Food and Restaurant: Din Tai Fung

I would never expect a Taiwanese company can do Shanghai cuisine so well! When I said "so well", I don't mean simply the taste, but every single aspect of the dining experience.

In the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, up on the 3rd floor of Silvercord on Canton Road, is Din Tai Fung. The history of the restaurant can be traced back to 1969 when it was founded in Taiwan by a man called Bingyi Yang from Shanxi, China. Right now, there are two branches in Hong Kong, including another one in Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay.

Most of the time, when people go to a place to dine, they will first talk about how good the food is, but whenever someone mentions about Din Tai Fung, they will talk about the service first. Wouldn't it be strange to talk about the service first before the food quality? I still think so, but there must be an explanation for this. Either 1) the service is really outstanding, or 2) most people have been ill-treated when dining in other restaurants. And my guess is, 1) and 2).

Before you get to enter the restaurant, there are helpful staff at the counter offering you a waiting ticket as well as a order sheet on a plastic holder, a pencil and a colour printed menu, so that while you are waiting with the other 50 over diners outside the restaurant, you won't waste any more time thinking what to eat after you are seated. The place is so crowded that it makes the restaurant right opposite seem "business-less".

I have dined here thrice and every time I go, I get managers, waiters, waitresses, janitors bowing before me and greeting me as I walk in -- no matter what they are doing, making me feel like a king. As soon as you are seated, the staff will confirm with you about your orders and your food comes as quickly as 5 minutes. Sometimes so fast that all your dishes arrive at the same time, except the dessert which they will ask for your permission to delay the delivery after you have finished the main courses.

If you need to carry out some business in the washroom, the janitor will greet you as you enter, help you with the water tap and towels, and wish you well on the way out using Mandarin. Now, you must be thinking about 5 Stars hotels.

As for food, basically, you can order almost anything and you can guarantee that they are at their finest. If you want to know my picks, then here they are: drunken chicken, Shanghai steamed pork dumplings, Shanghai steamed crab meat and pork dumplings, noodles mixed with sesame and peanut sauce and mini steamed mashed black sesame buns.

Detailed descriptions below:

Drunken Chicken

Crunchy skin, tender smooth succulent white meat soaked in just the right amount of Shaoxing wine. Nicely cut up and brilliantly presented.

Shanghai steamed crab meat and pork dumplings

Unbelievably generous orange roe with crab meat and pork mixed together, embraced by hot crab soup and extremely thin yet elastic dumpling skins!! This is absolutely top-notch! Even Wang Jia Sha and Crystal Jade have to surrender the title willingly.

Black Sesame Buns

Black sesame, I love it! Adequately sweetened crunchy sesames mashed inside mini-buns. Looks beautiful, tastes brilliant! Personal favourite, must eat every time I go.

Noodles mixed with sesame and peanut sauce

Simple dull looking dish yet incredulously savoury. Slightly glutinous sesame and peanut sauce adhered to the surface of the noodles, allowing every bite to come with the rich taste of sesame and peanut.

Not my picks:

Drunken Ducks' Tongues

Nothing wrong with this dish, just that I am not a fan of ducks' tongues. But surely crunchy enough. Need 2 ducks' tongues lovers to finish the whole plate. Best if you love some French kisses with the ducks.

For display, not on the menu

Cute, but poorly-treated. Dirty water, filter, infected fish fins. Restaurant needs to work on keeping them fit. They are one reason I want to return again.


One dinner usually costs around HK$300+ for 2 people. And since my picks are so good, I haven't got enough room in my stomach to try other dishes yet. More update if I try others next time.

Average waiting time: 40 minutes. Go look around the shops while waiting. H & M is just downstairs.

Delicious Rating: 9 / 10


Vocabulary:
tender -- (of meat or vegetables) easy to cut or chew (= crush with the teeth)
succulent -- Succulent food is pleasantly juicy
roe -- fish eggs, which are eaten as food
embrace -- [I or T] literary to hold someone tightly with both arms to express love, liking or sympathy, or when greeting or leaving someone
elastic -- describes material that is able to stretch and be returned to its original shape or size
top-notch -- excellent
incredulous -- not wanting or not able to believe something, and usually showing this
savoury --  pleasing to the sense of taste especially by reason of effective seasoning
glutinous -- sticky
adhere to -- to stick firmly

Resources:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=21002
http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/index.asp
http://www.dintaifungusa.com/en/en_index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din_Tai_Fung
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_chicken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiaolongbao
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaoxing_wine

http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr1.htm?s=1&district_id=&inputcategory=cname&inputstrrest=Wang+Jia+Sha
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr1.htm?s=1&district_id=&inputcategory=cname&inputstrrest=crystal+jade

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/tender_3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/succulent_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/roe
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/embrace_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/elastic_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/top-notch
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/incredulous
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/savoury
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/savoury
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/search/british/?q=sticky
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/adhere#adhere__3

Food: Thai Basils

Thai Lemon Basil

After reading my last entry about Manuka honey and liquorice roots, have you tried any of them? I hope your mouth ulcers are disappearing faster now.

Various Spices

As a curry lover, I taste different curries from around the world: originals and hybrids, mutated and new-aged, East and West... I can claim that I am an expert of my OWN preference of curry!

Various Thai Curry

*Boo!!*

Okay, I hear some booing sounds, but what do you expect me to say? There is never standard good or bad, it differs from individual to individual.

Alright, let me begin!

One of the spices I really like is Thai basils, a herb commonly used in Thai cuisine, especially in Thai curry. I love it because of its distinctive minty sweet flavour and it is extremely refreshing! The taste is so special that it has earned the Chinese name, "Non-exchangeable even with gold".

Thai Lemon Basil 

There are in fact 3 types of Thai basil: horapa Sweet basil , Kra phao Thai holy basil, Manglak Thai lemon basil. Among all 3, I am most interested in knowing about the Thai lemon basil as it is the most common.

Wikipedia states that,

1.  It is actually quite hardy and will grow continuously given only water, but flavor will be at risk if not given any fertilizer, chemical or organic.
2. It can really grow in a matter of weeks.
3. Basil should never reach flowering during the harvesting periods.
4. If given a chance to flower, its flavor will be sacrificed and the leaves become smaller and rather leathery.
5.  Propagation is achieved by sowing seeds and from stem cuttings.
6. Stem cuttings will gain roots after a week of being soaked in water.
7. As many cuttings as the gardener wishes can be planted, preferably the most vigorous stems that can be found because they will root faster.
8. The water should be changed every few days.
9. After 2-3 weeks, the roots will be long enough for the cuttings to be transplanted into pots or planted in their permanent position in the garden.

Now, after reading 9 points, what does it tell us? Well, maybe many, but the most important of all is that I can also try to grow some at home! Next time when I go to the market, I just need to buy a thick stem or two and then I can pop them into a glass bottle and grow my very own Thai lemon basil! I consider myself as having green fingers, so I will start growing some "Non-exchangeable even with gold" once I get my hands on it.


Vocabulary:
hybrid -- anything that is a mixture of two very different things
mutated -- changed from one thing or type of thing into another
boo -- (sound word) to make an expression of strong disapproval or disagreement
distinctive -- Something that is distinctive is easy to recognize because it is different from other things
harvest -- to pick and collect crops, or to collect plants, animals or fish to eat
propagation -- [I or T] to produce a new plant from a parent plant
vigorous -- healthy and strong
transplant -- [C or U] when something is transplanted, especially an operation in which a new organ is put into someone's body, here refers to moving the plant to another place to grow
green fingers/thumb -- the ability to make plants grow

lay/get your hands on sth -- to succeed in obtaining sth


Resources:

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-and-fitness-manuka-honey-1st.html

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-and-fitness-liquorice-root-2nd.html

http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-and-fitness-mouth-ulcers.html

http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=8433985884370686932&searchType=ALL&txtKeywords=&label=Spices

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_basil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocimum_basilicum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_basil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_lemon_basil

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hybrid
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/mutate#mutate__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/boo_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/distinctive
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/harvest_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/propagate_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/vigorous
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/transplant_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/green-fingers#green-fingers__3
http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=hands*11+0&dict=I

Science : Large Hadron Collider (LHC) @ CERN

http://temasekpoly.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/lhc-sim.jpg

Hi guys, science time!!! To begin with, show you a part of the movie, Angels & Demons,

Angels & Demons Clip: "The God Particle"

Now that you have watched the clip, we will move on to our main topic for the day -- the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The LHC was mainly built in the attempt to prove the Big Bang Theory. Scientists want to prove that the Universe begins with a Big Bang, in short, a huge explosion which created space and galaxies. If this is true, then the Universe is still expanding and will continue to expand further due to the huge Big Bang, carrying galaxies with it.


Due to the fact that a micro black hole might be produced in the process, many people fear that if the experiment gets out of control, the black hole created would devour our planet. (There are numerous videos on the internet but I will not put it up here as I am not trying to spread fear.) Luckily, on the 30th March 2010 when the particles collided, nothing wrong happened. Let's hope that nothing bad will. Reading the article below helped alleviate a bit of my fear.

**************************************************

Scientists at CERN attempts to understand Big Bang

Submitted by Seher Dhillon on Thu, 04/01/2010 - 09:57

http://markdowe.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/diagram-of-lhc1.jpg

Scientists at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, achieved a big success by creating mini Big Bangs that will provide them with a glimpse of the creation of the universe.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN on Tuesday set a record by crashing proton beams into each other at 50 per second.
Speaking on the experiment, spokesperson James Gillies said, “It would be like sending more and more cars in opposite directions down one side of a motorway, more and more would be smashing into each other head-on.”
Now, scientists are making efforts to achieve particle collisions at 300 per second inside the LHC at CERN.
The experiment attempts to reveal the mysteries of the creation of the universe.
Some doomsday theorists have warned that the LHC experiment could put the whole humanity at risk by creating tiny black holes which could suck in all matter around them.
But, scientists at CERN said that the experiment could create tiny black holes but they would dissolve in just a fraction of a second.

Opinions:
We will surely be hearing more and more news about CERN and the LHC every now and then, because it is the largest science project that will continue to grow in the future. We might hear more and more about it in movies, novels and news, and so it is good to know a little about it, even though you might not be interested in science. For those who are fascinated by black holes, wormholes, time travel, spacetime or the Fourth Dimension, you might get the answer you want sooner than you think. As for me, I really want to know if Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking are right or wrong. If wrong, how far wrong are they, because that can tell us how smart the human brain can get.

Albert Einstein & Stephen Hawking

Vocabulary:
collide -- (especially of moving objects) to hit something violently
alleviate -- to make something bad such as pain or problems less severe

Resources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbzwgy4Gn3g
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQNpucos9wc
http://topnews.co.uk/23285-scientists-cern-attempts-understand-big-bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_black_hole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_of_particle_collisions_at_the_Large_Hadron_Collider

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=14947&dict=CALD&topic=accidents-involving-vehicles
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=2188&dict=CALD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_holes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worm_holes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_dimension
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_hawkings

Food: Eggette @ Mammy Pancake

Oops, missed Monday's entry, but expected, I suppose most of you are too lazy to be reading anything, or like me, too busy enjoying the holidays and thus failed to keep up with work. But everyone will start working tomorrow and so it is high time we start picking up our usual pace. I hope you enjoyed the talk by Warren Buffett. He was absolutely hilariously intelligent! While writing this now, I am watching it, just makes me laugh every time yet very enlightening!

During the Easter holidays, I went searching for nice snacks and food near Tsim Sha Tsui area, and one of the snacks I tried is one of Hong Kong's renowned local snack -- eggette. And Hung Hom has the best!

Chocolate and Original

Basic knowledge tells us that all you need are 2 steel eggette mould, some sort of egg and flour mixture and electricity and there you have the eggette you want. Well, yes and no. Like a lot of food critics say, "The simpler it seems, the better skills it takes." Eggette doesn't seem much different from waffles or pancakes you get from McDonald's, but then the skills involved can be so much more demanding. Watching the production of the Mammy Pancake, I finally understand what it means by skills and how minor improvements from the existing skills can make such a big difference in the quality.

Hygienic "kitchen"

What is the key? Well, I can't say I know the recipe, because I really don't. But from my observation, they make their eggette slowly, real slowly. I have seen one store down Kimberley Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, and that man juggles between five eggette moulds and he serves 10 customers in 10 minutes, make 10 eggettes every single minute and people lined up quickly leave with their order. No problem at all for that guy! But the eggettes taste just as normal as any other ones you can find almost anywhere else. On the other hand, Mammy Pancake's staff spent at least 3 to 4 minutes to make one eggette, and the long queue of customers have to wait for 15 minutes for their food but yet they waited! This is the business you really want!!

And what important the most is, Mammy Pancake does eggettes just the way I wanted.

Chocolate filling, not so sweet, but too filling for me

Most eggette around Hong Kong are thin, empty and crispy, and I thought I liked that because I thought that was the best it could get, I had never thought that a full filling eggette ball can taste so soft!!! Just look at those air spaces inside the eggette ball!!! I ordered chocolate and original; the original suits me best, it was SO rich in the aroma of eggs. The chocolate was nice enough to share, but definitely too filling for one to finish whole. The reason being, the staff were too generous with the chocolate. I prefer them to be a little more stingy.

Despite the chocolate concern, this has to be the best so far!! I am waiting to try the charcoal-made version, but before that, I will be back for more!!! Go try it!!!

Something extra for you. In Denmark, the closest to Hong Kong's eggette is called Æbleskiver. Though they look more like Japanese Octopus Balls and even the long metal needles used in the production look exactly the same, they actually are pancakes.

Average waiting time: 15 minutes. Make your order first and they will give you a token with number. They will call you when your order is ready.

Delicious Rating: 9 / 10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggette

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aebleskiver

http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=32334
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2074866

Video: Warren Buffett's MBA Talk @ University of Florida (1998)

It's Friday again! And it is the start of the Easter holidays, I suppose no one will be reading my blog during this time. But should there be some hardworking students out there, and you are looking for something light yet more advanced and will improve both your English as well as your knowledge in investment, here is something I want to recommend to you:

Warren Buffett's MBA talk at the University of Florida in 1998

Warren Buffett is not only highly intelligent, his pace of speaking is also really really fast. He loves to use metaphors in his speeches and he throws them out like at bullet's speed. I am most impressed by that! Do rewind a few times if you have to.

There are 10 parts to this MBA talk, so you can watch the next one from the links below.

Transcript can be found on this website.

Take your time and enjoy absorbing his wisdom! Happy Easter Holidays!!!


Resources:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/03/quotation-warren-buffett.html

Watch all : http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=leizhg&view=videos

Part  1 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfuXKpMFUjc
Part  2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1LiATYSajw
Part  3 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7m7ifUz7r0
Part  4 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caFD7bwkuEc
Part  5 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYx-Cr_RVzE
Part  6 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvDlAlSnog
Part  7 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScIIvUj1xGY
Part  8 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-PobeU4Ox0
Part  9 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvYUFZQ44tM
Part 10 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sgCYOeYrnw

Food and Restaurant: Pizza-Box

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/06/pizza.jpg

I love pizzas, like I love all other Italian food, but pizza definitely is my favourite. Hm.... soft creamy Mozzarella cheese with spicy, crunchy pepperoni. Yum!!! I love them!

I could go on forever about the pizza I like, but just to make things shorter for now, I will share with you my favourite pizza takeaway/delivery provider in Hong Kong -- Pizza-Box.

I know a lot of people like Pizza Hut, but I got sick of all those seemingly-creative-but-in-fact-strange pizzas and the notoriously oily pan-fried crust.

I like something more original, something closer to the traditional Italian pie, something that isn't oily in the crust, but yeasty and powdery, and it all started off when there was Deep Pan Pizza and Domino's Pizza back in my time in London.

I remember they were actually great! I enjoyed having pizzas with a past-away friend Michael and his parents. Deep Pan Pizza had pizza buffet, and we would keep pouring down cheese powder onto the pizza slices before devouring them. Those were the good old times and the beginning of my love for pizzas.

I didn't get to go for pizza buffet often, so when I couldn't, I would beg mum to order delivery, and then came Domino's Pizza.

To cut short the story, I continue to order pizza delivery from Domino's Pizza. Until they finally retreated entirely from the Hong Kong market.

Then the company which bought franchise from Domino's Pizza continued to operate, and named their company, Pizza-Box, keeping the original branches used during Domino's Pizza's time.[1]

Why Domino's Pizza couldn't do well in Hong Kong? I have no idea. Could it be this?

I think Domino's Pizza pizza tasted fine in the past, as far as I can remember, but Pizza-Box's pizzas taste even better, if you know which to order, that is.

Pizza-Box offers generous pizza toppings and the pies are really economical! I usually go for the buy-one-get-one-free offer because I like their pies a lot, so good that I have never tried any other things they sell!

My recommendation is, order the Crunchy Thin Crust and you can avoid the uncooked dough that appears in their Classic Hand Toss Crust. I personally like BBQ sauce base, but the original tomato sauce and the Japanese curry sauce base taste fine. As for the type of pizza, anything. Any types taste great on the pizza menu.

So, give it a whirl! Particularly when you are having parties with friends, but if you want a restaurant instead, you'll have to wait for my next recommendation. Because Pizza-Box's pizzas are not the best pizzas in Hong Kong yet. Pizza-Box is only the first on my pizza delivery provider's list, not pizza restaurant's.


Vocabulary:
notorious -- famous for something bad
crust -- the pastry on the bottom and sometimes covering a pie
devour -- to eat something eagerly and in large amounts so that nothing is left
retreat -- [I often + adverb or preposition] to go away from a place or person in order to escape from fighting or danger
dough -- [C or U] flour mixed with water and often yeast, fat or sugar so that it is ready for baking
give it a whirl -- to attempt to do something, often for the first time


Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozzarella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepperoni
http://www.pizzabox.com.hk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/deep-pan-pizza-chain-to-disappear-1152521.html
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr1.htm?inputstrrest=domino&district_id=&inputcategory=all

[1] http://www.pizzabox.com.hk/companyprofile.htm

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=54321&dict=CALD
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=59754&dict=CALD&topic=pastry-and-pies
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=21379&dict=CALD&topic=eating
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=67540&dict=CALD&topic=responding-to-an-attack
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=23449&dict=CALD&topic=flour-and-yeast
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=90265&dict=CALD