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.
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.
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.
————— 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.
Nadine Kam photos Spareribs in black bean sauce was cooking when June Tong presented a cooking demonstration for the See Dai Doo Society.
In Chinese four pillars astrology, my bazi chart is heavy on water. Water flows. Water can be as gentle as a brook or raging like a tsunami. It's one of the strongest of the elements, seeping into crevices to break rocks apart. In relation to the other elements, water douses fires, rusts metal, causes seeds to sprout from the earth, and nourishes wood.
Because water is an unstoppable force, I love freedom and hate being put in a box. I disdain authority, which is represented by metal.
There is no metal in my sign. So, the surest way to make me do something is to tell me I can't do it.
I was in Shanghai a few years ago and met a designer from Brooklyn who, after starting his business in China, became fluent in Mandarin. A disciplined sort in contrast to my free spirit, he dared me to learn the language and wanted to bet that I could not do it in a year.
Whoa, them's fighting words! So next thing you know, I started attending Mandarin classes offered by the See Dai Doo Society. Difficult, serious stuff, but it's not all about how hard work. The society's programs extend to other cultural pursuits such as Chinese cooking.
Start with three pounds of ribs that have been parboiled and lightly dredged in flour.
On March 20, the society welcomed "Popo's Kitchen" cookbook author June Tong for a demonstration of her black bean sparerib, mochi rice and dau lau recipes.
I was interested in the dau lau, or mochi balls, because it's something my mom made when I was a child and over the years, everyone got busy, moved away from home, and I forgot all about dau lau until my memory was sparked by seeing it again at a new year festival at the now-shuttered Grand Café.
It is a new year treat that can be enjoyed anytime of year. Unlike anything in Western cuisine, every element of the dau lau is symbolic, starting with the white of the mochi rice flour, representing purity, according to society member Sharlene Chun. Its spherical shape represents infinity, with no beginning and no end. The stickiness of the mochi rice also represents family cohesion, and toppings of coconut represent good health, peanuts stand for longevity because of the length of the vines and the nuts' enduring quality, sesame seeds reflect an abundance of sons and wealth, and the sweetness of brown sugar is equal to the sweetness of life.
There's a reason the "Popo's Kitchen" cookbooks have held up over time. The recipes are simple to make and delicious. For the spareribs, for example, all the ingredients went into a wok and simmered for 45 minutes, with all the magic happening while the cook rests.
Then, of course, the best part of the demo was the feast that followed. While Tong and her assistants demonstrated cooking in small batches, more work was being done in the society's kitchen, where volunteers humbly cooked up what they called a "snack," but the rest of us would call a meal, for about 50 lucky souls. Xie xie!
Recipes follow!
Leonard Kam prepares to add garlic and black beans to James Acopan's wok.
Cookbook author June Tong passes the finished dau lau to Dwayne Wong for sampling.
Dau lau in a coating of shredded coconut, peanuts and brown sugar. Each of the ingredients holds meaning. SPARERIBS IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE
3 pounds spareribs, cut up
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1/2 cup flour
Seasonings
1 tablespoon sugar
1 can chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cube chicken bouillon
Cornstarch mixture
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
Parboil spareribs. Rinse and drain well. Lightly dredge in flour.
Heat oil in heavy pan. Stir-fry black bean mixture. Add spareribs and brown.
Add seasonings while browning spareribs. Add broth and bring to boil. Cover with lid, lower heat and simmer 45 minutes.
Thicken with cornstarch mixture. Place on platter and garnish with green onions and Chinese parsley.
DAU LAU Flour mixture
1 pound mochi flour
16 ounces water
Topping mixture
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup peanuts, chopped
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Combine flour mixture and mix well. Pinch dough to form approximately inch-size balls.
Boil a pot of water. Drop mochi balls into rapidly boiling water. When dough floats to the top, remove with a slotted spoon. Roll cooled balls in topping mixture.
STICKY MOCHI RICE Mochi rice mixture
4 cups mochi rice
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon hondashi
Filling mixture
1/2 cup dry baby shrimp, washed and hard-boiled
1 cup lup cheong, cooked and diced fine
1/2 cup smoked ham or roast pork, diced fine
1 cup black mushrooms, soaked, par-boiled and diced fine
1 cup green onions, diced fine
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon five spice
Cook rice in rice cooker according to directions. Heat wok, adding 3 tablespoons of oil. Stir fry filling mixture. Combine rice and filling mixture as soon as rice cooker shifts to "warm." Mix well and let steam 30 minutes or more. Drizzle on soy sauce to taste, if desired, and mix well.
————— 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.
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! ————— 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.
————— 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.
Nadine Kam photos Dau Lau, or Dau Lo, was a surprise treat at Grand Cafe and Bakery’s Chinese new year celebration. We picked up the mochi with a toothpick, and that’s a piece of candied lotus in the background.
Grand Cafe and Bakery hosted a Chinese New Year celebration Feb. 26 at the Hawaii State Museum, with new year delicacies on the table and lion dancers from Saam Fu Chinese Cultural Arts.
What was amazing was the power of food to bring back forgotten memories from my childhood, that had been wiped away by every outside-my-own-heritage food experience I’ve had since then. I may be Chinese by blood, but all-American by culture, and that culture is so strong I remember making pancakes with my mom and siblings as a bonding experience because I see pancakes all the time. But I forgot that we shared that same experience making dau lau, or dau lo, soft mochi dumplings coated with crushed peanuts and brown sugar.
It was one of the sweets served up by Grand Cafe and Bakery chef owner Mona Chang Vierra and her son Anthony Kui Sin Vierra, and I don’t even think I recognized it on sight. But as soon as I tasted it, I thought, “Hey, I made this with my mom when I was a kid. How come she stopped making this?”
Well, we kids grew up. There are things people are willing to do for others and offspring that seem like luxuries or humbug to do for oneself. I know this because I cooked at least four evenings a week when my husband Christopher was alive. He was always fun to cook for because he was the most loving and appreciative audience a woman could have. Absent that cheerleading and support, I feel no desire to cook for myself when the prep takes hours and the payoff lasts 15 minutes.
Shrimp chips and salad.
Look funn rolls.
Grand Cafe is all about maintaining a legacy of family ties and recipes. During the event, I also enjoyed picking candied dried fruit from “The Tray of Togetherness” as a sweet way to start the new year. I haven't enjoyed these since the closing of Chinatown's Shung Chong Yuein, so it was nice to nibble on candied coconut symbolic of togetherness, and lotus root, representing abundance.
I'm left wondering what else I may have forgotten in my journey through life.
There's a science to this phenomenon of recall through smell and taste. Food molecules reach the olfactory bulb that is part of the brain's limbic system, associated with memory and feeling, and this prompts instant recall of memories and the people, places and emotions linked with them.
That just tells me how important it is to share family meals together. You don't want your kid one day recalling, "Oh yeah, I used to eat this when I was all alone in my room watching YouTube."
Kalua pork bau.
Patsy Izumo and Mona Chang Vierra, foreground, feed the lions at Grand Cafe and Bakery’s Chinese new year celebration.
Chef Anthony Vierra is also blessed by the lion.
It’s always fun to watch kids respond to the lions. ———
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.
For months, commuters on King Street couldn’t miss the red signage outside Jin Din Rou at King and Kaheka, so when the banners came down, they were ready and waiting.
The restaurant opened its doors for simple lunch service last Thursday, with dumpling and entree combos for $9.99 and $12.99. Dinner service will follow in a couple of weeks, so I’ll wait until the full menu is out to review.
The main thing is the soup dumplings are good, made by chef Hiromasa Yamanaka from Japan, in Taiwan fashion, where he trained for 10 years. These are more compact and taller than their Shanghai counterparts.
I made a video so you can see how they’re made, wrapper and all. Click on the dumpling photo or iPhone link to view.
