Father's Day Banquet Lunch

Father's Day was a day before Grandpa's 80th birthday this year. The extended family gathered at Sea King Restaurant for a huge banquet lunch that started off with Peking duck. I didn't photograph every dish, but here are some notables:


The Peking duck wasn't sliced properly. Usually the skin is sliced and served with the pancakes. Then the duck meat is stir-fried and served with lettuce to wrap. And the third rendition is supposed to use the bones for soup. We got two versions of duck that day; the skin, with a bit of meat attached, on top of disappointing limp shrimp chips, and then a plate of the duck meat.


A family favourite, shrimp paste balls, arrived. These are the same mixture that restaurants use to make those stuffed crab claws that you get during Chinese wedding banquets. Grandpa likes these too.




Grandpa wasn't happy to see the Chinese roast chicken. In his opinion, if we got the duck, then we didn't need this. We had to remind him that it was part of the set meal and to try and enjoy it. The chicken skin was so crispy and the meat was very tender and juicy. The chicken is usually left mainly untouched, since it tastes great reheated the next day. But the chicken was finished.


This was an unfamiliar dish of young snow pea shoots with crab meat and egg whites. The family really enjoyed the dish.


The lobsters with ginger and onion were spot on for me that day.


The last two main dishes were fried rice and braised e-fu noodles. The e-fu noodles were slightly smoky and tasted even better when mixed with some of the lobster and ginger onion sauce.


The set lunch was capped off with a plate of almond cookies.


But our lunch finished with a fragrant durian layer cake from Kowloon Market (about $23/lb of durian), which my uncle picked up beforehand. Although we were in a private room, I still felt bad for anyone who was eating in the restaurant. The room reeked of durian and we overheard people talking about the smell. Most of the family loves durian. I find that I have to be in the mood for it, otherwise, the smell ruins any curiosity. I had a small slice that day and that's all I needed. After scraping off most of the icing, I got into the fluffy cake and durian, which was very creamy and custardy.

The banquet lunch was paced at a reasonable pace, especially considering that it was during their busy Sunday dim sum service. The portions were good too. There was enough for everyone to have at least one serving of every dish, except the Peking duck -- but we made the miscalculation. We still had leftovers after eating, but none of the good stuff.

~

Sea King Restaurant
1558 Merivale Road
Ottawa, ON
613-228-8819

Kim's Restaurant Revisited

I've tried to suppress my rice noodle cravings, but a combination of being sick and the cold weather made me break. I needed something to boost my energy. I was thinking stir-fried rice noodles. The one with sauce. It has been quite a while since visiting them.

Out of all the Chinese restaurants in Ottawa that I've been to, only Kim's Restaurant makes the stir-fried rice noodles with enough smokiness. I've only experienced only one so-so rendition of the noodles here once out of the 10ish times I've eaten in. We've done takeout twice and the food didn't taste good at all. Speaking of not tasting good; Grandpa ended up trying this place with my parents sometime earlier this year. Or was it last year? The point is, he wanted to see what the hype was after I repeatedly told him that that dish was great. Let's just say that they left the restaurant unimpressed. I wasn't there, but he said that the noodles were terrible because they were black. Dad agreed and said that it was way too smoky. I got a bit defensive when I heard the news. What? Their noodles are great! How was it too black?

Determined to prove them wrong Wanting to confirm that the restaurant still made a solid plate of rice noodles with chicken, we headed out to dinner.

We pick and chose the three dish meal which included soup, rice, and dessert. There was a tepid bowl of black eyed beans, chicken feet, and pork soup to start. Other than that, we had the fish fillet with black bean sauce, shrimp with eggplant, braised beef brisket, beef with asparagus, and rice noodles with chicken (replaced the bean sprouts with choi sum).. I really enjoyed the fish fillet. I know they use a cheap fish like basa but the fact that they didn't drown it in the sauce made it better because it kept the fillets crispy. There was plenty of sauce for rice too. As for the braised beef brisket, we were all deeply disappointed in three things. Firstly, there wasn't enough flavour infused into the beef. Secondly, the dish was watery and didn't have the thicker gravy sauce. We really enjoy the New Hong Shing's version of the braised beef brisket (the one in the pot). Lastly, the daikon tasted sour so we asked the owner. She took away the dish and let us choose another dish to replace it. The beef and asparagus was the dish that we chose. It was very salty, but when eaten with plenty of rice or rice noodles, it was fine. Of course, I wasn't surprised when the rice noodles arrived with a delicate aroma of wok hei. There wasn't enough of the sauce sadly. Since there were dishes like the black bean fish fillet and the salty beef with asparagus, it all worked out.

As we're enjoying dinner, I had to ask the question: How do the noodles taste? My parents' answer: good.

Huzzah! 

To cap off the night, we were given some warm silken tofu for dessert. Apparently my parents had the silken tofu last time they dined with Grandpa. This was new to me. Mom didn't say the exact words, but essentially said that this was the best silken tofu dessert it Ottawa. The dessert was silky and fragile, and when drizzled with the simple syrup, that was lightly imbued with ginger, the warm dessert was like a warm fuzzy hug.

Seafood Banquet at O Mei

Mom had a hankering for seafood. We were in the Richmond Hill and Markham area all weekend so there were lots of options. She flip flopped between a Chinese buffet to a Chinese restaurant. I was pushing for something a bit more special, so once she settled on the latter, I did a few searches and found a candidate. We couldn't get a reservation for a decent time, so we went for the second option instead.


There were a few restaurants that served lobsters a few different ways. The place we chose, O Mei, just happened to be very close to where we were staying. O Mei's specialty breaking down a giant lobster of your choosing and cooking them into four different ways: steamed, stir-fried, deep-fried, and added into fried rice -- all with one lobster. Fancy, eh? Our family is used to the ginger and onion sauce. We actually make it at home. This was taking it to the next level. It was just what I was looking for.

We arrived a bit early for our reservation and were seated promptly to the rear corner of the store. The menus were all in Chinese. Luckily two people knew how to read it. Our server arrived and began talking really quickly in Cantonese. When we responded in Mandarin, he quickly stopped and immediately rambled on in Mandarin. When we asked questions, he replied so quickly, I started to think he was being timed. Jimmy ordered and the waiter disappeared with the menus but returned shortly after with a huge lobster.

"This is 8 and a quarter pounds", he said showing the live lobster. Upon first glance, the huge lobster looked closer to 10lbs. Mom thought it was too big as well, so we asked for a smaller one. The other lobster arrived. It looked much closer to 8lb but it was apparently 7.5lb. "We'll take it." We thought we were ready for what was to come. We didn't know exactly what or how many dishes we ordered. In hindsight, I'm not sure why we didn't just ask one of the waiters to be sure. With this uncertainty in mind, we sat in our chairs and O Mei began the ride.


A lazy susan-sized plate of steamed lobster claws with garlic and bean thread noodles arrived. It was lightly seasoned and tame compared to how we normally prepare lobster. The noodles were great with the lobster.


Next up, stir-fried lobster with Maggi. This was new to all of us and was a favourite. It was more on the sweeter side, which was a pleasant surprise. We were all so impressed with this rendition, we wished there was double the amount on the plate. Andrew took the head and picked it clean after failed attempts by Dad, Jimmy, and myself. There wasn't any of the guts aka tomalley (had to google that) though. The kitchen saved that for the last lobster dish.


The waiter came to change our plates, which were already filled with empty lobster shells before the third dish arrived. The lobster was deep-fried and topped with chopped bits chilli, onions, noodle bits and lots of fried garlic.  This was reminiscent of the salt and pepper pork chops at the New Hong Shing. Mom couldn't believe they used so much garlic in this.


And the finale: Chinese fried rice with the tomalley. Why not? At this point, we all began to slow down a bit. Andrew was hilariously just getting started. While everyone else kept trying the dishes as they arrived, he kept his own steady pace. That was the end of our 7.5lb lobster. To sum it up, the fried rice and steamed dish were alright. It was all about that Maggi seasoned lobster.

I began to sip some more tea in anticipation for the desserts. We all were.

But then this happened..

Rice Noodles Two Ways

Whether it's homemade or at a restaurant, Grandpa really loves his lobster with ginger and onion sauce.

Last week, Mom and I happened to have the same day off. We did some grocery shopping and went over to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa bought some lobsters that were on sale. Mom decided to make rice noodles with chinese broccoli and beef with a side of lobster. I requested rice noodles with lobster with the ginger onion sauce.










Mom and I started with some of the prep for both dishes. They're actually both easy to make.

Side note: do you keep the green onion stems like we do? We let them re-grow their roots and then add them into our herb garden or indoor pots.

Since most of the prep was finished, the only thing that really needed to be made before cooking the rice noodles with beef and chinese broccoli was to make a slurry for the sauce. It was made of water, cornstarch, oyster sauce, cooking wine, sugar, and salt. Oh and the sliced beef was seasoned with some soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, and cornstarch.


Mom and Dad cooked while I helped out in the kitchen. The chinese broccoli was blanched and then rinsed off in cold water to stop the cooking process. Then in a smoking hot pan containing vegetable oil, the minced garlic and sliced onions were added into the pan to cook for about 30 seconds. Some of the stalks of the broccoli were tossed in for a few seconds before the rice noodles were added in and stirred together. Some water, dark soy sauce, sugar, and salt joined in the mix to season the noodles. After another five minutes, the noodles were transfered onto a plate.




The sauce started off the same way as the noodles -- a smoking hot pan with vegetable oil, garlic, and onions. The rest of the blanched broccoli was added in. After a few seconds,  the marinated beef was added in and cooked for about 30 seconds before the slurry was added.

Whenever we (the kids) help out in the kitchen, we're usually good about knowing what our parents need next. That's what happens when you're involved at a young age, I guess. But that evening, I was a little slow and Mom had to ask for the slurry.

Yeah chep! -- From the South Korean drama, Pasta. See the clip here.

We adjusted the sauce to taste with some sesame oil and then added some eggs. The eggs were broken and were gently stirred into the sauce after being allowed to cook for a minute. That's it.






The chunks of lobster pieces were tossed in some cornstarch and then deep-fried. They were taken out when fully cooked, drained of oil, and then placed in a paper towel-lined plate. One batch was left in for too long and the pieces of lobsters shrunk like overcooked shrimps. Sad.

The ginger and green onion sauce for the lobster was stupidly simple. Unlike the other sauce, the sliced ginger was added into the smoking hot pan with vegetable oil. Once the aroma came out, the garlic was put in and stirred until it started to change colour. The onions went in and then the rest of the slurry joined the party. Dad added eggs to the sauce, which is optional.




We tasted and adjusted the flavour before the green onions and fried lobsters were tossed in.


There wasn't enough sauce for some reason. But with the little sauce that there was, the rice noodles tasted amazing. Fancy, huh? I have no idea why we've never done rice noodles with lobsters before. It was definitely luxurious. We'll definitely be making this again -- and I can't wait!

Ken's Birthday Dinner at Sea King

With one of our younger cousins visiting from Toronto, a few of us got together for a small birthday dinner at Sea King. I headed to the restaurant after I was finished and met up with them (Andrew, Kevin, and Ken) there.

"Alright, what does everyone want to eat?" I inquired while getting settled into my chair. It didn't matter apparently. No one was picky. "Let's try something different then."


I knew I wanted to order the shrimp-stuffed crab claws as an appetizer. It was a special occasion, so why not? Sometimes you can find deep-fried shrimp balls during dim sum. This is the king of those -- the price reflects that too; $4.50 a piece.

The shrimp-stuffed crab claws arrived piping hot with a dipping sauce of an unthickened sweet vinegar sauce. They were super plump, bouncy, and juicy. Packed with sweet shrimp covered with fried vermicelli, dinner started off on a great note.


Kevin wanted to get the black pepper steak. I was thinking of ordering a casserole pot with veggies and vermicelli on the bottom. But Andrew said he wanted to get a vegetarian dish so we went with that.

Other than the steak being over-tenderized, everyone enjoyed the black pepper steak with their bowls of rice. The vegetarian dish had a strong canned bamboo taste. I was not a fan. This was the least favourite of our table.


The last dish I ordered was the stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp and egg sauce. I've read about the dish so often in other food blogs. I was eager to give it a try.

At first, it just looked like it was a plate of shrimp and sliced Chinese vegetables in a egg sauce. But there was rice noodles hiding underneath. The sauce was quite mild. The seasoned shrimps were the saltiest note of the whole dish, while the sliced Chinese greens added a textural crunch. I'm not sure if the dish was a true representation of how it should've tasted though. Is it supposed to taste so simple?


We wrapped up Ken's birthday dinner with some complimentary dessert of red beans.

When the bill came, I just laughed when I saw the breakdown of the pricing. The most expensive part of dinner was the appetizer. Yowzas! I'd still do it over again though. It was that good.

~*~

Dim Sum Before Work

One day I started at 3pm and coincidently, Grandpa wanted to get together for lunch. Sweet!


Grandpa left the ordering to myself and Andrew. It was tempting to troll and just order one thing, laugh it off, then order more things. Very tempting.


I ordered a bunch of cheung fan because I wasn't expecting Grandpa to order stir-fried rice noodles or chow mein. I even told him that, but Grandpa's listening is suspect. He hears what he wants to hear. He ordered a plate of rice noodles with beef and chinese greens with extra sauce.




The taro dumplings were hot and crispy. The chicken feet, not pictured, was good as well -- so good that Grandpa asked for another order. I found that there was a bit too much sesame oil. Other than that, they were tender and full of flavour.


After lunch, Mom lectured me about how haw gow is a waste of money and how I should be ordering lots of shrimp siu mai instead. Yes Mom...

I definitely could've used a power nap after lunch. Since we finished with a lot of spare time, we just walked a bit before I headed to work. See? Shift work isn't all that bad.

~*~

Escape into Silence - Lilom Fish Sanctuary

Greetings from across the world! What a whirlwind summer it has been for me! Between work and sleep, it's been hard finding the time (and more importantly money!) to travel around the beautiful Philippines. 

Of course, I will try my hardest not to transform this into a travel blog and will stay true to the food.

So here is my latest trip! During the first weekend of September I was invited my a coworker to celebrate his birthday at a beautiful resort called Lilom. The resort is located in Batangas - what is considered the best region for snorkeling and scuba diving - in the small town of Anilao. 

I'm told that Lilom is the native word for Shade and it could not have been more mysterious. We arrived around 8pm due to a broken down car and some delays but it definitely added to the mystery arriving at night. 

Some brief history on the resort: originally it was a privately-owned resort that was also a fish sanctuary. As such, there were many restrictions about how many people could snorkel in the water at a time (15 max if you wanted to know) and what gear you could use. There was a sign but I was too relaxed to remember to take pictures. Within the year, the family opened up to the public and charge about 2000 Pesos (around $50) a night with breakfast, lunch, dinner and merienda (snacks remember!) included - what a deal! 

In order to get to the resort, we had to walk along the shore at low tide some distance from the parking lot and loading dock. In the picture above, you can see that it was no white sand beach but a rough kind of beach with coral reefs just 20 ft from the shore. 

We arrived just in time for dinner - buffet style. Oh man, this was some of the most delicious food I have eaten in the Philippines! On a bed of rice, I picked some teriyaki chicken: sweet of course but also just salty enough for my palate - similar to Mom's marinade for BBQ chicken during the summer but I think they shallow simmered the meat as it was quite tender.

I scooped up some delicious mushrooms stewed with pork belly and eggs. I guess this was the Filipino version of Three Layered Pork but the star was really the shitake mushrooms (or at least I think it's shitake - same texture but slightly sour flavour). Hard-boiled eggs were stewed in the sauce as well. And then, some delicious pancit (noodles!). These white, glass rice noodles were stir-fried with deep-fried garlic and some stuff that made it perfectly salty - just enough to linger on your palate and make you crave more.

What you're not seeing is the most delicious mangos I have ever eaten. I think we all consumed a good 10 mangos because they were the sweetest, creamiest, most melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness that has ever blessed my tongue. It tasted so mango-y you'd think it was pumped with mango flavour extract (I hope it wasn't!)

The next morning we woke up to overcast skies that finally gave way to an intense Filipino sun around 10am. Oh yeah, we slept in these amazing bamboo houses called Kubo's that are very traditional. I got a king-sized bed to myself and while the lights were out, the room was absolutely black. It was the soundest sleep ever and for the first time since Ottawa I was able to wake up to natural light (my apartment is facing another building so we don't get natural light ever, plus we live off a major road called EDSA...honk honk all the time...)

Breakfast was AMAZING! We were served the BEST coffee I've had in the Philippines (they don't do coffee well at all) in a French press and banana pancakes which I ate with a heaping spoonful of butter and mango jelly. They also made a (canned) tuna omelette which was alright - I mean I needed an egg with my breakfast somehow...

With the beautiful weather shining down, we decided to go snorkeling for a good two hours. I wish I had an underwater camera or a waterproof phone case because snorkeling is absolutely breathtaking! The reef was literally twenty steps from the wading pool in the picture above and was filled with all sorts of exotic fish. After not too long, it was lunch time!

This soup is the most amazing soup I have had. From what I heard, they boil the crap out of chicken bones to get a deep-flavoured broth. Then they throw in young papaya and wild corn (more starchier than the corn I'm used to in Canada) and add young pepper leaves right before serving. I think I had three servings of the soup as it had that delicious umami that made me crave more.

When I pulled myself away from the soup, I got some eggplant and liempo (pork belly). The eggplant was first grilled (it had that charred flavour) then dipped in egg, topped with sauteed onions and then pan fried. The mellow flavour of the eggplant was nicely complemented by the saltiness of the egg and the sharpness of the slightly undercooked onions. The liempo was also delicious but really tasted like any other liempo I've had in Manila.

As if I wasn't full enough after three eggplants, I created this beautiful looking bowl of dessert. Local bananas (starchier than bananas I'm used to but not as starchy as plantains) were sauteed in caramel and served to us. We took it a step further and asked for some crushed ice and yelo (milk and sugar). I peeled some rambutans and assembled this beast that took me a while to crush. But as you can imagine (like everything I ate) it filled me with such happiness that I needed to nap to process it all.

After we all napped, we packed up and took a boat back to our car and returned to the concrete jungle of Manila. I really miss the fresh air and complete serenity I felt while at Lilom. Honestly, time slowed down to a crawl as you take in the beautiful scenery - I never felt an urge to check my phone. It is definitely the perfect place to escape to for a weekend, no more though because I feel like you'd get bored since all you really do is lounge and snorkel. If you're ever in the region, I highly suggest dropping by for a night or two of pure escape and relaxation!