Asian & Fusion Cuisine:
FooD or Culture?
The Clarendon Restaurant
Techniques make its unique
Wok Hay (28 May 2022)
The aroma and flavour that a hot wok imparts to food during stir-frying. Unfortunately, it will dissipate when the food gets cool. Yet, the second chef of the Clarendon restaurant is cooking the heirloom cauliflower with black garlic. He has been working as a chef for 5 years and specialises in Cantonese and Malaysian cuisine.
When asked why do you think wok hay is so important,
“The dishes… no Wok Hay, no spiritual”, he replied in Cantonese.
Instead of saying wok hay is a cooking technique, it is more like a cultural representation.
Malaysia and Chinese style
Chicken Laksa (28 May 2022)
The distinctive and fiery sunset-colored curry soup base with richness of coconuts milk is the most essential part of a outstanding laksa. Coconuts milk need to be handle carefully since once boiled, it would become sour and affect the soup base. The fried shallots, the unique sweetness similar with onion and a hint of garlic is seldom mentioned but indispensable seasoning. The thin vermicelli noodles can absorb more of the soup's spice and flavour. Chef need maintain the vibran purplish colour of the eggplants by adding salt and deep fry for two minutes before serving.
Tender or Light?
Black Pepper Beef Crispy Noodle (28 May 2022)
Black pepper sauce with beef is the perfect combination and easily found it in Asia cuisine. The light texture with a slight crunch of the crispy noodles and the tender and succulent beef sliced blend with the slightly spicy sauce can bring a luxurious texture in your mouth. The sweetness of red capsicum and onion can make the taste better in between the complex texture between crunchy and chewy. The rich texture of the dish can definitely give you a surprise after a long day.
Yeet Hay
King Prawns with Wasabi Mayo (28 May 2022)
These fried little golden crispy prawns coated in Wasabi Mayo and embellished with black sameme and other spices, is the best served with Alcohol as a side dish. After the biting the prawn into half, the contrast of the al dente prawns and the crispy coated wasabi mayo make the richness of texture. The little spice from Wasabi and the carrots and potato salad ease the oily taste from the deep fried prawn. Also, it feel less Yeet Hay which can convince Asian parents to order.
Mongkok Tea House - Camberwell
Why Cha Chaan Teng and Mongkok?
Jack Lin (8 June 2022)
The owner of Mongkok Tea House and Manchuria Bar.
When he was asked why choosing Mongkok as the restaurant name, ‘Both Mongkok and Manchuria was a dangerous places and both start with letter “M”. ’ which make a coordination of the venues. The 80s Hong Kong is more popular than the Taiwanese culture and also after the history line Qing dynasty, the Cha chaan teng theme was chosen.
Instead of providing fast-paced cha chaan teng food and service, Jack would rather spend days to prepare ingredients especially his favourite dishes Honey Roasted Dry Aged Duck.
The Man Behind the Curtain
Jack Tsai (8 June 2022)
The executive chef of Mongkok Tea House, joined last year October during the lockdown. Canadian-born Taiwanese and the working experiences allows Jack to combined both Western and Eastern elements into the dishes. Insist and diverse culture can be shown from the menu and food making processes.When Jack Lin suggests using imported ingredients even there is a conflicts in between them, he refuses and insists on making everything from scratch. All of the dishes on Mongkok tea house menu are in charged by Chef Jack.
Delicacies Vs Plain Ingredients
Fried Chicken and Waffle (8 June 2022)
Egg puff, a traditional and popular Hong Kong street food combine with caviar, consider as one of the most expensive ingredient turn out to be an interesting fusion. The maple syrup on fried chicken and the Konbu Crème Fraiche spread between the fried chicken and waffle not only add more flavors to the egg puff, but also neutralise the greasiness of the fried chicken. It cover the most signature elements of American, Hong Kong, Canadian and European food from expensive to affordable price range.
Iconic Cantonese Bakeries with Western Diet
Buttermilk Pineapple Bun (4 June 2022)
Pineapple bun, one the signature of cha chaan teng is made with sourdough in Mongkok Tea House. Replace the usual butter and bread with homemade pineapple bun and Vegemite char-siu butter, take the original flavour to a new level.
The salty taste of shar-siu smooth butter and the texture of pork floss reminds Chef Jack Tsai’s taste of steamed char-siu bun. After Jack Tsai requested the dishes to be fusion, the similarities of Vegemite and sweet sauce became the great choice.
Blooming Pork
Quince Sweet and Sour Pork Belly (4 June 2022)
The first Cantonese dishes come to Chef Jack Tsai mind is the Sweet and Sour Pork Belly. While a dish with merging with carrot jerky and black pudding rice cakes is rarely found in traditional Chinese cuisine. The sauce used in this dish is made by elderflower and used on the top for a little decoration. The surface of pork belly was slightly crunchy and the fall-apart tender started melting will bring you to a new journey in your mouth.
Blend & Mix
Milk Tea Ice Cream (4 June 2022)
Yuenyeung, a Cantonese drink, a mixture of Hong Kong-style milk tea with coffee, can be commonly found in Cha Chaan Teng.
The pudding-like ice cream has a Tiramisu-like flavour on the first bite before the milk tea emerges.
‘The secret is to add the chocolate powder into the condensed milk’, by Jack Tsai.
Bittersweet isn't just a taste of the ice cream, but also to the dish's creation. ‘The dish appear because of the $120 per kg leftover tealeaves for making Hong Kong- style milk tea last year during lockdown’, said by Jack Lin.
