Blessings on the table at Taste of Taiwan

Nadine Kam photos
A "Tray of Togetherness," assorted fresh fruit, captured the spirit of the "Taste of Taiwan" friendship dinner that brought Taiwanese and local Chinese together at the table.

Can you build friendships through food? That is question and the driving philosophy behind the United Chinese Society's Hawaii-sponsored "Taste of Taiwan" that took place Aug. 22 at Jade Dynasty restaurant.

From what I saw, yes you can. If not through food itself and the cooperation behind the scenes that goes into feeding hundreds, then through the camaraderie of sitting through a five-hour, 12-course meal. In between courses, there was also a lively bit of alcohol-fueled karaoke, for a good cause as friends challenged friends to step up to the mic in exchange for $100-plus donations to UCS.

The Taiwan chefs and crew took their bows following the dinner.

On the menu were homestyle comfort dishes from southern Taiwan, "not restaurant dishes," our hosts made clear. Many dishes looked familiar to anyone versed in local Chinese cuisine, but flavors were not. You don't often find cinnamon, and never find basil stirred into dishes at our Cantonese or Hong Kong style restaurants.

The one thing these cuisines do have in common is that the major ingredients have meanings tied to blessings and prosperity, and dishes presented were intended to bestow all guests with good wishes and abundance, and they sent us all home with a small planter of lucky bamboo.

Co-sponsoring the event were the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Honolulu, the Hawaii Taiwanese Center, China Airlines, Lucoral Museum and Jade Dynasty.

The dinner started with an appetizer of blessings, foods representing abundance, prosperity and all-round success. Plates comprised a shrimp fritter, a sliver of abalone, sea snail, mullet roe and spicy abalone.

Auspicious soup consists of crab meat, shrimp, ham and mushrooms. The Chinese word for crab and harmony are pronounced “xie.” Therefore, the dish reinforces the desire for peace. Shrimp represents liveliness, and mushrooms represent longevity and ability to sieze opportunities.

Lobster is known as the “dragon of the sea” and it represents strength, energy and good fortune. It was served chilled in these individual portions of salad.

Titus Chan still a booster for Chinese cuisine

Nadine Kam photos
Lobster with mochi rice steamed a lotus leaf bowl was among the highlights of a dinner presented at Jade Dynasty by hosts Titus Chan and Kimo Wong.

Once an educator, always an educator. People 40 and older may remember Titus Chan as one of the original television chefs, right up there with "The French Chef" Julia Child, and "The Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr.

But few know Chan was a math instructor before finding TV stardom in 1972, when "Cooking the Chan-ese Way" debuted on KHET, followed by a national PBS release in 1973, introducing the art of Chinese cooking to 200 public television stations across the United States.

It was a combination of ease with instruction and being in front of the cameras, as well as his knowledge of Chinese cooking that got him the gig, and more than 40 years after starting to educate people in the "Chan-ese" way of cooking, he's still a proponent of learning more about Chinese cuisine.

One of the origiinal celebrity TV chefs, Titus Chan.

A frequenter of Chinese restaurants, he says he feels he hasn't done his job when he sees people going to the restaurants and ordering the same old, like beef broccoli and sweet-sour pork, when Chinese fare has evolved so much over the decades.

To prove his point, he teamed up with Kimo Wong to host a nine-course dinner at Jade Dynasty Restaurant, showcasing options beyond beef broccoli, in hope that of encouraging people to step outside their comfort zone and perhaps try one new dish at a time.

Now that it's graduation season, most of these festive dishes can be prepared with 24 hours notice.

In addition, the restaurant in the fourth-level Ho'okipa Terrace offers dim sum offerings during the day, mirroring the latest innovations in Hong Kong and China. Call 947-8818 for reservations or information.

The big reveal for the the lobster on mochi rice: www.instagram.com/p/BFidVuPva7a/

Jade Dynasty owners Alan and Sylvia Ho with Bank of Hawaii VP Kimo Wong and Titus Chan.

The first course of crisp, juicy pork in egg crepes, and garlic-marinated cucumbers (also plated below), arrived on this lighted vessel.

 

Steamed whole wintermelon soup arrived looking like a flower in bloom or burst of fireworks, with the rim of the melon lined with crab meat.

A baked Pacific oyster was topped with shrimp, scallop, spinach and a Portuguese-style curry sauce.

Crispy Peking duck skin and bun.

The duck meat was presented in lettuce cups.

Sweet, tea-smoked tiger prawns was one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

Braised pork ribs were presented for viewing before being taken back to the kitchen for shredding for individually portioned buns, below.

Housemade silken tofu was ladled into bowls with ginger nectar for dessert.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

First Bite: Fortune Noodle at 808 Center

Nadine Kam photos
Dan dan noodles at Fortune Noodle showcase the full potency of the Sichuan pepper (hidden in the sauced at the bottom) that helps makes Sichuan cuisine so distinctive. It is definitely an acquired taste.

BY NADINE KAM

We did not have a true Sichuan restaurant until the arrival of Fortune Noodle at the new 808 Center at 808 Sheridan St.

The small, casual restaurant is the first Hawaii branch of a Chinese-based restaurant chain. It specializes in a short, fast menu of noodle soups, grilled meat and meat-and-vegetable sautes.

Dan dan noodles (below) are the star of the menu, at $6.99 for a small bowl. It will be an eye-opener for those who think they know dan dan noodles. This is the authentic version in which a sauce of chili oil, garlic and crushed Sichuan peppercorns lies at the bottom of the bowl, topped with noodles, ground beef and green onions. Mix it all together to get the full impact, which is not as much hot as mouth-numbing, thanks to the “peppercorn,” which is not really a pepper but the dried husks of coriander seeds. Its herbal character is similar to lavender.

 

 Chili oil dumplings with a dab of garlic paste are a winner for those who can handle a little bit of heat.

Though the dish is delicious, thanks to garlic and real peppers, the numbing factor and the soapy herbal taste is off-putting. It made me want to reach for something to rinse out my mouth. That didn’t stop me from going back for more. On the second trip I left the sauce at the bottom of the bowl and dipped the noodles in only as much sauce as I could tolerate.

Warm up to the peppers with red chili oil dumplings ($6.99). Then cool off with a dessert of iced “noodle” ($2.99), plant gelatin molded in its bowl and topped with brown sugar and a strawberry purée. It looks odd, but it’s so worth ordering.

This restaurant is really worth a full review, but alas, space in the newspaper is limited and with so many eateries opening in the new 808 Center, it would appear too repetitive to keep showing up at this spot week after week for my formal reviews. I’ll be back at the center soon enough anyway, likely as soon as next week!
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Fortune Noodle is at 808 Sheridan St. Call 349-3711.

Don’t attempt the boiled beef in hot chili sauce ($29.99) unless you’re acclimated to the Sichuan pepper in the smaller dan dan noodle bowl. All those red chilis are no problem to me, but the herbal-flavored Sichuan peppercorns in the dish cause an uncomfortable numbing sensation.

 I loved the sweet delicacy of the Chef's Special Oxtail.

An assortment of skewered meat and vegetables. I only had the shrimp, at left, which were delicious.

 Mapo tofu with rice. Given that mapo tofu abounds locally, I'd try other items before ordering this again. It's $10.99 with rice.

Marinated fried pork is one of my favorite dishes here, accompanied by a house togarashi-like chili pepper blend for dipping or sprinkling over the pork. It’s delicious with or without the heat.

Sauteed beans for balancing the meat and noodle items.

Dessert is not very pretty but it’s very refreshing. Plant gelatin forms a glob of a “noodle” topped with brown sugar and a pour of strawberry purée. I was skeptical but ended up loving it.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

'Sweet & Sour' at Smithsonian

Smithsonian photo

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History opened its "Sweet & Sour" exhibition today, focusing Chinese-American history as reflected through its menus, restaurant memorabilia and signs on a chop suey journey toward assimilation.

Hawaii was one of the stops on researchers' itinerary last June. The local search included Kalihi’s Tasty Chop Suey, Waikiki’s Lau Yee Chai, and Chinatown’s Wo Fat.

The exhibit is a small one, at about 10 feet, according to Dennis Wong, son of Tasty Chop Suey’s original owner, but there are plans to increase the display to 3,000 feet and create a travelilng show of the wares.

Hawaii Mainland Chinese celebrate spring

Nadine Kam photos
Amy Zhang was one of two winners of a stuffed rabbit during the Hawaii Mainland Chinese Overseas Association's elebration of the Year of the Rabbit at Empress Restaurant.

The Hawaii Mainland Chinese Overseas Association marked the start of the lunar new year with its annual Spring Festival Banquet on Jan. 30.

About 700 people packed Empress Restaurant in the Chinatown Cultural Plaza for a four-hour dinner that included many speeches, lion dances and entertainment that ranged from martial arts demonstrations by the Hawaii Wushu Center, to opera by Bai He, a magic show by Reyn Nishizuka, piano solo by 2010 Narcissus Queen Angie Zhang, and folk dance by current Narcissus Queen Ningjin Miao.

The informal association marks a way for Mainland Chinese to commiserate about home while in Hawaii, and even though I started studying Mandarin, I didn't understand much of what they were saying on stage, but I'm sure it was all about health, happiness, luck and prosperity in the new year, the things Chinese—and perhaps others—everywhere prize.

 

A dish of shredded duck and vegetables in a taro basket was created to celebrate the spring season.

Peking duck skin was a brittle, crackling good treat, served with the requisite bao, hoisin sauce and green onions.

Business leaders lure lions with lai see in hopes of being blessed in 2011.

 

Empress owner Kenneth Lee presides over the banquet room packed with 700 people.

 

Chef Titus Chan with 27th District Rep. Corinne Ching.