Mei Li Wah’s Pork Buns

With every trip into the city, I stop over to Bayard Street in Chinatown to pick up a dozen of these for my uncle. I normally don’t get any for myself, but with my sister back in town, I decided to indulge. They offer the pork buns, or the larger, special buns. I have no idea what is in the special ones… I’ll have to ask my uncle one of these days.

You can purchase the pork buns either baked or steamed. The special buns are only steamed. I don’t remember the individual prices, but I know that a dozen of the special is $19.20. A dozen of the pork is $9.60.

The pork buns were pretty good, and the filling was surprisingly more meat than fat. I’m fine with the bread to filling ratio, but I’ve had family members complain that they were too bready. And from what I hear it’s worse with the larger, special buns. But they store well, are easy to re-heat and eat on the go.

I remember my mom and aunts making these when I was younger. While they filled theirs with beef and pork, I made them with peanut butter and jelly. And wouldn’t you know, they were pretty tasty. I found a recipe for siopao in one of my mom’s cookbook and one of these days I’ll try it out. But for now, I’ll stick to these instead.

Breakfast

Picked this up from a bakery on Grand Street in Chinatown. Donuts on a stick, how could I refuse? Quite tasty and reminded me of bicho-bicho.

Mooncakes, At Last

So I’m late on posting the mooncakes… by well over a month. But it’s still something worth mentioning. Or at least posting all the pictures I took.

Tasty Dumpling

 

Ten dumplings for two dollars? That’s what I call a good lunch.

Kangkong

Also known as Chinese spinach, or Ipomoea aquatica (official name), kangkong seems to be one of those vegetables my parents get all excited about when they see it at the market. My dad purchased this from Chinatown and both he and mom kept commenting on the size of it. And because it came from Chinatown, it was dirt cheap – the price for the three pounds he bought (must have been under five bucks) would have bought him a third of the amount at the local stores here in Rockland.

Kangkong can be cooked up on its own, or as part of another dish. The two dishes I’ve commonly seen it in are sinigang and adobo kangkong.  I definitely like it in the sinigang, but it doesn’t seem right adobo-ed. That may stem from my general dislike of adobo (what a bad Filipina I am!). This batch was thrown into pork sinigang and sautéed with oyster sauce. Pretty much any vegetable can be made better when you add oyster sauce.

Remnants

Hop Kee, you complete me.

In Search of Food in Chinatown

This is going to be a long post, so be prepared.

A weekend or two ago I found myself in the city early in the morning (what is it with meetings starting at 9am on a Saturday??) and was done before noon. I had some time to kill before my hair appointment, so my friend Mike and I decided to wander around Chinatown and grab a bite to eat. I left the car at the garage and we headed over to Tasty Dumpling. If you're wondering, that was the place I went to before that I couldn't remember the name. I took a picture this time to remember.

They were still in the process of opening, which may explain why it took forever to get my food. How long does it take to cook up pre-made stuff? I picked the pork and scallion dumpling and the pork and cabbage pancake. I seriously contemplated buying some of their frozen dumplings... but next time.

The dumplings were their usually yum, but I did not appreciate what looked like thinned out soy sauce. Not trusting it, I went with the hot chili oil. The pancake as you can see, was full of liquid. I wasn't sure how to eat it, but once the liquid got out, it ended up getting soggy and okay. Maybe bordering on meh.

Have you ever heard of Hong Kong cakes? I never did, but there are everywhere in Chinatown now. According to Mike, the legend is that this old lady used to sell them. She sold them from a shed thing that was adjacent to Hop Kee. She sold them for years until she decided to retire not too long ago. She sold off her Hong Kong cakes and now she's a millionaire. Her retirement meant a vendor on every block it seems. Mike bought some, and as you can see, they are these little pancake balls filled with cream. They are constantly being made, so you're pretty much guaranteed some when you see a vendor. I tried one... I guess they're alright. It's not even a pancake- the batter is too thin, it's more of a wafer.

We walked along Division St. and looked in on a few of the kitchen supply stores there. So many things I want to buy, but I would need a house for that. There were baking pans similar to the ones my parents bought in the Philippines, and just as inexpensive. It looks like you can buy by the piece or like a hundred. How cool is that?

I have to stop in on one of these shops soon. It looks like one of those buffet kind of places, but it isn't. You pick two meats and choose a rice or noodle for really cheap. The foods looked fantastic and very fresh (I suggest you hit up Chinatown before noon).

My Chinese food vendor wasn't over by the Hong Kong Supermarket. Where was he? Did he kick the bucket? Did he sell out quick that day? It was upsetting, but he could not possibly be the only guy selling fish balls, rice noodles and curry cuttlefish! Mike and I wandered around some more and eventually found another vendor selling my food over on grand and something. I think it was grand... Mike would know.

This food is popular and super cheap. Right after I paid for my food, a long line formed, very similar to what happened with the Dessert Truck. I cannot get enough of this stuff. This one container, which is half fish balls and half rice noodles (pressed with dried shirmp and scallion) is only three dollars.

It was at this point where my friend Mike and I parted ways and I headed to the salon to get my hair done. If you're curious, it's short and has red streaks. Very cute. By the time I left the salon I was exhausted and ready to head home. Before I made it back to the garage I went back to Mott St. and bought some Taho and puto to bring back home. Taho is cooked silken tofu that they scoop out into the take out containers and serve with a simple syrup. Great for breakfast. Puto is steamed rice cake. You can buy either the white of brown and both are slightly sweet. I don't do it, but it goes well with dinuguan (chocolate meat... eek!)

Dinner and A Show

One of my aunt's gave me two tickets to a Broadway play for my birthday. I invited my friend A and we headed into the city on a nice spring evening. The show we had tickets for was "The 39 Steps," which is a play that is based on a Alfred Hitchcock film and some book. I'm not sure exactly, but it beats the musicals I normally go to.

What to say about this play... it was okay. The first act was kind of ho hum, but the second act was good. A hated the play, and it didn't help that the person sitting next to her had a habit of snort laughing. To the point where it was starting to bother me and give me that puke feeling.

The play was over by 10, so we decided to hit up Chinatown for a late dinner. A had never been to Hop Kee, so we went there. Did you know they changed the parking situation on Mott St? Instead of the old parking meters, they have some parking machine and you print out a ticket for your dashboard.

I have been going to Hop Kee for... ever. When I was six, lunch at Hop Kee was a treat after ballet practice. Almost everyone knows about this place, heck... Anthony Bourdain covered this famous restaurant in one of his recent episodes.

Because it was late, we chose to split an order of beef lo mein and green beans sauteed in oyster sauce. I never understood why they would serve a bowl of rice with any vegetable. And yes, I mixed my rice in with the lo mein. It's my thing... and it helps sop up the oil on the noodles. A really liked the food and has plans to take her boyfriend there to eat when he comes up this summer.

As usual, I ordered the Cantonese style snails for take out. It's so tasty, and I cook it at home whenever I get the chance. It's very easy to duplicate, too. One pound of snails, black bean sauce, and either bell or hot pepper. That's it. It's salty and spicy, and the sauce is good over rice. Eating the snails is fun too- don't forget the tooth picks to handle the meat that won't come out.

Chinatown Vendor Food: Steamed Rice Noodles

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Why can't we have this in the Capital Region?

Chinatown Vendor Food: Curried Squid

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At least I think it's squid. It may be cuttlefish. Either way it's delicious.