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2009-01-07
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Seeing members on the forum wanting to join dinners make me realize that I, coming rather late to these dinners, have become the rather "experienced" bunch to some. OR event diners often take pictures before they eat, and you can easily spot them at a restaurant -- When you see a group of people excited holding their cameras up and "snap-snap" before they excitedly hold up their chopsticks and devour any dish descended upon them, those are the OR aficionados. Just a few weeks ago I was at one or
Rice-rolls(腸粉) here at 堂記 have been famous, so famous that the news clips (Chinese and English...newspapers and guidebooks alike) were stuck all over the wall area if it wasn't already spread out by the menu. No fancy lighting or decor, tables were laid on a platform against the store. There was an unwritten rule here though, if you were here only to get rice rolls, you'll wait 30 minutes or more. But if you get a bowl of congee, they rice rolls will be delivered soon enough. Now that's smart enough marketing strategy. Knowing that their congee wasn't as perfect at the standard on par with the rice noodles, the store managed to make you order them if you want to have the better product. I wondered why McDonald's haven't thought of that earlier? Event Organizer decided that we'd try every rice roll on the menu. There were 10 of us, that should be enough. And so we ordered, you should've seen that waitress' face. Her face turned pale as I could imagine she secretly gasped in half horror and half disbelief, thinking, "What are these people made of?"
The Dried Bokchoy and Pork Bone Congee (菜乾豬骨粥)was a bowl of chunky filling with a surprise ingredient -- Duck Gizzard. The gizzard was rather tough with a bite to it. The dried bok-choy, rehydrated, offered a rather unconventional vegetable element to the congee, while the pork was meaty enough not to gnaw on, despite eating with a crowd while everyone else was watching. Then the rice rolls arrived, despite they all looked alike, in the easiest of classification, they were presented in different colour plates. Barbecued Pork ($13) arrived first, as chopped bits of Barbecued pork encased in a translucent white rice roll. It was steamed fast in a standing steamer and quickly rolled, cut, and served. The rice noodle itself was white as snow, steaming with the clean aroma of rice. The slippery texture was due to a few dribbles of oil added to improve the look of it. Even the soy sauce tasted slightly sweeter in this one. The dried shrimp ones ($13) were more cylindrical in shape and the shrimps, dried at first, were soaked long enough to taste like fresh ones. The beef roll ($13) had a complex flavour meat base and on top of that I could taste strong notes of coriander leaves and dried tangerine peel laced through the otherwise soft meaty filling. Pig Livers ($13) were a favorite of mine, and in here the cooks didn't fail to impress us with chunky meaty slices of pig's liver, with a slight starchy texture as in just about any good liver, the texture combination between the soft rice roll and the liver made a strong mark in this experience here.
I found myself making an expression with a "Mmm....." oozing out. No sounds were made, and clearly I missed the part when everyone's snapping pictures, yet again. Fresh shrimp rice rolls ($14) featured generous amount of shrimps used here. They were of larger size and tasted fresh, not one of those dead ones you know have seen better days in their refrigerator. The Chinese sausage rice roll ($14) and "Roasted Duck rice roll" ($17) were the main stars here in the whole trip. The Roasted duck rice rolls had torn pieces of roasted duck, crispy skin and meat and all, stuffed and enrobed in the pale rice noodles. You can literally see the filling inside. Chinese sausage rice roll was a surprise, as I realized both the Chinese sausage and the liver sausage were used in this one. You will experience the fabulousness of this rice roll as you see flavorful juices oozed out from the inside of the roll towards the end of each roll, moistening the bottom ones on the same dish. The taste was not as heavy as I thought it'd be. Creative and different indeed.
Last but not least we had the crispy dough roll (炸兩, $10). It did not disappoint us either. Half a piece of crispy fried dough, quickly wrapped around skin-soft rice noodles and served. The dough filling was still crispy when served, and the accompanying soy sauce was sweeter than most, and only lightly flavouring the roll, not drowning it at all.
The "Fish rice roll' was a major disappointment though. The fish filling was turned into mush and the coriander leaves weren't quite leaves, nor chopped. They were entire stalks of coriander, with stems. The flavour was of course overpowered by the herb. By the time you bit into it it's all coriander with a grassy aftertaste. By the time the pictures were taken, we were so drawn to trying all types we found ourselves taking each roll apart and try the fillings. The rice rolls itself were slippery and soft, with a pleasant flavour even eaten plain. The filling may be creative as I'd kill to have Chinese sausages or roasted duck any time of the day, I may just have a plain one next time, with plain congee... I wondered if I'll have as dandy a time as my first time here.
Note: Those who have never been to 堂記 should note that It opened Wednesday to Sunday each week, and they don't open until 3 pm. You fellas can forget about having lunch here. Anytime after lunch would be just fine. Expect long lines and extended waiting time.
张贴
