Jul. 26th, 2010 03:32 pm
Beijing in Chicago by way of Hong Kong
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muckefuckBefore meeting up with the others at Sun Wah, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu and I took advantage of our proximity to Tai Nam Market to stock up on some sundries like sesame paste and low-sodium soy sauce. In the fruit section, he spotted some deep red lychees in plastic boxes that called out for us to try them. They wouldn't fit easily into my bag, so when we arrived at the restaurant, I simply placed them on the table next to me. When a waiter asked us where we bought them, I told him and then opened to box to offer him one. At this point, the daughter of the owner came by and said, "Now that's ironic, the white guy offering the Chinese guy a lychee!"
It was one of several small ironies that evening, the biggest one being that the ultimate architect of the gathering, M³, couldn't be there. As I was sleeping in Saturday morning, he called to inform us that he was without electricity and confined to his condo complex pending an organised evacuation. His unit was perfectly fine, but apparently floodwaters had cut off all access by car. His landline was dead and he was conserving his cell, so it was much later that day before I found out he'd been ferried over to where friends could meet him and take him back home with them to the south suburbs.
In the meantime, Uncle Betty, Diego, and I were surreptitiously observing other tables of attractive homos and praising the Sun Wah business model. In particular, they were filling us in on the role of a TimeOut article in opening round eyes to the Peking duck on offer there. It's not on the menu and nothing I would've thought to order for myself, but at others' behest I'd pre-ordered one for our table. But after our server's excellent demonstration of his top-notch tableside carving skills, we watched him reprise the performance all about the room.
Unlike the Peking duck we had at the world-famous Quanjude Restaurant in Beijing, nothing of this bird was wasted. Our whisked-away carcass soon returned to us as a tasty broth and as encassiated fried rice. All it took to round out the meal for four was an order of short ribs and a dish of mustard greens. (Technically, I think our dish may have been 香酥鴨 or "crispy aromatic duck" rather than orthodox 北京烤鸭. It showed signs of being deep-fried instead of roasted and was served with bao rather than bing.)
I felt sorry for poor M³ until I discovered that one of his hosts is a gourmet chef. As we sipped tea and shared out scraps, he was reportedly dining on prosciutto-wrapped bay scallops and chèvre-stuffed pork roast. Sunday he was allowed back to retrieve his car, but the complex won't be certified habitable again until tomorrow at the earliest. So it will be some time yet before we'll be able to schedule a return visit for more roast duck.
monshu and I took advantage of our proximity to Tai Nam Market to stock up on some sundries like sesame paste and low-sodium soy sauce. In the fruit section, he spotted some deep red lychees in plastic boxes that called out for us to try them. They wouldn't fit easily into my bag, so when we arrived at the restaurant, I simply placed them on the table next to me. When a waiter asked us where we bought them, I told him and then opened to box to offer him one. At this point, the daughter of the owner came by and said, "Now that's ironic, the white guy offering the Chinese guy a lychee!"It was one of several small ironies that evening, the biggest one being that the ultimate architect of the gathering, M³, couldn't be there. As I was sleeping in Saturday morning, he called to inform us that he was without electricity and confined to his condo complex pending an organised evacuation. His unit was perfectly fine, but apparently floodwaters had cut off all access by car. His landline was dead and he was conserving his cell, so it was much later that day before I found out he'd been ferried over to where friends could meet him and take him back home with them to the south suburbs.
In the meantime, Uncle Betty, Diego, and I were surreptitiously observing other tables of attractive homos and praising the Sun Wah business model. In particular, they were filling us in on the role of a TimeOut article in opening round eyes to the Peking duck on offer there. It's not on the menu and nothing I would've thought to order for myself, but at others' behest I'd pre-ordered one for our table. But after our server's excellent demonstration of his top-notch tableside carving skills, we watched him reprise the performance all about the room.
Unlike the Peking duck we had at the world-famous Quanjude Restaurant in Beijing, nothing of this bird was wasted. Our whisked-away carcass soon returned to us as a tasty broth and as encassiated fried rice. All it took to round out the meal for four was an order of short ribs and a dish of mustard greens. (Technically, I think our dish may have been 香酥鴨 or "crispy aromatic duck" rather than orthodox 北京烤鸭. It showed signs of being deep-fried instead of roasted and was served with bao rather than bing.)
I felt sorry for poor M³ until I discovered that one of his hosts is a gourmet chef. As we sipped tea and shared out scraps, he was reportedly dining on prosciutto-wrapped bay scallops and chèvre-stuffed pork roast. Sunday he was allowed back to retrieve his car, but the complex won't be certified habitable again until tomorrow at the earliest. So it will be some time yet before we'll be able to schedule a return visit for more roast duck.
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