22069 Tue Nov 19 01:00:38 -0800 2002 8 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 80987 Had such a crummy experience here years ago, I didn't go back till just the other day. They had no crabs on the second day of the season. They did, after the waiter got the manager, allow us to order a half pound of live prawns, which were good, if not bursting with that ocean sweetness.Had to accept plain boiled; they wouldn't give us the cooked two ways dish. From specials we ordered a claypot described as fish heads, brisket, and bitter melon. When it arrived, we were unable to find any brisket, though there were several chunks of skin-on duck! When I spoke to the manager, I learned that what the restaurant had meant was "fish brisket"! When he comprehended that brisket implies beef, he asked me how to express the fish part in English. I promised to research it and went through a few fish encyclopedias and cookbooks along with several Chinese cookbooks and "The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters," all to no avail. Isn't there some old one-liner about fish having lips or something? Anyway, if any of you have a suggestion, I'll pass it along. To be honest, I'm still struggling with exactly what fish "brisket" is. The dish was pretty good. We preferred a Chinese turnip, minced pork, and vermicelli claypot and a dish that reminded me of nouvelle cuisine--stir-fried little fish and vegetables: the fish were tiny, battered, star-shaped critters, the veggies thin, barely blanched strips of carrot, scallion, etc. Good flavors, good texture, despite the reluctance of both waiter and manager to serve it. With rice and two small bottles of sake, the bill came to close to $70 before tip. Tue Nov 19 01:00:38 -0800 2002 0 Fine 1 80988 I think I would have suspected a mistranslation from the outset. Surf 'n' turf in a clay pot? I guess that would be pretty innovative. Tue Nov 19 01:16:29 -0800 2002 80987 0 Gary Soup 2 81000 re: surf & turf - the roast pork and oyster,a popular combination, is very good. Tue Nov 19 11:33:05 -0800 2002 80988 0 gordon wing 3 81008 Pork and seafood mingled, yes. (Pork goes with everything!) And oysters are a special case (n.b. beef with oyster sauce). But beef and fish in a mix would really be too "Nouvelle Chinoise" for me. Tue Nov 19 13:08:22 -0800 2002 81000 0 Gary Soup 4 81170 Well--here are a couple of items from an old New Sun Hong Kong menu, about as "vieille" cuisine as one can find: sliced fish and beef porridge; beef ball and fish ball noodle soup. So, when we saw brisket and fish in a claypot, it didn't strike us as at all odd. Thanks to all for the suggestions; "maw" must be it. though I always think of its referring to more of the oral cavity. As to whether I'd return--maybe. Prices were high (10 bucks for Gai Lan--Chinese broccoli!) and there are other places to try or return to, so probably not for a while. Thu Nov 21 23:42:41 -0800 2002 81008 0 Fine 1 80992 I suspect that what you were served was fish maw (stomach or bladder). Tue Nov 19 01:29:09 -0800 2002 80987 0 Melanie Wong 2 81024 Yep, definitely fish maw. Tue Nov 19 17:08:29 -0800 2002 80992 0 Peter 1 81058 I can't tell from your description whether you would return again. I love Fook Yuen for dim sum but haven't had dinner there in ages. Some friends who'd been there for dinner a year ago hated it but they ordered non-authentic dishes. Overall, thumbs up or down? Would you go back? Tue Nov 19 23:30:13 -0800 2002 80987 0 Yvonne 1 81127 Hmm, the last time I was at Fook Yuen about a year ago, I thought the waitress was going start a fist fight with me because I didn't order a soup (ok she wasn't THAT bad but she did have a hissy fit). The seafood dishes (crab in XO sauce, ginger-scallion lobster) were pretty good, but didn't have as good a fresh wok-seared taste, I thought, as Seafood Harbor's versions. We also had Peking duck and all I can say is... never again. I was there with a large table including several non-Chinese and somehow every single waitperson we asked "forgot" every time to bring them water (we got tea and hot water refills promptly enough). I like the food better at Seafood Harbor just down the street and the service is orders of magnitude nicer, so we always went there. But that might have been a bad night and the restaurant was pretty busy. Thu Nov 21 07:18:54 -0800 2002 80987 0 chibi