Our latest Wandering Eats post! This time we were up north in Shenzhen 深圳, the city just across the Hong Kong border. It's only a very quick train trip nowadays and a location that's fast becoming a favorite day trip destination for Hong Kongers, packed as it is with an enormous variety of great sight seeing, shopping and eats!
What a fun day! First we had a wonderful afternoon of walking, gaping, shopping, snacking and playing the claw machines (my little girl clawed herself a strawberry scented Lotso!) There is so much energy here, this giant city just hums with restless activity. To end the day we had a fabulous dinner at a wonderful restaurant that served charcoal grilled fresh eel 炭烤鰻魚, grilled right at our own table! What a fantastic trip!
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| Billboards for proposed high rise construction in Shenzhen 1982 (photo by Robert Schediwy) |
First, a quick contextual aside regarding this city. I think it's important to know a bit of its history to truly appreciate all the city has to offer. After being designated a 'Special Economic Zone' in 1980, Shenzhen has risen at a frenetic and fantastic pace from quiet fishing village to a dynamic and futuristic city. The Shenzhen of just 40 years ago (see above photo) was mostly undeveloped flatlands.
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| Shenzhen 2020 - transformed (photo by Charlie Fong) |
BA-BOOM! Speed forward a mere four decades and what a glittering city has risen from that flatland! It's mind blowing to see the reality of this modern city up close while acknowledging tremendous changes that have taken place. Wow, amirite? It was through this futuristic glass metropolis that we wandered that day...
So after exploring all day and working up some fierce appetites, it was finally time for dinner! My favorite part of any wander. First, dear reader, I must ask, have you ever tried eel? If you haven’t tried eel you have been missing out!
Eels look like snakes in the water but are actually really elongated fish. And despite its rather cruel and sinister looks, the meat of the eel is tender, delicately flavored and truly most delicious!
Charcoal grilled eel restaurants have become very trendy in Shenzhen in recent years. We found ourselves at Bukchon Hansik Korean Grilled Eel and Grilled Meat 北村韩食迹, one of the most popular eel restaurants in the city. Be aware that there can be long lines due to it's popularity!
At this restaurant the seafood is keep alive in aquarium tanks until cooked for your dinner. Fresh is best!
Inside the airy and bright restaurant, each table was equipped with its own charcoal grill and rigged with a chimney to immediately draw away any smoke/fumes . I must say, the technology for this type of at the table grilling has really come a long way!
Soon after being seated and ordering, our waitress came by with the lovely little dishes of appetizers. Hum, let’s see, spicy kimchi, marinated soy sprouts, wee slices of umami packed seaweed (yummy!), pickled radish and sweet pumpkin soup. Oh yea, nice way to take the edge off our ravenous appetite!
And then, the main event: the eel! And in accordance with the Korean tradition, the eel was prepared immediately before being brought to the table in neat squares. The freshness of our particular eel was proven by the fact that the head of the eel, even with body gutted and flesh separated from the spine, still moved! Gross, I know, but fascinating nevertheless.
Here is our table’s grill set-up. The grilling is done over live coals, which is a most awesome way to cook! Charcoal provides a steady and extremely high heat that gives a perfect sear to the eel, leaving a crispy exterior and a most tender inside.
Note that we didn’t cook the eel ourselves. Instead the nice waiters expertly cooked it for us, turning the eel slices over at just the right times to achieve a most perfect golden sear while we watched and drooled.
This is after the meat is flipped. You can see the golden sear the meat has already taken on the first side. The delicious aroma and visual feast of the grilling meat just in front of us was most overwhelming as the eel cooked. So deliciously torturous!
The metal dangle coming down from the top of the photo is the chimney. It hung right over the charcoal grill and was absolutely efficient in removing all the fume/smoke right away for a comfortable dining experience.
Some of the grilled eel was served with just some salt as seasoning. Another portion was painted with the restaurant's special sauce, lending the final result a gleaming glaze. Gorgeous, I mean look at that golden piece of grilled eel. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?
Interestingly, it turned out that all of us liked the plainer, simply salted, grilled eel better. We found that the delicate, rich, buttery flavor of the eel meat came out more in the plainer version and really didn't need the extra flavoring of the glaze. Omgosh...this eel is soooo good...to die for...
To augment our yummilicious eel we ordered a couple of other dishes. We had to order this particular side dish because, obvo, we love eggs!. It was called 全州石板蛋, or 'Jeonju Stone Slab Egg' (our own translation) on the menu. Eggs are broken straight into a super hot preheated dish, splashed with soy and aromatics and served even as the eggs are cooking in heat of the pan. Yes, egg lovers, this was as delicious as it looks.
A second side dish, more seafood: boiled sea sweet shrimp, marinated in soy and chili peppers. Gosh, I love shrimp! Finger lickin good!
And to fill up the last corners of our stomach we decided to go for some marinated slices of fatty beef. Also grilled on our lovely table grill. There were so many different cuts of beef available at the restaurant and they all looked so good! Getting a little bit addicted to grilled beef!
Wow, what a gorgeous, gorgeous dinner! And there are so many things that we want to try on the menu. And this grilled eel..omg to die for, truly! We can't wait to go back and eat some more!
Wandering Eats at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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