also makes me wonder if I am a fruitless fruit if I do not have children myself. Did Luckys take this into consideration, when making the decision not to carry this item? This is still a really good orange and I recommend it to anyone not too wrapped up in this conundrum.

Respect the wine!

Finally a store that cares enough to respect the wine.

Although not all wines needs to be stored this way (e.g. Twist caps and boxed), they have made more effort than most to store corked wines correctly to prevent oxidation. Now if we can keep them at the right temperature.

Thank you Niles Liquor
34359 Alvarado Niles Rd
Union City, CA 94587

Is that too much?

Rise of the RoachCoach

Sorry if I offended anyone but “roachcoach” is my enduring term for these infamous “gourmet” food trucks.

Tonight I stopped by the Walmart in Union City for the weekly roachcoach gathering and found many many vendors. Unlike other gatherings (e.g. Edgewood Eats or Off the Grid) the selection is much smaller and there are repeats in the type of venues offered.

I went there in part because I saw CBS’s Eye on the Bay. However I believed they sort of missed the mark on that segment. Sure, I would not classify all the foodtrucks featured as gourmet but all of them are a newer breed of roachcoaches. Instead of being a jack of all trades and a master of none, they narrow their focus. However it does not payoff for all of them but if you follow the foodie scene there are some extraordinary ones.

These new breed of vendors remind me of the street vendors in the east coast and Asia, where they only sell one thing and try their best to be the best at what they sell. Too bad this might not be true for all these new breed of roachcoach vendors. Some just repackage the ideals of others and do not contribute any new ideals. Then there are those that are there just to cash in on this trend and do not put their hearts into what they make.

Enough with the new, what about the original roachcoach vendors? They invented fusion before fusion existed. Where else can you get a spaghetti meat sauce fried rice breakfast burrito? The old timers were all about the customers that this new generation misses. Some even had an alternating gourmet menu on the side. Have you had a fresh bowl of beef stew won ton noodle soup from a foodtruck before?

The fish taco I had tonight was good but I did not find it amazing. It cost $9 for two and was bigger than tacos I have had from taquerias before. But was this worth the price? I have attached and embellished photo above for your review. Tell me what you think about this trend?

New Big Brother Cafe 大哥大茶餐廳 in Union City California

Big Brother Cafe
大哥大茶餐廳
1640 Decoto Rd, Union City, CA 94587

Recently I noticed a lot more of these Hong Kong cafes opening up and the latest one of these is Big Brother Cafe. It is more like Cousin’s Cafe in Newark or Cooking Papa in Santa Clara versus Venus Tam’s in Newark. They have 12 yelp reviews but you can tell those people do not know what they are talking about. These cafe are a lower middle class establishment in Hong Kong which resemble their upper class British tea rooms, that is why we see a lot of Chinese dishes that seems to resemble European dishes (e.g. Milk tea, custard tart, baked pork chop…). The variety is smaller than Cooking Papa but the seating is very comfortable and it is opened late. If you like this place you would like Cooking Papa (in the south) or Ming Tasty (in the north).

The first thing you look for in a 茶餐廳 is the tea, it is in the name. True enthusiasts would also look for the pastry then the fusion dishes such as the baked pork chop over rice. Many of these places, even in Hong Kong, no longer make or serve the pastry. But if you are into the pastry then I recommend going to Lido in Richmond BC. No pastries here and I did not have the plain tea but I did get then baked pork chop over rice and Singaporean Chow fun. I drank the yin yang red bean (some fad in Hong Kong) but the coffee over powered the whole drink, so I need to drink the milk tea by itself. The Singaporean Chow Fun is not to spec (e.g. Not all the standard ingredient are there) but was acceptable for what it had. Most of these cafes do not make the curry they use to cook with and this is true for this cafe as well. So the curry is not good but it is probably as good as it can be given that curry. Regarding the baked pork chop over rice, the first thing I am looking for is a good egg fried rice at the bottom of the dish. They were acceptable to me but it could be better. The rice was not loose, did not have a taste of the Wok, and did not have an aroma of egg. They did not add anything extra (e.g. Peas and carrots) to the sauce, it did not have cheese on the top, and it seems to be thickened with cornstarch instead of a roux (which makes it easier to brown). It was less vinegary and more sweet than most of the cafe of this type. The pork chop was pretty standard as well, I would have liked a juicier and more tender chop.

I would say that is worth a second look since the service is friendly, it is open late, and has comfortable seating. But if it wants to stand out in a sea of these cafes it needs to be more than standard and have something (not necessarily everything) extraordinary. Interestingly the name of this cafe is the same as a popular dish at Venus Tam’s Cafe, but I cannot find that dish in this cafe, why is that?

Cooking Papa Restaurant
2830 Homestead Road
Santa Clara, CA 95051
www.mycookingpapa.com

Ming Tasty
1652 East 14th Street
San Leandro, CA 94577
mingtasty.com

Oodles of noodles, or pasta, or 麺 (mian), What is the correct way to prepare them then?

What is al dente or “to the bite? How can you say rinsing is not right?

I can not explain how a culture that has a pasta or noodle like dish (since 2000 BC) do not have a recognized name like pasta, noodle, or ramen, besides fun (粉) or mein (麺 mian), but I do know that not all cooks are right. Like pasta there are different types of 麺 and 粉. There are different ways to prepare them too, like rinsing them before putting in soup.

Depending on what I am cooking or what I have, I sometimes rinse my noodles. Like “fun” for example, if I bought them from the supermarket and have them in the fridge, I sort of dunk them several times in boiling water to soften them up and get rid of some oil. They are very soft so there is no bite to be had. There are many ways to grade the quality of these noodles as much as the variety of them. Chow fun, to me, is good if it has the following qualities:
1. Has the taste of the Wok
2. Aroma of dark soy (caused by an adequately heated Wok)
3. Not too oily
4. Not clumped together
5. Evenly colored
6. Not too thick
7. Does not stick to the teeth upon being bit
8. Has a sort of snap when you bite into them

Chinese also has and uses many types of noodles, mein, and/or fun. Mein are noodles that are usually made from wheat flower, which Westerner’s refer to as pasta. However there are also many kinds not just shapes of them. One of the more famous ones are the hand pulled noodles as seen in one of the Amazing Race episodes. The measure of the quality of these noodles is how thin and long they can be. And I believe it is a plain water dough. Though other forms of these noodles are graded on different criteria. Most ramen restaurant ran by Chinese translate ramen to mean hand pulled and the noodles reflect that quality, which the noodle has a slight toughness due to the development of gluten and a snap, but not a doughy stickiness.

Besides just water and flour noodles, we also have egg noodles which the pasta resembles. However there is a version of this with potassium sulfate. It might sound inedible but it enhances the crisp and springy texture. Too bad it does not taste really good stir fried. The closest to stir fry I have seen this noodle in is with onion and ginger, and a few dishes which it has a stir fry on it and mixed in but very good accompaniment with soup dumplings such as wontons/raviolis.

When I taste top ramen, I think of the noodles I have at weddings and birthdays. Some call it long life noodles because they are meant to be served in really long strands. They are fried in a round pan, giving it a cake like form. Yet they do not taste greasy. The texture is also very soft so it also does not have what is called an al dente texture. And even though it is served in long strands it is not tough or chewy. It is very top ramen like.

Although we also have fresh and dried egg noodles like pasta, it taste very different texturally. Unlike Italian pasta, most Chinese noodles have different textures and we use it for many different applications. For example there is a thin angel hair like egg noodle that taste differently depending on how it is cooked. In a soup it has a stingy snap, in a stir fry it has slightly tough snap, but when it is pan fried the outside is crisp while the inside is soft, fluffy, and has and aromatic smell of egg, similar to that of a cake.

So why are the origins of noodles less popular than pasta?

Wat Buddhanusorn Thai Buddhist Temple

Wat Buddhanusorn
36054 Niles Blvd.
Fremont, CA 94536
(510) 790-2296
www.watbuddha.iirt.net

What makes a dining experience great can be different for different people. For me it is not just about the food, but it can be many things. I have been to many church bazaars and many Buddhist Temples, but this one stands out for me so far.

Unlike many bazaars, which feels more like people doing business than volunteering, this place is very different. It made me feel like I am actually on a street with many food stalls. The use of the Tokens gave me more comfort in spending money there, because it was meaningless to haggle with the vendor. Many of the volunteers and attendees were very jovial and welcoming, even though no real money was really being exchanged.

If you are using price as meter, I am sure you can find cheaper food somewhere else. American Buddhist Cultural Society in Fremont probably can be cheaper , since donations are not monitored and many attendees can refill as many or as much times as they want, until the food runs out. The people in ABCS are very friendly as well, but they do mainly speak Chinese (Mandarin) and is pretty serious about etiquette and decor. The banquet is also held only on Sundays, as well, but it starts at around 12PM till about 2PM. Although it does not seem to be required, many do attend the service, which starts at 10AM, but it is in Mandarin only. They serve a vegetarian fair (non-strict because they had cake which probably contains eggs), compared with Buddhanusorn, which serves shrimp, chicken, and pork.

You probably can get better quality (in my opinion) Thai food at The Original Krung Thai Restaurant in San Jose, because the curries are much thicker and food more spiced up. Quality is a very subjective trait. However, I can say objectively, that the ingredients are very fresh and are handled with the utmost care. I felt that the volunteers were cooking for their own family members, which is not how many restaurants are ran. A good example of this is how they ran the Pad Thai station, because they refused to cook as many orders as possible at once, and only cooked one order at a time. I also found the Thai Iced Tea really good, because I found the spice to be not as overwhelming as the ones in the restaurants.

This is definitely a good place to stop for a visit, if you are looking for a unique dining experience. The food is authentic and the environment is unique. The people are welcoming and easy going, so you do not have to worry about being converted if you do not want to. It is almost like traveling to a small piece of Thailand without the price of airfare.

Here is how my list of places to get Thai food:
1. The Original Krung Thai Restaurant (in San Jose)
2. Wat Buddhanusorn Temple (in Fremont)
3. Tuk Tuk Thai Cafe (in Berkeley cost a little more than Thai Basil, but better atmosphere)
4. Chiang Lai Thai (in Berkeley simular to Thai Basil but hidden)
5. Thai Basil (in Berkeley in the Asian Ghetto, too crowded)

What is your opinion?

Thanks,
H.

Is it me or does nobody cares about “Tea”?

Being Chinese (and once British controlled Hong Kongnese), I love my tea. I love it pure, I love it mixed, but I can only have it one way and not the next.

I am a traditionalist when enjoying it pure. No tea balls or filter needed except nice pure tea, hot water and a porcelain cup or dedicated clay tea pot. But where can you buy real tea today. It seems everyone is selling it and no one appreciates it. I love “Eye On the Bay”, but when I saw how they served up Oolong as Kung-fu tea, it made me wonder who can I trust, even the tea shop was sacrilegious.

In pure Chinese teas there are different ways to enjoy different teas. You always heat up the containers that will contain the tea, so that the temperature change is minimal. You do not want to scald the tea, but the aroma is in the tea’s steam. Some teas require a rinse (i.e. Kung-fu teas) , while most is just a steep. When the tea is ready to drink the leaves automatically fall towards the bottom, so there is no real need for a tea ball or filter. Also depending on the tea, some are packed into the pot and they let it sit, and mix the concentrate with hot water to enjoy. In some parts of China nowadays, they do have tea bar in which they do let you sniff the emptied glass cylinder to check out the fragrance like sniffing the cork of fine wine.

To have expensive teas in Bay Area Dim sum places is just a waste (even though once upon a time I used to enjoy it at Koi Palace in Daly City) since the food items are so heavily spiced. Most hot Chinese teas, do help in digestion, especially if the food is greasy, which seems to be the case in most Chinese restaurant around the bay. Although you can drink pure teas plain, they can be paired. With some expensive teas like Golden Monkey Tea the flavor is light (but the finish is smooth), you can only pair it light flavored dishes (i.e. almond tofu?) to get the best out of it.

In areas in and around Hong Kong the milk tea is made with a blend of Western (anything to the west since Europe does not produce) teas. It is a copy of the teas the British drink (ironic the Chinese are copying something they probably drank first, which maybe a copy of the yak tea drank in Western China and introduced to Marco Polo). Most producers use two pot of boiling water and something close to a pantyhose. In Hong Kong the best milk tea is referred to silk pantyhose milk tea. Although most do not use a pantyhose today, it is rumored that it used to be made with a pantyhose as a filter, giving it a smooth finish. The tea blend is poured into the filter and dipped in the first pot a couple of times to rinse it. It is believed that the tannins of the tea gives it the sour bitter tastes and a rough texture finish. The goal is to rinse it enough to remove the tannins, but leave the maximum flavor. Sure some can hide this flaw with cream, but then you lose the intense flavor of the evaporated milk, some even use condensed milk (not original as well). I do not know why they prefer evaporated to fresh cream, but maybe the weather down there inhibited it. This is the drink that most SinoWestern dishes are served with, the other drink is the YinYang, which is half coffee and half milk tea.

The YinYang is simple yet complicated, because both flavors have to come through. So far I have not found a similar YinYang in the BayArea as in Hong Kong. I have tried to make it with good coffee such as Columbian or Sumantra, but the coffee over powers the flavor of the tea. Any suggestions?

Tapioca in everything was curious at first, but where is the value? Sure if the tapioca is done correctly it gives me some interesting texture and flavor, but it still can be dangerous or cumbersome at the end. I really do not see the novelty in it anymore. The adding of flavors, like adding flavor syrups to an latte is cute, but milk tea to me is still about flavor and texture finish.

What about Chai? Well I can not compare it with HK milk tea or Thai Iced Tea, because the specs are also different. Maybe because I am Chinese I prefer the Chinese pure and HK milk tea more.

As teas go I like them in the follow order:
1. Pure tea
2. HK milk tea
3. Taiwan milk tea
4. Chai
5. Thai milk tea

Top 3 Taiwan milk tea places:
1. Tea Station (on Cedar in Newark)
2. Tapioca Express (on Decoto in Union City)
3. Fantasia (on Cedar in Newark)

Top 5 milk tea places:
1. Venus Tams Cafe (on Jarvis in Newark)
2. Tea Station (on Cedar in Newark)
3. Cousin Cafe (on Cedar in Newark)
4. Tapioca Express (on Decoto in Union City)
5. Fantasia (on Cedar in Newark)

What’s your fav? How do you rank them?

Thanks,
H.

Happy Cafe

Happy Cafe
723 Webster St
Oakland, CA 94620
(510) 986-0163

For those looking for American fair, this is not the place for you. This is what it is, a Hong Kong street style tea cafe. People that are from Hong Kong can sort of appreciate this place, but most will complain that there are no custard tarts (H.K. style) and or pineapple buns with butter. It is not for people used to American Diners or the likes of Denny’s, but their food is definitely on the cheap.

The closest competitors in this field around that area are the following:
D&A Cafe on 8th St.
ABC Bakery Cafe on 9th St.
St. Anna Cafe Shop on 8th St.

This is considered a fusion between true Hong Kong and British cuisine. You might see many dishes with a familiar Western name, but does not resemble it at service time. They are not trying to stiff you but, it was changed in Hong Kong. To truly enjoy this place you can try the Chinese items and compare them to the other Chinese places around the area or order the SinoWestern dishes but please compare them to those palaces only. Comparing SinoWestern dishes to Western Dishes is like comparing Bristish to German Dishes just because both chef has Blond hair and blue eyes (not meant to be racist).
To me this seems to be the best place so far. It does not seem to carry as much MSG as the dim-sum places around the area. The portion is pretty good for the price. And the service is pretty prompt considering the price.

If you decide to be adventurous and try places like these, I would recommend that you try the Chinese fair first, because I do want you to be turn away from their SinoWestern cuisine (you will never know what your missing). Once familiar give there specials a try they are what most of their usual customer gets, because it is really cheap.

There are a couple of things to look for in a Hong Kong Tea cafe:
1. Tea (Not Chinese tea, but the milk tea. It should be bold, not bitter, and smooth to the taste.
2. Happy Hour appetizer specials (It is not bar food but can be very filling at a low price)
3. The specials they have for breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner (You will definitely get more for you buck. It is not overly filling but will hit the spot.)

So far this place ranks #1 for me in breakfast spots, because it is cheap, quick, and makes me happy.

Here is my top 5 for breakfast:
1. Happy Cafe (on Webster in Oakland)
2. The Country Way (on Mowry in Fremont)
3. Denny’s Restaurant (on Industrial Pkwy in Hayward)
4. Venus Tam Cafe (on Jarvis in Newark).
5. Baldie’s Cafe (on Decoto Rd. in Union City).

What is your take any reommendations?

Later,
H.

All hail the coffee mutt!

I admit, I am a coffee mutt. I do not really know how to be a purebred, but does anyone really? A good cup of coffee to me has a blend of coffee, sugar, and cream (the real stuff), but sometimes it is just a blend of coffee and just condensed milk (sugar and milk in one), otherwise known as Cafe Sua Da.

I have tried pure bean coffees such as Sumatra Mandheling, Columbian, Kona, Jamaican Blue Mountain (hard to find so far only found it a Peerless and Peets), and French Roast (I don’t know what is in it), but could not appreciate the single bean experience. Made coffee from drip (American (very boring and sometimes sour) and Vietnamese (depends on the blend, but can be bold and intense)), expresso (give a darker/bitter flavor) (Italian and South American), and vacuum/siphon (definitely smoother and less acidic) methods, but still liked making it with mix of beans more.

According to www.coffeebeanqueen.com, I seem to gravitate to Bold, medium acidic coffees. In my experience the famed “Blue Mountain” coffee was so boring by itself, but in a blind tasting jumped out, so I blended it and could not find anything comparable to it.

Again I have to ask America’s Test Kitchen, how could Starbuck’s win the tasting? If so which blend should I go for, since they have many blends, and the blend ratios do change from time to time due to availability. I personally blend my own (40% Sumatra, 40% Columbian, 10% French, and 10% Kona) at the supermarket, I gravitate to Millstone or Java (the market brand). That way I can buy just as much as I need, since I don’t really get snowed in around the Bay Area.

I don’t hate Starbuck’s, since they are the ones that pulled me to the dark side. They however, do not really stack-up in terms of mutt coffee to other mutt coffee bars. Here are my picks:

1. Ikea (cheap bold and smooth coffee with a nice view in Palo Alto)
2. McDonalds (really cheap bold and smooth hot coffee for seniors)
3. Cafe Sua Da (really intense coffee that is cheaper than conventional coffee bars)
4. Seattle’s Best (Bold coffee not so smooth and not so cheap)
5. Peete’s (more flavor and the original print that Starbuck’s model after)
6. Starbuck’s (over roasted over priced and bland)

Currently I am attracted to Taster’s Choice Instant Coffee, how sacrilegious is that?
What do you think? And should ATK also include their own blends and instant coffee?

Later,
H.

Sacrilegious “Soy” sauce.

It has bothered me for months, but what? Westerners reviewing soy sauce, then using them to cook Chinese stir-fry dishes.

Using one type of soy sauce to cook all Asian dishes is almost like saying all white people are British. Or using white vinegar as balsamic or champagne vinegar is alright. Well it is not.

Chinese and Japanese soy sauce are not the same. Japanese soy sauce is lighter and not as salty and Chinese soy sauce in general, that is why I don’t use Chinese soy sauce to eat sushi with. Chinese soy sauce has a slightly bolder and deep fermented soy flavor in it. I agree that cooking it too long in a stir fry can even bring out a sour flavor. But where is America’s Test Kitchen learning how to do Chinese stir fry from?

If they did their homework, they would know that there are different types as well as grades of Chinese soy sauce, not just Japanese types. My family keeps about two are more types of soy in the house and sometimes we comprise. Being Cantonese, we eat a lot of delicate flavored foods, such as steam fish (must use really fresh fish), steamed chicken, won tons, steamed meat dumplings, or soft tofu, in which we normally would lightly drizzle with a light Chinese soy sauce, but we might substitute it with a salty Japanese soy sauce. The saltier taste of the light Chinese soy sauce brings out the flavor of the meat or the sweetness of the soft tofu. In stir fry we use the dark, but not thick, prime to medium grade Chinese soy sauce, but not always. To appreciate the deep soy flavor from this type of soy sauce, you can taste it in (my opinion) two ways:

1 . drizzled over a super fresh hot bowl of steam rice along with cooked oil, with the optional luxurious raw egg in the middle.

2. cooked into stir fried noodles (i.e. fun or thin egg noodles made for stir frying not soup) (refer to the art of “Wok”), with optional yellow chives and/or bean sprouts.

These two are the most common type of Chinese soy sauce and has been infused with other flavors and used for cooking or dipping food in. The third most common is the super dark and thick soy sauce, which is commonly used in braising, but other ways as well.

In conclusion because something is called a vinegar or red wine, remember that they are not all the same. Just like not all white people are British or not all Asians are Chinese.