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2008-11-04
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Eating one's way through a Chinese market is a special kind of experience unlike any restaurant you go to. In the old days this involved plastic chairs and wooden tables, while diners yell across to the cooks and waitstaff on their orders, not to mention nightly specials on the wall and inexpensive beer. The streetside stalls are diminishing by the minute, many of them are now gathered in one certain floor of a building...where the lower levels are markets, upper levels are public libraries and
I have never set foot in this one before, and upon entering I recognized the familiar plastic stools and old wooden tables. I settled into one looking at the wall's menu, the one and only, pictured here. Inexpensive and possibly reminiscent of childhood memories, I ordered Rice noodle Donut roll (炸兩, $4) and Boater's Congee (艇仔粥, $8), and a Stir-fried noodles (炒麵,$4). The donut roll arrived in a foam container, as the whiff of rancid oil put off my appetite. One bite into the supposedly textbook of texture went awry into a nightmarish experiment to recall my fondest of memories. The donut was cold and has seen better days, in fact it's not even just old, it's chewy and cold. The rice sheets saved its sorry bum as they are freshly steamed and rolled, soft and silky...You bet I'd slurped up all the noodles and remained the dough sitting in the dish.
The huge disappointment of the donut roll was extinguished when the congeee arrived. Messy and rustic in style, The congee has everything a boater's congee needs -- the squid tentacles, matchsticks of pork crackling, crunchy peanuts, sprinkles of green onion and of course, the congee base itself. Oh, did I mention the big lump of medium pork mince from the bottom of the bowl? I scooped it up to reveal its raw pinkness. The practice is to toss in all the ingredients, including the pork and let the steaming congee cook the pork. All we need to do is to break apart the entire lump of mince and let the congee do the work. The congee base is rich with just plain rice and water, apparently the proportions have served it right with appropriate consistency. The contents are wonderful, except the peanuts which I promptly scooped them out. The mince eventually cooked through and the congee tasted the same way I used to have it when I was little. Now speaking of fond memories...
Stir fried noodles were dry and piled up like a small pyramid. It's more for-the-value then it is for taste. The absence of bean sprouts and a too-salty soy sauce mixture made it look darker than expected and taste blander...Come at the right time and there will be an old woman wrapping up dumplings by your side, masterfully scooping up salted duck egg yolks, mung beans and glutinous rice and wrapping it with leaves before boiling them in salted water. The environment may be crowded and noisy, but it's full of spirit with people spreading out in conversations and sharing food. It may not have the excitement of streetside parlours like it used to be, but this, is just as much fun as you can get these days.
張貼
