Brian Wong with Chinese foods _320
The Chinese kitchen
THE Lee family has run the New Capital Restaurant, in Nelson Street, since 1974.
Fat Ying Lee, a former chef in Hong Kong, and his wife, Hung Mui Lee, came from Tap Mun island, in Hong Kong.
They are Hakka – historically from mid-China but over the cen- turies migrated all over – and New Capital’s specialities, as well as the all-purpose staples like shredded chilli chicken and salt and pepper ribs, are Hakkanese specialities like slices of glistening pork belly with taro – a sweet, powdery potato-like root vegetable that grows in marshland – steamed with preserved vegetables, and salt fish with chopped pork and spring onions,
“English people like Chinese food because it is very tasteful, but not too spicy or hot,” says Mrs Lee. “Also, it’s a sign of the acceptability of Chinese culture.”
Cantonese food is traditionally fresh and light, and bite-sized dim sum is a favourite among Chinese diners. Standard dim sum in- cludes steamed dump- lings filled with minced prawn, tripe, pork or beef, vegetables and steamed buns, spring rolls, squid and turnip cakes.
“In Hong Kong, we go to the tea house and eat dim sum between 5am and 9am, and all read papers with Chinese tea,” explains Brian Wong. “Dim sum means ‘point to your heart’, meaning it’s your favourite.”
Chinese diners are typically more adventurous than their English counterparts, partly because many meats are regarded as medicine in China.
“I love duck web and duck tongue,” says Brian. “And I love birds nest soup abalone – seasnail – layered with lettuce and Chinese mushrooms.”
The main ingredient is the cup-like nest fashioned from the sal- va of cave swifts in SE Asia. The nests are dissolved in water to make a thick soup..