The Year of the Dragon – Kum Hay Fat Choy!

Kum Hey Fat Choy – or happy new year in Chinese!

Tomorrow the new Chinese Year of the Pig starts and the year of the Dog ends. Each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat, Ox, Tiger and Rabbit. London’s China town and Oxford street are colorful decorated with red lanterns, dances, dragons, firecrackers and fireworks take place. The year of the pig is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity. Now this time it is a golden pig year, which happens once in six decades. London (and all other) Chinatown’s are colorfully decorated, there is a parade, the restaurants are full and everybody goes for great lunches and dinners. There is even some sort of a baby boom in China…it’s the lucky year to make children that will become rich and successful. On the day before New Years day people clean their houses, pay the loans, get new clothes etc. My friends are going for Hot Pot to China Town tomorrow, I have never had it the real way and perhaps we will join!

I was born in January 1977 which was also a Dragon year, besides the Dragon year I was born in the period of Fire, so I am a Fire Dragon!! In China, the Dragon is the sign of the Emperor of China or the male element Yang. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth and many other great things… In Chinese tradition fire is one of the five elements. It is associated with the planet Mars, summer and the south, and the colour red. It is believed to govern the heart. Fire is associated with the qualities of dynamism, strength and persistence, and with restlessness and a sense of adventure.

Ok, now take a break, here is a video I found on youtube, it is cracking funny and has nothing to do with Chinese New Year or Dragons, Pigs and other animals, listen to it carefully from the beginning to the end…it is some guys that order in a Chinese take away shop and then call up another one, the first one repeats the order to the second one, then chaos, it’s hilarious.

And here is one of my favorites when I cook Chinese at home…

China Tang at the Dorchester (£320 for 4) vs. Magic Wok on Queensway (£160 for 5)

…tonight, after work Bradley, Sayoko, Hans Robert Weiss and I had drinks at the Dorchester bar, quite nice and buzzing place. (we used to go to the Four Seasons Hotel for drinks but the Dorchester bar replaced the 4Seasons because it’s all, dusty, boring and expensive although the service is amazing).

CHINA TANG, PARK LANE

Then of course we got hungry and decided to check out China Tang, David Tang’s latest restaurant, at the Dorchester. This is worth visiting for the design only already, which is featuring Shanghai colonial style and is super cool, the restaurant is full and buzzing. First there was no table, the usual London thing, wait 25 minutes at the bar which results in 1 hour waits and we decided to only have a drink and then leave, but we got the table anyway. The restaurant general manager, a freaked out Austrian guy was very friendly, cool and helpful in getting a table. The bar staff, all Asian have no clue and are not over friendly. The drinks we had there got mixed up when brought to the table. They then offered to take the drinks back to the bar to sniff and find out which one is the Vodka Tonic and which one is the Gin Tonic….!!!!….after a gentle exchange of words we got new drinks. The Australian waitress was very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. We ordered Peking duck, which was carved at the table, excellent. I wondered first what they would do with the rest of the meat on the duck…eat it themselves? No. It was served later stir fried with bamboo shoots, very good too. The other dishes were also fine, a bit westernised in accessibility of flavors but OK, I prefer the no-fuss Chinese restaurants on Queensway or in China Town.

Dishes we ate were; Peking Duck: just delicious, the best one I had in a long time. Aubergine Hot Pot with minced pork (a favorite dish of mine) was good though not spicy and tasty enough. Stir fried beef with garlic: great beef sirloin cubes, tender and juicy with awesome garlic chips on top. Shrimps Szechuan with for once really good quality large tasty shrimps, the Szechuan could have been a bit spicy hotter. Choi sam with oyster sauce. Crispy fried chicken with chili, pepper and salt and some other stuff plus steamed rice and dried salted fish fried rice. A bottle of Gewurztraminer from New Zealand was recommended by the sommelier in a nice non obtrusive and not patronizing way proved to be outstanding. (the sommelier was not French)

MAGIC WOK AND FOUR SEASONS, QUEENSWAY

However, the best Chinese meal I had so far was early January at the Magic Wok on Queensway, it was the best I had maybe so far in London! Images below are from Magic Wok except the Roast Ducks on the left is next door from the Four Seasons.

The service is not over friendly but not as rude as at the super Roast Duck place Four Seasons (not the hotel) and the decor non existent but who cares if the food is good?! We hat the aubergine hot pot with minced pork, so juicy and flavorsome the best I ever had, the Cha Siu Pork was ueber outstanding, the duck delicious, the vegetables, noodles, all of just great. We were 6 and the waiter mentioned to us that the order was enough for 10, ate it ALL. A great place for Food.