Meal # 24: China (Part 3: Hakka Cuisine)

The Hakka people have produced many influential thinkers and politicians, including economic reformer and uncle of Chinese socialism Deng Xiaopeng; nonetheless this meal was nothing revolutionary.

Hakka Seafood Village
Victoria St., Richmond
Open 7 days

Hakka Seafood Village is a noisy restaurant on the Victoria Road strip that seems to draw a steady stream of diners. With understated décor, brisk staff and frequently refilled Chinese tea, the “Seafood Village” seemed like a good casual setting. A shame about the acoustics in there, which at times made conversation difficult. We added to the din on Saturday with our high spirited team of Marty, Rami, Caroline, Paul, Deb and Nick. We also welcomed our travelling correspondent Naomi back from New Zealand, where she was trying out “haka” cuisine. Yeah okay, enough attempts at humour, back to the review.

The menu had a comprehensive selection of Chinese dishes, including atypical offerings like pigeon, venison, crocodile and kangaroo. We eschewed these however to seek out the traditional Hakka specialties, which had their own page in the menu. While the list of specifically Hakka dishes was not long (and shorter once we cut out everything involving pig intestines) there was plenty to go around when the dishes came out, with generous servings and plenty of rice.

The meal

Entrée

Seafood san choi bow
Vegetarian san choi bow
Pan fried dumplings

San choi bow is a famous Chinese entrée, essentially comprising a stuffed lettuce leaf. The leaf serves as a small edible bowl for a stuffing of diced vegetables and spices, sometimes with pork or seafood. The san choi bow at Hakka Village were decent, with a chunkier stuffing and more heavy garlic flavour than those our diners have encountered before. The dumplings too were quite good, although we could tell we’d left Shanghai because it was back to standard entrée-size servings of four dumplings per order.

Main courses
(* indicates a dish denoted as a Hakka specialty)

* Steamed fish fillet served with mustard green and black mushroom, on a bed of tofu.
* Stuffed bean curd with ginger and shallot.
* Salted duck with taro in claypot
Deep fried squid with chilli sauce and pepper
Bean curd, BBQ pork and vegetables.

On the whole, the fish was probably the most popular of the mains, followed by the squid. The black mushrooms served with the fish had an earthy flavour similar to shiitakes, meshing well with the sharp pickle flavour of the mustard greens. The chilli squid was a little salty but still enjoyable. Firm textures seemed to be the order of the day – with both the fish and the squid firmer than you’d expect.

The bean curd at least was soft and came filled with a pork-based stuffing and served with shreds of ham. Enjoyable enough, although it was, again, a bit salty. The BBQ pork dish was of similar standard – reasonable but not brilliant. The duck however was a let down. Of course we were expecting it to be salty, being salty duck and all, but the meat was also quite tough, unusual for a claypot dish, and full of bones.

The verdict

No prizes for guessing that saltiness was a common theme! This seemed to be a trend across the menu, with several dishes featuring salty fish or salty egg sauce, and is in line with what we’d read about Hakka cuisine and its origins in cooking with preserved meats. Sauces as a rule tended to favour sharp dominant flavours, like garlic or ginger.

On the whole, the meal was okay but not super. It was moderately priced, between $13 and $20 a head. It’s not bad but don’t go there looking for something out of the ordinary. Unless you want to try stir-fried crocodile that is…