Chinese New Year is coming up. Recently in Hong Kong media there has been a ton of coverage regarding turnip cake (Lor Bak Go 蘿蔔糕) from high end to low end versions from restaurants and chain shops.
Where in LA makes some of the better renditions? I’m not talking about the dim sum on a plate. This is the whole brick sized packages you can buy to take home and pan fry or steam yourself. Normally these go on sale several weeks before Chinese New Year. Any non dim sum Cantonese seafood restaurants sell them as well but in remarkable quality? At a minimum, flavorful and quality turnips, dried shrimp, Chinese sausage. Any interesting variants that don’t use Chinese sausage/lap cheong?
The best daikon cake or 蘿蔔糕 is at Sea Harbour. In years past if you called ahead they would sell it to you raw for you to partition and then to steam or fry at home as you wish.
Thanks! Do they sell it preboxed raw anyways for CNY along with Cantonese nian gao and other CNY foods?
Next question, does Sea Harbor also make the best XO sauce to go with their turnip cakes and available to purchase? In Northern California the XO sauce at Koi Palace is pretty good and they sell them by the jar.
Just had a low end version from a true hole in wall in Mongkok (Hong Kong). Almost all pure shredded daikon. Far from fancy but comforting in a no bullshit homey grandma made way.
Thanks for mentioning the no BS granny version! The stuff from the hood is gold.
I’m reminded of several years back going to Wai Kee Congee 威記粥店 in Central, literally a hop away from the Dai Pai Dong’s on Stanley Street. Their daikon cake is steamed but is maxmium pure daikon goodness…minimal to no starch filler (as well as the BS that you mention) and no mushrooms, dried shrimp, and Chinese sausage that I recall. Add some of the house seasoned soy sauce and it’s the de facto veggie to go with a plain congee and a cruller, making the traditional breakfast more complete. A little bit of scallions would have been great but this was perfect for me too. It’s on par in terms of satisfaction level with a fantastic Japanese style ni-daikon / oden daikon in dashi.
That’s a shame! So I guess one is better off asking SH ahead of time for uncooked daikon cake block, pan fry it at home and open up a jar of XO sauce from Corner Beef Noodle for a DIY combo?
Or try the Japanese approach with a little karashi (mustard) which will give you a slight acidic kick like capers but also a bit of spice. Maybe yuzu goshou paste will work just as fun.
Since we’re playing tourist, we went just a tad beyond traditional. ;). My jook had beef heart, so fresh it was almost beating, wife had beef offal swimming in hers. The shrimp in the fresh steamed cheong fun popped as only HK shrimp does.
All for less than the price of two Denny’s breakfast.
Since the op mentioned Chinese New Year, please pardon my thread drift.
My wife always craves poon choi this time of year. My HK friends mostly consider poon choi as peasant food, but they (and I) accommodate her.
The poon choi is family style fun, friends and family enjoying each other around a simmering pot of stuff. Abalone, scallops, oysters, mushrooms, duck webs, fish balls, lotus root, shrimp and more. 3 bottles of Argentina red. An order of abalone and veggies for dessert. Gung Hay Fat Choy!!!
Strolling through the wholesale fruit district at midnight on way back to our hotel. The blocks were humming with forklifts, pallet jacks and other sights and sounds of industry. What a wonderful vibrant city!!
never developed a taste for this, but this brings back memories of my mother making something similar but with taro. i don’t think i’ve ever seen this out here. is this just a toisan thing or what?