五谷丰登 "Bountiful Harvest"
Dinner @ "郑厨私房菜", a home-style restaurant, opened by the Chairman of the Chaozhou Culinary Institute, himself the son of one of Chaozhou's 4 famed chefs of the past. Tucked away at a hard-to-locate corner of the city, I absolutely love the humour of the sign outside the restaurant stating "酒香不怕巷子深" (If the food and wine are good; one is not afraid to venture down deep alleys for them)
This is the dish that won the chef a gold award in a National culinary competition almost a decade ago. The dish arrived with 4 'corn cobs' on a plate but looks are deceptive. The 'cobs' are in fact, stuffed squids (the filling I could surmise is a mixture of squid and fish puree) with the surface of the squid cut to resemble the shape and texture of corn. The leaves of the cob was created using miniature green Chinese cabbage and the corn silk, created out of thin strands of spring onions.
Each cob is served in its individual splash of yellowish gravy; and I was surprised that the gravy was both sweet and tangy, with a strong lemony taste, and a light fruity finish, which I suspect is delivered using sour plum sauce, a common sauce in Teochew cooking.
I love the tenderness of the 'cob' - but the citrusy tangy sauce was a light shock to the systems.
五谷丰登 "Bountiful Harvest"
Dinner @ "郑厨私房菜", a home-style restaurant, opened by the Chairman of the Chaozhou Culinary Institute, himself the son of one of Chaozhou's 4 famed chefs of the past. Tucked away at a hard-to-locate corner of the city, I absolutely love the humour of the sign outside the restaurant stating "酒香不怕巷子深" (If the food and wine are good; one is not afraid to venture down deep alleys for them)
This is the dish that won the chef a gold award in a National culinary competition almost a decade ago. The dish arrived with 4 'corn cobs' on a plate but looks are deceptive. The 'cobs' are in fact, stuffed squids (the filling I could surmise is a mixture of squid and fish puree) with the surface of the squid cut to resemble the shape and texture of corn. The leaves of the cob was created using miniature green Chinese cabbage and the corn silk, created out of thin strands of spring onions.
Each cob is served in its individual splash of yellowish gravy; and I was surprised that the gravy was both sweet and tangy, with a strong lemony taste, and a light fruity finish, which I suspect is delivered using sour plum sauce, a common sauce in Teochew cooking.
I love the tenderness of the 'cob' - but the citrusy tangy sauce was a light shock to the systems.