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Setting
the Table
The place
setting at Wakin's Kitchen is elegant and simple. The
tea you see in the cup is Taiwanese Oolong tea, a
particularly mild tea that tastes sort of like green
tea. The plates and tea cups bear the logo of
Wakin's Kitchen
(right, below), as does the disposable hand towel and
toothpick packages (left, below). Perhaps
noticeably absent to the Western eye, is Western
flatware! If you're looking for it...no, you're
not shortsighted. There is none! Not a fork
or a butter knife in the house! The spoons are
ceramic and shaped like scoops. You can't really
tell from the photograph, but they resemble strongly a
miniature version of the spoon holder that you use to
rest your spoons in when cooking on the stove. The
chopsticks are plastic and very smooth. They feel
good in your hand. I particularly liked the cool
ceramic chopstick holders that you see them resting on.
 This is
quite possibly the largest Lazy Suzan I have ever seen!
Ice
water, hot tea and juice, as well as some hot pepper
sauce, are set on the table as standard. There
were four varieties of fruit juice to chose from at our
table--tomato, orange,
guava and Wakin's own label of plum juice (right).
As you can see by the cups in the background and the
place settings around the table, we had a very large
group expected for dinner that night.
The table sat roughly twenty people. And isn't
that a pretty table cloth?
The Food
The table
is set. Everything is ready. And now, the
part you've all been waiting for...THE FOOD!
Here is a variety of dishes you can expect to find at
Wakin's Kitchen. Whenever possible, I will attempt to
identify the various dishes and describe them a little.
But I will issue a disclaimer up front--some of
these dishes I do not know the technical name for.
But I can verify that they are all delicious! If you are
reading this and find that I have either misnamed
something, or you have some information to add to my
descriptions, please
email me!! I welcome all contributions
and corrections, and
will gladly credit the source. Thanks!
Dim Sum
Dim Sum (dianxin)
is a collective name for a variety of appetizer-type
dishes in Cantonese cuisine. Some of which are the
following:
Crispy
meat dumplings. These are filled with a ground
meat that is like ground beef (foreground). In the
background is wonderful pastry dish I can't remember the
name or description of. It is the consistency of
a quiche, and reminds me in flavor a little of a small
turkey pot pie. (How's that for descriptive?
Sorry everyone. They were really good though.)
Potato
cakes. A bit like hash browns cakes.
Shrimp
rolls, with almonds on top. The shrimp is wrapped in a
light, flaky pastry. There is a creamy kind of filling
surrounding the shrimp inside the pastry that is sweet.
These melt in your mouth! Yum!
Meat rolls, with a flaky,
biscuit-like crust. The meat in these is spicy and
reminds me strongly of breakfast sausage.
Chicken's
feet. The proper way to eat these is to suck on
them. They are coated in a spicy sauce.
Barbeque
pork dumplings. Chinese barbeque is sweeter than
Texas barbeque, for those of you familiar with Texas
food. But not as far off in taste as you might
think. I was surprised at the similarity in
flavor.
Steamed
dumplings. Like pot stickers, but bigger and
tastier.
Shrimp
wraps with crab's eggs on top. These were awesome! (Can
you tell yet I like seafood?)
Steamed
pork. Very tender and delicious! |
