The extremely addictive oyster pancake served with fish sauce at Cheng Kee. Donna Mah /for China Daily

Hong Kong

When it comes to a late night supper, nothing hits the spot more than a meal at a Chiu Chow shop selling a spread of delicacies. It's all about the food culture, says Donna Mah, and the oyster pancake.

Not having the best Cantonese when I first visited Hong Kong years ago, I had no idea what it meant when a friend took me out for a Chiu Chow (Chaozhou, Guangdong province) dalang meal. I thought he was saying "hit wool". Years later when I was able to decipher the characters for this late night supper, I realized it meant "hit (da) cold (lang)". It still made no sense. But even if I did not know what it meant, I knew enough to know I was hooked for life - especially the oyster pancake.

I did eventually find out that in the Chaozhou dialect, it means "eating the people's food" in local slang.

My favorite dalang place has managed to stay in business through the years, and that's not an easy feat considering how many of my smaller favorites have succumbed to sky-rocketing rents and high overheads.

I first started going to Cheng Kee near the Tin Hau MTR station in the mid-1990s. With the cooler weather now, it's a great place to grab an authentic Chiu Chow meal washed down with a cold beer or hot tea. When the small shop gets filled up, the staff simply expands seating by setting up tables on the sidewalk outside. For years I was not able to get a seat inside because it was almost always full.

The oyster pancake is one of my favorites. Cheng Kee makes it with lots of small fresh oysters and serves it with a sprinkling of white pepper and fish sauce. The pancake is always crispy on the outside and tender and flavorful inside. Cheng Kee also serves tiny clams stir-fried with chives and ginger as a cold dish.

This is an excellent accompaniment to the hot rice congee, which is more cooked rice in hot water compared with the more porridge-like Cantonese congee.

Other recommended dishes are the cold steamed fish and whole crab, and the marinated sliced goose, beef brisket in clear broth (in a small clay pot with Chinese greens), and the stir-fried bean sprouts.

Dishes are simple and authentic, according to my Chaozhou friend. For him they conjure up memories of childhood meals and how the food smelled "like home".

The decor is nothing special and you sit on a stool at a folding table, but it has stayed in business because they serve good food. It's as simple as that.

Dinner here is a reasonable HK$50-100 ($6.50-13) each person.

You may contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/18/2011 page13)