Egg noodle sub for rice noodle in pho?! Such heresy never ocurred to me, but now that you mention it, does sound like it might be quite good. However, I must ask... how is this request greeted....graciously or with horror (like ordering pastrami on wheat toast)?

kuhdo wrote:Egg noodle sub for rice noodle in pho?! Such heresy never ocurred to me, but now that you mention it, does sound like it might be quite good. However, I must ask... how is this request greeted....graciously or with horror (like ordering pastrami on wheat toast)?

Kuhdo,

I sub egg noodle for rice noodle in pho about 30% of the time and have never received so much as a curious look, much less horror. While I doubt the substitution is standard among heritage eaters of pho, I don't believe it's a corned beef on white bread w/mayo, a glass of milk and side of lime Jell-O type issue.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:I went to Sun Wah today to try the 'Warsaw', unfortunately I forgot they are closed on Thursdays.

LTH,

Went fishing for 'Warsaw' again Tuesday at Sun Wah, not to be, Warsaw was not on the specials board and, when I asked the waitress, she said they had run out over the weekend. I did find out what the bottom left special (picture to be found upthread) was, duck tongue, which, of course, she prefaced with "you won't like" When I told her I had eaten duck tongue, and liked it, even going on to describe the weird little cartilage in the tongue, she looked at me oddly.

One of the new specials is Lamb Stew, which we tried. A tasty mix of dried tofu, whole water chestnut and lamb, including variety cuts.


The lamb stew was served with an interesting condiment, fermented tofu mixed with cliantro and thinned with a little oil. Very tasty on the lamb, but, as m'th'su said, a little goes a long way.


Our order seems to have captured the interest of other diners. Either that or they thought m'th'su had a funny haircut.


As has been mentioned Sun Wah does a nice job with pan fried noodles.


All in all a very nice lunch for four at Sun Wah, we also had mixed BBQ, including chicken liver and squid, and water spinach w/garlic, but no Warsaw. Looks Like I will have to go to Kam Fong later this week.

Additional Sun Wah pictures may be found here

Enjoy,
Gary

Sorry you missed the Warsaw. I see that the picture at the register has now been identified as such, suggesting we were not the only ones curious about this creature (did you see the roosterfish pics too? Now that's a cool looking fish . I'm told quite tasty as well, but I've never seen it on a menu)). That lamb dish above looks quite similar in style to the beef flank/rump casserole I had at Kam Fong last time...a nice wintery preparation I think.

Hopefully Kam Fong will be able to satisfy your Warsaw quest If you go, don't miss the half brained chicken it's really pretty good (wish I could provide the name for you).

LTH,

Had lunch at Sun Wah BBQ with a few BBQ guys, including a BBQ friend from Vancouver, Washington Friday. My first thought was Khan BBQ for terrific Chicken Boti and the fact their tandor is fired with lump charcoal, but found out, after 6-people were on the way to Khan, they do not open until 2pm on Fridays due to a religious observance. Silly thing is I encountered the late Friday opening at Khan once before, but, as it was during Ramadan, thought it only applied during the holiday.

Not really a second choice as much as a good alternative, we had a terrific lunch at Sun Wah. Craig Goldwyn, who presented Honey 1 on Check Please, trains seeing eye dogs and brought his current in-training Labrador to the restaurant, which was total non-issue for Sun Wah.

Enjoy,
Gary

I thought that Sun Wah was closed down due to health code violations? They have re-opened apparently?

jonjonjon wrote:I thought that Sun Wah was closed down due to health code violations? They have re-opened apparently?

See this post.. That was back in October and they re-opened rather quickly.

They have a "Passed" rating online:
http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/health ... id=1085600

Best,
Michael

Have the prices gone up a bit recently? The prices had been edited on the menu.

In an attempt to recreate Mike's order, complete with the 25$ final bill, we were relegated to smalls of all the meat (soy sauce chicken, hong kong pork, roast duck) and a small noodles. We added in a Chinese broccoli and some rice and made it in at 24.70$.

It's still a steal even at a slightly higher price. The food was unbelievable. The battle over the leftovers in my house has been raging since my dining companion polished off the chicken without offering to share ("Oh, you wanted some of this?") Luckily, I hid the noodles in the vegetable drawer.

Warsaw is back as well!

kuhdo wrote:Sun Wah offers theirs in a casserole with tofu or stir fried. I had a really good version at Kam Fong in Chinatown, done with bitter melon and black bean sauce, which I understand is the most traditional preparation. The owner at Sun Wah says he can do it that way too, on request. It's a very sweet white fleshed fish with a texture somewhat similar to Monkfish...well worth trying for those that might be interested. I think the contrast between the sweet fish/salty black beans and bitter melon is particularly good.

Kuhdo,

Finally had a chance to try Warsaw at Sun Wah, though I was mildly unenthused. Not so much with the Warsaw in and of itself, I liked the mild tasting firm fleshed fish, it had more to do with preparation. We were given the choice of simply stir fried with black beans or the full-on veg treatment. Our waiter steered us to the veg and the flavor was lost in the mix. If I had remembered you saying Sun Wah would prepare Warsaw with black beans and bitter melon, as does Kam Fong, that's what I would have ordered.

Warsaw w/black bean sauce and veg.


Overall lunch was, as typical at Sun Wah, terrific, BBQ ribs were were particularly good, pan fired noodles crisp and first of the season pea shoots* tender with highly developed flavor. Mike Sula (m'th'su), with whom I had the pleasure of eating lunch, wrote about the pea shoots on the Reader Blog

Pea Shoots



Sun Wah BBQ Ribs


Pan Fried Noodle


Enjoy,
Gary

*From Mexico

Michel M (Eatchicago) called a Short Notice dinner at Sun Wah last evening and six of us, including MsWiv enjoyed a terrific meal of Sun Wah standards plus an off-menu special. I've taken to asking the owner if he has Warsaw (a type of grouper mentioned by Kuhdo upthread) available, no Warsaw last evening, but they did have pork belly with taro.

Pork Belly w/Taro



Two rows of artfully presented pork belly interspersed with taro cake. Rich pork belly was nicely offset by the earthy starch of the taro pudding cake. The taro cake, as Pigmon observed, was similar to what's served at dim sum, but not pan fried. I liked the dish, but a little went a long way, six of us did not finish the dish.

Dungeness crab was a special as well, delicious with ginger and scallion.


In addition to steamed "Dover" Sole, mixed BBQ platter, terrific watercress with garlic, clams with black bean sauce and crispy pan fried noodles we had BBQ chicken. This particular item, at least at Sun Wah, is made with boneless skin-on chicken thighs and is one of my favorites.

BBQ Chicken



Terrific dinner, great company, nice idea Michael.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv,

Your recent post looked so good that wed night I ran over there after work and got the bbq chicken and some pan fried noodles with veggies for myself and Mrs.Monkey. It made for a fantastic dinner along with some avocado bubble teas from across the street. The chikcen was so flavorful and I love that sauce that comes with it. Does anyone know what the sauce is made from? I couldn't figure it out.

Thanks again for a dinner inspiration!

I too love the sauce but I am a little afraid of asking where it comes from. I know that I have seen them poke holes in the hanging chickens and lets juices drain out...

Kitchen Monkey wrote:The chikcen was so flavorful and I love that sauce that comes with it. Does anyone know what the sauce is made from? I couldn't figure it out.

KM,

If you mean the small pool of liquid on the bottom of the BBQ chicken plate, I believe that's simply juice that's leaked from the cut chicken, possibly mixed with the slightest amount of chicken or duck juice. I don't remember being served a separate sauce with the BBQ chicken at Sun Wah.

They do serve a terrific scallion/ginger sauce with the salt baked chicken, is that the sauce to which you are referring?

Enjoy,
Gary

Octarine wrote:I too love the sauce but I am a little afraid of asking where it comes from. I know that I have seen them poke holes in the hanging chickens and lets juices drain out...

Mike,

The flavor packed thin sauce* that comes with roast duck, what you get in the little plastic cups with take-away roast duck, is juice from the cavity of the duck. A trick I learned long ago from Melanie Wong on c-h's San Francisco board is to use the leftover roast duck bones to make soup and, if any left over, add the duck liquid to the stock for added flavor. Amps up the flavor of stir-fry as well.

If it helps think of the duck juice as au jus served along side a slab of rare roast beef.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Not to be confused with hoisin or plum sauce

Another great meal at SW last night. After walking around Maxwell street market all day nobody felt like cooking, and the kids refused to consider going out. Nothing too heavy please. After reviewing takeout options, it was off to Sun Wah.

I was looking forward to the bbq chicken as mentioned by GWIV above, but they were out. I wound up with 1/2 soy sauce chicken, an order of HK roast pig, BBQ pork, lo mein with ginger and scallion (simple but really great), fried rice, chinese broccoli with oyster sauce , two bowls of won ton noodle soup and an order of fried chicken skin for Gabe. Family of four ate very well for just over $30. A terifiic homestyle meal perfect for a lazy Sunday at home.

Sun Wah is one the best places in the solar system.

It was a dark, thin, tangy liquid. I do believe I have also had it with the roasted duck there as well. It was served in the little plastic cup. Cavity juice, eh? Well it's good anyway!

Kitchen Monkey wrote:It was a dark, thin, tangy liquid. I do believe I have also had it with the roasted duck there as well. It was served in the little plastic cup. Cavity juice, eh? Well it's good anyway!

If you order the take out roast pork, then the little container of liquid is Filippino pork liver sauce. I think they sometimes size people up because my friend automatically gets it and I have to ask.

Regards,

I organize a weds night group, in which one person each week will lead us to a great restaurant in the city. The benefit of a large group is that we get to order and try more dishes.

This weds night is my pick, and I have decided to take everyone to this fantastic place. we are always interested in seeing new faces so you are welcome to join us. Ask for a group by Fon. This is an all age appropriate group. we will have 1 table that's set up for age 20+ and another for 40+. Hope to see some of you foodies there.

As a special added bonus, the restaurant owner's daughter will be dining with us and help us with some of the ordering. (a special order of warsaw will be prepared for each table, this is the warsaw with the sour mustard which is a preferred dish amongst the older Cantonese generation because the flavoring is a bit more complex)

if interested please send an email to fon.zhang@gmail.com so I can make the proper seating arrangements

Wednesday April 25th, 7:30 pm

Eric, EC, Gary, and Cathy I have been following your posts for awhile, I would love to see you there tomorrow

I stopped at Sun Wah with a neighbor of mine tonight. We ordered several things (actually, my friend loves the place and did the ordering): a shrimp and pork (I think it was pork) dumpling soup; roast duck, bar-b-q pork with honey, shrimp with pea pods and stir-fried Chinese broccoli.







I thought the bar-b-q pork w/ honey was very good and that the shrimp (with the pea pods) was not well cooked (a bit tough), and the duck, though moist and tasty - not really something I like. I also didn't like the dumplings in the soup, but can't put my finger on a reason why. They were well-packed and the dough was thin . . . and the broth was okay. I've never been a fan of the Chinese bar-b-q places - so my not being excited about the meal shouldn't be much of a surprise.

Bill wrote:

So... who can tell me about pan-fried octopus whiskers?

germuska wrote:So... who can tell me about pan-fried octopus whiskers?

I really hope it's the tentacles and not the beaks.

germuska wrote:So... who can tell me about pan-fried octopus whiskers?

It's classic Jonglish. The second character (须) in the combination that means "tentacle" also means beard (or whiskers). The Chinese word for tentacle translates literally to "touch whiskers". The same word is used for animal antennae. It is equivalent to the english term "feelers".

Of course, what are commonly called "tentacles" on octopi, are not tentacles at all, but arms. Tentacles are actually feelers (like antennae), whereas arms are used for gripping. squid have both arms and tentacles, but octopi only have arms. It seems the Chinese also conflate the two different types of appendages.

At any rate, I love Octopus Whiskers. Has anybody tried them at Sun Wah?

germuska wrote:So... who can tell me about pan-fried octopus whiskers?

Just to add to Dave's comments, Sun Wah's sign (the first two characters) suggests that the preparation of the "whiskers" would be similar to salt & pepper shrimp deep fried. The preparation is common with a lot of meats, ribs, chicken, etc. The quality of the salt and pepper seasoning is as important as the quality of the meat.

All I know is that it will be on my plate the next time I'm there!

Translations can be interesting.

I was traveling in China in 1979-80, before the country had really opened-up to large-scale tourism. The small group I traveled with was accompanied by an employee of the Chinese tourism authority - and one of his tasks was to translate for us.

One night at dinner, our welcoming dinner in Guangzhou (Canton), the translator answered a couple of questions about what we were about to eat. He pointed to several items and everyone seemed to understand what was being said (chicken, pork, etc.). Then he pointed to a bowl of odd-looking small black ball-like things which appeared to have hair growing on them and he explained, with a wide grin on his face, proud of his English-language abilities, that they were Monkey's balls. You could see the shocked look on the faces of the group seated around the dinner table.

Actually, the dish was a vegetable, but it didn't matter much, after the first explanation. He also erroneously translated another dish – describing it as "fish lips."

The group wasn't a very adventurous one when it came to food - and not many people ate dinner that night, suspicious about just what it was we were being served.

When I saw the "Pan Fried Octopus Whiskers" sign last night I had to chuckle, as I thought back to that trip to China.

Interestingly, the Chinese on the sign itself does not refer to whiskers at all, but instead uses the character 带 , which means strap or belt (also to bring). I guess Pan Fried Octopus Straps would make even less sense, so they went with whiskers.

Mother-Daughter Bonding: happy_stomach Family Style

About twice monthly, always on a Sunday morning, Mom and I make a shopping trip together to Argyle. My mother is a fiery, irreverent woman ruled by her appetite, which her small stature and occasional politeness belie. On this rainy October morning, it was the lack of balut at Viet Hoa that set her off. There are very few things that can assuage her in such an irritable state, but, over the years, I've learning to respond cooly and quickly.

Me: "Wanna eat at Sun Wah?"
Mama happy_stomach: "Well...ok. Maybe I'll have some soup."

It's important to note that my mother is under more dietary restrictions than anyone I know. "Soup" in my family has become a code word for complete disregard of doctors' orders. In other words, if my mom tells you she's eaten soup, she's bullshitting you. You've got to press her with, "And what else???"

So, we get into Sun Wah and sit at our preferred table by the window. We order the usual (explanation below) and wait for our food. Mom gets up from the table. I don't ask any questions. Five minutes later, she returns with a Sun Wah take-out bag, presumably food for dinner tonight.

Me: "What'd you get?"
Mama happy_stomach: "Chicken feet. Chicken liver. All chicken...except for the pig intestine."

She sits, picks up her tea cup, and, at once, there is the smug face, confirmation that the missing balut have been forgotten:



Yes, our usual order is deep fried pork intestine for Mom (with a small watercress and fish ball soup on the side) and roast duck over rice for me. Once the intestine arrives, it's serous business:



We rarely change up this routine, but I snuck in an order of recently discussed octopus whiskers for photo documentation purposes. Turns out, this dish is pretty benign. Small, lightly battered tentacles tossed with thickly cut green and red peppers and white and green onions.



The tentacles were too salty for my liking, but in this regard, the vegetables served as helpful palate cleansers. Back at the car,

Mama happy_stomach: "What was that we ate? Baby octopus tentacles?"
Me: "Octopus WHISKERS."
Mama happy_stomach: "What they'd do with the body?"

The last question made me laugh because I figured it was a side effect of all of those crime dramas Mom watches, but it's a good question now that I think about it. The picture from my phone is blurry, but is it possible that those are very small whole octopi? The tentacles of each piece did come to gether at a single point, usually at a mass of batter I suppose could have obscured a body. This photo from a blog, however, suggests that the kind Mom and I ate today were decapitated. The masses at the termini of our tentacles were neither that large nor oblong. I guess it's not clear to me from where exactly on the octopus those "whiskers" are taken. My association with baby octopus is the curried variety served at Phoenix. Are there octopi smaller than that? BTW, my Google search for "mini octopus" turned up this very disturbing mac & cheese recipe from Kraft. The disgusting things that some people will eat!

Brill. iant. post.

But what, you've never made a cephalopod out of encased meat before? I can't wait to introduce the forum to a heaping platter of "nautilus" bratwurst.

Love and health to Mama HS.