Fun Playing With Lunar New Year Food at Siam Cafe, Cleveland Asiatown

The premise of Fun Playing With Food is to share, well, fun that I have playing with my food. When food is not fun, it generally does not get reported here. Bob and I last dined at Cleveland's Siam Cafe just over a year ago, with four friends. The meal disappointed, and none of us had been back. Other friends reported similar experiences, and we pretty much wrote them off. 

Recently, one of the couples we'd dined with last year related having two fabulous meals at Siam, and they really wanted us to meet them there. We set a date, but something came up and Bob and I wound up eating alone, but a week later, the four of us convened for a feast of dishes mostly from the special Lunar New Year Menu (though  I believe that all of the dishes other than the fried custard are available on the regular menu also). The food and service were so wonderful that I feel the need to share. Siam Cafe has redeemed itself, and regained it's place as a favorite place to play with Asian food in the Cleveland area.

Fish Maw and Crab Soup

We have enjoyed fish maw soup many times at Wonton Gourmet. Siam's version adds tender crab meat, and was most delicious, especially with the second incarnation of the Polar Vortex howling around the restaurant.

Assorted Meats and Stuffed Tofu with Soup in Pot: Stuffed Tofu, Shiitake Mushroom, Chinese Sausage with Chicken Broth in Pot

We chose a little poorly here - because the texture and mild flavor of this hot pot was so similar to the soup. And the shrimp mousse stuffed into the tofu squares had the smell and taste of sodium tripolyphosphate. But the lap cheong sausage compensated for all of the dish's sins, so we did enjoy it. These two dishes were more than enough for the two of us.

A week later, four of us convened around the Chinese New Year menu specials, and each dish was spectacular.

Minced Chicken in Lettuce Wrap

This dish was on the Chinese New Year Menu; I didn't see it on the regular menu. The combination of wok-hey chicken bits with lap cheong was positively irresistible!

A slightly blurry photo of the whole dish

Beef Rib with Black Pepper Sauce

This dish made for a very satisfying appetizer. The caramelized vegetables perfectly complimented the tender beef. 

Ningko (rice cakes) with two kinds of pork and vegetables

These rice cakes screamed "home made" - incredibly creamy and tender, with more of that fabulous lap cheong, bits of smoked pork, and lots of wok hey. The oval shape resembles coins, which explains why this delicacy is served at New Year.

Fried Custard with Shrimp, Cashews and Vegetables

Another Lunar New Year menu exclusive, this dish was the perfect contrast to the spicy fish dish you'll see below. Fried custard is a marvelous treat, and the food service shrimp held their own without being offensive. I wish that they used pea pods that didn't have strings, but that's a very small complaint when food tastes this good. Again, the oval shape reminiscent of coins, together with the greens (the color of money is universal) bring this to the New Year's menu.

Braised Pork Belly with Taro

This photo was taken after the first few slices were removed from the plate. A thick layer of skin and gelatinous goodness topped the meaty belly, and worked well against the creamy taro root. The menu calls this dish "pork side with taro" but it's belly, my friends - a beautiful thing.

Flounder in Spicy Broth - Chinese New Year Special

Sadly, my photo of this dish at the restaurant didn't come out well (new lens learning curve, oops). But you can see from this view of the leftovers how incendiary this dish was; take my word that the fish was fresh and tasty. A combination of Sichuan peppercorns and dried Sichuan red chilies made these leftovers a 9 Kleenex meal (served over noodles I picked up at Park to Shop last weekend, and it needed every one!).

I am so glad that Siam Cafe is back on it's game. Delicious food, prepared with skill and care, will bring me back to play at Siam even after Lunar New Year is over.

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy Lunar New Year!)

Fun Playing With Asian New Year Food 2011 at Siam Cafe

Just before we left for Florida, we shared a delightful Chinese New Year Dinner and Lion Dance with friends at Cleveland Asiatown's Li Wah Restaurant. Upon returning from our Florida trip, we got to enjoy another take on playing with Asian New Year food with the Northern Ohio Chapter of Slow Food at Cleveland Asiatown's own Siam Cafe.

We've been to at least three of these dinners at Siam Cafe, perhaps four. Chef-owner Michael Hong reaches into his culinary bag of tricks for auspicious dishes every time and I'll happily eat his braised ham hock once a year every year if I can get it! This year, he and his friendly staff coped with our 40-some-odd banquet diners, two large parties celebrating birthdays (one American and one Asian) and a fully packed house on a Sunday evening. And they put out the most amazing, fresh, delicious spread I've ever tasted at Siam Cafe. 

Stuffed Crab Claws

Crab Claw stuffed with Shrimp Puree and Crispy Vermicelli. I really enjoyed this incarnation of a dish Chef Hong has served to us before.

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao

Traditional Soup Dumpling in Dipping Sauce. Chef Hong favors a more sturdy wrapper and less soup in the dumpling than some Chinese chefs - and the result is toothy and delicious. The presentation was also interesting - each diner got a bowl of dipping sauce and the servers placed a first dumpling in each bowl. The quantities were sufficient for each diner to enjoy a second dumpling, but we were on our own for landing them intact in the sauce bowl.

Scallion Pancake with Char-Sui Pork

Char-Sui Barbecued Pork Wrapped with Pancake. Served with Sweet Hoisin Sauce. Another dish we've enjoyed before - done to non-greasy, chewy perfection.

Wonton Dumplings in Thai Tom Yum Soup

Spicy Thai Soup with Two types of Mushrooms and Wonton Dumplings. Here is where the menu diverged from "Chinese" to "Asian." A light, spicy broth cuddled freshly made pork and shrimp wontons, mushrooms, and scallions. 

Lobster with Golden Garlic - Maine Lobsters Stir Fried with Minced Roasted Garlic, Green & Red Peppers

This might have been the best lobster I've ever eaten. First, it was served blazing hot from the wok, coated with chunky garlic and peppers that clung tenaciously to the shells instead of falling to the plate. Second, the  kitchen had expertly cracked the crustaceans such that the meat was easily extracted. Finally, and most important, the high quality lobster meat had been cooked to the exact right point such that it melted in the mouth.

Baby Abalone & Shitake Mushroom over Mustard Greens

A staple dish at Chinese New Year due to the round, coin like shapes of the abalone and mushrooms, together with the greens which are colored as money - this is always my least favorite because I favor neither mushrooms nor abalone. I did eat some of the greens, which are often tough and bitter. These were tender and sweet, and benefited from the mushroomy sauce.


Whole Crispy Roasted Duck

Roast duck is all about the skin - and this baby delivered! Tender meat, crisp skin and a very traditional preparation equaled a lovely dish.


Michael’s Fabled New Years Only Fried Custard with Shrimp, Snow Peas & Carrots



This unique dish was the only platter other than the lobster that our table consumed to the last morsel. The custard, which probably had some tapioca or wheat starch in the filling, was wrapped in delicate pastry and fried. It gently walked the line between sweet and savory, and provided a textural foil to the crunchy vegetables and nuts, while the shrimp offered brininess.


Pla Red Pik - Fillets of Victorian Perch with Spicy Thai Tamarind Sauce

Instead of the traditional whole steamed fish, Chef Hong fried the perch and paired it with a gently spicy sauce. The combination worked well and we all enjoyed it.


Braised Ham Hock

Another Michael Hong Chinese New Year signature dish: the most delicious and tender Ham Hock, which had been slow cooked for hours (I seem to recall one year he said it cooks low and slow overnight) and served with Baby Bok Choy that still had some body to it and actually lent flavor to the dish rather than just being a garnish.




As with the duck, the skin of the pig had been artfully prepared (though not quite as crispy). If you ever have the opportunity to enjoy this dish at Siam Cafe - make sure you avail yourself!


Very Beautiful & Delicious Fried Rice

And what makes this rice so beautiful and delicious? Pork fat! Yuppers - as is traditional, this festive rice bore the unmistakable flavor and texture that comes only from frying in lard.


Traditional Noodle with Chicken - Thin Egg Noodle Stir Fried in Soy Sauce with Chicken

My only complaint about this traditional noodle dish was that the noodles had been cut fairly short- bad luck for the New Year! Bad luck or not - I couldn't stop eating it.



This was the bounty remaining on the table when the last of us cried "Uncle!" We did box it all up and distribute it around the table. 

But wait - there was still one more dish to come:


Flaky Pastry Crust Baked with Egg Custard

While Koko Bakery makes my favorite Dan Tac in the world - these jewels were mighty fine renditions of the form. We took them home; too stuffed to even consider a bite.



It was a bite worth waiting for - fresh, eggy, creamy, flaky and chewy all at the same time.

If you've skipped going to this dinner because you've seen some of the dishes before, or perhaps there were some off notes in some of the shrimp one year - you are doing yourself a disservice! We had more fun playing with the food at this year's Slow Food Asian New Year Dinner than at any previous visit  I've made to Siam Cafe - make sure that you join us next year. And in the mean time, I saw some huge, feisty dungeness crabs in  Siam Cafe's seafood tank - I think there is one there with my name on it.

Also, please visit my last blog post and leave your comment there before 10am on Tuesday March 8, 2011 to be entered into the drawing for two tickets to The Culinary Vegetable Institute's Earth to Table Dinner featuring Chef Ellis Cooley of AMP 150 next Saturday, March 12

Playing Slowly With Chinese Banquet Food

My last few posts have caught you up on the last few weeks. Bob and I played with food for two weeks in Florida, then returned to the cold (to be warmed up by Bar Cento), and played in our kitchen to produce our own comforting creation from the freezer.

Sunday night, we joined about 32 other members of Slow Food at Cleveland's Siam Cafe for a belated Chinese New Year feast. As you may recall, our last Chinese New Year dinner was a lot of fun, but the food was very Americanized (though extremely tasty). For the Slow Food dinner, Chef Michael Hong stepped a little more towards the traditional, while still respecting his mostly Western audience.

We began with Scallion Pancake Stuffed With Char-Sui BBQ Pork and served with sweet Hoisin sauce:







The stuffed scallion pancake is one of my favorite Siam Cafe treats.

Next came Crab Claw Stuffed with Shrimp Puree and Coated with Crispy Vermicelli:




Everyone loved this dish - except me. I was still too close to the exquisitely fresh gulf seafood we had spent two weeks eating. No matter how you slice it, in Ohio, shrimp and crab claws come frozen. And they just ain't the same.

Shanghai Sui Loo Bao - Soup Filled Dumpling with Pork and Crab:


Usually, this is served with a communal bowl of dipping sauce (a basic soy-vinegar-ginger dressing) and individual small bowls. In a twist that made these a lot easier to eat - each diner was given their own small bowl of dipping sauce. The server then placed two dumpings into each such bowl, such that each dumpling got a nice dose of dressing.





I simply adore the way Chef Michael makes these!

Wonton Dumplings in Thai Tom Yum Soup:

Spicy Thai Soup with Two Types of Mushrooms and Shrimp Filled Wonton Dumplings



This is how soup is traditionally served in Asian food service - the tureen is brought to the table, and the server portions out the soup for each diner. Guests may then serve themselves more from any that remains in the tureen.



Pardon the pun - but, yum! The soup was spicy and satisfying, and the freshly made won tons were lovely, frozen shrimp and all.

Lobster with Golden Garlic:



Maine Lobsters Stir-fried with Minced Roasted Garlic, Green & Red Peppers

In contrast to the shrimp - the lobster was exquisitely fresh and succulent. Our table cleaned its plate and I for one licked the shells and my fingers!

Michael’s Fabled New Years-Only Fried Custard with Shrimp, Snow Peas, & Carrots:




These fried delights crunch first, then melt in your mouth.

And note the above-illustrated tip for eating this type of meal more easily: I held onto my soup bowl and used it to eat from with my chopsticks. Especially when rice is involved - this is the most efficient way to play with this kind of food.

I was surprised that they served white rice with this meal - usually, there is no plain rice at a banquet. But the sauces we were served were definitely rice-friendly!

The next course was a variation on a Chinese New Year's Banquet staple. Traditionally, all Chinese banquets have a steamed whole fish. Most Western people, however, have become so accustomed to only eating filets that they don't like fish with bones. In this part of the country, even Michael Symon can't get away with selling whole fish to the masses!

So, Chef Hong prepared our fish course this way:


Pla Red Pik - Fillets of Victorian Perch Fried and Topped with Spicy Thai Tamarind Sauce

Though this treatment wasn't traditional - it was damn tasty - the fish was absolutely fresh, and carried the lightly spiced and slightly sweet tamarind-y sauce perfectly. And fear not, ye purists - Siam will pluck a fish from the tank (still swimming) and prepare it whole for you any number of ways, if that is how you want it!

The next course, by contrast, was a totally traditional ingredient treated in a very traditional way:


Baby Abalone & Shitake Mushroom over Mustard Greens

Abalone is a staple at Chinese New Year, due in part to its round shape. Round shapes represent coins, which one hopes to acquire in abundance in the new year (hence the coin shaped mushrooms), and it is served over a green vegetable to symbolize wealth (either currency or jade - take your pick). The sauce was a traditional light soy/oyster sauce combo.

Another dish often found on the Chinese New Year table is duck.


Roasted BBQ Duck

Anyone who worried about their diet and skipped eating some of this succulent skin really missed out on some great eats! And, as per tradition, the WHOLE animal was served:


"Here's Looking at You, Kid"

Our next course was one of Michael Hong's signature dishes:

Braised Ham Hock

In this treatment, a large ham hock is slow-cooked to melty tenderness overnight, and served whole, plated over baby bok choy. The server then shreds the hock at the table, so diners can reach in with their Chopsticks (or serving fork, as the case may be).





Even though it wasn't on our menu, I hoped we would be treated to some of Siam Cafe's fried rice. I usually avoid fried rice - ever since I had it in China in 1999, the authentic way is the only way I want it - fluffy rice stir fried in pork fat, with salt and maybe some Szechuan Peppercorn. And no restaurant makes it that way here - except for Siam Cafe. So I was very happy when this plate came to our table:


Though I was still unable to dig the shrimp - oh, the smell, texture and taste of the Chinese Ham and Lap Cheong Sausage that permeated this dish and enveloped the simply prepared rice! Heavenly!

For our last savory course, Chef Michael sent us another Chinese New Year staple - noodles. Traditionally, noodles are always served at New Year, and they must never be cut, as the long noodles represent long life and to cut them would be to cut life short.


Traditional Noodle with Chicken

As in so many foods - simple is sometimes supreme. This dish consisted of thin egg noodles that were crisped (this is what is really meant by "Chow Mein") then stir-fried in soy sauce with chicken and bean sprouts. We all enjoyed it.

And then we rested. And rested. Stuffed as we were, there was one course yet to come and we needed to "make room."


Flaky Pastry Crust Baked with Egg Custard (Dan Tac) and Mochi Ice Cream Balls

The pastry was exquisitely light and flaky, and the custard just-baked. One ice cream ball was Green Tea flavor, the other, berry. This brought a soothing and tasty close to a magnificent feast.

Thank you to Linda Griffith and the Northern Ohio Slow Food Convivium for making this event happen and Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone at Siam Cafe!