The Continuously Evolving
Three decades ago, I had a client, a Chinese-Filipino poultry farmer who went back to his home town in Xiamen after being away for nearly 20 years. He felt like he was Santa Claus distributing gifts – from home appliances like washing machines, refrigerators and TV sets to food items and cash – to his relatives and friends. The neighbors joined the welcome party bringing red-colored eggs to welcome him and, in return, received red-colored envelopes containing cash.
Twenty years later, it was the turn of his relatives, about eight of them, to visit him and my client prepared a sumptuous feast with ten dishes laid on the table. I joined the feast and ate Fujian specialty like Chicken Soup with coagulated chicken blood with rice, sliced thinly into slivers. Later, he told me that he felt embarrassed about the food preparation because he overheard a cousin who said that they must be really be poor in the Philippines – because they were served only ten dishes!
I could not comprehend it at that time because, for me, it was a luxurious feast. I visited Shanghai four years ago and I learned about the ‘standard’ in entertaining guests: three dishes per person, excluding soup, rice or dessert.
The cuisine of China has to be in constant flux to satisfy this country, excuse me, which has the second highest GDP in the world.
I was recently invited by Mars Espera for a culinary journey into the heart of China, and the event took place at the Ching Palace along Salinas Drive, Cebu City. This restaurant began a decade and half ago and I read some of the customer reviews where someone said that they served “hardcore authentic Chinese food.” Another guest noticed that “a new menu was offered” every time they visited the restaurant.
On my recent visit, an appetizer – the Cold Cuts with Chicken, Seaweeds and Mango – was served. The textures of the dish were very different from the usual dishes I’ve had eaten before. You would encounter the crispy fried wonton skin, the crunchy seaweeds and the slippery mango as the dominant features of the dish before tasting the layers of flavor (sweet, sour, salt, umani with specks of chilliness). Great dish!
The Golden Mushroom Seafood Soup, Crispy Pork Belly and the Fried Groupa with Pickled Mango followed. Crispy Pork Belly was an easy favorite because it would be effortlessly compared to the popular lechon belly.
The standard cooking method for live fish is steaming with soy sauce and it usually tastes good. However, the taste is too predictable! Deep frying the fish introduces the element of crunchiness and the greasiness of the frying oils, which was tamed by the sweet/sour taste of the pickled mango. It was a delicious dish.
The Hot Soybean Paste Noodle, Stuffed Squid Flower in Dried Scallop Sauce and Fried Chicken Rice were then served. Clearly, the dish with the best presentation was the Stuffed Squid Flower. The dried scallop sauce mimicked the ever popular X.O. sauce and this gave the dish its distinctive and sophisticated taste. There was also an extra dish to taste – Fried Spring Rolls, compliments of Ms. Joan Yu So, proprietor of Ching Palace.