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2009-01-07
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It took me a little bit of time to explore streetside dining. Within the city limits of fast food brown-bags and foam-lunchbox offerings, lunching at streetside vendors seem a lot more dramatic than it sounds. Then a friend suggested that I go look for 水記, just to see whether I can find the legendary "牛沙瓜", aka part of a cow's stomach (not the tripe). Knowing nothing about what and how it looks like, I'm on the next train to Central. My first 3 visits rendered me hopeless -- the very first visit
Last week I walked by the market in the morning and realized there was not a soul at 水記. I approached the owner and asked whether there'd be 牛沙瓜 for the day. With full anticipation lurking underneath but zero hope, the owner looked up from the simmering broth,
.
"It's 10 o'clock in the morning, we're not open yet." said the owner.
He must've taken in the glimpse of my disappointment, as he added, "We have them today. Come back at 11:30."
I feared I'd get so close and lose it, I arrived yet again at 水記 at 11am, through some conversations with the owner, I managed to snap some good pictures and got my first ever bowl of 牛沙瓜 with rice noodles, and a plate of freshly deep fried fish skin. ($8). Turned out, "牛沙瓜" is part of the inner stomach lining of a cow's stomach, unlike the tripe, this one has the texture of a leathery bag when raw. It took some considerable amount of boiling and rinsing off to rid of the offal taste. Then the entire part will be cooked slowly in a simmering broth flavored with a blend of spices, mostly notably, the cassia bark. The texture of 牛沙瓜 was soft, but with an easy exercise of the teeth I managed to take them apart into smaller morsels. The flavour is prominently meaty with the thick broth it was cooked in. The rice noodles were thicker than most, and cooked just right, not into a mushy mess.
Deep fried fish skins were made with a bigger variety of eel that 水記 also uses for making deep fried wontons. The eel's meat were scraped off and bashed until it resembled chunky goo, then blending with a little pork to make the filling of the wontons. The wontons were bestsellers and just as popular as the fish skins. They offer a surprising crunch on the bite, but when you submerge them into the hot steamy broth for a few seconds, mellowing the crunch on the outside, you'll realize the pleasure of biting into a "slightly soggy outside but thin crispy inside " contrast of textures.
Not to be missed out were the use of a chopsticks canister -- the age old metal canister existed as long as 水記 has existed, and to this day the owner decided that it's a good practice to leave it as it is. Pickled Radishes were in a jar next to the chopstick canister. They were homemade to begin with -- in the clear jar were neat cubes of white radish (lo bok), lightly pickled in a vinegary fluid made primarily of white vinegar, sugar, and perhaps some other spices. The pickle had a special crunchiness to it, and to someone who don't usually eat pickles like myself, I find them refreshingly delicious, as the tartness of it all cut through the grease gathered from the meats and broth, allowing our palates to take a break before the next bite of offals or fish skins... The effect resembled of the pickled ginger in a meal of sushi!.
Aside from 牛沙瓜, there were also other favorites here at 水記. The briskets are also nice, but if you could only have one thing it'd be the indispensable dish of "mixed cow offals" -- in which you can select what you like and dislike. Cow-intestines were softer than the pig's variety and in here you can be sure they're well seasoned throughout!.
I slurped through my noodle feeling energized and lucky, as my accidental attempt to try my luck paid off with a sensational reward of a bowl of 牛沙瓜. I thanked the owner of 水記, as he continued to work his ways inside the narrow space of a kitchen, I noticed there was little room for maneuver, but the skillful routines of boiling noodles, cutting up slices of briskets, spooning the toppings of preserved vegetables and coriander leaves came so effortlessly easy. I wondered how I could've missed out coming to 水記 all these years. I'd also like to think that my starting now wouldn't be too late either.
Note: Fellow Gastronomes can try your luck locating 牛沙瓜 here at 水記 on Tuesday mornings. They're usually available at 11:30am. Since availability is scarce, about 2 ORDERS PER DAY (not available every day). It certainly requires a bit of luck to locate them. Try hard, and you may just be as amazed and inspired as you sat carefully at one of the wooden table on the slanted slope of the side street, savouring each morsel of it when you finally got your hands on a bowl of it.
張貼
