Two Must-Try Chinese Dishes in San Antonio

I’m fascinated by the breadth of unusual ingredients in Chinese cooking, but alas, I don’t go for the intestines or chicken feet. Here are two local Chinese dishes that are unique and easy to stomach.

Peking Duck at Kim Wah Chinese BBQ

For about $26 you get plenty of food to feed two or even three people. The Peking Duck is two dishes: steamed buns and a big bowl of soup. The steamed buns come with neatly arranged sliced roasted duck breast. On the side are shredded scallions and Hoisin sauce to assemble your duck buns. The steaming pot of soup is a clear broth with the duck bones and bits of meat, which you can order with either napa cabbage or pickled vegetables added in. (I had the napa cabbage and it was light and refreshing.)

Kim Wah Chinese BBQ - 7080 Bandera Road  San Antonio, TX 78238 - (210) 520-2200

 

Taro Root Special at Royal Inn Oriental Cuisine

You won’t see it on Royal Inn’s lunch menu; you may see it on the Chinese version of the dinner menu. Either way, ask for the Taro Root Special, or show your server the name of this dish in Chinese: 飄香. (It actually means “a fragrance that floats,” and has nothing to do with taro.) This highly unusual dish consists of a sweet spiced taro ring-shaped cake, filled in with seafood, chicken (you can also ask for just seafood), and vegetables (celery, bell pepper, baby corn) in a savory sauce, topped with cashews, all nesty and nice amid fried noodles, shredded carrots and cilantro. This dish comes with a side of steamed or fried rice, but eschew starchy excess in favor of the fragrant taro.

Royal Inn Oriental Cuisine – 5440 Babcock Rd, # 150  San Antonio, TX 78240 - (210) 691-0602

Postcard: Motorino – New York, NY

Teetering on the cramped uneven sidewalk, amid the delivery bikes and pedestrians, I stood waiting to meet a friend who is an editor for a New York-based food site. She’s a razor-sharp, passionate young lady who lives with her husband in the East Village. There was no doubt that I would leave our dinner choice up to her, and since I hadn’t had pizza in New York yet, she proposed Motorino, a couple of blocks from her place.

It was good to get away from the action of the conference I was attending in New York last week, even though it was my last night, also the night of the awards ceremony. I ended up missing the awards because of some work I had to attend to. By the time I huffed four blocks over, I wasn’t allowed in the theater, so I mingled at the awaiting cocktail reception until I was about to run late for dinner. And though I bumped into another editor friend who had meandered into the reception after having just won an award, I left him in a mysteriously disgruntled state. (Because I had missed his acceptance speech? Or his comment that his drink was way too tart?) In any case, I was more than ready for that pizza.

Maggie and I squeezed into a little table for two in the narrow place, pulsating with heat from the pizza oven. “Wow, there’s no wait tonight,” she remarked. “Usually there’s a long line out front.” I would soon find out why this was true. On the chalkboard was an eerily named pizza: Ramps Pizza. I asked about ramps, and learned that they’re a small, green, oniony vegetable with a green stalk and white base, similar to a leek. And apparently New Yorkers are crazy about them when the season hits, so restaurants try to cram them into their daily specials. Ramps Pizza it was.

“Let’s eat this one first,” said Maggie, quickly reaching for the Ramps Pizza. “It tends to get soggy faster than the other pizzas.” (We had also ordered a brussels sprouts and prosciutto one.) The classic Neapolitan pizza–Motorino is said to be the best in the city–had a thin, chewy crust, and moist tomato-strewn and cheesy inner circle. The ramps lent a really nice garlicky flavor that wasn’t overpowering. A wonderful vegetarian pizza option popping with flavor. Now I can’t wait for ramps season. And to return to New York, of course.