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Cantonese Food

Boiling Seafood Wok

November 5, 2017

My brother introduced me to Boiling Seafood Wok. Funny that I've never seen this here. I've been to this tiny plaza to buy donuts. Then again, there are tons of hole in the restaurants just like this all over 626. At this point, I recommend you just checking it out without reviewing on Yelp. Most of the reviews are biased anyways. And honestly, it's the places you least expect to be great that comes out on top. My only recommendation is to always bring cash.

This is the boiling Chilean sea bass pot. This was supposed to be spicy, but I found it far from it. If anything, there's a strong dose of white pepper. This was simple, but comforting. You will find bean sprouts, cabbage, tomatoes, pickled cabbage, and leaf celery (aka chinese celery). You can add noodles to this, but I love soaking this into my rice. The pot comes with a butane stove. You can also order this in a larger size as well with the addition of adding more seafood if you want to pay extra.

Chinese green mustard. I wasn't a fan of this growing up because of the slight bitterness this had. I've definitely grown to love this vegetable. In fact, I started to love greens that contained more fiber. This isn't something I would order if I see pea tips or ong choy on the menu, but since we ordered a few fatty dishes that day it felt suited for the occasion.

Steamed chicken is a staple of Chinese cuisine. I don't know what about it makes it for me, but I always like to order steamed chicken. This is served bone-in with a soy-ginger-onion oil. Growing up, this appeared on the table a lot with the usual bowls of rice.

Braised pork belly is something I naturally gravitate towards. It takes a lot of time to perfect this dish. I've had this inconsistently prepared where parts would be dry why certain edges would melt. This was pretty good. I definitely recommend this if you're a pork belly lover like me. This is like the Chinese version of pork kakuni. A dish from heaven for all the rice lovers as well.

Fried large pork intestines. Ok. I get it. Looks gross, because it does. And it takes the right people to share this with. It's not something I get to order. Normally, I am the only one that wants this, so it's not ideal to order this. Luckily, the company I was amongst enabled me to order this. A good fried pork intestine will be cleaned out from any... impurities.. that may still linger within the linings. Should be boiled ahead in a light seasoned broth to tenderize the meat. Must be fried golden and crispy. From time to time, the intestines may be stuffed with green onions. This helps reduce the gamey flavor, but I grew up eating this so I don't mind it. This and some beer is the perfect late night grub.

Life is short, try new things.

7940 Garvey Ave Ste 108 Rosemead, CA 91770

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Rice Box - Los Angeles

April 26, 2016

Rice boxes are a huge staple to the every day Chinese fast food. But calling it fast food is a huge understatement. I watched tons of Hong Kong soap operas as I was growing up and a lot of times these "Fahn Hup" were known as fast food for the working class. When we think about fast food here in America, we are familiar with McDonald's. In Hong Kong, you would find white rice, and proteins like BBQ Pork or Roast Duck with a side of gai lan.

Rice Box is a new up and coming concept coming in the near future to run with the modern approach of Cantonese BBQ. They will be at Unique Markets in Los Angeles this Saturday & Sunday, 04/30 - 05/01 from 11AM - 6PM. They will be featuring a few of their Rice Boxes. We had the pleasure to taste a few of their items before this event. I can't tell you how excited I am about how incredibly delicious the food was. It really reminded me of great comfort rice boxes when my parents would bring some home.

One of the first dishes we had was this Sesame Cold Noodle. It's made with organic noodle, house pickled carrots & cucumbers, organic tofu, sesame dressing, and house made chili oil. This was very fresh and slightly creamy from the sesame dressing.

Growing up, I hated these things. I think I disliked them because it was something my parents always ordered when I wanted egg rolls instead. But once I started getting older, and I start eating less with them, I find myself not having these as much as I used to. And now, I really really love them. The daikon cake is made with daikon, rice flour, bacon (hormone/antibiotic free), dried scallop-shrimp-shiitake, house made chili oil and garlic sweet soy sauce. The cake is normally steamed first before pan fried.

Get it? This is for the absolute mushroom funk lovers. This daikon cake is made with daikon, rice flour, dried wild porcini, oyster mushroom, wood ear, and shiitake served with house made chili oil and garlic sweet soy sauce. I could eat these during any sports game.

One of the ultimate fahn hup's I grew up eating. Rice, BBQ Pork, Gai Lan, and a sunny side up EGG ALWAYS. This organic, hormone & antibiotic free pork shoulder was not shy of any flavor. Their eggs are also organic served with some organic quinoa rice. The best parts are the burnt ends that has been caramelized in the open flame.

Soy sauce chicken is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes. It's hard to find made right. A lot of times, it's extremely dry from staying under the heat lamps for so long. People just don't appreciate this style of chicken anymore. This was perfectly executed. The chicken breast was extremely succulent and I can't say that a lot about chicken breast. The soy sauce was not too salty, but perfectly balanced with the sweet marinade. Served with house ginger scallion sauce, and charred Gai Lan with sesame seeds on organic quinoa rice.

This is for the Vegan/Vegetarian peeps. You get the same marinade as the Cha Siu pork, but with a Cauliflower Steak. Have you ever had a Cauliflower steak? It changes you.

These are for the spicy lovers. Beware because these poppers pack a lot of heat! The organic tofu is deep fried then doused in minced jalapeño, scallion, garlic, salt and pepper. I could take the heat, but I'm not going to lie that I sweated a little.

Roasted Pork belly. It's pretty self explanatory. This might be one of my top favorite ways to eat pork. It's a huge staple in our culture. Something that is served for celebratory events, holidays, or just a Friday night special. The pork belly is the best cut of the whole roasted pig. Rice Box focuses solely on the belly. Yeah, it's good.

To wrap things up, everything we had was phenomenal. To me, this is what Chinese BBQ is all about. If there was a restaurant that made food this great in a rice box, I would be there in a heartbeat almost everyday. This is also something I know a lot of older generations would love.

Don't forget to check them out at Unique Markets. Tickets are sold $10 at the door -Cash Only, but you can always purchase your ticket online by clicking HERE.

Stay tuned as Rice Box is working into becoming a brick and mortar.

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Hainan Chicken

November 17, 2015

Hello, you. Work, life, has been insanely busy for me. My internet is down, it's like 9:30 at night and I am crashing from 4 cups of coffee. I don't need help, I need sleep! But, I had a little time after work to grab a quick beer with a coworker.

Just a quick gulp and catching up before headed home to deal with cleaning and cooking, but mostly cleaning. We grabbed our beers from "Rounds" in Pasadena on North Lake Avenue.

Ok as I am writing this blog, my mom literally sent me like 10 food images. Wondering where I get my passion from.

Going back to being busy, and tired. I was using the excuse that maybe I have allergies, and that's why I'm so tired because my eyes feel heavy, swollen, and small. But no. I need to come to realization that sleeping past 12 to wake up at 6am doesn't work anymore.

So with that said, I needed to make something fast. Easy. Without making a mess. Something I can get done quickly, so I can eat it, and tell you about it. YOU. See how important you are?

HAINAN CHICKEN

I got 3 Cups of white jasmine rice, rinsed 3 times. I then filled it with chicken broth as you would for 3 cups of rice. If the palms of my hands is touching the rice with my fingers flat, the liquid should come up slightly above my knuckles.

I took one slice of lime and about 6 slices of ginger to cook together with the rice. Leave it. It's done and wait for it to cook.

The ginger scallin sauce is simple. I grated (and you can always finely mince) 4-5 tablespoons of ginger, finely chopped one large bundle of green onions (about 6 stems), and minced 2 cloves of garlic. Combine these ingredients together and dash 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Heat 1/3 of a cup of oil, I used Thrive Algae Oil because that's what I've been using lately, but you want a flavorless oil. When the oil is heated, just simply pour it into your mixture, and add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Your sauce is done!

For the chicken, I got a 4-5 pound thigh pack from the market. I trimmed off as much fat as I could so I wouldn't have that much trouble with cleaning. I boiled 1/2 a pot of water, enough to submerge the chicken, 2 tablespoons of salt to season the water, the rest of the lime slices that I didn't use, 6-8 large slices of ginger, 3 large cloves of garlic, 2 stems of green onion, and 1 tablespoon of white pepper. Now, let the chicken boil and simmer for 30 minutes on medium.

Now. The recipe is literally something I threw together. No science. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't spend the time to tell you about it. Laying here awkwardly writing this on my phone, sucking away my data. You eat this chicken and tell me you love it!

Anyways, check your rice. If it turns out a little dry, pour in more chicken stock from your pot of chicken. When ready to serve, scoop some rice, take your chicken, and then slather the ginger scallion sauce over the chicken. The sauce is everything eaten together with the rice and chicken. My dad used to put the sauce in a can of sardines. Don't ask. I don't know. I don't like that. But he does.

This is another huge staple of something I grew up eating. Quick and comforting, and as always, extremely affordable.

now it's 9:54pm. I can still make it to sleep now! Just need to brush my teeth!

Happy cooking and let me know what you think.

remember that food should always be accessible!

Daisy

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Mui Choy Kou Yoke

November 5, 2015

If I was a comfort food, how will I look like? I've already talked about how rice is a huge necessity in my life, and without it, I would die. But, if I were to look like some kind of Chinese food, it will be this dish right here.

Muy Choi is some kind of preserved mustard greens which needs to be soaked and re-hydrated before you cook them. My mom should be teaching me the recipe soon, so stay put. But, the work that goes into this is pretty messy. Basically, you are deep frying the skin of the pork belly until it gets super bubbly and golden before you stew it for a few hours until its fork tender. That's how mom makes it. So that's the way. If you zoomed in, you can see the beautiful cracked golden skin from the frying, though it's not crunchy anymore. The sauce is just components of chicken stock, a few soy sauces, some brown sugar and tons of garlic. My mom likes to throw in orange peel, but I like to leave it out.

I had this for dinner last night with a little sriracha drizzled over. I ate this with a giant spoon, baggy sweat clothes while watching the Food Network. How does that not sound amazing? It's pretty cold tonight. And I can barely feel my nose and toes. If this was my last meal, I have no regrets. Why? Because this was my moms cooking. One of those "Come by, I made your favorite" type of phone calls.

So if I really did die (someone please knock on wood), just know, I died in a happy place because I've had one of my most cherished, favorite if not THE one, Chinese dish of all time.

Thank you mother even though you are crazy 95% of the time.

Daisy

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Phoenix - classic Chinese cuisine

November 2, 2015

Phoenix has been around since 1965. One of my recent posts (here) about Phoenix in Alhambra was opened in 1997.

My father immigrated to the States in 1980, and like most Chinese immigrants, a lot of them resided in Chinatown. Makes sense right? My dad lived right across from Phoenix, so you can imagine how often he ate here. There's a server there, that has been working for Phoenix in Chinatown since 1981. That means my dad has been there longer than he has.

Our whole family would come dine here pretty often for their signature Phoenix boneless chicken. Not knowing much as a child, I didn't know how precious the food actually was. When people ask me, what's a good authentic Chinese cuisine, I would have a blur. Like.. Besides white rice? Because I know we eat that. Without that we would die. But after many food adventures, I always find my most comforting Chinese food memories, besides my parents cooking, but to be kept here.

It was a late dinner this past weekend, and my brother David and his girlfriend Angela were coming home after a vacation trip to New York. As tired as we were, we couldn't say no to a family dinner at Phoenix. I finished a Taco tasting for Tacos Tu Madre that day, had 3 drinks, then edited and blogged for 4 hours. Yeah I was pretty tired.

I didn't think I was hungry until the menu items were thrown around. Phoenix chicken... Salty Sour pickled cabbage... Fried intestines... I don't need anything to have my palate awake and read to eat.

At the Phoenix in Chinatown, here is where you will find dishes that are not served at other locations.

This is one of ours, and definitely my dads favorite dish. This may sell out sometimes depending if they have the pickled cabbage or not. The owner of Phoenix still makes the cabbage, in house, himself. The dish is also sweet which marries nicely with the sourness of the cabbage. The portions are also pretty hefty.

I grew up eating their boneless chicken, but have come to realization that I love this with bone in so much more. And honestly, I like to pick at the bones for the meat. So much more flavor, and besides, I am a professional at his. Ask people who know me. By the way, this was a half order.

Water Spinach with Malay sauce (excuse the blur)

One of our favorite veggies (I know everything is a "favorite"). As mentioned before, the leaves soaks up so much flavor of the Malay sauce (or any sauce you pick). The stems has a nice snap. I love chewing this with my rice. The rice soaks up the sauce, scoop one big bite, veggie, bite of chicken. Pretty damn perfect.

I love this dish! Only if made correctly. I'm not sure if they make the sauce in house, but assuming they do because it turns out slightly different sometimes. It's a little tangy, and has a nice round of sweet notes from the tangerine. The pineapple and green peppers are a good palate cleanser. And, these aren't as crispy. A lot of Chinese food, is breaded so it can adhere to sauces better. Like a lot of different cultures, this technique is widely used.

Squishy interior, crunchy ext. What more can I say? This is, however, an acquired flavor. I'm not expecting everyone to be popping a few of these in their mouths and enjoy the flavor and texture. But if you can get pass what you are eating, you just might, actually fall in love. Hey, eating this is like white rice to me. It's hella normal and it's not disgusting at all. A salad with no meat is disgusting. Sorry.

Another specialty you will only find here. A big Cantonese cuisine that was also made in our household. The oxtail is braised for hours in Asian spices like 5 spice and ginger, probably 50 kinds of soy sauce, till its fork tender. Though I think this needed a good 1-2 more hours, it was still very flavorful. And look at all that tail.

Ummm yeah this was for me. Always order this with your food. I eat the Jalapeños and everything.

Going back to my dad. It's amazing and scary how time flies. I know I'm young, have so much ahead of me, but being here just makes me feel some of the most important memories are passed.

My dad and the waiter that had been working there for over 30 years, were discussing past workers at Phoenix. Some retired. Some passed away. My dad would think some workers were young, but those memories were long gone as they are 85 now.

If you are ever in Los Angeles, and want Chinese, Cantonese, food, come here. To this location in downtown. And take a look around. It may seem updated because it had been renovated not too long ago, but there's still a warmth here that you won't find anywhere else. The veteran that has been there for 30+ years is basically, the only history we have left of that place.

And always, look at their menu board for their specials. It's written in Chinese, but I'm sure you may ask a server to assist you.

Now go bond with your family and loved ones. Moments like these are not only for the holidays.

301 Ord St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

daisy

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Wine & Dine

Boiling Seafood Wok

Rice Box - Los Angeles

Hainan Chicken

Mui Choy Kou Yoke

Phoenix - classic Chinese cuisine