A Review of two Dim Sum Restaurants in New York Chinatown

choi

Pete Wells, For Dumpling Hunters, New Ground to Cover; Two dim sum empires export their folding and crimping technologies to Manhattan. New York Times, May 31, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/ ... m-sum-dumpling.html

Note:
(a) "Visitors to Hong Kong who have an appreciation for dumplings, an eye toward low prices and faith that a single Michelin star reliably predicts quality will tend to eat at one of two places, Those who are more attracted to Cantonese dim sum classics will end up at a location of the locally based Tim Ho Wan chain 添好運 [2009- ].  The ones whose idea of a perfect dumpling is a xiao long bao with hot broth sealed inside will head to a branch of Din Tai Fung, which was founded in Taiwan. "  Or both.

(b) "With its 45th location, which opened in the East Village just before Christmas, Tim Ho Wan is the first [and only] of the pair to [come] to New York City.  Tim Ho Wan was started by the chef MAK Kwai Pui 麥桂培 師傅 * * * With his partner, LEUNG Fai Keung 梁輝強 * * * In New York, the entire menu fits on a paper place mat [or 'paper placemat' -- those you see at fast food restaurants]. * * * the har gow [Cantonese pronunciation for 蝦餃] wrappers are thinner than you expect, the shrimp inside firmer. The black bean sauce 豆豉 [ingredient: 黃豆或黑豆] with steamed spare ribs 豉汁蒸排骨 tastes especially savory; the abalone sauce on the chicken feet 鮑汁鳳爪 [the Manhattan store uses traditional Chinese] a bit richer than the typical oyster sauce 蠔汁.  The pan-fried turnip cakes 香煎臘味蘿蔔糕 contain flecks of dried shrimp[:] * * * Soft as bread pudding inside"

bread pudding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_pudding

(c) Still about Tim Ho Wan in Manhattan: "But the rice rolls, a point of pride for the chain, are white bogs of starch that blot out the underseasoned fillings of beef, pork or shrimp. I've tried all three in New York, and they're never quite there, while the pork liver rice roll I tried at a Tim Ho Wan last month in Sydney, Australia, buzzed with ginger and scallions inside its thin and delicate wrapper."
(i) blot out (vt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blot%20out
(ii) Manhattan store offers three kinds of rice rolls:
(A) steamed rice roll with shrimp and Chinese chives  韮黃鮮蝦腸
(B) steamed rice roll with BBQ pork  蜜味叉燒腸
(C) steamed rice roll with minced beef  免治牛肉腸  (免治 is Cantonese for minced.)
(iii)
(A) rice noodle roll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_noodle_roll
(also translated as steamed rice roll; a Cantonese dish' a thin roll made from a wide strip of shahe fen (rice noodles) )
(B) shahe fen 沙河粉
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahe_fen
(same as "kway teow (粿條), literally 'ricecake strips,' transliteration based on Min Nan 閩南語;"  originated in the town of Shahe 沙河, now part of the Tianhe District 天河区 in the city of Guangzhou
(iv) "pork liver rice roll I tried at a Tim Ho Wan last month in Sydney"
(A) Tim Ho Wan Australia
http://www.timhowan.com.au/
(at Sydney; "大排檔腸粉  Vermicelli Roll with Sesame Sauce")

* 大牌檔
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/大牌檔
(又可寫為大排檔)
(B) vermicelli (n; etymology)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vermicelli
(pronunciation)

choi

(d) Still about Tim Ho Wan in Manhattan: "The ['baked] barbecued pork buns['] 酥皮焗叉燒包[:] * * * The flaky pastry, somewhere between a Parker House roll and a Southern buttermilk biscuit * * * Steamed egg cake 香滑馬拉糕 [zh.wikipedia.org: 馬來糕] is another signature dish, or, as Tim Ho Wan puts it, one of the 'big four heavenly kings.' 四大天王 * * * In Australia, the osmanthus jelly, which is a dessert, was a shimmering, translucent amber, saturated with the spring-fever flavors of peaches and flowers."
(i) Parker House roll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_House_roll
(ii) "Steamed egg cake is another signature dish, or, as Tim Ho Wan puts it, one of the 'big four heavenly kings.' 四大天王"
(A) I fail to comprehend "big four heavenly kings" -- in English grammar, the number goes before any adjective. I consider the possibility that te food reviewer just quoted the Manhattan restaurant's pidgin English (heed quotation marks), but Macau's restaurant of the same chain has correct order (which in and of itself does not preclude the Manhattan one from making the grammatic error, if the latter does).
(B) 澳門添好運點心專門店. Dec 19, 2015.
https://www.facebook.com/timhowa ... 087/137931096576599

添好運四大天王  Tim Ho Wan's 4 Heavenly King!
* 酥皮叉燒包  Baked BBQ Pork Bun
* 香煎蘿蔔糕  Pan Fried Carrot Cake
* 香滑馬拉糕  Steamed Egg Cake
* 黃沙豬潤腸  Vermicelli Roll with Pig's Liver [I notice the same dish at Sydney, Australia has a different Chinese name. See (c)(iv)(A) above. )
(iii) "osmanthus jelly"
(A) sweet osmanthus jelly with goji berries  杞子桂花糕 (this is the name in both Manhattan and Sydney restaurants of the chain.)
(B) Osmanthus fragrans  桂花
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmanthus_fragrans
("native to Asia from the Himalayas through southern China (Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan) to Taiwan and southern Japan and southeast Asia as far south as Cambodia and Thailand. * ** The flowers are white, pale yellow, yellow, or orange-yellow, small (1 cm long), with a four-lobed corolla 5 mm diameter, and have a strong fragrance; they are produced in small clusters in the late summer and autumn")

choi

(e) Din Tai Fung: "for now its American presence is focused entirely on the West Coast. A few months ago, though, a restaurant in SoHo came along with a chef, Charlie Chen, who had been pried loose from the company's kitchens. The xiao long bao and other dishes at Pinch Chinese [no Chinese name] will for many New Yorkers be the first taste of the Din Tai Fung aesthetic. * * * [there] soup dumplings:] The best and most unusual is filled with chicken soup [actually there 2 kinds: pork OR chicken soup dumplings] * * * As finely made as those are, I somewhat preferred the non-soup dumplings [3 kinds: vegetable, mushroom OR fish dumplings]: the steamed half-moons stuffed with gingery flakes of fish; the ones with a dark core of minced mushrooms and truffles; or the pan-fried semicircles filled with juicy sautéed beef, found only at lunch and brunch. * * * Pinch also makes the best Sichuan won tons 四川雲吞 * * * Sean Tang [from Taiwan], who owns Pinch with a cousin, Tony Li, and Mr Chen * * * From Taiwan, there's a highly credible three-cup chicken 三杯雞 cooked with all dark meat (it makes a difference) * * * The Wind Sand Chicken [風沙雞是一道 (香港 北角) 東寶小館的名菜] is a whole roast bird suffused all the way down with five-spice seasoning, then buried under a golden drift of fried garlic.  It costs $45 [Pinch's wine list:] pét-nats and skin-contact wines"
(i)
(A) "Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat, for short"  (I have seen in the Web lower case for both full name and short form.)
(B) "Pétillant Naturel" means "naturally sparkling" in English.
(C) sparkling wine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkling_wine
(section 2 Semi-sparkling wine: French pétillant wines)
(D) French-English dictionary:
* pétillant: "of wine : mildly and slowly effervescing"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/p%C3%A9tillant

It is adjective masculine. So is naturel. So it is odd to me.
(E) Lettie Teague, Pét-Nat: When Sparkling Wine Goes Au Naturel. Wall Street Journal, Mar 21, 2916.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pet ... -naturel-1458588683

Quote: "Pét-nat is actually one of the oldest types of sparkling wine in the world, said even to predate its more serious cousin, Champagne, which was created in the 17th century. It's also easier and cheaper to make. Pét-nat is produced by bottling the wine before it has completed fermentation. Unlike Champagne and other bubbly made using méthode traditionnelle, no sugars or yeast are added. Instead, the bubbles are formed naturally as the sugar that remains in the bottle from the grapes acts upon the wild yeast, producing carbon dioxide. Another difference: Whereas Champagnes are often blends of different wines from several vintages, pét-nat is created from a single vintage, often just a few months after harvest—making it, as fans say, a sparkling wine that actually tastes like a grape."

* sparkling wine production
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkling_wine_production
(section 2 Production methods: section 2.1 Traditional method: champagne + section 2.2 Ancestral method: pét-nat)

Click "Traditional method" to know why this term is used OUTSIDE French champagne region.
(ii)
(A) skin contact: "Refers to the process of grape skins steeping in juice or fermenting must to impart color and flavor to the wine"
In Glossary. Wine Spectator, undated.
www.winespectator.com/glossary?p ... p;word=skin+contact
(B) maceration (wine)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maceration_(wine)
("Maceration is the winemaking process where the phenolic materials of the grape—tannins, coloring agents (anthocyanins) and flavor compounds—are leached from the grape skins, seeds and stems into the must. * * * [called] skin contact")