Tag Archives: Chinese

Hakka Kau Yuk

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More Bensonhurst as promised. In my last post we explored Italian 86th St but Chinese bakeries also cohabit the area. The word “bakery” falls short because some of these establishments offer a selection of lunchworthy steam table dishes as well.

I seldom order anything I’m familiar with; when faced with mutual unintelligibility, my modus operandi is to point at an unlabeled tray and hope for the best. In this case I could identify slices of pork belly and taro. I watched the woman behind the window as she carefully placed a slice of the first alternating with a slice of the second and so forth into a small aluminum container until it was filled. I brought it home, plated some of it as you see here, promptly texted the photo to my Number One Spy since I had no idea about what I had purchased other than it was delicious, and asked if she knew what it was.

Of course she did. It’s Hakka Kau Yuk, comfort food that hails from China’s Guangdong province and often shows up on the Chinese New Year dinner table. Preparation is laborious but the result is extraordinary; the steamed delicacy is elevated by a savory sauce that’s the perfect complement. So good!

Thanks again, Number One Spy. I’m a lucky guy for knowing you!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Chinatown Storefront Vendors

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Chinatown restaurants are typically superb and I practically live in Chinatown food courts, but don’t overlook the storefront vendors that pepper the landscape. You’ll discover a tempting array of snacks that are reasonably priced, served up in a matter of seconds, and decidedly tasty. The offerings vary from time to time – extra credit to unique comfort foods cohabiting with trays of reliable standbys.

Two such spots are Old Street Pan Fried Dumpling, 135-45 Roosevelt Ave in Flushing, and Jojo Duck, 131 Walker St in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Incidentally, Jojo Duck (九九鸭) is so named because 九九, 9–9, symbolizing long-lasting togetherness in Chinese numerology, is pronounced jiu jiu.

Here are a few selections:
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Pan Fried Leek Dumpling – Leeks, eggs, and cellophane noodles (made from mung bean starch, not cellophane!). A solid choice for my vegetarian friends.


Chili Lamb Burger – Pro tip: examine one first for juiciness.


Pan-fried Crabmeat & Pork Buns (Sheng Jian Bao, 生煎包), always a hit!

Looking forward to warmer and drier weather when we can sample these treats on my Not Your Ordinary Chinatown Tour and Snacking in Flushing ethnojunkets. See you soon!
 
 
Stay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes! ❤
 
 

Lunar New Year 4723 (2025)

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The two-week long Chinese celebration of the Lunar New Year begins on Wednesday, January 29 – it’s 4723, the Year of the Snake.

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This year’s celebratory feast featured a whole steamed fish stuffed with ginger, scallions, and onions, bedecked with pea shoot sprouts, chives, and cilantro as the centerpiece.


Accompanying the star of the show was char siu chow fun…


…and an experiment involving a stir-fry of shiitake mushrooms and onions cradled in bok choy, both side dishes boasting a host of traditional ingredients.

The snake is known for a myriad of characteristics depending upon where you do your research: it is associated with transformation (snakes shed their skins), charm, elegance, sensitivity, effectiveness, adaptability, intelligence, determination, and resourcefulness.

One of the traditions that make this holiday so extraordinary is the way in which wordplay and homophones factor into the selection of dishes specially prepared to mark the occasion. For example, at festive gatherings a whole fish will be served, because the word for fish (yu) is a homophone for surpluses.

And speaking of determination and resourcefulness, there was a time a few zodiac signs ago that it looked like my Lunar New Year luck had run out in terms of another one of its traditional foods. It was a mystery involving a particular nian gao (the traditional sweet rice cake and a homophone for high year) that resonates to this day.

Want to know what happened? Please read my tradition-packed short story, “The Case of the Uncrackable Case!”
 
 
新年快乐! Xīnnián kuàilè!
恭喜发财! Gong hei fat choy!
 
 

Shaxian Snacks

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Shaxian Snacks is a worldwide restaurant chain serving traditional street snacks from the Shaxian region of China’s Fujian Province that’s definitely worth a try if you’re unfamiliar with the cuisine. This outpost had been open for only five days when I ventured in; I found it packed and I took that as a sign that it might be a gem perfect for my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst ethnojunket.

Peanuts figure into this cuisine and their presence was clearly manifested in the four dishes that I sampled.

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Shaxian Steamed Dumplings (zheng jiao) with a unique filling, artistically pleated and said to look like little mice. A distinctive peanut sauce is on the side – don’t think dilute Western peanut butter; this is the real deal.


A squeak, I mean a peek inside.


Wontons with Peanut Butter. Not as pretty but certainly tasty, these have an unusual filling made from condensed pork that’s completely unlike the first group. Slathered in peanut sauce.


Shaxian Peanut Butter Noodle. Egg Noodles (rice noodles are also available) with a modest topping of pork, onion, and pepper. The peanut sauce is on the bottom this time.


Shredded Pork & Pickled Mustard Greens with Noodles. Just for kicks, I tried another variant on egg noodles, this time with pickled mustard greens on top, to compare and contrast. Peanut sauce on the bottom of course.

I selected these four “Special Snacks” in order to decide which might be best in the context of the wide variety of flavors we enjoy on my Elmhurst food tour and a champion did emerge.

Want to know which? Only one way to find out: Join me on my Ethnic Eats in Elmhurst ethnojunket and savor the winner!
 
 

Crunchy…Frog?

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A couple of posts ago, I wrote about a recent visit to Queens in search of more good eats for my “Snacking in Flushing – The Best of the Best” ethnojunket. I always expect the unexpected but that generally applies to unusual finds in local ethnic markets. I must admit, however, that I was unprepared for this experience.

Huang Kung Fu is a relatively new stall in the Food Hall at Queens Crossing. The menu and signage featured tempting photos of crispy fried chicken and pork dishes. Totally works for me.

“Super Crispy Pork” grabbed my attention but something called “Chicken Soft Bones” piqued my curiosity. Soft bones? A colorful translation perhaps? An enigmatic metaphor? I don’t have to tell you what I ordered.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I should have taken the name quite literally. Each little nugget consisted primarily of a piece of cartilage with a bit of meat attached. I guess some folks don’t mind gnawing on cartilage in every single bite; some even claim that “it’s good for you.” But I was ill-equipped for the challenge. It reminded me of the routine by Monty Python’s Flying Circus about Crunchy Frog. Those of you who are old enough to remember that classic brilliant television sketch will understand immediately. For those of you who have yet to suffer daily joint pain, here’s a link.

I blame myself. I was certainly warned. But the overall flavor was tasty and I do love a good fried meaty crunch so I will assuredly make a return visit, perhaps to sample that pork. Definitely. No bones about it.
 
 

July is National Ice Cream Month! Celebrate Globally!

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The story began here:

Every August, as a routinely flushed, overheated child, I would join in chorus with my perspiring cohorts, boisterously importuning, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” Little did I realize that rather than conjuring dessert, I was conjugating it and probably laying the groundwork for a lifetime of fascination with foreign languages and world food.

We lived in close proximity to one of the best dairies in town; it was known for its wide assortment of locally produced natural flavors, certainly sufficient in number and variety to satisfy any palate. Perhaps my obsession with offbeat ice cream flavors is rooted in my frustration with my father’s return home from work, invariably bearing the same kind of ice cream as the last time, Neapolitan. Neapolitan, again. My pleas to try a different flavor – just once? please? – consistently fell on deaf ears. “Neapolitan is chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. That’s three flavors right there. If you don’t want it, don’t eat it.” Some kids’ idea of rebellion involved smoking behind the garage; mine was to tuck into a bowl of Rum Raisin….

There’s lots more to the story, of course. Click here to get the full scoop! 🍨
 
 

Loquat ≠ Kumquat

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Let’s clarify something at the outset: a kumquat is a citrus fruit that looks like a miniature oblate orange. These, however, are loquats. No relation.


Approximately two inches long and light orange inside and out, each sweet loquat contains about three seeds. Its flavor depends on the specific cultivar, but the ones we get around here are distinctive and fairly consistent.


You can certainly consume the skin but it doesn’t have much flavor and the texture is nothing special, so since it’s easy to peel (no special equipment necessary) I tend to discard it.

Many years ago, I created a 33-slide PowerPoint presentation called the Chinatown Fruit Report. Someday I’ll convert it to a format compatible with my website but in the meantime, I still present some of its information when I lead guests along my newly revamped ethnojunket, “Not Your Ordinary Chinatown Tour.”

Want to know why it’s called that? Check it out here and sign up to experience it for yourself! And if you act soon, we can taste some fresh summertime Asian fruits at their peak of ripeness together!
 
 

Longin’ for Longan

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(Okay, that was a gimme.)

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Longans are similar to lychees but a little less juicy and a little less florally-sweet but no less delicious; they’re both members of the soapberry family (along with rambutans) and both very much in season currently. (Nope, no currant puns; one per post is my limit.)

Its name comes from the Chinese 龍眼 (lóng yăn), literally “dragon eye”: if you hold a peeled longan up to the light, you can see the dark seed through its translucent flesh, hence the name. Here’s looking at you, kid. 😉

Since it’s the height of Asian fruit season in Chinatown, I’ll publish one more chapter here in my Chinatown fruit report but I urge you to head out and support your local Chinatown for a first-hand experience.

Of course, if you’d prefer a guided tour (ahem!), please check out my Not Your Ordinary Chinatown Tour. Hope to see you soon!
 
 

Durian Pizza: It’s Ba-aack!!

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A few years ago, I wrote an article for Edible Queens Magazine about durian pizza at Flushing’s C Fruit Life on Roosevelt Ave; you can read it here.

Sadly, like all good things, it came to an end, leaving us fusion-dessert aficionados out in the cold with only Chinese-American durian ice cream to assuage our dispirited souls.

Happily, on a recent exploration of some new stalls in Flushing’s New York Food Court, I rediscovered durian pizza at D.T Restaurant.

Durian’s flavor is complex and delicious, not overly sweet, but definitely tropical, the texture so rich and creamy that I call durian the fruit that makes its own custard. Pizza in its many guises is a crossover phenomenon itself – neither entirely Italian nor American – so introducing a Southeast Asian element is fair play. If one can top pizza with pineapple, why not durian?

Do durian and pizza play well with each other? Most assuredly. I detected no daunting smell – as a matter of fact, the aroma is rather appealing – I experience only the inimitable ambrosial flavor. After all, it’s warm bread, delectable fruit and beautifully blistered melted cheese. What’s not to like?

Now, I understand that you might be hesitant about buying a whole one just so you can try a slice. No worries. I have a solution for you. Simply join me on my “Snacking in Flushing – The Best of the Best” ethnojunket and you can have as much or as little as you’d like along with a host of other delectable tasty treats.

Hope to see you soon!
 
 

Don’t Know Jack About This Fruit?

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Then allow me to introduce you to jackfruit!

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Possibly my favorite fruit, it’s quite easy to find fresh this time of year. Jackfruit is the largest tree fruit and can be roughly two feel long or more; it sports a greenish brown bumpy shell, a white core, and contains dozens of fragrant, yellow pods. Each pod encases a single large seed and even the seeds can be consumed boiled, baked or roasted; their taste is not unlike chestnuts – in fact, I’ve developed a few recipes for them.

You’ll see this tropical fruit at sidewalk stands and markets, whole, halved, or quartered; you’ll also find the sweet pods picked out and packed into plastic containers for munching convenience as you wander the streets of Chinatown.

I’ve been known to buy a half or a quarter and break it down myself, but the procedure involves removing the pods leaving behind a white latex-like substance – and trust me, it’s a tacky mess. If you insist on going DIY, wear plastic gloves because no amount of soap and water or alcohol will rid the sticky stuff from your hands easily. (Those in the know oil their hands first which seems even messier but less gooey.) Personally, I think it’s worth the trouble because the price per pod plummets and I have plenty of time on my hands. (Although maybe that’s the gummy stuff and not time.)

Green unripe jackfruit can be found canned in Asian markets; it’s used for its meaty texture in numerous dishes like Indonesian rendang and other vegetarian specialties.

The fresh pods range in hue from pale canary yellow to bright Crayola yellow-orange; the deeper the color, the sweeter and riper the fruit. The first photo shows the ideal shade of gold (the last chance moment before they become overripe), but even a lighter version will be rewarding.

Jackfruit is at peak ripeness now, so please go out and support your local Chinatown – and reward yourself with a delicious treat in the process!