SANYA: Hainan Attack at China Harvest

Yea Yea.. I know, it couldn't have been the best English name they came up with, but China Harvest it is. To introduce Sanya, it is known as a tropical destination for lovers, golfers and those in Asia that need a cheap getaway.  It's located at the Southernmost part of China, providing ample fresh seafood to the city daily.  This restaurant however, was a change from the days of seafood we had previously. Located in the Hilton Hotel, China Harvest being their only Chinese restaurant, serving an abundance of 8 different Chinese cuisines, namely Shandong, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Canton, Hunan, Fujian and Anhui.  This restaurant was recommended by 3 friends when they were told I was going to Sanya, so I saved this for my last day there.

As we entered the restaurant, we had to pass through a little courtyard and a fountain with a big water buffalo statue. The area was a nice little addition to the restaurant, a transition from a 5 star hotel ambiance to an entirely different setting.  The setting was modern yet very traditional at the same time, with a bamboo garden in the middle of the restaurant surrounded by glass, square chandeliers hang from the ceilings covered with sheer rose gold cloth and blood red drapings hemming the whole restaurant. The table settings were exquisitely set up with gold and red with a cute pot of dried red peppers as the centre piece.

To cover their variety of different Chinese cuisines, we apt for dim sum, a main dish and fried rice; for two, that's already quite a feast for lunch!

We ordered two dim sum, one is the barbeque bun and the other is a fried dumpling with veggies and pork. They were both made very well, especially the fried dumpling. The crispyness broke off as you chewed it, not leaving any space for it to be soggy, and the filling was flavourful, veggies were still crunchy. But other than that, it was JUST dim sum, didn't exactly tickle my fancy.

For the main, we ordered Wenchang chicken, which is authentic Hainan cuisine. (By the way, did you know Hainan chicken rice originated from Thailand, and using "Hainan" was just the name?) Wenchang chicken is the authentic Hainan chicken and it's nothing like the Thai kind, with the green onion sauce.

Anyways. the Wenchang chicken is the breed of chicken, it's quite fleshy(chubby chickie) and considerably smaller, fed with coconut and peanut bran, giving the chicken quite a nice fragrance and more plump but not too greasy.

Our Wenchang Chicken was boiled and served with Ginger sauce and cold. I don't know whether it was just made really well or the chicken was just really tasty. The white meat was juicy but not greasy, delicious! I was a little worried that I hyped up the restaurant a little too much, but I wasn't disappointed!

Now the next one I must say is "ZE BEST"! It was fried rice covered with a thick sauce. I am having troubles deciding on how/where to start. The sauce had pork pieces, Gailan vegetables, Chinese mushrooms and shrimp. The shrimp was fresh (Seafood city), and the veggies gave it the right amount of texture to the soupy rice.  I am starting to drool, just thinking about it.

China Harvest, 1/Fl, Hilton Sanya Resort & Spa, Yalong Bay, Sanya

Opened 11:30-10pm daily
Average cost for lunch: RMB$100-$150/person

HONG KONG: Dumpling Yuan 餃子園 : Traditional Pekingnese Restaurant

You'd be quite surprised to be able to find such a restaurant in the middle of Central; where all men wear Prada shoes, all women are carrying Hermes Bags. It's a small dinky restaurant, dimly lit, not the cleanest place, a large table in the middle of the restaurant where you have to share with 8 other strangers.

Small but nonetheless busy always. THey serve very traditional Pekingnese dishes, nothing like the renowned Peking duck, more like simple vegetarian noodles, marinated cucumbers and simple food you would actually find in an average Beijing home. The portions are small but the prices relate to the portions as it IS located in the ultra-expensive Central district in Hong Kong with one of the highest rentals in the world!

As the name of the restaurant suggests, their specialty are their dumplings. They have a whole page on their menu dedicated to the different dumplings, veggie, pork and veggie, lamb, beef. If you're not kissing anyone that evening, I'd suggest the chives and pork dumpling. Always fresh, and always flavourful. The dough on the dumplings are not too pasty like most places, it doesn't fall apart when bitten into. The lamb dumplings are also worth a try.

Another dish that you'd wan to avoid kissing afterwards is their Pork with Garlic. It's delicious. Chilled pork with a dark sauce and lots of garlic on top. My only comment is that it would taste better if they chopped the garlic up a little more so there aren't chunks of garlic.

Zhen Jiang Ribs were extremely flavorful, must say, the presentation of this dish was not really appetizing but very flavourful. The ribs however were not tender enough. Good enough for a couple bucks.

Flipping you out this Christmas with Angela Schwab Plates

Something I've always hated was to stand around at a cocktail party, trying to juggle my paper napkin/paper plate while worried it's gonna rip on me, dropping all my canapes, creating a huge mess, not to mention embarrass myself in front of everyone. This plate by Umbra designed by Angela Schwab would be a gigantic help. I would be able to hold on to my plates tightly, guarding my food from falling and having Fido munch up all my goodies and be fashionable all at the same time. Brilliant design just in time for all those Christmas Cocktail parties. Hey, even better, it's now SOCIALLY correct to have your thumb on your plate!

I find that most plate design these days are too two dimensional, all on a flat surfaces with various designs on top. We are in desperate need of three-dimensional designs people. This simple yet highly functional plate is a cocktail party diva's dream come true. Now, Schwab has created one for us. Thank you!!

Red Chili Wontons

I've had a lot of traditional Chinese food throughout my lifetime. May it be Cantonese dishes, Szechuan dishes, Beijing dishes, Taiwanese dishes, Shanghainese dishes.. the list is never ending. Of all these dishes, I must say, my favorite is Red Chili Wontons. I can have my own order of Red Chili Wontons(RCW) and never get bored of it. Now ONLY when it's good. And when I mean "good", i don't mean alot of garlic nor alot of excess seasoning. I don't like it with vinegar nor soya sauce.

My recipe:
Ingredients:
100-150 g Small wontons (the smaller, the better)
a bit of dried shrimp
1 stick of green onions
sesame oil, red chili oil,
pepper

1. Boil wontons until they are well done. drain and let them sit for a little while
2. Mix all the other ingredients together (Feel free to add garlic if that's what you fancy)
3. Mix with wontons
4. Garnish with green onions
5. VOILA!

Keep in mind, there are two types of RCW. One is the Taiwanese-style which I love and the other is the Shanghainese style with the soya sauce, vinegar and massive amount of garlic. I have yet to find the perfect Taiwanese-style RCW in Hk. Let me know if you know of any please!