Hong Kong in Houston

Hong Kong Restaurant
Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX

The sign, what does it say?

The one problem I have with waiting so long to blog about the food I ate in Houston is that I forget which Hong Kong restaurant this one is. There are more than one, and I am sure they are all quite good. This one was specifically picked by my Uncle, who is know for precision in making the right choices, for really good Hong Kong style food. This place delivered Hong Kong style food, and did right by their restaurant name: Hong Kong.

What I cannot get in Nashville is really good Hong Kong style roasted pork and duck. So, the first thing on my list was to get roasted pork and duck. These meats are hanging in the window, and I was just smacking my lips as I walked up to the Hong Kong seeing the delicious meats. The meat was well seasoned, crispy skinned, and just reminded me of good old fashioned Chinese food treats of when I was a kid. We did not eat roasted pork and duck very often when I was a kid, as it was always for special occasions. Every time I eats these treats, I get transformed into a giddy child enjoying the flavor and texture of the meat.

The soup my Uncle ordered was sea cucumber, seafood, chicken and egg soup. The broth was a light broth, and the sea cucumber had a slight crunchy texture that is similar to tripe, but less tough. The sea cucumber also has a rough texture like a cat's tongue. I really enjoyed this soup, and it is saying something about how my palate has changed from childhood until now. I have not had an opportunity to eat this soup since I was a grammar school child (too many years ago), and I am sure I did not eat it because of the rough texture and the al dente teethiness of it. There were a lot of foods I fought with my mother, and refused to eat. How things have changed. I liked the soup because it was soothing and comforting to me. It was a proper way to begin a Chinese feast. A little side note, I did notice my young cousin who just finished middle school did try the soup too. She drank the broth, ate the other goodies and left all the pieces of sea cucumber in her bowl. I suspect her palate was like mine when I was young, and one day in the future, she too will come back to the sea cucumber soup and find that she enjoys the texture and flavor too.

We got a lot of food this evening, and all the foods I cannot get in Nashville. This dish was dried string beans with chopped chicken and a pungent chili and fermented tofu sauce (I am guessing). This is a dish I rarely have, so I am not sure what ingredient added the pungent nose to this dish. I guessed fermented tofu, but I am not sure. It caused the nose sensation after I took a bite, and it made my mouth water. It was very good. If you know what that pungent flavor is, let me know! Maybe I can try to make it at my house.

The next dish is one of my comfort food favorites. It is sliced pork and bitter melon (foo qua) with fermented black bean sauce. There is not one restaurant in Nashville that serves foo qua that I know of, so I was so thrilled to be able to have it here. I have not had bitter melon in a few years, and I nearly got weepy with joy when my Uncle ordered this dish. The bitter melon was too bitter for me when I was a child, and I never ate them, but as my taste buds have dulled through the years, I have grown to love that bitter sensation in my mouth and nose as I eat the melon. It is almost a full body experience.

Another dish that I love is chow mein noodles with seafood and veggies. This seems like I can get chow mein most everywhere, but I can't get THIS recipe. The noodles are thin Chinese egg noodles that have been boiled al dente, then drained very well, then hot fried in a wok with some oil to make much of the noodles crunchy, the wok is flamed to give a smoky flavor to the noodles, and then some noodles still soft too. This dish has seafood and veggies sauteed in a light broth thickened with some cornstarch and then poured over the noodles. It is a textural and subtly flavorful dish that I could just eat daily if I had the chance. The preparation of the noodles is what you can only get in a real Chinatown. It just does not exist in Nashville, and many areas of the USA. I just loved this dish.

Ok, so what does the sign say? Does it say Hong Kong Restaurant? Hong Kong Cafe? Hong Kong something else? I need a little help remembering which place we went for our dinner feast.

Ocean Palace

Ocean Palace
11215 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX
281-988-8898

a bench at one of Houston's Chinese shopping strip malls

I was reading a blog friend's blog, NicoleSauce.com, and she has taken time in Houston, TX, and she has spent some time in the west side of Houston which is now a HUGE Chinatown. This area of Asian restaurants and shops is HUGE, like everything else in Texas. Nicole Sauce made a blog post with a link to a Houston Chinatown directory, and it spurred me to post about my trips to Houston last Summer and Fall. I originally did not blog about Houston and my food there because these were a couple bitter sweet visits. I have lovely and loving extended family in Houston, but one of my visits there was because my dear Aunt passed away, and the 2nd visit was to go heal my heart and be with my cherished extend family. In Chinese culture, healing always involves soul food, and soul food for me is dim sum - a little love from the heart. We did eat a lot of great food during my 2nd visit, but it has taken until now to muster up the courage to blog about what I ate.

the front Ocean Palace, one of many giant Chinese restaurants in Houston

During my 2nd visit to Houston, I made sure I stayed through a Sunday because that is the day of the week all my family gets together and goes out for Sunday dim sum brunch. My dear Uncle from Houston, my cousin and her grandbaby came from North Texas, my other cousin and her son came from south of Houston, my other cousin came from Manhattan New York, and even more cousins from the west side of Houston came for this Sunday special brunch. There is no better way to honor my Aunt, but with breaking bread (or should I say breaking open dumplings), sharing stories, and laughing with my very kind and funny family.

teapot

On that particular Sunday, we went to the Ocean Palace Restaurant for dim sum. It is a huge 2 story building, with maybe a 50+ 10-person tables on the 2nd floor alone, that is seating for 500 people! Wow! I was giddy looking at this place. There were the dim sum carts rolling around the restaurant with dishes and dishes of treats. There were dumplings of all kinds, noodles, chicken feet (I don't eat these if I don't have to), dessert custards, rice dishes, beef intestines, pork pi quat, bok choy and veggie dishes, and all sorts of Southern Chinese treats that you could imagine. It is amazing to me the array of choices. Dim sum is like Chinese version of Tapas, they are smaller plates of carefully made foods that go will with hot tea rather than sherry.

my tea cup

As the saying goes, everything in Texas is bigger, and the Ocean Palace size and the amount of dim sum they have is certainly bigger than any Boston dim sum house I have been to. Seeing this place full on Sunday with a lot of Chinese people with a long waiting line out the door, and knowing there are a lot of other Houston dim sum houses in the Chinatown area and which are just as full, and there is a large population of Chinese in Houston who did not go for dim sum on this particular Sunday, I am assuming that Houston must have a pretty large Chinese population to support these big businesses. There must be many Chinese are living in Houston, and there are enough to allow me to have delightful authentic dim sum brunch before heading back to Nashville, the Chinese food void.

shu mai

One of my favorites from childhood, and I always opt for when I can get it, is shu mai. It is a little pork dumpling wrapped in a wheat flour noodle, then steamed. When I was a kid, I used to deconstruct the shu mai by carefully unwrapping the noodle part and eating that first, then I used to cut into the meatball and eat 4 pieces of meatball. Sheesh, who has time for that now? It is about 2 or 3 bites of this yummy and it was gone, and my plate was ready for another dumpling.

har gao

Another favorite of mine is har gao, a shrimp dumpling wrapped in a white rice flour wrapper. To have these made correctly, they must be made by hand fresh the day they are to be eaten. I particularly love the texture of the wrapper, that is unlike other noodle or won ton skin. It is al dente and slighty chewy when made perfectly. I have some of the flour at home, but it is a lot of work to make these. The shrimp inside, I am not sure what it is seasoned with, but it is umami for sure. This is truly one of my favorite dishes that I cannot get enough of.

It is funny, a lot of my memories of events revolves around food. Is it cultural, or is it me? I look at these photos, and I can picture everyone there so vividly in my mind. My dear family, this dim sum - love from my heart blog post reminds me of you.