McDang on the road in Hong Kong

     A thousand apologies for missing the deadline for my column last week. I have been ill for over two weeks due to allergy to dust and lack of rest. Then in keeping with the name of this column, “on the road with McDang” I went on the road with my television crew to Hong Kong as guest of the Hong Kong tourism board.

   I was invited to be one of the foreign judges in the Best of The Best Culinary Competition which has been held for the past four years. This competition has been organized by the Tourism Board of Hong Kong to highlight Hong Kong as Culinary paradise destination for tourist. I think this competition is a very good idea and our Government should try to do something of similar vain in Thailand because we as a nation have a very distinctive culinary culture.

   I guess we all take it for granted but we do not realize that Thailand has an advantage over many other countries that want to attract tourist to their countries by using their distinctive food culture as a draw. Our food is popular and we need to do something like this to showcase and educate potential tourist and the foreign press and chefs.

      The shop looked like any other small eateries that serve congee and noodles in the city but what makes this place special is that it won the Best of the Best Culinary Award for wonton noodles last year and let me assure you that the eighty year old owner is still blanching his own wontons and noodles for us. The noodle is al dente and the wonton is tender while the shrimp stuffing is very crispy.

       It is a very simple dish especially this broth is made from the shrimp shells whose meat goes into the wonton. A truly good noodle has to still be al dente when you bite into it, despite the fact that it is already in a broth. I asked the chef/owner what the secret was and he said 20 seconds! That is the amount of time he said that was needed to blanch the raw fresh noodles in boiling water before putting it into a bowl with the broth.

     He also said that if you sat far away from his work station he will have to compensate for the blanching time for the time it would take to reach your table and your mouth! Let me assure you that there is certainly an art and a science to cooking these noodles and all six bowls that we ordered were delicious and very quickly consumed before I turned my attention to the picture of the mixed seafood and pork Congee which we promptly ordered.

       A huge bowl arrived filled with all kinds of meat and what was remarkable every kind of meat and seafood that were in that bowl of congee were cooked perfectly. The shrimp was not hard and the liver was sweet and very tender. I don’t know who they did it but it sure was amazing! We tried two kinds of blanched vegetables with oyster sauce which in Hong Kong are always good and fresh. We tried dry noodles with spicy stir-fry pork sauce.

       It was succulent. Then the owner saw how serious we were at eating, filming and photographing he brought out their piece de resistance of this shop which was a very simple braised dry Chinese mushrooms in a very delicate earth sauce. That did it for me. I did not want to move but we had other place to go and with much reluctance they dragged me out of the shop to attend a welcoming dinner function.

       I would have enjoyed talking to the owner and get more information about his cooking techniques and trade secrets. Well, if you should be in the neck of the woods, do try to visit this Congee and wonton noodle shop because the food here is to die for!