Hong Kong Diaspora Get Together

The Mister Softee ice cream truck's jingle drew in customers

Today was the fifth Hong Kong Fair held at The Shipyards in North Vancouver today. It's become an event that brings together the Hong Kong diaspora, from those who immigrated decades ago, to recent arrivals, all with the common love of the city.

I tried to get there right after my Pilates class via bus and then Seabus. Already there were many people lining up for food, which is what I should have done, but I mistakenly walked into the cultural section first; when I tried to leave, a volunteer warned me I would not be able to get back in after I left! They really need to make this clear when walking to the entrance...

Does this describe a Hongkonger in Vancouver?

So I wandered around the stalls, many of them selling Hong Kong-related trinkets, like crochet versions of egg tarts and pineapple buns, milk tea kits, dog treats, postcards or prints of scenes of the city, tote bags with designs of White Rabbit candy or the old school Airplane game, jewellery, and books.

There was one picture book of Hong Kong that really resonated with me and probably many others -- the hand-drawn illustrations captured the flavour of the city. But instead I bought a 1,000-piece puzzle featuring a city scene of Hong Kong.

I finally left the culture area and tried to find the stall selling seafood congee. Holy Duck Chili Oil teamed up with Eat Fish seafood supplier and Masterchef runner-up chef Dez Lo to make two kinds of congee, seafood (featuring wild BC fish and seafood like jumbo prawns) seasoned with halibut stock, and shimeji mushrooms with vegan XO sauce.

Seafood congee was delicious

The queue was much longer than I thought and in the heat! It snaked along further so I must have waited about 45 minutes so I was very hungry by the time I got to the front. Dez was there, running off her feet, but in good spirits.

The seafood congee was ready to eat so I ate it as I waited for the mushroom one. I also chatted with the owners of Holy Duck Chili Oil, who were also selling their sauces as well as T-shirts. 

Both congee were fantastic -- the seafood one choc full of salted chunks of fish, giant prawns, and octopus, while the mushroom one was full of umami and had lots of mushrooms in it to give it a meatier texture. I later heard they were sold out of congee by 2pm! 

After having stood in line for so long I was not motivated to do that again and looked for the shortest queues. Snackshot had a very short line so I had some curry fish balls. There was a modified Mister Softee ice cream truck playing the same recognisable jingle, serving soft serve sundaes. 

Then I wandered into a large covered area where people were playing mahjong at several tables, and I saw my friends at the UBC Cantonese table. One showed me how to type Cantonese using Jyutping, the romanisation system for Cantonese that was developed in 1993.

Tote bags with nostalgic designs

She showed me how to download an app called Type Duck (打得) and the spelling is not what I'm used to, but it immediately shows different characters with similar sounds so it helps you learn more words. I will try to play around with it more.

It was almost 3pm when I decided to go home... and I was exhausted!

Chinese Solution to Turkey Leftovers

Turkey congee topped with cilantro to be extra fancy

If you ate turkey for Christmas dinner, what do you do with the carcass?

Put it in a big pot with some rice and lots of water and let it simmer for a few hours to turn into congee. 

It's a delicious hug in a bowl.

It tastes so comforting you will want to have another bowl!

We had turkey last night and had congee for lunch today.

So good.

We Didn't Jump on the Tai Bo Cafe Bandwagon

Steamed pork patty at Sang Kee in Wan Chai

After I came back from Hong Kong, a Vancouver friend told me about Tai Bo Cafe in Yuen Long, which has become a viral hit. Someone on social media raved about the cafe's pork patty rice, and now there are 2-hour queues for it.

Seriously? 

Legit prawn toasts covered in sesame seeds

Apparently it started back in March when someone asked for a restaurant recommendation and one of the comments replied, Tai Bo Bing Sutt.

Then a few months later, that same commenter would mention the cafe when others posted about things not even related to food, from complaining about academic stress, asking for job vacancies, or raving about their favourite music artist.

People saw Tai Bo Bing Sutt mentioned so many times that they had to check it out themselves, hence the super long queues.

Apparently the person suggesting the bing sutt is a friend of the owner's daughter.

True or not, it has helped this eatery become super popular with the term "tastebud nuke", where the flavour of the patties explode in your mouth, overwhelming your oral senses.

Lovely steamed threadfin fish with chicken oil

I obviously didn't go to this place as I hadn't heard of it until I returned home.

But I did have a pretty good steamed pork patty at Sang Kee, a restaurant known for Hong Kong specialties. Opened in 1976, the place is now located in a non-descript office building on Lockhart Road in Wan Chai.

On the third floor you can hear the hustle and bustle of the place, the small dining room packed with mostly large tables. The one next to us was celebrating a birthday, and there was even a table filled with Europeans enjoying the food with red wine.

Not long after we ordered the food arrived fast and furious. We started with braised duck tongues, nicely balanced, not too salty, and we munched on those until our plate of prawn toasts came. 

Cold starter of braised duck tongues

These beauties were perfectly deep-fried and generously covered in sesame seeds. Another dish was a half portion of a roast piglet, the skin was very crispy, and a thin layer of tender meat underneath. 

Then came our steamed pork meat patty. It was a large portion for the five of us, drizzled with diluted soy sauce and spring onions. You could easily tell it had been hand chopped from the mouthfeel having a bit of a bite to it. 

Another outstanding dish was the steamed threadfin seasoned with chicken oil and Chinese ham. The fish looked so plain, but its taste was so flavourful -- we couldn't stop eating the tender delicate white meat that was perfectly seasoned until we were left with a plate of bones.

The pork patty would have been good with white rice, but we had ordered congee with meatballs and a fish called mottled spinefoot. The congee had been simmering for hours, the grains totally broken down and had chunks of the fish and meatballs.

Simple steamed rice cakes for dessert

Finally for dessert, steamed rice cakes that weren't too sweet, and had a honeycomb-like texture.

The dining experience was not "tastebud nuke", but definitely memorable! 

Sang Kee

3/F, Sunshine Plaza

353 Lockhart Road

Wan Chai

+852 2575 2239

A Happy Mistake

A very quiet airport at 3am, walking all the way to Gate 36

I made a happy mistake when I booked my hotel accommodation. I didn't look too carefully at my flight departure time of 1am December 1, and instead had the room reserved until noon that day.

After a whirlwind trip of two weeks that packed in not only Hong Kong, but also side trips to Shenzhen, Macau, Zhongshan and my mother's hometown of Mui Yuen, just over 470km north east of Hong Kong, we were tired and ready to go home.

On November 30, we had dinner and then packed the rest of our items in our luggage and were ready to vacate our hotel room around 9pm.

We arrived at a cavernous, empty airport

But at 8.38pm we received a text message that our Cathay Pacific flight was delayed and would not depart until 4.30am December 1!

Apparently it was a maintenance issue of the aircraft. Surely CX had another plane on hand -- in its home base -- that we could use instead? But no.

So... we took a nap (well whatever shuteye we could get) and left the hotel at 1.45am to get to Hong Kong International Airport by Uber.

Our ride took just over half an hour and we entered a cavernous, empty airport.

When we checked in, the ground staff explained as compensation for the flight delay we would get HK$200 in food after we went through security. All we had to do was present our boarding pass.

"What kind of food options are there at this hour?" I asked.

"Probably McDonald's," was the reply.

How delightful...

We went through security and the immigration -- no one was even manning the booths, let alone the automated immigration clearance or e-channel.

Dumplings with noodles, soup and choy sum

All the duty-free shops had shut long ago, passed by a Labubu statue where he too had a boarding pass in his pocket, and we wandered to where there was a food court.

Thankfully there was more than just McDonald's open!

There was ramen at Bari-Uma, sandwiches and salads at Gordon Ramsay Plane Food to Go, Fujianese dishes at Putien, and finally Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop.

We went to the latter and ordered dumplings with noodles. The man at the counter encouraged us to order more food to reach HK$200, so I also had choy sum and two bottles of water.

Other than us, there were only ground staff hanging out, who either were aircraft engineers or moved luggage and cargo around.

When we finished eating, it was about time to reach our gate, Gate 36 -- down at the far end. 

Really? We had the last flight out before 7am and we had to walk all the way down to the end of the airport to board the plane.

By the time we got to the gate, we saw people already in line anxious to get on the plane, but we were kept waiting because the pilots hadn't boarded yet, nor the flight crew.

Labubu looking perky at this hour 

Passengers were exhausted and when we finally boarded, there were some terse exchanges because people didn't want to patiently wait and just wanted to get into their seats and start flying.

While the pilot apologised again, stating it was a maintenance issue of the aircraft and that it was safe to fly, many of us had already fallen asleep in our seats.

We didn't actually take off until 5am, and landed in Vancouver International Airport at just after midnight December 1.

It's a good thing I made the mistake in the hotel booking otherwise we would have been very miserable and tired hanging out in the airport for hours!

Next Level Cantonese Dining

Whole roasted piglet presented before it was chopped up

Last night we had dinner at Congee Noodle House on Broadway and Main Street. It's a Cantonese-style institution that has been open for over 20 years, though it was temporarily shut for three years from the end of January 2020, when the retaining wall at a nearby construction site collapsed during a heavy rainfall, which caused a sinkhole. As a result part of the parking lot in the back caved in and fell into the excavation pit.

Braised goose webs, fish maw and pea shoots

At the time people worried this restaurant, which mostly serves piping hot tureens of congee, fried noodles and fried rice, and other family-style dishes was closed for good.

But in May 2023 Congee Noodle House was back open, complete with renovations inside and since then has had a steady stream of business despite construction of the subway on the road right in front.

The restaurant doesn't just serve basic dishes; at the back, groups of diners in private rooms can eat classic Cantonese dishes, like whole roast piglet, stir-fried lobster with vermicelli, deep-fried shrimp meat on crab claws, steamed fish, and salt-baked chicken.

We had some of the aforementioned menu items, as well as braised goose webs with collagen-rich fish maw artfully decorated on a bed of dau miu or pea shoots, and plump sui gao or dumplings filled with shrimp, pork and vegetables with egg noodles in soup.

Caramelised eggplant is next level culinary skill

However one dish stood out -- an off-menu item -- caramelised eggplant. Much in the same vein as caramelised banana, the eggplant chunks were probably steamed and then pan-fried in sugar that was starting to turn into a caramel colour.

The end result is a slightly crunchy exterior, and soft, tender interior. Not easy to make, but boy the result was amazing.

Congee Noodle House

141 East Broadway

Vancouver, BC

604 879 8221

Congee Not Just a Chinese Rice Porridge

Pine mushroom congee at Burdock & Co

What dish is a hug in a bowl? 

For me it's congee, rice porridge that takes hours to make and must be made with care by stirring it constantly otherwise it burns at the bottom of the pot.

When it's been simmering for a long time, the rice has broken down and the soupy mixture is thick and almost creamy in texture.

Arroz caldoso at Ando in HK with prawns

Bland homemade congee with a bit of salt is a good remedy for upset stomach, or dress it up with pickled cucumbers, pork floss, or chopped bits of pork, chicken or beef. 

While one might assume only the Cantonese make good congee, it's not true! Non-Chinese chefs make some tasty gourmet versions.

In Hong Kong, the Argentinian chef Agustin Balbi of the Michelin-starred Ando has a dish on his set menu called arroz caldoso, or rice. The traditional Spanish dish reminds him of his grandmother, a soupy rice that has flavours that are beautifully melded together.

And in Vancouver, chef Andrea Carlson of Michelin-starred Burdock & Co. has her own version of congee. We had some today at Harvest Community Foods, her small grocery store that serves a limited menu on the edge of Chinatown. Carlson's version is flavoured with a stock made from dashi that is incorporated with rice, and flavoured with chicken, ginger, thinly sliced scallop and spot prawns. 

Today's congee with chicken, scallop, spot prawn

The savoury combination was so delicious that we couldn't stop eating it, and it was perfect for today's showery weather that led to slightly cooler temperatures. 

The first time I had congee at Burdock & Co. was three years ago, flavoured with pine mushrooms, some cooked and some thinly shaved raw. So memorable!

North Burnaby's New Shopping Malls

The mall at Gilmore Place is taking shape

Today I visited a friend who lives in Burnaby, which is the land of skyscrapers in Metro Vancouver. There are several towers that are over 60 stories high, many are walking distance to two SkyTrain stations, Gilmore and Brentwood. 

Like the MTR stations in Hong Kong, Gilmore and Brentwood both have shopping malls attached to them. Brentwood has The Amazing Brentwood, a large, partially open-air shopping mall, which has an airy food court offering mostly Asian food, from Japanese and Chinese to Korean, and Persian. 

It also has free-standing restaurants, and tonight I visited Bow & Stern, which is celebrating its first anniversary later this month. It offers mostly seafood dishes, and for Happy Hour (2pm-5pm, and 9pm to closing), freshly shucked oysters are $2 each! 

Meanwhile Gilmore Place is coming together now, with a few shops open like KFC, and Big Way Hot Pot will open, as well as a Thai spa, and Subway too. But my friend is really excited to hear that a T&T supermarket will open within a five-minute walk from her place!

I joked that with this Asian supermarket near here, she will never have to cook, as T&T offers not only uncooked ingredients, but cooked foods as well, including congee, roast meats, and noodles, so she has her "neighbourhood canteen" set up!

With so many people living and working in the area, and located next to the Skytrain station, it's no wonder that T&T has planned to open here, with many Asians living in the area.

However, while I was at tonight's dinner, one of the guests I ate with told me one of her friends lives in one of the nearby towers and said it was a nightmare getting up and down the elevator -- it takes 30 minutes just to get one, and when you have a dog that needs to go to the bathroom, and a wailing child, it can be pretty stressful!

Having a shoebox in the sky here doesn't sound fun at all, if there are only two elevators for so many units...

Palm Springs: Going Asian at Rooster and the Pig

Really yummy congee to start the meal

Before I left for Palm Springs, another friend recommended Rooster and the Pig, a Vietnamese restaurant. It has a no-reservations policy with doors open at 5pm. We decided to try our luck on Friday around 7pm.

It's located in a mini strip mall with apartments in the back and a parking lot that's not really paved. I rushed to the restaurant and lo and behold there was a table big enough for five of us right by the entrance.

"When is the rest of your party coming?" inquired the waiter.

Pork belly fried rice with Chinese sausage

"They're right over there," I replied, pointing to them approaching the restaurant just steps away.

They added another seat to the table and we sat down in minutes. 

It's a minimalist kind of look in there, with Vietnamese posters, cookbooks on Asian cuisine, a colourful tiffin, and plants on shelves above diners' heads.

The menu is pretty straight forward, with some appetisers to start, some rolls and then mains, all meant to be shared. For the five of us, I chose six dishes and it worked out quite well in the end.

We were even given a small bowl of congee to start and boy was it good! It had been simmering for hours, the rice broken down and thick but not too gloopy either, garnished with deep-fried garlic and scallions. 

Next up were two rice rolls, one with pork and shrimp with mint with a peanut sauce, the other butternut squash with lettuce with fish sauce. They were a prelude to the mains that came quickly.

Crispy turmeric cod with rice noodles

Our vegetable dish was braised daikon with a few stalks of Chinese water spinach or tung choi, seasoned with star anise and cardamom, though these flavours were barely detectable. 

Pork belly fried rice was a favourite -- it included Chinese sausage of lap cheong, pork belly, mushrooms, onions, and shallots. The rice wasn't sticky, but day-old rice and so the dish was not too heavy.

Another star of the evening was the crispy beef with a generous portion of egg noodles. The beef was fried then deep-fried for crispiness, contrasting with the noodles that had a bit of a bite to them. 

The crispy turmeric cod was delicious, lightly fried and perfectly cooked, though they were accompanied with lukewarm rice noodles, which was probably the style, but we would have preferred the noodles hotter. 

The portion was just right for the five of us and we finished everything. When we asked if they had dessert, we were sad to hear they didn't serve any! And we didn't see any Asian staff -- even one of the cooks who took a breather outside was African-American. We were impressed.

Crispy beef egg noodles was hearty

Our meal was so good that we wanted to eat it again the next day, but when we drove by Saturday evening, there were several people standing around outside and the restaurant looked full. We gave up and went back to Manhattan in the Desert for dinner instead.

Rooster and the Pig

356 South Indian Canyon Drive

Palm Springs

760 832 6691