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2010-07-16
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There is always a bully at school. Instead of being the uber-cool kid, he's strong on the outside, weak on the inside. often vulnerable or ended up sobbing in the bathroom type. The psychology within the bully is common but often avoided of discussions, not because we don't want to expose them, but possibly because there is a bully in all of us -- at times when we get cocky and say things or show off we're better than others because we have certain experiences, first hand or from other sources.
Chairman Cheng, we all heard the story, so overplayed in the past couple weeks since its opening in its convenient corner shop location. The shop showcases trophies upfront, and a never-ending list of awards won. The Taiwanese shop collaborated with local KUEN FAT Restaurant to open this shop, serving both the Chairman's classic beef noodles as well as signatures from the collaborated restaurant, in short, one can find everything in it -- something Hongkie-style, curries Malay-style, and a whole lot of deep fried treats. The Chairman Cheng menu consists of two pages over the entire menu, not to mention an array of Taiwanese tea parlour beverages. Located at the corner shop, the shop had a challenge when it comes to fixing the seating. Through a narrow shop space the owner could only maximize seating in the narrowest of space. It's not helping when you are larger than a size 2, or a grown man. The seats themselves are extremely 'shallow', in a sense that anyone bigger is likely to have problem sitting comfortably without half their bottoms in midair. But that, can't be help.
The NOODLES with ROASTED BEEF, BEEF TENDON, and BEEF TRIPE (金牌紅燒三寶麵, $48) arrived in hot dark brown broth, with thick wavy noodles bathed in it. Three Treasures -- beef tendons, honeycomb tripe, and pieces of stewed beef, are dished up across the top of the noodles, rouneded out by a sprinkle of pickles and choy-sum. A layer of gloss afloats the noodles. Was it part of the Yunnan tradition of the "over the bridge noodles" or was I imagining it?
The noodles themselves were wonderful, it bears the curiously surprisingly bite and chewiness, commonly known to many as "Q". THe elastic noodles stretch and relax between bites, as if they've got a life on their own. The broth, supposedly tasting rich and beefy, was not quite there. After you get past the layer of oil by brushing it aside, the broth beneath was surprisingly thin, with the faintest of star anise and cassia bark lurking beneath. It was just a hint, not big enough to join in the overall aroma that entertains the palate. The flavour of the broth was so light that all the supposedly present tastes were there, and harmonizing, and so extremely light that one couldn't help but wonder, "did they add water?". The vegetables are alright, and so are the pickles, which bear a decided crunch with a sharp vinegary tang. But the meats were as predicted, a major disappointment. The honeycomb tripe, usually sliced into strips, was now in thin angular slices. The shape of the slices didn't help it from being chewy and rubbery. The problem with them is that some slices are rubbery and some slices are soft. Did they all come from one piece? Or was there a stewing method that can allocate the stewing in certain parts so that one part is softer than the other? Only the Chairman can tell.
The tendons were nowhere near 'gelatinous'. In fact, some smaller pieces were downright hard. It's not at a point that will crunch anyone's teeth, but it's cooked on the very surface but once you sink your teeth in you're likely to get your teeth stuck (and when you pull that piece out you can see an indent of your teethmarks on it) . For the stewed beef, please read on in this next order of noodles.
The PRESERVED BEEF WITH NOODLES (人氣牛肉乾拌麵, $42), I believed, was a misunderstood dish. Some complained about the noodles clumping together, some complained about the oil. And at the initial presentation at the table. It didn't look anything like it. But once the chopsticks were in action, all the problems arose. The noodles were cooked through and had wonderful textures like the previous bowl. However they did clump together like one big piece. (on hindsight I should've just stuck my chopsticks in and see if I could deliver a picture of me holding the entire bowlful capacity of noodles with two chopsticks, as if I hold them on a stick. The picture never happened but the possibility was sound.) The noodles, upon stirring with the "sauce", turned into a glistening brown mass that may have reminded me of an absent-minded cook who forgot he already blessed the noodles with sesame oil 3 times in the past minute. It was so laden with oil that the noodles were so slurpable without any broth. The oil may have been there to make slurping easier, but it certainly did not make consuming the noodles any easier than it should've been. The The stewed beef, present in both noodles, were tough. There was only one word for it. They were also very dry and turned into shreds everytime someone takes a bite into it. It feels like they have made soup out of it and decided to throw them in for substance. They forgot about the textures though. Some pieces were so tough that the teeth gave in and gave up during its chewing motions. The dried-tofu sauce acted like a sauce for the noodles as well. Yet the sauce itself was so sugary sweet and the tofu was inconsistently textured (some turned mushy some were very chewy). If there is anything good about the sauce -- most of the dried tofu dices were of the same size-- uniformly cut up. It was also uniformly oily like the mess below the noodles. At one point it felt like noodles stirred with brown butter with an overdose of brown sugar and bovril mixed together.
There was a "marinated dried flower"(滷花干, $18) in the menu which was supposedly typical Taiwanese food -- by cooking some fried tofu (cut in a way to open up on contact to heat) And then the Chairman decided to take the specialty off the menu because they couldn't source it anymore. I wondered why couldn't they source somewhere else if it's something they take pride in so much, and emphasized in so many interviews about how they specially sourced their materials to make sure that dishes coming out of that kitchen is the best? Why can't they try harder? Was it because they have confidence in themselves over other competitors? Or was it because they spent countless hours trying to set the story straight to people who have never been there, trying to change their minds about returning to generate a popularity buzz? That, let's leave it for the readers and the owners to decide.
Backstory: The first visit at Chairman Cheng was a pleasant one. It was on the second day of its opening. The noodles were chewy while the broth was rich and flavorful. The beef were inconsistent -- hard and soft at the same time, not nearly enough to be called "good". The diners are squeezed into seats while idling staff were messaging on the cell phones while hungry diners waited outside looking yearningly at one or two stray tables waiting to be seated.
After a few weeks, some things have changed. There were no longer stray tables, the line was forever, and diners can't wait to see whether they can get a taste of something straight from Taiwan. It's not that Chairman's Cheng's mission has gone down the drain, or that he's failed in impressing the local crowd with his baby. That matter was worse, it got stuck with inconsistency in so many ways and levels that things were good sometimes at something but bad other times. One could only wish that they were lucky enough to get a perfect bowl of noodles they were promised to from pamphlets and even the words from the Chairman himself.
The proud words of the Chairman still resound at the staff's ears, convincing them they are the future monopolizing the local Beef Noodle market, and that only they can beat themselves. It could be true, if one decided to spent more effort and time into perfecting their own signature, not parading around with a God-complex thinking they already ARE better than everyone, ticking off every offensive box in the rulebook putting down other joints. People are eating it up -- the noodles and the words, but whether or not people are buying into the failed promise of an establishment that acted like a bully in a school playground, only time will tell whether they can deliver the promise they brag they already got it in the bag. Real or imaginary, success or failure, only the owners there can tell.
Note: On a completely different issue, the translation of the menu truly is bad. Not as bad as "Albert Yip", but it's close to that. They had the nerve to translate "滷花干"directly into "Marinated Dried Flower" (which has no flower of any kind in the dish. Gotta give them points for trying, but not nearly trying hard enough to impress.
張貼
