All I know about Chinatown, begins and ends with “Dumplings Legend”, a dim sum restaurant on Gerrard Street where I occasionally stop by for good dumplings and bad service. More often than not I’m a stones throw away in Soho – but overwhelmed with choice and with the sense that you need some insider knowledge to navigate the restaurants, I’ve always walked past the bijou bakeries and Peking duck lined windows, making the mental note that “one day” I will familiarise myself with Chinatown and its many offerings.
With a few hours free and a recipe on my mind, I decided to visit on an otherwise unremarkable Friday. My pitstop was the New Loon Moon supermarket, known for being an Aladdin’s cave of East Asian produce. Most items were helpfully labelled in English, but some aren’t and some are barely recognisable to a Western eye. “Skinny tea” and Sichuan pepper line meticulously organised shelves, and the store is loosely arranged in regions – Korea, China, Thailand etc. I had in my mind a wonton soup – a soup that was more dumpling than broth, and more chilli than the average person could handle. I’ve yet to find a good outlet for fresh dumplings, so I bought some frozen in Chilli pork, and Pork and prawn. The Lee Kum Kee (the maker of my favourite chilli oil) efficiently named “Sauce for dumplings” caught my eye – and with no idea what it would taste like, I added it to my basket, along with a Sun Wah “Chilli oil with shrimp”, some fresh chillies, ginger, garlic and spring onions.
This recipe occurred organically – a hybrid of intuition and common sense. I knew I wanted the broth to be spicy, warming, salty and light – the perfect host for the dumplings which I intended to speckle with endless spoonful’s of chilli oil and smattering of spring onion. I’ve made a mental note to return to the store to explore the wonderfully creative world of East Asian snacks. Foreign snacks are an area I’m always keen to explore. With no cooking or process involved, they provide an irresistible instant gratification, and in their bright foil packets and enticing boxes, my next visit shall be one where I pick out a selection of snacks (dried fish with sesame seemed an intriguing concept).
Good in hand and with time against me (frozen dumplings, sunny day) I made my way home. The soup by the way was a success – check out the recipe here.
Sabrina Goodlife.