You want dim sum? You've got it. You want, as James Joyce puts it in fey psycho-epic doorstop Ulysses, to "eat with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls"? I sense you are answering in the negative: but please allow me to attempt to change your mind, as we learn together the ancient Chinese lesson: that the least loved bits of beast can have the most to offer …
How many kinds of offal can you eat in one meal? Nipping in (a bit pissed) to a dim summery near Camden Lock, I discovered some really quite good food. And entirely inadvertently, managed to order five …
Pig's ears in fragrant five spice (pictured above) are served cold, their springy
cartilage slivered thinly enough to bite through - and are good enough to
order twice. So I did. I propose that the phrase 'to make a pig's ear of
something' should be rehabilitated to mean 'to make something
surprising and fine out of the cheap or humdrum'.The variegated whorls are pretty as a picture and contain a bouncy crunchiness that make these not only delicious, but also fun to eat.
Beef stomach in satay sauce Soft. Peanutty. Melty. Spongy. Yummy.
Sichuan spicy duck tongue … I confess I didn't take to these. The texture is far firmer than ox tongue and the flesh seems to be based around a quill-like bone. The flavour was fine, but the amount of jaw-work needed was unnerving for a variety meat. And so many of them … a whole flock … it looked like evidence of a massacre.
Back right: beef stomach. Front right: chicken feet. Front left: bbq pork buns. Back left: sticky rice
Five-spice cold beef tongue and shoulder (below) - served cold - contrasted loosely textured brisket with unctuous tongue, its delicate savouriness pepped up with plenty of chilli.
Chicken feet in black bean sauce. Messrs Yum and Cha made a right pig's ear of this - it was fabulous. Among my very favourite of Chinese dishes, chicken feet are cartilaginous, softly bendy, their skin swollen by boiling, and properly flavoured with a roundly savoury black bean sauce. The little bones remain (oh god, that sounds like ghost story) and must be spat out, after the sucking and chewing off of the spongy exterior. I see I'm not selling it. Don't let the description put you off. Duck feet, however, avoid. Too leathery.
Oh yeah, we also had char siu buns, salt and chilli squid, steamed lotus leaf rice with chicken and shrimp (like zong zi - WHERE in Chinatown does them permanently, please?). But all these were outshone by their spongy, fatty, slurpy, crunchy brethren.
Still not convinced? Just take one glance at the delighted smiles of the staff as you order and you know you'll be a customer remembered and revered for all time. Happy pigging.
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