Hi All,

The groups been quiet of late and it's been a while since my last post,
so to keep things going I'd thought I'd share my thoughts of a local
(ish) restaurant I visited tonight.  It's a Joa Loh (large restaurant
with banqueting facilities) in Tseung Kwan O, HK.  We had to start half
Peking Duck - one way i.e. skin only with the accompaniments for - get
this HK$8 - Yes 60 pence!  The pancakes were of the proper type pan
grilled and not steamed.  To follow, it was a hotpot a la carte buffet
for HK$38 per head.  In spite of the low cost, the food was of better
quality than most I've tried, including the full a la carte places.  We
had (3 dishes) thin cut US well marbled beef;2 of cuttle fish balls; 3
treasure balls (Ling fish, beef with tangerine peel, and pork - 'Fung
Wan'); Fish skin dumplings; Shui Gaoh (large won tons); enoki musrooms
- suprisly fresh; Shiitake; Beancurd skins; black pepper Beef balls;
squid slices; skewered prawns; "Hoi Pong" - relative of the razor clams
and baby "Yin Choi" like a cross between baby spinache and watercress.
As there was only 2 of us, needless to say desserts had to be
abandoned.

So, what's everyone been cooking up these days or having visited any
Chinese restaurants recently (reviews pending).

I've booked myself in for a major blowout next week at one of the major
hotels for a buffet.  I'll post a review of the outcome.

Happy cooking (and eating)

Chef!

"Chef!"  wrote in message
news:1125001446.682771.150330@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Hi All,
>
> The groups been quiet of late and it's been a while since my last post,
> so to keep things going I'd thought I'd share my thoughts of a local
> (ish) restaurant I visited tonight.  It's a Joa Loh (large restaurant
> with banqueting facilities) in Tseung Kwan O, HK.  We had to start half
> Peking Duck - one way i.e. skin only with the accompaniments for - get
> this HK$8 - Yes 60 pence!  The pancakes were of the proper type pan
> grilled and not steamed.  To follow, it was a hotpot a la carte buffet
> for HK$38 per head.  In spite of the low cost, the food was of better
> quality than most I've tried, including the full a la carte places.  We
> had (3 dishes) thin cut US well marbled beef;2 of cuttle fish balls; 3
> treasure balls (Ling fish, beef with tangerine peel, and pork - 'Fung
> Wan'); Fish skin dumplings; Shui Gaoh (large won tons); enoki musrooms
> - suprisly fresh; Shiitake; Beancurd skins; black pepper Beef balls;
> squid slices; skewered prawns; "Hoi Pong" - relative of the razor clams
> and baby "Yin Choi" like a cross between baby spinache and watercress.
> As there was only 2 of us, needless to say desserts had to be
> abandoned.
>
> So, what's everyone been cooking up these days or having visited any
> Chinese restaurants recently (reviews pending).
>
> I've booked myself in for a major blowout next week at one of the major
> hotels for a buffet.  I'll post a review of the outcome.
>
> Happy cooking (and eating)
>
> Chef!
>


Hi Chef!

It's unbelievable that just the two of you can consume so much good food in
one evening. Haha! The prices are also amazingly cheap!

Last weekend we went to Penzance for the annual national flower show of
dahlias (we are big fans of dahlias and have many big and colourful dahlias
in our gardens). We went to the area early in the morning to visit the big
fishing town Newlyn (lots of deep sea fishing boats). There was a lobster
wholesale
warehouse/company along the coast. We went in there and were amazed by what
we saw - huge concrete tanks (each one bigger than the size of a room) of
sea water full of lively swimming lobsters (some were of giant size and
there were two varieties - the dark green type and a reddish type) and big
hardshelled crabs (the usual brown crabs and the spider crabs). The lobsters
were 16 per Kg and the crabs were 3 per Kg. We bought one medium lobster
for 14.

We also had a browse at the fish mongers there (all have their own fishing
boats!) and bought 1 lb monkfish for 5.50 and 1/2 doz scallops for 2.5.
They also had unusual things like shark steaks.

That evening, I cooked for just the two of us:-
1.    Grilled lobster with fine herbs (non-Chinese dish from Rick Stein's
Taste of The Sea).
Herbs were mainly from our garden and allotment.
2.    Monkfish with saffron and roasted red pepper dressing (again
non-Chinese dish from Rick
Stein's Taste of The Sea).
3.    Dry-fried green beans (gan bian si ji dou, from Fuchsia Dunlop's
Sichuan Cookery), but I added the scallops and an egg. French climbing beans
and spring onions were from our allotment.
4.    Boiled koh rabi (which is similar in texture and taste to Chinese
white radish). Also from our allotment.

What a feast! Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked a bit - meat was a
little bit too tough. I dared not cut open the lobster while it was still
alive but had to par-boil it to kill it and then grill. Next time I will
shorten the overall cooking time and hopefully will be OK. Monkfish, beans
and scallops were great and they were not my first attempts.

Theresa

"PE"  wrote in message
news:q9IPe.33$n4.14@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
<snip>

> What a feast! Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked a bit - meat was a
> little bit too tough. I dared not cut open the lobster while it was still
> alive but had to par-boil it to kill it and then grill. Next time I will
> shorten the overall cooking time and hopefully will be OK. Monkfish, beans
> and scallops were great and they were not my first attempts.


put the live lobster into the freezer for 30mins to an hour, it will go to
sleep peacefully & you can then cook it.

DC.

"DC."  wrote in message 
news:74mdnT9vAIanOJLeRVnyvQ@pipex.net...

> "PE"  wrote in message
> news:q9IPe.33$n4.14@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
> <snip>
>> What a feast! Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked a bit - meat was 
>> a
>> little bit too tough. I dared not cut open the lobster while it was still
>> alive but had to par-boil it to kill it and then grill. Next time I will
>> shorten the overall cooking time and hopefully will be OK. Monkfish, 
>> beans
>> and scallops were great and they were not my first attempts.
>
> put the live lobster into the freezer for 30mins to an hour, it will go to
> sleep peacefully & you can then cook it.
>
> DC.
>
>


Hi DC,

Thank you for the tips. I will try it next time.

Theresa

"PE"  wrote in message
news:q9IPe.33$n4.14@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...

>
> "Chef!"  wrote in message
> news:1125001446.682771.150330@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > The groups been quiet of late and it's been a while since my last post,
> > so to keep things going I'd thought I'd share my thoughts of a local
> > (ish) restaurant I visited tonight.  It's a Joa Loh (large restaurant
> > with banqueting facilities) in Tseung Kwan O, HK.  We had to start half
> > Peking Duck - one way i.e. skin only with the accompaniments for - get
> > this HK$8 - Yes 60 pence!  The pancakes were of the proper type pan
> > grilled and not steamed.  To follow, it was a hotpot a la carte buffet
> > for HK$38 per head.  In spite of the low cost, the food was of better
> > quality than most I've tried, including the full a la carte places.  We
> > had (3 dishes) thin cut US well marbled beef;2 of cuttle fish balls; 3
> > treasure balls (Ling fish, beef with tangerine peel, and pork - 'Fung
> > Wan'); Fish skin dumplings; Shui Gaoh (large won tons); enoki musrooms
> > - suprisly fresh; Shiitake; Beancurd skins; black pepper Beef balls;
> > squid slices; skewered prawns; "Hoi Pong" - relative of the razor clams
> > and baby "Yin Choi" like a cross between baby spinache and watercress.
> > As there was only 2 of us, needless to say desserts had to be
> > abandoned.
> >
> > So, what's everyone been cooking up these days or having visited any
> > Chinese restaurants recently (reviews pending).
> >
> > I've booked myself in for a major blowout next week at one of the major
> > hotels for a buffet.  I'll post a review of the outcome.
> >
> > Happy cooking (and eating)
> >
> > Chef!
> >
>
> Hi Chef!
>
> It's unbelievable that just the two of you can consume so much good food
in
> one evening. Haha! The prices are also amazingly cheap!
>
> Last weekend we went to Penzance for the annual national flower show of
> dahlias (we are big fans of dahlias and have many big and colourful
dahlias
> in our gardens). We went to the area early in the morning to visit the big
> fishing town Newlyn (lots of deep sea fishing boats). There was a lobster
> wholesale
> warehouse/company along the coast. We went in there and were amazed by
what
> we saw - huge concrete tanks (each one bigger than the size of a room) of
> sea water full of lively swimming lobsters (some were of giant size and
> there were two varieties - the dark green type and a reddish type) and big
> hardshelled crabs (the usual brown crabs and the spider crabs). The
lobsters
> were 16 per Kg and the crabs were 3 per Kg. We bought one medium lobster
> for 14.
>
> We also had a browse at the fish mongers there (all have their own fishing
> boats!) and bought 1 lb monkfish for 5.50 and 1/2 doz scallops for 2.5.
> They also had unusual things like shark steaks.
>
> That evening, I cooked for just the two of us:-
> 1.    Grilled lobster with fine herbs (non-Chinese dish from Rick Stein's
> Taste of The Sea).
> Herbs were mainly from our garden and allotment.
> 2.    Monkfish with saffron and roasted red pepper dressing (again
> non-Chinese dish from Rick
> Stein's Taste of The Sea).
> 3.    Dry-fried green beans (gan bian si ji dou, from Fuchsia Dunlop's
> Sichuan Cookery), but I added the scallops and an egg. French climbing
beans
> and spring onions were from our allotment.
> 4.    Boiled koh rabi (which is similar in texture and taste to Chinese
> white radish). Also from our allotment.
>
> What a feast! Unfortunately, the lobster was overcooked a bit - meat was a
> little bit too tough. I dared not cut open the lobster while it was still
> alive but had to par-boil it to kill it and then grill. Next time I will
> shorten the overall cooking time and hopefully will be OK. Monkfish, beans
> and scallops were great and they were not my first attempts.
>
> Theresa



Hi Theresa,

Wish I was there to join in, what a feast!  I really do miss the native
lobsters over there, the ones over here are of the Australian variety and do
not have the claws and the meat is not as sweet.  The hotels do offer
Canadian lobsters on their buffet menus, but it really is a first come first
serve basis.

Chef!